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[5055034455]

Good morning, Exsilium. Your resident legal experts — Sonya Karimov and myself — are curious about those of you who have leadership experience. In the interest of looking toward a brighter future in which we Transports have a self-governing body, we're asking anyone who formerly held a position of command to answer the following questions.

If you're uncomfortable with sharing this information publicly, encrypt your responses or contact one of us directly.

1. What was your position? 2. How long did you hold that position? 3. How did you come to power? 4. Briefly, explain to us the government with which you have experience. Is there a written constitution of any kind? What are the laws like? Did you have other officials working under/around you? How many people did you hold authority over? 5. Are any of your former constituents/subjects in Exsilium as of this moment? 5a. May we have their names? 6. What do you think is the ideal form of government for Exsilium? 7. If a committee were to be formed in Exsilium with the intent of eventually creating a Transport-governing body, would you be interested in serving on it?

Comments

[legal_eagle]

[Sonya gives a little smile as she reads all that.]

If the Exiles came and started battering down our door, asking for governance, I wouldn't say no. But for now, we're focused on us, and focused on a few things in particular. The police force is functioning well, but there are other things a government can do that aren't just about enforcement. Making some sort of school for the kids, for example. Fixing up the buildings. Doing road repair. Organizing transportation. Making sure people don't starve.

[thephix]

The majority of those things have a significant impact on the Exiles.

I'll almost always support more social services, but surely the Exiles should have more say in matters of the city than Transports, considering they're the ones who have to live with it for the rest of their lives.

[legal_eagle]

Sure. Hey, did you grow up with the fable of the City of Mice?

[thephix]

The one with the weasels?

[legal_eagle]

The version I learned didn't have weasels, though I guess they could be subbed in.

[thephix]

What was yours?

[legal_eagle]

Tell me yours first. It'll totally ruin my momentum if I tell you a story you already know.

[thephix]

If you insist.

The mice have their perfectly defensible city, though they continue to go out to fight on a battlefield against the weasles. Unsurprisingly, they keep losing, so they decide they need more leadership and organization, which in the end just involves the leaders patting themselves on the back, eating too much food, and getting killed by the weasels the next day, because they didn't actually do anything with their power or try to really organize themselves.

[legal_eagle]

Wow. That's depressing.

[thephix]

Most fables are.

Is that your point, or were you thinking of a different story?

[legal_eagle]

Yeah, uh, mine's pretty different.

[thephix]

May I hear it?

[legal_eagle]

OK.

Once upon a time, long long ago, animals could talk like you and me, and they had Gifts like you and me. The humblest of these were the Mice, who could not fell mountains with their voices like Tigers, or cause the earth to break apart with their footfalls like Elephants, or bring storms like the Petrels; all they could do was small things. But they were clever.

So the Mice built themselves a city for their protection, but it was small and fragile and there were not so very many of them. The day came when the world was in upheaval, and all animals were at war, and while the Mice were overlooked for a while soon attention turned to them.

The first to come were the Rats, with their sleek fur and wicked tails and heavy claws; the Mice knew they could not stand against them. So they hurried hurried and worried worried, and girded themselves for war - until the smallest of them said, "Do the Rats not love the taste of grain, and do we not have much of it in our storerooms?"

So when the Rats came upon the City of Mice, they found the Mice grinding grain and baking it into fine bread, and their stomachs rumbled. The fierce Rat General stood forth and began to trumpet his challenge, but the Mice called out before he could: "Come in, friend Rats, lay down your weapons; there's bread enough for everyone, and we've beds for all of you as well; you must be so weary from the march to come visit." And the Rats lay down their weapons, and feasted on bread, and the Mice showed them their fine city, and invited them to dwell there in peace.

The first to come were the Cats, with their heavy paws and sharp teeth and keen eyes; the Mice and the Rats knew they could not stand against them. So they hurried hurried and worried worried, and girded themselves for war - until the smallest of them said, "Do the Cats not love the taste of cream, and do we not have much of it in our storerooms?"

So when the Cats came upon the City of Mice and Rats, they found the inhabitants milking their cows and skimming the rich cream, and their stomachs rumbled. The fierce Cat General stood forth and began to trumpet his challenge, but the Mice and Rats called out before he could: "Come in, friend Cats, lay down your weapons; there's cream enough for everyone, and we've beds for all of you as well; you must be so weary from the march to come visit." And the Cats lay down their weapons, and feasted on bread, and the Mice and Rats showed them their fine city, and invited them to dwell there in peace.

etc. etc. etc., continues on through five more species--

The last to come were the Tigers, kings of animals, fiercer than all; the Animals knew they could not stand against them. So they hurried hurried and worried worried, and girded themselves for war, but they knew of nothing that the Tigers wanted, for they could take all through force and cunning. And so they trembled the day the Tigers came to the gates of the grand City of Animals, knowing they could not stand against the terrible army before them. And the Tiger General stood forth, but it was no challenge he issued. Instead, here is what he said:

"May we come in? There's no one left out here, and we've become a little lonely."

And the Animals welcomed in the Tigers to dwell in peace, where this city lasted a thousand and one years, until the coming of Man.

It sounds better in Persian, incidentally.

[thephix]

That's quite sweet. It's a shame I don't speak Persian, I'd have liked to hear it properly.

[what. she likes stories.]

[legal_eagle]

Yeah, it's real cute. Could of course be boiled down to a single sentence.

[thephix]

Most stories can be, but then they lose their purpose.

[legal_eagle]

Wasting a bit of time, keeping kids off the streets...