United Federation of Artemis

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United Federation of Artemis
Capital planets of Artemis, clockwise: Jauno, Neith, Meztil, Eir.
National motto: United Across Division
National anthem: The Call of Four Stars
Capital Largest city	Jauno Federal Region, Jauno Meztil City, Meztil
Official language	Ugic
Demonym	Artemisian(s)
Government - Chancellor - Vice Chancellor	Federal presidential republic Lerra Smoth Aeric Grohom
Legislature - Upper house - Middle house - Lower house	Federal Gathering Council of Administrators Chamber of Overseers House of Representatives
Formation - Treaty of Unification	11 Marts 2160
Population	14,626,091,349,358
Currency	Artemo(es)
Drives on	Right

The United Federation of Artemis (the Federation or Artemis, not to be confused with the Artemis solar system) is an interstellar federation consisting of four interstates, namely the Interstate of Jauno, the Interstate of Eir, the Interstate of Neith-Tiaan and the Interstate of Meztil, which are themselves federations with their own subdivisions (states). The Federation is located throughout two binary star systems over four stars (called subsystems), Artemis Alpha, -Beta, -Gamma and -Delta. The federal capital is on Jauno, where the small federal government is located.

The Federation was founded with the Treaty of Unification of 2160, when the Eirthen Federation, the United Planets of Meztilia, the Jaunen Confederation and the Republic of Neithian Planets came together to form one polity. The Treaty was a precursor to the Federal Charter, which is the constitution in effect today. In general, the interstate governments are the most powerful and can veto certain federal measures. Thereafter, the federal government has the most authority before the states (individual planets) and their respective divisions.

Politics

The Artemisian federal government was, according to the Federal Charter, intended to have less powers than the interstates. The Chancellor is considered both the head of state and head of government. The Vice Chancellor acts as his or her deputy and also fills a more important legislative role in that he or she chairs the Council of Administrators. The Federal Gathering is the legislative branch of the federal government and consists of three houses: the upper Council of Administrators, the middle Chamber of Overseers and the lower House of Representatives. Before XXXX, the Federal Gathering was a unicameral house of the same name until it was later decided that in the interests of more strict checks and balances, it would be divided into three. The Federal Charter was subsequently amended to mandate this. There is no judicial branch, as the Council of Administrators partly fills that role.

Federal Gathering

The Council of Administrators is the upper and smallest house of the Federal Gathering. It consists of thirteen administrators of which one is the Vice Chancellor and twelve are from the interstates. Each of the four interstate legislatures must from its own membership elect three administrators to sit on the Council. The Council's main duty is to resolve disputes between the interstates and act as a tribunal for interstate treason criminal cases. The Federal Charter mandates that of the three administrators elected, one must be a qualified legal professional (of both federal- and their own local interstate law), one must be a qualified administrative officer (usually with a business degree and prior experience) and the last must in any case be from an opposition party within the interstate legislature. This third administrator is usually the party leader of the opposition party if he or she does not already occupy another high government office.

The Chamber of Overseers is the middle and second largest house of the Federal Gathering, and acts as an oversight entity charged with investigating and solving allegations of abuse or corruption within the federal government. Overseers can also be requested by interstate governments to assist in their own internal affairs. The Chamber consists of 500 overseers chosen at random every five years by the Independent Oversight Selection Board from each interstate's voters roll. Thus, each interstate sends 125 overseers to the Chamber. Overseers deemed worthy by the House of Representatives with the advice of the Council of Administrators remain in their office and thus the IOSB cannot select a new person for their spot. These veteran overseers are highly respected and allegedly feared by all levels of government for their diligence a "thirst for corrupted blood".

Finally, the House of Representatives is the lower and by far the largest house of the Federal Gathering, consisting of 5,000 representatives elected directly by their constituencies every six years. There is no uniformity in the election of new representatives, as an election to fill a vacant post is held almost immediately upon that seat becoming vacant; thus, beginning a new term. The Charter mandates that the amount of seats in the House be between 2,000 and 10,000 to allow for overall representation of the people. The 11th Gathering, which required overseers and administrators alike to vote, fixed the amount at 5,000, thus mandating that interstate legislatures create among the four, 5,000 constituencies spread in proportion to population. This proved a very difficult task and took nine years to achieve. The House's mandate is to represent their respective constituencies in the federal government and to initiate legislation (within the scope of the federal government). Representatives are the only directly elected federal officials, thus carry the risk of being recalled by their constituencies and replaced if they lose their confidence.

Parties in the Gathering

The United Federation has a multiparty system where seven parties are currently represented in the Gathering. The Federalist Party currently occupies the supermajority of seats. The Federal Charter does not make provisions for independent candidates and explicitly states that only parties or associations. The House however did intervene in this and passed a law stating that independent candidates may register their names as political parties and thus be elected to the House. The name-party must exist prior to the date that campaigning may begin. Overseers, as they are chosen at random from the voters roll, can be independent (as no law mandates citizens from being part of a political party). Pate Owseld, who currently represents Jauno's 44th Federal District, is the first ever independent to be elected to the House of Representatives.

The Federalist Party, the oldest existing party both on federal and interstate level, is by far the largest political party in all three houses of the Gathering. It dominates the Council, with the inclusion of having both the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor as its members, and has a supermajority in both the Chamber and the House. However, because the United Federation does not follow proportional party-list representation on federal level, there is no mandatory party discipline, and its members in the House and Council can go against party policy. The Federalist Party controls most of the Chancellery, including the Chancellor herself, and the majority of executives throughout the federation. It has a moderate position on most issues relating to economics, and has both conservative and liberal social positions. Most notably, it opposes cross-species marriage while supporting increased consequences for corporations which do not make an effect to minimize their environmental pollution. Central to the party platform is keeping the United Federation decentralized and vesting most political power in the interstates.

The Union Party, which is in an alliance with the Workers' Party, is the second largest party in the United Federation. It is described as a center-left party with regard to economic issues and center-right pertaining to social issues, although there is overlap. It completely opposes cross-species marriage, and wants under-21 homosexuality to be illegal and punishable. In economics, it believes that interstates must support one another, especially those found in the same subsystem. Central to its platform is the increased centralization of the United Federation, and transferring more powers and duties to the federal government to ensure uniformity and cooperation.

• Federalist Party (CA - 8 | CC - 249 | HR - 2,413)
• Union Party (CA - 2 | CC - 81 | HR - 1,242)
• Socialist Party (CA - 2 | CC - 74 | HR - 466)
• Workers' Party (CA - 1 | CC - 39 | HR - 401)
• Civil Libertarian Party (CA - 0 | CC - 38 | HR - 298)
• Followers of Zeus Front (CA - 0 | CC - 26 | HR - 179)
• Pate Osweld Party (CA - 0 | CC - 0 | HR - 1)

Federal executive

The Chancellor (currently Lerra Smoth of the Federalist Party) is chosen by the House of Representatives every four years from its own members, relieving him or her from their legislative duty (they cannot be recalled - only removed by the House by a motion of no confidence) and giving him the mandate to execute federal law and act as a unifying figure between the interstates. The Chancellor is thus 'the face of government' with varying degrees of power granted to the office by the House. One of the Chancellor's most notable and important duties is to select the Vice Chancellor from the House.

The Vice Chancellor (currently Aeric Grohom of the Federalist Party) is somewhat of a dual executive-legislative office. He or she has a permanent office at both the Council Building, where he sits with the Council of Administrators daily, and the Chancellery, where he executes his limited executive duties. In executive respects, the Vice Chancellor fills the Office of the Chancellor should it become vacant, until the Chancellor returns or the House elects a new Chancellor (usually the current Vice Chancellor). The Chancellor may also have the Vice Chancellor execute some of his office's duties, such as heading task forces or acting as an Acting Commander in Chief during times of war.

Judiciary

The federal government does not have a judicial branch. The Council of Administrators essentially fills this void. The Council must resolve any cross-interstate disputes such as jurisdictional issues, and also act as the tribunal that hears cases of treason and gross corruption at interstate level. The Council may, at its own discretion, hear cases where it is alleged that the Federal Charter has been violated. The Vice Chancellor heads the tribunal and acts as the presiding officer, while the other administrators may ask questions and at the end, vote for the outcome. In this respect, it is like a supreme court bench, where each administrator must give the reasoning behind his finding if it is a dissenting judgment. The interstates are required to handle their own judicial issues in every other circumstance.

Political and administrative divisions

The Federal Charter created two levels of divisions, namely the sovereign interstates (habitable worlds or colonies orbiting a specific star) and the semi-autonomous states (individual planets within interstates). The United Federation itself is in many ways subordinate to the interstates. The Federal Region, a city on Jauno (which is the capital planet of the Interstate of Jauno), is the capital of the entire federation, and is directly administered by the executive government's Capital Authority.

States may within themselves, depending on interstate law, create their own subdivisions on the condition that these divisions are always accountable to the state. Thus, state divisions, which are usually provinces, continents, islands or territories, are unitary rather than federal, as are the federation and the interstates. Thereafter, the Federal Charter mandates electoral consistencies for the Federal Gathering. These consistencies' boundaries are drawn up by interstate governments within federal law, which mandates the amount of people who must be represented in that consistency.

A certain degree of liberty and democracy is mandated by the Federal Charter in the interest of safeguarding the right to life, however interstates have much leeway in this regard. The Interstate of Eir is widely regarded to be the bastion of liberty and democracy in the United Federation while the State of Neith is definitely the most totalitarian and quasi-fascist polity.

The interstates and their respective states are:

• Interstate of Jauno
  • State of Jauno
  • State of Albartia
  • State of Ethabur
  • State of Rhodilium
  • State of Perevana
• Interstate of Eir
  • State of Eir
  • State of Ormon
  • State of Indii
• Interstate of Neith-Tiaan
  • State of Neith
  • State of Tiaan
• Interstate of Meztil

Federal Armed Forces

Main article: Federal Armed Forces

Because of the United Federation's highly decentralized nature, most military and defense matters are within the scope of the interstate governments. However, the Federal Armed Forces (FAF) exists to defend the Federation as a whole against coordinated attack, handle exploration beyond the Blind Zone and interstate piracy, as well as a limited amount of other matters. The FAF is led by the Commander in Chief, who is also the Chancellor, and the Chief of Federal Defense (CoFD), who is appointed by the Chancellor and confirmed by the House of Representatives.

The Federal Armed Forces was established and is managed in terms of the Federal Military Statute, which places many checks and balances on the FAF. The FAF consists of ships built by the interstates' domestic arms manufacturers. Interstate militaries operate entirely separate from the FAF however can be "federalized" in the event of a majority vote in the Council of Administrators and the consent of both the Interstate Governor and the Chancellor. This, as a rule, will only happen in the event of a state of total war.

Culture and demographics

Religion

Religion in Artemis is, in a way, homogenic. Essentially all theists in Artemis subscribe to the Congregationist Religions, a collection of different religions based around the same principles, beliefs and deities. Many Congregationist religions tolerate one another while others believe only one or two are the "true religions". Congregationism is founded in the collection of ancient texts and scrolls (whether or not they are interrelated is widely disputed) known as the Ancient Congregationist Holex, which includes among others the Sacred Zeusic Code, the Scroll of Curos and the Book of Apholloh.

Some of the common elements between these varying religions are:

• The belief in the Everlast, a perfect paradise where certain people will ascend to once they die. Requirements for entry is disputed.
• The Congregation of the Three existed in a pretime world known as Ugius, and consisted of the Halo, the Head and the Helper. The Halo created everything in existence and nonexistence. The Head was the strength of the people and the Helper was the mercy and compassion.
• The Halo later evolves into Zeus and adopts a mortal son, Aertae Maes (Artemis).
• Artemis, by sacrificing his physical self to rescue all life, ejected all the races from Ugius and sent them to their own respective homeworlds. The races were the humans, the Elves, the Corva (dark elves) and the Dwarmur (dwarfs). Each race of humans today is descendant from one of these races, however which from which is heavily and lethally disputed.
• Each race had demigods, of which the humans had the most.
• Artemis, after this ejection, replaced his adoptive father as the new God of Creation for creating the new universe.
• Artemis had several godlike and semi-godlike (adopted mortals usually) children, including, but not limited to:
  • Aphollo (religion: Apholla), the God of Light.
  • Nox, the Goddess of Night.
  • Curos (religion: Curosity), the Goddess of Lovelust.
  • Jam, the God of Water.
  • Cybel, the Goddess of Parenthood.
  • Eir, the God of Liberty.
  • Waruna, the God of Law.
  • Meztil, the God of Food.
  • Jauno, the Demigod of Gates.
  • Poebus, the Demigoddess of Intellect.
  • Bethen, the Demigod of Health.
  • Herodis, the Demigod of Bravery.
  • Teutate, the Demigod of Tribal Simplicity.
  • Gleti, the Demigoddess of Satellites (moons).
  • Moros, the Demigod of Fear.
  • Neith, the Demigod of Destiny.
  • Tiaan, the Demigod of Space.

The majority of theist humankind are nonpracticing generic Congregationists. After general Congregationism, Zeusism, Curosity and Apholla are the largest denominations. 74% of the entire population considers themselves theistic, 19% consider themselves agnostic and while 7% identify as atheists. Each of the denominations are themselves divided into different church groups or associations. The United Federation has no state religion, however, interstates may have and states, depending on interstate law, may also.

Race

There exist four scientifically recognized racial groups throughout the system, namely, Alphosics (generally white complexion), Betaciens (generally dark-brown complexion), Gammaciens (generally light brown complexion) and Deltins (generally sharp beige complexion). The names of these racial groups are derived from the subsystem in which they originated. By the year 2213, the population consists of approximately 36% Gammaciens, 29% Betaciens, 21% Alphosics, and 14% Deltins. Each group is the majority within its original homeworld(s), however, due to immigration and intensive tourism, the racial population is relatively spread.

• Alphosic (White)
• Betacien (Black)
• Gammacien (Latino/'Mixed')
• Deltin (Eastern)

Infrastructure

Because of the vast distances between the various interstates and therein the states of the United Federation, normal signal communications would take roughly 7 weeks to travel from one edge of the Artemis System to the other. Therefore, since 2193, HyperComm Relay Stations have replaced the outdated Comms Relay System.

The Comms Relay System (CRS), as it is known, consisted of dozens of "relay buoys" placed halfway between each inhabited planet which centralizes all communication and sends it to its respective destination. It was an update from the normal signal communications (NormComm) of the previous era which had satellites send the communications directly to other satellites orbiting the destination planet. This took anywhere from 5-8 weeks for simple messages and much longer for larger files, such as videos. This was not problematic in the initial years of cross-planet communication since the respective planet states were still cautious about conducting other than official government business, however, when travel and the markets between the planets were liberalized, NormComm proved inadequate for mainly economic purposes. The CRS was then implemented to radically lessen the time it took for communications to travel, making a simple text message deliver within an hour and a large file like a video within a day.

For years this system was adequate, however, with the increased interplanetarization and interconnectivity needs of the populace, the CRS became outdated. The HyperComm Relay Station (HCRS) project was then initiated with contracts awarded to several telecommunications corporations across the System. The phasing out of CRS and the phasing in of HCRS began in 2185 and was completed in 2193, with each planet having several HyperComm Relay Stations which send data and communications directly at the speed of light to its counterpart on the destination planet. CRS itself was also updated however now serves almost exclusively the United Federation's colonial and military endeavors. Relay buoys are commonly deployed by colonial and exploration vessels as they move further away from the Artemis System to relay communications back to their homeworlds.

Transportation

The means of traveling between distant planets has historically been to travel at sublight (slower than light - STL) speed using a vessel's engine systems. This, even today, remains the most popular means of interplanetary travel because of its relative inexpensiveness in comparison to the alternative - faster than light (FTL) "transitions".

STL travel in an average interplanetary cruiser would take upon average 6 months between the furthest points of the Artemis System. These trips are very rare, however, and it has become an age old custom for interplanetary travel to be limited to the Close Distance Periods (CDPs). A Close Distance Period is when the destination planet or station is during its orbit of its respective substar at its closest point to the original planet or station. For an interstate, these trips take place only a few times a year. Travel between interstates in this fashion is much rarer as this event can take several decades to occur. The middle classes of the United Federation are the most common commuters of this mode of travel.

FTL travel, however, is an instant trip depending on the relative distance between the origin and the destination. Quite simply, the FTL system is teleportation, where a vessel's transition core connects with a specific point in space, folds time and space onto itself and "transits" the vessel from its former location to the new. The ship itself does not move across space, rather, it instantly materializes at the destination point. This mode of travel, however, is extremely expensive and takes a massive toll on the structure of the vessel. FTL vessels therefore don't last as long as STL vessels, and must be replaced on a regular basis. The upper and superrich classes of the United Federation frequently use FTL travel.

The Federal Interplanetary Transportation Authority (FedTrans) designates the "transition zones" across the United Federation as well as regulates the entry corridors for both STL and FTL ships into planetary atmospheres. Transition zones are specific points in space wherethrough all FTL vessels must travel when they use their transition cores (Federal Transportation Directive #44TZ-2187). Violating this directive constitutes a federal criminal offense as an FTL transition does not factor in matter already at the destination point. Therefore, a vessel can, and many have, transited into planets and other vessels, leading to massive loss of life. Each transition zone has a control post which keeps the zone traffic regulated.

Federal and interstate government and military vessels utilize STL travel on a daily basis. FTL travel is reserved only for special circumstances, most notably, military emergencies. In case of a crisis, military vessels are allowed to transit to any point in space without regard for the transition zones. Civilian FTL travel, spare a small number of exceptions, is restricted during times of emergency with government and military vessels enjoying precedence. Most modern vessels come equipped with an FTL warning system that intercepts transition core connections and warns the unsuspecting vessel that another vessel is about to materialize on its current position. These warnings, depending on the quality of the system, are given between 45 and 120 seconds in advance. Depending on the size of the vessel, a transition core takes between one minute (smallest FTL vessels) and ten minutes (largest FTL vessels) to charge and transit. The transitions, depending on the distance, are usually instant, however can take up to two minutes. Passengers of vessels during transition usually experience a moment of dizziness or heavy confusion before regaining their senses. The transition is always instant for passengers.