The Cretan Government.
June 11th, 2020.
Dear Cousin Julia Elizabeth Adams.
Its Origins.
The Cretan Senate – or as they insist on calling it, the Cretan Gerousia – was formed following the Humble Revolution of 1742. Originally, following the King’s departure, Crete was turned into a maritime republic, somewhat similar to those of the Italian peninsula. The Dogis was elected by the nobility and the Overseers, who were a remnant of the Hero-Monarchs’ time. The Overseers ran the farmlands, and were in charge of administering the peasantry in the name of the Crown, and eventually the Dogis.
However, as urban populations grew, and Crete began to increasingly rely on foreign imports to feed the citizenry, the influence of the Overseers waned. While originally envisioned as a (admittedly lesser) partner to the nobility, capable of contesting decisions and making their will – and that of those they represented – known, their growing irrelevance weakened their ability to affect policy. As the richness in the cities grew, and the farmlands began to be of less and less importance, the nobles became capable of disregarding the opinions of the Overseers, if not outright subverting them. After all, Overseers had a quota to fill every semester, and if the farmlands alone were unable, they’d have to get that income somewhere else.
Thus, the Pacific Council, which had ruled Crete since nearly the beginnings of the 12th century, started to break down. The appearance of new taxes and the increasing of old ones became common, the conscription of young men to serve in noble retinues was taken as a matter of course, and even abuses of the appointed ministers of justice and tax collectors that grew more and more permissive of noble overreach were all facts that Cretan commoners were forced to accept.
And then they screwed it all up.
As you surely know by now, there’s little that Cretans are fonder of than their ability to defend themselves from all the birds of prey that they believe circle their nation. Despite how little the country is, they do not play around when it comes to their freedom. Their defense is paramount, and not something that any respectable citizen will be derelict about.
So, when the War of Austrian Succession came about, followed by the collection of an emergency fund for the building of an extra two frigates to strengthen the Flegómenos Flotilla, there wasn’t a Cretan that refused to cough up the money. The nobles got all the money they would need for the purpose they had given.
Until they changed their mind, spent it on something else, and Crete was set ablaze.
I won’t bore you with the hard specifics of how it went. The peasants revolted, and the army soon followed, likewise incensed by the disappearance of the funds once promised to them. Chania and Gortyna were both sieged and set on fire, only saved from entirely becoming ash by the storms that followed the enraged commoner warbands. Eventually, most of the island fell to them, except for isolated fortresses near the coasts and the estate belonging to Chandax’s Earl, who wisely sided with the rebels. The nobility was cast down, forbidden from ever again directing the country. The Pacific Palace was destroyed, its architectural beauty a reminder of too many abuses.
And the Cretan Gerousia, made up of ‘Overseers’ chosen by the male peasantry and the landowners, would now lead the island.
Its Organization.
It’s gone through some changes as time went on, what with the voting age being lowered from the starting 28, the introduction of suffrage for women that didn’t own land, etc etc, but the general gist remains the same:
Crete has an unicameral legislature, which is made up of 122 senators. They are elected every five years through ranked-choice voting, and sworn in on January 4th alongside the Eklektós, greek for ‘Chosen’, and their equivalent of a President.
The Gerousia is relatively easy to understand, I suppose. It passes legislation, votes on the annual budget, is in charge of ratifying international treaties, supervises the rest of the government, etc. If necessary, they can even limit or inhibit personal liberties for the populace by ordering a state of emergency.
There’s some differences from us, though, and these are the ones that I think you should keep in mind.
First, the budget isn’t solely the concern of the Gerousia. While yes, they are the ones to vote on it or demand changes, the Cretan President actually has the right to petition the Gerousia. He can, for example, submit petitions to request loans, submit requests for sudden, non-permanent (can only last about a year, if I remember right) taxes, and a few other things that allows the Executive to have some leeway with the financial side of things.
Another thing that’s fun about them is that the Presidential Cabinet isn’t brought forth by the President. The Gerousia is the one to suggest candidates (along party lines, normally, though some of them, like the Minister of Defense, are chosen with little care for partisanship), and the President is the one given the right to accept or refuse the suggested member. It’s the same system with the diplomatic envoys of the country, and I imagine you know this bit well, seeing how they pulled out the one in charge of dealing with you idiots.
Keeping up with the President, they also have another nifty power, which they colloquially refer to as ‘Denouncement’. Now keep this one in mind, because I’m almost assured this one fucks up some plan of yours. The Cretan President has the right to attack any public official in the Cretan Government, essentially calling them out for corruption, poor performance, just outright being an idiot, or anything else. While whether or not the figure is actually sacked is left to the Gerousia, the amount of times in which they have refused can be counted in one hand, and none of them happened in the last two centuries. If the Cretan President decides to denounce you to the public, and just so happens to have even the flimsiest proof, then ninety-nine out of a hundred times, the Gerousia won’t wait even a week before throwing you out on your ass.
By now, you probably can guess that the Gerousia has quite a bit of control on how the Cretan state works and functions. There’s a few political theories on why exactly this is the case, but that’s not really something you need to worry about. Instead, let me talk to you about the place where you and the Cretan President actually have some similarities (and where he may have more power than you, theoretically speaking): The President’s control of the armed forces.
Just as in many places in the rest of the world, the Cretan President is the head of the Armed Forces. They are the overall commander of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and even the Gendarmerie. This is mostly a ceremonial thing, realistically speaking. The only Cretan President to actually command a battle was Minas, and that only happened because the very capital was under direct attack from a superior power.
But, as I just said, it is mostly ceremonial. Much like you, the Cretan President actually has the power to engage in military action without the approval of Congress, though only for half the time you can, except in states of emergencies, where they get a whole 180 days. Besides that, the President also has rights to submit bills regarding the Cretan Defense Force, as does their Minister of Defense. While normally this power is only used to call up the yearly batch of conscripts, to allow military exercises, and other simple things, it theoretically allows the President to demand an expansion of the armed forces, the allotment of extra funds for a modernization effort or the purchase of equipment, and such other things. In conjunction with what I mentioned above, regarding the President having the right to put forward changes to the country’s finances, this essentially means that while the Gerousia may hold Crete’s purse, the President has control of a full branch of the Government, and he has the power to demand the Gerousia to pump money into it.
Fun tidbit that I think you’ll enjoy: this sort of happened during the Battle of Crete, though it’s thankfully never been repeated. Minas brought the Queen’s Guard in as a proto-PMC to help with Crete’s defense without consulting anyone (besides his commanders, I suppose), and when the Battle was over, immediately convened the Gerousia and made them pay for the privilege. Seeing how they owed them and all, they didn’t offer much resistance in the matter.
My Conclusion
Knowing you, you probably skipped right to this part, so go back up and actually read what I wasted my time on.
This is a pretty simple overview, obviously, but I think this should give you an idea of why bringing Crete to heel is going to be a problem, unless you go for the meathead solution (which I seriously hope you aren’t considering). The establishment of the Executive’s subordinates is quite dependent on the Gerousia’s consent, which means they have a more than amicable relationship. Anyone in the President’s direct employ was brought forth by the Gerousia, which means it’s nearly impossible to make them distrust the Cabinet, as that would mean distrusting themselves. It’s going to be immensely hard for you to build tension between these two powers. Likewise, the Executive has the power to quickly react to any changes that they didn’t expect (no wringing their hands while the Senate quibbles over the debt ceiling, for one), and, in case you want to go back to the Cold War and try to subvert anyone working for the government, you need to hope you do it before the President puts your stooges in full blast in front of the country, and considering what I said at the start of this piece, you should know pretty well how that would go.
PS: Yes, I did meet the Queen’s Guard. I stayed at one of their lodges for a couple days, while I was doing some of my final work. I’m not a soldier, so I can’t tell you how good they are, but they showed me two things, back then. The first was half a dozen bandons, supposedly kept by the Monarchs after they beat Phokas. The second…
There are records, from the time of the Emirate, which say they measured Mount Ida to be around 2,000 meters tall.
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