Horizon government

Corruption exists, but only at a sufficiently low level that it does no major harm to the Mayoralty's agenda.
Current mayor is Corporal Andrew Zero: "retired English major meets The Patrician".
Agenda: -Prevent revolution from sweeping mayoralty aside. -Avoid annexation by one of Four Nations. -Expand Horizon's sphere of influence (maybe into Treacherous Lands) -Keep people fed.
Not an Orwellian police state; the Emperor's reign was like that but it's been disbanded.
Contains two types of operation: 1. bloated ministries full of paper-shufflers who take bribes 2. Small, competent cliques, cells, subdivisions within the above who get stuff done and are quiet about it.

Where nobles meet to debate politics.
Like the Houses of Parliament, but without the ability to enact laws-- just to vote on what they think would be a good idea.
Mainly there to advise the Mayor, and act as a barometer for testing the opinion of the nobility.
Most of the interesting stuff happens in select committees... like the Gentleman's Cause or the Old Club.

Occur when a mayor dies or resigns; mayors cannot be forced to resign but could be coerced (e.g. by nobody talking to them)
New mayor is voted on by the 15 Electors, consisting of:
Seven Heptarchs (seven oldest noble families in Horizon; formerly there were 8, but the Emperor's bloodline was exterminated) who occupy the seats of Autumn and Winter
Four Ambassadors of the Four Nations who occupy the seats of Summer
The Four Goodfellows, representatives of the people (actually members of the largest mob families) who occupy the seats of Spring

Is officially the Diplomatic Office.
Contains the Faculty of Cartography (a branch of the University which receives all its funding from the Ministry.
Also contains the Initiative (Treacherous Lands Exploration Initiative) which sends brave folk on expeditions through the Wall to see if there's anything lucrative over there.
Also also contains the Streetcleaners, who keep an eye out for Nasty Stuff entering from the Treacherous Lands, and Bad People sneaking through the Wall.

The judicary organ of Horizon; all dogs are honorary members since they do the whole oath schtick.
Alpha dog of the city is the Lord Chancellor; human head of the order is the Chancellor's Man.
Trade guilds can enforce their joining oaths (e.g. "if you spill the beans we will cut your throat")
Contains the Horizon Guard (or Watchdogs)
Contains the Manhunters, who root out people harming dogs.
Apart from that, few offshoots apart from some private detective agencies.

Formerly an unstoppable war machine; now vastly reduced in size and purged of hardcore Imperialists. Mostly patrol roads and borders of Horizon.
The Imperial Guard guard the Emperor. From getting out. They respond with excessive violence since the Emperor escaping would cause Really, Really Bad Problems.
The Military Diplomatic Service are elite mercenaries often hired by the Four Nations.
The Naval Registry deal with threats to shipping; officially they look out for pirates, etc. Unofficially they send agents into the Dockers' Union to put down strikes and send out pirate ships with letters of marque.

Maintains three elite espionage subdepartments:
The Office of Insight finds out what's going on in the corridors of power, since Zero doesn't trust his own reports.
Office of Hindsight watches the government's back; functions like Insight but looks for established threats (mobs, Four Nations)
Office of Foresight looks into threats that the government isn't even aware of yet: secret police poking their noses in everywhere.
Sociopolitical Topography Section seek to determine and manipulate the views of the man in the street: go into pubs and listen to peoples' opinions, seek out unacceptable opinions in the press, send the Watchdogs to illegal printing presses, etc.

Officially, responsible for keeping everything running within the city; building schools, banks, monuments, etc.
Contains the Department of Public Safety, which deals with fires, floods, riots, etc.
Which contains the Oddities Office (or Double-O) which deals with 'orrible gribbly fings wiv tentacles. Hunts down avatars and cultists, recruits mages, shamans, and the like to help it.

Is the taxman.
Two factions: those who think it should tax the rich more heavily (known as the "pickpockets") and those who still like getting bribes from the rich (the "crook-friends").