The Confederation of Achthal

Achthal (pronounced ak-thal) is a empire that lies in the mountain range in the center of Euphoria.

It shares most of it's land with the Duradin and most of it's inhabitants live away from it's capital, Pleitsdorf.

History
The Confederation of Achthal has its roots in the very beginning of human history under the name of Aruseus's land. It carried the banner after Aruseus's death and not without good reason as it contained Aruseus's birthplace and the old capital of Leris, now Pleitsdorf. Although its claim to legitimacy was initially disputed and it faced an invasion by Briskos it saw off the attack well and developed a reputation of unassailability with its strong mountainous defenses. Briskos was forced to develop an independent culture for Leon to prevent it from being merged into Aruseus's land. Boarder skirmishes between Aruseus's land and its neighbors became common but rarely developed into full blown wars though it fort numerous wars against Greenskins.

However the focus on foreign politics lead to the government loosing control over the hearts and minds of its citizens and revolutionary activity became common place. When necromancery began to threaten the land the only way of maintaining its security was a program of devolution to areas of land. And so was born The Confederation of Achthal. Over its years it has fort many wars, signed many diplomatic agreements and has developed a internal political system as deep and murky as the north sea.

The Emperor
Although the leader of Achthal is known as an emperor, the post is elected by the four elector counts (those of Scroy-Noroy, Awegon, Ausfenz and The North) with each secretly voting for one of the other candidates and the candidate with the most votes being elected.

The Imperial Diet
The imperial diet is a gathering of nobility to form a consensus as to the actions. Although the emporer is not technically required to accept the guidance of the diet each state reserves the ability to succeed before a new law is enacted so the last time an emporer refused to accept was a vote divided nearly straight down the middle on the legalization of Kaisianism (the belief formed by Mariet Kaisa that people could communicate directly with the gods).

The diet is made out of 100 nobles, one from each allodium (estate controlled directly by the emperor) with additional seats distributed to the controllers of the biggest cities according to the latest list of population sizes (which is often out of date).

As part of the great compromise of 968 their are now two subsections of the Diet, one for those aligned with Kaisianism and one for those aligned with The Holy. A majority of both must be established on religious matters.

Law
Law in Achthal is informally known as 'lucky-dip law' both because of inconsistent application and because the ammount to which it relies upon 'the gods' (in practice lady luck) to do much of the judging. This is influenced much by the other saying that 'the law is where the empire and the confederation do battle'. The thing is that while the law is officially set by The Emperor it is enforced by the local government who have their own priorities. Add various writs and grants given out by successive emperors over the centuries and stir for a thousand years and you will end up with something that looks like the imperial legal system - or, in other words, a complete mess.

To demonstrate this look at a man accused of theft in Ausfenz. He will be rounded up by his preist's lackies where upon they will ask the god of truth what to do with him. Now this becomes a popularity contest where the god is forced to do the thing which will make the fewest withdraw their support and so the typical knee jerk reaction is to order a public flogging regardless of inocence of guilt. As however the decision is usually delegated to an angel or even an archon so justic is lucky dip even there.

Meanwhile if you live in Pleitsdorf then you are entitled to justice by a jury of your peers and will most likely to be fined.

Newspapers

 * The Falling Standard of Public Morality, an easy to read newspaper that contains little in the way actual journalism.

Postal Service
In most of Achthal (including Awegon and Ausfenz) the state owned Confederation's Mountain Post has, by law, a monopoly on the handling of mail and even where it doesn't (including Scroy-Noroy and The North) it is normally preferred (at least for long range mail). It operates two main routes, one between Reisdorf and Ausfenz which less reliably goes to Noroy and east Ausfenz and another crossing the north from The Petty Kingdoms to The Freeholds of The North (this last route is very unreliable and slow but this is a natural product of operating in The North).

It delivers between its regional offices (each covering a city and the surrounding area) very well but until recently it would only allow people to leave letters at the office so as to be collected (equally you would have to give a letter in at the local office). Recently it has started offering delivery to the door but this mainly relies upon local companies which have variable reliability. If the recipient doesn't have a local delivery company then The Confederation's Mountain Post will attempt to deliver it themselves which they very rarely do quickly and most of the time don't do at all.

As mentioned, heavily populated areas (i.e. cities) tend to operate their own local postal service. Unlike The Confederation's Mountain Post these ask for payment from the recipient allowing them to operate a network of boxes into which letters can be placed. They deliver reliably in the local area but most will not deliver beyond their catchment (the others will give the letter The Confederated Mountain Post but only after payment has been made for their handling and that of The Confederation's Mountain Post through delivery to an office or one of many complex mechanisms).

As mentioned The Confederation's Mountain Post does not have a monopoly in Scroy-Noroy where many different postal services compete (at times violently) to service the Roy valley. It is a perpetual struggle to keep the route in operation at all and it would have been abandoned if it was not for the fact that it connects to the postal route into Leon. Other companies compete for the titles of fastest (the upstart Schnell Mell); most reliable (Severous's Post operated by the oligarch Reinoud Andries Severous who has repeatedly been accused with attempting to frustrate the operations of other mail services); widest area of service (Post Universel which operates as far afield as Leon); and cheapest (Send Sten operated by a merchant who has recently graduated into oligopoly).

The Freeholds of The North have also refused The Confederation's Mountain Post a monopoly but relatively few alternatives exist with Check being the only viable alternative for most letters. It is a half company half community scheme where by a nominal fee is paid to leave a letter at a Check office where people travelling to the destination can pick it up and take it to the Check office at their destination. A letter will often be bounced around many Check offices and take months to actually reach its intended destination. All in all Check makes The Confederation's Mountain Post look veritably efficient.

Nobility
Note that the information provided is only general and probably does not apply in Scroy-Noroy or The North and only partially in Ausfenz (with copious insertions of priestly titles). They will typically work in Awegon and in The Petty Kingdoms.