Magocracy

Magocracy (Fengese: 法領制度, Fǎlǐng Zhìdù, : Hourjou seido) is a form of government, and more extensively a key arrangement in Infernalist politics wherein the clergy of Infernalism hold the paramount position in the politics and societal governance of a polity, ultimately answerable to no secular or temporal power apart from their superiors in the clerical hierarchy. Thus, a polity in the Infernalist sense is formed through and defined by the jurisdiction of a Sanctuary, the highest jurisdictional and clerical unit in the Infernalist hierarchy - subordinate only to the Sanctuary of the Most Eternal. Derived from this, a common synonym of "magocracy" is the Sanctuary-State: a state formed and defined by the territorial extent of a Sanctuary's ecclesiastical jurisdiction, even if the equivalence between magocracy and nation-state is not strictly speaking accurate.

The paramount position of the clergy is derived from the raison d'être of Infernalism, that being the maximization of Erudition in a society and by extension, humanity and all sapientkind. In the Infernalist understanding, as the Infernalist clergy - symbolically ordained through the gnostic and ultrascient authority of the Prophetess and her Scions - holds an inherently greater erudite understanding of the universe, and thereby possesses an unassailable obligation and privilege to bestow gnostic knowledge to those less erudite. Through this principle of the Mandate of Erudition, it is logically surmised that the clergy must hold the pre-eminent position in governance of both polity and society, as the ignorant can never presume to rule over the erudite, and in its vice versa, the erudite must always rule over the ignorant.

Features
A magocratic polity and the Sanctuary which defines its jurisdictional reach, being a polity comprising the collective jurisdictions of all gees abiding by that Sanctuary's specific sectarian dogma, is the font from which all political and religious power and legitimacy is derived. At a Sanctuary's head is the Magus and the Phare which clarifies the known and accumulated erudition of a Sanctuary to her, who then delegates its plentiful authority to those further down in the hierarchical totem pole: all done in the name of the Infernalist mission of spreading gnostic knowledge. In this form, it can be said that Infernalist politics is inherently authoritarian, as those higher in the hierarchy naturally hold greater, generally unquestionable legitimacy - though the Phare and theological countercurrents in the clerical base do serve to mitigate any tyrannical willfulness. At the summit of this totem pole is the Scion of the Divine Phoenix Ascendant and the Eternal Phare which advises her, considered to be both the spiritual and temporal leader of all of the Pyrosphere (and theoretically beyond even that, in her capacities as ) - being the infallible final arbiter in interpreting Infernal law and wielding universal authority as theocrat.

From this, religiosity is an inherent part of the magocracy, as Infernalism views politics as inseparable from the religious pursuits given that enabling those pursuits is the endgoal of Infernalist politics in the first place. As put by Arsytian sociologist Heikki Pentti: "There is no in Infernalism, nor does the concept of state even exist at all. Rather, the church is the state, inseparable from it insofar as it is the state itself."

In its modern form, Infernalist magocratic polities are defined by a central clerical administration and a theoretically subordinate combinial corporatocracy, generally in imitation of the recent development of the Fengese corporatocratic model. Through the delegation of the central clergy's vast authority, combines are deputized to manage the territories encompassed by a Sanctuary's jurisdiction, including both the material and human resources within. In this framework, whereas the theocratic administration is charged with managing the spiritual health of the society within a magocracy's jurisdiction (through law, education, and etc.), the combines have the duty of managing the resources within a magocracy's jurisdiction in an effective manner which best supplies the former's efforts.

While this clergy-combine framework can be comparable with the generally oriental idea of government and private enterprise, or with the Arsytian model of, it is best noted that combines in practice hold substantially more sway in the Infernalist political sphere - both in official and informal terms. While both theocratic and combine bureaucracies run parallel with one another in writing, the clergy's monopoly on education (in an ideal magocracy) and the bestowance of erudition has granted them an unmatched domination over the intelligentsia of the magocracy. Clerical Initiation is a mark of academic passage and is a prerequisite for most educated career trajectories, even for those in combines. Due to this, the clergy generally comprise the higher echelons of both bureaucracies - the fact that the clergy are expected to contribute to the overarching clerical duty of cultivating and spreading erudition means that all members of the clergy, no matter their station, theoretically have a say in the political administration of a magocracy.

With greater globalization and expansion of the Infernalist faith throughout the world, however, political realities where there are Infernalist populations in polities that aren't magocratic in nature (particularly in the East) have manifested. Historically, such populations and the clergy who guide them were placed under the direct jurisdiction of the most influential or adjacent Sanctuary, but the culmination of the oriental concept of and relevant concepts of national identity (alongside fundamental concerns over rule by foreigners not educated on local realities) in the recent ages has meant growing calls for "regional" or even "national Sanctuaries" for such populations - even if Infernalism rejects the notion of Sanctuaries outside magocratic polities based off the principle of the Mandate of Erudition. The concept of Havens - autonomous and oftentimes more distant jurisdictions of a given Sanctuary, generally nation-specific and subordinated to an existing Sanctuary - has emerged as an adaptation to this further globalization of the faith.

List of official magocracies

 *  Fengjiang: Seat of the Sanctuary of the Most Eternal, paramount Sanctuary of all Infernalism. Additionally includes subordinated magocracies of the:
 * Sanctuary of the Pillar Mount
 * Sanctuary of the Farwest
 * Sanctuary of the Eastern Wall
 * Sanctuary of the Thousand Vigils
 * Hyperaustrea: Seat of the Sanctuary of the Southern Seas.
 * Mantaly: Seat of the Sanctuary of the Enlightenment's Cascades and Sanctuary of the Triumphant Cosmos.