THE GOVERNOR
WHAT THE OFFICE IS
Above every mayor there is now one office: the Governor. A mayor is elected by the people of one map. The governor is appointed by the developer and answers for all of them.
THE BOARD
The Governor's board stands in the Petition Hall, on the ground floor of the mansion. It beeps every few seconds so you can find it by ear. Stand at it and press shift and enter: anybody gets the public book of decisions and the gift room, and the governor gets their own office menu from the same board. It works exactly like the mayor's board.
WHERE
The Governor's Mansion stands in the village, east of the shops. Walk up to it and press shift and enter to go in. Anybody may go in; it is a public building. Inside there are three floors, reached by the grand staircase or by the lift.
Ground floor: the Entrance Hall, the Petition Hall with the notice board, the Gift Room and the Guard Post.
First floor: the Governor's Office, the Deputy Governor's Room and the Cabinet Room.
Second floor: the Governor's Private Study and the Roof Terrace.
You can also reach everything from the game menu: Village life, then Town and law, then the Governor's Mansion.
WHO APPOINTS THE GOVERNOR
Only the developer. Not a master, not an administrator, and there is no election for it. The developer also sets how long the appointment runs: it can be permanent, or for a set number of days, and it can be extended, shortened or ended at any time. When a term runs out the office empties on its own and everybody is told.
THE DEPUTY GOVERNOR
There is a second post, the Deputy Governor. Either the developer or the governor themselves may appoint one. The deputy shares the work of the office and draws half the allowance.
The deputy may NOT remove a mayor while the governor is about. If the governor has not been seen for seven days, the deputy may rule on cases, so that the office does not simply stop when one person is away.
If the governor leaves office, the deputy's post ends with it. The deputy serves the governor, not the chair.
WHAT CHANGED ABOUT REMOVING A MAYOR
This is the important part, and it changes how the old system worked.
Before, when enough people signed the petition against a mayor, the mayor fell out of office there and then. That meant a handful of friends could pull down a mayor who had been properly elected, and nobody had to answer for it.
Now the signatures do not remove anybody. When enough people have signed, the complaint is laid before the governor as a case, and you are told so. The mayor STAYS IN OFFICE until the governor decides. The governor can uphold the case, which removes the mayor and starts an election, or dismiss it, in which case the mayor stays.
Either way the governor must write a reason, and that reason is announced to everybody and written into the public book. Nobody is removed in silence.
THE PUBLIC BOOK
Every single thing the governor does is written into a book that ANYBODY can read: appointments, removals, dismissed cases, the allowance being drawn, gifts received. It is on the notice board in the Petition Hall and in the mansion menu. The office has power, so the office is watched.
THE GUARDS ON THE POWER
A mayor cannot be removed without a written reason of at least ten letters.
The mayor of one place cannot be removed twice within twenty-four hours, so a new mayor is given a chance rather than being taken out the moment they sit down.
A governor may resign at any time.
THE ALLOWANCE
The governor draws two thousand points and five credits a day, and the deputy half of that. It is drawn once a day and it must be drawn AT THE MANSION, in the office itself. The building is meant to be used, not just owned.
LEAVING SOMETHING FOR THE GOVERNOR
Anybody who walks into the mansion can leave something on the gift table in the Gift Room, or make a gift of points to the office. Both have daily limits: five thousand points and twenty items a day per person. The limits are there so that the mansion cannot be used as a way of moving a fortune from one account to another; it is a gift table, not a bank.
Gifts of points reach the governor at once if they are online, and wait in the gift room if they are not. Every gift is written into the public book with the giver's name, so nothing can be handed over quietly.
WHAT THE GOVERNOR CAN DO
Everything a mayor can do, in any place, plus: rule on the residents' complaints, remove any mayor anywhere with a reason, appoint and dismiss a deputy, and read the report card of any mayor before deciding.