8.3 House Government Forms

(See also: HELP AUTOCRACY, HELP TRIUMVIRATE, HELP DICTATORSHIP,
           HELP OLIGARCHY, HELP SUPPORT, HELP CHALLENGE, HELP SUCCESSOR)


Houses may have governments in four primary forms:
Elected Autocracy, Triumvirate, Dictatorship, and Oligarchy.


  +----------+------------------+-------------+
  | Power     \   Number of Leaders in Form   |
  | Handed     \                |             |
  | Down In     \  Single       | Three       |
  | What Way?    \ Leader       | Leaders     |
  + - - - - - - -+==============+=============+
  |              |              |             |
  |              | Elected      |             |
  | Election     | Autocracy    | Triumvirate |
  |              |              |             |
  + - - - - - - -+--------------+-------------+
  |              |              |             |
  | Designated   |              |             |
  | Successor    | Dictatorship | Oligarchy   |
  |              |              |             |
  +--------------+--------------+-------------+


Multiple Leaders and the One More Powerful Leader - The Ascendant
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Triumvirate and Oligarchy have three leaders. In these forms, one leader from
among the three will have more powers (appointments, patron, perhaps a few
others). The three leaders will select one of their number to wield these
additional powers via showing support (see HELP SUPPORT). Each house will
select its own title for this most powerful leader, referred to generically as
Ascendant.


Government Forms Relate to House Leader(s) Only
-----------------------------------------------
All of these forms are concerned ONLY with selecting the House Leader(s). House
Patron, other House positions, aideships, and the like, are otherwise
unaffected by government form, and handled pretty much as they have always been
- by appointment.


Selecting Government Form
-------------------------
All houses were originally Elected Autocracies. Most still are. Several chose
to transition to Dictatorships, and some to Triumvirates, through referendums
and consultation with the Garden in the period immediately preceding and
throughout most of 423 AF.


Later Changes in Form
---------------------
Further changes in form may be undertaken via direct negotiations with the
Garden. We are still considering methods which would allow changes in form
without Garden intervention. This may include peaceful and non-peaceful means.
It may not. We'll see!


(See also: HELP AUTOCRACY, HELP TRIUMVIRATE, HELP DICTATORSHIP,
           HELP OLIGARCHY, HELP SUPPORT, HELP CHALLENGE, HELP SUCCESSOR)