The Assembly
The Assembled Realms of K'Allpa, ARK, or simply "the Assembly" is a conglomerate of the various kingdoms that have established a presence in the Talhani Isles. The Assembly functions as a governing forum where each member kingdom maintains autonomy within their own territories but work together to facilitate trade, commerce, and communication between them.
Structure
The Assembly operates akin to the United Nations or European Union (albeit on a much smaller scale): each full member has a voice in determining regional laws, policies, and procedures that all members of the Assembly agree to abide by.
Currently, there are three nations that are considered "full" members: The Kingdom of Elen'nar, the Palaxi Dominion, and the Karrera Clans. These are the nations that have final say in Assembly decisions, but the other "chartered" nations like the Handina and Ba'shad, in addition to the Haedian colonies and the smaller native realms have ambassadors within the Assembly to bring their voices to be considered.
The Maqana People were once a chartered nation as well, but willfully broke off the arrangement a few decades back because of perceived slights and differential treatment from the Assembly.
Public Agenda
The overarching goal of the Assembly is to facilitate fair and equitable trade and commerce throughout the Isles and all its inhabitants. It stands as a governing body that enforces duties and obligations that come with being a chartered nation to the Assembly. Some of the functions, services, and jurisdictions allotted to the Assembly include:
- Settling New Colonies. Any kingdom wishing to establish new settlements within Assembly jurisdiction must file a formal notice that must be approved before construction can begin. Any kingdom is welcome to settle outside Assembly territory (many of the smaller islands within the Isles remain unclaimed) but those settlements will be ineligible to benefit from Assembly membership.
- Centralized Banking. The Assembly accommodates standardized currency and banking for all members, making trade and commerce a relatively simple process even between diverse nations. The Hadina gnomes can largely be thanked for developing the current system in place. Curiously, they still have not as of yet been offered a full membership with the Assembly.
- Transparent Military Doctrine. To moderate non-hostilities between member nations (exacerbated by the brief conflict between the Haedians and Palaxi), there are limitations in place for how many ships, standing armies, and other military resources each kingdom is allowed to have at one time within the Isles.
- Shared Technological Advances. Because much of each nation's pursuits within the Isles revolve around studying the Atotakah, member kingdoms share resources in regard to their study of artifacts, ruins, and texts, as well as other pursuits of science that would benefit the collective.
- Shared Protection. The Assembly can deploy member militaries in response to external threats and protect member settlements. Each full member of the Assembly is obligated to dedicate a certain number of troops to these defense initiatives. Chartered members also bare a degree of military responsibility if they have the capabilities to render aid.
History
Initially, the Assembly Treaty was drafted between the Elen'nar and the Karrera when the latter found their way to the Isles a little over a century after the elves. The Palaxi Dominion was admitted as a full member and gifted the island cluster of Aldiya after their substantial aid in suppressing the Ba'shad Rebellion in the mid 1400s.
Ironically, the orcs of the Ba'shad Clans were brought to the Isles as much-needed muscle to repel an invasion that began from within Kirajud's Abyss. The orcs proved invaluable in utterly quashing the invaders from the Underdark and all but eradicating them from existence. They were granted lands within the island cluster of Mach'a Mancha as thanks, but the restless orcs soon sought expansion beyond what was gifted them and leveled their blades at the Assembly. Ultimately, their advances were stopped, but the Assembly was never able to truly eject them from the Isles, so for now, they are considered a "tolerated" chartered nation with full sovereignty over the war-blasted volcanic island they were initially gifted.
Since its drafting, nearly a dozen kingdoms have joined as chartered members, allowing commerce and trade to florish throughout the region. Currently, the Haedian Colonies are the latest nation to formally join the Assembly after a brief but harrowing military conflict broke out between them and the Palaxi, as the former had inadvertantly begun settling Palaxi territory without knowing of the latter's existence. After the Assembly intervened, the conflict was quickly smoothed over and the Haedian colonists were granted permission to settle the island cluster of Soros, which had gone largely uninhabited by the other Assembly nations.
Ironically, this act was also what prompted the one and only exit from a member nation: the Maqana People, a domain of militaristic and hierarchical hobgoblins had been petitioning for settlement rights of Soros for decades. The Assembly's granting of the islands to the Haedians was the final nail in the proverbial coffin, and the Maqana formally withdrew from the Assembly shortly thereafter.
From the Assembly's perspective, there was no great love lost, as the Maqana already had many instances of them chafing under Assembly guidelines under their belt. This move all but cemented them as hostile players against the rest of the Assembly, and they have been kept at arms length ever since.
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