Caladonn

Flag of Caladonn
Motto: "Never Use a Battering Ram When a Simple Hammer Will Do"
Region	Union of Independent States
Capital	Caladonn City
Official Language(s)	Sindarin
Leader	Supreme Archmage Aramil Holimion
Population	230 billion Grey Elves, 300 billion citizen robots, 1 trillion noncitizen robots (Real numbers for economy and military are 2.3 billion)
Currency	Credit
NS Sunset XML

Current Caladonn

Overview

The Great Magocracy of Caladonn is a huge nation and a member of the Union of Independent States, where it holds the position of Chief Justice of the Judicial Panel. Caladonn attempts to combine excellent civil rights and personal freedoms with an unmatched economy, and so far has met with great success.

Caladonn's colonies, referred to as Outer Caladonn, are at the moment small and insignificant but will grow in the future with help from the motherland.

Geography

Caladonn is not a country on the face of a world. Niether is it a world, in the traditional use of the term. Instead, Caladonn is a Ringworld.

A Ringworld, first invented by renowned Caladonnian engineer Larry Niven, is an artificial, ring-shaped world. This world rotates around the Caladonnian sun, which is a main-sequence star around 4.5 billion years old. From the distance, the ringworld appears as a ribbon of baby-blue, but up close its size is dwarfing. The ringworld is 100,000 miles wide, and 10,000 miles thick. It rotates at immense speed, and is only held together by the singular material invented by the Caladonnians, scrith. This material has exceedingly high tensile strength, and is able to keep the ring together. Above the scrith base lie several hundred feet of topsoil or rock, taken from the worlds of the Caladonnian system before they were demolished to provide matter for the Ringworld. Thus, the ringworld's surface looks like that of a regular world, without a horizon.

The ringworld was built, by the Caladonnian's reckoning, 500 million years ago. It was built, quite simply, for room. It is estimated by the scholars of Caladonn to have room for 30 trillion inhabitants, which will allow for millions of years of growth, even at the unusually fast growth rate of the Caladonnians.

Above the surface of the ringworld are shadowsquares, immense, thin black sheets, made of a version of scrith, linked by shadowsquare wire, the same version of scrith unwound, at even intervals. This produces the effect of night and day over the ringworld, and provides a 25-hour day followed by a night of exactly the same time.

When on the Ringworld, instead of objects vanishing over the horizon, they simply disappear in a haze of extreme distance. The effect, as much else on the ringworld, is very disconcerting to offworlders, but quite natural to the Grey Elves.

The Ringworld is very sparsely populated, with the majority of the area as huge robotically run hydroponic and farmland for food, along with vast areas within the scrith converted to industrial factories, carried out by the robots.

On the surface, in addition to the aforementioned robotic farms, there are vast seas, evenly spaced with each easily larger than a world, along with huge forests, and the most singular feature of the ringworld, mountains 1,000 miles high at either side of the ring, to keep in the air. Situated on these mountains are the attitude jets used for keeping the ringworld in place, as well as the Meteor Defence System, normally used against meteors, but equally effective against enemy starships. The cities of the Ringworld are few and far between, but are centers of everything the Grey Elves do. Some have passages through the scrith, leading to docking bays on the outside wall. Docking on the ringworld is very difficult due to its high speed, and is one reason why the Grey Elves are excellent pilots.

The Races of Caladonn

The Grey Elves that inhabit Caladonn are a long-lived race, most living to around 1,000, however, uncharacteristically for such a long-lived race, they possess the intense drive and force of will which has allowed them to grow so fast. They have a powerful intellect and are very magically-oriented, however are more frail than other races, a fact which they partially make up for with their high dexterity. There are around 230 billion Grey Elves in Caladonn (Actually 2.3 billion, the large rnumber is just used for realism. For army stats, GDP and so on, the real NS population is used).

Caladonn is also inhabited by robots, engineered by the Grey Elves, and are being constantly improved. These robots have an enhanced artificial intelligence, equal to that of the Grey Elves themselves, and many play an important role in society. They are not looked down upon as second-class citizens, being able to vote and being treated the same as the Grey Elves. The exception to this are the unintelligent robots, who are still relatively smart, but are used for the routine work, such as hydroponics and the industrial complexes under the surface. The number of citizen robots is 300 billion, and the noncitizens are around 1 trillion.

Political System

Caladonn is a freedom-loving nation, with such rights as Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press enshrined in the nation's 600 million year old Constitution. Every citizen, robot or Grey Elf, is allowed to vote. Caladonn's present policy has been one of maintaining their unmatched economy, while also building up political freedoms and civil rights. This has ensured the happiness of the Caladonnian people, and most throw themselves wholeheartedly into the goal of bettering Caladonn.

Caladonn is a very magic-oriented nation, with magic and technology merging in most circumstances, and to the point where magical aptitude is taught in the unmatched Caladonnian schools, to the point where every elf knows the rudiments of magic. Indeed, finer understanding is required to advance in government or the armed services, and only the best can rule. The Caladonnians believe magic and governing well to run hand-in-hand.

Caladonn is ruled by the Imperial Collegiate Arcane, the body of 1,000 Collegiators who decide the laws of the nation. The Collegiators are elected by the citizens, with Caladonn divided into 1,000 Regions, each electing one Collegiator. The Regions are based on population, so that a large area of farmland could count as one region, while the cities are sometimes mutliple Regions. The Collegiators meet in Caladonn city for most of the year, and vote on all issues important to the nation. They are elected every year, which is a very short period in the eyes of the Grey Elves. Collegiators are also not allowed to hold office for more than five years in a row, hopefully ensuring that they do what is right and not what will get them re-elected.

Every ten years, the people vote for the Supreme Archmage, the ruler of Caladonn. Although this elf is seen as the person in charge of the government, they really are only an especially powerful Collegiator. The Supreme Archmage appoints the Ministers of Caladonn, but they must be approved by the Collegiate. The Ministry positions are the Ministers of Internal Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Commerce, and Defense.

International Relations

Military Relations

Caladonn has never been involved in a full scale war, although small disputes with pirates and Chronosia have taken place. The Imperial Fleet has often acquitted itself honourably, and the defence of the Ringworld has never failed.

There is no draft in Caladonn, nor even any conception of one. Joining the military is purely the decision of the individual. Once in the military, either the Ringworld Defense Force (RDF), Imperial Caladonnian Fleet (ICF), or Colonial Defence Force (CDF), the recruit recieves 100 years of training, after which they become a Legionary. After being distinguished and promoted, each rank they increase they have another 100 years of training. Thus, the Caladonnian Admirals are always over 1,000 years old, and have millenia of experience behind them.

Regional Relations

Caladonn is the Chief Justice in the region Union of Independent States, a pacifistic region that has never involved itself in wars or invasions. The one instance of potential conflict, the coup instituted by Korribaan and Kreihelm, was defeated by Caladonn in partnership with Saxe-Witte.

Caladonn has been relatively isolated from the rest of the Universe, although it has taken a small interest in Galactic Elven affairs, but other than that has been confined to the Eastern Fringe for most of its history, and has only taken a real part in affairs within the region.

Caladonn is especially friendly with the nations Jjuulliiaann, Saxe-Witte, Traavistan, and Liberal Experiment within the region. It has yet to make any real ties with extraregional nations, other than Outer Caladonn, the Protectorate.

History of Caladonn

The Fall

At one time, after the Grey Elves had built the Ringworld, there were trillions of them and they ruled a vast empire. However, their own decadence caused the terrible civil war known to the Caladonnians only as the Fall, and they resolved to never become complacent again.

Now the Grey Elves have risen once again from the ashes, and are striving to regain their status and populate their vast ringworld. They have bilt many robots, and most of the Caladonnian population is composed of these Artificially Intelligent robos. Together, the elves and the robots are building a nation that will be even greater than the ancient Caladonn. (To be continued...)