The Farcast Union
You can still see the remains of many of the Old Empire airships, long since mostly buried in the mud and soil by time. I've heard estimations that the majority are more than 90% buried, and yet what can be seen without a shovel outsize almost everything that we have in this age. Incredible, isn't it? Whole cities of men and women sailed over the ocean during the war, and even just the survivors of ships that were destroyed were able to kindle a whole new society with the help of the natives. Not just once, either, but several times across the Pilgrim Lands.
-Mercy Francisca, popular historian and writer of this historiography
What would you do if you were stranded on a continent, an ocean away from home, and knew that there was no way to contact anyone you knew and there was little to no chance of rescue? Not a deserted island, mind you, or far off chunk of Unseasoned lands, but a whole continent. That was a question that many thousands had to ask themselves as they were emerging from the destroyed and grounded remains of their airships near the start of the War of the Wyrms.
Many realized that they had no way to contact their fleets, and certainly had no way to get a message across the Heartless Waves to their homes, and given the state of the fleets as they flew back towards the homeland it was unlikely any would be returning soon. They were on their own.
This was a realization had in many places in the Pilgrim Lands, near simultaneously and yet separated by hundreds or even thousands of miles as the had been scattered.
The next problem, though it paled in comparison, was the existence of natives within the Pilgrim Lands, and not ones that were familiar with the Great Wyrms. As a matter of fact, many had outright rejected the Wyrms, and those back in the homeland who had done the same had made quite the impression that they would resist the Wyrms violently at every opportunity, leaving the 'Sailors of the Dragon', as they came to be called, quite concerned that their new Native hosts would be of a mind and violently unwelcoming to them.
Those stranded sailors were in luck, at least in many cases, and while many of the tribes had turned down the dragon's teachings, they did not reject their fellow man in the same way the Coalition of the Tears was made famous for doing.
The sheer number of survivors from the ships of the Old Empire, which were crewed by several thousands of men each, was enough to skew the population metrics within the Pilgrim Lands significantly, and they would quickly set about setting up camps that would eventually become townships, or integrating entirely with the natives they befriended. Despite this, and the close bonds that had formed in the early days of cooperation were often tested by the differences in culture or territorial disputes. Through the grace of the Icons, the coolest heads prevailed, and over time society in the Pilgrim Lands took on a different form. A melding of native cultures and the cultures of the Old Empire. A few centuries of growth later the Farcast Union was created to preserve its component sovereign nations.
The differences between the component nations of the Union can be, and often are rather pronounced, with both democratic and (partially) monarchic nations existing with relative harmony. That being said, it is not a perfect union. Not all are happy to be a part of it, and several outside nations will do everything in their power to break the whole organization apart. Grand conflict between those for and those against the union has so far been kept to a minimum and mostly in the form of demonstrations or small-scale skirmishes in the street with fists or even improvised weapons.
The inciting reason, or reasons, for the formation of the Union was two-fold, one without and one within. The first reason was one of foreign policy, and that was the Two-Way Announcement that brought both the Empire of the Sun and the Tsarinate of Brumel into existence. For the first time since the War of the Wyrms, a handful of millennia in the past at the time, human nations were organizing themselves into power blocs once again, bringing new levels of resources, manpower, and political weight to the negotiating table of the world stage. Allies would be needed, even if it was all performative, if any nation wanted to survive to the next age. The second reason was directly related to the political landscape of the Pilgrim Lands. That is to say, it was already incredibly intertwined and snarled. The number of nations that fall under its umbrella and the amount of differing political sentiments between them all, meant that when conflict arose it was often a snarled mess of allies and alliances protecting and fighting against each other. By providing a political platform for the nations of the Pilgrim Lands, many hoped to stop the series of snaggle-tooth conflicts that pulled in, chewed up, and spit out small nations like they were nothing. The largest hurdle to pass was getting the nations to agree to join in the first place. Wars or not, many nations in the Pilgrim Lands were far more concerned with keeping their own freedoms, over the freedoms of others. The first members to join would need to set a strong example, and through that example attract others to the organization. The first two, approached early on in the political process, were the Union of Lebarallia and the Union of Xotlac, two of the largest nations in the area. If they agreed, then a great many more would be willing to hear the plan out. The Union of Lebarallia was, seemingly, an easy sell. The proposed structure of the overall Union was similar to how Lebarallia already functioned and they quickly endorsed the plan. Xotlac, however, was far more difficult to convince. A traditionally independent nation that prayed upon it's neighbors with regularity, Xotlac didn't want to give up the chance to pursue what it called "Flower Wars " which provided it with resources and more importantly prisoners, which they used as labor or their religious practices, which involved sacrifice and ritualized combat. Luckily for the nascent alliance, the ruler of the Empire at the time was a reformist, and saw that the old ways were going to eventually cause great strife in the future, and saw this as a chance to go about future proofing Xotlac. It would take decades, and not everything could be changed, but with his careful machinations and the supporters of a continent spanning alliance aiding him, many of the reforms were passed and even accepted by the people. Bar the Woe of Xochiyotli, just over of month of violence and extremism in the capital city that started with an attempt to capture or kill the ruler of the time by conservative reactionaries, it was a largely bloodless affair.
Structure
While there will always be those that argue it is not as such, or that it shouldn't be as such, the Farcast Union is a representative democracy, the representatives of which are chosen in a variety of ways by the component nations of the Union.
Within the Union, each nation is equally represented, with their representative under the assumption to argue for what is best for their home nation.
The Union itself is not intended to control policy of any component nation, through tacit political pressure it is not uncommon for such things to be 'suggested' and heavily weighted in political discussions.
The representatives of each nation are considered the height of political power one can reach within the union, without simply being the ruler (elected or not) of their home nation, and are able to move many assets around with little oversight.
Military
Each component nation volunteers a small percentage of their available military forces which are, on paper, at the disposal of the Council of the Union to enforce their decisions.
In reality, none are sure of what would happen if the council military was actually put to use. Most don't believe that the individual nations would simply sit back and let the Council simply do whatever they wanted.
If a decision was unpopular, would they not call their forces back home? What if the decision stands against them specifically.
These forces are regularly rotated as well, to prevent corruption and the forming of bonds between international units. This does have the side effect of lowering confidence in the efficacy of the Council forces even further, as those who are currently deployed within it could be anyone from penal soldiers to hardline supporters of the union.
Within All, One
Founding Date
08/23/19 TSE
Type
Alliance, Cultural
Capital
Alternative Names
The Union, the Pilgrim Union, the Rabble, and Thousand Color Mob
Training Level
Trained
Veterancy Level
Trained
Demonym
Unionists
Head of State
Government System
Democracy, Representative
Power Structure
Confederation
Economic System
Market economy
Parent Organization
Location
Comments