Power is personal. Ultimately influence springs from an
individual’s personal charisma and natural authority. This is shown nowhere clearer than in an examination of the Baron’s
role as ruler and monarch of the City.
All Barons since the first of the line have received a verdict from
history dependent upon the strength of that personal authority, and with what
degree of success they managed to imprint it upon the City.
The doctrine underlying the Baron’s position depends upon the
acceptance of the paradoxical theory of the ‘ruler’s two bodies’. The Baron is understood to exist as a
private individual, owning lands and drawing income from them as any other
citizen might. Just like any other
citizen he is bound by the laws and legal codes that he creates as the other of
his incarnations; that of the institution of the Coronet. The Baron also exists as a representative of
the institution of government, the supreme ruler of the City. In this capacity he creates laws and
dispenses justice, makes war and peace, and conducts all the other business
expected of a royal figure.
In theory at least the Baron is a titled noble of the Empire,
still nominally subject to the Emperor.
This monarch is a distant, almost mythical ruler who dwells beyond the
travels of all but a few in the City.
He presides over the decaying fragments of what was once the
civilization of the Precursors. Once
the Empire was a magnificent edifice, extending its awesome power and influence
over many leagues of rolling hills and misted mountains, beyond even the
reaches of settlement today. However,
the destruction of the capital city of Karath-Din in a series of violent
tectonic disturbances fatally undermined the integrity of the civilization, and
it broke apart under the accumulated weight of its own scale and
complexity. The former nobles of the
Empire have carved out for themselves their own fiefdoms amongst the debris of
a fallen civilization, paying scant attention to the Emperor and his meagre
scraps of land. Thus the City remains a
barony, even though the destruction of the society that brought it into being
has allowed its barons to adopt for themselves powers monarchical in their
scope.
However, the theory of Empire had not been totally
abandoned. It provides for the Barons
an invaluable justification for their rule.
They are held to have been appointed to their position by the Emperor,
and rule their lands at his behest.
Such theories contain a kernel of truth, but buried beneath layers of
confusion and obstupefaction. In
practice few believe such a tales, but philosophers of royalty have yet to
invent more sophisticated models. The
absorption of the Order of the Hammer into royal administration led to the
appearance of theories that held that the Baron draws his power from a divine
mandate i.e. one from the Master Builder, but the divorce of the Order
caused these embryonic theories to crumble back to the dust whence they came.
Hammerite doctrine has only retained some foothold in the
question of the Barons’ powers. Here
both traditional and Hammerite opinions are in accord; they are absolute. In theory at least, the Baron retains
absolute power over every man, woman and child within the borders of his
realm. He sets laws, deals judgement,
makes war and peace, mints coinage and carries on other such business of
governance. He is the court of final
appeal, the arbiter of all disputes, and the sole power in the barony.
Theory dictates that a Baron should use this power wisely and
fairly, voluntarily submitting himself to respect the rights and privileges he
has granted to certain groups or institutions, and undertaking to rule in
accordance with the will of the people.
This does not represent an admission of the role of his subjects in
governance; instead, it is a statement that the Baron enhances his own power
and reputation by ruling in a manner concurrent with their wishes.
However, how does theory relate to practice? The answer is that although the theory is
widely espoused by all, there are very few indeed who would undertake to
vigorously assert its veracity. The
truth is that the Baron cannot rule absolutely. Although it would be excessively emphatic to say that he is
dependent upon the consent and co-operation of the nobility and gentry, it is
certainly the case that no Baron has ever ruled successfully without paying
close attention to the interests of these social and political groups within
the City.
These interests have varied from generation to generation, but usually consist of a desire for an increased role in governance, and an increased flow of patronage from the royal purse. Patronage is the Baron’s main means of keeping the nobles in check and bending them to his will. By dangling the lure of reward before the nobles the Baron can encourage the best and brightest of them to compete for his favour. That favour is
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The Baron can also call