This post encompasses a mission using the following storyboard elements:
- Perform administrative duties (1)
- Make all the necessary plans and arrangements for your Clan (4)
Visenya decides to make plans for the future.
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After she had seen to her duties Visenya found herself at that same escritoire, reading and rereading her notes on succession, occasionally nodding in agreement. It had been a good exercise to put her thoughts onto paper. She really was satisfied with her concept of a law of succession, but it was only one part of the intricate web that was a state’s legal foundation. Thus, she picked up her pen, laid out a new sheet of paper and checked her light. Tonight she would write about the office of the head of House Targaryen; its privileges, obligations and duties, along with its role and position in the hierarchy of what would become their state apparatus. She briefly wetted the nib of her pen on her tongue and then wrote her first idea down in bold, underlined letters: Princeps, the foremost, the first in order. Beneath it she wrote, just like before, ‘Aegon I’ and drew a line from it to the names of herself and Rhaenys besides their husband’s. She knew that her sister’s role would be very different from her own, but both of them would have a part to play in the administration of the Targaryen’s sphere of influence.
Monarchism or republicanism was the first question that came to her mind. The Lady of Dragonstone did not doubt that her beloved husband would prefer the former, but it was Visenya’s intention to resist the allure of autocracy and despotism, although she did not consider them and absolutism one and the same. One-man rule could take many forms and she endeavored that theirs would stand the test of time and change, so if the title of king or emperor begat resistance from the populace then she would not hesitate to strike it from her papers. Responsibility and accountability would be the most important problems to consider as far as the Lady was concerned. It was just as important that the lower classes be able to enjoy some rights, tempered by responsibilities, as it was for the classes of premiers to enjoy the same.
Visenya began to scribble ideas of hers in neat bullet points. The title of the sovereign did not much matter, whether it was Archon, King, Emperor, or even Steward, it was the powers of the office that truly determined its nature. Whatever their title this Princeps would be the most powerful and distinguished officeholder in the state, but what would their powers be? They could not be unilateral when it came to decision-making; Visenya did not trust absolute rule even to herself, much less to her far-off descendants. A system of checks and balances had to be instated, maintained by a capable bureaucracy staffed meritocratically, and all of it had to be in alignment with the hereditary model of succession that she had envisaged for the Targaryens. The Lady frowned to herself. Too much power would risk an incompetent or unworthy officeholder, or perhaps one controlled by other factions, which simply would not do. Too little, however, was simply unacceptable, that much her brother had made abundantly clear to her. Visenya grimaced at the growing mess of papers on the desk; it was not as easy to mark the powers of the Princeps without first having considered the modality of the state apparatus at large.
‘To maintain the illusion of pluralism, while ensuring the reality of centralized power’, she wrote under one bullet point. As a well-read woman Visenya knew of democratism and was not entirely opposed to a few of its tenets, some honors could even be granted by lot or vote, but she was adamant that power should rest with the wealth of the nation; the Targaryens in particular. The head of their family should be able to exert influence on all branches of government, and yet still at least appear as if they are subject to them. His would not be a state of patricians, as had been the Freehold, but Visenya was practical enough to admit that it would benefit from many of the properties thereof. By her method of succession, and here she referred back to her earlier work, the office would be held for life, or passed voluntarily to the elected successor by its current holder. They would not enjoy diplomatic immunity, but should sit on the councils appointing judges and magistrates, or be able to appoint representatives to do so in their stead. Perhaps there should be no one office, but a collection of offices that added privileges and rights cumulatively? She considered it for a moment, and then struck the sentence. No, the office should carry weight by itself. It should have veto powers over the legislative and executive agenda, but it should be restricted somehow. Perhaps a supermajority, or something similar, could overrule the veto? If the powerful posts of the bureaucracy and administration were filled with loyal men this would ensure an efficient state apparatus, but even if not they would still need to unite against the family head to restrict their power. Yes, Visenya nodded to herself. That would do.
The Lady of Dragonstone sighed contentedly as she leaned back into her high chair, surveying the fruits of her labor. It had been much more of a theoretical discussion than had the papers on succession, but that was to be expected without her having first considered the framework of the state itself. That would be next on the agenda.