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A Monarchy done right?

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So this is something Ive been kicking around for a while.  I want to make a Monarchy that works for the long haul, one that has checks and balances to avoid the typical pitfalls.  I like the monarchy idea in the sense that a single person who is trained and molded from birth to be a Leader could potentially be far better prepared to actually Lead a nation than any ladder climbing elected official you could find. 

I have a basic Medieval fantasy setting, high magic (ie. its common enough to be used in everyday life, with the occasional significant Artifact).  The MC is a crown prince, heir to the throne, and is about to set out on a traditional Pilgrimage to gain training in each of the Six and One Circles (6 schools of magic, plus those that master the Body ie. martial arts).  This is supposed to determine which school he is most suited to learn, as well as theoretically grant him insight and exposure into the People he will one day rule.  Political power is feudal, built around a few Major Houses and many more Minor Houses.  Each school is organized into its own Guild (with its own internal structure) but each has single Leader that is considered the most powerful of that school. 

So how would you balance a Monarchy to prevent future corruption?


I figure the three archetypal pitfalls are:
a) a Tyrant King, one who loves the Power for Itself and ignores the Responsibility
b) a Puppet King, one who bows to political pressures, or parrots the orders of another interest rather than Leading in his own right
c) a Reluctant King, one who has been made king against his will

Some thoughts Ive had so far:
A Constitution:  a charter document/treaty that sets up the framework.  This is what establishes the Rule of Law in the land.  But there needs to be some binding reason for all the houses to play by the rules.  Expecting the houses to keep each other in line only lasts until enough band together against it. A past Tragedy only lasts as long as the memory is fresh.   A Common Enemy could work. 

Trials:   The idea is that Heredity is not enough, a future King must prove himself powerful enough in one of the Circles to defend the Land. I figure each of the Major Houses will be able to put forward a Candidate as well as the Prime candidate chosen by the Current King.  The King's Heir would get priority, and the others would be considered if he fails the Trials.  Or maybe he has to defeat them all as one of the trials, to prove directly that they are the most powerful?

Training:  I had thought of adding a Secret Society whose duty is to train and prepare the candidates, but they would need to be totally devoted to their Duty of preparing Leaders.  They'd need to have absolutely no personal ambitions, or be innately incapable of taking power.  Otherwise they could eventually grasp for power themselves and become the worst Puppet-masters.  Perhaps an intelligent artifact or spirit guide of some kind?

MClark:
Shucks, where to start? This is the sort of thread that could descend (or ascend if you like that sort of thing) into long arguments about history and theory of government.

1. Monarchys don't have a good track record of governance. Most of the decent places to live now a days are reasonably functional republics of some type. It seems kings need some check on their power, which tends to become a parliament of some kind.

2. A written constitution is one way to go, but you have to have people that really believe in it eg a Washington that steps down after two terms. Jefferson, Adams etc had a sense they were making history ("OMG, we're doing all the stuff Locke, Rousseau, Hutcheson talked about. We better not frell it up!") I think other countries tried a written constitution after the founding of the USA and it didn't work out - presidents seized power for life, got deposed, another president seized power for life etc.

3. Another way might be a sort of meandering system of customs, each sort of created in response to a previous crisis. The tryanny of King John caused the Magna Carta. The 100 years war and constant heavy taxation gave parliament the right to tax. (not sure exactly about that one). and so on. And sometimes its what people thought about the custom that mattered, eg its the legal interpretion of the Magna Carta that matters, not actually whats written in the document.

So I guess, in terms of believability:
1. this is our system and we are committed to making it work.
2. revered heroes that lived by the system.
3. it may not be perfect, but its better than civil war.
4. despots don't stay benevolent, so system to block the king's power, eg parliament or council of Houses, or something. 

Trainers - maybe not a secret society, but members of a minority with little power, eg Buddhists in India or  Jews in medieval europe. Maybe the member are eunuchs or they live by rigid ascetism - no meat, no sex, no drinking, etc.

Quantus:

--- Quote from: MClark on May 22, 2012, 05:10:48 PM ---Shucks, where to start? This is the sort of thread that could descend (or ascend if you like that sort of thing) into long arguments about history and theory of government.

1. Monarchys don't have a good track record of governance. Most of the decent places to live now a days are reasonably functional republics of some type. It seems kings need some check on their power, which tends to become a parliament of some kind.

2. A written constitution is one way to go, but you have to have people that really believe in it eg a Washington that steps down after two terms. Jefferson, Adams etc had a sense they were making history ("OMG, we're doing all the stuff Locke, Rousseau, Hutcheson talked about. We better not frell it up!") I think other countries tried a written constitution after the founding of the USA and it didn't work out - presidents seized power for life, got deposed, another president seized power for life etc.

3. Another way might be a sort of meandering system of customs, each sort of created in response to a previous crisis. The tryanny of King John caused the Magna Carta. The 100 years war and constant heavy taxation gave parliament the right to tax. (not sure exactly about that one). and so on. And sometimes its what people thought about the custom that mattered, eg its the legal interpretion of the Magna Carta that matters, not actually whats written in the document.

--- End quote ---
Precisely.  This is why I want to see if I can design one from the ground up (rather than something the evolved by trial and error, like most historical examples) that can work and last and not end in tragedy.  I am of course taking full liberties to arrange the circumstances (resources, enemies, magic, etc) however I need to make that work, so it may not be all that applicable to a real-life situation.  If I need a horde of monsters on a border, magic artifacts of great power, or killer silver spores falling from outer space (pern reference), I am comfortable with that.  If the King is extra powerful because the Throne is an artifact that gives him control of the magical Defense Grid, maybe thats a reason why Parlament never marginalizes the position


--- Quote ---So I guess, in terms of believability:
1. this is our system and we are committed to making it work.
2. revered heroes that lived by the system.
3. it may not be perfect, but its better than civil war.
4. despots don't stay benevolent, so system to block the king's power, eg parliament or council of Houses, or something. 

--- End quote ---
#3 could probably be said for any government. Though I am thinking it makes a stronger Society if the fear is of Invasion instead of Civil War.  Societies are almost always held together by some common Fear, and a threat from Outside tends to bring people together more than "Threat from Within" which keeps them suspicious and divisive. 

I had counted on at least two Council's being major political powers:  a 7 member council comprised of the leaders of each Guild, and one for the Houses (which will have some mix of the handlful of Major Houses and the dozens of Minor houses, possibly in a Council/Senior Council format).  Both could serve as anchors to balance the power of the Throne, but what would the Purviews of power be, and where would the checks and balances come into play?

Councils are not any less prone to abuses and corruption than a single point of Power, they are just larger and more difficult to move.  Any change to the Status Quo is guaranteed to be met with opposition, and thus be faced with deliberation.  This naturally slow process makes it harder for any individual's extremism to gain traction, and corruption takes longer to set in.  But that is a Peacetime system, in wartime it is crippling.  In wartime the singularity of Authority and Command is key to rapid response and clarity of purpose that is vital to a war effort.  The secret is finding a balance, and in making sure everyone agrees on the definitions of Peacetime and Wartime and who gets to decide that.  Otherwise you may get a Caesar that refuses to give up his Wartime Powers.

The Succession is going to be central to the story, so those details are of particular interest, but the system as a whole needs to be there. 


--- Quote ---Trainers - maybe not a secret society, but members of a minority with little power, eg Buddhists in India or  Jews in medieval europe. Maybe the member are eunuchs or they live by rigid ascetism - no meat, no sex, no drinking, etc.

--- End quote ---
A social minority would be the most likely to produce a dissident that would seek to corrupt the system for his own (or the minority's own) interests.  If the trainer is a publically known group, it should be one with enough standing to not /want/ to be the king or control the king;  they have to love the system enough to want to reserve it.  A secret society has the benefit of a more selective admissions system, that could potentially weed out those without sufficient Idealism for the task. 

I had considered a monastic order, but even if they are maimed or otherwise rendered oviously incapable of sitting on the throne, they could easily sway to wanting to puppet the king.  Again it seems to come to motivations;  the teacher needs to be somebody with the wisdom and perspective to raise the potential candidates to use Power respionsibly, without ever being tempted to take that power for themselves. 

An intelligent magic Item could do it, maybe a sealed soul of a Founding Father. Or maybe some non-human spririt that racially has a usefully extreme psychology. 

I dont mind resorting to Magic where lasting Neutrality in needed, but Id like to minimize it where possible.

LizW65:
One other issue is that the bloodlines of monarchies tend to become inbred after a while, with the same few families all marrying each other.  Maybe there could be a clause or requirement that allows for commoners to marry into the royal family, just to mix things up (and to add some perspective with an outlook that isn't insulated by wealth and power.)

Quantus:

--- Quote from: LizW65 on May 23, 2012, 02:37:33 PM ---One other issue is that the bloodlines of monarchies tend to become inbred after a while, with the same few families all marrying each other.  Maybe there could be a clause or requirement that allows for commoners to marry into the royal family, just to mix things up (and to add some perspective with an outlook that isn't insulated by wealth and power.)

--- End quote ---

A good point, but in this particular world I dont think that inbreeding will be big a problem.  Family is important, but less because of the Bloodline than because of the organization.  Magic is the standard of Power, in the same way that Power was about martial prowess back in the day, and later became about economic power.  But power is not strictly passed by heredity, in strength or school.  So a weak Seer could give birth to a strong Elementalist, and vice verse.  Thats the idea behind the drive to prove yourself worthy in a Trial.  The value of a Family is less that you inherited anything specific from you parents blood, but that you were raised in the traditions of leadership and government.  Its Nurture vs Nature.  So I figure adoption would be a common practice whenever a promising youth was found.  Marriage would very widely by House, as some would be open to letting their scion marry for love, while others might pressure them for a political marriage. 

There will be a group that is universally pitied and/or looked down upon:  The Lost Stars (also called the Nameless, derogatory).  This will take a little explanation.  The Theology of the world is based on Astrology, which is complicated by the mass of debris ripped from the two moons each time they get too close.  The sky is filled with a massive layer of tiny asteroids that bounce around, skipping off the atmosphere or burning out in it.  Each person is believed to have a personal star somewhere in the sky, that mirrors/predicts/determines that persons fated path in life.  The Moons are the Twin Gods, the Standing Stars (what we think of as stars) govern the physical laws of the universe, while the Sun is thought to be a hole in the universe, from which all things spring and which all things will eventually return.  The Sun is also viewed as being under the world, which everything else will eventually fall into.  I havent decided on the role of the planets, but Im thinking they will be less important Gods, ones that are farther away because they dont care about mankind as directly.  Anyway, each person has a star somewhere up there (unknown to them unless they have a rare Seer's gift) that they were supposedly Born under.  One of the big reasons family is important is because they are present at the moment of you birth, and so only they can know what you were born under and tell you, in the form of a SkyName.  Those raised as orphans would not have anyone to tell them their SkyName, which is a fundamental aspect of their Identity.  As I write this I have realized two things:  The parents would probably tatoo the name on the child as soon as possible, and being born during the Day would probably be considered bad luck, so methods to control the timing of a birth would probably exist, though they may be derided as interfering with Fate, and so be a black-market thing.   

Breaking out of the insulation of Wealth and Power is a central theme.  The MC is the Crowned Prince about to go out into the land for training.  The Law says he must travel to learn Magic and the ways of the people.  For his (relatively benevolent) family this means traveling anonymously to experience the world as commoner would.  Other Families have different interpretations, so another might make a more courtly tour of it, with more pomp and ceremony and less attempted understanding.  Traveling with the MC will be a common born Martial Artist mentor figure that was bodyguard and confidant of his father, and a Nameless Elementalist that will be companion and sidekick. 

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