Weyr

Weyr

Flag of Weyr
Motto: Leave us alone or else...
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Region	Arda
Capital	Wye, City of
Official Language(s)	Weyrik, English, Sindarin, Russian, Japanese
Leader	Kira li'Starhavven
Population	204 million
Currency	the Weyr
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The First Distributed Kingdom of Weyr is a small state located on an artificial island in the Central Pacific. Having recently come out of a short civil war, the Kingdom's current leader, Kira li'Starhaven, is attempting to rebuild the nation while at the same time bringing it onto the world stage. The Kingdom is best known for its extensive use of thaumaturgy, and for its lack of law.

History

Geography

Politics

The High King

The modern High King figures prominently in the political and cultural scenes of the Kingdom, with the ability to pass laws without going through the legislative process during times of emergency, and capable of vetoing twice any legislation passed by the bi-cameral legislature.

Ascension equires the approval of the current King and of the two legislative councils, and the successful claiming of the Staff of Twilight. There is no requirement for the heir apparent to be the eldest child of the King, but the heir must be related to the King, however distantly, in order to not be incinerated by the Staff.

The Distributed Representation

The Distributed Representation is a directly elected body that forms one half of the Kingdom's bicameral legislature. Representatives are elected from each distribution once every four years, with no more than four terms permitted during a representative's lifetime. As with the old High Council, each distribution receives a number of representatives proportional to its total population. A two-thirds majority is required for the approval of any measure. Acts passed by the Representation go on to the Octagonal Council.

The modern Distributed Representation contains 308 seats, and convenes biweekly to discuss current issues.

The Octagonal Council

The Octagonal Council was formed after the Sixty Minute war, and originally consisted of the eight Distributed Lords. Under the urging of High King Kira li'Starhavven, the Council agreed to have an elected councilor for every permanent lord. Octagonal Councilors are elected once every four years, with no more than four terms permitted during a councilor's lifetime. Elections are timed to come in the middle of Distributed Representation elections. Currently there are a total of sixteen representatives on the Council. A two-thirds majority, or forty-three out of forty-six votes, is required for approval of any measure. Acts passed by the Council go on to the Distributed Representation.

Ministries

Government ministries monitor and manage specific areas of the Kingdom's society. While the heads of each ministry are appointed directly by the High King, the Octagonal Council and the Distributed Representation can deny the appointment by a simple majority vote. A minister is immediately removed from duty if he or she comes under judicial review. Each ministry is required to submit a report on the passing year's actions and projections for the next year to the High King, the Distributed Representation, and the Octagonal Council.

A lack of clear regulation from the legislature has prompted ministers to create an ambitious set of laws regulating their areas. While meant to curb abuse of the Kingdom's normally lax approach towards commerce, the effectiveness of the new regulations remains in doubt as enforcement struggles against entrenched legal and illegal opposition.

Ministers meet weekly with the High King to discuss policy.

Nobility

The Weyrean nobility is a political rather than a social institution, formed as a result of the aftermaht of the sixty-minute war. While positions and titles are hereditary, and nobles can promote those underneath them to higher positions, the structure is overseen by democratically elected assemblies such as the Distributed Representation. The legislative assemblies of his region must always approve a new noble. Nobles are essentially hereditary governors, whose major duty is to appoint heads of local ministries, approve or very proposals, and convene with other nobles to discuss various issues of importance. A noble never has more power than his domain's elected assemblies.

A noble's name consists of a rank prefix, and the name of his region. Thus, Nikhalai Sapozhnikov of Falme would be referred to as Lord Falme. Nobles on the Octagonal Council are referred to as lords. The nobility directly below them is subdivided into groups depending on location. A Burgrave is responsible for a specific city and its environs; a domain located on the border of the FDK is controlled by a margrave; a landgrave administers arable, sparsely-settled land while a raugrave is in charge of wasteland and a wildgrave is in charge of unexploited territories such as forests and wamps; an altgrave is responsible for highland territories. These titles do not always exist on the same level, and a magrave may have a number of burgraves and landgraves administering sections of his region.

Foreign Relations

Galactic Empire

Relations with the Empire have remained cool despite a century of peace. The FDK continues to view the Empire as a potential threat rather than as an ally, and still dedicates significant resources towards countering a potential Imperial threat. With the termination of the imperial governor at Paradigm during the sixty-minute war, the FDK' status with the imperium remains in question, although neither the High King not the Representation have officially broken or reinforced ties with the empire. The prevalent view of the Empire is as an entity that is best left alone both politically and economically.

Arda

The FDK's entry into Arda has come as a shock to many Weyreans, who have had little in common with that region. The exact reasons for the High Council's decision to enter Arda remain in question, since few records survive the decade prior to the founding of the First Distributed Kingdom. Scholars suggest that the Council was most likely seeking powerful military allies to both counter the influence of the Empire and to give the Kingdom more clout on the international scene. The FDK maintains an ambivalent view towards Arda, and has thus far not attempted to either sever ties or to expand upon them, although High King Kira li'Starhavven has hinted that the FDK may choose to terminate its current membership in the region. Local politicians have taken to blaming Ardan states for any racial or interspecies tensions within the FDK, and general hostility towards Arda has been on the rise throughout the distributions.

Economy

Weyr's economy is highly dependent on global commodities markets. The lack of easily accessable natural resources, combined with few exportable goods, has resulted in a significant trade imbalance. No solution to the problem has been suggested, and the Kingdom's economic stability remains tied to the well-being gof materials-exporting states.

Manufacturing

The manufacturing sector has not diminished significantly during the post-industrial stage of Weyr's socio-economic development, predominantly due to the nature of Weyrean technologic base. Most heavy manufacturing takes place in the northern highland region of Weyr proper. Light industries are clustered around Wye City. Weyrean manufacturing is geared towards providing goods for local consumption, although some firms export limited amounts of Weyrean products abroad. With the decline of the Weyrean mining industry, the manufacturing sector has become more dependent on foreign contracts, prompting the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry to expand its contacts abroad as part of a plan to protect the FDK's industrial sector.

Commerce

Weyr has a well established banking and exchange system. Although banking firms have shown interest in dealing with multinational clients, most of the system's customers are Weyrean citizens and organizations. Strict privacy laws almost guarantee the confidentiality of business transactions. The system has been criticized numerous times for protecting criminals rather than average citizens, but strong support remains for maintaining anti-surveillance and anti-espionage ordinances.

Resource Extraction

The FDK's easily accessible natural resources have been extracted by 100AL. Remaining mining and agricultural businesses rely on mechanized labour and high-efficiency methods in order to maintain a small margin of profit.

Agriculture is concentrated along the River Wye, and is dependent on a large network of reservoirs and flood control systems that both prevent annual flooding during the monsoon season and provide necessary irrigation capabilities during the drought season. After the first collapse of the Southward, the most crucial irrigation systems were shifted underground to provide improved protection against sabotage and tampering. The complexity of the flood control system, however, prevents effective measures against planned attacks.

The majority of mining in Weyr proper takes place in the northern highland region. The most abundant elements extracted by the mining and smelting sector are iron, aluminum, and uranium. Uranium extraction has fallen off in in the last decade, followed by steel and tin production, with projections placing the complete shutdown of all industries related to the extraction of those resources, as well as heavy metals, by 340AL. Mining in the Sol asteroid fields has expanded as efficient extraction, processing, and transport technologies have entered the mass market. Space-based resource extraction is not, however expected to fulfill a significant portion of Weyr's demands for critical industrial materials. Geologic surveys are currently ongoing in the FDK's Martian territories to determine the viability of materials extraction.

Military

The FDK is in an unusual position of being a nationstate with a strong military and economic tradition, that has chosen to forcibly restrict the capabilities of its armed forces. A subsection of the Kingdom's constitution prevents the military from procuring any offensive capabilities or deploying in force beyond Weyr's borders. As a result, Weyr's external military capability is severely limited, with no long-range missiles, marines, superluminal-capable transports, special forces, a large cache of ammunitions, or rules of engagement.

The Self-Defense Forces (SDF) are the FDK's regular armed forces, controlled by the civilian Defense Agency and subordinate to the High King. Although highly trained and fully qualified to perform the limited missions assigned to them, the SDF are small, understaffed, and under equipped for more extensive military operations. Its activities are confined to disaster relief and limited peacekeeping efforts.

Weyrean military doctrine is based on maintaining the integrity of the FDK's borders and ensuring the safety of shipping within its Economic Exclusion Zones and shipping columns. The Skeelzanian vendetta on Martian states, and tensions between several Mars-based states, have prompted Weyr to develop a program to modernize and improve the SDF, especially in aerospace defense and ground warfare.

WSDF Fleet

The WSDF fleet is separated into two administrative and tactical theaters. Half of the fleet's assets are located in the Mars theater, and half are allocated to protecting Weyrean territories on Terra. At any given time ten to twenty percent of the fleet is undergoing maintenance or upgrade procedures at either Earthbound or Marsbound stations. Each fleet group consists of six main cruisers, five destroyers, and one Ship of the Line, and is supported by a number of gunships, fighter craft, and general maintenance and supply craft. This structure has been formed due to limited available ship numbers rather than any particular strategy, and is considered unsuitable for the fleet's primary task of border patrol and anti-piracy action.

As part of a modernization program undertaken by the Defense Agency, six specialized patrol frigates will be added to each fleet over a period of four years, while four destroyers will be removed from active duty and possibly sold on the international market. The program further expects to decrease crew complements aboard ships by fifty percent. This is expected to significantly lower operating costs and increase ship endurance. Critics claim an increased reliance on automation and self-repair will actually increase costs due to longer in-port repairs, and will place too much emphasis on a single, vulnerable control entity.

WSDF Ground

The land forces of the SDF are highly mechanized and trained. They are however understaffed for, and lack the resources to engage in prolonged deployments beyond Weyr's borders. The land force has more personnel than any other section of Weyr's military, but is second to the fleet in terms of budget allocation. High maintenance requirements prevent the ground force, like the fleet, from expanding beyond its current 360,000 personnel.

People of Note

• Kira li'Starhavven, High King, Paper Alchemist
• Josiah Willard Gibbs, Consul-General
• Firnon li'Skai, Commander, Mormegil
• Ren li'Wye, Grand Alchemist
• Lord Ash