Oviron Lodge
The Oviron Lodge is an interstellar government organised as an executive committee. Its capital is the alpine world of Alatus, located in the Arcoterea System, where the avian Ovirine evolved. Education, research, and consumerism play an important role in Ovirine society, although political freedoms are suppressed. The star nation is ruled by an unelected committee which oversees all economic and political activities, and selects a Chairman to act as a weak executive. Ovirine society has a strong focus on preserving the past, with the highest number of museums per capita in the galaxy and a strong focus on history in education. Although closely aligning with the Voor Technocracy and Galactic Advancement Coalition in ideology, the Oviron Lodge has opted for a policy of neutrality in galactic affairs.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Government
The Oviron Lodge is structured as a unitary oligarchic republic. It is typically classified as an authoritarian mixed-market oligarchy, with moderate levels of corruption.The term "Lodge" simultaneously refers to the star nation itself, and the executive committee that governs the state. The term originates with the many secret societies that worked together to achieve global governance on Alatus. Although they were incorporated into and dissolved by the state, many of their traditions remain. The Ovirine state has a single, unified government, with no division of power, but has elements that can be approximated.
The national government of the Oviron Lodge is the eponymous Lodge: a combination of the General Committee and the Executive Committee, which can be likened to a legislature and executive. The General Committee has a variable number of members depending on appointments, but has approximately 4,000 members at any given time. The purpose of the General Committee is to examine issues facing the state, discuss solutions, and put forward proposals to the Executive Committee. Membership in the General Committee is attained by a majority vote of the existing members.
The Executive Committe is comprised of the Chairman and twenty-two ministers. Membership in the Executive Committee is obtained by a majority vote in the General Committee, who appoint the Executive Committee for a period of eleven years. The Executive Committee is responsible for passing legislation it deems worthy and directing the large bureaucracy of the Ovirine state on its implementation. It is also responsible for diplomacy, and the Chairman is the commander-in-chief of the Ovirine armed forces.
Planetary governors are appointed by the Executive Committee, which also appoints their cabinets based on the governor's advice. Planetary governors are given limited authority to appoint lower-level officials, but may be overruled or recalled at any point by the Executive Committee. Many high-ranking Ovirine officials begin their careers as low-level bureaucrats, rising through the planetary and later national bureaucracy to be appointed to the General Committee.
History
The history of Alatus is one of civilisational rise and fall. The Oviron experienced a medieval period far longer than most other species, characterised by repeated collapses of large empires and the loss of technology. However, each time a large empire collapse, the ruins they left behind became targets for early archaeologists, adventurers, and miners looking to repurpose their stoneworks.This cycle lasted for over two thousand years, keeping large parts of the planet effectively locked in a 'medieval stasis'. Secret societies formed, dedicated to the preservation of knowledge between cycles - in some ways similar to the Curator Order. However, in approximately 1400 CE, a major empire collapsed before it grew overly large. A neat succession led to the establishment of a number of smaller states, which immediately began competition against each other.
These smaller, more dynamic states were able to outcompete the collapsing empires, resulting in the creation of more small states. This broke the 'medieval stasis' of Alatus, and caused rapid technological and philosophical advancement. These smaller states were also more resilient to collapse, and despite several global wars and climatic disasters over the following years, there was no massive civilisational collapse. The plentiful ruins of the many empires of Alatus' past gave rise to an entire industry of treasure hunters and adventurers, as well as scholars dedicated to teaching history so as to never repeat it.
However, the development of nuclear weapons in the 1900s CE brought back the fears of a planet-wide collapse. With all the easily accessibly resources on the surface exploited, a collapse at this point would have permanently set the Oviron back to the medieval age. Many of the secret societies that had formed throughout history put aside their differences, working behind the scenes to ensure a nuclear war never happened.
In the mid 20th century CE, the first mission to space discovered an anomaly - a small cache made of an unknown material in a stable orbit of Alatus. When recovered, it was immediately apparent that this was an alien artifact, containing an (for the time) immensely powerful computer. Even as the greatest Ovirine minds and computers worked on it, the computational power required to defeat the encryption was staggering.
By the end of the 21st century CE, Alatus had been mostly unified under a tenuous global committee that oversaw all political and economic activities. The initial members were from various secret societies, now operating in the open, but eventually the state subsumed these societies into itself. Advances in computing power led to the encryption on the alien cache in 2156 CE, revealing coordinates in a star system fifteen lightyears away. Several sublight probes were dispatched, but it wasn't until the development of the hyper drive in 2202 CE that the Oviron could follow the chart they had decrypted.
Demographics
Oviron make up an overwhelming majority of the population, with few non-Ovirine residents. Those that do migrate are typically from the constituent states of the Galactic Advancement Coalition, with which the Oviron Lodge has a formal migration treaty. Xenos are permitted to gain full citizenship, but do face unofficial discrimination on occasion. Approximately ten percent of the population is synthetic, who are permitted full citizenship.A majority of the population lives in built-up urban areas, with a smaller portion living in suburban, semi-rural, and rural regions. While religion is technically legal, public displays of religion (such as clothing, accessories, and practices) are outlawed, as are religious institutions. Education is both compulsory and subsidised by the state, including primary and secondary learning equivalents, while tertiary learning equivalents are optional. Life expectancy is in line with other advanced star nations, and it is legal for citizens to genetically enhance their children before birth.
Economy
The Oviron Lodge is a small, post-industrial mixed economy. The state retains the right to control the economy as it sees fit, but the majority of economic activity is conducted via private enterprise. Energy, utilities, transport, healthcare, and education are either mostly or fully nationalised, and the government operates a number of state-owned enterprises. The services sector is the largest in the economy, with a small industrial and agricultural sector. However, the Ovirinen economy possesses an outsized mining sector, with some of the highest numbers of miners per capita in the galaxy. Mining corporations play key roles in both the economy and politics, and the government often consults them before taking any actions that would affect them.Ovirine inequality is moderate. Worker strata households have moderately above average wealthy for the galaxy, while the ruling strata (especially those involved in mining) are extremely wealthy. There are few environmental controls within Ovirine space, causing many of their core worlds to be heavily polluted by large mining operations. Pollution levels are high enough that many cities engage in micro-terraforming in order to ensure clear air. Cultural industries, including traditional craftmaking, media, and archaeology are all prominent in the services sector of the economy.
Society
Ovirine culture is predicated on the unearthing and exchange of valuable objects. It is considered disrespectful to enter into another Oviron's home without bringing a quality gift, traditionally some kind of jewel. This offering of gifts even extends to those considered enemies, resulting in a society that quickly defuses tensions among each other. Many stores in Ovirine space offer selections of small precious gems and rocks in addition to their usual goods for just this purpose.Although not as risk-taking as Yatunes, Oviron pride themselves on their adventurous spirit. A large number of Oviron spend their youth going on adventures across their homeworld in search of ancient treasures and lost cities, to the point that this has become a semi-major industry on Alatus. Professional adventuring is a recognised career path, and a highly respected one: it is part explorer, part prospector, part archaeologist, and part celebrity. Many adventurers receive government funding in order to discover alien artifacts that could advance the security or economy of the Oviron Lodge.
Military
The Ovirine Armed Forces are divided into three branches: a planetary defence force, the navy, and a combination of internal troops and gendarmerie. All three employ conscripts, who are relatively small in number and randomly selected from the population for service. While not to the same extent as the Voor Technocracy, the Ovirine military heavily employs robotic soldiers and drones alongside its organic military forces. The military is not given a particularly large budget by the Lodge, as it faces no imminent threat to its security. In addition, the Voor Technocracy has signed a formal military cooperation agreement with the Lodge, guaranteeing to defend it from any foreign aggression.
Type
Geopolitical, Republic
Capital
Demonym
Ovirine
Government System
Oligarchy
Power Structure
Unitary state
Economic System
Mixed economy
Controlled Territories
Related Species
Comments