Government of the Rahi Vasa Company

The Rahi Vasa Company is a Plutocracy, run by the nine Smiling Merchants. These individuals are seldom seen, but operate an extensive network of Managers, Captains, and Spies.

=Government Officals=

These are people who have offical roles within the Rahi Vasa Company and are authorised to conduct law and granted special powers.

Smiling Merchant
A Smiling Merchant is a director in the Rahi Vasa Company, an individual of great wealth and personal power. A Smiling Merchant controls each of the cities in the Kana Vasa Islands, except for the capital of Valivesi, which is controlled by three. The smiling merchants are called so because they wear masks which conceal their face, with only a carved smile shown to the world. The descriptions of these masks form the common names of the Smiling Merchants.

The Sitting Smiling Merchants are Plainface, Redeyes, Cheekscar, Sunset, Greenstripe, Bluehalf, Redjaw, Goldteeth and Sable. These are more titles than names, as they are descriptors of the individual masks and passed from one Bawa to another when a Smiling Merchant chooses to retire and elevates their protege.

Ravaco culture keeps each Smiling Merchant honourable, seeking to make trades which benefit the company and its citizens as a whole rather than just themselves or a small portion. There is a remarkable depth to shady dealings and fineprint that remains honourable as many outsiders have found out.

While the Smiling Merchants will consult each other, their actions and directives are enacted with the full weight of corporate authority, and it is only when free from explicit command or obligation can a citizen even as high as a Captain act freely.

Manager
A manager is a high level bureaucrat, who runs captains and spies for a district. They ensure that all people are traded with, and that bargains are kept. The report to the Smiling Merchants, but wield no independent power. The main job is to act as a routine processor of information, approvals, and requests so that the valuable time of the Smiling Merchants is not unduly impinged.

Captain
Captains are Bawa granted the right to sail a ship under the flag of the Rahi Vasa Company, and are charged with "Trading, in goods, information, flesh and blood, with all those who they meet, in an upstanding manner." They possess significant personal wealth and power due to their semi autonomous status. A mercentile Captain during the Age of Meeting will own at least one drua which may have a sailing crew of up to 200 and a cargo weight over 400 tonnes. A military Captain of the same period would command 150 naval sailors and 150 marines upon a 80 to 100 gun warship.

Spy
Spies are the closest thing the Rahi Vasa Company has to a police force, in that they seek out people violating company policy, and ensure that they are dealt with. This includes people plotting against the Smiling Merchants, smugglers, people avoid trading and people breaking contracts. They act as executive investigators, who gather evidence and then give any criminals the chance to honour their contracts before trading in blood.

=Cities In Free Assosiation=

The Rahi Vasa Company lands on Othus are poorly defined, being the result of war. Roughly speaking, from the Siean Bay west of the southern peninsula of Othus through to the lakes to the north west is considered the southern border of the Othus lands. From the northern most lake, a border tracking roughly East-Northeast to a point close to the Silvalli islands is considered the limit of what the Rahi Vasa Company claims.

Within this area are no majority Bawa settlements, but a number of Cities In Free Association, whose Mayors report to the Rahi Vasa Company for high level direction. Tributes and Reparations are paid regularly, for which military protection is granted.

Free Cities
There are Five Free Cities within the Rahi Vasa Company's Othus lands, all on the east coast of the peninsula. They act freely, as sovereign enclaves from the Rahi Vasa Company