Empire of Common Cause

The Empire of Common Cause is an organization that spans the entirety of Aerb and consists of the large majority of the hex’s polities (a generic catchall term for nation or similar), created after the fall of the Second Empire. Worth the Candle largely takes place within its territories.

History

The Empire of Common Cause formed at a glacial pace in comparison to its forerunners, being termed an “empire” three full decades after the initial cooperative agreements were in place, and a decade before the Articles of Empire which created the modern governmental structure were signed. The initial “core” of the Empire of Common Cause was seventeen member nations who entered into mutual trade, immigration, and defense agreements. The athenaeums were principled supporters of the early empire, in part because of remaining imperial sentiment there (the athenaeums having not been hit quite as hard by the purges and general violence that marked the second interimperium), and in part because of a need to be able to exert influence beyond their city-states.

Another factor in the rise of the Empire of Common Cause was the falling birth rates around the hex, most of which was due to the policies that had been implemented by the Second Empire. Advances in technology had increased food production and multiplied the effects of labor, which helped lead to greatly increased urbanization as the agricultural labor force moved into the cities, sometimes in protest.

Originally developed as a joint economic zone, the Empire of Common Cause expanded with every passing year, not just inducting new members, but instituting new laws and expanding its purview. In theory, every member polity flew its own flag and abided by its own laws, but the gradual creep of power and responsibility has allowed that principle to go to the wayside. Much ado is still made about sovereignty in the face of exercises of imperial power, but the risk of censure silences all but the most egregious offenses.

Member Polities

Member polities of the Empire of Common Cause are incredibly diverse, and include absolute monarchies, direct democracies, feudalism, communism, city-states, communes, vassal states, kraterocracies, gerontocracies, and in one case, a capracracy (rule by goat). It is often said that the Empire of Common Cause contains every possible type of government, but this is obviously untrue, and in fact, the majority of member polities are either constitutional monarchies or representative democracies.

Likewise, member polities are of diverse species and cultures. Humans are the most populous and widespread species, due (in part) to their adaptability and fondness for new diets and climates. Just behind them are the dwarves, though dwarf-dominated cultures tend to be nearly invisible on the world stage, with most of them being underground city-states (dwarfholds) that only rarely communicate with the empire at large. Stepping down from those two, the long tail of populations begins, including all of the mortal species, though not every species has a polity where they’re dominant. Notably, the Animalia by their nature have very few populations of more than a few hundred people whether mixed or pure, and there are a number of so-called ‘slave species’ who remain in minority positions even following the abolishment of slavery.

Major polities include the following:

• Kingdom of Anglecynn (home of Caledwich)
• Kingdom of Francorum (home of the Risen Lands)
• Kingdom of Mosenol (home of the Boundless Pit)
• Monarchical Democracy of Esplandian (home of Cranberry Bay)
• Lensen (a city-state)
• Kingdom of Parrungal (known for currently hosting Lensen)
• Li'o (a city-state, home to the Athenaeum of Sound and Silence)

Unconfirmed polities might include the following:

• Cidium (a city-state within the continent of Widders)
• Drabian (a polity next to Esplandian's borders)
• Kingdom of Palmain (wherein Uther slayed its king with the sword Soskanna)

Imperial Organization

The Empire of Common Cause consists of four essential components. The arbitration branch is effectively judicial in nature, existing to adjudicate disagreements between member polities, and later, to adjudicate disagreements between imperial citizens where no polity has express authority. The legislative branch has twin functions, the first being the creation of laws which will apply to all member polities, and the second being the creation of draft legislation intended to be spread among the member polities, but without the full weight of law. The executive branch exists to carry out explicitly defined legislation, typically on a time-limited basis. Finally, the independent-executive branch exists to carry out useful functions for the empire, but the various bodies within it are not generally beholden to the legislature, especially as their funding is rarely negotiated, or they exist as self-funding entities.

The EoCC legislature has representatives from all member polities, from imperial polities (those with direct or nominally direct imperial governance), and from the athenaeums, present in accordance with complex rules to ensure that imperial stakeholders have representation in accordance with their stake, at least in theory. Few laws are decided by the entire legislature, which is quite large, instead being drafted and then passed by imperial committees and subcommittees, which were created and derive their authority from the legislature as a whole. Because most lawmaking take place at the committee or subcommittee level (a result never intended by those who initially drafted the Articles of Empire), controlling assignment to committees and subcommittees is a large part of any politician’s job within the imperial legislature. Several mechanisms exist to remove members of the legislature, including having the member polity pull their representation status, while seating is usually done through the action of the committee itself. This process of legislation has often been called opaque and dysfunctional, but there is a common refrain within Lensen that “otherwise nothing would get done”.

The arbitration branch of the imperial government is one of the most carefully watched parts of the government, in part because there is little recourse against it short of a full assembly of the legislature, which is called only in times of great need, and frequently deadlocks on even remotely contentious issues. The arbiters are, generally speaking, a close-knit bunch, operating on the precedent laid down by their peers and forebears. When disagreements arise between the arbiters, their systems of resolution are first to have a superior adjudicate, and if that doesn’t produce an acceptable outcome, to have a council of arbiters form. As with the legislators, effort is made to pull in arbiters from all across the empire, though there is no legal mandate to do so. The arbitration branch is sometimes called the shadow legislature, as they effectively modify and sometimes create legal reality.

The executive is split into two broad halves. The first half is the executive as an arm of the legislature, which usually creates temporary (sometimes “temporary”) agencies with a legislator or legislative committee at its head. The second half is the independent executive, a collection of agencies that were created by the legislature through special procedure and which exist with relatively little interaction with the rest of the government, by explicit design and writ of the Articles of Empire. The first and largest of these agencies is Imperial Affairs, which has several child agencies, most of which were created by the legislature and then absorbed into Imperial Affairs. Aside from Imperial Affairs and its child agencies, the independent executive includes Apportions (responsible for taxation, usually at the behest of the legislature or other agencies), the Office of Imperial Disaster Relief, the Transit Office (responsible for planes, trains, and teleportation), the Bureau of Information (responsible for collection of data, especially for use by the legislature), the Bureau of Standards (mostly dealing with trade), and Special Threats (which deals mostly with exclusions, though there has been some scope creep in recent years).

In theory, the Articles of Empire created a system of governance that moved slowly and would gum up fairly easily, on the theory that it was usually better that an imperial government did nothing rather than doing something contentious. The independent executive was a compromise whereby the vital functions of the empire would be insulated from the whims of the legislature. In practice, the independent executive moves quite fast, and the slow legislature often seems to be gumming up while trying to provide checks and balances to the independent executive. The arbitration branch has also become much more powerful than originally envisioned, in part because the slow legislature necessitated it.

Opinion on the government of the EoCC varies by polity. Generally speaking, the EoCC is well-liked among its varied citizens, in part because it has reasonably good public relations and branding, and in part because people conflate the idea of a hexal community with the actual practice of imperial governance. Most people interact with the Empire only by way of seeing notes of inspection on bulk teleported goods, which is seen as a sign of quality. In some polities, the EoCC is a convenient scapegoat for domestic problems, demonized as being an entity with so much power that the member polity has no choice but to comply. Opinions on the EoCC vary wildly, naturally, and change in response to hot button issues, which vary from place to place.

[Amaryllis’ Notes: The Empire of Common Cause is necessary, but sometimes I think that’s as much of a positive spin as you could put on it. Creating and enforcing standards, not just trade standards but legal standards, provides an enormous boon to the global market, and is one of the rare cases where a rising tide lifts all boats. Of course, not all boats are lifted equally by the rising tide, which makes for a mangled metaphor, or maybe just one that’s intentionally misleading. Most of my problems with the Empire ultimately comes from the Articles of Empire, which put into place a lot of the problems that would come into play later on. The jockeying of the legislature for committee positions, the raw power of the committees themselves, the difficulty in reigning in Adjudication, the mess that the independent executive makes of things with almost no recourse to the legislature because of the impossible levels of cooperation needed — I go back and forth on how easy these problems were to see in advance, and how much they’re the result of good intentions or attempts to manipulate, but it’s all immaterial, because the Empire is what we have, and there’s no real chance that it will be remade in a new form unless it comes crashing to the ground first.]

Law

The entirety of the legal landscape of the EoCC is considered impossible for any one person to know, and complex legal matters essentially require dozens if not hundreds of man-hours for groups of people to become temporary subject matter experts, often entad assisted. Nevertheless, it’s entirely possible to make some statements about the EoCC in broad terms:

• Slavery is, by and large, illegal. Chattel slavery is illegal, but conscription and forced labor are not, and neither is bonded slavery, though these are illegal in the majority of member polities. Several of the mortal species are ‘slave species’, created or bred specifically for slavery, typically with compulsions or dispositions toward being slaves. In those cases, exceptions are sometimes made. Controversially, slavery is not considered casus belli against non-member polities, which means that any war against a non-member polity over the issue of slavery will typically be met with sanctions.
• Many magics are restricted from being taught anywhere but their athenaeum, or an approved athenaeum satellite site. Publication of materials deemed sensitive are prohibited, and in some cases, not allowed to be sold or transferred to non-authorized personnel. Mages are, in most cases, licensed by their athenaeum. Violations of this law tend to be particularly harsh, including, in one particularly egregious case, the removal of all mages from the member polity by their athenaeums (on a voluntary basis through threat of revoked license), extensive sanctions, and eventually, removal of member status, shortly followed by war.
• Most member polities of the EoCC respect freedom of travel for imperial citizens, though this is not a part of the common law, only the suggested framework. Most member polities will require a permit or endorsement for longer stays, with the law varying depending on the member polity.
• The Bureau of Standards mandates many different aspects of imperial life, largely uncontested, ranging from allocation of radio frequencies, to bulk teleport procedures, to food handling. Additionally, there are many areas where the BoS offers certifications, which allow products to command a higher price, sometimes with the non-certified versions being forced out of the market. Of late, there has been a push for tighter standards to ensure accommodations for a wide variety of species, though the issue is contentious.
• Most member polities have laws regarding treatment of those under forge frenzy, seizure of entads, and compensation for entad seizure, though these are far from universal. Most member polities consider entads to be personal property, owned, transferred, and operated like any other, with licensing or confiscation in place for those that are particularly dangerous. There are a few exceptions to this rule though, and a number of places within the empire where entads are exclusively or nearly exclusively the purview of the member government.
• Member polities are directly taxed in several different ways, both through dues paid to the Empire, through taxes levied by independent agencies, and through agreements for use of labor, supplies, and other indirect financing. Member polities themselves have wildly different tax schemes, though taxation of travel and bulk teleport is highly regulated by the empire itself.
• The Empire tightly controls research into areas deemed potentially capable of ‘causing’ an exclusion through the RDLLE Acts. Additionally, major exclusions are generally considered the territory of the empire, though not rising to the level of imperial polities. Depending on the severity of the exclusion, travel might be restricted or banned entirely.

Culture

Despite the fact that it consists of hundreds of species and hundreds of member polities, there has still arisen something identifiable as “imperial culture”. Imperial culture is a result of mass media, bulk teleportation, and unified standards, some of which descends from both First Empire and Second Empire innovations and cultural shifts.

Generally speaking, ‘imperial culture’ is far more present in the cities of Aerb than in the rural areas, owing to both the increased prevalence of goods from around Aerb, and the way that different cultures overlap and interact with each other, a key feature of imperial culture. Urban areas have much greater economies of scale, allowing them to sustain and support a much larger variety of businesses and the import or creation of a greater variety of goods. On top of that, it’s much more common for people to emigrate to urban areas than rural areas.

Imperial culture is egalitarian, premised on the fact that all people deserve equal rights and opportunities, within the limits of physiological reality of differing species. It is understood that there’s a wide variety of mental modalities between the species, with inborn hangups, reactions, and preferences, but people are lauded for going against these predispositions, and most will be slow to say that you can’t do something because of your species, so long as you can prove yourself, or some accomodations can be made. Several of the mortal species have difficulties in mingled imperial society, such as criios (who require cold) and penumbrals (who cannot tolerate much light), and pains are taken to ensure that they are not excluded. To this end, most places which follow imperial culture will have a wide range of accommodations, usually with adjustable seating or different seating sections, some of which is dictated by the Bureau of Standards.

The language of the Empire, and of imperial culture, is Anglish, mostly as a result of Uther Penndraig’s cultural export programs and the legacies of the First and Second Empire, which first made Anglish the lingua franca, and later made it the common language of Aerb, pushing many languages into either cultural niches or into extinction. This imperial Anglish is a far cry from the Anglish of Uther’s time, as it includes many modern additions pulled in from other languages, not just those that refer to techniques, materials, and ideas non-native to Anglecynn ( kear for the material dwarves use to eat away at rocks, dejang for the runed spike used to collect souls), but those unique or useful to the Empire and imperial life (‘muggle’ as distinct from magic user, ‘spam’ for unwanted mail, ‘wannabe’ for someone who tries too hard to fit in). Despite the fact that people in major cities rarely meet each other, culture and language are effectively transmitted around Aerb through mass media, giving a consistency to pronunciation and vocabulary.

Imperial food is dominated by bulk teleport, though in recent years there has been a push toward processes and procedures that can only be done locally, especially fermentation and ‘live’ preparations. Additionally, there is a focus on foods which can be consumed by as many of the mortal species as possible, in part because of the aforementioned inclusivity, and in part because this is more economical for restaurants and helps to ensure proper food safety (there are numerous foods that are poisonous to one species but not the others). Many of the foods from varied cultures have ‘imperial style’ preparations that remove or substitute problematic ingredients. Among the poor, Barren bread and Barren milk are common supplements to a more flavorful diet, typically reduced in volume in various ways that do nothing for the flavor in order to minimize teleportation costs.

In contrast to the egalitarian beliefs of imperial culture, there is a large degree of self-segregation among the mortal species of the major cities, especially in the case of those who retain their original (or a pidgin) language, or who have special housing or dietary needs that require a degree of specialization. Within the major imperial cities, these are usually divided into ‘towns’, which typically take the form of extended neighborhoods rather than governmentally distinct areas of those cities. A ‘small town’ is one of the most common, a place where the smaller species have their housing, and in many cases a city will also have a subterranean ‘dwarf town’, though full dwarfholds are common as well, typically less integrated into imperial culture.