> In trying to decipher the politics, I looked at the known History of the
> Holy Country and was struck by what wasn't there. We don't seem to have
> any conflicts between the countries or even among officials. The
> Governors of Heortland are usually killed or dismissed by the Living
> God. We don't have any bureaucratic battles (like say clashes with the
> armed forces over the Volsaxi) or feuds with a powerful rival (like say
> the Leftarm Governors). The Lunar Empire and even Sartar have far more
> political infighting.
>
> So my best guess is that the competitive nature of the Holy Country
> Officials is that it's driven elsewhere probably into journeys in the
> Holy Realm and that the Officials are heavily constrained in their policies.
I do like these ideas, though they conjure up images of certain Communist states, both past and present, where people's creative energies are effectively channeled either into sterile talking shops, or exile, or death. Trying to understand Belintar does seem to resonate with the notion of trying to understand Marx - except that contrary to Marxism, regional identity appears to be encouraged rather than crushed.
Politically, the Holy Country appears to be organised more like the EU than anything else in RW I can think of offhand -- so perhaps the success of Belintar's internal politics might be somewhat analogous to a unique mix of the theocratic, the ideological, and the bureaucratic ? Effectively creating a collegial caste of governors, magistrates, ideologues, priests/priestesses, guild leaders, and other similar kinds of club members whose energies are dissipated into who gets to be a member and who needs to be thrown out, and all in a terribly civilised and chokingly consensual manner -- in return for the assurance of personal privilege and wealth ?
The discrepancies you have pointed out could be explained by such a political model, as would the ideology of the whole being a combination of the Five Elements -- some of which could just be plain old political propaganda, although some of it would still be Magic.
Julian Lord
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