Politics

Summary
(from Game World Index)

To some extent, the Hegemony's provinces are still governed by their own local nobility. Each small district has an aristarch, or foremost noble, whose family is responsible for collecting taxes and keeping order. The provincial governor, or Archon, is usually chosen by the Thaumatarch from this upper tier of loyal gentry. Once appointed, provincial governors remain in power until their death or the Thaumatarch's displeasure. The current Archon of Shayard, Phrygia Leilatou, comes from a particularly favored family; despite constant intrigues by rival aristarchs, the Leilatou have governed your home province for the past twenty-two years, through three successive Archons.

The power of the provincial nobility is kept in check by institutions of the Hegemony which extend across all of the provinces. These include the Ecclesiasts (priests who judge heretics and preach submission to authority), the Alastors (armed and brutal law enforcement squads), and the Kryptasts (an order of assassin-spies who infiltrate suspected hives of sedition).

Under normal circumstances, the Archon of a province is in charge of deploying its Alastors and Ecclesiasts. But the Hegemonic institutions also have separate hierarchies which can override an Archon's order. When you were twelve years old, you remember hearing that Pan Mieszk, the Archon of Whendery (the province to your west) had been stripped of his office by the Thaumatarch after repeated public clashes with the province's Archimandrite (high priest). Mieszk died in his bed soon afterward. Rumor had it he was poisoned by a Kryptast.

In any legal dispute or political struggle, the Thaumatarch's word is final. You've heard talk of "the Nine," his inner council of Theurges, but their best-known responsibility is upholding the nine Border Wards. Although the Hegemony has a religiously grounded common law, the Karagond Canon, it's clear that the Thaumatarch is not bound by this or any other law.