vonGenf, please stop claiming that government type is an OOC matter. It is not. It is, always has been, and always will be IC. It can be talked about IC by our characters, understood in an IC context, referenced for IC rules, and changed for completely IC reasons. Just because it serves your character's purposes for government type to be ignored IC in this case does not change the fact that it is, in every way that anything in BattleMaster ever is, in-character.