Northern Lights Confederacy
Overview
The largest of the three Northern leagues, the Northern Lights Confederacy was born on a wave of missionary zeal in the dark days of Recontruction. The Gentle Prophet Mamoud Khodaverti was born on the Irrian Plain in what would become the NLC. When his life long follower Nathani Reiss and his son Jakob split after his death in TN 1507, Nathani returned North to the hamlet of Sorrento and began spreading the Gentle Word of Revisionism. The whole region was at that time caught in a bloody cycle of civil war and many were receptive to the unifying words of Second Follower Nathani. After Nathani personally settled the conflict between the twin cities of Valeria and Port Aurora, they (along with Petropolis and Smolensk) joined with Sorrento to form the NLC. Over the following decades many other cities were integrated whither through negotiation or religiously motivated conquest. Eventually, the NLC would come to sponsor the birth of the CNCS in response to the threat of the Republic and its vassal states in the Allied Southern Territories.
Today, the Northern Lights Confederacy remains arguably the most powerful league in the North. Like the rest of Terra Nova it suffered during the War of the Alliance, but its territory was only briefly occupied. Under the leadership of war-hero Anders Von Breslau, the NLC was able to recover quickly. The borders with the Badlands have been rather wild since the war, however, with well-armed bandits and smugglers becoming a real problem. The interior is more peaceful and quite diverse. Corporate-owned towns like Petropolis and Kossuth share space in the House of Congress with religious strongholds like Sorrento and quiet towns like Exeter. This diversity is often overlooked by outsiders, who see Norlights as stuffy religious conservatives.
The league also includes Sesshu, an enclave of artistic expression and (according to some) decadence, and the wild sports town of Innsbruck. The latter hosts the annual Death Track 1000, the planet’s top Gear race that attracts tourists and elite pilots from across the North. Nevertheless, the league has a strong religious streak that has long defined it as a nation. The rise in Revisionist fundamentalism, however, has created many social upheavals in Valeria and across the NLC.
Geography
Covering half the territory of the Confederated Northern City-States, the Northern Lights Confederacy includes a wide variety of geographic and climatic zones. From the fringes of the Badlands south of Sorrento to the tundra on the slopes of the Whitetop Range, the NLC is a diverse land. Nonetheless, several recurring images have become symbols of the Norlight state. Tour guides and local citizens alike speak of the high mountains, fresh air and cold lakes, perhaps because of the sharp contrast these elements cast against the endless silicate seas of the Badlands and the humid swamps of the South.
The southern belt of savannah and plains which run from the Badlands to a mountainous girdle around the North is not as sharply separated from the equatorial desert. Homesteading, ranching and a frontier atmosphere rule there as much as in the equatorial deserts, although more plentiful water reserves allow for intensive agriculture of grains and johar grasses. In the Autumn weeks when the different varieties of johar bloom, the seemingly endless plains explode into a cacophony of color and the area seems far removed from the numbing constancy of the desert landscape. The mountain girdle which cuts off the rest of the league from the plains features some spectacular heights, especially in the Tershaw Range overlooking the Northern Plain. Near the city-state of Innsbruck, Mount Pekyns rises above its neighbors and attracts tourists and sport-enthusiasts all cycle long. This rugged terrain features some of the league's major city-states, including Kenema, Livingstone and Skadi, and the "mountain folk" have cast their influence over the national character.
Large valleys, forest and lakes stretch beyond the girdle. The cooler temperatures and plentiful water supply accomodate a wide variety of plantlife and wildlife, which in turn provide raw materials for a rich economy based around farming, lumber extraction and herding. The Whitetop Range rises to surround the pole, and these peaks are covered in snow and their slopes feature tundra and taiga vegetation. Whitetop Spire, the hemisphere's highest peak, tops the range and has been the site of many daring climbing attempts over the cycles.
Plains and Savannah
Like both its neighboring states, the Northern Lights Confederacy stretches to the edge of the Badlands desert in several places. With the rare exception of the eastern portion of the Northern Plain - which was ceded to local communities in the TN 1740s - the exact southern borders of the league are unclear. The semi-arid savannah of the desert borders is considered a buffer-zone between the unaligned Badlands and the NLC, but this rule of thumb is often broken. The territory south of the Irrian Plain is especially tightly controlled by Norlight authorities, who are concerned with protecting the holy city of Sorrento and the valuable agricultural land nearby.
Within the well-established borders, the savannahs give way to lush plains. Together, the Northern and Irrian Plains form the agricultural heartland of the league, producing johar, wheat and other staples. Unlike the Great Western Plain, these areas are relatively uneven, full of ridges made from low hills which mark ancient geological upheavals. Rivers and streams become more and more plentiful as one travels north toward the mountains, but several important accesses to the MacAllen Network exist even in the southern-most region. The agricultural lands around Sorrento are especially rich in such natural wells.
Flora and Fauna
The plant life of the plains consists largely of various native and imported grasses and wild flowers. The most widespread indigenous plain species is undoubtedly johar, a diverse and rugged family of tall grasses with extensive root systems. Many of the grasses have edible stems (green johar) or roots (red and orange johar), whereas others can be used for cosmetic or pharmaceutical products. Several varieties of cereals of Terran origin have also been introduced, thanks to colonial-era breeding efforts and genetic manipulation. Bipedal grassrunners, small flying flappers, insectoid field skags, johar worms and wheat-jackets live in these fields. Larger herding animals such as springers also inhabit the southern edges of the plains and extensive ranching has led to their introdum'on further north. A healthy number of predators feed on the smaller herbivores, including the dawg, a canine-sized family of predators. Barnabus iguanas and aerial toussains (a.k.a. "daks") can also be found i n the southern olains.
Climate
The Belt region features low precipitation, ranging from desert-like conditions on the southern fringe to an extended dry season in the north. Rainfall is generally more plentiful in Summer, when moisture-bearing winds come down from the Arctic basin and other northern valleys. Rainfall is most heavy in the Northern Irrian Plain near Smolensk and the along the mercantile border near Kossuth because of large gaps in the mountain chains which encircle the northern hemisphere. The temperature is subject to very few variations, and remains between 20° and 25° C all cycle-long. The irregularities in the mountain chains, and a few large openings into the MacAllen cave network create some micro-climates with greater fluctuations, but these are relatively rare. The largest such anomaly is the Sesshite Forest, a huge saguaro forest which hugs the southern slopes of the Tershaw Range on the edqe of the Northern Plain.
Mountains and Valleys
Three geographically recent and major mountain chains form a band around the league. The Serpentine features very sharp peaks which stretch as far north as Skadi, then dip to low hills in the Livingstone Pass before rising again to merge with the Eastridge Range. This second chain then travels westward in a broad arc with many passes and rivers, before merging with the Tershaw Range, which continues until the border of the United Mercantile Federation. The mountainous belt also includes the more ancient Westridge Range, which encircles the Western Frontier Protectorate to the South and is cut by the Serpentine Range to the west. Other more ancient ranges include the Red Hills, which cut off the Aurora Basin from the Big Valley and the Exeter Hills, which circle around the east of Lake Clearwater. The Whitetop Range, another recent geological formation, forms a rough semicircle around the north pole, cutting off the Big Valley from the Arctic basin. These ranges define a great number of valleys, including the Arctic Basin, which stretches across the polar region between the Whitetop and Westridge Ranges. The southern most part of the Basin houses Lake Clearwater, the largest freshwater body on Terra Nova. The high mountains and relatively heavy northern precipitation form many rivers and streams, which feed a wide network of large and small freshwater lakes, including Lake Aurora and Lake Petersen in the Aurora Valley.
The large valleys of forest and grasslands that are overlooked by tall mountains are the most widely recognized Norlight terrain. Although the historical core of the league is the Irrian Plain, the modern Norlight character i s firmly tied to the hard-working and a friendly nature of mountain and valley-dwellers. The Tershaw Range (including cities such as Innsbruck) i s perhaps the biggest center of this modern spirit.
Flora and Fauna
The forests and mountains shelter a wide variety of plant and animal life. The saguaro, a large moisturetrapping tree, is the dominant forest species i n the southern valleys, while Terranovai Pine - a colonial-era genetically engineered conifer - accounts for about 40% of northern forests. A wide variety of mosses thrive on the forest floors and i n the cold upper altitudes and latitudes. Several varieties of johar - often longer stemmed - prosper i n the valleys, while several unique varieties border rivers and lakes across the hemisphere. Many of these have potent medicinal and hallucinogenic effects and .a few are even banned by Norlight law. Valley fauna is similar to that of the plains environment, while the more dense vegetation cover of saguaro forests shelter larger herbivores. The woodspringer, a relative of the plains springer, lives off the lichens and berries of the forests. Great dawgs also prowl the forests, hunting woodspringers in packs. Mountain species include rockspringers, large herbivores related to plains springers and jumpspiders, large and agile predators. Relatives of the desert hoppers are also common in the hills.
Climate
Climate varies significantly in the north based upon mountaineous elevation or proximity to the cool polar region. The southern valleys feature a mean temperature between 20 and 25" C, with regular precipitation which reaches its peak in the summer. The high Arctic basin features lower temperatures, reaching freezing only immediately around the pole, where cold air accumulates. Similar conditions prevail at the higher altitudes, where thin, icy air leads to the coolest climates on the planet. The Whitetop Range is unique in that it features plentiful and consistent snowfall and even some small glaciers. Although the north i s spared some of the wrath of the Badlands climate, the instability of the planetary atmosphere i s s t i l l a factor. Sudden wind and rain-storms are a fact of life, and tempests raging further south tend to have large-scale side-effects i n the temperate and circumpolar zones. One recurrent symptom of large tempests is wide-scale upwelling of the moisture-laden air masses over the northern basins. This can Lead t o violent rain-showers and flooding, snowfall in the colder regions and catastrophic hail storms near the upwelling points.
Economics
The structure and history of the Northern Lights Confederacy encourage a large degree of economic self-sufficiency. The planet's largest league, the NLC has the human, industrial, natural and financial resources to sustain its own economic growth indefinitely. Natural resources have long created a strong base for the Norlight economy. The Irrian Plain is both the breadbasket of the nation and one of its major energy producing regions, thanks to the massive Irrian Oil Reserve exploited in and around Petropolis. Lumber and farming are also strongly represented further north in the valleys between mountain ranges. Mining spurred the impetus to inhabit these selfsame ranges, creating several of the largest Norlight city-states, such as Kenema and Innsbruck. Today, however, industrial production is the most vibrant sector of the mountain economy. The national capital of Valeria is the center for the service industry, with most major financial institutions based there, along with retail chains and media conglomerates.
The confederate model which binds the various member city-states together into a league also encourages trade most strongly within the national borders. International trade has, however, always had a role to play and the creation of the Confederated Northern City-States encourages strong economic ties between its three member-leagues. This has caused problems in the past because of the economic power of the United Mercantile Federation, which has been accused of tiying to drown the Norlight market, or even the influx of cheap knock-offs from the CNCS protectorate of Timmins. The government imposes hefty import tariffs, but this creates its own problems and can conflict with military alliances and political agendas. Among other problems, has been the rise in illegal trade. Custom barriers and harsh legislation of "immoral" materials have created a wealthy black market that has long been dominated by Wounded Knee cartels. Two of these cartels are in the midst of bloody turf war which has spilled over into the fields of the NLC.
Other groups of interest
- Council of Mayors
- Economic Development Commission
- The Prophet's Shield
Members of the Confederation
Culture
Family
Family relationships are very important to Norlight citizens, but are generally considered to be a private affair. The extensive, and highly political, clan relationships of the Western Frontier Protectorate are not shared by most Norlights, who generally feel that the family should be bound by love rather than obligation and tradition. Although Revisionist outlook has shaped the Norlight family model, the major differences are between urban and rural family units. I n rural areas, extended families are the norm. Most farms, ranches and homesteads house upwards of five or six nuclear families, all tied by parentage. In urban areas, nuclear families often live separately, with two parents raising children. Very often, related families will live nearby, however, in an approximate reproductions of the rural model.
Revisionist tend to have large families, averaging four to five children per couple. Children are raised in the home with the aid of day care facilities and (less commonly) live-in nannies. Bond-twining is a uniquely Revisionist family relationship; bond-twins become childhood playmates and are taught to be companions to each other, often going to school together and living in close proximity. This relationship can lead to romantic attachment between the twins, and the marriage of bond-twins is far from uncommon. The ceremonies of bond-twinning (usually done in the first season of life) and marriage are the religious ceremonies most likely to be part of a lapsed or secular Norlight's life. Even Norlights of other faiths often reproduce the bond-twin relationship (although without the ceremony) because it has simply become a standard part of national life. The most important difference between Revisionist and other households is marriage; the church does not allow divorce, although an end to the legal bond between a couple is possible through a state-sanctioned separation, and is used by more secular citizens.
Prejudice
Prejudice is a fact of everyday life in the Northern Lights Confederacy. Most citizens pride themselves on living in the most free and democratic state on Terra Nova, and indeed the league allows for the expression of political opinion and discrimination based on sex is very minimal. This selfsame pride, however, when paired with a powerFul strain of religious intolerance leads to a paternalistic outlook which i s quickly turned on anyone who deviates from the norm. The central role played by Revisionism in founding the NLC, the suffering of early Revisionists at the hands of Renaissance warlords and the radically different social models of many other states on Terra Nova have come together to create a widespread convich'on that the Norlight way is superior to all others. ExternaUy, this prejudice is most evident in attitudes toward the southern states, where Revisionism is a small minority religion, political freedom is very limited and public morals are quite different.
Internal prejudice is less clear-cut and perhaps more dangerous. Norlights who do not follow the Revisionist church, or at least pay lip service to it, are widely discriminated against at many levels. Religion-based violence is quite rare, but those who do not follow Mamoud often have a very difficult time finding housing, a job, gaining access to higher education, bank loans and most other services. Local police are often less anxious to enforce laws in Jerusalemite neighborhoods. A certain amount of legal protections exist for victims of discrimination, but Norlight courts are notoriously lax in their enforcement and numerous loopholes are included in most statutes. CNCS authorities have proven more receptive to complaints and a legal conflict is growing between Norlight judges and the supreme court.
The Revisionist revival has also created an impetus for discrimination among the faithful. Increasingly, it is no longer enough to be a Revisionist, one must be the right kind of Revisionist. Accusations of impiety and immorality are becoming more and more common and are creating a growing social divide i n the nation.
Justice
The existence of three layers of semi-independent jurisdiction in the Northern Lights Confederacy (the @[CNCS](organization:47609cee-25df-4469-93f4-6e753d5dbaea the NLC itself, and the city-states) can lead to a confusing legal and judicial system. Different judges and different law enforcement officials are responsible for pursuing and prosecuting criminals, depending both on the nature and on the locale of their crimes. Ever since the amendments made to the CNCS Constitution after St. Vincent's War, there has existed a rough judicial hierarchy with the CNCS Supreme Court being seen as the ultimate legal authority in the North. Under this arrangement the decisions of the High Court of the NLC can be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Constitutionally, the prime legal jurisdiction in the NLC is local. City legislatures pass their own laws, which are enforced by local police and judges through municipal courts. National authority must be extended on a case by case basis by acts of the House of Congress. This privilege has been used a great deal, however, and a large number of national laws now constrain citizens equally over the extent of the league. Any criminal activity which occurs over jurisdictional lines becomes a national crime, a distinction which gives NorPol's anti-cartel unit wide-ranging authority over any such activity. National morality laws regulate public behavior, the sale and distribution of alcohol and narcotics, ban prostitution and solicitation, and place very tight controls on "obscene materials." NorPol enforces these laws in cooperation with local authorities. Local authorities do not have the authority to reject national laws, except for the duchy of Sesshu, which signed a unique accord when joining the NLC. Sesshu maintains a Dispensation District which features the league's only legal brothels, pornography outlets and drug houses.
For more on culture check out:
NLC - Lifestyle
NLC - Arts and Entertainment
Assets
Natural Resources
The NLC is home to a wealth of natural assets that have been at the center of regional economic development since colonial times. The Irrian Plain region is among the richest resource areas because of the favorable climate for agriculture and large energy reserves. Both Sorrento and Smolensk are built on the grain and johar economies, making the plain the breadbasket of the NLC.
Deep under this topsoil lies the largest easily-accessible petroleum reserve on the planet. The city-state of Petropolis was built on this reserve and has been drawing crude oil from the Irrian soil for centuries, with plans to do so for generations to come. The Red Hills and Tershaw Range are especially rich in mineral wealth, including the huge iron ore reserves that built Kenema, and the diversified ores and precious metals which are at the center of Innsbruck's economy. The great Skadi Forest which hugs the Serpentine and Westridge Ranges fuels the Norlight lumber business. Even further south on the Northern Plain, farming and ranching continue to be important and the city-state of Kossuth harnesses climactic conditions to produce huge quantities of wind and solar power. Their economies are further bolstered by exports to other leagues and some wealthy Badlands settlements.
History
The Northern Lights Confederacy is generally considered the leading power of the North. The largest of the three leagues, it has the biggest army and is usually at the head of diplomatic initiatives. As the heart of Sorrento Revisionism, the NLC is also often thought of as the “soul” of the hemisphere. It was the NLC that led the charge to unify the hemisphere (despite a long-standing conflict with the UMF) and the CNCS and NLC share Valeria as their capital.
Up until the War of the Alliance, the leadership of the North was generally in Norlight hands and the Northern Guard was largely seen as an annex to the Norlight Armed Forces. The Earth invasion changed much of that. Field Marshal Anders Von Breslau, commander of the Terranovan forces, went on to become Norlight president but put a great deal of emphasis on cooperation across the region. He placed a Mercantile general (Victoria Edden-Smythe) in command of the Guard and took steps to ensure that it became a truly independent military entity. Some Norlights resent this loss of status for their league and diplomatic tensions between the UMF and NLC are on the rise again.
For more details about the NLC history see - History of the NLC
Demography and Population
Lifestyle
The Northern Lights Confederacy has the highest standard of living on Terra Nova. Access to education is universal, medical technology is more accessible than in most other regions and poverty, while present, is not crushing. Institutionalized social programs, sponsored by the state and church, while widespread, are piecemeal because of the Norlight work ethic which demands that citizens solve their own problems. Independent charities and community programs, though, are established at the local level to deal with the problems of the underpriviledged in an efficient and compassionate manner.
The most important concept in Norlight life is the community. The idea of a true individual, with a life completely separate from family and community, is very alien to most Norlights. Although the emphasis on family is not as strong as in the clan-based WFP, people are expected to rely upon their neighbors for help and reciprocate. This life model can be traced to the mining and agrarian communities of the early days of colonization and is reinforced by the examples established by Mamoud and Nathani in Massada and Sorrento. I n large urban centers, the focus on community i s directed at individual neighborhoods rather than the city-state as a whole. Community watch programs, block parties and locally run ad-hoc social services (e.9. medical clinics or day-care facilities) are commonplace. Unfortunately, the focus on the neighborhood at the expense of the city-state often means that resources do not flow from rich areas to more disadvantaged ones. The wealthy take care of themselves and often allow inner-city areas to become crime-ridden and unsafe. I n a final bout of irony, the wealthy will often blame the poor for this condition, thinking that they are ”not taking care of their own homes.”
Technological Level
Though the technological level of the NLC i s high, the league largely embodies the "simpler is better" principle that guides much of Terra Nova. While highly sophisticated genetic engineering and computer design goes on in the NLC, most citizens live with only a very few "wonders of modern life." They rely instead on tried and true equipment which will not break down. This is especially the case in rural areas, where everyday life unfolds far away from centres of precision manufacturing. I n the city-states, high technology is more common , where digital personal communication, privacy devices and many other electronic toys are part of any midddle class person's lifestyle.
There are areas of impressive Norlight technical achievement, however. Agriculture and animal husbandry are two areas that have benefitted from a great deal of technical attention. Cereals raised by farmers on the plains, and many of the richer fruit and vegetable valley crops, are possible due to advanced genetic manipulation and accelerated breeding processes. Johar grows naturally, but wheat, corn, barley, hops, carrots, apples and onions all depend on precise modifications to adapt them to different nutrient bases on Terra Nova. Other areas of agriculture are also highly advanced, with crop monitoring devices set up to measure soil conditions and adjust irrigation and fertilization in sequence. A continuing struggle against crop disease and parasites also spurs technological development, with resistant strains, new targeted pesticides and other developments springing up constantly. Agricultural research is rather diversified, but Smolensk is the most widely recognized center.
Norlight medical technology is also unparalleled, thanks to the Yele Medical Center in the city-state of the same name. At YMC, the globe's best doctors and researchers (including many immigrants) continue to push back the frontiers of health and Life. Genetic manipulation, organ regrowth, pharmaceutical development and cyb use are at their cutting edge at the medical center. Outside the YMC, however, many of these procedures remain inaccesible. Genetic testing for birth defects and a whole class of drugs are readily available and affordable, but full organ regrowth, cyb surgery and genetically targetted drugs are the priviledge of the very rich or the very well connected. YMC and other centers of medical research have come under serious fire from the government and church for creating health care for the elite. Several medical centers, including the Valeria School of Medicine, have begun "popular medicine" programs aimed at creating more accessible technologies.
Religion
Rites
In a nation defined so much by the faith of its population, many of the rites performed by Norlights during their lives are naturally rooted i n the church. From birth to death, most major events are accompanied, marked or sanctioned by an official of the Revisionist Church. There are some events that are not connected to religious ceremony but are still deemed important.
Religious Rites
The first major Revisionist rite of passage is the bond-twinning, which links two newborns as lifetime companions. This simple ceremony i s performed by a priest in the first seasons of life and symbolizes the beginning of a Revisionist's religious life. According to a few of the most traditional theologians in the church, infants who die before bond-twinning are not entitlled to a religious funeral, but most church officials disagree. A coming of age ceremony is usually held at 16 cycles of age (roughly coinciding with the onset of puberty) and is marked by a presentation in front of the local congregation. This ceremony i s known as the Awakening, and the young Revisionist reads from the Khodaverdia and comments on it. At this point, the young person becomes an adult capable of understanding the world and the holy texts himself.
Marriage is the next major religious event. The wedding ceremony is considered the central point of a Revisionist lifetime, marking the passage from one generation to another. Vows are exchanged between the two companions in a small ceremony at the local church, usually with only the two families and bond-twins attending. The ceremony i s presided over by a priest, but consists mostly of the two betrothed exchanging vows which they have written themselves, along with appropriate religious texts. Traditionally, the parents of both companions will stand by their child to "give them away," but parental approval i s not required for a marriage to proceed. A lavish reception is then held to celebrate with the community. Both families cooperate on the celebration, with friends and neighbors coming to dance the night away and toast the marriage.
The next (and final) major religious rite is burial. Revisionists are traditionally buried during a somber religious ceremony led by a priest and attended by friends, family and loved ones. The person closest to the deceased (often the bond-twin or mate) usually gives the central address of the ceremony, remembering the departed. The departed's household will often host a second, informal ceremony in which fiends get together to share their grief and drown it with laughter and drink.
Secular Rites
Rites that are not sanctioned by the church are much less formal than their religious counter-parts. Informal life-cycle rituals are tied to more pragmatic signposts of personal development. Perhaps the first such occasion coincides with the departure for boarding school and involves a quasi-ritualized discussion between the child and one or both parents. The parent takes this time to remind the child of the behavior which is expected of him and the child makes certain promises to his or her family. A more standardized secular rite is an informal romantic commitment called "union." In union, two Norlights commit to each other in a personal ceremony seen as a prelude to marriage. Union is an outgrowth of the Revisionist policy against divorce and replaces marriage until the couple is positive they wish to have children and stay together for the rest of their lives. It invoves the exchange of simple vows and gold or silver rings, often before two or three witnesses.
Several common secular rites are tied to the seasons, rather than the life-cycle of an individual. These vary by region and are generally tied to agricultural cycles or the commercial cycles of trading cities and mining towns. The sowing of a crop is accompanied by a small community banquet, while the harvest several seasons later is met with a much larger and more raucous affiir. Trading cities have similar events when desert caravans arrive in town and when miners receive their yearly bonuses.
Agriculture & Industry
The NLC is a highly industrialized economy which produces a full gamut of manufactured goods. Every city-state in the league is home to some industrial manufacturing, but several city-states have become the industrial capitals of the region. Kenama started as a mining town, but is now known as the motor-city of the league. Shaian Mechanics and Keimuri Gear are only two of the vehicle producers that are headquartered in the city-state. Livingstone is dominant in the manufacturing of heavy materials, housing huge steel foundries and several other vehicle producers. The capital region of Valeria, although better known for its wide range of service industries, also provides a resource pool for important industrial manufacturers.
Ever since the rise of leagues, however, Norlight Heavy Industry has been playing catch-up. The beta maglev provides an easy connection to the Mekong Dominion, and industrial competition with Southern producers has been an economic fact of life since the colonial era. The powerful industrial base of the United Mercantile Federation has also hampered industrial development, especially in the domain of military production. Norlight governments often respond with protectionism, but political concerns make large-scale economic barriers between the NLC and UMF very difficult.
Light industry has flourished under the various trade protection agreements, however, and all city-states harbor numerous one or two-product manufacturers who depend on the regional market to survive. Operating out of small factories, hangars or even basements, they produce basic consumer goods using small automated or semi-automated micro-factories. Supplies and basic material almost always come from the city-state or the nearby territories, giving the industry an almost complete independence from imported material. Though they must still face competition in the form of foreign goods from the Badlands and the South, these small operations give employment to a great many Norlight citizens. A few of these micro-industries have been able to transform themselves into major economic powers; the Consortium which owns Keimuri Gear , for example, includes several micro-industrialists.
Trade & Transport
Norlight trade policy has long been oriented toward the protection of the internal market. Key economic sectors, such as vehicle manufacturing, agriculture and mining are protected by tariff barriers that make foreign products less competitive than locally produced ones. In typical Norlight fashion, the nature and goals of these tariffs are constant fuel for political debate, but relatively little change in the base policy has occurred over the past several decades except for the post-war free-trade policies of the Von Breslau government. Several concessions have have been made to reflect political and military alliances, however. Arms manufacturers are charged duty separately from all other industries and often negotiate much lower duties. Sales to Northern Guard units located in the NLC are not subject to tariffs, thanks to CNCS agreements which allow the sale of Mercantile and Western gears, tanks and other weapon systems to benefit from low tarit% to the Norlight Armed Forces , police departments and local militias.
Trade with the south is more tightly controlled, although the two maglev lines in the league ensure that a healthy amount of inter-polar exchanges are made. Several Mekong corporations have established strong markets for consumer goods in Norlight city-states. Valeria tends not to consider these sales as an economic threat and tariffs are relatively low. The league's public and private morality legislation, however, impose a barrier of its own, since southern media and entertainment products are regularly scrutinized at customs for content. Whole classes of products (such as recreational drugs) are completely and many others are severely regulated. A significant number of custom brokers operate in Valeria and several foreign trade centers to advise clients on the best ways to prepare products for export to the Norlight market.
Badlands trade is far less clear cut than any of the other inter-league exchanges. Several key entry points exist for legitimate desert trade, including the gamma maglev terminus at Franklin Harbor and the caravan routes which lead to Sorrento and Yele. These major trade stations feature full customs checks and border controls, but do not account for most Badlands products which are imported into the NLC. While most Paxton Arms goods enter through legitimate channels, a great deal of goods traded with the Badlands are smuggled. While the Northern Guard, Norlight Armed Forces(NAF) and Norlight National Police (NorPol) patrol the border, smugglers have an easy time penetrating their surveillance net. Local citizens, fiercely self-reliant frontier dwellers, tolerate smuggling as a statement of independence from Valeria.
Trade with small Norlight-affiliated settlements on the border falls under much the same rules as with the Badlands communities, but with less stringent tariffs and paperwork. Their status as formal allies of the NLC has forced the authorities to accept many concessions in the name of good relations, even though several of these settlements are no different in appearance and economic power than many of their unaffiliated neighbors. This has caused more than one heated discussion between customs officers and local merchants, where the latter argues (quite reasonably) that he has to pay more customs fees than his next-door neighbor, who simply signed a document of allegiance. These policies are what allow second-rate goods from the CNCS protectorate of Timmins to flood the Norlight market despite protests from domestic producers.
Education
Education in the NLC is compulsory between the ages of 7 and 20 cycles. Before the age of seven, most children are schooled by the family or with the help of locally-run day care and early education centers. From seven to fourteen, children attend lower school. I n rural and urban areas, most of these schools are quite small, with classes of ten to fifteen children. These are run by the local community and are close to the homes of all the children. Young priests or peregrine monks sometimes teach at lower schools, a practice which is especially common in the Irrian region. Middle schools (ages 15 to 20) are significantly larger and prepare children for their life choices. These are more closely regulated by the state and students must often travel substantial distances to attend. Boarding schools are standard in rural areas where one middle school may serve several villages and homesteads, and many of the better urban schools follow this model as well
Higher education i s not mandatory in the NLC and rural families often expect their children to return to the farm and earn their keep once they complete middle school. There are many educational choices open to the middle school graduate, however. Professional schools are a popular choice, teaching trades and preparing the road to the job market; universities are also popular and concentrate on longer academic programs (typically seven cycles) which train people in highly specialized, academic or theoretical fields. Enlisting in the NAF or Northern Guard is a third popular option. The NAF in particular offers very attractive training programs and grants for university training for those who serve five or more cycles in uniform. Post-graduate diplomas are also offered by most universities, although students are encouraged to establish a non-academic life before pursuing another degree. University education is generally quite expensive, so most students must seek loan programs to attend, which makes military enrollment all the more appealing. There are a few corporation-sponsored programs for bright students, though they are expected to come to work for their sponsor once they have completed their studies.
House of Congress
The Norlight legislature is elected every seven cycles (the precise date is selected by a resolution) and includes a representative from each of the 77 electoral districts across the league. The distribution of districts has long been subject for debate because of a marked favoritism towards urban residents. While the 14 city-states account for slightly over half the league's population, they elect 54 representatives to the Congress. Rural-based reform movements have become an endemic part of the political scene, and the Social Union Party currently holds seven seats in Congress and one in the Chamber. While Social Action is the only rural party currently in the House, most other parties have a regional power base of some sort. The People's Party, currently in the majority, has a stranglehold on the Livingstone and Skadi areas and has many representatives in the Tershaw Region as well. Even the Liberal Democrats, who pride themselves on being a national party, remain centered in Valeria.
The House is responsible for passing all national laws, as well as approving the budget presented by the Chamber every Autumn. While the Chamber usually represents the most powerful blocks of the House, legislative discipline is far looser than many party leaders would hope for. The Chamber is responsible to the House of Congress which implies tight discipline, but to actually force a new Chamber election the House must pass a special resolution with a two-thirds majority - a very unlikely event, given party factionalism. Consequently, most congressional representatives feel free to vote their conscience (or in the best interest of their district) and the government must woo their support on an individual basis. The undesirable job of obtaining the needed votes falls to the party whips in the Chamber. Passing controversial legislation and approving the national budget are long and arduous processes, with congressional gridlock a fact of life.
The final days of the Anders Von Breslau government were characterized by an inordinate amount of congressional gridlock. When Von Breslau brought down a budget in TN 1923 that still held to a policy of harmonization with the UMF, even after the Mercantile government had taken distinctly nationalist economic steps, the House refused to pass it. Total paralysis resulted. Those opposed to the budget plan were numerous enough to block its passage, but not large enough to pass a resolution for a new Chamber election. For three full seasons, the business of government remained stalled. On 1 Winter TN 1924, when the stalled budget was to come into effect, civil servants found their salaries frozen along with a wide variety of government entitlements. After two weeks of protest, the government had to pass a new budget counter to most of their announced fiscal policies. Regina Faurest, the minister of finance, was forced to resign in an effort to take the blame away from the president. Nevertheless, Von Breslau's inability to resolve gridlock without completely backing down guaranteed the former Field Marshal's defeat in the TN 1924 elections.
The Presidency and the Chamber of Valeria
Executive power in the NLC is not concentrated in a single individual, but is spread among the President and the members of the Chamber of Valeria. After the legislative elections, the seven members of the Chamber are chosen by a majority vote of the legislature. Chamber representatives are members of the legislature who transfer their congressional voting power to the house leader of their party. The Chamber of Valeria itself elects a President, usually from within its ranks. The election of Chamber members is usually a two-round affair. At first, congressional representatives vote for the candidates they feel are most qualified (usually along party lines), which leads to a fractious Chamber filled with bitter political rivals. The Chamber is obligated, however, to cooperate lest it be recalled by the Congress, so minority members elected in the first round often refuse to participate in the government. A series of back-room negotiations ensue, with parties campaigning for Chamber seats and minority leaders debating whether they are willing to serve in a joint cabinet. The second round of voting serves to ratify the agreements from these negotiations, and the election for President occurs after that.
Once an agreement on membership has been made, the President and Chamber are supposed to cooperate in setting policy and directing the nation. Members of the Chamber serve as the directors of ministries and governmental departments, effectively fulfilling the same purpose as a cabinet. The indirect election of the Chamber and President often means that political sawy is more important than broad popularity, but the President is still seen as the symbol of the nation as a whole. The Chamber and Congress encourage this as a safe-guard. If the government becomes unpopular, the President is made a scapegoat; if the government succeeds, presedential coattails are ridden into the next election.
The current Chamber is made up of four members of the People's Party (including President Kathe Adjanni ), two members of the Liberal Democrats and one from The Twin Pillars. Adjanni has used a policy of national independence to bring together her political allies, but she has been forced to make serious concessions on several social issues of importance to Norlight citizens, a sacrifice which could eventually prove costly.
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