Following is the addendum to dev blog 5.
Cartographer’s Hall
The Cartographer’s Hall is a transnational organization that has taken on the role of land surveying, exploration, and map making. They are a fiercely independent and armed organization, which has caused many to associate it with several conspiracy theories. Their services of making maps are invaluable in this world, which they often provide for free to everyone, in exchange for being allowed to operate freely across national borders. Additionally, due to their members and contractors often traveling to places far from established institutions, they have often taken on the role of “problem solvers”, be it simple delivery or more complex jobs such as bandit hunting or anything a client wishes to be done, provided they have the funds, of course. Sometimes these services might even be given for free, with the intention of building goodwill and spreading the Hall’s influence.
While the organization itself does not wish to present itself as a violent one, being a neutral entity often means they have to be armed to the teeth whether they like it or not. The threat of blacklisting alone cannot be a sufficient deterrent, and often they have enormous resources at their disposal to back its independence and neutrality with force, if necessary.
The Hall has been known to colonize uncharted lands with settlements to support Hall operations, usually known as a Charter. Business often follows them, leading to the growth of said settlements. It is not uncommon that by the time a region is fully explored and mapped, the Hall has found themselves in control of a small city. What is done afterward differs, but some common examples include simply keeping the city as a logistics hub, or relinquishing control of the city to the closest country.
Commonwealth
A nation that is formed by multiple states, united under a common cause and a set of ideals, therefore their name, the Commonwealth. Their official name, unlike most other nations found in the world, lacks a signifier or the term of their ethnicity/location, as it is merely the Commonwealth. This is done to maintain the supposed independence and status of equality of the nine countries that form the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth is the undisputed naval superpower of the continent, and it is undoubtedly a maritime empire. Unlike most other countries of this world, its land is not contiguous, with members of the Commonwealth spanning far reaches of the world. Members of the Commonwealth were all former regional naval powers before they acceded to the Commonwealth. Therefore, it could be understood that to be accepted into the Commonwealth, a country must present itself as furthering the naval interests of the Commonwealth. For example, the current nine members each play a role in maintaining the Commonwealth’s superiority of the seas. One of them is excellent shipbuilders, with the largest dockyards pumping out vessels, be it military or commercial. Another nation has some of the most experienced navigators. One possessing the fiercest soldiers thanks to a tradition of war. Others may not even have any specialization but prove indispensable to the Commonwealth due to their strategic location.
The political structure of the Commonwealth can therefore be imagined as rather complicated. While each member is a country in its own right, they still maintain an image of a union of equals. Most members maintain some degree of a monarchy, yet overall leadership of the Commonwealth is determined by an election featuring those monarchs. Very ironically, it is a somewhat democratic organization, but with candidates that are kings and queens. These elections elect the “leader” of the Commonwealth, although this role is usually seen as “first among equals”. In practice, however, the royalties are usually only interested in the electoral race as a means of earning prestige, and perhaps “one-upping” their fellow monarchs.
The rest of the Commonwealth is noted for its labyrinthian political structure, and perhaps that is by design, to appear as opaque as possible to anyone looking in from the outside. For example, the elections mentioned above are not strictly electing a king or queen, but rather, the court of a certain nation. These courts, of course, are selected and shaped by the monarch of said nation, so the distinction hardly matters in practice. These courts occupy the Commonwealth Council, which is elected to, at least in theory, propose and implement laws.
Like many things of the Commonwealth, when one begins with “in theory”, it is quickly followed with “in practice”. In practice, each member state appoints a “Commissioner” to the Commonwealth Commission, meant to represent the interests of each nation in the Commonwealth. Together, this nine-member commission is considered to be the ones who wield real power. This is largely because while there’s an image of unity, individual interests of countries still play a role, therefore many laws the Commonwealth creates are subject to various negotiation and amendments by the Commission before it is officially “advised” to the Council.
Finally, to appease a growing political movement by the Commonwealth citizens, the Commonwealth Parliament was formed sometime after the establishment of the Commonwealth. Any citizen can run for seats in the Parliament, with each country holding an equal share of seats. While they do not have any real power in the affairs of the government, this has been steadily changing in recent years. They do not propose or enforce laws, but they do have the right to debate the effects of laws and give final approval. They cannot shut down a law/proposal per se, but very technically a law cannot be officially enacted if the Parliament has yet to approve of it. It is through this method the Parliament exercises what little power they have, stonewalling laws they dislike, “debating” these laws until they are retracted or modified by the Council.
This dynamic has created what critics would call an inefficient and opaque political system, but others would simply point out it is by design. Despite that, however, it is undeniable the Commonwealth is a superpower that throws around significant weight on the international stage. In recent memory, it is they who supported the rebellion of Tor and Singidunum that broke away from the Empire to the east, and it is they who waged a long and devastating war to ensure said Empire would be cut off from the western coast by losing the region Singidunum and Tor are located in.
- Sketch by Riifushi ↩︎