Ashandor

Ever since the 30 years of the Black cult from 314-344, Ashandor politics have been dominated by the fear of abuse of power and the thought to integrate every citizen in the cities business.
One of the first and the main rule that is still in use is that no one can actively work towards becoming an Ashandor official. Therefore no one with a political function is elected, but instead drawn. Every member of the public representation, which actually contains every adult citizen of Ashandor, can be drawn. That means that every citizen of Ashandor can be cast into such a duty and the danger of corruption or bribing is kept at a minimum.
Every post within Ashandor is covered with this procedure. Judges, Ministers, etc. But the most important position is that of the five Archons. In the beginning 24 Archons were put in charge for only half a year. But it became quickly apparent that the huge number and the very short period made it impossible for them to actually make a single decision. The several attempts to reform this system were stopped by the occupation of Ashandor by Caddancia that lasted for more then 400 years. Still in this time Ashandor citizens never saw this occupation as something permanent and continued to develop ideas on how to improve the system. Actually many of those ideas found their way into Caddancia politics, as the larger city has always adored Ashandor for their culture and freedom and always felt sad about Ashandor being bonded so much to Galdor instead of showing solidarity with the much closer Caddancia that also has been a colony of Galdor before.
After the end of the 2nd Capitol War that gave Ashandor independence not only from Caddancia, but also from Galdor, the former system was continued again. The number of Archons was decreased step by step and today they stay in their position for 2 years until another draw is made.
The duties of the Archons are many. They administrate the city treasury, lead the Ashandor troops in case of an attack and last but not least may make suggestions about changing the law. Every decision must be agreed to by at least three Archons. However, a changing of the law is brought to all citizens (the public Representation) of Ashandor before becoming one. The period of two years and the method of choosing the official positions randomly from out of Ashandor citizens however, are not up to debate.
Ashandor has no permanent army. While in case of war or attacks, troops are built from out of the population and led by the Archons, they still have a permanent small militia. This militia is lead by the public representation. In case more then half of its members agree on dismissing the Archons, the militia can be used to force the Archons to agree on a new drawing in case they refuse. Therefore, in times of peace no citizen of Ashandor including the Archons is allowed to keep armed men.
Because of the possibility to become an Archon for every citizen, no official difference is made between the different classes. Furthermore, almost every of Ashandor`s citizens shows interest in the cities business.
However, this also leads to Ashandor being very slow with reacting to changes and often suffers from rather incompetent citizens drawn into the Archon position.

• 121 Founded as a colony of Galdor. Due to the long distance from the Capitol, Ashandor grew slowly and played a minor role compared to its elder “Sister” Caddancia.
• 314-344 30 years of the Black cult. In 314, an evil sect, who claimed that Blackavar has followed the refugees over the sea and that his arrival was close at hand managed to take control over a still unorganized Ashandor, who’s social and political structures were still raw and primitive, by extreme suppressions and violence. Anyone who disagreed or refused to obey the cult’s orders was killed without mercy. Finally in 342, Galdor was asked for help by some still resisting Ashandor citizens. The Galdor troops arrived in 344 and put an end to the terrible reign of the cult. Those 30 years had two main effects on Ashandor development. First, the almost extreme fear of single persons or small groups gaining too much control within the Ashandor society. The second effect was a still lasting deep feeling of gratitude and friendship between Galdor and Ashandor. Because of this friendship, it was no surprise that when in
• 451 the first Capitol War started, Caddancia was sure on which side Ashandor would stay and occupied it in this year which remarked the outbreak of the War. A small number of Ashandor soldiers, that had fled from the Caddancian troops fought on the side of Galdor in the battle of Dragons March, that led to Caddancia supreme position in Kaerthia for the following centuries. After that Ashandor was never to play a major role in a militaristic meaning.
• 451-856 Ashandor under Caddancian reign After the surprisingly fast end of the 1st Capitol War, Ashandor was a able to develop rather free, although staying under Caddancian occupation for more then 400 years.
  Still obsessed with the idea of a huge amount of political freedom, Ashandor had also become a cultural idol for the other cities after the 30 years of the Black Cult. Caddancia has always both envied and adored Ashandor for that and therefore, although placing a governor in the city, it didn’t take too much influence in Ashandors every day business.
  For Ashandor that meant, although hating not being independent, that it was able to further develop their ideas and although not allowed to form an own government, many of those ideas found a way into Caddancia. After the 3rd Council in 856 ending the Caddancian reign, little changed in Ashandor, except, that immediately the way of political organization that has been started before 451 was continued with several improvements.
• 1000 Ashandor was probably the best prepared city for the new gods intervening in Kaerthia. The philosophy of personal freedom made it extremely easy for Ashandor citizens to accept different believes within the population. Furthermore, the cultural major status Ashandor always had, did grow even stronger, as the other cities needed much longer to adapt the new situation and religious movements had extremely good preferences in Ashandor.
• 1113 The Elves re-established contact to the other races again. After they had established their small outpost Ostaren’ Numentaur, an embassy visited Ashandor. Therefore Ashandor is still the city with the best contact and relation towards the Elves.
• 1476 The largest expedition in Ashandor history was sent to explore the seas west of the City. It contained 10 ships and more then 1000 men. However, none of the ships ever returned and their whereabouts are still a mystery.
• 1574 Ashandor naval forces support Caddancian troops on the attack of a Pirate group in Throck Badd