The Silur Kingdom, sometimes called Elvish Kingdom, was an elven nation on Silur.

Structure

Much like its predecessor the Elvish Empire, the Silur Kingdom was based on elven house nobility. Houses, usually consisting of a single subrace, owned land and enjoyed considerable autonomy. The largest houses set basic national policy to make sure everyone went in the same direction, but the kingdom was barely centralized and houses were free to do as they pleased beyond the confines of royal law, which notably forbade inter-house warfare.

Government

The six major houses' matrons sat in the ruling council in Numanobar. They had the ultimate authority in the kingdom and thus had control of the small federal apparatus, which in turn consisted of the executive and legal branches. Judiciary authority was left to individual houses, and institutions recognized by a majority of houses such as certain religious organizations.

Though officially, government powers were highly limited and the various institutions had their specific areas of operations, politics and intrigue made up the largest part of the kingdom's government. Major houses used their council position to leverage other houses and strengthen their position, while ministry officials likewise used their position to exercise influence. The constant contest for house standing was the kingdom's driving force.

Federal Institutions

The ruling council controlled the small federal bureaucracy, which consisted of six institutions called ministries.

The Royal Hunt Ministry was the most important, having the largest budget and the most direct power. The Royal Hunt Master controlled the federal standing army and its levy system, and had the authority to raise units from cities and houses, and could command federal units. Law enforcement in the form of federal institutions such as the Royal Guards, Royal Inquisition, and Royal Rangers also fell under his command. Despite the kingdom's pacifist doctrine, the army's importance was widely recognized and its authority and necessity was uncontested.

The Royal Chamber Ministry controlled all federal buildings and supplies. Though he did not oversee logistics, the Royal Master of Chambers still had immense economic power and was capable of refilling the royal treasury or, in the opposite, drive up maintenance costs. He was also responsible for the armed forces' infrastructure.

The Royal Wind Ministry controlled transportation, the Royal Exchequer Ministry dealt with finances, the Royal Forest Ministry maintained and protected the forests and cooperated closely with the Royal Rangers to enforce its policies, and the Royal Delights Ministry oversaw food production, ready to intervene in case of shortages.

Society

There were two major social constructs: houses and cities. Houses (known as clans in Dwarven history) were political structures ruled by a hereditary aristocracy. Houses had citizens of their own and acted simultaneously as a state within a state, a legislative and judiciary authority, a guild protecting its workers' rights, and a political institutions representing the interests of its citizens on the federal level. Houses were traditionally ruled by a single person - the Matron or the Patriarch - but many implemented political systems of their own, and houses ruled by a democratically elected representative institution were not rare.

While most of the territory was parceled up into house holdings, cities had a different status. They were often host to different houses, and a population of houseless Silurite citizens - "sovereign citizens". Cities were ruled by representative councils, where each house had a number of speakers relative to the number of citizens they had in the city, or another measure. Sometimes, sovereign citizens also had their own representatives. City councils made their own laws and judiciary decisions independently of house laws.

Everything was coordinated and structured by federal authorities and law.

History

The Silur Kingdom was created in 3'922 b. OW, when Ithronel Yeneil brought the Silurite houses away from the brink of chaos and instead established a new state, with a new ideology. The Silurite Alliance had been devoted to rebuilding the expansionist Elvish Empire; but this dream was shattered, and instead Ithronel, at the head of her armies, declared the Silur Kingdom would instead make Silur a safe haven for all elvenkind, isolated and free from the danger and suffering found overseas. The Kingdom was to be a "fey paradise on the material plane".

With Ithronel as the Royal Hunt Mistress, the Silur Kingdom was built up. It successfully restored peace among the Silurite houses and soon enough, it seemed that the peace and politics of the ancient Empire had returned.

The Dwarven Empire began invading the Silur Kingdom and, after a decade of pause, Silur's economy collapsed and the council surrendered to the empire in 444 OW.