AHC: Inanimate object as a ruler

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What about the Romans exalting their relationship to the Sibylline Books? Even in OTL the books had immense power over the inhabitants of Rome. This went so far that they sacrificed humans because the Book (or rather the guys interpreting it) had suggested they should.

So my proposal:
1. Change the legend from Tarquinius Superbus (last King) buying them to, let's say, the Sibyl donating them to the Roman cause after the overthrow of the monarchy. Load it up with some myths about Anatolia and Trojan influence.
2. The books become a figurehead (in that regard akin to the republican Rex Sacrorum) for the no longer existent kingship. However, the priests caring for them derive some political influence from the prophecies.
3. Over time the real political system changes to something like the OTL Roman Republic, with the books stil maintaining significance.
4. Now some Alt-Caesar comes around. He also traces his lineage to Trojan origins and who, after an Alt-Civil war derives a weird form of government making him a custodian of the books, which are instituted as the formal ruler. Offically the books through the custodian hold executive power, while republican institutions hold legislative power.
5. Over time the system evolves into an Alt-Roman Empire with the Sybeline Books as its offical head.

This results in a ruling inanimate object that is even more than a simple figurehead, because the prophecies were actually followed through. Abrahamitic religions will get hard though, if their orthodoxy doesn't get a lot more open towards syncreticism than iOTL.
 
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With our Artificial General Intelligence overlords, all things are possible.

Heck, even just a regular AI would do. If I feed the law books to an Chat bot and then “ask it questions”, it’s as good as a ruler.
 
An idea I always liked was that in a parliamentary monarchy the king would die in parliament, and thus it could never be disolved nor vetoed by him, the parliament just leaves his corpse in the throne and continous ruling with the skeleton as official ruler still.

For 200 years the King of Denmark has reigned from his Teakwood Throne...
 
Perhaps a great prophet writes down a whole bunch of stuff and when he dies, the books become the 'words of God' since he is no longer around to speak for God. Thus the people look at the books when they need answers. Somebody threatens to seize our port? Read the books to find out what to do. To avoid anybody seizing power, there is sortition as randomness is simply God making known his desire.

Actually, there was that scenario about Corsica being ruled by the Virgin Mary. Perhaps that fulfills the requirements.
 
With our Artificial General Intelligence overlords, all things are possible.

Heck, even just a regular AI would do. If I feed the law books to an Chat bot and then “ask it questions”, it’s as good as a ruler.
speaking of, there's a small twist in Mike McQuay's Ramon & Morgan duology (i'm assuming no one cares about this particular spoiler) that the god of humanity in a feudal-future type setting, Ibem, turns out to be a sentient IBM computer and his/its priests are programmers (not in the modern sense, they're called programmers--this is a setting where plastic is as valued as gold and jewels)
 
Automated Capitalism - basically, certain kinds of AI has property rights, same as a human person; a number of these programs basically operate as algorithms that broadly act as (long term successfully, in aggregate) rich people in a pure capitalist system (providing money to investors and enterprises that make them more money, withholding capital from those that don’t)

Constitutional Catocracy - like a constitutional monarchy, only the monarch’s a cat
 
I could see a consensual political establishment deciding to select a non-human figure, like a pet or a statue, or even an idea, as titular "head" of its regime if it's decided to avoid idolization and cults of personality, such as a libertarian socialist republic (in the likes of the Syrian rebel group Rojava, which doesn't give too much importance to any political persons associated to it besides maybe its now dead ideological patron, Abdullah Ocalan), or an obsessively bureaucratic state, like a Chinese government that has adopted the more traditional, specific tenets of legalism. A being without human sapience, after all, can be lauded and idolized, but cannot itself manipulate its position to gain an advantage over others.
 
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"The HOLY COW hath decreed, there shall now be a 4% tax on baked goods, to finance construction of more granaries."

"All hail the Holy Cow!"
 
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This challenge is so difficult that literally the only solution I can think of is for Ralph Fiennes’ wife from In Bruges becoming PM of the UK.

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(No offense to the OP of course).
 
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