The Rotunnkc Compact

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The Rotunnkc Compact
Hieroaetheria
Galactic Position
Capital Planet: Capital City	Hieroaetheria Epigenia
Language(s):	Rootsong (Official) Nral'Malic Tau Ceti Basic
Species:	Dionae(Majority) Skrell (Minority)
Religion:	N/A
Demonym:	Hieroatherian
Government Head of State	Top-down Bureaucracy The Elder Council
Established:	2445

The Rotunnkc Compact

The Rotunnkc Compact is a defense/economic alliance established by the three largest political institutions of Hieroaetheria: The Consortium, The Gla’orr Dominate, and the Ekane Mysterium. Its purpose is to advance the interests of its member nations through Interstellar expansionism, as well as to jointly consolidate the Foreign policy and defense of its constituents. This alliance is not an equal relationship. Rather, it is the outcome of the Consortium exerting its uncontested````` influence over the other member states, thanks to their supreme industrial economy and ties to the Nralakk Federation.

Member Nations

The Consortium

The Consortium stands above the other nations as the Architect and Master of the Rotunnkc Compact. Its reasons for forming it are related to its expansionist goals: to establish new colonies and new sources of energy to grow a new, larger population cohort that can sustain their system. The cooperation of the other powers of Hieroaetheria simplifies and expedites this process for them. In return, the consortium offers appropriate compensation for their services, as well as the facilitation of colonization opportunities for worlds deemed “tertiary” options.

The Gla’orr Dominate

Formerly a colonial extension of the Consortium, The Gla’orr Dominate seceded due to mismanagement from the Consortium during the Triumph of Smoke and Steel. The region it occupies is one of the most energy and resource abundant on the planet, but is constantly beset by extreme climate and dangerous fauna. This has led to the formation of a harsh, survival-of-the-fittest driven society. Only the strong, and the proven may lead. No expense is spared for those who fall behind.

Manufacturing and innovation is stifled by these conditions, and despite their independence, they remain shackled to the Consortium as their sole business partner, to whom they can export their energy and raw materials to. Through the Rotunnkc Compact, the Dominate hopes to expand its markets and manufacturing base, and to reduce its dependency on the Consortium.

The Ekane Mysterium

The Ekane Mysterium is a now theocratic society of exiles that left the Consortium early in Hieraetheria’s history. The region they occupy, while verdant, is utterly devoid of substantial energy resources or minerals. Some might consider this idyllic, but by Hieroaetherian standards, it is a barren wasteland.

The Mysterium began to truly develop as a competitive society when Eternal missionaries from the Coalition and wild space secretly touched down on their planet, and offered them salvation from the stars. The Ekane embraced them. Today, they are a theocratic society, dominated by Eternalite mystery cults, and sects within sects. A shifting council of the most influential theocratic scholars manages the secular affairs of their state.

The Ekane has everything to gain from the Rotunnkc Compact, as the second-rate colony options offered by the Consortium are better than what they currently have. In exchange, the Mysterium uses its connections with the Eternal to secure new markets and make deals on the consortium’s behalf. They also spearhead the more daring survey missions, going places that the Consortium and their contractors deem too remote or dangerous to venture into on their own.

The Titan's Progeny, a Cetus Rootsong Relay

A result of several years of deliberation within and action by the Grand Assembly, a project to harvest and conglomerate thousands of nymphs from across Hieroaetheria's major states in order to form a Cetus – known as The Sacred Echoes of a Titan's Bonded Progeny – saw fruition in June 2466. Composed of an equal amount of Consortium, Ekanian, Gla'orr and small member state nymphs, the fourth Cetus to reside within the Spur is wholly loyal to the Grand Assembly and, installed in orbit to act as a giant Rootsong Broadcaster, commits all of its energy towards dispersing news from the Assembly and Hieroaetheria's nations into the Voidic Rootsong Network for receiving by diona throughout the Spur. Reaching far and wide, the Rootsong transmitted by Bonded Progeny reaches Xanu Prime, in the opposite direction encompasses Federation space, and just about glances Moghes, not quite reaching Dominia, Adhomai or any significant region of the Spur's frontier; it is heard as a dim whisper to any dionae in the void that is within it's reach.

To source material to broadcast, Bonded Progeny will regularly have Cyclops gestalts split off and transported around Titan's Rapture and other Commonwealth-controlled systems via ferries so they may conduct journalistic duties, usually on Hieroaetheria or any of the nation's colonies, but occasionally elsewhere in the Spur where dionae – especially Hieroaetherians – are known to reside. Upon collecting enough material, the Cyclops remerges with the Cetus, allowing its stories to be accessed by the Cetus for broadcast. In addition to sourcing broadcast material, it is also the duty of other split-off Cyclopses to transcribe the Rootsong transmissions of the Cetus to make them accessible to dionae – and other's interested – on planets with an atmosphere which the Voidic Rootsong Network does not penetrate, composing the news in more conventional website or holopaper articles in Basic or Nral'Malic.

Due to the size of the Cetus and the sheer amount of news it transmits, Rootsong broadcasts often occur every ten minutes and containing multiple stories at once. Quantity over quality takes reign, with only several transmissions in a day recounting significant events on Hieroaetheria or Assembly decisions, the remainder being inconsequential news such as small-town gossip overheard by a Cyclops journalist, fauna migration patterns in an uninhabited part of Hieroaetheria or single-event occurences of crime. However, hidden beneath the mundane are transmissions unrelated to the news: quiet calls to dionae across the Spur to flock to Hieroaetheria, obsessive utterances related to the Eternal's Trifecta, and conflicting messages to either accept or reject the influence of the Spur's other alien species.

Cyclops split-off for the purpose of gathering material only to later remerge with the Cetus are known as the Eyes of the Cetus, or just Eyes, and often have a multitude of eye structures as part of their form. Those split-off for the purpose of documenting the Cetus' broadcasts into articles for terrestrial dionae and those too distant to are known as Scribes of the Cetus, or just Scribes, and often have multiple arm-like structures with well-manipulatable finger-like tendrils for maximum words-per-minute counts when simultaneously writing multiple articles. Gestalts split-off from Bonded Progeny are often composed of an even split of nymphs from each member state, endeavouring to be unbiased to events that occur on Hieroaetheria and any of the Commonwealth's colonies, however with increasing age, it is not unusual for internal debates among nymphs to see a gestalt begin to express slight bias towards the winning nymph's home nation. Such Cyclopses that lose their objectivity are often recalled to the Cetus early for reabsorption if identified by the Commonwealth. These Cyclops have a deeply engrained sense of subservience towards other Hieroaetherian dionae, both due to their often very young ages and their lifesake being to document and serve the Commonwealth and it's citzenry.

The largest and most reputable web-based media outlet for Bonded Progeny's transmissions is The Hieroaetherian Herald, known for it's rigid journalistic integrity. Sponsored by the Commonwealth and active since the launch of the Cetus' broadcasting operations, thousands of web articles are transcribed and uploaded a day by split-off journalists, with points and seniority ascribed to journalists by the number of transmissions they have transcribed and their overall objectivity rating. Entirely playful, split-off journalists compete to see whom can net the most article scores in a month of working.

Interstellar Relations

Nralakk Federation

Overall, it can be said that the Rotunnkc Compact and the Nralakk Federation have an amicable relationship, most of which is derived from its friendship with the Consortium. Prior to the institution of the Compact, the Consortium had negotiated what is now known as Rapture’s Treaty – an important agreement which sought to be binding on future member states and includes a defensive agreement between the Rotunnkc Compact and the Federation, and several other provisions which allow for the Federation and Compact to engage in training practices concerning the Compact's nascent interstellar naval program. There is a Compact Embassy located on Qerrbalak, and a Federation Embassy in Epigenia.

Solarian Alliance

Prior to the Solarian Collapse, the relationship between the Solarian Alliance and the Rotunnkc Compact was largely just diplomatic. There had been no agreements between one another, and their relationship mostly derived from the shared friendship both entities had with the Nralakk Federation. The Solarian Collapse brought a significant change to the political climate of the Spur, and with it a radical change to the relationship between the Solarian Alliance and the Compact. Though neutral to the Second Solarian Invasion of the Republic of Biesel, the Rotunnkc Compact ultimately chose to distance itself from the Solarian Alliance – a decision exacerbated by the skirmishes occuring on its borders from the Solarian Restoration Front. With the Reunification of Sol, however, there is new interest in the Solarians as potential business and trading partners. Talks have not begun.

Coalition of Colonies

Presently, the Rotunnkc Compact has no relations, embassies, or existing agreements with the CoC or any of its member states. However, it gets their business through independent traders and suppliers from all over the Coaltion that travel to the Hieroaetheria from Konyang. The Rotunnkc Compact itself finds this arrangement adequate; further avenues of diplomacy are not explored at this time.

Republic of Biesel

The Republic of Biesel is seen favorably with the Rotunnkc Compact, merely because of the Consortium and the SCC's mutual interest in each other. Although both nations host Embassies in their capitals, The Consortium typically only interacts with the Biesel government when it is a necessary formality, choosing to bypass them in favor of dealing with the SCC directly. The Gla'orr Dominate lacks any interest in Biesel whatsoever, while the Ekane Mysterium's attention is directed primarily towards the Omnivirate and the Eternal Church.

Covenant of Xrim

With both the Rotunnkc Compact and Xrim operating within the influence of the Nralakk Federation, the relationship between the Covenant of Xrim and the Commonwealth of Hieroaetheria is essentially an alliance, though one unique to the two. Despite the Covenant largely being considered a vassal of the Nralakk Federation, with the latter representing them in interstellar affairs, both the Compact and the Covenant have agreed to an unofficial pact of friendship – remarkably agreed upon by every member state within the Compact. It is not unheard of for the Triumvirate to travel to Titan’s Rapture and engage in diplomatic discussions with the entirety of the Compact, and even holding individual talks with the member states. Though the Consortium and the Gla’orr Dominate are considered friendly entities to the Covenant, the Ekane Mysterium and the Covenant have the strongest relationship – most owing it to the religious ideology of the two. Though the Covenant of Xrim does not technically have the authority to operate an embassy, the Nralakk Federation has agreed to allow for a portion of its embass in Epigenia to be used by the Covenant to continue relations with Hieroaetheria. There are discussions between the Covenant, Federation and Rotunnkc Compact to establish a secondary embassy on Xrim.

The Omnivirate

The Omnivirate of the Eternal Church lacks influence in most of Hieroaetheria, save for the Ekane Mysterium. The Consortium sees the Eternal as an external frivolity that is not worth the logistical expense for The State to facilitate. The Gla'orr Dominate sees the Eternal, with it's emphasis on service to a greater cosmic godhead, to be a form of submission or weakness. The Ekane Mysterium remains in close contact with the Omnivirate, as their sole ally and religious foothold in the Compact.

Megacorporations

While specifics differ between each nation-state of the Rotunnkc Compact, most of the Spur’s megacorporations have managed to hold some presence within the Compact’s borders, namely within the Consortium’s sphere of influence, as both the Gla’orr Dominate and the Ekane Mysterium disallow corporations from operating within their controlled territories. The Rotunnkc Compact as a whole allows the megacorporations to operate within its borders, though under strict oversight and with notable taxes levied against them.

Both Einstein Engines, Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals, and Orion Express hold the most influence within the Compact, and receive additional benefits and lower taxes, including the ability to own land and facilities directly within the Rotunnkc Compact rather than having to lease them, a benefit extended to their subsidiaries as well.

Neutron Synergistics

Neutron Synergistics is a major extraction and refinement company operating as a subsidiary of Einstein Engines. Neutron Synergistics was formed following the formation of the SCC as a means to ensure a steady supply of materials independent of Hephaestus Industries. More information can be found on it here