Name of your Nation: The Corporation of the City of Lancet
(Space reserved for an image that represents your nation, maybe a flag or something)
Type of Government: Corporate Republic
Demographics & Population: Majorativly a human population, however, the population is multi-cultural and thus supports small populations from all the clans and houses.
Population: around 5 million.
Governance & Politics:
The government is run primarily like a business, involving a board of directors and executives, in which all aspects of society are privatised by a single, or small groups of companies. Such companies are represented by guilds and are reflected in the guild-hall where all matters of government policy (and deals) are made. The highest office in the city is that of the Mayor-Castellan. Each of the Guilds is represented by an executive, in practice these titles have been monopolised by families with the position being handed down hereditarily. The position of the executives is usually bought by a wealthy enough group and allows access to bidding on the major resources of the city much like a stock market. These hereditary families are as follows:
- House Grint: The oldest and by far most powerful of the board of executives. House Grint has an extremely diverse portfolio of businesses, indeed it could be fairly said that they have a finger in every pie. It is no less impressive that administrating such a giant umbrella organisation is even possible atall and is a testament to the acumen of the heirs of House Grint. However their business empire is shrinking as each successive generation struggles to stay on top of new developments. House Grint is "the old money" in Lancet and as such have the most political sway in the board of executives.
- Clan Banner: Clan Banner hails from the frozen lands up north. They are bonded by ties of fielty and family. They dominate the meat and textiles market, aswell as completely owning the transport infrastructure consisting of the canals and lock system that feeds the city. Consignments of merchant goods such as coal are slickened and transported fast by a bed of water. Such canals are dug out and then filled with water to transport goods by boats made long and thin. The boats themselves are powered by manarite engines or in some cases tugged by horses present on the shore. Clan Banner also has the dubious honour of being in charge of the police force in the City of Lancet, colloquially called "Validators". They fulfil the functions of policing, detection and security. Validators also have a reputation for being pessimists and doomsayers, often forecasting calamity that it is their role to prevent.
- Matheson Notary Public: The Matheson Notary Public operates the legal system of oaths and contracts in Lancet. They also are the defacto ministry of work and education. Education in Lancet is provided by generous grants from the ruling guilds who encourage students down the path of apprenticeships after a general level of education has been achieved. Matheson also operates the Lancet Central Bank and answers only to the Mayor-Castellan. The main currency of Lancet is Mannarite-Alloy simply called Mannarite-Bullion. Being that Mannarite is such a sought after and valuable substance it was first made safe by combining it with several other metals to create an alloy. This somewhat watered-down the more undesirable effects of the more reactive versions of the substance and made it safe enough to become widely used. The recipe for such an alloy is difficult to produce and as such has made Lancet very wealthy, comparatively speaking.
- The Founderssons: A monastic order of paladins who worship industry and construction. They are the first and only military body and tasked with the protection of the City of Lancet. Dating back farther than even the first records it is told via story that the founding fathers of Lancet created the first castle walls and the limits of the interior of the city. After founding the city the families of these founding fathers entered into service as military knights. Such was the industriousness of these knights that a religion grew up around them, turning them into a holy order of paladins representing the best sides of progress and safe building construction. Their leader became king of the then castle-town. However when the family of the king eventually produced no heir there was no one left to lead them, the highest office then became that of the Mayor, who was democratically elected by the board of executives. This democratic process has continued until modern day. The Founderssons are at once a fusion of both Paladin and Artisan and they are provided with only the best Mannarite-Alloy Armour. The armour is constructed to store kinetic energy from impacts and then release said energy in a devastating kinetic hit. The longer a Paladin stays in battle the more kenetic energy is directed at them and consequently the more energy they are able to output. This is either in the form of a sword hit capable of releasing a sound capable of reducing bones to powder or using a mannarite cannon.
- Lancet Castellan Chartered University; the primary educational and research and development body within the city. The department for materials and anti-materials science headed up by Professor Allen Wex is the crowning achievement within the university and is the source of many of the developments in materials science surrounding Mannarite.
- Bilberry Free Hospital: Hospital care is largely achieved by charity and a mixture of corporate health insurance. The Bilberry Free Hospitals being the largest of these. They are also university hospitals and follow the Druidic tradition.
- The corporations are maintained by their workers, in fact all corporations in Lancet treat their various employees as shareholders, the shares for which are bought for the employee by the company when hiring or apprenticeships are acquired. More shares can subsequently be bought but this ensures at least a base layer of loyalty to ones company which is useful during a dreaded recession whereby employees work even harder to preserve the company which has become a monument to their hard work. Surprisingly shares in multiple companies are not often owned by the citizens out of anti-competition laws kept in place by the executives.
- The Extra Corporation: News is distributed by broadsheet newspapers. The largest of which is an umbrella company called the Extra Corporation, in government, it speaks for all of the smaller publications and in effect is a state sponsored entertainment medium, as such it is often cited as being nothing more than a propaganda organ of the corps, however this belies the true nature of the corporation. In fact it represents so many differing publications and opinions the old adage that the right hand doesnt know what the left hand is doing applies. It will often make a grand proclamation only for it to be refuted by the smaller papers in their effort to attract readers with contradictory ideas. However it overall has a secondary effect on society, that of encouraging self improvement, skepticism and an enquiring mind, as it takes after the religion of the Founderssons.
- Other Guilds and Executives: There are many other guilds who have been added on over the centuries to the Guild-Hall. They will be detailed as and when they become important. The reader should note, that it is possible to buy a seat as Executive of the governing body, however as the currency of Lancet is Mannarite Bullion, the most valuable substance in the known world, that this would mean exchanging Mannarite to buy a seat at a much larger Mannarite economy.
Culture & Society:
WIP (What kind of people are you, what are your unique traditions and such?)
The people of Lancet are a colorful sort.
Slavery has been abolished after much lobbying by the Founderssons and resulted in the Welfare act which enshrined in law the already wide practice of employees buying shares in their parent company. Now small numbers of shares are bought by the company itself for the employed at the time of contract signing and once every year known as “Shares Day” employees spend their dividend in pubs, taverns and barbecues.
Magic & Technology:
By far the most important invention of Lancet is Mannarite-Alloy sometimes referred to as Mannarite-Bullion. This process renders the Mannarite safe enough to be transported and useful enough to be melted down and used as a magical reagent. However too much purifying of the Bullion has resulted in Mannarite gas which is highly unstable as many a mage has found to their cost.
The Founderssons, the military arm of Lancet are known to be cavalry users. Though often with two paladins sitting on one mount. Their mount is magically imbued with the ability to change form whenever it suits them. These mounts can take the form of horses when on land, battle-walrus when on sea and the sure footed snow-leopard when on mountains or when making attacks as part of a charge. These mounts are rare and valuable and are made by a proprietary process by the Research and Development arm of the magical university within Lancet; Castellan Chartered University.
Golem-ships: These coal-steam powered ships are constructed to contain golem souls and instruction parchment. Thus the ship is fully self aware and capable of taking actions faster than a ship of sail. These are used primarily as ferries to take passengers safely across the river that divides the city. They were first developed as a military invention however the practical applications to the civilian market were quickly capitalised by house Grint and others following. Golem-ships are known to humm contently to themselves as they ferry passengers across. Some even still contain the parchment of when they were in military service.
Military Overview:
WIP (Explain your military power. What are your orders of battle? What's your doctrine?)
The Founderssons represents the only military/monastic order in Lancet and huge resources are spent on this small but highly elite group. Each of them is a blacksmith or stone cutter as befitting those that worship Industriousness. They are quickly able to erect defensive constructions such as walls and towers that are not just functional but also pleasing to the eye and extremely enduring. Founderssons constructions have the reputation of extreme reliability and the fortress-monastery in the city center has many additions to it which are added and demolished and re-added frequently.
When mounted on horseback it is common for two Paladins to ride on one horse due to the difficulty of training the cavalry. One Paladin is in charge of the reins and sword while the other will mount a Mannerite-Alloy canon, which resembles a knightly lance, the tip of which is replaceable once fired.
Additional Info:
Lancet has many canals and waterways dug out of the soil that feed it with fresh resources by canal boat.
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