Dwarven Presidential States

"If you don't work you don't eat, simple as." - Frederick Cherny, famous dwarven writer

Structure

Structural Origin The Dwarven Presidential states (formerly known as just the dwarven states) has gone through several governmental structures throughout history, but even from the start they seemed destined to be the first democracy. Their earliest structure was essentially a proto-technocratic nobility state, which transitioned into a primitive plutocracy state (400 BGW) which then evolved into an oligarchy with very strong technocratic (21 BGW) feature before finally settling on a system strongly resembling democracy in 666 AGW, which would only truly be finalized many years later in the year 1656 as Jeslore's first fully-fledged libertarian democracy.
In a Libertarian Democracy, there is one person at the helm of the state that's been elected by the people. They are usually also nominated by their party, but for the dwarves, party nominations are more or less a formality. Unlike with over governments where being at the helm is a function that is highly coveted, for the dwarven states being a president is a service performed by a man just as average as a ditch worker, in fact: the function of the dwarven presidency is far from the best-paid function in general. In line with the idea of the presidential term being a service, not a privilege, presidents are one of the few careers in dwarven society that don't get benefits such as dental or sick pay. The presidency is expected to be a secondary job, and thus career politicians must primarily rely on the income and safety net of their day job.
Structural Strengths "The Free Market Breeds Innovation, Liberty, and Coordination" is a very common phrase within the dwarven culture and is a very definite echo of the absolute strength that Bylian Libertarianism can offer. The general thought process behind it is that a happy worker is considerably more productive than a whole team of workers that do not find joy in their work (which is why they are at odds with the iron union). In fact, even though most of the beastfolk (Majolkkrat, Harpies, Centaurs, etc) are generally the most technologically advanced races, the dwarves were always trailing close behind them. This was simply because, under Bylian Libertarianism, science is done freely by individuals that find genuine joy in their work instead of mostly indoctrinated members of a greater collective. The freedom of choice allows dwarven society to excel in just about anything from great works of art to mind-blowing feats of engineering.
Another advantage of such a privatized society is that there are no additional costs going towards sectors like R&D, the military, law enforcement, and things such as road construction and weapons production. Because the government only needs to give very broad directions and pass down these contracts to private businesses, it can put all its effort into financial and diplomatic challenges.
Structural Drawbacks This system has very major drawbacks, the biggest one being that the one with the power to pass laws and radically change most aspects of Bylian life (presidents) are still very much at the mercy of their employer. This creates an extremely exploitable power dynamic, as company owners are directly given immense sway over powerful politicians without having to lobby politicians to procure certain favors; companies are within their right to fire a president from their company which takes away their social safety net and while it is a crime to fire a president (or any employee) simply because they do not abide by a demand that is not contractual, it has not stopped companies from using their power to coerce favors from the people that are technically above them.
It is also for this exact reason that companies are very eager to support the political ambitions of their employees, often going as far as to fund it. Of course, the funding also serves as a loan of sorts so they can keep a foot in the door in case their nominee actually ends up being elected. A major issue that stems from this sort of corporate corruption (which was among the first of its kind on Jeslore) is that when a corporate puppet is installed, they tend to keep the promises made to their sponsors first and the promises they made to their voters second (which is why dwarven presidents are very rarely re-elected). Generally speaking, Bylian politics is kind of a corporate cat and mouse game where a president will cut taxes and/or bail out companies they rely on for their social safety net while raising taxes on either small businesses, the general population, or specific rival companies under the guise of them hoarding money. It is also terrible for the environment, as the protection of natural resources is seen by dwarves as generally less important than tax cuts.
Companies hold immense power which unfortunately leads to a very public sense of cynicism and a bias to candidates that don't appear to be working in the interest of companies. Government workers like garbage collectors, financial directors, and judges tend to do rather well as well as poets, philosophers, writers, and artists. But this bias has done little to hamper the influence companies can establish over the ones in charge of the country.
Presidential Responsibilities The most important responsibility of the Bylian President is to oversee how tax money is spent (some might say wasted). They must change which sectors get tax breaks and which get tax raises while also preventing a national deficit. On top of that, it is also their job to approve or turn down new legislations, or propose new ones themselves all while precariously maintaining a friendly relation with the company that funded their campaign in the first place. Lastly, they also are tasked with military projects, most importantly of which is when or where to deploy Bylian troops.

Culture

Emboldened by a government that strongly encourages individuality and encouraged by benign companies that are willing to buy and sell great works, culture is all but neglected in dwarven society. The dwarven states have produced a dizzying number of great works of art, literature, and technology. There is a common misconception that the dwarves are mostly interested in producing great cogs and mighty machines but in reality, dwarven society has almost as many musea as it has workshops and factories. In fact, while elves are generally seen as the masters of animal taming, the dwarves may very well be one of the earliest races to master animal husbandry as they traditionally used moles to measure the solidity of soil and stone and later also were the first to domesticate dogs.
Nevertheless, the dwarves are still seen as an industrial powerhouse, and perhaps rightly so as they do have a notably strong capacity to produce anything needed, which is partially because dwarven society glorifies work and self-sufficiency over anything else. Another common myth about dwarven society is that their age of consent is 12, and this comes from the idea that companies can hire children as young as 12 years old for paid internships during weekends to help prepare them for a future of productivity. The age of consent itself in dwarven culture is actually higher than most countries, being strictly enforced as 22 effectively everywhere.
If one says "Bylian Culture" on Jeslore, many immediately think of the great vortaustkank (also known as the golden dwarven age or the industrial era) in which dwarven society had a cultural explosion spearheaded by a massive spike in population. With this many happy workers, dwarven architecture itself which formerly was mostly dull could evolve into something truly unique: massive skyscraper cities connected by steampipes with large cogs and vents sticking out. This architectural style is formally known as "T'is Lebendt" which roughly translates to "it's alive". The name was coined by a Linnessian diplomat who observed the moving parts in the city and compared it to a living organism. This was further solidified by a painting made by the famous Giant painter Lucas Larrson who made the famous work "Dat Levurn" (also meaning "it's alive") depicting the iconic city of Meckhagen and its magnificent skyscrapers and cathedrals with their iconic gears and vents rising out of the fog that peacefully floats over the dense forest area on a soft summer morning. The painting itself was purchased several times over before finally ending up in the Orwell museum of cultural art on Apex-122 and it's widely regarded as one of the greatest pieces of art in the history of Jeslore.
Dwarven culture is also generally defined by a willingness to help others for a small price. For example, after the war with the Drosden Fleet rebuilding the sun elven cities, the dwarven states sold them their builder services at greatly reduced costs and the nation itself continues to trade with the sun elves to this day.

Public Agenda

Like any government, the dwarven presidential states as a government is concerned with safekeeping its citizens and maintaining order. But perhaps more than some other governments, the dwarven states are also excessively concerned with maintaining a strong economic income by any means necessary on top of keeping the population as productive as they are happy.

History

While there is a great deal of uncertainty of when and where it is accepted that dwarves and giants are very closely related to each other, being nearly the exact same species despite the obvious difference in size and physique. It's thought that the then nomadic tribe of humans split at some point. One sought refuge underground and eventually became shorter and stockier to better survive underground while the other half moved to the north where it was colder and became bigger as a result of it. Regardless, the dwarves have lived underground since before recorded history (in fact it was them that began to actively record and keep track of history) relatively peacefully, going through major changes over time in their governmental structure. Eventually, they had more and more run-ins with the majolkkrat that eventually led to a brutal war that the dwarves lost, which saw them back to the surface. The majority of the colony emerged in Bylyn and as most of the surrounding lands (Frostspike, Linnesse, and the Loftwoods) were already settled with no room for refugees, the dwarves opted to make the volcanic wasteland of Bylyn their new homeland.
The Jeslorian calendar generally uses the BGU/AGU system which stands for Before and After the Great War. The great war (now known as the first subterranean war) was one of the first major wars of Dracholm, although it mostly took place below Dracholm, and served as the main anchor point for the dwarves to decide the year and as other races did not really have a way to measure time in this fashion, they simply adopted it. Most of their remaining history was either lost or destroyed by the iron union, but dwarven history is not so much relevant in what happened in the past but rather in how it helped shape the future. Dwarven society, being a juggernaut of culture, technology, and diplomacy was almost perfectly made to serve as the true driving factor behind the most significant advances in the Jeslorian course of history.

Territories

The Dwarven Presidential States hold all of Bylyn and will later go on to reclaim some of their lost underground territory.

Military

Both the military branch and the police force in Bylyn are fully privatized, meaning that they do not have to spend money maintaining units or purchasing equipment. During times of war they either enlist the help of the private military companies of Bylyn, train up recruits, or levy soldiers from their allies to be trained with dwarven equipment and tactics (like in 1780 with the death angels). Any military force used by the dwarves is executed by trained mercenaries mostly from Bylian companies. By fully privatizing the army, they virtually have a standing army in waiting that needs no maintenance and simply has to be activated whenever necessary.
Mercenary forces like this have one major advantage over standing armies: rapid deployment at a slight cost of total might. Because it relies on companies that can levy troops at a dizzying pace when the Bylian army declares war their air force is ready to deploy in 10 minutes and their infantry will be ready for mobilization in 2 days.
The military history of the dwarven states is rather inconsistent. Generally, they fare better against fascists than they do against communists. Because of their sheer economic might and reliance on private militaries, the dwarven military always has ridiculously oversized reserve armies. Dwarven military strategy relies heavily on speed and typically follows a 4 act structure:

1. Air-Force Strike - Meant to soften the defense and daze the enemy. The Air-Force strikes also double as an intel-gathering run, as pilots will identify fortifications for the next step.
2. Artillery Barrage - The artillery barrage is a more focused version of the air force strike that pummels fortified positions.
3. Heavy Cavalry - Armours charge at the remaining defenders who are now likely relying on improvised defensive positions.
4. Infantry Invasion - The last step of the dwarven military but also the most important one is the infantry swarming the remaining disoriented defenders of a position. This is the most devastating part as the dwarven military due to their economic power always has massive infantry reserves ready to capture objectives.

Their fast-paced military strategy is perfectly suited to taking on armies that rely on similar high-speed offensives or are generally poorly prepared to deal with a sudden flash of overwhelming force. But as is shown in their military, they are terrible at dealing with slow and defensive strategies that rely on sheer power and deception. They are consistently destroyed by the Iron Union as not even with all of their reserves swarming an objective, they are still greatly outnumbered and outgunned by the Iron Union. Their major weaknesses come with another major strength, however: Rapid deployment for companies also translates to rapid rearmament, meaning that when the dwarves advance in military technology it doesn't take long to equip existing troops with new weapons or to train new units. They essentially use Blitzkrieg tactics combined with perhaps the most predictable but also the most consistently effective strategy: Attacking an enemy formation in the middle following an artillery barrage to split them up. After splitting up a formation the dwarves split up their own army, rolling over one side while infantry swarms the other side while artillery is used to support the cavalry and air forces covering infantry.
However, unlike others who heavily rely on speed, range, and large numbers, the dwarven military did not require large amounts of space. After artillery, cavalry, and air forces already pummeled fortifications the infantry barely needed any long-range support once they were fighting the enemy. They used the hug the enemy strategy once infantry engaged in battle themselves to prevent enemy artillery fire ripping their troops up. Dwarven infantry not only relied on adjustable weapons that could be used in long and close-range combat but also their colossal numbers. In fact, using these tactics the dwarven military can advance so fast that the enemy often doesn't have time to destroy their own supplies for scorched earth tactics, creating interesting engagements where the dwarves engaged with an enemy not to take land but to capture supplies.
The dwarven military is essentially the one that invented shock trooper tactics, using speed, range, large numbers but most importantly: capitalizing on their speed to further punish retreating enemies. While the dwarves have no issues attacking fortified positions, once enemies begin retreating they become nearly unstoppable. The dwarves really struggle when they are faced with naval confrontations as they had an absolutely abysmal navy. They also completely lose all their momentum when they don't have a number or speed advantage. If the enemy is ready for their typical 4 act strategy by putting air defenses on full readiness, sabotaging dwarven artillery, or returning fire and creating traps for the cavalry. Then once the infantry shows up, they will struggle with enemies that are ready for them. The final counter-strategy that is insurmountable against the dwarves is to simply have bigger numbers than them. Because the dwarves bank on disorienting their enemy and completely outnumbering them, they will not fare well when they are the ones being outnumbered.

Technological Level

The dwarves are typically just behind others in the race for technology and often end up improving things previously invented such as guns, tanks, and power armor. Their truly crowning achievements came rather late when the Iron Union was neutralized and they could fully commit to technology related to space travel. Among other things their most important invention is the Eghel Sphere and man made planets.

Religion

Religion in the dwarven states has been on the decline ever since the shattering defeat given to them by the Iron Union. Dwarves slowly began to abandon their religion in favor of technological advancement, which really meant that there were fewer prophets and preachers and more scientists and scholars. Generally, newer generations tend to be less and less religious while older generations still hold their faith close to their heart. There is a very clear divide between generations where one is more interested in advancing technology while the older generations tend to be more biased towards production and religion. In Bylyn, the most common religions are Vanguard Polytheism and Guardian's faith, with the older more conservatives favoring Vanguard Polytheism following Sentinah in particular. The newer generation is generally less religious but when they are it's usually guardian's faith, predictably following Klaut the guardian of wisdom or Dexter the guardian of genius in accordance with their more progressive take on governance.
Both the dominant religions are represented differently that ultimately reflects the power dynamic. Vanguard Polytheism is represented by old fashioned churches and places of worship usually in industrial and urban districts to make it conveniently in reach of workers. They emphasize their close bond to the average working man and on a federal level are generally seen as a glorified charity organization, as corruption within corporations rised, religious morality served as the last bastion of alrtuism and care for the down trodden. Vanguard churches also offered some forms of free healthcare after the health sector in Bylyn was privatized.
Guardian's faith, by merit of being a secular religion did not build churches and was taught in schools and universities. It can not be practiced like traditional religion and is more of a code of ethics that the politicians and scientists in Bylyn try to abide by.

Foreign Relations

• Dracholmian Union - The Dwarven Presidential states are an official member of the dracholmian union and they generally serve as the primary productive arm of any military expedition the union attempts. Dwarven messengers and later radio technologies were also generally the most common means of communication between members of the union as the dwarves had vehicles that relied on fuel and were generally faster than horses. They also offer a reliable source of metal to the dwarves, as the iron union has no problem selling ore to the dwarves indirectly through the dracholmian union.
• Chiefdom of the Loftwoods - The dwarves being as generally helpful and friendly as they are have good relations with their elven southern neighbors. They have several treaties such as a waste disposal accord that dictates the dwarves may not use forests to dump their waste. They also rely on each other for trade as the Bylian wastes do not offer many options to grow food. In exchange for things like tea, fruit, and meat the wood elves receive firearms, ammunition, armor, and concrete. They also often exchange research with each other, for example, the dwarves will trade blueprints for sturdier buildings for wood elven alchemical research.
• Linnessian Kingdom - The Linnessians are essentially the outgoing, loudmouth neighbors of the dwarves but at the same time their closest allies. Unrivaled in bravery, Linnessians make for powerful allies in times of turmoil but also the perfect soldiers to wield weapons that may be too large or heavy for dwarves. Like the elves, the dwarves supply the Linnessians with guns and ammo but instead of armor, the dwarves give the Linnessians more durable roads and the materials to build them. The Linnessians answer the favor by providing the dwarves with wheat, cheese, wine, and milk. 
• Jarldom of Rifthelm - The giants and dwarves seem to have an unbreakable friendship, with dwarves creating large guns, armor, and vehicles for the giants to use and being repaid for it with nigh untouchability from any sort of threat. On top of the protection, the giants provide the dwarves with seafood, alcohol, and perhaps most importantly: ink. The giants also rely heavily on the roads that dwarves build to keep trade going at a reasonable pace. In addition, the giants have huge limestone quarries which the dwarves need for their own buildings and to produce concrete.
• Frostspike Templars - Even though the templars of Frostspike are generally disliked throughout the Dracholmian Union, the dwarves seem to be the only ones on friendly terms with them. Their religions are quite similar and they assist each other in building churches. More importantly, due to the sheer height of the mountain ranges of Frostspike, the dwarves can extract metal from them without having to step on the toes of the iron union. In exchange for raw materials, the templars of frostspike receive strong liquor to aid in low-temperature rescue missions and cold-resistant clothing from the dwarves.
• Bloodspike Empire - Due to the distance between the two countries, the relation between Bylyn and Bloodspike is not as distinct as with its neighbors. They did trade firearms with each other as both Bloodspike and Bylyn used guns well before other Dracholmian countries did. The dwarves could also extract oil in Bylyn, which Bloodspike did not have, and thus traded with Bylyn for. In exchange for their extremely advanced weaponry and rare material like oil, the children of fire could only really offer rice, exotic fruits, and luxury materials such as jade and marble. On top of the luxury materials, the dwarves also received the smithing techniques that the children of the fire used which made metal much more resilient.
• Republic of Gloomshade - Another black sheep in the diplomatic sector of the Dracholmian Union, the fiends of gloomshade are the only ones that the dwarven presidential states have a problem with. Mostly because of their restrictive surveillance state politics being a polar opposite to the dwarven idea of libertarianism. The dwarven states see the republic of Gloomshade as an evil regime that they very reluctantly trade with. Due to the catastrophic Thermo-Magical fallout event, the fiends of Gloomshade rely on the gasmasks that dwarves make for them to survive in the containment zone. In exchange for their crucial help, the fiends share and let the dwarves participate in research that could convert magic into a power source.
• The Iron Union - To put it mildly, the Dwarven Presidential States and the Iron Union are sworn enemies for more than just ideology. The Iron Union has committed countless atrocities against the dwarves and has ensured they won't be punished for it because of their monopoly on raw ore. For the dwarves, who covet personal liberty and freedom above anything else, the idea of a government that forces its civilians to do what is best for the collective is cruel. They also despise the many war crimes that the iron union has committed simply because to a Majolkkrat there is no such thing as excessive force.

Freedom in business, market and lifestyle

Founding Date

1134 BGW

Type

Geopolitical, State

Capital

Aergique

Alternative Names

Bylian Dwarven States

Demonym

Bylians, Dwarves, or Bylian Dwarves

Head of State

Bylian President

Government System

Technocracy

Power Structure

Transnational government

Economic System

Mixed economy

Currency

The Bylian Mark is one of the strongest currencies in Jeslorian history, beaten only by Drosden Doubloons, Council Credits, and perhaps somewhat comically Jamescoin which is a cryptocurrency that nevertheless has been very consistently valuable. The value of the Bylian Mark is attached to the copper standard, meaning that it has been mostly stagnant for most of history but shot up in value once the value of copper rose due to copper wiring being needed for machinery and rose even further partially due to the ore monopoly the iron union had established. Later once planetary colonies were established and copper could be extracted from multiple planets in large quantities, the value of the Bylian Mark began to drop again but the decline was not significant enough to cause a major crisis.
Currency Exchanges: 1 Bylian Freddie = 0.25 EuroCents/0.3 USD
1 Bylian Mark = 25 Eur/30,56 USD
Stores generally only accept Bylian Marks or Council Credits.

Major Exports

Produced goods

Major Imports

Food

Official State Religion

Vanguard Polytheism

Parent Organization

DECTA

Official Languages

• Classical Subterranean
• Neo-Dracholmian

Related Ethnicities

• Human races

Ideology:
Libertarianism
Alignment:
Lawful Good
Power Type:
Production/Technological
Military Expertise:
Expeditionary Force/3 step speed battles

Theme