Now that the Khanate Civil War has finally come to an end and the dust has apparently settled, we must once again take stock of the substantial changes that have been wrought in the Khanate’s governmental structure. It would behoove the reader, given the transient nature of successive governments of the Khanate, to take this document as more of a rough guide than anything more concrete as the governance of the Khanate is extraordinarily fluid and no doubt certain details will be out of date in a week or more.

The current Khan government is most peculiar, in that whilst it is modelled around a traditional theocratic outline, where the head of state is some form of religious figure, in this case there appears to be not one but two central pillars of authority. The first of these is the Theology Council, which appears to control all matters concerning the church and has been largely left unchanged since the current Shah took power. In this case power appears to be consolidated in the hands of the Shah as opposed to the head of the Theology Council.

The second pillar of authority is largely secular, and is organized around the Shah, a position that appears to be akin to a 'President for Life' or some such absurdity. This is where governmental organization differs fairly significantly from before. The prior model was intended to be an autocratic feudal state wherein the Emperor handed out power to his Sheiks, who ran their own fiefdoms as they saw fit. In this model, the Shah appears to have appointed a cabinet of sorts, and then below them, a representative council whose name has not yet been decided. The Shah consults with this representative council and picks his cabinet from their number, though the heads of certain ministries are automatically given a seat upon his cabinet.

Though the establishment of this body would suggest a proto-democracy being formed, the author is anxious to prevail upon the reader that this is not the case. The Khanate remains a dictatorship, where the freedoms that we citizens of the Empire enjoy are sadly lacking. The representative council is made up of the Shah's chums and yes men from the Civil War, and though actual policy decisions are made via ballot, the Shah's word on most subjects remains the final one and the proletariat's say in the matter remains, for all practical intent and purpose, nil.

In summary, Succinct Word, it looks like it won’t be long until we’ve got to write out the fifty second edition of this document. I don’t see this government sticking around for very long. The churchmen resent being put in the shadow and the Justicars have been left out of the picture altogether. The Army and the Police are both also champing at the bit about losing quite a bit of power to the Navy and the Ministry of Internal Order, I think the only thing that’s keeping this government afloat so far is popular support for the man in charge. Your thoughts?

Editor’s note: The person responsible for this document has been discharged of his responsibilities due to misconduct in a public office. The Imperial Foreign Office holds its staff to the highest standards of quality when producing documents such as this. Unfortunately the writer responsible for this tract was unable to meet those standards and has been relieved of his post.

So yeah, not a full chapter but just something to whet the appetite whilst I bang the upcoming chapter with a hammer a couple of times to make sure all is in order. This hasn't been touched by my editor, so any failings of grammar are mine and mine alone.