"I am a citizen of Brastlewark and loyal to our duly elected King, Drum Thornfiddle, who kept Brastlewark safe as a gnome enclave and as a Chaotic city throughout the rule of the Thrunes. I attend our governing Meeting and vote when I have something to say on the agenda items. And I am now a loyal citizen of Cheliax and to Her Majesty The Queen. So, yes, I know that power can be wielded justly and for the benefit of all. 

"I do not know how we ought to rearrange the state. But I believe in discussion and in learning and in understanding the world. You can't sail the ship of state without understanding water displacement and woodworking and the tides, and we know almost nothing about any of that.

"The last time that someone slaughtered all the nobility and remade Cheliax, we got the Thrunes. Let's try to outperform that depressing track record, shall we?"

"Hear, hear! My only experience is this last year of improvisation and what the RAI governs under in Molthune province, but I've kept in correspondence with Andorani, Galtans and Rahadoumi regarding their system, and studied the legal systems of these countries." Because he hoped to write a better one.

"If we find ourselves short, we may want to see if we can recruit Delegate Lebanel; he has practical experience under the Rahadoumi system as well as the Chelish."

"Delegates Levrolurment and Ardiaca, would you care to describe for us firsthand any Unique and Salient features of the Governance of Brastlewark and Molthune? I confess myself ignorant of their local Customs differing from the Empire at Large, and would learn more, before discussing Foreign Practices."

She hopes we're just pretending the whatever-it-is who wants to murder her Majesty isn't here. Not likely; she's going to keep speaking up, of course.

"Brastlewark runs on open town meetings. They happen once a week, and the agenda for each meeting is set at the previous meeting. If you care about any of the topics on the agenda, you show up and debate and vote. I don't really expect this to work for humans." 

"I could live with the Brastlewark system. Why can't our counties be permitted your luxuries?" Séfora scowls. "The last time someone slaughtered most of the nobility was just now. It is what conquerors do."

"I think town meetings don't really...scale? But I admit that I don't know for sure." 

"They do not. Too easy for a single gang of men to take over one meeting and then change the system without telling anyone." He's got a speech on Molthune ready.

"Fortunate, then, for Gnomes that the Gnomish Character is a Bulwark against such Underhanded Rapacity."

"A gang of men." Séfora says, with a level stare at Ardiaca, "is what they call a noble and his guards."

"That's what they'll start calling themselves after they do it, yes."

"Well, King Drum came with a gang of men to change the system and I think it worked out well for everyone. If we really disliked him we would end the monarchy. Again. --But again I worry that that's just because we're gnomes."

"I think a human who came in and changed everything would make sure nobody could throw him out with another meeting."

"At any rate, Molthune is not a Gnomish Polity, is it, Delegate Ardiaca?"

"No. The RIA - Royal and Imperial Army of Holy Cheliax, formally - is essentially a military government, not a civilian one, considering itself a temporary wartime government of Cheliax that simply happens to not control any more of Cheliax than Molthune Province. Nobles have their lands, of course, but the head of state is the Lord Protector of Molthune, chosen by a council of the leading men of the state - chiefly generals, but the Oracle gets his own voice - from among the active-service generals still qualified to take up the post. The country is divided into civilian and military districts; civilian districts are those far from a hostile border or active rebellion and are overseen by civilian administrators chosen by the Lord Protector, usually from among the province's chief noblemen, while military districts - forests and hostile frontiers - are overseen by generals. All districts are supposed to provide taxes and conscripts for the army, with the taxes raised from the entire population, including nobles."

"Churches are self-governing and state-licensed; licenses are not extended to Evil churches or most of the Chaotic Neutral ones, and this license can be revoked if the church can't stop its clerics from engaging in active rebellion against the state, as has happened to both Milani and Cayden Cailean. Cities not in rebellion elect their own mayor, with the mayor chosen by the leading merchants and guildmasters."

"Any questions yet?”

Fascinated note-taking.

"I do not recognize the title of Oracle; is it a Religious office? And if you will forgive the juxtaposition of unrelated Questions, I am curious about the mentioned tendency toward Rebellion in the Churches of Milani and the Drunk, involved as I am with the Promulgation of the Teachings of Virtuous Gods, but tending, myself, toward Iomedae and more generally toward Law, rather than the deities of Chaos."

"Cenmyrion, the Oracle of Axis, is or was the RIA's eighth-circle spellcaster. It listened to him because it's usually wise to listen to eighth-circle spellcasters; he showed up sometime during the Great Chelish Civil War to try to turn the war around. It didn't work out, but since he is or was both immortal and chiefly interested in opposing Asmodeus and the northern reaches are and were short an archmage, he got a significant place in government. He's Law-touched and tries to make sure the government ends up both Lawful and anti-Asmodean. He ran a lot of the education for new officers. I've heard conflicting reports about whether or not he's still around." Ranging from 'left a denouncement of the Lord Protector and plane shifted back home to Axis' to 'got murdered by the Lord Protector' through 'went off to fight Zedoran, hasn't been seen since' and 'is absolutely still around and all these are just lies meant to make Molthune weaker.'"

"I think we should ask the archmage to teleport us to Vudra."

...her brain catches up and realizes it's probably not a non sequitur.

"Seconded."

"To study their political arrangements?"

"Exactly! How are we supposed to propose alternatives to monarchy if we only have the benefit of one continent which has mostly investigated peasant revolts?"

"What a fine idea. Just Vudra, or also further continents?"

"Perhaps an Itinerary visiting each Continent in turn. I should like to see a King feasted upon, though it may not be the season for that barbaric Festival. And of wondrous Tian Xia I have only the barest rumors."

Do they have to bring the scary metal woman... well, the archmage will probably just refuse the whole thing, alas, so it may be immaterial. "Delegate Séfora, I trust your Queer Clockwork is able to operate in Foreign Climes?"

Oh no, she hopes Levrolurment doesn't start trying to disassemble Séfora or something at hearing the word "clockwork".

Oh no, she hopes Séfora doesn't start plotting regicide or something at hearing about a king being eaten.

"Vudra is the most fractured, I believe, so it will give us the most philosophical knowledge per Teleport. If he wishes to teleport us to Tian Xia or even Arcadia, we should obviously accept."