RK origins - Counties and the RSA

RK Scotland has evolved since the early days (which I wrote about last month in a late fit of posting). It now has three counties, numbering 4725 souls at time of writing. Galloway was formed August 1455, Ayr in December, Glasgow in March 1456. When Glasgow county was formed the first Irish Colony also formed. Ireland is now three counties also, and larger in population than Scotland. England numbers around ten counties and has maybe three times the poplulation.

Each County is governed by a Council. The Council is composed of twelve members, ten of whom hold positions. They are elected ingame by all residents of the county who are present during the election period. Voters vote for 'tickets' of twelve candidates each. The game mechanism allocates seats on the Council based upon a candidates ranking within their own ticket and the total votes cast. If more than one ticket runs in an election the resultant council usually has members of all of the tickets on it. Elections are held every couple months. The Council Offices include Count, Mine Supervisor, Sherif, Trade Minister, Judge, Prosecutor, Constable, Spokesperson, Captain and Sergeant. The latter two are the 'military' positions.

If a council supports the existence of the Royal Scottish Army (RSA) they will usually place a serving member of the army into the military positions. Ultimately the decision is up to the Count. However, politicians being politicians, even a RSA friendly council will want to keep control over any army set up in its name (each County is able to have an 'official army' led by the Captain or hir nominee, which gains a certain bonus as an 'official' army depending upon the County's prestige). Thus, while a County controls an armoury and the purse strings it tends to exercise a veto over military engagements it doesn't agree with.

In a national army this can lead to situations where the command of the army is held hostage to the political deals and conflicts which are a part of any County Council. And of course, even a RSA friendly Council will get nervous if it has armies controlled by outside organisations (eg. the RSA High Command) wandering through its territory. Thus, even at the best of times the exercise of full command responsibility is a very hazardous affair for the RSA.

Even more so when the County Council is actively hostile to the RSA, it's office holders have raised arms against it (perhaps have even been executed for treason for doing so), and it has ambitious and grasping nobles dictating its actions.

That was the situation in Galloway a couple months ago...