In the Caliphate of Azithan, known to its neighbors as the necromancer Kingdom ...

In the Caliphate of Azithan, known to its neighbors as the necromancer Kingdom ...

These priests. They own the primary source of industry: the lifeless. The nobles own most of the land, and noble positions aren't necessarily hereditary. A goodly chunk of people are within trade guilds, many of the rest provide prayer and little else.

The priests, though. As they've morphed, they've taken on aspects of monks, politicians, researchers, landlords, captains of industry, and moral guidance.

With priests at ~2% of the population, a town of 1,000 would have 20 priests. Fully half of those are local priests, tending to their flocks. One is sent to the house of commons, one is tending to the local Baron, maybe five are involved in the bureaucracy, specializing in everything from keeping records to judging. Maybe the remaining three are outside of the bureaucracy, using their knowledge in the private sector.

Those priests people have a huge amount of power and authority. They control the lifeless, the mills, and keep the records on who has prayed. They rent out rooms in the insulae, are the only ones who vote for members of the lower house, influence policy, find new ways to use lifeless and new Commands to give them, arbitrate the law, lead prayers, and decide which businesses get to rent lifeless.

That's a whole lot of power in a small number of hands! Are we doomed?