The Therasian Confederation, part 1

A Brief History Lesson

The Therassian Confederation first came into existence as a defense pact against the reptilian war-like vesk, who attacked the Thera system and seeked to conquer it and from there the other systems connected by the Theras Gates.

The confederation was first proposed in 41 AFC, in response to the increased vesk aggression. Recognizing that there was no way any individual world or system could stand against the combined might of the Vesk Empire, a coalition of officials from Earth, Castrovel, and Verces proposed the new arrangement, based in large part on the system that underpinned Verces’s Ring of Nations as an effective one-world government. With some first class diplomacy and the biggest hypercorps of several systems wielding their financial power to promote the campaign, the coalition quickly gained strength, and in just a few years the confederation was a reality.

For the next 100 years, both sides – the Vesk Empire vs. the Therasian Confederation – would remain each other’s greatest threat, too evenly matched for either to commit to a full-scale assault.

This so-called Silent War finally came to an end in 141 AFC, when a vast, world-devouring entity called the Swarm attacked The Vesk Empire, as it had discovered a new Theras Gate, that led directly into the Swarm Terriroty. The Vesk was totally surprised by the Swarms swiftness and ruthlessness, and they lost control over the gate leading there. In danger of being completely overrun by the swarms forces coming through the gate at an alarming speed, the Vesk Empire reached out to the confederation for help. So the empire and the confederation signed a formal alliance, and with the help of confederate forces, the swarms intrusion was forced back, and control of the gate established. Yet while the alliance put an end to active hostilities and opened up to trade, citizens on both sides recognize that the alliance was one of convenience and could fall apart at any moment.

Government

The Therasian Confederation is not a single system-wide government, but rather an association of sovereign worlds bound by a treaty to work together. Though its powers technically extend only to the facilitation of trade between worlds, interplanetary law enforcement, and mutual defense, over the last century the government has gradually broadened the scope of its authority.

As it is a confederation of independent states, it generally endeavors to afford its component worlds as much autonomy as possible. Aside from enforcing a brief list of universal rights granted to all sentient creatures and a somewhat longer list for confederation citizens, the government largely leaves judicial and legislative matters to the local governments of individual worlds, as long as they don’t infringe on the authority of other planets. The confederation’s primary enforcers, the Stewards, are as much diplomats as they are police, doing their best to solve issues with soft power and maintain the union’s fragile balance. The confederation is also very specific about the limits of its authority – in addition to honoring the sovereignty of its constituent governments, it claims no jurisdiction over worlds beyond the member-worlds unless they are colonies that have requested and won official protectorate status.

Government decisions within the confederation are made by the Confederation Council, which is housed in the vast senatorial building on Theras Station called the Plenara. Every world, system or territory is represented on the council, each with a number of delegates proportional to its sentient population. While many matters are decided by direct vote in the council, deadlocks and issues of particular importance go to the Directorate, a leadership council whose five voting members are elected by and from the wider Council every 2 years. No world, system or territory can have more than one representative in the Directorate, yet the fact that this places many union-wide decisions in the hands of just five states means that the Plenara is a constant hotbed of politicking and alliance building, as individual worlds use their power and influence to ensure their interests are represented by the Directorate. A sixth, nonvoting member of the Directorate, the Director-General of the Stewards, is chosen independently by the Stewards and has no set term limit, serving only to advise the other directors and carry out the council’s decisions.

Moons are generally seen as part of their parent planet’s jurisdiction, save for those like Arkanen that have successfully lobbied for independent representation, and planets are seen as part of the system’s jurisdiction (like for instance the Solar Empire), and for territories spanning several systems, the systems are seen as part of the territory’s jurisdiction. Some worlds with limited civilization, such as Aucturn and Liavara, are categorized as protectorates; while such worlds are not granted full autonomy or voting rights, their representatives are allowed to speak at council meetings. Despite being a collection of many tiny worlds, the Diaspora has banded together as a single voting bloc, and even the kasatha worldship Idari is seen as its own world. While religious and corporate organizations have no direct voice in the council’s decisions, their constant presence via lobbyists and advisors, as well as some of these immense wealth, ensures that their interests are represented as well.

Daily Life and Culture

The Therasian Confederation is by its very nature a mishmash of cultures with different values and traditions, making it difficult to identify overarching traits. Still, a few things can be said about the “typical” resident.

Most people have more mundane jobs, whether it’s feeding the system via vast hydroponic farms, hauling goods back and forth between worlds and systems, running stores and restaurants, or laboring at a thousand other everyday jobs.

Socially, many residents tend to be live-and-letlive types – especially those in communities that contain a broad mix of different races and in turn their different cultures. Prejudice tends to be reserved for the most familiar and the most foreign – people police those similar to them and fear the incomprehensibly alien – yet most folks realize that trying to impose their own values on others often ends up driving away valuable opportunities. As the old saying goes, it’s best to let aliens be aliens – and hopefully customers. This means that even individuals who don’t fit well into the cultures in which they’re born can often easily find acceptance by changing location, contributing to the constant churn and migration of people across the system. Yet even within primarily monocultural settlements, simple exposure to the array of different races and ways of life just beyond the horizon has tended to make residents less cognizant of minor differences like ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and so on. Nevertheless, the coin always has two sides, and there are of course communities, groups, organizations and/or individuals that are extremely xenophobic and racist.

Arts and entertainment are constantly changing, with fads disappearing as quickly as they arise. At the moment, gritty Shirren shumka beats and Ysoki eyebite rock are becoming popular in many rougher venues, while upscale nightclubs play delicate Vercite ether-ballads or Vesk-produced euphonics – music designed by advanced computing to directly stimulate aural pleasure centers, creating a perfect listening experience. High fashion remains dominated by the sleek styles coming out of Kalo-Mahoi, the eternal punk look of Theras Station’s trash-glamorous Spike, and the gothic severity of Apostae. Sports like brutaris, starlance, and ship racing persist in popularity, though most people find their thrills with VR parlor games or holo and stillframe shows. The most popular of these latter are inevitably Eox’s blood-soaked reality broadcasts, constantly decried by censors but never actually crossing the line into illegality. Of late, ordinary books have even seen a surge in popularity, perhaps in part due to legendary lashunta holo star Cashisa Nox declaring a preference for well-read consorts.

Faith, Religion and Alignment

A big cultural unifier in the confederation is religion. Since everyone – well, almost everyone – eventually dies, and your faith can help determine the fate of your eternal soul, religious choices are practical as well as social signifiers. The confederation and its neighbors play host to a bevy of different religions, whose congregations mostly live together in harmony.

The existence of gods and deities are very much a matter of belief, and not a fact. It has not been proven or disproven, that almighty powerful beings such at the ones, that are the core of many religions and faiths.

While mystics often claim, that their powers are granted by and come directly from a deity, it is not something that they can actually confirm. Skeptics say that it is simply “ordinary” magic, and that the mystics simply kid themselves. Nevertheless, many religions and faiths have a great following – not only by mystics.

While you could identify some individuals as good or evil and law-abiding or not, the alignment system is not used in the setting, as it boxes everything to much in.

Religions, Faiths and Philosophies of Earth

More or less all major religions that existed on Earth in the beginning of the 21st century exists to this day – and like in the 21st century, religion can still be cause of dispute. However, the more extreme and violent disputes have somewhat died down.

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