Government
Tosk practices representative democracy, expressed through a unicameral debating legislature. The legislature is made up of representatives from every officially recognized clan, apportioned by population.
Toskan orcs join together into a clan, whose chief is effectively both representative in law and centurion during wartime. This chief is known as the "First Spear" (whatever their role, though it is almost always that of the Spear). A trusted subordinate, the “Second Spear”, typically represents the will of the chief and the clan within Tosk's legislature.
Clans and government
There is no emperor or hereditary succession system. The clans are the largest political unit within the empire. Outside of the city’s walls, a clan may either travel for exploration, conquest, and other reasons, or it may stay within a territory to guard it and enforce peace.
The “First Spear” of a clan is elected by acclaim by the recognized members of the clan. One clan, in turn, is voted by the legislature to administer the city of Tosk itself. In one sense, the First Spear of that clan could be said to be an “emperor”, but the legislature still rules the empire, in fact as well as in law.
In the course of a year, an orc clan might:
- be ordered by the legislature to take control of a province from another clan (with any attendant complications that a transfer of power entails)
- vote in a new First Spear, should one die, step down, etc.
- send a new Second Spear back to Tosk to speak for them, or otherwise communicate the clan’s situation and intentions back and forth
- defend an existing province from external threats: bandits, invading armies, spies or saboteurs, wild animals or monsters, etc.
- act as witness or protection for some local leader during a political action or time of unrest - however, the clan typically does not get involved in internal affairs of a province
- collect tithe - in the form of grain, fruit, livestock, or other harvest, as well as lumber or other raw materials for construction - and secure it on its way to Tosk or other destinations
- celebrate orcish cultural rituals, feast days, etc.
- participate in ritual hunts or other acts of animal-spirit veneration