Vanaheimr was a large nation emerging out of the Lactean Confederacy when the Confederacy collapsed in 20387 CE. As a polity, it controlled the entirety of the Carina Nebula as well as tens of thousands of stars around it. From 20409 to 21705 it was lead by Freyja Zhang as a hybrid model between anarcho-syndicalism and socialism. It remained as a cohesive nation until 21705 CE when it collapsed due to both internal and external pressures. Even so, it remained somewhat unified and managed to pull itself back together before joining the United Federation of Star Systems and losing all independance it had.Template:True Nation InfoboxIt's precursor state, the Lactean Confederacy, fell into ruin after starting a multi-front war, the War of the Decamillennial Transition. While it was winning this war, the tension building up after many years of corruption and institutional prejudice caused the nation to collapse, leaving the people of the Milky Way for themselves. The rampant corruption of the LaC inspired Freyja Zhang and dozens of other leaders to revive the long-dead leftist ideologies among humans believing them to be far more viable in a more advanced society. What they came up with was an anarcho-syndicalist system with a state that would make sure property rights were not infringed. This system proved successful until kingdoms neighboring the expanding nation felt threatened that the ideology would spread to their own nations. This is what caused the Centuries' War, a period of nigh constant warfare that plagued the region as kings and dictators from surrounding nations fought back against the nation.
What ended the nation was not this constant warfare, it was the people of the nation wanting it to end. They lost many individuals in the fighting, and the nation could not maintain the same quality of life from before the war as during it. Slowly, the nation destabilized as charismatic individuals were able to gain not only the support of the people, but also the support of support from the various nations around Vanaheimr. The nation soon became entirely destabilized as local, and far less leftist, groups came into power. One of the last actions of the nation was to join the CoB after the death of their leader, Freyja Zhang, in 21705. It was entirely dissolved and the local warlords were deposed later that year.
History
Formation
By the time the Split of the Lactean Confederacy occured, there was large-scale corruption in the LaC. Many blamed the state itself and others blamed humanity. For those in the Carina Nebula, the blame rested solely on the mega-corporations that had been allowed to have their way with the resources of the galaxy and puppet the government.
With the collapse of the Federal Government, the people of the Carina Nebula found not only a way to rule themselves, but also try out leftist ideologies that had long since been relegated to the dustbin of history. Representatives from the still in-tact planetary governments in the area decided to come together to decide how they would move forward. Several argued for the creation of a strong government to protect the people and Neo-Norse culture, while others wanted the nebula to be little more than a loose coalition of mostly self-governing planets.
The most popular of these representatives was the one from Jörmungandr, the previously mentioned Freyja Zhang. She began campaigning for what she called the "Ancient Tennants," a system of government created on Earth in the second millennium, but hasn't seen much usage since. Using these ideas, she created the first human anarcho-syndicalist nation ever on Jörmundandr. She wanted to spread the system to the entire Carina Nebula and beyond, as the workers have benefited greatly. After several years of campaigning, she was able to create Vanaheimr, named after the realm of the Vanir sect of gods in Norse Mythology.
Golden Age
What followed was almost five centuries of expansion and prosperity. With the workers owning the means of production, they were motivated to be competitive against other unions while also ensuring that the people were not exploited, it was truly the best of both systems. Zhang was given the title of "General Secretary" in the state, whose entire purpose to maintain this system that has arisen.
With time, the nation expanded to not only just occupy the Carina Nebula, but also to occupy several million stars near to the nebula. The area, while being incredibly large, was mostly empty, hence the relatively low population of the nation. Despite this, the nation was a formidable force not just militarily, but also economically. It simply bordering a small kingdom or fief was enough for the people of the kingdom to rebel.
The Centuries' War
With the collapse of dozens of nations around the nation, farther nations started to take notice. At once, Vanaheimr was attacked from all sides. The leaders of these nations were utterly terrified that it would soon expand to take over even their territory. If there was one thing monarchs, dictators, or demagogues did not want was to be deposed and for their state to be subsumed.
Fall
Society
The nation was
Government and Military
Elections
Most issues were handled by local governments. The original idea of Vanaheimr was for local governments, administering a system at the most, to handle almost everything. Trade agreements and other international affairs were to be decided by a vote by the people.
This ideal, however, proved to be unrealistic. Outside forces or threats would often require more cooperation than merely trade between systems. A federal government was established to maintain these systems in 20387. This new government required for officials to be elected on a regular basis. Each system would vote for those from among themselves they believed would be the best suited for running the whole nation. Once these elections were finished, the people then voted for one of the other nearby candidates (not from their planet). The candidate that could appeal to the most voters in their region (typically of no more than ten systems). The winners of these elections would be appointed to The Worker's Council.
This council, made up of several hundred thousand to one million individuals would vote for the direction the government was to go over the next years. When a threat was identified, emergency meeting were called. These meetings were used to divert resources to where the people believed they belonged most. It would be what distributed the resources from resources worlds to worlds dependant on them. In times of crisis, more resources were devoted to The Ministry of Defense, while in times of peace those resources were diverted to infrastructure, export to other nations, or stockpiled for a crisis.
Armed Forces
The armed forces is one of the many ministries that the government of Vanaheimr created. It was often called the Ministry of Defense. This organization would be responsible for protecting colonists leaving to find new worlds, protecting border worlds, and, later, protecting the cohesiveness of the nation.
Ministries
Economy
With the founding of Vanaheimr came the introduction of an as of yet unproven system for interstellar civilizations, anarcho-syndicalism. There were no corporations to speak of. Instead, those that worked would receive any profits they make. The workers in a certain organization could choose to appoint leaders or advisors to help them more effectively run their organization, but, ultimately, it was the workers that had the final say in how things would be ran. Various organizations analogous to companies were required to operate in every system, monopolies, even those by worker cooperatives, were strictly forbidden.
With the money the workers earned, they were able to buy anything they needed. Wealth inequality was very rare, as even the leaders of the largest cooperatives, such as the Ministries, were entirely beholden to the whim of a popular vote of the workers.