Pact Worlds Government

As an atom cannot be sundered without grave consequences, so too do we divide our system at our peril. To war with each other is to ignore the rewards of cooperation and to leave ourselves exposed to terrors from beyond. We are all children of the same parent star. Though our differences make us strong and the competition of our ideas pushes us to new heights, we must never allow them to divide us. For if we do, we shall surely perish.

—From the preface of The Absalom Pact

The Pact is not a single system-wide government, but rather an association of independent worlds bound by treaty to work together and acknowledge each other’s sovereignty. Though its powers technically extend only to the facilitation of trade between worlds, interplanetary law enforcement, and mutual defense, over the last several centuries the government has gradually broadened the scope of its authority.
As a confederation of independent states, the Pact generally endeavors to afford its component worlds as much autonomy as possible. Aside from enforcing a brief list of universal rights granted to all sentient creatures and a somewhat longer list for Pact Worlds citizens, the government largely leaves judicial and legislative matters to the local governments of individual worlds, as long as they don’t infringe on the authority of other planets. The Pact’s primary enforcers, the Stewards, are as much diplomats as they are police, doing their best to solve issues with soft power and maintain the system’s fragile balance. The Pact is also very specific about the limits of its authority—in addition to honoring the sovereignty of its constituent governments, the Pact claims no jurisdiction over worlds beyond its solar system unless they are colonies that have requested and won official protectorate status.

Structure

Government decisions within the Pact are made by the Pact Council, which is housed in the vast senatorial building on Absalom Station called the Plenara. Every Pact World is represented on the council, each with a number of delegates proportional to its sentient population. While many matters are decided by direct vote in the council, deadlocks and issues of particular importance go to the Directorate, a leadership council whose five voting members are elected by and from the wider Pact Council every 2 years. No world can have more than one representative in the Directorate, yet the fact that this places many system-wide decisions in the hands of just five worlds means that the Plenara is a constant hotbed of politicking and alliance building, as individual worlds use their power and influence to ensure their interests are represented by the Directorate. A sixth, nonvoting member of the Directorate, the Director-General of the Stewards, is chosen independently by the Stewards and has no set term limit, serving only to advise the other directors and carry out the council’s decisions.

Culture

The Pact Worlds System has no unified culture, as the alliance is composed of dozens of civilizations across wildly different planets. Immigration between worlds is common, and many citizens retain the values and traditions of their native cultures even on their new planets, though this can sometimes lead to conflict. Luckily, the majority of Pact Worlds System residents are tolerant of others, and governments understand that treating visitors poorly risks their own planets being cut out of the trade network or ejected from the Pact entirely. For most people, however, this live-and-let-live strategy isn’t about economic theory but simply practicality: with a veritable host of unfamiliar species and alien cultures right around the corner, any other attitude would soon leave one without friends or a job. Minor prejudices are common, yet they are usually kept quiet for the sake of getting along, and even when citizens experience intolerance, they can often find acceptance in another part of the community (or solar system), bringing with them the best part of their previous cultures and further contributing to the Pact Worlds’ vast melting pot.

History

The Pact—sometimes formally called the Absalom Pact— was first proposed in 41 AG, in response to the increased vesk aggression threatening the whole system. Recognizing that there was no way any individual world could stand against the combined might of the Veskarium, a coalition of officials from Absalom Station, Castrovel, and Verces proposed the new arrangement, based in large part on the system that underpinned Verces’s Ring of Nations as an effective one-world government. To the coalition’s surprise, the first world to sign on to its new plan was not logical Aballon or pacifist Bretheda, but the long-mistrusted undead planet of Eox. With the military might of the bone sages on its side and the churches of Abadar and Iomedae wielding their financial and religious power to promote the campaign, the coalition quickly gained strength, and in just a few years the entire system came under the protection of the new government.

Founding Date

41 AG

Capital

Absalom Station

Government System

Democracy, Representative

Power Structure

Confederation

Economic System

Market economy

Currency

The standard unit of currency in the Pact Worlds is the credit, though some planets use their own forms of money for local trade.

Controlled Territories

• Absalom Station
• Akiton
• Castrovel
• Pact Worlds System