Great Council

From MoongatesWiki

The Great Council is based in Britain. Each of the eight towns and cities of Britannia has a seat in the Great Council.

Royal Governance

Under Lord British, Britannia has undergone a great transformation from totalitarian monarchy to representative democracy in what is called a "Monarchic Republic". Britannia is now ruled by the Great Council and Lord British. Britannia was divided among eight major towns, each with its own political faction. Each of the eight towns has developed into a cultural centre for one of the eight major professions and no one is restricted to their town of birth. Each of the eight towns has a seat and vote on the Great Council.

This council and Lord British would begin to build a document, based on nature and reality, that set forth those rights of the people that should never be usurped. British believed that the eight virtues would play a major role in the nature of the document.

Each year, a council member would be elected by each town. That council member would conduct town meetings at regular intervals to determine the problems in the town and to become acquainted with the needs and interests of the people. Several times a year, at regular intervals, the council member would travel to Britain to sit on the Great Council.

Council recommendations would then be presented to British, and he could accept them or object to them. If he objected, his own rules would require him to sit with the council to try and work out solutions acceptable to all.

The Government, symbolized by the crown and the scales of Justice, has its seat in the castle of Lord British, the king.

Interregnum Era

Britannia is now ruled by Lord British' court mage and closest advisor Nystul, who is aided by his apprentice Calinin, Sir Dupre, Shamino and Geoffrey and the Great Council. Lord British is still alive, but he is not sitting the throne anymore. He is rumored to be away to explore other realms because he had to. If this has anything to do with countering future threats for Britannia, nobody knows.

Europa Politics

On the Europa-shard of Ultima Online, there has been an ongoing conflict between loyalists, whom swear their alligence to the King, and the rebels, who strive to "liberate" the cities of Sosaria, and bring about the end of the supposedly defunct Kingdom. The Kingdom of Britannia is a greatly decentralised unit in Europa, with the cities bearing almost full autonomy, free to wage wars at will and set their own laws and policies. To this extent the Great Council is scarcely more than a confederate assembly, rather than the united parliament of old.