How was the templary organized? Did game levels truly correspond to "rank" as presented in the Dark Sun rulebooks? Were there clearly delineated rank structures and detailed echelons of authority? How many templars were there? What exactly were their uniforms and insignia beyond the black cassocks? Did they even bear rank insignia? Did the different bureaus organize themselves differently (with different titles of rank) or were they more or less uniform? How many "high templars" were there? Were there simply six high templars as T. Denning seems to have it, or were there more, as the City-State of Tyr supplement has it (or does the increase in number [and change in title] simply signify Tithian and the revolution's changes)?
These and further questions along similar lines seem only to have, too frequently, rather vague answers, and therefore I would be delighted to read what anyone has to offer on the subject, or perhaps even what they have come up with on their own. Unfortunately however the answers to many of these questions are tied up with other problematic issues, which seem to me to be subject to debate themselves, such as questions regarding the actual population of Tyr (and the satellite villages) for establishing some sort of quantification for the number of templars actually possessed by the Tyrant of Tyr. Hopefully however investigation into these templary questions might spurn others to investigate still other problems.
And there are certainly many more questions. Was there an official "second-in-command" in the city? What was the templary's relationship with the Senate? Who actually attended the king, and what services might they have provided him? Were any templars aware of Sacha and Wyan, or for that matter knowledgeable of Kalak's genocidal personal history? What might have been some of the operational details of templar affairs abroad, such as spy and assassin rings operating in the Seven Cities against enemies of Tyr? Was there an elite body of templars who dealt with the monarch's more personal requests, such as the acquisition of arcane materials for the construction of the ziggurat, or for the production of 10th level spells?
Well, these are enough queries into realms of high nerdery for now. Again however, it would be most helpful if anyone had anything to offer concerning these various issues. Happy Dark Sunning!
Present some ideas for people to comment on. I think you could go either way, 6 high ranking templars were all that was left of the ranks towards the completion of Kalaks ziggurat(he was frustrated and killed them in an eyeblink--we saw this in the novels), they could have expanded again after he was removed.
You could just make the ranks a bit more larger 8-12 high ranking templars.
Fluctuating numbers depending on what Tyr was up to: Kalak shut down a lot of the city's main activities to build his ziggurate eg he closed down the iron mine one less high ranking templar.
The templars answer to Kalak, who officially answers to the Senate, but the Senate has become little more than an advisory council to Kalak. They can pass laws, but Kalak has to approve them before they go into effect. And while the king can not propose laws, he has lackies in the Senate to do that for him. It is interesting that Kalak, known as “the Tyrant”, is one of only two SK to maintain a facade of representative government.
An interesting question is why does he allow the Senate to exist? It is fairly obvious that the Senate is a hold over from pre-Kalak Tyr. I believe that Kalak originally got his political power from the Senate. He entered Tyr as a warlord and restored order and security in a city that was being torn apart by the effects of the Cleansing Wars. In gratitude, the Senate made him king, giving him control over security of the city and command of the army. Kalak now control the city through his templars, who were originally officers in his army. But again, I have to wonder why does he allow the senators to act as though they still have any power?
In my personal campaign, the people closest to Kalak are not templars, but a cabal of defilers and psionists. Each one is a personal student of Kalak’s. These men and women act as his personal enforcers and “kitchen cabinet.” While there is a high templar who is Kalak’s spy master, the cabal employs a number of spy rings and mercenary companies that operate without the templars’ knowledge.
All in all, I think the government of Tyr is pretty muddy, and that is the way Kalak likes it. The more his templars and the senators fight each other, the less chance of them ever turning on him. Plus, I think he gets off on manipulating people and watching the little games they play, all the while know he can crush them anytime he wants to. :evillaugh
I thought you were trying to make us insane at first until I read the end of your post and Kalak likes to keep it confusing(muddy). Excellent stuff I am going to use that.
The templars answer to Kalak, who officially answers to the Senate, but the Senate has become little more than an advisory council to Kalak. They can pass laws, but Kalak has to approve them before they go into effect. And while the king can not propose laws, he has lackies in the Senate to do that for him. It is interesting that Kalak, known as “the Tyrant”, is one of only two SK to maintain a facade of representative government.
An interesting question is why does he allow the Senate to exist?
From the Wanderer's Journal, page 14:
"The Nobility
The nobles control the farms and the water of the cities. Usually, each noble family picks a senior member to sit on a parliamentary council. In theory, these councils act as advisory bodies to the monarchs, but in reality they are little more than administrative bodies through which the king passes his commands to the aristocracy.
It is not rare, however, for the interests of the nobles to be opposed to those of the templars and/or the kings. On such occasions, the advisory councils sometimes find the courage to voice their opposition. When this happens, a flurry of political assassinations usually follows."
This excerpt is from a general description on city-states, so a senate or an advisory body of some sort seems to be a common feature to all Seven. These councils apparently serve the SKs as an administrative apparatus for governing the noble class, which is reponsible for a city-state's vital resources; I believe that's the primary reason why Kalak allows the senate to exist.
It is fairly obvious that the Senate is a hold over from pre-Kalak Tyr. I believe that Kalak originally got his political power from the Senate. He entered Tyr as a warlord and restored order and security in a city that was being torn apart by the effects of the Cleansing Wars. In gratitude, the Senate made him king, giving him control over security of the city and command of the army. Kalak now control the city through his templars, who were originally officers in his army.
Andropinis allegedly became Balic's dictator that way, so it's entirely possible that Kalak's reign came to be in a similar manner.
Though I can't name the source, I recall reading that the noble families are descendants from the Champions' lieutenants and major supporters. I think that the senate was conceived as way of keeping these important people happy ("docile", in Kalak's view). This doesn't necessarily clashes with your ideas: Kalak's senate may be a reformed ruling body that was based on something that already existed on Tyr, but which was remade less influential and entirely filled with Kalak's men.
Doesn't Nibenay also have some kind of voted in council?
Nice research.
Doesn't Nibenay also have some kind of voted in council?
yup I remember them to be rended blind and able to communicate only via psionics
Thats Balic
"large and breathtakingly complex bureaucracies"
I thought you were trying to make us insane at first until I read the end of your post and Kalak likes to keep it confusing(muddy). Excellent stuff I am going to use that.
I’ve always enjoyed using the bureaucracy against PCs. The characters in my group are trying to establish a trading house. They have faced assassins, raiders, and the obligatory traitor from within, but what do they talk about the most? The time they spent three days of game time and several hundred ceramic pieces in bribes to get a permit to buy iron from the mines of Tyr; only to find out they did not need one. The player of the party’s half-giant still threatens to give “the wookie treatment” [mimes ripping someone’s arms off] to every templar in the city.