: Sili,do you know if Alric (as leader)had any other
: authorities? I mean if he went and ask help from the
: Berserks or made contact with the Fir'bolg?
: Or was the Nine something like a modern govement?
: And what about Mauriak?
Weeelll...that's a large area to cover, and probably just about every Myth fact ties into it, so you'll need to do some assembly no matter what I or anyone else says. Maybe Forrest will take three minutes and put together a ten-page diagram of Myth governments one day. :-)
The Province government, at least for a century or so before TFL, was a standard feudal monarchy (so far as we know)--Kings over nobles of various ranks over commoners. Before the war, Caliban or his predecessor was king. Alric wasn't born yet. Individual Avatara (according to GURPS) generally held the rank of nobles and probably had some govermental responsibilities, but The Nine as a unit wasn't an official part of the government. The fir'Bolg sat in their forest and attended to themselves. The Dwarves sat in their mountains and attended to themselves. The Berserks were an independent state which allied itself with the Cath Bruig in return for not being taken over completely.
When Balor destroyed the Cath Bruig empire and had the Ghôls take the Dwarven cities, the Berserks became fully independent, though they continued to fight. The Dwarven refugees who ended up in the Province presumably became nominal subjects of its king, since they had no political organization that we know of. Zerks, Dwarves, Skrael and Forest Giants gradually accepted the Province as their coordinator, at which point the Great War began in earnest. The Nine were still high-ranking "officers," though; not the leaders.
Now, I disagree with GURPS about the next bit. GURPS has Caliban arranging a truce with the fir'Bolg *after* the destruction of Madrigal. But the journal has Mauriac being prince regent--which should mean Caliban was dead--while Madrigal still stood. And the Myth comic has a panicked rookie Mauriac stumbling around through the wilderness before the fir'Bolg truce.
So as I see it, first Caliban, the current King of the Province, arranged a truce with Ou'Kahn, great king of the fir'Bolg. At some point after this but before the destruction of Madrigal, Caliban died while Alric (his heir apparent and probably his son) was still too young to assume the throne. Mauriac, as a trusted noble and perhaps a relative, became Prince Regent.
Following the destruction of Covenant and Tyr, when it became apparent that there wasn't much Province to govern any more, the Nine finally took over the Light as, I suppose, an oligarchy of sorts. Alric ascended to leader of the Nine, either because of his royal birth or simply because his competence was recognized, and we have the state of affairs seen in TFL. The Nine were apparently expected to come to a consensus before making any major political decisions--at least, we never saw any evidence of strong internal conflict. The leader would act more to sway one side or the other than to actually order the other Avatara around. Lesser matters, like the coordination of various military forces, were left up to individual Avatara.
Presumably there were a lot of magical and non-magical higher and lower nobles in the government as well--a whole country can't be directly run by nine or less people--but major political overtures like the truce with the fir'Bolg or Berserks were probably conducted by the king himself. Most of those cultures are fiercely proud, after all, and would want to speak with the Province's highest authorities rather than a lower-down envoy.
That's all I can think of off-hand; I'm sure others can contribute more.
--SiliconDream
