Falias United Colonies
"My second major destination on my trip through Parime was Falias, ran by a military junta calling themselves the FUC. They're a relatively new government, only a few decades old, but affect a sense of tradition and seniority as a result of being built upon Parime's oldest colonies. Life is relatively peaceful on Falias compared to anywhere else, so its citizenry have a lot more time for recreational and cultural activities, but the presence and activity of the ever-growing military rests heavily on everyone's shoulders, even moreso now that hostilities between them and Vaduz have commenced."
"Despite the uncomfortable truth that the people will defend the regime out of legitimate patriotism and not fear, the situation on Falias a tad more complex than what it appears to be. Nobody denies the obvious problems with living under a junta, but nobody can deny that the FUC brought with them some serious positive changes: Joblessness was nearly eradicated, everyone's guaranteed food and shelter, and what little there is of governmental corruption doesn't hold a candle to the old regime. The Vaduz might not admit it, nor will the Third Committee, but the hard truth is that this water-republic's Glorious Leader earned her subjects' loyalty through more than just parades and propaganda."
Structure
The FUC functions as a classic stratocracy, whereupon all administrative, judiciary, and/or legislature powers of government are headed and controlled by the nation's military forces. Non-military citizens are guaranteed some rights by the FUC's founding-constitution (food, shelter, assembly, etc...) but have little in the way of political rights: Civilians may vote for 'Citizens' Delegates' to represent their interests in government offices, but such delegates have only nominal power over policy-making. The FUC governing-bodies however, have agreed to negotiate with Union DOJ/HR to implement substantial overhaul of these systems, including re-intergration of civilian political rights.
Culture
The relative hospitality of Falias' enviroment compared to ther rest of the colony has enabled the FUC to maintain a strong cultural identity in comparison to its peers, in which lifestyle and folkways have been intergrated with the strong military presence of its governing body: Children are raised to acknowledge and respect hierarchy in all things, as much in their family as in institution, and to put all of themselves into a given task regardless of recognition or reward, while adult civilians often organise their workplace with faux-military garnishings, referring to subordinates as 'privates' and long-term goals as 'strategic objectives'.
Unlike earlier governing bodies of Falias, the FUC holds tradition and nostalgia to a degree of disdain, presenting themselves as a 'forward-looking' society, enacting policies they claim to be for the good of the populace unfettered by 'anqituiated notions' of political-rights and other societal norms inherited from earlier colonists, and boasting of their intolerance of (internal) bigotry and prejudice and of the cosmopolitan nature of their arts. It is through these means and a strong welfare-system of guaranteed food and shelter (described informally by DOJ/HR officials as 'bread and circuses with tanks') that the FUC is able to ensure compliance of its civilian population with an 'acceptable minimum' of dissidence.
Regardless of whether they are civilian or military, though, an FUC citizen holds loyalty as one of the greatest aspects of character. The majority of revered heroes in the FUC's short history are those who have put themselves at great risk or made a great personal sacrifice for the wellbeing of the colony, while their most reviled villains have been those who have collaborated with enemies of the colonies, or 'sold out' their friends for personal gain. A typical Falian may be somewhat taciturn and reserved, but quickly become very trusting and protective of those that prove themselves as loyal friends.
Rights
- Pillar I: Sufficient fulfilment. Public institutions provide food, shelter and work-opportunities unconditionally throughout the colonies, albeit to varying standards.
- Pillar II: Partial/insufficient fulfilment. Travel throughout the colonies is strictly regulated and requires approval from military-administration.
- Pillar III: Partial/insufficient fulfilment. Command-Economy strongly favors military institutions and prison labour is ubiquitous (albeit voluntary), but present economic legislation prevents debt and wage-slavery.
Civil Rights: Medium-Risk. Personal and institutional bigotry are not tolerated, with a military-administrative decree protecting citizens from such discriminations. Sapient clones are granted full rights (albeit with strict regulation over their production) while NHPs are highly restricted and not considered eligible for personhood. Citizens have very limited rights to privacy, have no rights to silence, and military-judicial systems fail to meet standards for fair trial. Current military governing bureaus have agreed to discuss new legislation to rectify these violations, albeit hesitantly.
Political Rights: High Risk. All political power is highly centralised and contained almost entirely within the echelons of the FCA's upper command and colonial administrations. Civilian citizens have no suffrage or right to join political parties, expression of political views are strictly regulated and petitioning for political administration is only availible for military veterans. Implementation of reformation is currently being discussed with General Carras personally.
Suggested Resolution: The FCA's continuing cooperation with Union delegates, in spite of its slow pace, has led to coercive measures being dismissed as presently unnecesarry. Administration is recommended to press diplomatic routes and economic/technological incentives for the time being, while discussion of more active deterrants will be saved until necesarry.
Naming Convention
Naming conventions within the FUC more or less resemble conventional systems throughout Union Space, with the caveat that titles (Mr, Mrs, Dr, etc...) are replaced entirely with military-rankage, or simply 'Civilian' for non-military civilians (though citizens with doctorates may still refer to themselves as Doctor/Dr. if they so desire). Examples include:- Airman Casey McDonald
- 1st Lt. Chiasa Goda
- Dr. Guinevere Fakhoury
Assets
The FUC's territory consists of five major colonies and two above-ground spaceports (previously three), which serve as nexus for the many ice-mining facilities/colonies scattered around Falias. The FUC's spacefaring presence is the most limited of the major factions, consisting only of transport-craft and escorts, but their overall infrastructural military presence within their own territory is overwhelmingly superior to their peers.
History
The original progenitors of the FUC were formed in the midst of the civil-breakdown that occured in 4949, caused by severe governmental mismanagement by the then-in-power Democratic Commonwealth of Falias and Parime, leading to a severe food-shortage in Falias. Lieutenant General Elfriede Henson, a member of the DCFP's military forces, organised an impromptu paramilitary-force of trusted subordinates to maintain a semblance of order in the midst of the riots, but in the process of doing so discovered that the higher governmental leaders had been stockpiling disproportionate amounts of foodstuffs for themselves.
In response to this, Henson declared the already tenuous political situation of Falias to be 'beyond salvage', and changed his objective from simply keeping order to an outright military coup of the DCFP's government, using his connections within the military to interfere and prevent other elements from defending the DCFP's government. The coup was short but brutal, and within a few weeks the DFCP's seat of power had been completely toppled, with the majority of heads either dead or having fled to unknown parts via surface-to-orbit shuttle.
With undisputed control over remaining political and military control, Ltg. Henson made the controversial decision to declare the remnants of Falias' government to be 'under military jurisdiction', stating that the threatened existence of the colony meant that restoring basic infrastructure and bringing Falias back into a liveable state would take precedence over all other concerns, including civil and political rights. A new constitution was drafted in over the following weeks while now-General Henson ordered the unconditional distribution of food and shelter to the citizenry, founding the Falias United Colonies.
In juxtaposition to their aggressively expansionist predecessors, the FUC initially focussed entirely inwards, centralising much of the DCFP's partially-privatised facilities and systems and enforcing rigorous codes of standardisation. Incursions outside of Falias beyond exportation of goods/ice was infrequent, typically only occuring when information on fleeing remnants of the previous government's heads pointed to their presence elsewhere in the system. As a result, the colonies' infrastructure and overall quality-of-life sharply increased, in spite of civilians remaining second-class citizens.
This isolationism began to wane however as the Vaduz Orbital Collective began taking a more active and aggressive approach in foreign policy, setting new laws and regulations on non-Vaduz ships passing through what they percieved to be 'their' territory. The FUC responded to this perceived slight by commissioning the construction of three new orbit-to-orbit ships and assigning regular patrols in areas on the 'border' of Vaduz's claimed jurisdiction in a show of military power, starting an informal cold-war between the powers.
These tensions further increased in 4994u, when Vaduz was able to succesfully reconnect with Union space through omninetwork access: Because the orbital-collective owned the only working omninetwork-node in the system, they held exclusive control on communication with the rest of humanity, and only allowed non Vaduz messages to be passed through their proxy. This led to the collective ammassing a substantial technological-edge over the rest of the system, generating resentment from the rest of the powers.
The FUC responded to this monopoly by substantially raising tariffs for exporting water-ice to Vaduz, who were still substantially dependant on such importations, and threatened to only reduce the tariffs if restrictions on omninetwork access were loosened and allowed for representatives of the FUC and Helium Co-Operatives to contact Union-space without Vaduz acting as a middle-man. The Vaduz refused accept these demands, and retaliated against the FUC by ordering the destruction of a high-orbit satellite above Falias.
In 4998u, the hostilities between the FUC and Vaduz finally came to a head when a squadron of FCA Marines led by Colonel Milton Pineda infiltrated and attempted to sabotage the primary agricultural-station of Vaduz, the Bregenz Agricultural-Habitat. This attempt ended in catastrophe as the machinery used in the sabotage suffered a catastrophic malfunction and killed the entire population of Bregenz, an action the Vaduz percieved as a decleration of war despite the FUC's claims that Colonel Pineda was a rogue-agent acting of his own volition.
Vaduz finally responded to this attack in 4999u, by initiating a surprise attack on Falias' primary surface-to-orbit nexus, the Artemis Port-City. The overwhelming technological edge the Vaduz had gathered, combined with the lack of warning or preperation the FCA was given, led to defending forces being routed in a matter of hours and the city being completely occupied by VSDC forces for years afterwards, as the FCA were left hesitant to attempt retaliation under concerns of now facing an enemy whose capabilities they had no means of measuring or confirming.
The hostilities between the two powers and the hostile occupation of FUC territory ended in 5006u when the Union Administrative Task-Force finally arrived in the LDA-187 'Beirut' and forced a cease-fire between the two factions, negotiating the return of Artemis to FUC administration in return for continued exportation of water-ice to the Vaduz colonies.
Following this cease-fire, the FUC was finally granted unrestricted omninet-access by Union-forces, enabling their own advancement of technology and discussion of co-operation with corpro-state in providing military licenses and manufacturing-schematics to level the field against Vaduz...
Military
The Falias Colonial Army's military presence is an overwhelming one on Falias, consisting of 12% of the FUC's entire population. Though overall technologically inferior to the other factions, the strong logistical and supply system of the FUC allows for much greater numbers of well-equipped soldiers than the other two factions combined. Their doctrines focus primarily on slow but immoveable 'grinder' tactics of wearing out dissident forces through sheer attrition and powerful defensive engineering.
"Protecting Life In Its Purest Forms"
Founding Date
4951
Type
Geopolitical, Stratocracy
Capital
Demonym
Falian
Leader
Government System
Stratocracy
Power Structure
Autonomous area
Economic System
Command/Planned economy
Currency
While basic necessities are guaranteed under the FUC, additional goods and services can be purchased through Service-Chits, a fiat-currency earned in various amounts through certified work. Service-Chits can be exchanged for Union Manna at a rate of 1 Chit to 0.01 Manna.
Subsidiary Organizations
Location
Controlled Territories
Neighboring Nations
Notable Members
Comments