The Interregnum
One of the stranger customs of the Technocracy was to be found in the institution of the Interregnum whereby a randomly chosen commoner would assume, for the span of one diurnal cycle, the trappings of the Office of the Ahldon.
This pseudo-king, of course, would be executed immediately at solar setting since it would have profaned the Office for the commoner to take his former place in the realm of things.
During the reign of the one called The Dey, Jahanqir, the court eunuch, was selected by the thinking machines. Events transpired in a most curious manner for the Dey, himself, died during the allotted span and the whole of the Technocracy was thrown into chaos.
Since Jabanqir held the reigns of power he decided to excercise them to the fullest. His reign lasted some two hundred forty-seven years. Being singularly free of evil and strife it was later dubbed the PAX IAHANQIRUM.
Historians still disagree as to the cause of the aforementioned effect.
To my way of thinking, Harkoum in his SHYP OF FOLYS puts it best:
“Jahanqir conceded to me his secret during the last days of his life, ‘My son, the technique is a simple one. It rests upon the observation that all things in the Universe spin, though they spin at vastly differing rates.’”
2.11 (40:4) #649
The Metafictionist 