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The City of Phoenicia, while part of the Cassandrian Empire, is an Minarchal form of Government where the Citizen -- Awakened or not -- is expected to be his own Master. After various forms have been tried and they all failed to govern after two or three Centuries, some even a decade. Although the history of Government in Phoenicia is almost the entire history of the city itself.
A Minarchy is a governmental framework that is kept as small as possible. The government that is set up in Phoenicia is the latest government system, the last being a Psiarchy of the Awakened. The Minarchy expects an extremely limited government where the government expects the individual to govern himself.
The State is expected to make sure that order is maintained and is given three tasks: defending the citizen in times of war, making sure that the few laws are enforced and that punishment is meted out to a criminal, and ensuring that society in the city grows.
A History of Government
Phoenicia is built on or near Neolithic ruins and elvish ruins. It is also built on an ancient Dwarven city and a hobgoblin city. The history of Modern government in Phoenicia starts with Phoenix himself.
The Monarchy is the most efficient government, and was first set up by Phoenix when he first laid down the first foundations of his city two thousand years ago. The group settled a little out of the flood plain of the Phoenix Falls, on top of which were the ruins of a dwarven city. His people set him up as a king over them and the Phoenician Dynasty flourished for about 500 years. The city grew above the falls, converting a dwarven museum into a palace.
The Phoenician Dynasty ended with the invasion of an army of people calling themselves the Hebrews. These people sacked and razed the city, and the city fell to ruin until it was resettled by the Hebrews 50 years later.
Phoenicia was set aside as a city of refuge for the man accused of Manslaughter. Murderers weren't welcome, and the government was based on a Judicial system where the people would be governed by the Judges -- or the city elders. The city was reestablished as a small village. The people here were governed by the village elders and eventually the city grew. It was only 60 years after the refounding that an army of Aryavartan refugees came into the city seeking solace and freedom from the invasion of their own land -- Āryāvarta. Called the Vedics, they changed everything.
The city began to take on a different destiny as many of the Aryavartans, or Vedics, were Awakened. Although under the new Monarchy of the Hebrews, the population tripled overnight and the city respectfully petitioned to govern themselves. The king relented, and the second Phoenician Monarchy, based on Vedic Rajahism, was formed. The new king was Sahadeva the first, and the Vedic Dynasties was born.
There were three Vedic Dynasties before the invasion of the Archmeniad Empire. Mostly, they ruled well and all major religions were respected but the kings were considered to be Vedic. The Vedic religion was the state religion at the time. Although the Vedic kings were highly regarded, there were a few that abused the Monarchic powers.
One of these was Chandragupta, who had a fear of death and had a pathologically narcissistic personality. His rule was extremely inept, but he was very powerful and the people lived in abject fear of their monarch. To cheat death, however, Chandragupta devised the rituals that turned him into a psionic Lich. As he was converting into a psionic Lich, his officers -- realizing how much of a terror he had been -- sealed him within his own conversion chamber, making it his tomb. Chandragupta is said to be still sleeping in his tomb, awaiting the day when he will escape and begin again his reign of terror over the people.
As such, he has become the city's boogieman -- "Eat your vegetables or Chandragupta will get you!" is a saying to children.
The Archmeniads easily conquered Phoenicia when the Vedic Monarchs became corrupt and inept in their military power. The Awakened had been humbled when their psychic powers failed them against the mundane armies of the Archmeniads. Although the Vedic Armies fought, they were easily demoralized when the armies of Xarox, the King of the Archmeniads; met them on three occasions on the battlefield. The Archmeniads came in and sacked the city and took much of it's Hebrew and Vedic population into captivity.
They set up another king in the city, calling him their Satrap. The Archmeniads ruled for three hundred years under the reigns of Xarox, Xargon, Cyrus, Fairuza the Great, Shahrazahd, and Xargon II. The Awakened were humbled by the Archmeniad invaders, but cultural exchange allowed a great number of Aryavartans -- including the strange Nagaji -- to repopulate the city and to live under Archmeniad rule.
The invasion by Paramonos the Great into Archmeniad Territory allowed for the changing of government again. The Hellenes were welcomed with open arms. The City will not fight, and the people of Phoenicia -- both Vedic and Hebrew, deposed their own Archmeniad Satrap when Paramonos promised that the city will not be harmed if they did not fight him. It would be ten years and then a government was set up. Cassander, one of Paramonos' generals, set up Anaxamander as tyrant. Paramonos also founded a city on the plains of the waterfall called Alexandria after one of his favorite lieutenants.
For the first ten years, the Tyranny of Anaxamander was good for the city. However, the tyrant Anaxamander died in a hunting accident, and his lover -- Nikostratos -- became Tyrant of Phoenicia. Nikostratos was also as megalomaniac as Chandragupta and all the power did go to his head. He declared that Hellenic Religion -- in the form of Academic Olympianism -- to be the state religion and all other religions were persecuted. Nikostratos was feared, and the Awakened were persecuted.
Nikostratos was racist, he felt that Hellenic blood was the purest and should remain pure. He replanned the city, using the Waterfall's escarpment as the bisecting center. This divided the city up into quarters. He then forcibly relocated everyone to their quarter according to their race. He absorbed Alexandria into Phoenicia, and set the Hellenes in the northwest quarter. He called the Hebrews "Phoenicians" and set them up in the Southwest Quarter. He then ordered all the Vedics into the Southeast Quarter, and the Archmeniads in the Northeast Quarter.
The non-humans (elves and such) were granted enclaves according to their culture. The Arcadian High Elves and their cousins were granted enclaves within the Hellenic Quarter. The dwarves and their Asiatic features were granted an Enclave in the Archmeniad quarter. The Nagaji was granted an enclave within the Vedic quarter. The desert elves were granted an enclave in the Phoenician quarter. He then planned the City center of his government to be on top of the cataract waterfall.
However, as more Hellenes were Awakened and walked the Way, Nikostratos was deposed after only fifteen years of his reign.
In order to be more like the Hellenes, the Phoenicians set up an Athenian Democracy. The Democracy would continue another two hundred years along with the Cassandrian Empire. As the Democracy continued, the people realized that they replaced one Tyrant with two thousand Tyrants.
As it continued, small factions within the People worked towards a more powerful government. They began to manipulate the democratic government until a Dictatorship was formed.
Heron was a man from the fabled Ivory Kingdoms. He was set up to solve the problems of the Democracy, and slowly became a dictator. The problems were racial division, problems with the economy, and the Awakened themselves. Through the dictatorship, many of the Telepaths wanted power so they sought to become thrallherds. There were many thrallherds during this dark period of Phoenicia's history. Heron promised unity among the races. He promised so many things, but he couldn't rule effectively.
His rule made him extremely unpopular. He sought to abolish all religion and to replace it with the worship of Reason. He felt that any religion was the opiate of the people and a farce, and they should be denied the right to worship any god. He closed most of the Academies teaching the Awakened, leaving open only a few, as he felt that an uneducated people would be easier to govern. He nationalized the hospitals, providing the promise of free health care to those who needed it and taxed the people heavily for his programs.
He reigned for 20 years, until the invasion of the Pelagasiri Elves. The Barbaric elves wore only animal skins, wielded axes of steel, ate beasts of prey, and thirsted for blood. The armies of the Dictator, so good in the field, couldn't do battle against the Pelagasiri Elves and lost battle after battle. When they came upon the city, they sacked the city and razed most of it to the ground. Heron was taken captive after trying flee to save his own skin.
He was caught. He was then forced to see the brutal rape of his two daughters and three sons before they were killed. His wife was stripped naked and raped twenty times before they slew her. After this, his eyes were gouged out and his testimony of his manhood was cut away. He was then taken captive along with most of his fellow governors to live the rest of his life as a blind eunuch in barbarian elven lands. The people who were left in Phoenicia had to rebuild the city.
The city of Phoenicia was rebuilt and the new government became a Psiarchy, or government of the Awakened. However, this form of government only lasted ten years when the Guru psionic Seer Shankar saw a possible future where the Awakened will become a dictating, racist body. In order to prevent the problem of the past, once again the armies of the Cassandrian Empire were invited in. The psiarchy was only short lived.
After great deliberation, the Awakened had chosen a Minarchal form of Government. They figured that they would maximize freedom and liberty of the individual, and this would create the best society.
They did this by reducing the power of the state considerably. They granted each adult individual Self Sovereignty and each Individual is expected to be his own Master, Governor, and King. They also decreed that each Individual had the right to seek his or her own Education, and that an educated populace governs themselves the best.
People are expected to govern themselves as long as they understand morality and ethics. To this cause, the Psiarchs granted the absolute freedom to all men in the city to worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience. Since then, Phoenicia has earned the reputation as the "City of A Thousand Gods." In a final act, the Psiarchs laid down the laws of the City and then stepped down from government.
The following laws are in effect:
1. No man may murder another. Murder of the 1st degree is an offense punishable by death -- this includes murder for political reasons. Murder of the second degree is punishable by death. Murder of the 3rd degree (Manslaughter) is punishable by banishment from the city and a fine.
2. No man may take another man's wife. Adultery of the 1st degree = Willful Adultery = is punishable by death. Adultery of the Second Degree is punishable by banishment. Fornication with a virgin is punishable by marriage. Gross sodomy is punishable by death (defined as Fornication with your own sex) as many leaders from Phoenicia's past made this practice acceptable and it led to the city's destruction many times.
Sex with beasts is unbecoming and the zoophile is often banished from the city. Rape is especially violent, and the penalty is the removal of the testimony of one's manhood. If the rapist is a female, she is to be killed.
3. No man may take another man's property. Grand theft by nonviolence means a fine and recompense of the man's property. Violent theft is treated as a violent act, see murder above. If no recompense is provided, then the man is imprisoned for a number of years commensurate to the crime.
4. No man may bear false witness against another. Lying in court and in politics is considered an imprisonment offense. A man is hanged for lying (being perjurous) to his peers in court.
5. No man may covet another's property. This is impossible to enforce, and the only way to fight it is through education. Many of the people are educated, and they are educated with an Abundance mentality. Still, those who are accused of coveting another's property are often tried under conspiracy laws.
6. No man is to betray his allegiance to his fellow man. Traitors who seek to change the government from its extremely limited form are to be slain. Traitors who also betray their people to the enemy are also be killed. Conspirators are of this group, and like anywhere else, hide themselves from the populace.
7. No man may commit Witchery against his fellow man. Witchery is defined as the act of casting spells for the purpose of causing mayhem or enslaving another. Magic in Phoenicia is seen as a cop out, however use of magic to cause mayhem and chaos within the city is disturbing the peace. Such people are to be put to death by being put in a hanging cage. Those that use magic to enslave others are also put to death. They are often fed to the crocodiles.