Paggebedalon

Hakan has no king or emperor. The Gnomes instead are governed by the Paggebedalon, a large, often unruly representative parliament made up of a host of inchoate and conflicting interests. While the exact number changes, it frequently is made up of several hundred representatives, known as Skoglaggrandebedlams. Frequently criticized as slow to act except against the most dire of threats, it seeks to be as inclusive as possible, and so representatives are not apportioned only through geography, as in Odessa, but also according to a host of other associations, such as guilds, magical and martial organizations, Wild Gnomes (both the remnants still found among the Scar as well as the recently resettled Gnomes in the islands), trade caravans or other temporary or permanent expatriates. Each of the groups are guaranteed seats through a formulae that changes every few years and most seats are contested through elections though some seats have different rules or methods of selection.

Those who take it seriously tend to take it very seriously and political machinations between some groups are often said to include complex espionage and extreme ratfucking with some grudges between groups dating back to the Gnomish Vassalage and the founding of Hakan. In Gnomish reckoning the violent rifts that erupted during the Gnomish Civil War are still very recent and only slightly healed. Several currently-serving representatives were active participants in that conflict.

Titles and Positions

• The Speaker for the Gnomes - The leader of the political coalition currently in power formerly takes as their only name "the Speaker for the Gnomes" while in office. The staff of office includes a permanent spell effect similar to Tongues where all of their words are literally translated to anyone in range who does not speak Hakani. While a rare few have had 100 years or more in control, most serve for only a few years as power shifts between competing groups. The Speaker of the Gnomes has direct control or power to appoint leadership in matters of diplomacy, military, and most state functions. Lower-level members of those groups are almost always retained between Speaker changes though.

High Government Posts

While these are usually high-ranking members of the ruling coalition, sometimes through power-sharing arrangements or other rare complexities they may controlled by unaligned or even opposition Skoglaggrandebedlams which can cause even more friction and gridlock than normal. These names are frequently used for both the minster and the ministry itself.

• Magiskt Gnagstiftaggad - Ministry of Magic, in charge of magical education and accreditation, magical item creation, and assisting in magical defense/offense. Not allowed to spy by employing people outside the borders, but officially in charge of scrying/magical monitoring as well as divination both within and outside the borders.
• Gnormgengglara - Ministry of Trade, in charge of trade and all official diplomacy. Officially not allowed to engage in spying.
• Glimmerglagnare - Ministry of Battle, official border control and military and navy training and deployment. Hakan has a very small standing army or navy, but most communities have long-standing and annually-rehearsed plans for rapid deployment in the event of call to defense or march. Officially not allowed to engage in spying outside of times of Paggebedalon declaration of War or Invasion.
• Skoglaggrande - Ministry of Law, in charge of internal affairs and judicial issues. Not allowed to engage in spying outside of the borders of Hakan.
• Daggelgnara - Ministry of Passports, Labels, and Import Taxation, in charge of incoming travel, trade, and taxation. Officially in charge of spying and assassination (so obviously not where most of the real spying occurs)

"Anyone who says a Gnome will never split the lip of another Gnome has never seen the Paggebedalon in action!" -Anonymous Gnome.