Three Weeks For Dreamwidth: Three Weeks for Worldbuilding - The Governors in Unicorn/Factory

[aldersprig]

...what "common knowledge" or assumptions about the Governors is? Are they government officials? Factory owners? Something stranger? What's their history?

In the Unicorn/Factory setting, Industrial progress is led by the Towns & Factories, which are led by Mayors and Administrators. They, in turn, are led by the mysterious Governors.


The Governors are casually spoken of like elected officials might be, although they are not elected and nobody is quite clear how they are chosen. A certain lack of curiosity about the Governor Council is very strongly encouraged, and, since they understand people, for the most part the Governors are heard about when they are passing out Governor Baskets (a seasonal treat to all City and Town-dwellers and a more Village-wide gift twice a year in the Villages). They don't govern much directly, despite the name, preferring to let most of the unpleasant work belong to the Administrators of the Factories and to the Mayors of the Towns and Cities.

Grannies especially, and those that learn from their grannies rather than from society, tend to call them Them Up On The Hill. The Governors' Conclave sits high on a hill, after all, mysterious and unapproachable.

There are theories about where the Governors come from: they are ordinary people, living ordinary lives, who sometimes vanish for a day to do Governor business. They are captains of industry. They are kings from strange lands, or Queens. Since those who serve the Governors and deliver their will to the Administrators and Mayors say nothing - indeed, claim complete innocence of any knowledge at all of their employers - it's all speculation.

What is casually known is that the ultimate decisions on laws comes from the Governors, and the plan for the cities and towns is theirs as well.

---

Written to kelkyag's prompt here. I'm past the three weeks but I'm still gonna do some more worldbuilding. Have a question? Ask it here!

Comments

[thnidu]

1. No pic: broken link.
2. The Governor's Conclave → Governors'
  Can't have a conclave of just one.

[aldersprig]

And comments on the story? *gentle reminder*

Also - pic works for me. http://crazy-frankenstein.com/free-wallpapers-files/castle/edinburgh-castle-wallpapers/edinburgh-castle-hill-wallpapers-1024x768.jpg

[thnidu]

When I paste the link directly into my address bar, or into a text processor and click on it, it works, and is quite impressive!

But when I click on it in the post or the explicit link you just gave, I see only this (screenshot):


And WTF? In the "Comment Context" view that I see now, while typing the comment, I see it there!

ETA: And now that I've posted (v.1 of) this comment, I see it in your post too.

The image of the castle is 1,024px × 768px = 208.57 KB (213,580 bytes). Maybe it exceeds some DW limit...?

[eta₂: HYPOTHESIS: It just took so bloody long to download 1/5 of a meg. Specifying a smaller size for display, as you did with "width=250" (or maybe that's default, but that's what's in the HTML of your post) doesn't reduce the size of the incorporated file, just shrinks the display.]

(Sorry, but just noticed:)
• What "common knowledge" or assumptions about the Governors is ^?
^ there

[aldersprig]

Hunh. All right, just putting in an image for fun.

I don't tend to grammar check the questions people ask.

[aldersprig]

I have corrected the image by manually resizing much smaller. It should work now.

As a reminder, I prefer comments that address the post first before nitpicking.

[thnidu]

I'm sorry. I was tired, but I should always know better.

[aldersprig]

Forgiven ;-)

[kelkyag]

<pokes><ponders>

What can I conclude from this?

There are Cities, not just Towns and villages.

I think this land doesn't a king or queen (and is it significant that Queens is capitalized but kings isn't?) -- the governors are the executive, and probably also the legislative. The Admistrators we already knew were appointed; I think we still don't know whether Mayors are appointed or elected, but apparently the Governors still give them orders, or at least strong suggestions.

That the Governors' minions claim not to know anything about them is interesting; I wonder if that is true, and what's known of where the minions are drawn from. Wild speculation: being a minion is a fine training position for a future Governor. On the other hand, that assumes there's turnover in Governors and that they plan for it, neither of which is necessarily true.

The bit about handing out Governor Baskets sounded like they did that in person, but the level of mystery involved suggests that's also done by their minions. What sorts of things turn up in Governor Baskets?

Is Factory ownership as mysterious as the Governors?

[aldersprig]

* Cities: yes.

* Queen: no, but this land does not have a monarch, you're right.

* Factory... Ownership? The Governors place the Factories! <.<

* Governor baskets involve some fresh tasty food, often imported - rich cheese, fruits, sausages - maybe a few household luxuries that will last - fine linen handkerchiefs, etc.

[kelkyag]

So this is a dictatorial committee trying to run a planned, centralized economy ...?

[aldersprig]

Yes!

Man, I started off with some angry unicorns...

[kelkyag]

Now you know whose fault it is that they're mad?

[aldersprig]

*snort laugh* Now I do!