The Nation of the 3 Lilies 1: Government

The Nation of the 3 Lilies

The lizard man Nation of the 3 Lilies (this name is a translation, the
reference is to an early lizard man leader and explorer who compared
the inhabited asteroids to lilies in a pond) sits in a large asteroid
field.  The nation started as an alliance and then joining of three
large asteroids inhabited by lizard men.  From that base the nation has
grown, inhabiting and terra-forming the asteroids in its territory and
increasing its population, including adding non-lizard man citizens.
The 3 Lilies themselves form a sort of triangle that was the original
boundaries of the nation and still encompasses most of its territory.
When the nation first came into existence there were no other inhabited
asteroids within the triangle.

The Government:
     The Nation of the 3 Lilies is governed by a council of
representatives, one each from Sucking Mud, Watery bog, and Swamp Mire,
the 3 Lilies.  Sucking Mud’s representative is a hereditary king.
Before they entered space Sucking Mud’s population had already been
united under a single ruler.  The king still has absolute authority
over local Sucking Mud matters.
     Swamp Mire is ruled by a council of elders, one from each tribe
(village).  Each tribe has its own way of selecting its elder and the
elders select a representative from Sucking Mud’s population (to date,
always from the council of elders) that is its representative to the
national council until the council of elders decides to choose a
replacement (by law, this cannot be for at least two years, however, to
avoid annoying the other members and preventing any action).  If the
representative is a member of the council of elders, they must resign
their seat on the council of elders (their tribe sends a replacement)
to the representative (they can choose to refuse the position, though
this has never happened).
     Watery Bog is locally led by families (which run back to the
ruling families of powerful tribes before the lizard man population was
united), each of which controls an industry.  They, in turn, meet
together to make larger decisions, leading to a sort of hereditary
guild rule.  Additionally Semuanya’s church has two representatives and
the local marine and navy forces each send an advisor.  This group
chooses a representative for life to the national council.  In
practice, they either choose someone from outside their own number and
families or a member of Semuanya’s church to represent them (whenever
someone from Watery Bog enters the church clergy they must give up all
family affiliation—this is a matter of pride since the church was
instrumental in uniting the lizard man population peacefully so they
take this very seriously).  Watery Bog is the most likely to have a
representative that is a member of the clergy (in fact, their current
representative is).
     Other colonies govern themselves locally but no allowance for them
to join the national council has been made.  The halfling colonies have
made no request to do so and none of the lizard man colonies has the
political or economic power to force the issue.  Since the government
and nation have stabilized in their current arrangement (and three
representatives prevents stalemates on decisions) it is unlikely things
will change even if a powerful colony arises and wants a seat.


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