Sernic diarchy

The Sernic diarchy is a political system and conceptualization thereof in eastern Outer Ausarea, specifically Serony where orders most influenced by the idea prevail, in which politics and authority is divided into two 'official' and 'non-official' spheres. In the Austral world, using the political wheel, the two are named instead as hub and spoke respectively. It is closely connected to the history and idea of the compact.

The official sphere is associated with the center of the polity. From the 14th to 19th centuries (the 'first era' of the compact) it was the domain of an elite that descended from the formal, stately authorities, associated with the traditional monarch of Sernic culture, or the bureaucracies developed to serve them. In effect it was the realm assigned to those who arrogated rule by the same traditions and authority as previous states, or simply occupied similar positions as which, as a result of their struggles or alliances with sadans. As with practically the rest of the world, the traditional state in Serony recognized more or less divine kingship, and officials were noticeably closely involved with matters of ritual, conquest, and other representationalist endeavors. More importantly, by this divine origin of state, they exclusively held transcendent and exceptional power over society, able to decisively intervene and calm its conflicts, something that was not only considered common sense for intellectuals but also became realistically important due to the social conflicts of the late Liong Empire. With this long-standing part of politics self-evidently valid and unable to be left vacant, those who previously held it charted out their role in the new compact-based order according to it as well, constituting its central and official authorities, and acting as arbitrator, celebrant, and war-leader to the compact. Of course these officials were not just ceremonial authorities, retaining and employing policymaking capabilities via bureaucracies at their command, the formation of which was sanctioned by the compact, again within the limits and to accomplish the task of the official sphere's particular role.

The internecine warfare of the late 18th century and the conquests and collapse of the Yiu Empire delivered a shock to political thought in Serony. In the 19th century those that held the official sphere of power were re-examined and critically reflected on. Theorists blamed the vainglory of the officials and the imperfect means of using their power on the collapse of the first compact order. One of the things that came with the Silent Conquest was Vasarean political theory. Though its rationalistic premise and drive for efficiency seemed at surface contradictory with the Sernic focus on tradition and consensus, the powerful Vasarean state-machine was actually seen as something that could perfectly wield the power of the official sphere, and expedite perfection of the compact. Criticism of centralizing, Vasarean-style reform only emerged in the second half of the 20th century.

The definition of the non-official sphere has been considerably more ambiguous.