Guild Wars 2

The other day I was having an argument with someone about the government of Kryta, and referred to it as a “constitutional monarchy”. My opponent, uninformed as he was, pointed out that Kryta didn’t have a constitution and thus couldn’t be a constitutional monarchy, even though the most well known constitutional monarchy on Earth is that of the UK, with an unwritten constitution. That said, he did bring up an interesting question: whether or not Kryta actually has a constitution?

As such, do we know, or can we infer, that Kryta has anything similar to a constitution, bill or declaration of rights, or anything of the sort? We know that almost everyone can be elected to the Ministry and it does not discriminate on social or ethnic origin, we know that the Ministry wields some degree of power to check that of the monarchy, we know that Krytan citizens are entitled to a trial (even if nothing is said of a jury), and that ancient laws entitle the claimant to prove his innocence through combat rather than evidence… the question, I suppose, is if these are written down in a document succinct enough to be called a “constitution” or not.

Im not sure if it has been outright stated if there is a constitution or not. I wouldnt be suprised to find out there was one. There are establish laws such as the trial by combat though they are considered old and I would be greatly suprised if these laws werent recorded in great detail.

The Ministry was first founded when Queen Salma, the Shining Blade and the Lionguard together overthrew the White Mantle and the Mursaat. In the time under the White Mantle, many areas and settlements had become more independent. Salma felt that a body comprised of the leaders and representatives of those communities was valuable for establishing a united and strong Kryta. As such she established a system where she shared power with a representive council of comunity leaders. That was the first ministry.

It would have made alot of sense at that point for the relationship between the Ministry and the Crown to be well defined. The queen and the Ministry clearly share power. However if there is a written constitution, Im not sure if we have had a solid answer on.

I was under the impression that the ministry was founded relatively recently- when all of the calamities began befalling Tyria (the planet) and Kryta recieved a large refugee population. At the least, it wouldn’t have been during Salma’s reign. Do you have a citation for that? Not that I don’t necessarily believe you, I just haven’t come across that bit of lore.

Ree Soesbee talked about it in a towertalk podcast:

http://www.wartower.de/news/news.php?id=4707

About 2/3rds in she starts talking about the Ministry.

The intro is in german but the interview is in english.

Ah, see, I was going off the information from the Movement of the World Wiki page which purports to be text verbatim from PCgamer.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/The_Movement_of_the_World

That said, it doesn’t actually refer to MINISTERS, but SENATORS: who don’t actually appear in the game. I get the impression that the original story idea for Senators became Ministers, and that’s probably not-canon (as is the origin of the Senate/Ministry being in the provisional refugee government and being established only in Jennah’s reign).

I concede your point, but it still unfortunately doesn’t prove that there’s a constitution.

The Ministry Guard only existed today because Jennah’s father died when she was young and while Jennah was still too young to rule, the Ministry ran the country. The Seraph were mostly out in the countryside and so the Ministry created a private guard service to protect Ministers and such it evolved into the current Ministry guard.

This means the Ministry certainly predates Jennah’s rule. We also have a Minister in the personal story which served as Minister’s to Jennah’s father.

I think its more likely the Ree used senators and ministers interchangably, possibly by accident. There might be proof elsewhere. Im not sure. Theres alot of lore interviews.

Proving a constitution might not be so simple. Best chance for an answer would be for someone to ask Ree or Jeff next time they do an interview or are at a convention.

I was guessing the “senate” (as put forth in the early, likely abandoned lore) was founded ~50 years ago, when Elona fell and refugees flooded there. Jennah is not more than 40 years old.

Senators exist, by the way. In the southern part of the palace area, there’s a court filled with all sorts of senators and ministry people.

What are we basing the time of the fall of Elona on? I was under the impression it fell before Orr rose. The Movement of the World says the Powala Joko started his conquest 60 years after the rise of Kormir which makes it 190 years prior to the current point in the game. Also after Orr rose actually getting from Elona to Kryta would be very difficult. You would either have to pass Orr which hasnt been particularly feasible or cross whatever the Desolation now is and then the Crystal Desert.

Even if the Desolation had dramaticly improved to the point where mortals can survive traveling through it, it would mean going right through Joko’s old center of power. The Crystal Desert is also extremely hostile. As far as I know only the Order of Whispers is known to have a safe path to Elona taht they keep secret.

I always assumed the Elonian refugees came before Orr rose.