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Martial Space is a multi-species international union occupying much of Aylathiya near the galactic core. The region is named for the deity Mars, a widely-revered figure in the region's most prominent religions. The most common faith, Martial Civil Religion, was official state doctrine until recently following mounting pressure to secularize. Today, the Greater Martial Consilium is meant to be religiously neutral, despite the spear iconography on its flag. The head of the Consilium and ruler of Martial Space, the Imperator, is the voice of Mars, and therefore its people. "Mars Martialis Spatio es, populo es, gensa es"—"Mars is Martial Space, its people, its nation."

Over the centuries, the role of the Imperator had been the subject of much debate. So intense was the debate that nations would take up arms, often when something could be gained from doing so of course. The Warring States Period, emerging as the Dominion of Astraeus collapsed, was replete with warfare. At the time, Mars was believed to embody the state—which state exactly was up to the outcome of warfare. These states were absolute monarchies, impossible to unify and impossible to develop.

The Wars of Unification, in which the Republic of Drusidia grew to dominate first Eos and then the dozen nearest stars, was a centuries-spanning process. At its height in 9721, the Republic controlled most of modern Martial Space. The Republic's voracious conquest was fueled entirely by nascent reindustrialization in its core of Enyo. The Republic could simply outproduce, outgun, and outnumber any of its neighbors. To this day, the city of Enyo is the wealthiest in Martial Space and the capital of the Consilium.

The last war of unification ended right as the War of the Ancients began. The ancient superpower, the Commonwealth of Post-Sedruan States launched a religious crusade against the Republic. Its rusted factories roared to life as per government decree. The resulting war involved every major power in Aylathiya and was ultimately a republic victory. Drusidian generals and politicians rushed to divide the newly acquired lands, threatening the relatively centralized Republic. They demanded political power in the Consilium, its legislature, and threatened succession without it.

Jezebel's War, fought first by Archon Jezebel Torrent-Drusus and then by Imperatrix Jezebel, erupted to suppress the growing calls for reform. The new territories joined the disgruntled countryside aristocracy, remnants of the Dominion of Astraeus, and other groups seeking to end the Consilium system. Jezebel's death left a power vacuum in Enyo. Imperatrix Wren, then General Wren Zandria, organized an emergency conference with provincial governors. An impromptu vote over radio cemented the creation of the Greater Martial Consilium. The rank of each "allod," essentially a state in the Consilium, was intensely argued over in the years-long session of the Consilium.

In the end, the Consilium represented a far broader segment of society. It became check on the power of the Imperator, complete with its own rival executive branch, the Aurora Commission. The Republic of Drusidia became the central government of a sprawling nation and its various former colonies and provinces became checks on the power of the central government. Martial Space is a super-state and burgeoning federal republic on the cusp of superpower status and far from fully realized.

Government

See Aurora Commission, Imperator, Greater Martial Consilium

The government of Martial Space has three branches—The Aurora Commission, the Imperator, and the Greater Martial Consilium. All sovereignty is said to derive from the people, from Mars, and therefore from the Consilium and Imperator. The Consilium represents the people in a practical sense and the Imperator in a spiritual sense. The Aurora Commission is the large bureaucratic apparatus in charge of taxation, public works, and most of the military.

The Imperator, like the Archon of the Republic, has unlimited power save for limitations laid out in the Edict of Decency. The Consilium, through the Aurora Commission, controls taxation, the treasury, and Martial Space's large military, the Ruby Spear. The Imperator commands the much smaller Ruby Shield, essentially an independent military from the capital city, although even the capital is not the sole domain of the Imperator. A group of margraves, elected officials despite their title, rule the capital in a hybrid executive-legislative council with the Imperator.

Allods

An Allod is an exception to the fundamental basis of the government of Martial Space, that the Imperator has absolute power as the embodiment of Mars. Despite secularization of the Imperator as a symbolic representation of the people, it remains the case that the Imperator's spiritual significance is a proven historical and scientific fact. Thus, no government would willingly submit to the Imperator unless forced to, which is bad for national cohesion.

Thus, the complex allod system was created. An allodial claim to land or capital means such land is not owned by the Imperator outright, leaving it free from taxation and the allods free to do as they wish with it. Put simply, an allod is a state within Martial Space, a sovereign unit whose rights ends where the rights of the individual begin.

Only 5% of the population of Martial Space is subject to direct rule by the Imperator. An interesting side-effect of this stipulation is that the Imperator can only tax inter-allod transactions, companies, or firms. The Greater Martial Consilium has no limit to what it can tax.

Judiciary

The judiciary is complicated and subject to endless debate. The Imperator has made judgements related to inter-allod conflicts, but this power has not be used in over a century due to the conflict in interest this clearly represents. Thus, inter-allod conflicts are usually overseen by a council of thirteen Special Representatives, seven of which are appointed by the Imperator and six of which are appointed by the president of the Aurora Commission. A series of laws, not found in the edict of decency, govern this Special Council as though it were any other government agency, with the caveat that its decisions must be respected.

Edict of Decency

Tyranny is a problem Martial Space is well acquainted with—in its history it had been the default. Keeping power spread out helps prevent a central authority from wresting power from nations, planets, and cities, but allows for these local governments to operate without much oversight. It is the divine duty of the Imperator to represent the people, including making sure local governments operate under this manner. Of course, not all allods are operated democratically, far from it. Even so, certain rights are universal as proclaimed by the Edict of Decency, all guaranteed by the largest standing army and navy in the universe.

Namely, the Edict establishes which species are considered Integrant, having basic rights. Not every integrant is a citizen, as Martial Space as a whole does not have citizens and officially views all beings in its borders as equal before the law. The Allods have various standards for citizenship, but are unable to violate the rights of integrants.

Sole ownership of the self.
Sole determination self's parts.
Sole propriety of the self's labor.
Sole stewardship for one's health.
Sole responsibility for contracts.
Sole duty to Nature.

The last point, Sole duty to Nature, is part of the founding principles of the state and does not mean nature as in the plants, animals, or biosphere. Nature, also called Providence, is the entirety of the universe, in particular its sovereign aspects, the people. In other words, Nature is those who reside in it and is indistinguishable from society. All have a duty to society, but only to a society which respects the nature (lowercase n) of intelligent beings.

Some allods have more radical charters of their own, such as the Confederacy of Borealis, whose citizens enjoy a host of other rights such as freedom of movement, right to health, and even a wordy right to species instinct so long as the rights of others are not infringed.

As a minimum, whether an allod is a military dictatorship or a democratic republic, the above rights must be respected. Regularly, the citizens of denizens of these nations will appeal to Nature, meaning they can apply for audience with various star-system-level courts who answer to the Special Representatives who have created a monstrously-large collection of case law and precedent which more accurately defines what the Edict of Decency means. This has made appealing to nature time-consuming and expensive, greatly slowing down the rate at which precedent can change.

The second to last point, Sole responsibility for contracts, was an addition popular amongst liberals who believed something like a "right to property" would be important to economic growth. Across the core in Florathel, similar such laws had generated great economic growth. Thus, this law narrowly became a part of the Edict of Decency. Its exact wording remains controversial to this day, but is widely interpreted to mean the right to own property and negotiate legally-binding contracts, including with the government. A lot of weight has been placed on this point, in particular the very basis for the vast body of contracts, treaties, and deals between the allods.