Little is known about native settlement of Tepertopia before the island was discovered around the 4th century, consequently sprouting various small spheres of influence, which over time evolved into today's Constituent States. While originally usually hostile to each other, relations relaxed around the beginning of the 9th century following external threats, and eventually the states entered into a defensive pact that would become the predecessor of the Protectorate in the course of the 10th century. A formal federation would first be installed in the year 1000.

Tepertopia in its current form saw its formation on December 14th, 1915, following the overthrow of the old government in the course of a revolution induced by civil hardships and controversial government policies during World War I. Since then, the country has shown enormous political and social stability, fostering an unprecedented bloom in culture and the economy, mainly driven by its highly developed IT industry and a strong agricultural sector thriving off the mineral-rich Tepertopian soil created by the now inactive volcano Bachingenspitze located relatively centrally on the island.

On the international stage, the Protectorate typically advocates Peace, Equality and Political Freedom, and is a well-endorsed and influential member of the World Assembly. Tepertopia's famously good weather and excellent environment yearly draw large numbers of tourists to the island, where they enjoy museums full of valuable artwork and the rich culture of the nation in a safe and kind setting. While prominent for its dedication to scientific advancement, Tepertopia’s population remains among the most devout in the world.

The five Constituent States of the Federal Protectorate are The Grand Duchy of Grimmen, The Grand Duchy of Valetria, The Principality of Lotze, The Federation of Pluvy, and The Republic of Vickel, each having its own Regional Government and consisting of multiple local administrative units. These subdivisions trace their existence to Tepertopia's medieval feudal structure, where many of them were owned by sovereign Tepertopian lords, who as vassals to the Constituent States' rulers were empowered to administer these patches of land.

The Head of Government of Tepertopia is the Council of the Union (Bundesrat), a directory comprising the Councilors for Special Affairs, Internal Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Defence, Justice, Welfare, Finance, and Progress, with the CoSA having developed into their primus inter pares leader over the decades.

Elections to the Council take place every four years under a modified Single Transferable Vote system. Candidates stand for a specific seat but are all listed on a single ballot. Voters rank the candidates in their order of preference, and winners are chosen mostly under standard STV rules with a Hare quota; the two exceptions are that a) all candidates standing for a seat someone has already won are eliminated and their votes get reallocated, and b) if a candidate is the only one remaining in the race for their seat, they automatically win.

The Councilors are responsible for policy in their assigned portfolio and have relatively large leeway to that end, with the caveat that any legislation they wish to pass must of course find a majority in the Assembly. Therefore, the Council often collectively deliberates and decides on issues specific to a portfolio, as a measure to guarantee a solid basis of support later in the legislature. Any Councilor, or the Council as such, may submit bills to the Presidium of the People's Assembly. The only ways a sitting Councilor can be removed from office are resignation and a conviction by the High Court for Abuse of Power.

While de jure a member and the president of the Council, the Protector (currently Gerhard von Selingen) nowadays doesn't regularly take a role in government business anymore, and instead focuses on their role as the ceremonial Head of State of Tepertopia. However, they are customarily invited by the Council when discussing landmark legislation or other highly important matters of state. As the Protector is also required to sign a bill before it becomes law, they have suspensive veto power over passed bills; if exercised, the Assembly can hold a fourth reading of the bill and pass it again, after which the Protector must sign it. The office is hereditary, passing on under the rules of absolute primogeniture. Succession can be triggered by the death of the incumbent, their abdication, or through the Assembly, which can declare the Protector abdicated by a two-thirds majority vote.

Other executive positions, such as that of WA Ambassador, are elected by the Council, with the Assembly having recall powers.

The Legislative Palace (2018)

The federal legislature is the unicameral Tepertopian Assembly (Tepertopier Bürgerschaft), often simply called "the Assembly".

Every three years, all its 101 seats are up for election under the Bi-moderated Satisfaction System, an Additional Member System based on Combined Approval Voting. 61 seats are elected in constituencies, with the remaining 40 elected at-large. To avoid gerrymandering, each administrative division of the Constituent States serves as its own constituency, with the number of seats to be elected depending on the division's share of the total electorate. Voters can vote for (approve) and against (veto) any number of candidates on their ballot; each approval and veto towards a candidate adds or removes 1 from their score respectively and the highest-scoring candidate(s) win the constituency seats. All parties which have won at least one seat this way are eligible for proportional representation according to Party (Satisfaction) Approval Voting: Each voter's full satisfaction (essentially, their one vote for calculation purposes) gets divided evenly between all candidates they gave an approval to and who stand for an eligible party, with those satisfaction fractions counting towards the respective party's satisfaction total; each party is then allocated a number of seats proportional to their share of voter satisfaction. The at-large seats are awarded in an iterative algorithm, where in each step the least-vetoed candidate of the most-underrepresented party is awarded a seat. The system aims to achieve political moderation in two dimensions, promoting moderate, broadly acceptable parties, and from within those their uncontroversial members.

The Assembly is arguably the most powerful entity in the Protectorate. All proposed legislation must withstand scrutiny and debate by its Assemblypersons before being passed to the Protector for sign-off, and it can initiate recall procedures against most government officials, with only Councilors and the Judiciary exempt. The Assemblypersons elect one of them to be the Assembly President, who presides over their sessions and serves as the Assembly's official spokesperson as well as direct connection to the Council of the Union. Together with their four deputies, who are approved by a majority vote of the Assembly on a joint ticket proposed by the President, they form the Presidium of the People's Assembly. Every Assemblyperson may submit proposals for legislation to the Presidium, which will evaluate whether it would be reasonable for the whole People's Assembly to debate it, and introduce any such proposal before the Assembly.

Tepertopia's Judiciary is headed by the High Court of Tepertopia, which guards and interprets the supreme law of the land, the Articles of Union (Bundesakte) of 1889.

Its ten Justices sit for either a ten-year term with no renewal possible, until the age of retirement, or their resignation, whichever happens sooner. Recalls are not possible. Once a seat opens, the Council of the Union nominates an individual by two-thirds majority, whom the Assembly then must confirm by another two-thirds majority. From among themselves, the Justices elect a Lord Justice as their primus inter pares leader.

Besides thereby acting as constitutional court, the High Court also serves as the highest appellate court in civil and criminal cases. However, it is also the one and only criminal court for crimes against internal and external security, such as High Treason, Espionage, or Terrorism. Furthermore, indictments by the Assembly for Abuse of Power are heard before the High Court.

The lower courts of Tepertopia divide into financial, social, work, and administrative (extra-ordinary), as well as criminal and civil (ordinary) courts, with the former four responsible for disputes specific to their expertise. Ordinary courts are organized in three tiers, namely State courts, District courts, and Magistrates courts, the latter two being first-instance for severe and less severe crimes respectively, with appeals possible to the State court for matters of law, and to the District court in matters of fact, provided that the first-instance hearing was in the Magistrates court. Extra-ordinary courts work similarly, but have no Magistrates courts. A final appeal to the High Court can be lodged only if all other options have been exhausted.

People's Assembly after the 2019 Legislative Election

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Party		Seats
█	CPT	0	▼ 4
█	PWP	18	▼ 4
█	FiO	14	▼ 2
█	DDP	6	▲ 1
█	M	29	▲ 5
█	C	12	▼ 1
█	TMP	14	▲ 3
█	TAL	0	▼ 3
█	GRAYS	5	▬ 5
█	Independents	3	▲ 1

As a multi-party democratic system, Tepertopia is home to a multitude of political parties, scattered all across the political spectrum. Currently, 14 parties are represented in the People's Assembly. The three traditional major parties of Tepertopia are the People's Welfare Party, The Moderate, and the Tepertopian Merchants' Party; in more recent history, Canon (the fourth traditionally large party) has consistently seen its seat share fall to only being a medium-sized parliamentary faction, while that of The Future is Ours has generally increased to that point. The Digital Democratic Party and The Pragmatists. are relatively new parties and the rising stars on the parliamentary left; on the right, The Grays and The Right Way can be seen as their counterparts.

Traditionally, the "Big Three" have dominated Tepertopian politics.

• The biggest generally left-leaning party is the People's Welfare Party (PWP). Originally founded as a socialist worker's party in the 19th century, today it rests its manifesto on the principles of social democracy, focusing on achieving social equality and combining it with personal freedom in a liberal, democratic society. While Jade Hayes, leader of the PWP, enjoys great personal popularity (with approval ratings consistently above or around the 50% mark), the party as a whole has continued to lose out parliamentary satisfaction share to the other left-wing parties (again taking a big hit with the qualification of The Pragmatists. for satisfaction seats at the last election) over the last decade, which has significantly increased party-internal calls for a manifesto more distinct from those competitors instead of Hayes' compromise-oriented approach.

• Staunchly in the middle of political debate, The Moderate (MOD) can be found. Founded right after the Harmonist Protectorate and its extreme reform attempts, which while originally well-meaning and principled soon turned into a de facto totalitarian dictatorship, The Moderate tries to find a good balance in political beliefs in the interest of all Tepertopians. Its resulting non-radical views (which can mainly be described as center-right, socially and fiscally conservative-leaning) and openness to negotiations make it a popular partner for seeking a parliamentary majority in the course of installing a new Chancellor. The party operates under a two-person leadership currently composed of Nadine Beck and Fredric Hyde. Like the PWP, the party's catch-all policies seem to have turned from attracting approvals to hindering distinct party profile, resulting in lower total parliamentary satisfaction share.

• The liberal right wing of Tepertopia is represented by the Tepertopian Merchants' Party (TMP), which is the oldest active political party (being formed at the end of the 18th century, representing a rising industrious middle-class) and the firmest believer in the free market and capitalism, with personal freedom and democracy also being core values; nonetheless, it still supports a basic social safety system. After slowly waning support over time, party leader Walton Geldenberg has managed to stabilize and even improve both the party's approval rating and parliamentary satisfaction share, mainly by having the party's social liberalism highlighted better (at the expense of its fiscal conservatism) to attract more approvals from socially progressive voters.
  

Recently, parliamentary factions larger than the small ones but not quite reaching the "Big Three" have emerged.

• The newest appearance is The Future is Ours! (FiO), a movement which concerns itself primarily with environmentalist policy, attempting to preserve and protect nature and animals of Tepertopia. After that, it generally pursues politics considered left-wing in both fiscal and social matters, also liking to present itself as a fresher version of the fading PWP with a bigger focus on social equity. FiO's leader, Elfriede zur Zukunft, while generally a calm, uncontroversial person, presently struggles to contain growing conflict between the party's fragmented subgroupings, mainly the pragmatist and the dogmatist wings, who tend to clash about the party's goals besides environmentalism.

• Religious Tepertopians often sympathize with the agenda of Canon (C), an inter-faith party which primarily promotes support and freedom of religion, equality in opportunity, and tradition. Despite its generally more conservative views than The Moderate, it still is another popular coalition partner, as its nature of uniting many different faiths has brought about a relatively constructive atmosphere of openness to negotiation and compromise between its members. The party's leader, Achim Revie, has however recently caused internal controversy with his attempts to push the party more firmly to the right of politics, as Canon (like The Moderate and the PWP) too has increasingly suffered under what might be perceived as lack of policy principles.
  

The current four small parliamentary factions are the Digital Democratic Party (DDP), The Pragmatists. (P.), The Grays ‒ Justice for All (GRAYS), and The Right Way (TRW).

• The DDP was originally formed as a single-issue party trying to accelerate digitalization, but has since evolved to feature generally future-oriented, progressive demands (although not focusing on the environment as much as FiO) and is seen as the most "tech-savvy" of the parties.

• Its "sister-in-spirit" (as the two often refer to each other) are The Pragmatists., which is the youngest of the parliamentary factions (only taking the 12.5% approval hurdle to qualify for satisfaction seats in the last election) and wants to take politics above partisan bickering to solve Tepertopia's problems with an objective, pragmatic approach under a liberty-first heading.

• The Grays too were founded as a single-issue party, with its focus being on pension reform, but today they can roughly be seen as a senior citizen's interest party that is a tad more conservative than Canon, although the party's manifesto generally calls for politics in the interest of all generations.

• Lastly, The Right Way has risen out of economic downturn and discontent with the status quo, and in the name of the hard-working everyman boasts more radical demands than the other parliamentary factions, primarily on social issues, while remaining relatively mainstream conservative on fiscal questions; the other parties however take great effort to distance themselves from TRW at every possible opportunity.
  

Besides these parties, which qualify for full parliamentary faction status, five more parties have gained representation in the People's Assembly by means of locally elected Assemblypersons, viz. the radically left Communist Party of Tepertopia (CPT), the farmers' party Tepertopian Agricultural League (TAL), Valetrian separatist movement Arise Valetria! (AV!), and the more tempered TRW breakaway Alliance for Tepertopia (AfT).

Other parties which have failed to get any politicians elected to the Assembly include the Popular Prosperity Party (3P), Animal Protection Tepertopia (APT), Grassroots Tepertopia (GRASS), the Harmonist Party (HRMNY), the Rainbow Alliance (LGBT+) the Movement for Freedom, Fortune, and the Future (F³), the satirical Party for Animals, Rectitude, and the Tepertopian Youth (PARTY), the Party for Liberty (PfL), The Republic & You! (R&Y), the Syndicalist Initiative (SI), and the United Altruists (UA).

Francis Spark (MOD),
WA Ambassador

The Protectorate is a member of the Coalition of the South Pacific, where it partakes in regional legislation through its Legislator status.

Also being in the World Assembly, the Protectorate additionally is concerned with the Coalition’s Office of WA Legislation, primarily preparing arguments for the Coalition’s stance on WA matters.

Being located relatively remotely, Tepertopia has remained mostly uninvolved in armed conflict since its withdrawal from World War I in 1915, and only maintains an adequately-armed Coast Guard. The last armed conflict with Tepertopian involvement was the Siege of South Pacific, in which it used some Coast Guard ships in assistance to the Phoenix Flock Fleet, a spontaneous emergency coalition of multiple regions of the world to liberate the region of South Pacific from occupying forces terrorizing natives after a hostile takeover. The Tepertopian Commander-in-Chief is the Council of the Union.