Confederacy of Borealis

Template:Governmental Organization Infobox To many, the Confederacy of Borealis represents a beacon of democracy in a hostile galaxy populated by dictatorships and technocracies. To others, the Confederacy is a force for ill, raiding cities as though they were state-backed pirates. To still others the Confederacy represents the entrenchment of capital and a betrayal of its original worker-centric model. Governments see it as a guarantor of order and rivals see it is a threat to their hegemony. Regardless of perception, the Confederacy is one of the galaxy's largest creditors, controls vast swathes of its wealth, and is even capable of galactic-scale military action; the Confederacy's influence can in no way be understated.

The Confederacy of Borealis (Boreal Basic: 𐌺𐌰𐌽𐍆𐌰𐌳𐌴𐍂𐌰𐍄𐌹𐍉𐌽 𐍅𐍉𐌽 𐌱𐍉𐍂𐌴𐌰𐌻𐌹𐍃), often abbreviated as CoB, also called The Confederacy, is a large international para-state organization comprising hundreds of millions of cooperatives, syndicates, religious organizations, guilds, orders, and unions united under a congress and president located throughout most of Cosmoria. While having direct control over few systems, it nearly entirely controls the economies over major Human worlds such as Thalsiedeln, Petra, Aegyn, and Albedo. Were its economic influence measured as energy consumption, it would outrank most nations.

The Confederacy of Borealis was at one point capable of military influence at the level of Cosmoria, making it a military superpower despite its status as a non-state entity. While today it has lost this prestigious status, its large military apparatus remains a formidable foe on the galactic stage. The Confederacy controls many restored artifacts from older civilizations such as the Triumvirate Civilization. The Confederacy has invested little into thaumic technology, focusing more on traditional technologies. The Confederacy has the largest voting power of any organization in the parliament of the Greater Martial Consilium.

Governance and Politics

While originally the government of the Confederacy was small, only having a president and a representative from each component organization, it has since grown into a vast somewhat decentralized organization. Owning large numbers of assets, the profits from these are distributed mostly evenly amongst members.

Legislature

The Legislature of the Confederacy of Borealis, known as the Boreal Assembly, is a highly decentralized organization composed out of millions of local institutions. The daily affairs of most of the Confederacy is handled at a local level, usually by workers voting for various proposals. On the level of cities, elections take place for representatives to regional or planetary offices. Because the legislature is so spread out, laws, known as "edicts," originally took a great deal of time to pass. Recent reforms require only a simple majority of all representatives, regardless of their rank, to pass an edict.

Cells

Cells are akin to unions, democratic assemblies of workers that use their collective power to bargain with their employers. The average cell is set up in a location where the Confederacy does not have much influence, making them mostly independent. Most cells are existing unions, guilds, or associations that vote to join the Confederacy to protect themselves or to gain additional influence.

Worker Councils

Once a critical mass of workers is reached, a cell will become known as a Worker Council, or Betriebsrat. Worker councils can have up to millions of workers under their wing, organizing the cells within towards common goals. At this level, a large super-structure forms as full-time managers and representatives are hired.

Interests

An interest is the highest-level division within the Confederacy. Each industry is represented by an interest, a council of representatives from dozens to thousands of worker councils across Cosmoria. Each one has its own headquarters, fields a militia, and possesses large amounts of funds. While small institutions or governments may get away with ignoring a worker council in their area, earning the ire of an entire interest can be a fatal mistake. Congress is made up of the representatives of the various interests.

Congress

The ultimate authority of the Confederacy comes from the Congress. While not appointed by direct vote, members of the congress are the most powerful individuals in the organization. At the behest of congress lies the treasury, sovereign wealth fund, and the military. The president of the Congress, currently Donatus Shuker, is the commander in chief of the military. The president is elected by popular vote as is the treasurer, Xerxes Wu, who manages both the sovereign wealth fund and the treasury. Both of these offices are occupied by voting members of the congress representing the Superluminal Engine and Antimatter divisions respectively.

Military

The military of the Confederacy is its largest asset. In the past, diplomatic solutions were preferred to direct military actions. As the Confederacy grew in size and influence, constantly hiring security firms to protect assets grew expensive. A proper professional military was first created in 59,634 CE, created to occupy Albedo, the capital of the Neo-Terran Co-Prosperity Sphere. In what was essentially a coup attempt, the military of the confederacy soon began to occupy the role that the Neo-Terran military had. Even though the Confederacy did not win its bid to become the next ruler of Martial Space, it maintained its large military to project power onto Eos. The chaotic realm, a large disk built around a star, proved difficult to peacefully expand into. As the Confederacy took the reigns of Martial Space away from Tenshi, the military grew in size and budget to that of a galactic superpower. The War of the Ancients greatly weakened the Confederacy and it shattered into dozens of smaller factions following Jezebel's War. Donatus Shuker lead the military to reunite the Confederacy in 90,006 CE.

Branches

The central branch is divided into four smaller "sub-branches." Kriegskosmos is the largest branch of the military at over half of the budget. The Kriegskosmos, formerly called "the navy," possesses the lion's share of the Confederacy's military spacecraft. They are usually not deployed as there is simply not a conflict large enough right now for them to be needed. The Marines do most of the fighting at the current moment. As the second largest branch, comprising over a third of the total budget, marines are responsible for more delicate operations than the Kriegskosmos and its massive battleships are suited for.

Wehrthaum is the next largest branch of the military. It is mostly dedicated to the research and defense rather than offense. With bases across Martial Space, Wehrthaum is a mostly civilian ran research organization that works closely with universities and private companies to study the secrets of Thaumaturgy. The Mage's Branch, as it is simply known, is the smallest branch. This branch uses the fruits of Wehrthaum's discoveries offensively, using Magi as soldiers.

Diplomacy

Nations	Relationship status	National opinion
Sagittarium	Deep Ties	▲
Commonwealth of Aggregate Aylathiya	Guaranteed Independence	▲
United Nations of the Florathel Galaxy	Cordial Relations	▣
Tenshi	Cordial Relations	▣
Greater Martial Consilium	Mostly Cordial Relations	▣
Sedrua	Tenuous Non-aggression Pact	▣
File:Theoracy of Silverstar flag.png Theocracy of Silverstar	Poor Relations	▣
Entente of Ventemir	Contentious Relations	▣
Quintet Payotari Association	Openly Hostile	▼

Economic Influence

The Economic influence of the Confederacy has varied greatly throughout its history. At its peak, the Confederacy controlled over 21% of all wealth generated in Aylathiya, nearly a whole five percent of the total wealth in Cosmoria. Today it controls a mere 15%, an incomprehensible amount.

The main official currency of the Confederacy is called the C-Unit. In order to join, an organization must adopt the C-Unit as their standard currency while forfeiting their right to issue their own currencies. The C-Unit is the most widely accepted currency within Martial Space. Historically, C-Units have been backed by a microgram of antimatter; currently they are tied to roughly 25 kilowatts of energy each.

History

Origin

The Confederacy of Borealis would form gradually as various worker cooperatives across Thalsiedeln banded together to protect their property. With time, this new organization would be called the Confederacy of Thalsiedeln, a planet-spanning organization that maintained order and regulated commerce. By 17,900 CE, they had filled in the vacuum left by the inadequate local government, establishing laws, tariffs, and engaging in diplomacy for the first time. While the local governors complained, higher officials simply taxed the Confederacy and allowed it to operate as it pleased.

From Thalsiedeln it would begin ravenously absorbing all private ventures around itself; the workers of these ventures simply forming a union and joining the Confederacy to force their bosses out of the workplace. They would set up a "Confederate Bank" in 18,088 CE, giving the organization a way to bail out its subsidiaries as well as giving it a mechanism by which it could make money through loans. In the lawless corner of Martial Space the Confederacy sat in, it would need to enforce its loans using its own guards. In 18,091 CE, the Confederacy created its first para-military group; it was composed of volunteers from across Thalsiedeln and the area around it.

With rapid expansion came growing pains. Some of the oldest unions began to demand an increased share of confederacy-owned assets. Under pressure, the president simply "annexed" these troublesome organizations. While this did spark outrage across the Confederacy, even prompting some organizations to leave, it became essentially impossible to do business on Confederacy-dominated worlds without being a member. On certain worlds, trade could only take place amongst Confederate-allied organizations. Many collapsed or were disbanded as they folded under pressure by leadership. The Confederacy became nearly as coercive as the tyrants it replaced.

The Crusade and New Government

By 20,012 CE, the beginning of the Great Empyreal Crusade, the Confederacy had membership approach one quintillion and was one of the most influential organizations within Martial Space. The people preferred its somewhat exploitative practices to the explicitly exploitative practices of other powers in their region. This would only become more true as Empyros began its invasion across Martial Space.

Like a blight, Empyros would spread across Martial Space. The Kaiser lifted not a finger during the attack, his court falling into decadence. During this period, the central military had been gutted and one by one systems fell to the tidal wave that was Empyros. The Commonwealth of Aggregate Aylathiya would be the first to come to the aid of Martial Space. Soon, it was followed by Sagittarium and Tenshi, both states having a vested interest in the protection of their best trade partner.

The Confederacy would eventually join the conflict in 20,284 CE. Like a vulture it would seize the assets of destroyed systems, send colonists to sterilized worlds, stole ships from Empyros (and sometimes its allies), raided bases for material, and anything else that could be described as nothing short of piracy. The strategy worked, earning the Confederacy a seat at the table in the trial of Empyros' disgraced leaders in 20,904 CE. The Confederacy of Borealis gained control of a quarter of Empyros' assets and dominion over the Church of the Fae Queen, a democratic religion organization that replaced the Church of Molonov that had ruled Empyros before.

Following the conflict, the Confederacy gained vast influence on the galactic stage. Even as Erstes Konsortium lost its control over Martial Space and was replaced by the Neo-Terran Co-Prosperity Sphere, the Confederacy retained its vast coffers. In fact, the Confederacy's reach grew as the pro-trade Neo-Terran government gave preference to the Human-dominated Confederacy at the expense of other organizations.