Mugrobi Politics

Imperial Power

The Mugrobi monarchy is based on a family line, with the current line tracing back its "calling by Hulali" (a Mug claim for divine right) for over eleven generations. The current Emperor, Un Fera, is but a boy at twelve years old and has been on the throne for three years, his mother, Queen Behta val-Dinah, having passed away after supposedly contracting the Plague during a humanitarian visit to Fen Kierden to assess the situation of the disease herself. Her husband is not of the royal bloodline and thus the rulership fell on the shoulders of their eldest child.

While technically a monarchy under Emperor Un Fera, Mugroba as a whole would likely best be considered a merchant republic, if only because the Emperor is currently a child and the current Speaker of the Civic Assembly is considered his Guardian and Voice. Though the boy is allowed to speak his opinion and overrule anything he'd like at any time, he is perhaps a little over-advised by the various heads of current political parties. Legally, the cities and towns and villages all answer to the imperial crown, they are all independent and autonomous in terms of local policy unless called upon by the Emperor for a national emergency. This means that Thul Ka, the seat of the crown itself, is the most powerful and well-defended city in the nation. When the Symvouli of the Six Kingdoms, the Crown opens Thul Ka to its delegate visitors and policy makers while the Emperor returns to his more public residence in the Ashu'tei Palace built in the political center of Thul Ka for that reason.

Mugroba isn't quite an absolute monarchy, for while the Emperor of Mugroba wields a substantial amount of power, the every day tasks of policy-making and jurisprudence are left to a mixed-party system, with individuals elected based on their wealth, influence, and so-called merit within the merchant and upper classes, jostling for position and representing a myriad of different political parties.

The Civic Assembly

It is a settled fact that merchants love to haggle. It is also a truth universally to be seen that when merchants found a city and make up so much of its history, politics, and culture, that the spirit of haggling with endure and shape the governance of that city. Thul Ka is no exception, nor is the rest of Mugroba.

The Civic Assembly, the secondary governing body of all of Mugroba, is famously argumentative and divided into factions. So too is Thul Ka and the rest of the Kingdom with merchant families and farmers vying against each other and against powerful labor groups, the ancient patrician families, imperial interests, and dozens of other factions. Political life in Mugroba is neither simple nor quiet and the Kingdom's reputation of internal squabbles quarrels is well deserved.

At the present time, the Civic Assembly majority is formed by a coalition of two of the political parties: the Brotherhood of the Crocus, representing the traditional merchant interests of increased trade and civic functionality, and the Worshipful Company of Pipefitters, representing the interest of labor and industry. This coalition is itself tenuous for there are great points of division between the two parties and though each needs the other to stay in power, it is unclear if that necessity will be fruitful.

The rivalry between the Crocus-party Mayor Bulu Erlu Bandu and Boss Jakali of the Pipefitters is well known and the subject of considerable comment and speculation. It is widely believed that Jakali is preparing herself to run for the office of mayor of Thul Ka though she officially denies this. Nevertheless, Pipefitter organizers have been unusually assiduous in drumming of support and lining up voters ahead of the elections.

Other parties in the Assembly have capitalized on the fragile truce and are even now growing support. The Fat-Purse Party, advocates for cutting services, lowering taxes, and doing away with the traditional power and influence of the merchant guilds, have been making inroads among the smaller merchants and business people, siphoning off some of the traditional supporters of the Crocus. At the same time, the bellicose and radically anti-foreigner Bull Elephant Party has been making inroads as well, making allies among those who demand greater public security in the face of an influx of refugees and the looming threat of revolution in Anaxas.

Main Political Parties

There is something strangely appropriate that the only money used in Mugroba should be a foreign coin, the Concord. Doubly so now in these days of the currency crisis. Agreement is rare in Thul Ka, and faction struggles with faction to expand influence and power through means both fair and foul. Quarreling is a birthright in the city of merchants and debates on policy, religion, the price of spices, or the inevitable decadence of young can be heard in both the great public forum of the Assembly and in the thousand coffee houses and wine gardens that grace every neighborhood. The fortunes of the factions rise and fall like the tide, and sometimes a faction can sweep all before it or leave nothing but scourings and devastation in its retreat. It has happened before, and may happen yet again, for these are dangerous times in Thul Ka.

The political parties of Mugroba, those associations of the like-minded and ambitious, govern much of the political climate of the capital and outlying cities as far as the Muluku Isles. Many of the parties are old, having histories that date back centuries. Others are much younger and represent new modes of thinking and new concerns. Strife between the parties is common and the ancient enmity between several of them has led to violence and private wars which have seriously inconvenienced life in Thul Ka and the rest of the Kingdom.

The influence of the parties extends well beyond elections and the Assembly chambers. Newspapers, of which there are many, are often aligned with one party or another, serving as public mouthpieces for party opinions and members. Coffee houses, social clubs, wine shops, and others are also often affiliated with a particular political party so that it is possible for one to live a full and rich public life and never leave the comfortable sphere of like-minded politics.

There are many parties in the Kingdom, some major players and others minor. Below is an accounting of the major parties in the city along with their positions, leaders, and chief rivals and allies:

The Brotherhood

Trade built Mugroba; trade sustains it, and trade is its future, or at least that’s what the Brotherhood of the Crocus maintains. The Crocus is an old party in the city of Thul Ka, having its origins as a trading consortium some three centuries ago. Though it began modestly enough, the continued wealth of the spice, perfume, and cloth traders that form the essential core of the party has been such that is has grown in power and influence to the point that it now rules in Thul Ka, if not the entire Kingdom beneath the boy-Emperor's nose.

The Pipefitters

Mugroba is alive and Thul Ka is the heart of the entire Kingdom. Canals, pipeworks, pneumatic tubes, and roads: all of these meld togethe, creating a necessary circulation system. If at any point the arterial flow was to stop entirely, the rest of the Kingdom would surely wither quickly. Those that keep the heart beating and the vessels strong make up the Worshipful Company of Pipefitters. The chief industrial and public infrastructure leaders that make up the Pipefitters have strong suppor, especially among the working classes.

Fat Purse Party

If wealth is virtue, then the accumulation of wealth is a positive good. It follows from this that any diminution of wealth is a great evil. This is the ancient foundational belief of the Fat Purse party and if results are any judge, then it is fine and stable foundation. The currency crisis that seems to be hitting the Kingdom of Mugroba with the spread of the Plague has dealt a noticeable blow: though they are out of power now they still command many seats in the Civic Assembly and there is every possibility that they may reclaim their former prominence in the next election.

One Sun Party

The One-Sun is regarded as the most liberal and progressive party in the Kingdom of Mugroba, to the point of being derided as utopians and dreamers. They generally take these criticisms with a laugh and return that at least they can see a better and brighter future for the Kingdom. In these days of political unrest and turmoil, especially as the Symvouli winds down one cycle and everyone looks toward the next, some view the positions of the One-Sun as dangerous in the extreme, inviting discord and chaos into the usually insular and non-interfering Kingdom.

Bull Elephants

Strength and honor are not just words to be thrown about, the are the foundation of sound and enduring policy. The Bull Elephants take this to heart, for the strength and honor of their great desert Kingdom are of paramount importance. Suspicious of foreigners, of alien ideas, of the unrest and discord such things can cause, this party is one of the newer and possibly loudest parties in the city, rising from relative obscurity with the growing dangers of the plague now that foreign aid and interference has begun to encroach on Mugrobi life by leaps and bound.

Little Anaxas

In the northern parts of Onzur’s Bazaar in Thul Ka, near the towering walls of the Gatehouse, a growing community of Anaxi exiles and expatriates has settled. Far from the more comfortable and rich comforts set up for those politicians and delegates who follow the cycle of the Symvouli from Kingdom to Kingdom every ten years, Little Anaxas is shelter for the discontent and displaced. The small refugee population currently has no representation and no voice in the government of Mugroba save for those ears they have bent in their favor.

Other Political Influences

While none of these groups are quite large enough to be considered an official political party in Mugroba, they all have their important influences on the laws and policies of Mugroba, each vying for the Emperor's limited attention span whenever possible:

The Children of the Fish: The Good God bless us and keep us from our folly, is a common invocation to Hulali, one oft repeated by the Children of the Fish when assembled with their peers. Religious conservatives, the Children of the Fish are very much concerned with moral rectitude and all that, often seeking to reform holy days and set aside funds for the maintenance of holy sights across Mugroba.
The Patricians: The great families of Mugroba, those shining examples of privilege and the lustre of history, play no small role in the political and social life of Thul Ka. In the Assembly they command no fewer than 60 seats by ancient right and hereditary privilege and their influence extends well beyond.
The Imbali: Because of their long and separate history as pariahs and exiles the imbali have formed their own political identity distinct from the rest of Mugroba and Thul Ka. Often allied with either the Crocus or the Fat Purse, there is some conflict over the liberalization of the spice trade as well as conflict between the traditionalists and the post-exile Imbali. Their numbers are few and their acceptance in the Civic Assembly are still very limited, but they are growing in boldness and influence.

Jurisprudence

The Court System of Mugroba consists of small, local courts appointed by the mayor of each town, village and city that is under galdori government. Humans and wicks have simple systems of tribal or local law, usually meted out by whoever is in power, and those who live in the cities such as Thul Ka are subject to the legal structure of their Neighborhood, but are afforded no representation. The Imbali handle their own cases in their own small courthouse on The Turtle, although oshoori are given no opportunity for representation among their own peers.

Mugrobi Law