The Marches leadership

The Marcher spirit will not allow anyone to claim authority over them. They will follow a leader they respect, but they refuse to be ruled over by anyone. This belief is at the core of the conflict between the market towns and the marcher households - the townsfolk fundamentally have no say in Marcher politics, and that rankles.

Agriculture is the basis of political leadership in the Marches, and power is vested in those who work the land. The Marcher Households are groups of yeomen who have given loyalty to each other. They are led by one of their own, chosen by themselves. This leader is called their Steward and that title is appropriate for both men and women. Even a single yeoman may call themselves steward of their own household, and have a direct voice in the leadership of the nation.

Anyone who owns farmland has the right to call themselves a yeoman, and only they have a voice in Marcher politics. Owning farmland is considered a great responsibility; it is the duty of the yeoman to ensure the best interests of everyone who lives and works on it.

In times past, a Household would be responsible for the defence of all the members’ lands, so it was practical for members to live near each other. In modern times this requirement is less important, thanks the the existence of the Imperial armies, and the lands claimed by a Household may be scattered throughout a March. Smaller Households often swear loyalty to larger ones, partly to further cooperation between Households and partly to increase their political power.

Leading a territory

The steward whose Household controls the largest amount of land - including that controlled by any smaller Households who declare their support for them - selects the Senator that will represent that territory. It is more common for the steward to appoint one of her supporters to the Senate than to fill the seat herself, simply because Senate business can be time consuming and distract a steward from her duties to her household.

The competition to appoint the Senator for a March can be very fierce. The larger Households in a March compete with one another to have the largest number of landowners under their banner, and as with so much else in the Marches the results of these selections have caused bitter feuds and sometimes open conflict.

The traditional method of determining who selects the Senator is for every interested yeoman to gather together in an open space. Each steward in turn then either declares themselves a candidate for the election, or declares their support for another steward. Support is measured in "Marks" which reflect the value of the combined farmland as assessed by the Imperial Civil Service. This valuation reflects not just the actual physical size of the combined farmland their Household controls, but also its quality.

The candidate with the largest support selects the Senator. These meetings tend to be rowdy affairs, with much barracking and the occasional insult. Once a steward has declared their support, they cannot change it; some cautious stewards have been known to hold back a portion of their votes so they can see which way the political wind is blowing, but this is considered a cowardly tactic by many.

Merchants, miners, craftsmen, priests and the like are forced to rely on neighbouring Households to speak for them in the political process. Over recent years, there has been growing dissatisfaction in some quarters about this arrangement, but it represents one of the oldest traditions of the Marches and is unlikely to be changed any time soon – attempting to do so could well split the Nation in a disastrous civil war.