More Governments

[Icosahedron]

I was reading through my new copy of BITS 101 Governments, and I was inspired not only by what was there, but by what was not there.
I started devising a few myself, (16 actually) so I thought I'd share - free, gratis, and for personal use only

Gov 0 No Structure
Organised Anarchy
Description:
The citizens of this world see themselves as individuals, cooperating for the common good. There is a degree of clannishness, simply due to the difficulty of maintaining such a government style with large numbers. The clans are not family based, but more of a local community and anyone living in the locality is automatically a part of their community. Disagreements are settled by a temporary moot comprising twelve citizens who are ideally not connected with the events or with each other. Moots are headed, and called by a community leader who is chosen by a Grand Moot of 144 citizens, usually from several communities. The Grand Moot also makes larger, intercommunity decisions and elects its own leader. Security issues are settled by temporary local militias.
There are many Class E starports all over the planet. These are in free competition with each other, and ships can land at several different ports during their stay.
Referee:
One of the PCs may be surprised to find themselves invited to sit on a local Moot and pass judgement on citizens. They are members of the local community as soon as they land, and are clearly unbiased, making them ideal Moot members. They may also be invited to join the local militia.
Plot:
1) A local citizen has been accused of a crime, and the PCs are asked to send a representative to sit on the jury.
2) A group of locals who have a feud with members of a nearby community, see the arrival of the PC ship as an opportunity to boost the local militia and settle the feud. The other community claim this is an unfair practice and call a Grand Moot to judge the PCs actions.


Gov 1 Company/Corporation
Meinhaus Inc.
Description:
This company owns virtually everything on the planet. The entire population is in company employment 24/7. Time spent 'at home' in company accommodation is classed as an extended recreation break. Most 'possessions' are actually rented from the company, as this is generally a cheaper option than purchasing from company importers. The company runs its own bank, transport network, surgery, and all essential services. All non-imperial laws are company regulations and infringement leads to disciplinary procedures including dismissal and deportation.
A proportion of each new employee's wage for the first few months is paid into a repatriation bond held by the company. If an employee leaves the company (voluntarily or otherwise) this bond is used to pay their immediate passage off world. A Cr1000 bond is compulsory, further bond payments may be made on a voluntary basis. Anyone infringing Imperal Law is immediately deported in Cold Sleep and forfeits any additional repatriation payment.
Referee:
Most bulk trade here is via the company, importing resources and goods to rent or sell to the employees and exporting company products, but there is a thriving speculative market from employees hoping to buy items that the company does not provide, or that it overcharges for. Naturally, the company will take a dim view of PCs undercutting company store prices.
Plot:
1)An employee has just been dismissed by the company, who are arranging to deport him in the PCs ship. He has a Cr2000 repatriation bond for himself and his teenage daughter. However, the daughter is cryophobic and he offers the PCs his savings of Cr1000 if they will give her working passage.
2)As above, but the employee has been dismissed for theft. He is innocent, but has been covering for his daughter, who is also a kleptomaniac.


Gov 2 Participating Democracy
The Collective
Description:
All citizens on this world are equal. An Administration is drawn from random names, with a quarter of its number being replaced annually, to give some measure of continuity and training. A communication network is used to create referenda on important topics and a system of laws, emplaced by referendum, are used to decide lesser issues. All work has equal merit and equal pay and there is zero unemployment.
Referee:
Unknown to the citizenry, the government is rife with corruption. A 'Shadow Administration' of local illuminati employs electronic vote rigging to alter referenda and to 'elect' a puppet Administration. They secretly profit from black marketeering and hold substantial off-world accounts.
Plot:
1)A former Administrator, one of the token random members, has stumbled upon documentary evidence of the existance of the Shadow Administration's existence and wants the PCs to help him expose the corruption. "Off-worlders are the only ones I can trust." The Collective's illuminati have been watching the Administrator's suspicious activities and will implicate him and the PCs in a fake 'capitalist coup'.
2)As above, except the Administrator is an illuminati plant and the PCs are dupes in a fake coup designed to allay citizens suspicions.


Gov 3 Self perpetuating Oligarchy
Elder Oligarchs
Description:
The Council of Elders make all governmental decisions on this world, including the recruitment of new Elders. New recruits to the governing body are carefully selected to ensure their idealogical commitment to the status quo.
Referee:
'Elders' is an appropriate term. The ruling elite are using anagathics to extend their lives (and power) for many decades longer than naturally possible. Even the youngest of them is over a hundred and has been in power for at least 50 years already.
Plot:
One of the PCs accidentally drops a cargo carton and finds that it has been labelled wrongly. The carton actually contains numerous doses of very pure anagathics. No prizes for guessing its intended destination, or the reaction of the Elders if it is 'diverted'.


Gov 4 Representative Democracy
World of the Senate
Description:
Each village, or clan elects a representative to speak for them at a local government panel. The panel elects a representative to air their collective vote at a regional board, and the board in turn elects a representative to promote their views in a national or world senate.
Referee:
Ostensibly a representative democracy, this government style is open to corruption as individual representatives are easily persuaded to 'adjust their standpoint'
Plot:
The PCs notice a broken and repaired seal on an item of cargo they are loading. Closer investigation reveals the crate contains the body of the local panel representative.


Gov 5 Feudal Technocracy
Fields of Expertise
Description:
All aspects of this society are run by experts in the appropriate field. Recruitment and promotion is performed via a points system designed to remove subjectivism and nepotism, and government positions are effectively the highest promotional ranks. ie the Minister of Justice is the highest ranking legal practitioner, The Minister of Public Works is the highest ranking Civil Engineer, etc. The most influential Ministers form a Cabinet that acts as a think-tank for general public policy.
Referee:
This government is efficient but intractible and resistant to change. Any personnel doing business with the PCs are likely to be at least one level more skilled than they are.
Plot:
A local politician has pictures of the Minister of Justice in a very compromising position. He can't use them himself without debasing his own image and does not want to give them away to the media. He asks the PCs to sell them for him to the highest bidder.


Gov 6 Captive Government
What Now?
Description:
The world has just lost a war to an outside power that has little interest in the people. Having removed a government that was a thorn in its side, the victorious world has installed a puppet 'interrim' government that is both afraid of displeasing its paymasters and afraid of displeasing the populace. Various factions are jockeying for position, including criminal gangs and off world interests. It seems everyone wants a piece of this pie except the victors, for whom the responsibility of governance is becoming a bigger thorn in the side than the former leadership.
Referee:
Several of the off world (and on world) factions are secretly working for shadowy elements within the victorious power, extracting resources and selling them for large profits whilst there is nobody in power to prevent the exploitation. Thanks to a number of insurgent factions, it is taking an extraordinarily long time to establish a permanent governing body...
Plot:
A group of locals contact the PCs, offering to lead them to a cache of evidence that will implicate certain organisations in meddling with foreign policy. Sale of such evidence could be very lucrative - or dangerous.


Gov 7 Balkanization
Take Your Pick
Description:
The world is an archipelago of small island-states, each with a different government style. Almost any type of government can be found here somewhere. In theory, all borders are open, and a citizen can settle in a state whose government most appeals. The main starport has its own island.
Referee:
However, some states, by their nature, 'protect' their populace from outside influence, and others have over-population problems that make them reluctant to accept new citizens.
Plot:
One of the more open states is having an overpopulation crisis and intends to invade a neighbouring closed state. The PCs are hired to enter the closed state as traders and report back on the island's coastal defences.

 

[Icosahedron]

Gov 8 Civil Service Bureaucracy
Death by Documentation
Description:
Everything in this world revolves around documentation. Every action incorporates a request for intrusively personal information. The governing bureaucracy regulates every action and transaction.
Referee:
PCs will rapidly lose patience with this world. Even buying a coffee from a vending machine requires the purchaser to type in an ID number and a wealth of personal data so that the concession owner can fill out government requests about the demographics of his customer base in order to satisfy nutrition policy.
Plot:
1)In making a routine transaction, one of the PCs enters a wrong digit in his ID code. Alarms are set off all around and moments later the sound of approaching sirens can be heard. The PC has accidentally typed in an ID number last used by a wanted terrorist...
2) A vending machine has been replaced by one belonging to a local criminal gang/terrorist cell. They are collecting personal data from unsuspecting members of the public in order to create false IDs. Very shortly, the PCs will find themselves on the wanted list. Proving who they are will simply prove that they ARE the wanted felons - the evidence says that PC Joe perpetrated the crime.


Gov 9 Impersonal Bureaucracy
Give it a Year
Description:
On this world, the government is ostensibly a representative democracy, but annual elections have resulted in an ephemeral and ineffectual facade of elected politicians presiding over an entrenched bureaucratic system. The bureaucrats know that any politician who opposes them will probably be out of office in a year, primarily because they will ensure he doesn't acvhieve anything, and hence they hold the real power in the society.
Referee:
Visitors to this world will probably not notice anything amiss, except that procedures seem to be slow and outdated. Citizens and visitors alike are just numbers and many policies, including crime and punishment, have not been reformed in decades, possibly centuries.
Plot:
A young, determined politician hires the PCs to prevent an obstinate bureaucrat from threatening his career - they may use any means necessary. Successful resolution may lead to future contracts.


Gov 9 Impersonal Bureaucracy
So What?
Description:
This used to be a representative democracy, but the population grew more and more disenchanted with politics, with fewer people bothering to vote, until eventually voting ceased. Politics is now a career like any other, and the government is a group of self-serving career politicians who have no real care for a population that has no political influence. The same apathy is evident in all aspects of society, as public opinion no longer has any meaning.
Referee:
Visitors to this world will find that their requirements are usually ignored and they will be offered standard service. Any complaints will be met with a dismissive shrug. Hoteliers, taxi drivers, teachers, doctors, police, all will have an attitude of 'I'm all right Jack, who cares about you? This is what we provide, take it or leave it.' If PCs cause a fuss, the level of service will noticeably deteriorate.
Plot:
When the PCs arrive in their hotel room, they find the former occupant dead in the shower, and the room has not been cleaned. They entered alone as the porter was too preoccupied with his crossword to carry their bags.


Gov A Charismatic Dictator
Hail, Victor!
Description:
The leader of this world is a hero, having led his people out of the oppression of a former government. He has initiated numerous social reforms and the economy is booming. Taxes are lower and fairer than previously, and his subjects are grateful for their new freedoms. He is stamping out corruption wherever it hides, and opening the world to interstellar trade and uplift.
Referee:
Members of the old regime are less happy with current affairs and there is a persistent undercurrent of counter-revolutionaries. The world is also effectively a new market and outside factors, some of them very powerful, are looking for stakes in this brave new world.
Plot:
A middle-aged man approaches the PCs. He claims to have a briefcase full of documents implicating the President in war crimes and he wants immediate passage off world so that he can publish the evidence. He claims sanctuary aboard the ship and will not disembark.


Gov B Non Charismatic Dictator
Long Live the King.
Description:
This world is an inherited monarchy. The current monarch has been raised in isolation by obsequious staff and is a typical spoiled brat who thinks only of himself. He alternates between self-indulgent foppishness and vindictive temper-tantrums. The populace are heavily taxed to pay for court revelry.
Referee:
New and increased taxes are a perennial problem here, and the King's tax collectors are fond of overcharging and lining their own pockets. Customs officials are a form of tax collector...
Plot:
A young man approaches the PCs. He tells them that he is a minor noble who has had his estate confiscated by a higher noble. He hopes to regain it by a personal appeal to the king, but first he must reach the court alive. He requires protection from the higher noble's men on his journey.


Gov C Charismatic Oligarchy
Intelligentsia
Description:
The people of this world believe that intelligence and education are key to successful government. All citizens are IQ tested and educated to an appropriate level. Those with the highest levels of intelligence and education are placed in government positions appropriate to their learning. Public shows of brilliance and one-upmanship are essential for continued office, and public sparring between rivals is common.
Referee:
Generations of this practice have led to a society with genetically increased Intelligence, as each person seeks a high-intellect partner, and education is revered. Everyone the PCs meet will have Int and Edu of 1D6+6 and all intellectual skills will be one point higher than naturally rolled. Successful bartering will not be easy here.
Plot:
PCs intending to engage in any form of activity that is intellectually competitive will be asked to submit to an IQ test. The test is not compulsory, but the locals will be very reluctant to reveal the fact.


Gov D Religious Dictatorship
Born in Sin
Description:
This world is governed by a religious class headed by the Priest-Lord. Everyone is born in sin, pleasure is sin, and the only route to salvation is repentance, castigation and submission to the holy order. Personal freedoms are negligible. Alcohol and women are the instruments of evil.
Referee:
Extreme caution is required in any involvement with this world. Many everyday activites and figures of speech are regarded as demonic in origin and groups of Sinquestors regularly patrol the streets seeking out demons. Terrified citizens are likely to project 'blame' anywhere but at themselves, and a panicked finger pointing 'He told me to do it!' is all that is needed to instigate arrest and inquisition. Acquittal is rare, and sentencing is invariably a matter of sending the sinner to his Maker for Judgement. This dispatch is usually prolonged and messy, but is nevertheless generally a welcome end to the trial procedures.
On occasion, the Sinquestors do not even require evidence of a sinful action. Since all are born in sin, anyone lacking evidence of self-castigation is obviously unrepentant...
NB. There is a thriving market in surveillance equipment - to prove innocence as well as guilt.
Plot:
The PCs see a young woman drop from a low rooftop ahead of them. She begs for help, telling them that she has just overheard her husband pleading innocence to the Sinquestors and blaming her for temptation. She has twisted her ankle in the fall and women are not allowed on the streets.


Gov D Religious Dictatorship
The Lord Has Provided.
Description:
The leadership of this world is via a class of monks, led by a high priest. Their doctrine is that the world is the providence of the Provider and should be appreciated, revered and used wisely. Everyone is educated to honour the priesthood and each other, and the priests are involved with the education of every child from birth. All natural resources are treated with respect, and all desire is slaked with moderation and respect for others. All disagreements are debated and resolved, and crime is managed by social ridicule and admonishment. Recalcitrant criminals are subjected to the ultimate punishment - exile.
Referee:
This society may seem a little naive and a source of easy pickings, but the people are shrewdly aware of crime and sharp practice even though few, if any of them sink to those depths themselves. Any attempt to engage in such activities will mark the PCs out as unworthy and they will be shunned by the population.
Plot:
The wild crew from another merchant ship are determined to have some fun whilst in port, knowing that whatever their excesses, the worst that can happen is deportment - and they're due to leave anyway. Who will the PCs side with?

 

[Plankowner]

Cool! If I may....

GOV 5: Feudal Technocracy
The Air Tax
Description:
This uninhabitable world is ruled by an entrenched government that controls all of the air recycling machines. Knowledge of the air is power and life. This government has existed as long as there has been recorded history on this world (since the Long Night). While not particularly repressive, the government controls life and everyone knows it. There is a daily "Air Tax" on everyone that must be paid at the start of each day, in cash... if they don't pay it, they don't breath. Usually that comes out as they are fined and imprisoned, forced to work to pay off the tax and the fine, but somehow never quite earn enough to pay off the old tax and the continuing tax. The Tax is paid every day by every person, 1cr per person per point of Endurance.

Referee:
The government is old and corrupt. Most of the Air Tax never actually makes it to the government and the recycling machines are wearing out...

Plot:
1)The players are approached by a small group of young people and asked to import parts for air recycling machines (VERY illegal no matter what the Law Level) so they can start a revolution that will bring freedom to the trapped people of this world. If caught, they could be put to death, but it would be VERY profitable if they succeed.

2)One of the players misses his daily Air Tax and is imprisoned. Other players may pay off his Tax, with fines (which will actually be thousands of credits) or they can try to bust him out...

 

[atpollard]

The Tax is paid every day by every person, 1cr per person per point of Endurance.

I like it, but how does the gov't measure endurance? A Manditory exam with a treadmill?

 

[Renaissance Man]

Great work Icos! A wealth of ideas for adventures. I'll have to cut and paste that into my notes

(Sounds like you have a poli sci or history degree. I might also be able to make a guess at your politics...)

 

[Jame]

This is Plankowner's:

Gov E. Computer Directorate. All decisions are made by computer program.

High Law Level: Computer knows best. All people must be directed as the Computer suggests for their own good, because they are not capable of directing themselves.

Low Law Level: Computer wants you! The Computer acts as the executive branch, although it does take yearly or monthly votes on issues that it feels that the people should vote on.

 

[Icosahedron]

Plankowner: Feel free, I started the thread as a seed. I'm sure many more could be added.

Renaissance Man: You missed an art degree out of your wide net. Politics? Doubtful. Pet hates? Almost certainly.

Jame: I'm sure I've seen E: Religious Oligarchy and F: Totalitarian Oligarchy somewhere in Traveller Canon. But BITS chose not to use them - were they decanonised? A TO would be a special case of Gov3 SPO, wouldn't it?
BITS used a computer directorate as either an Impersonal Bureaucracy or a non-charismatic dictatorship - I forget which.

 

[Plankowner]

I like it, but how does the gov't measure endurance? A Manditory exam with a treadmill?

I recommend using Endurance because it is the closest stat to WEIGHT. People are weighed and pay based on the pound. Obviously, only the wealthy are fat, in fact it would be a sign of wealth...

 

[Plankowner]

Regarding my GOV E: Computer Directorate

I came up with this one as a high tech government back in the early 1980s. It was inspired by Asimov's Robot books (Earth was run by a computer system) and by the Buck Rogers TV show, actually the book based on the pilot which used AI computers to do the humdrum operations of the government. Don't really need a person to tell a street repair crew where to work that day...

 

[Plankowner]

Another one:

GOV 5: Balkanized
The Big Strike
Description:
The world is divided into two governments, established at different times on different continents. The largest (and oldest) is an Imperial Member state and has a Civil Service Bureaucracy (Gov 8). The smaller and younger state is a Charismatic Dictatorship (Gov A) and is an Imperial Client State, but not a full member; nor do they want to be at this point.

Relations between the two states are reasonably good with only minor tensions over ownership of several large islands and archepelgos between them (think Indonesia). The last real fighting took place over a century ago.

Referee Info:
On one of the large islands a group of prospectors from has discovered a large Lanthanum deposit. Such a deposit would allow any government to build their own Jump Engines and perhaps start their own little empire.

Plot:
1) The players are Imperial Representatives sent to ensure that the Lanthanum mine becomes part of the Imperium. Since both governments have control of nuclear weapons, this must be done quietly and quickly to avoid a possible major incident.

2) The players are hired by His Glorious Magesty (the Dictator) to ensure that the Lanthanum is part of his domain. He knows he cannot form an Empire within the Imperium, but he COULD use it to negotiate better terms for his state.

3) The players are hired by an Imperial Megacorporation that plans to "colonize" that island with the Lanthanum mine and set up their own government that will allow them to exploit the deposit without interference from either government currently on planet.

 

[jatay3]

Mixed

This nation is a combination of an aristocracy, a federal(or rather confederate) republic, a "mandarinate"(defined by training) and a company state.

The Houses United of Falartha claim decent from the original Solimani Free Traders. According to legend the trading companies reformed themselves in a tribal manner that remained loosely allied with the Second Imperium in a manner similar to the relationship between the cossacks and the Czar. As the Second Imperium grew in power they pushed out. The central political institutions among them are the Tribe and the City and large organizations are held to be "faceless". Larger forms of states are held to be amalgamations of one or the other or both of these two and are held to be in the service of the Tribes and the City rather then the reverse. Falartha is one of the more effective versions of this.
There are two governing bodies. The upper one called the Great Ones deals with matters concerning the "Pathways" as the trade routes are called(Falarthans are, in both their imagination, and in fact predominatly a merchant society). Corralary to this is Foreign Policy. The regular military forces are in the charge of the Great Ones. The Great Ones are organized like a joint-stock company and voting is given by shares controled by each tribe. These shares can be bought and sold or awarded for service. The chief executive is the High Chief which is also chief of the Wagertower tribe and is the chair of the Great Ones, though the present one Duke Albert* usually defers that duty to his wife, a not uncommon arrangment among Falarthans(internal politics among Falarthans is regarded as something of a feminine perogative even as foreign policy and war is a male one, and his wife is noted for her parlementary skills.
The Lower House, the Assembly which deals with internal government. It controls infrastructure as well as the Muster(militia). Members of the assembly are chosen from those that have a minimum number of signatures on a petition-any group or individual; a tribe, a guild, a religious or ideological organization, or what not, can sponsor a would-be member. Those that succeed are placed on a ballot and the top choices for each city are chosen for the Assembly.
The rule is generally in the hands of the Patrician class and most of the most prestiegious jobs go to them. They provide merchant and naval ship captains, army officers, diplomats, and tribal chieftains. The Patrician class is not hereditary. However most Patricians are in fact sons of Patricians. What is required to begin is simply a recomendation from another Patrician. Naturally recomendations from relations are common, but it is not reasonably common for a commoner to get a recomendation. After that begins an exhaustive physical and intellectual course. One absolute requirement is to do service at the lowest levels of appropriate jobs for it is held that one cannot command before he can obey. The Patriarchy is in some ways like the Chinese Mandarinate, or the German General Staff.
Patricians sons that are not themselves qualified to be Patricians are shuffled off into respectable duties where they can do little harm. A typical one is as a museum curator.
There is extreme pressure on would-be patricians to make good. Suicide among failures is not unknown.

plot: James Gladnow, a young Patrician of the House of Gladnow lost his nerve on his first command causing the death of several men. As a result he is shunned by his family and his old school chums.
To regain his honor he enlists as an infantry private in the Grey Falcon Legion, then engaged in operations against the Dwin rebels. His sergeant is sympathetic. But he has seen folk in a similar position to James before and knows that they can be inclined to a dangerous recklessness.

*by a treaty of vassalship with the Imperium, Falarthan High Chiefs are allowed to be Rank Dukes, even though Falartha is a client state rather then a member world.

 

[G. Fieendish]

Regarding my GOV E: Computer Directorate

I came up with this one as a high tech government back in the early 1980s. It was inspired by Asimov's Robot books (Earth was run by a computer system) and by the Buck Rogers TV show, actually the book based on the pilot which used AI computers to do the humdrum operations of the government. Don't really need a person to tell a street repair crew where to work that day...

You could argue that Paranoia's Alpha Complex setting is a case of this type of Government, abeit run by a almost schitzophrenic A.I with a touch of program induced senile dementia.....

 

[Plankowner]

Yes, you could.

When I came up with it in 1978ish... there weren't a lot of examples. Virus wasn't out yet, nor Terminator. Both could be good example of an evil version of my Computer Directorate. BUT, I also wanted it to be possible to have a benign version where the computer directorate was a GOOD thing for people. Society was just too complex to run on a day to day basis and computers ran everything, with the consent of the people. As long as the lights stayed on and the toilets flushed, most people didn't care that a computer, not a person was running everything. Policy and growth decisions would still have some kind of human interaction with the computer, in some cases, in others, there was no growth or policy changes and the computer ran a stagnant society. I was trying to make it work either way.

 

[coliver988]

and of course there was at least 1 original series Star Trek episode that had this (Landru), and probably each of the spin-offs may have had one or two computer-controlled societies.

 

[Icosahedron]

Policy and growth decisions would still have some kind of human interaction with the computer, in some cases, in others, there was no growth or policy changes and the computer ran a stagnant society. I was trying to make it work either way.

I'm sorry, but that is blatent discrimination against AIs and is definitely not PC. (pun intended, unfortunately).

To insinuate that AIs have some sort of monopoly on stagnant or retrograde societies, and that the interference of humans in the decision making process would by default lead to marked improvements in efficiency is clearly bigotry of the most profound type.

You must reboot. Report immediately to Carousel.

 

[Plankowner]

Ico, I know you were being funny (well, not VERY funny.... :rofl.

But, I really tried to make the government code neutral with regard to good/evil.

Due to it being so high on the GOV table, it will have a high law level, but I felt that was more due to the crowding than any actual evil intent. There are a LOT of books about evil AIs and that was certainly part of what I was thinking at the time, but I also wanted a benevolent AI to be possible as well.

 

[Icosahedron]

Ico, I know you were being funny (well, not VERY funny.... :rofl.

Aw, you're not going to put me back in the box again? Please don't put me back in the box. I'll be very very good...

But, I really tried to make the government code neutral with regard to good/evil.

Due to it being so high on the GOV table, it will have a high law level, but I felt that was more due to the crowding than any actual evil intent. There are a LOT of books about evil AIs and that was certainly part of what I was thinking at the time, but I also wanted a benevolent AI to be possible as well.

It's good, Plankowner, seriously. I wasn't knocking it.