Stellar Republic

The Stellar Republic is a parliamentary, market-capitalist state in the Aleph Sector. It is dominated by the Krark, but also includes the homeworlds of the Drynn, Bohon and Ents. As successor of the Stellar Empire, the Republic possesses considerable influence and power within its region of the galaxy, but is especially known for its heavily export-oriented industry, which provides high-tech products for much of the Aleph Sector, yet is also seen as a form of exploitation by many competing states.

Bordering the region of the Divide, the Stellar Republic has fostered the growth of nominally independent human realms under its protection, notably New Babylon and the Republic of Ultima. The Republic has furthermore formed an alliance with the Pax Galactica under the explicit goal of containing aggression from the Septoid Supremacy.

Political Structure
Political power within the Stellar Republic absolutely rests with the Stellar Senate, a body of elected representatives from all the central systems of the Republic. Each system possesses one seat in the Senate, whose formal location is in the city of Marshbridge on Kyrill. There are no formal checks and balances nor any division of power and legally, the Senate has unrestricted power.

In practice, the Senate liberally delegates authority and responsibilities, assigning them to officials and organizations. Stellar Republican society does not distinguish between government agencies, NGO's or private companies and many of those bodies with formal government authority pursue additional agendas to their federal responsibilities.

Within the Senate exists the position of President, who is a senator elected by the senate for representative duties and to serve as formal head of state. However, the president possesses no greater rights than any other senator and this position is purely ceremonial.

Firmly established in the Republic is the position of planetary gouvernor for colonized worlds. Planets within the core sectors are generally given the right to elect their gouvernors, while planets in the outer systems have gouvernors appointed by the Senate, with a few notable exceptions. Planetary gouvernors have final authority in matters pertaining to their jurisdiction, serving as representative of the Senate. All planets, however, have given themselves a constitution defining what rights the gouvernors have pledged to abstain from excercising and what legal boundries they have set for themselves.

Further administrative divisions differ between colonies and the Stellar Republic is, despite the strong de jure centralization, very federalized in practice.

Economy
The Stellar Republic is maintaining a sophisticated, strongly export-oriented market economy with a great degree of capital concentration. Its industrial sector is controlled by a dozen of large, multi-planetary conglomerates which produce technologically advanced goods that are sold throughout the Aleph sector.

In the recent years however, industrial growth rates have stagnated. This has allowed a booming financial market to develope and speculative investments have become the new growth motor of the Republican economy. Still, most of these investments are made with profits from the export of industrial goods.

Structural unemployment is a great problem for the Stellar Republic, which has introduced several social welfare reforms in the past and uses money obtained from the strict tariff policy to fund the benefits. With export-orientation having such a fundamental part in the Republics economy, its political caste is thoroughly unwilling to abandon this policy, despite complaints from neighbouring states about the unequal trade conditions.

Society
Society in the Stellar Republic is very liberal and individualistic, with great emphasis on market freedoms. Krark, being the largest share of the Republics population, have a commonly accepted understanding of personal debt, wherein relationships between individuals are based on acts of goodwill that leave others in ones personal debt. The Drynn, who form the second largest population group, have partly adopted this standing, however believing themselves in eternal debt to their clan above all, as the gift of life is one that can not be repaid. Much of the Republic is dominated by powerful industrial conglomerates and their influence on political matters is openly acknowledged and commonly accepted. In fact, society in the Stellar Republic does not distinguish between state, economy and public. Corporations, beuraucratic institutions and NGO's are legally the same.

The Republic has no legally acknowledged concept of privacy or a private sphere and surveillance by security agencies is common place. Sanctity of ones home is solely derived from the right to control over ones property. Large territories in the colonial sectors have been fully rented out to private contractors, who have far-reaching authority within these areas as a consequence of this.