Confederacy of the Commons

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The Confederacy of the Commons—sometimes called the Confederacy for short or the Fed for even shorter—is a prominent political bloc of the Second Konabian Empire. Based mostly in the Cygnus Arm on the outskirts of the Milky Way galaxy, the Confederacy of the Commons takes its name from its stated policy of looking out for the common man. This philodemic philosophy has made the Confederacy popular not just among its own constituents but among many citizens of other blocs as well, especially the lower classes who feel that their own governments aren't doing enough for them. The Confederacy has become skilled at leveraging this approof into winning concessions from other blocs by encouraging the blocs' own citizens to put pressure on them.

Government

The seventy-two member planets of the Confederacy of the Commons each send one representative, or Advocate, to the High Commission, the Confederacy's governing body. In theory, the Advocates are all completely equal; in practice, of course, there are power struggles and politicking among the High Commission just as anywhere else, and some Advocates have more sway than others. In particular, the Speaker, an Advocate elected to be the primary mouthpiece of the High Commission when dealing with the Emperor and his ministers and with other blocs, almost invariably parlays their position into a place of power, becoming the most influential member and the unofficial leader of the High Commission.

Aside from the High Commission, the Confederacy of the Commons also includes a number of other commission dedicated to particular aspects of the bloc's government. Among the most important commissions are the Commission of Trade (which despite its name also deals with diplomacy and espionage), the Commission of Technology, the Commission of the Interior (which deals with the bloc's security and emergency management), and the Commission of Development (which deals with the Confederacy's economy and exploitation of resources). Like the High Commission, each commission is supposed to have one member from each member planet, though in practice many of the commissions, especially the less important ones, lack the full roster of members, with some planets not having bothered to send representatives. Also like the High Commission, each commission has a Speaker, though when the title "Speaker" is used without further specification it is almost always the Speaker of the High Commission that is meant.

Members

The Confederacy of the Commons comprises seventy-two populated planets that are considered full members, and another fifty that are usual allies but not formally a part of it. The full members of the Confederacy are:

The fifty allied worlds are:

Goals and policies

Nominally, the Confederacy's main goal is to better the lot of the common people, increasing their independence from the elite of the Empire. The Confederacy touts its championship of the working class, and takes every opportunity to deride the other blocs' deemed disdain for the downtrodden.

The Confederacy's specific policies include a drive for deregulation of many industries and, somewhat in contrast, a push for valorization of certain goods through government subsidies. To hear the Confederacy tell it, however, there is no contradiction between these aims; both are intended to improve the situation of the common man. Deregulation would unshackle the enterprises that provide the workers with their livelihood, thus removing roadblocks to those workers' prosperity. The price fixing, on the other hand, is meant to carry workers through possible times when the fruits of their particular labor might be less in demand, saving them from unnecessary hardship until such time as the market rebalances and they are once again able to earn their livings normally.

For the most part, the bloc's plebicolar pretensions are just that—pretensions. The policies that are supposedly so beneficial to the common man are far more beneficial to the Confederacy's coffers. Deregulation would give Fed-owned corporations a freer hand in forming monopolies and engaging in unfair trade practices, and valorization would aid certain Confederate manufactories while worsening the workers' woes. Naturally, not everyone in the Empire is fooled by the Confederacy's rhetoric, and there are many who know perfectly well what the bloc is really up to, and what the consequences would be if all its proposals are passed—which is exactly why those proposals are usually blocked by the Empire's other factions. Nevertheless, there are enough people who are taken in by the Confederacy's casuistic cajolery to give it a broad base of support and considerable political power.

Prominent leaders

The current Speaker of the High Commission of the Confederacy of the Commons is Asicain Leme, a ciconine woman noted for her longiloquence. Hailing from the planet Zeride, Leme has been in politics since her youth, beginning her career as a young page to local governor Halobe Danë, and steadily rising through the ranks to her current position. Leme is well known for her oratory and for her expressions of sympathy toward the downtrodden. It's widely assumed by enemies of the Confederacy that these shows of sympathy are completely feigned, but some wonder whether perhaps Leme might have real misgivings about her bloc's tactics that might be exploited.

While traditionally the power of the speakers of the other commissions does not equal that of the their power doesn't equal that of the Speaker of the High Commission, the Speaker of the Commission of the Interior, a Hudrevonite tsalf named Orehone Julonian, has garnered enough influence to make him nearly Danë's political equal. Other especially important members of the High Commission include General Xong Ti, the Advocate from Tinjen; Q-Farat, the Advocate from Galland; and Elder Antos, the Advocate from New X.

While holding no formal position of political power, Luniper Carvaugn, a popular entertainer from Pentice, has a great deal of societal clout through the various shows she produces and appears in. Something similar could be said of the Merani writer and philosopher Vraldis Kbrela. Finally, Casitet Peit, the head jailor of the prison planet Ketlap, seems to have considerably more sway and notoriety than his position would seem to warrant, and is also a major player in Confederacy society. Some cynics attribute Peit's outsize influence to his squeezing sensitive information from high-profile prisoners and using it to blackmail government officials, or to some similarly sinister scheme, but others hold the simpler view that the jailor just happens to be extraordinarily charismatic.

Relationships

The Confederacy has no close allies among the other blocs of the Empire, but there are some blocs with which it has better relations than others. The Confederacy of the Commons has frequently found common cause with the Humble Assembly, the Worlds of the Vanguard, and the League of Inheritors. While none of these blocs could be considered a consistent ally, at least they have tended to pursue similar interests to the Confederacy more often than other blocs have.

On the other hand, the Confederacy has no shortage of enemies. The bloc's most blatant and ardent enemy is the Enlightened Alliance, whose contempt for the faex populi makes it a natural foil for the populist Fed. Of course, critics of the Confederacy would say it has just as much contempt for the common people; it's just much more subtle about it—and in fact for all their posturing and their ostentatious proclamations of mutual disdain, the Confederacy and the Alliance have seldom had serious conflict, and have often worked together with possibly feigned reluctance to pass some policy. The blocs with which the Confederacy of the Commons seems to have the most genuine disagreements are probably the Children of Arubani, the Carina Union, and the Oqumara.

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