Commensalism

Commensalism (also called Commensarism, from Hespor Cormensjara) is a political philosophy which proposes appropriating existing social and power structures to create a pluralist political and economic system which is beneficial to all. It derives from cor, meaning group, and mensja, meaning platter - literally, all eating from the same table.

Commensalism was first proposed in Ennseperans in the decade leading up to the War of Schisms. It was one of the key ideological movements in the war, and remains a key ideology in much of the politics of Munatan.

As a philosophy it proposes examining traditional political structures, throwing out the power and privilege that goes along with those roles, and restructuring whilst retaining the confidence that goes with a traditional system. An example of this would be a society which has a king and court who maintain their position by wealth and privilege, and replacing this with a meritocracy, and a king appointed by majority of the people. Key elements of Commensalism include collective decision making with the views of all respected, and a redistributive tax policy.

Following the War of Schisms and the dissolution of the Ennseperan Empire, many of its successor states in western Munatan used Commensalist principles to a greater or lesser extent in constituting new nations. Penayso was the most radical of these, using Commensalist principles to create a national assembly in a nation subjected to colonialism and suffering tribal and ethnic violence.