THE MONARCHY
Kinmoore Castle
[1] The Ruasliabhian crown is not heriditary in a traditional sense. The King or Queen is appointed from a religiously appointed group within society known as the Aos Si. These are people believed to share a special closeness to the Gods of nature and therefore are in the best position to lead the nation. The process of appointing a new monarch begins as soon as it is known that a new one will be required. For example if a monarch is diagnosed with a terminal illness the process would begin so that as soon as the current monarch died it would be hoped the new monarch would be ready. This however is not obviously always possible.
The Aos Si maintain a school called the Aos Si Phrontistery which takes the top 50 academic achievers each year. During their time at the school the individuals are subject to observations by the Druids who help run the school and upon graduation anyone deemed "Crown-worthy" are added to a list without their knowledge. Those on the list known as the
Léiriú Ríoga are assessed by the Druids each year in terms of omens, achievements and misdeeds. The list then draws a five most desirable candidates list and when needed they are invited to the Palace where they are put before the leadership of the Druids and the
Tuatha Dé Danann. This 50 person panel then determines the new monarch. The system in the past has however been manipulated by families able to get members into the Druids and the
Tuatha Dé Danann The monarchs family are entitled to use other royal titles such as Prince, Princess etc during their relations time on the throne however they revert to Duke/Duchess when the monarch dies.
The Monarch has the power to make laws. This is done by issuing decrees. These are then debated on by the
Tuatha Dé Danann, if they approve it then it goes to the
Seanadh an tSléibhe. If the
Seanadh an tSléibhe reject it with 65% or less voting against it they produce a report on the decree and make recommendations. The monarch can either then accept these and amend the Decree to make it law or reject them at which point the process must begin again. The two councils do have a means of promoting legislation themselves however this can often be rather cumbersome. The system has been described as a kind of reverse Parliamentary procedure.
The current monarch is Queen Talulla McElligott who inherited the throne in 2017.
Queen Talulla McElligott
Born in 1983 he father and mother ran a business making decorations for weddings and festivals. She is the eldest of three children and has a younger sister called Órlaith and a brother called Donal. She and her sister Órlaith were both named as part of the Aos Si upon their birth. Talulla was a bright student but wasn't expected to pass the exams to go to the Aos Si Phrontistery. In 1994 she finished 48th in her year and was admitted. While at the school she excelled in the stricter confines of the education system there and excelled in particular at maths and science. In 2001 she left the school having achieved well academically. She enrolled at University and studied micro-biology graduating in 2004 with a degree.
Out in the "real world" she found a job with a pharmecutecal company and worked her way up through various research positions until in 2014 being given her own team responsible for examining a range of bacterial infections including anthrax. In addition she began mentoring students from the local university and often visited the Phrontistery to give guest talks.
When King Lakelan's health failed in 2017 she was invited to the Palace and the Druids described her as a "calm and rational woman with a deep appreciation of what she does not know and a desire to understand everything." She received 38 of the 50 votes for monarch.
In 2013 she began dating a scientist called Tierney Ó Briain and they married in 2015. They have one child called Prince Ruarc who was born in 2019 and deemed not to be a member of the Aos Si. King Tierney serves now as an adviser on the National Council for Science and Technology and is a leading academic in the nation on virology.
