Orlytar was a drow city-state of the underworld of Kazrrad, situated in the north-east.
Founded at the 11.000 b.a.H, it was one of the Thirteen Drow Cities.
It was destroyed by the Dwarfs during the Dwarven Wars, but will be later refounded.
By the Middle Human Age, it had a population of 60.000 inhabitants in the city, and the civilization, 205.000 drows.
The inhabitants of Orlytar were known as either orly or orlytari.
History[]
The Old Orlytar[]
Orlytar was originally founded at the 11.000 b.a.H, being one of the Thirteen Drow Cities. During the Dwarven Wars, the city was destroyed.
The new Orlytar[]
After the Age of Calamities, descendants of the Old Orlytar would refound one again the drow city, which while shared the name and had the descendants of the original city as their founders, wasn't in the same location: for long, the ruins of Orlytar remained said to be a cursed place, inhabited by ghosts and to be avoided.
The new Orlytar city state was founded as a safe haven for drows escaping the age of calamities, in a section of Kazrrad that had been relatively unscathed by the quakes and tremors. In its early years, it prospered on the production of mushrooms, which will became both a staple food of orlys, and other mushroom variants were used to produce spices and hallucinogenic drugs.
Olrytar achieved territorial conquests in the northeast of Kazrrad, coming to clashes with Ched'l Sulho and Abathagan.
As the city grew, its economy diversified, and Orlytar became home to a wealthy merchant class, who patronized renowned art and architecture within the city.
The New Orlytar was a republic, ruled traditionally by two queens, who were elected by members of the Great Council of Orlytar, the city-state's parliament. The ruling class was an oligarchy of merchants and aristocrats, and the orly citizens generally supported the system of governance, with the city-state enforcing strict laws.
The rise of Ched'l Sulo and defeats suffered against them marked the beginning of Orlytar's decline. Later, the rise of Zaghäl would make Orlytar a client state of the Dark Elf King.
Politics[]
In the early years of the Orlytar republic, the Queens of Olrytar ruled Orlytar in an autocratic fashion, with only each queen serving as a counter-weight to the decisions of the other.
These queens, elected, served for life, but couldn't inherit the dual thrones to their descendants: but in a practical way, some queens killed their co-rulers, and chose their own co-governor and their successors.
To try to stop these practices of political assassination, it was established that at the death of one of the queens, the surviving one as well lost the crown, being elected two new queens: this would prove however difficult, when one of the queens died in a war with the dwarves, and the other, having to resign, left Orlytar without command and in the middle of political turmoil for the election of a successor.
It was then decided, that rather than to be held for-life, the office of Queen of Orlytar was to be temporal in nature instead, for a period of 48 years since the election.
Aside of that, later their powers were limited by a pledge they had to take when elected. As result, powers were shared with the Great Council, composed of members taken from the main families of Orlytar.
Orlytar followed a mixed government model, combining monarchy in the queens, aristocracy in the senate, and a "democracy" with the families in the major council.
By the 23rd century, after the collapse and defeat of the Dark Legion of Demons in the First War of the Power, which had been supported by the Queens, the families further diminished the Queens' powers by establishing a Minor Council and a supreme tribunal: these institutions would form the central body of government.
Later, the government body was supplemented by boards of advisers on executed government police, military affairs, commerce and colonies, forming the de-facto executive body of the Republic.
There was established as well the Inquisition of Orlytar, with the state Inquisitors established by the tribunal not to oversee religious matters, but instead to guard the security of the republic, by means of espionage, counterespionage, internal surveillance and a network of informers, they ensured that Orlytar did not come under the rule of a single clan, family or political faction
Near the end of the 24th century, male political activism resulted in the extension of citizenship to male drows, which resulted later in the election of males as Queen of Orlytar (it wasn't used King of Orlytar, as a king was expected to be a powerless consort, married with a queen).
Orlytari Elections[]
Since the refoundation of Olrytar, there was a conscious effort by the orlytari to avoid that a single drow amassed all the public power, laws trying to limit the ability of queens to choose their successors.
For this, by the 2100 they implemented an electoral system that consisted a series of five successive elections, and in each one of them was chosen by a raffle, choosing random citizens to vote for candidates to queens, successively eliminating electors and choosing new ones, until in a final raffle was formed a group of 80 (later 81, after a very embarrassing draw, and the result of three Queens), who finally selected the Queen.
This system was established to try to avoid that the most powerful and wealthy families used their influence, and to avoid that some of them tried to seize the government or form a dynasty.