Politics

Political History
As with language, politics developed right alongside religion. The first woman to rule the Hydravi was very deformed for the Hydravi people; her skin was a pure black and had a long tail growing from her tailbone. She claimed that this was because God had chosen her as the rightful ruler of the Hydravi and that her appearance was a mirroring of his/her own appearance.

Since she already had a good following for having led the rebellion against the Elves and had found them a sanctuary in the water, most people went along with it, agreeing that she was indeed someone they could see being a dutiful ruler. This was when the Hydravi’s own political structure came to be, starting their own type of autocracy.

This type of autocracy was that or a monarchy, which continued on for many years. Her children ruled once she had passed, as did her children’s children and so on. People easily followed her ancestors, knowing that they were related to the original queen who had been chosen to rule by a divine right.

Before this they had been ruled by a king who had ruled all the races of Harilen. Though once he began giving the elves more rights than the Hydravi, Luminora and many other races that lived under his rule, it led to a major upheaval, which was why they departed from his rule. However what they had made for their political structure was just a remade version of their previous monarchy just with very slight differences.

Political Structure
The Hydravi political system is an autocracy-monarchy. They are ruled by a single ruler at a time that usually has a small court beneath them for building up ideas, and will follow their family’s reign until their time has run out (see How To Gain Political Power for more insight).

It isn’t a perfect autocracy-monarchy, however. The queen’s word is law unless a Deity steps in saying otherwise. The queen’s position on the hierarchy scale is always below that of a Deity, as they are the ones who report what God wants, says, and how everything came to be. If a Deity came down telling them to kill their queen, they would do so without question.

Alongside that point, unlike a traditional monarchy, the family line can come to an end. And that isn’t just to say that it will come to an end if there isn’t an heir to pass on to the crown. Do to the situations listed below, their reign can come to an end at any point, even an hour or day after it had begun. This also strays from the average monarchy – though a single family is always in control, no matter how short their duration in power may be.

How to Gain Political Power
One can’t just go and gain political power. You do not get voted into an office, chamber, or what-not. You are “chosen.” As it was with their original ruler, those who are born with completely black skin or a tail are said to be those who were chosen to rule. Of course many tests are preformed – making sure the tail hasn’t been faked or that the skin hasn’t been dyed – before they confirm that this person is, as they say, a miracle.

The instant a person like this is born or found they are immediately given the power to rule over the Hydravi. Those who had been in power previously are forced to leave their castle and live the commoner life, though most that are kicked out of power kill themselves for being a ‘failure to their family line.’

The new ruler then takes on the crown and rules over the people. Their lineage of control will continue until the next abnormality is born, in which they then have to pass over their control.

At current, their queen’s family has been in control for generations, their reign beginning with her great-great-great-great grandfather. Her family is renowned as the most compassionate and fair rulers since the first queen. Because of this, many people worry over their rule being passed on to a different family. It’s been rumored that people have killed deformed babies just so that nobody would be there to take over the throne.

Laws
The most prominent laws are the same as their religious moral codes. However, some that are not shared with their religious beliefs are:

1) Obey your ruler.


 * God has chosen this queen for us to follow. To disregard their word is to disregard God.

2) Do not speak ill of the ruler.


 * As stated previously, they are our link to God.

3) Do not wander around after the sun has completely left the sky.


 * Danger lurks in the darkness. Guards will be on constant patrol to make sure no one is out.

4) You must have permission to sell at the market.


 * If you do not have the proper allowances, you will not be permitted to sell at the market.

5) Trade with those on land is strictly forbidden for citizens.


 * Only those who have been chosen to negotiate in deals with those that live on land are allowed to do trade. If one is found out to have been trading with those on land, the sentence will vary on the extent of the trade.

Citizenship
Most Hydravi are born into their citizenship and do not linger in other Hydravi kingdoms long enough to warrant a need for citizenship into said other kingdom. However sometimes, be it very rare, there are some Hydravi who look for citizenship in another place.

When a Hydravi is to become a citizen of a new kingdom, they first have to live in that kingdom for a good five to fifteen years before asking for the right. The amount of years they have to wait is dependent on their age – if they are old and nearing their final years, the years are cut down. If they are young and able, their years are the standard fifteen, which they physically have proven they can live out.

After they have lived in the kingdom for their set amount of years, they then have to work in the castle for the king or queen for a year or two depending. This will show their loyalty to the ruler as well as let the knights and other high-ups keep a close eye on the person attempting citizenship, so as to make sure they aren’t someone who cannot be trusted.

Once all of the steps have been completed they can then go to the king or queen and ask them their permission to become a citizen. Everything is looked over and checked out for about a week’s time after this, and then they announce whether or not they have been allowed to join their kingdom.

Trade
The Hydravi very rarely do trade with anyone outside of their kingdom, though occasionally will do business with other Hydravi kingdoms. For the most part their biggest trade item is jewels and precious stones that they otherwise couldn’t obtain aside from through trade.

Not just anyone can trade however. Those who trade in the kingdom to the citizens can only do so by obtaining a sales permit which says that they have been approved by one of the treasury’s people, proving them to be a guaranteed honest and trustworthy salesman.

For those who do business with other kingdoms, they have to go through a lot more of a process, having to prove their loyalty over a four year period as a salesman to their kingdom as well as a personal servant to the king or queen. Once they have proved their loyalty they are allowed to go off into the waters and do trade, as they can now be trusted not to sell potentially vital things to opposing kingdoms or bring back trapped goods.

Since the trading business is the Hydravi’s main source of income, sales people tend to be the wealthiest in the kingdom, just under those in the royal courts.