Reishi Oligarchy
The Reishi Oligarchy is a collection of six noble families from Korosa, Airyith, and Ardglass. These heads of each of these six families act as a council that controls matters of state on the island. Currently, the Meretincelle, Abither, Broveron, Andires, Vernilet, and Raze families hold the six seats. The Oligarchs handle lawmaking, diplomatic affairs, and the maintaining of Reishi's environments both natural and social. However, as each family also owns their own business on the island, they tend to control monopolies over those given fields as well. For instance, the Abither family handles the slavery scene on the island almost unilaterally.
Structure
The Reishi Oligarchy is headed by a council of six people, each the head of their own noble family on the island. Members of an Oligarch's family usually hold positions of authority, or at least respect, but some authority is occasionally given to other noble families; in Reishi, anyone wealthy enough to own and maintain a respectable estate in Korosa is considered a nobleman, and any who live in smaller homes or in a home they do not own is a commoner. However, because all official responsibility and control falls to the Councilmen, any other ranks below them are not technically official, and only borrow their Councilman's authority.
Ideally, every major action the Council takes should be deliberated by all six members. In practice, however, each Oligarch tends to have responsibility over a specific aspect of life in Reishi, usually one related to their personal business ventures. Each Oligarch is left with a monopoly that benefits them and is generally left alone by the other five unless there are specific rivalries.
Culture
The Reishi are a fundamentally greedy people. Their civilization started as a convenient waystop between various centers of population around the Expanse. Between Veilee and Amahitza, close to many Naga'honu'akua, and between Karnmeny Haven and the Wakague Islands. Its presence in the midst of so many trade routes caused it to naturally blossom into a full on maritime civilization, complete with two towns and a city with a fortress-citadel. This trade-centric evolution has nurtured an intensely materialistic ideology; Reishi people seek out decadence in all its forms, and they need a lot of money to make that happen - money that they hope to get from everyone else in the Asamaline Expanse.
Public Agenda
The Oligarchy's primary goal is to make money, by whatever means they can. They are merchants, operating out of a trade hub, ferrying goods and people across the Asamaline Expanse, and they make no effort to hide their greed or opulence. In this way, the Oligarchy has been compared to a six-headed dragon; slumbering on its gold, snapping at the other heads on occasion, but mostly keeping its hoard safe.
Assets
The Oligarchy has a lot of money, both in individual capital and tax funds stored in their citadel. This money is almost constantly being reinvested into better defenses for the island, sponsoring new merchant guilds to more and more distant locations, paying for luxuries, and paying for those lucky few are employed under them, rather than enslaved.
History
The first Reishi Oligarchy formed about 27 years after Korosa's founding - before that the island was more like five disparate communities each led by the most competent person among their number. This Council originally came together for mutual support during a particularly Demal, and after restoring integrity to the island, they decided to continue working together so that they could call on one another's skills in times of need. Today, districts in Korosa are named after and have statues of the first Councilman to lead them.
After the first council lived and died ~3369, it was decided that the next would be determined though a test of competency: the first Reishi War Game, in which ships battle for their representative house, and the last five remaining ships would win the councilman's seat for their sponsor. In theory, this was meant to show their ability to lead and delegate, but it ultimately paved the way for money to be the primary determinant of success; whoever can purchase the best ship and the best crew wins. With first officially "elected" Oligarchs, the Reishi decided that they would repeat the War Game every ten years to determine if their leaders were still fit to lead, thus laying the succession model for up until this day.
Corruption took the Oligarchy quickly at the turn of the century. After a disagreement over taxation rights, one of the Oligarchs leveraged his power to influence the others into allowing a sixth into the council - one who was secretly sworn to cast their vote in his favor. From there, the responsibilities of the Oligarchs were divided in ways that favored the individual over the whole state, and though that has not yet led to any major issues, some are quietly concerned that a small push is all it would take to overthrow the whole system.
This model continued through the next eight terms as well, and with the tenth election on the horizon, things do not seem primed to Change.
The Bones Warn you Only Once
Maps
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Korosa
Reishi Island's great trade hub.
Founding Date
3353
Type
Government, Leadership
Capital
Alternative Names
Korosa Council
Demonym
Reishi
Government System
Oligarchy
Economic System
Market economy
Location
Controlled Territories
