Entente of Ventemir

The Entente of Ventemir is a large political organization located within Martial Space mostly on Eos. Ruled jointly by dozens of syndicates, three noble houses, and local republics, it operates more like a private company than an officially independent state. Its territory is officially under the rule of Enyo, the federal territory of the Greater Martial Consilium.

Ventemir was originally ruled by Nachleben until Humans from Tenshi slowly eroded their power through the use of economic warfare, predatory loans, and monopolization of trade. Tenshi strictly enforced its monopoly, eventually starving the Nachleben. After fully integrating the territory, Tenshi controlled the region for most of history. By the War of the Ancients, large trading companies ruled Ventemir. Complete with their private armies, many of these firms fought in the war to secure access to maintaining their ultra-profitable trade deals with the Confederacy of Borealis. After the end of the conflict, tensions with the very same Confederacy caused much of the aristocracy in Ventemir, as well as many of the satellite organizations of the Confederacy, to break away from both it and Tenshi.

As Jezebel's War broke out and the aristocracy of Martial Space shattered into dozens of disparate noble organizations, Ventemir's aristocracy nationalized the merchant-owned trade companies before banishing them. To end the conflict, the newly formed Entente of Ventemir struck a treaty with local syndicates to integrate them into the governance. In 9780 CE, the Entente became an officially recognized private company. In other words, it was officially a trading company owned partially by the aristocracy. Syndicates, federations of unions, and worker cooperatives own the rest.

General Information

Entente of Ventemir

THE ENTENTE OF VENTEMIR		DEMOGRAPHICS
Founded	9761 CE
Fell	-
Territory	3.4 Trillion Square Kilometers
Major Worlds	Eos

GOVERNMENT		ECONOMY
Type	Constitutional Aristocracy	Economic Type	Syndicalism
Democracy Index	609/1000	Size	2.992 Quadrillion Carosi
Equality	Somewhat Equal	Scarcity	Post-Scarcity
Military Status	Great Power	Economic Status	Great Power

History

Early History

Ventemir was historically the economic and industrial core of the Triumvirate Civilization. Populated almost entirely by the Atlins and Orcubor, nearly all of the region's industrial capacity existed in regions hot enough for seas of lead to be commonplace. Using lead as a "coolant" was common practice in these facilities. In 7971, the Triumvirate partially democratized, creating the Lowuks Entente and the Orcubor Coalition, the semi-autonomous states that would govern Ventemir. The Lowuks Entente was located entirely on Eos, while the Orcubor coalition had only minute holdings in the center of the megastructure.

The collapse of the Triumvirate greatly destabilized both polities, causing them to all but collapse in 81,009 CE. The population collapsed, housing fewer than one billion amongst its great ruins that became overrun with fungi and other growth. Nachleben, powerful machines made up of uploaded minds that escaped the fall of the Triumvirate, set up shop on this depopulated region of the disk. As the Nachleben took advantage of the abandoned factories, they became the primary employers, usually contracting security or labor from what locals remained.

Conquest by Tenshi

Starting in 8528, Tenshi, a powerful Human kingdom, began its economic invasion of Ventemir. In other words, it offered ludicrously good trade deals to the Nachleben, built bases across much of the region, and slowly built a logistics network to make them indispensable for business. As they became the dominant employer, enforced laws, and invested in the impoverished communities in the region, they became immensely popular. Locals saw Humans as a force of liberation and progress against the stagnation of the Nachleben.

This long-term project came to a head in 8560, as Tenshi revoked the favorable trade deals given to the Nachleben. As they starved for resources, they often violated their treaties with Tenshi, causing them to be considered criminals. Erstes Konsortium, the central government of Martial Space, began using its military to destroy the Nachleben, much to the approval of Ventemir's inhabitants, who now numbered half a trillion.

Great Empyreal Crusade and Post-Crusade

Main Article: Great Empyreal Crusade

As Tenshi began fighting the Great Empyreal Crusade, it used civilians from its extensive empire as soldiers. Many volunteered to fight against Empyros, resulting in a nationalist surge as the situation became increasingly desperate. Tenshi shipped ten percent of Ventemir's population to the front only for them to never return. This was a devastating blow to morale even though victory became increasingly likely.

After the war, many Humans began settling in Ventemir, occupying its temperate regions that were far too cold for the Atlins and Orcubor. While this large influx of immigrants was economically disruptive, Humans were unable to live in the same settlements as the native population, causing little cultural exchange to take place. What this did cause was a competition between groups, each side growing to take not only more resources but more of the industrial capacity once exclusively run by the native inhabitants.

Dominion Era

As Tenshi and the Ursa Syndicate united in 9000 CE, forming the Dominion of Astraeus, all of Eos became fully united for the first time in millennia. As ideas, trade, and people began moving around the megastructure, Ventemir returned to its status as an industrial heartland. While its ancient factories have fallen into disrepair or ruin, newer ones were continuously built to replace them.

With a population approaching one and a half trillion, Ventemir became widely known for fostering a healthy trade. Much of the trade destined for Florathel from the rest of Aylathiya originally did little to interact with Eos. As it re-industrialized, massive ports occupying a planet's worth of space sprung up; many vessels took time to stop at Ventemir to take part in its new massive markets. The Dominion's devotion to the rule of law and its low corruption made Ventemir a great place to set up business. Foreign investment poured into the region, creating a thriving merchant class.

Ossification of Capital

As dukes across the Dominion wrested power away from Tenshi's bureaucracy, they began behaving like absolute monarchs instead of civil servants. The War of Saiheran Succession greatly reduced commerce passing through Ventemir, weakening the merchant class. Ventemir became ruled by a mafia state run by the weapons conglomerate, Jeonja United Syndicates, which started as a guild but quickly ballooned into a vast criminal organization. Trafficking weapons to various groups across not just Eos but Martial Space, the group would earn the ire of the Dominion but the loyalty of local officials who had largely become associates of the organization.

In a horrible environment for the fostering of economic growth, an unofficial noble class emerged as the nobility squandered resources. As the Confederacy of Borealis began gaining power in the Dominion, it stole Ventemir's spotlight as the center of production. It overshadowed nearly all of Eos using its worker-controlled model of production. This would lead to numerous rebellions as workers across Ventemir attempted to join the Confederacy or create similar cooperatives.

Rebirth

As the War of the Ancients began, the various oligarchs of the region shipped off billions to die at the hands of the Quintet Payotari Association. Great civil unrest occurred as many refused to feed the war machine. Halfway through the war, with the help of Tenshi, Ventemir became ruled by a group of Human nobles whose comparative lack of corruption greatly improved standards in Ventemir. This revitalization was crucial to its second reemergence as an industrial superpower. As the nobles shut down corrupt operations and forced factories to compete for lucrative contracts from the Confederacy, the struggling region emerged as an industrial superpower.

The institutionalization of the Commenda, government-backed treaties that guaranteed business ventures would take place as agreed, created an energetic merchant class not seen since the early days of the Dominion. At the same time, with less corruption, came the rapid increase in worker cooperatives. Since the Confederacy gave better deals to cooperatives, and even incorporated many of them, this movement of workers began directly competing with the new merchant class.

Following the armistice in the War of the Ancients, the Confederacy attempted to nationalize Ventemir's industry, causing both the local nobility and the merchant class to revolt. Funded by Jezebel Drusus' government the nobility fought against their foreign masters in both Tenshi and the Confederacy. As Jezebel's War began, the Entente produced much of the arms that both the Confederacy and Enyo used to wage war.

Independence

As the Confederacy crumbled, Ventemir's aristocracy turned its attention to the merchant class that sided with the trade-friendly Tenshi, an enemy of the central government. Already fighting against the Cooperatives who, while partial to the Confederacy, had no interest in joining it, the merchant became quickly overwhelmed as their mercenaries betrayed them. Fleeing to the Commonwealth of Aggregate Aylathiya, the merchants took with them most of Ventemir's wealth, but they also took with them the influence of Tenshi, nullifying the nation's claim over the region.

At this point, the remaining aristocrats had a choice: allying with the central government and fighting the worker cooperatives or reaching an agreement. When Empress Jezebel died and Jezebel's War ended, Ventemir's aristocrats chose peace and partitioned Ventemir with the blessing of the workers. They formed a parliament with one house for the aristocracy and one for the people. They began calling this system the "Entente System," a carefully chosen name to not declare themselves an independent state. Officially, they remain a part of the Greater Martial Consilium, in which they have a great deal of voting power.

Government and Politics

An organization of nobles, syndicates, republics, and smaller more private ventures, the Entente of Ventemir treads the very fine line between an independent state and a trade syndicate. It technically does not have representation within the Greater Martial Consilium. Instead, its various sub-organizations form a caucus within it, voting in lock-step based on internal decisions made by its owners in Ayomi, its de facto capital.

The legislature of the Entente, called the Ventemir Economic Summit, operates like a parliament. With two sub-summits, representatives from the aristocracy and the workers appointed leadership for the Entente. Officially called the "Archon," to not suggest treason, the Entente's leader owns the title to all "crowns," bonds issued by the Entente backed by its large economy.

While the summit is not in session, the Chairperson manages the various assets of the Entente. The organization registered with the central government that manages these assets is called the Unified Trade Syndicate of Ventemir, while the totality of this organization and its satellites is called the Duchy Entente of Ventemir, despite the organization having no duke associated with it. The syndicate has numerous divisions including a central bank and a vast military apparatus designed to protect Ventemir from any over-zealous emperor of the Consilium or president of the Confederacy.

Bank of Ventemir

The Bank of Ventemir is a multinational investment bank owned and operated by the Entente of Ventemir. While internal Entente organizations interface with a portion of the bank which operates as a credit union, its outwards-facing business is conducted in the usual fashion. With investments well over 1 Quadrillion Carosi, it is the largest bank in Martial Space by market capitalization and the second largest by the size of its assets.

Mostly funding ventures related to trade, it has satellite offices in the systems Thalvett, Occalia, Euturpe, and Saleas, most of which originated as the Entente bought banks in these areas. The Bank of Ventemir holds the vast majority of the Entente's wealth and supplies most of its organizations with the capital they need to operate.

The Nobility of Ventemir

The Nobility living within the Ventemir region were, at the highest, Margraves. There are only three of them in the region. The rest of the territory is split between various lower-ranking nobles who, together, have about as many votes as a single Duke would have. If they were independent, their common interests would be ignored as proper dukes overrode their vote. To have any kind of voting power, the Nobility were required to sign contracts that forced them to vote in line with the Entente's decisions. This ultimately secures their power as this is the only way the component companies would agree to support the noble class.

There are Three Noble houses within the Entente which behave more as political parties than families. Even commoners can join by pledging their allegiance to one of the three Margraves that are a part of the organization. The Three Houses are Sakaami, Atolima, and Gozono and originally represented the three species in the region: Humans, Atlins, and Orcubor respectively. As time went on, however, they became nearly even mixtures of all three species as well as many that are none of them.

Crowns

Crowns are the main currency of the Entente more akin to stock in the organization itself than any fiat currency. Since it is not backed by a physical material such as antimatter, its value fluctuates much more widely. Crowns are technically divisions of the summit, splitting it into billions of parts to operate as an internal means of exchange. Working for the Entente yields pay in Crowns, usually divided into milli-crowns due to the high value of this asset. Workers can also request more mainstream currency if they do not wish to have voting power in the summit. About one percent of crowns are traded externally like stocks. Consequently, Ventemir's former rulers have bought most of these and currently have one percent of the voting power at the summit. Their representatives are largely ignored but have occasionally been decisive on certain policies or appointments.

The noble class permanently controls forty-nine percent of the crowns and, given the conflicting interests of powerful individuals or companies in the Entente, their vote is incredibly important. The title means nothing for how many crowns are owned, meaning that some of the officially subordinate nobles have more power than the Margraves simply by how many crowns they own. The Margraves can officially order their subordinates to simply forfeit their crowns, but doing so will cause expulsion as every other low-ranking noble has an incentive to keep their superiors in line.

The system is brutally meritocratic with little room for failure. Crowns, which could be invested in internally-owned companies, could be easily lost. Various commoners or firms have as much influence as the highest-ranking aristocrats. Some have even become destitute, only to have their titles effectively revoked as they lose all power. Counterintuitively, the result is that the area controlled by the Entente is one of the least economically unequal places in Martial Space. The velocity of money is far too high for it to accumulate at the top.

Economy