The Republic of Mylantium

Politics in The Republic of Mylantium consists in winning seats in Congress and/or winning the Presidency in the Election Round; and voting in Congress to enact or block Legislation in the Legislative Round. Factions directly control congressional seats, Supreme Court seats, and the Presidency. But they do not completely control the voting that gives them the control of the government organs.

In the Election Round there are three sources of votes:

Faction votes: Each Faction has a certain number of votes that it exercises when voting for a Candidate (during the Primary) and for a Party (during the General Election).
Charisma: Each Candidate has a certain number of votes that he or she automatically receives when participating in an Election, reflecting his/her personal following.
Independent Vote: One-third of all votes cast in a General Election are independent of any particular Faction.

Faction Votes
A Faction's votes are entirely within the control of the player. The number of votes he has depends upon which Faction he controls and upon the country's demographics. For instance, the Plutocrat gets 2 votes for each port in play. At the start of the game there are 3 ports in Avalon (in Arcadia, Bevelton and Colchester) and 2 ports in Bicardia (in Brockleborough and Dizzi), and so the Plutocrat has 6 Faction Votes in Avalon and 4 Faction Votes in Bicardia, for a total of 10 National Faction Votes in the Republic. If he were to build another port in Avalon, it would raise his total votes in Avalon to 8 and in the Republic to 12.

To see a Faction's current stats and its electoral base, go to that Faction's web-page.

Charisma
A Candidate's ability to attract votes and followers is reflected in his Charisma—a rating from 1 to 13 that determines the number of votes he/she receives in any election in which he/she runs. Although a Faction controls a Candidate, the Faction does not control the Charisma votes: If the Candidate participates in either a primary or general election, the Candidate automatically receives those votes; if the Candidate is not participating, then those votes are not cast.

Independent Vote
The so-called "independent vote" actually represents factions or interest groups too small and heterogenous to organize themselves as well as those voters studiously independent of any particular party. This bloc of votes is always equal to one-half of the sum of all the Faction Votes in play during an election and are added to the Faction vote in certain key votes. Because these votes lack party affiliation, they only come into play during the General Election. Furthermore, being non-aligned they vote according to their sense of whether the country is headed in the right direction or not. Thus, the Independent Vote splits according to the Approval Rating of the incumbent party. So, for example, if the Independent Vote is 32, and the incumbent party (the Federalists) has an approval rating of 60%, then the Federalist Party would receive 19 Independent votes while the Whigs would receive 13. (Fractional votes are rounded to the nearest whole.)

The current Independent Vote stats (along with current Faction Vote stats) are noted and updated in the government's homepage.

The Constitution does not explicitly discuss Charisma and the Independent Vote. Thus, a constitutional amendment may not eliminate or change the workings of Charisma and the Independent Vote described above.

Party Alignments
A Candidate is always controlled by a Faction, and a Faction is always aligned with a Party. Thus, a Candidate is always aligned with a Party. However, although a Faction can change its party alignment, a Candidate may not. If a Faction changes its alignment at the beginning of an Election Phase it must discard its Candidate; see Events: Losing a Candidate for the replacement procedure.

Each Faction begins a turn aligned with one of the two Parties (Whig or Federalist), and at all times must be aligned with one Party or the other, but not with both. A Faction may change its alignment only at the beginning of an Election Round and subject to the following conditions:

Any Faction that possesses the largest National Faction Vote of all the Factions that are aligned with that Party cannot change its alignment.
A Faction may realign only once in a Turn and must do so before a Primary Election.
A Faction that controlled the Presidency during the Business Phase of the previous turn may not change its alignment.

Approval Rating
The "incumbent party" in an election is whichever Party has aligned with it the Faction that controlled the Presidency during the Business Phase of the previous turn. That party collects a percentage of the Independent Vote equal to the Approval Rating, with the remaining percentage going to the opposition party.

The Approval Rating rises when:

Income Tax is abolished: +16 pts
The Income Tax is cut: (+2pts for each 10%)
War is declared: +12 pts
A war ends in victory: +8 pts
A pension is created: +6 pts
A Monopoly is abolished: +4 pts
A Faction Tax is created/raised: +4 pts
A subsidy is repealed: +4 pts

The Approval Rating falls when:

A war ends in defeat or surrender: -24 pts
Income Tax is created: -20 pts
Income Tax is raised: (-3 pts for each 10%)
A pension is abolished: -8 pts
A pension goes unfunded (-4 pts per unfunded pension)
A Monopoly is created: -6 pts
A Faction Tax is cut/abolished: -6 pts
A War is being waged: -4 pts
A subsidy is created: -3 pts
A scandal occurs: -3 pts
The President failed to transmit Business Round orders to the GM: -30pts

The GM also applies the results of the Conducting a War table to add a random up or down movement in the Approval Rating. He makes changes to the Approval Rating at the end of each turn's Business Phase.

Revolutionary Fervor
Revolutionary Fervor reflects the discontent of the populace with the entire government and socio-economic structure of the Republic. Revolutionary Fervor can only rise, never fall, and is reflected not on a chart but by subtracting Victory Points from the players. With each rise of a point in Fervor, one Victory Point is subtracted from each player's score.

Fervor rises by one point if at the end of a Business Phase:

There are 4 or more monopolies in play.
There is an Income Tax and 2 or fewer Faction Taxes.
There are 3 or more Tariffs in effect.
A cover-up is exposed.
A war is being waged.
One or more pensions went unfunded in the previous turn.

Fervor rises by more than one point if at the end of a Business Phase:

Inflation has occured (one point per $20 created by fiat).
There are more subsidies in effect than pensions (one point per excess subsidy).
A War ends in defeat or surrender (3 pts).
If the President failed to transmit Business Round orders to the GM (3 pts).
A Revolution is put down (3 pts).

All changes in Fervor are cumulative.

So You Say You Want to Start a Revolution
A Revolution begins at the moment that a Faction comes to have 0 Victory Points. This represents the total immersion of that Faction under the oppression of the other Factions, and it always responds violently by attempting to overthrow the Government and install its favored form of government: Plutocrats install an Oligarchic Capitalism; Robber Barons an Industrial Fascism; Grangers an Agrarian Communism; Snake-Handlers a Serpentine Theocracy; the Brass Hats a military dictatorship; the Proles a Proletarian Socialism; the Bureaucrats a Nanny-State Nomenklatura. Rednecks cause the Territory of Avalon to secede from the Republic.

The Causes of Revolution
At any time after adjusting for Fervor a Faction comes to have 0 points, the GM suspends play until the Revolution runs its course.

Revolutions must be paid for out of the Treasury of the Faction attempting the Revolution. In addition, certain Factions augment their Treasuries when attempting a Revolution: Snake-Handlers draw an additional $5 per temple in play. Brass Hats draw in cash 3x the Maintenance cost of each military unit on station or in battle. Grangers take out money equivalent to 3x the number of villages. The Rednecks draw $5 for each city, temple or port in Avalon and also the purchase cost of each military unit on station in that Territory. None of these additions constitute "inflation" and have no further effect on Fervor.

The relevant treasury adjustment is made by the GM at the start of a Revolution.

The Faction that has zero Victory Points is known as the "Vanguard." If the amount of money in the Vanguard’s treasury is greater than the sum of all the Victory Points so far awarded in the game, then a Revolution has successfully begun. If the amount of money is equal to or less than the sum of the Victory Points so far awarded in the game, then the Vanguard has been crushed even before an uprising begins. That Faction withdraws from the game entirely, and play continues as before among the other players.

The Emergence of Counter-Revolutionary Forces
Once a Revolution begins, non-Vanguard Factions immediately begin to act in a counter-Revolutionary manner: Snake-Handler and Granger are given money equivalent to the resources they could have spent on a Revolution. Brass Hat is given money equivalent to 3 x the maintenance cost of all military units on station or in battle.

Each counter-revolutionary player then emails the GM, telling him how much of his Treasury he is contributing to the "Counter-Revolutionary Treasury." If the resulting treasury is less than the Vanguard’s treasury, the Vanguard has succeeded in overthrowing the government and installing its preferred form; that player wins the game. Otherwise, the Vanguard is defeated and withdraws from further play.

A non-Vanguard player may contribute to the Vanguard treasury if he wishes. He gains no benefit by doing so; if the Revolution succeeds his citizens are the first sent to the new gulags.

Money contributed to the Counter-Revolutionary Treasury is not returned to the players.

Periods of Anarchy
Immediately after a Revolution is put down, Fervor rises by 3 points and play proceeds. If, however, this causes another Faction to fall to zero Victory points, then the GM immediately announces that another Revolutionary movement has broken out. Again, the new Revolutionary movement collects money as outlined above; again, he compares the amount he gathers to the number of accumulated Victory Points. Again, if the Revolution is launched, counter-Revolutionary movements deposit money in a Counter-Revolutionary Treasury, except that they do not collect any more money before making their contribution. Again, the Vanguard wins the game if his Treasury is greater than what is in the Counter-Revolutionary Treasury. If he fails, he withdraws from the game, and Fervor rises by 3 points. Play continues unless another Revolution has broken out.

If more than one Faction becomes eligible to start a Revolution because more than one has fallen to zero Victory Points, ties are broken in the following order: Brass Hats have first opportunity, followed by Proles, Snake Handlers, Rednecks, Grangers, Bureaucrats and Robber Barons; Plutocrats lose all ties.

Military Coup
Any time a Revolution is attempted, the Brass Hat may attempt a coup, whether he is at zero victory points or not. This forestalls the Revolution and the Brass Hat becomes the new Vanguard. He collects money for his treasury in line with the rules above but does not compare his treasury to the Victory Points before becoming the new Vanguard. Instead, a Counter-Revolutionary Treasury is immediately collected against Brass Hat. (The Vanguard may contribute to this treasury.) If his Treasury is greater than the Counter-Revolutionary Treasury, the game ends immediately with his victory. Otherwise, he is defeated and withdraws from further play. And as with other Revolutionary attempts, Fervor rises by 3 points.

The Factions whose Revolution he forestalled then attempts his Revolution (unless another Faction who takes precedence has in the meantime fallen to zero points).

Social Collapse
If the accumulated number of Victory Points ever falls below 10, then the game ends immediately with no winner; the Republic has broken down and neighboring countries have intervened to restore order.