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Well you certainly did come back with a strong update and an interesting report on ground foces. It was a great war for the Seban Commonwealth and it allowed you to develop all sorts of new military capacity, and of course the Varelavil's slaves were freed too. Let's just hope the Cyggians are forgiving for the time they have been standing alone! Do you think it could harm the alliance in the long run?

I'm looking forwards to seeing what this significant change to the civil authority of the administration is!
 
Quite a meat comeback update! Seems like å bitter sweet outcome.
 
Looks like a tough but hard won, and well-deserved, peace! My kind of struggle! :cool:
 
An impressive result at the Battle of Prothon! Looking at the numbers, I was quite worried.
Finally a decisive victory against the Varlevivi! I hope the new government will hold up long enough to become a stable partner.
So we have our first xeno general! I wonder how Plume of Teal will be treated by Vailon society.
 
Looks like I missed a lot while I was gone! Getting caught up quickly, but I just wanted to voice how much I liked your in-depth look at the Unified Ground Force. Planetside military action in Stellaris has a lot of open space to add cool details and history like this.
 
Well, good riddance to the Varilviv regime of old. It'll be interesting to see how to the population reacts to these new concepts of "democracy" and "freedom".
 
Chapter Nineteen - Drift
Allies in Need

The Saathid-Vailon War [1] began in December of 280 with an unprovoked invasion of ragerian space. The ragerians, so alike in outward appearance to the vailons, screamed for help from their allies as their initial line of defense was quickly overwhelmed by the saathid onslaught. But the Governance military forces were all engaged in the conflict with the varelviv slavers; even if Director-General Subir had ordered them to abandon their current missions and make for the nearest saathid system at full speed, it would have been years before they could attack the saathids. This was cold comfort to the ragerian archon, who was staring down an existential threat to his people, and he did not mince words during his conferences with the Director-General and her top military aides. Every meeting, the Governance reply was the same: delay, delay, delay the saathids as long as you can. The ragerians were not the only allies who were waiting on vailon assistance; to the west, the Cyggan Empire was barely holding the line against the fleets of the Seban Commonwealth. Ostensibly, the Third Varelviv War had been initiated in order to open up hyperlane routes to the west so that the TUG could support the cyggan defense of their territory. But the invasion had taken on a life of its own, and bringing an end to the varelviv threat had become the priority for the administration, to the detriment of both allies.

As the siege of Viverva dragged on through 281 and into 282, the Admiralty Board debated what the next priority should be for the fleet. While a few of the admirals expressed support for splitting TF Mirasma and providing support to both the cyggans and the ragerians, most felt certain that such a course would invite disaster. Only the entire task force could hope to compete with the superior navies of either the sebans or the saathids. Thus the decision process boiled down to two choices: TF Mirasma could go west to assist in defending cyggan positions from seban assaults, or it could go north to open up a second front against the saathids, hopefully forcing them to divert resources from their invasion of ragerian space. To send TF Mirasma against the sebans would mean consigning the ragerians to their fate at the hands of the saathids, which would seem to make the vailons complicit in genocide. But sending the task force to attack the southern reaches of saathid space would entail abandoning their cyggan allies.

For two years the Admiralty deferred a final decision, drawing up plans for each eventuality. Subir, preoccupied with domestic politics, allowed the admirals a great deal of leeway in setting military policy; without strong leadership or guidance, petty squabbles among the various factions in the Admiralty dominated their discussions. Success on the diplomatic front, however, rendered those debates moot. Overtures to the Pithok Confederacy were finally beginning to bear fruit. The pithoks had recently experienced a political upheaval of their own, bringing their political interests more in line with that of the Governance. A young scion of the ruling Aspinaca family came to power in the early ‘80s, promising broad reforms to widen the scope of politics and allow the hundreds of lesser pithok families to participate in the political process. [2] A more democratic system took root and undermined the plutocratic instincts of the old leadership. More importantly for the Governance in the short term, the new High Commissioner committed to an intervention in the cyggan-seban war on the cyggan side, to force the Seban Commonwealth to seek peace on agreeable terms. With the pithoks set to invade the sebans’ rear, [3] the Admiralty Board finally felt comfortable deciding to send the fleet to the saathid front.

As soon as TF Mirasma captured Hoggagha and put an end to varelviv resistance in late 283, Admiral Vatoris was ordered to take her forces northwards, through mith-fell space and towards the saathid-controlled systems hugging the galactic core. In 285, the long-sought pithok intervention finally came, forcing the sebans to sign a peace treaty with the Cyggan Empire. [4] Meanwhile, on Tebazed, Subir’s neglect of war policy was well-noted, and criticized, by many in the Assembly as well as more than a few of her own cabinet officials. But with her term rapidly approaching its end, and with no sign that she was considering running for reselection, these critics looked to organize themselves with the goal of exerting influence on the next Director-General. This so-called Red Legion was not a large faction, relative to the other parties in the Assembly, but counted among its members a significant number of influential administration figures, including Mtche’ar, close confidant of Subir and, under the official name Claws of Cyan, governor of The Veil sector. Mtche’ar had a front-row seat to the administration’s lurching from crisis to crisis in the second half of Subir’s term; he considered it very lucky that none of the problems truly threated the security of the Governance. In the ensuing administration, he hoped that the Red Legion would be able to use its influence to prevent similar failures from occurring.

NewFactionRedLegion.jpg

The Red Legion formed in early 285, hoping to exert its influence over the next Director-General.

The Selection of 285

In the second half of Subir’s term as Director-General, she grew increasingly distant from the policy-making functions of her role. As her administration shifted to a war footing, her domestic priorities fell by the wayside. Investment projects on the colonies were canceled as resources were diverted to military production, and long-planned reforms, including aspects of Subir’s reorganization program, were delayed. The administration appeared to be drifting aimlessly along, just biding its time until the next selection. Though her personal approval rating remained relatively high, her implicit power waned as her term approached its end and it became clear that her influence in the next administration would be minimal.

Subir used her remaining influence to support her longtime colleague and friend, Galdrig den Piriam. Now 72, he had been a senior administration official for most of his adult life, having been appointed Director of Labor way back in 242. [5] Despite his advanced age, [6] he was the early favorite due to his long experience in government and the backing of the two largest factions in the Assembly, the Xeno Liberty Initiative and the Liberty Now Council. But some discontent with the status quo was beginning to emerge, and a number of younger individuals emerged to challenge the establishment figure. By the time of the selection, two candidates had raised their profiles enough to become serious challengers to the front-runner: Valdrig den Harak, a young scientist who had already published several papers on the physical properties of n-space, [7] and Birm den Boknar, a sociologist and urban planner who had been a junior member of Subir’s cabinet since 270.

SelectionOf285.jpg

With Subir out of the picture, three candidates competed in the Selection of 285.

Both challengers found success in attacking the stagnant political establishment. The XLI-LNC coalition had exercised an iron grip on power in the Assembly for nearly seven decades, and for much of that era had either controlled directly or been partnered with the sitting Director-General. While the 3rd century had been a good one for the vailons and all citizens of the Governance, during their long reign the leadership of the two parties had grown complacent, bereft of fresh ideas for the future. Only a burst of energy from the most recent Director-General, a brash outsider who grew up outside the typical pipeline to power, had given them renewed vigor. But by the second half of her term, she had been captured by the institutional interests of the administrative apparatus, and the political parties were left adrift. Instead of recognizing their predicament, they doubled down, backing Piriam precisely because he represented a continuation of the status quo. They left themselves vulnerable to charismatic individuals railing against the exclusionary system of high politics in Sedrin. Harak and Boknar were able to capitalize, in some cases even coordinating their campaigns to knock down the front runner from his perch.

For the six months of 285, as tradition dictated, none of the three candidates campaigned openly. For Piriam and Harak, the “shadow campaign” took the usual shape: speeches and media appearances to discuss particular policy topics, and proxies deployed across Governance space to lay the groundwork for their preferred individual. Boknar, too, had an organization which engaged in these activities on her behalf, but she also exploited the state of limbo in which she and the other ‘candidates’ resided. Though she had not held public office before, [8] her time near the top echelon of the Subir administration had taught her the rules of bureaucratic politics, a game which she learned to play very well. As she set her sights on the top job, she went straight to the actual voters. The College had long been a marginalized institution, gathering for a few days every other year to rubber-stamp decisions made by the administration, but they still had an important formal role in selecting new Directors-General. Boknar was able to ingratiate herself with many magistrates by simply reaching out to them and including them in her deliberative processes. She also utilized her skills at bureaucratic in-fighting to manipulate the landscape in the College to her favor: she picked off a number magistrates from the Piriam camp by convincing them that Subir and Piriam had sold out the colonies and become entangled in Tebazed’s web of political interests. Thus, when the selection formally opened in July, she had built a substantial advantage. Even though she finished in third in the public vote, held in early August, [9] the College session commenced on August 18 with a clear majority of magistrates offering her their support.

Boknar had not yet clinched victory, however. When the traditional straw poll was held at the beginning of the College session, Piriam and Harak were shocked to discover the size of Boknar’s lead. After the public vote, the pair had come to believe that it was essentially a two-individual race, with Boknar too far behind to be a serious contender. Instead, both were forced to change their posture and go into attack mode. In the debates held for the magistrates, Piriam derided Boknar’s credentials, arguing that such an inexperienced administrator would be overwhelmed by the responsibilities of the Director-General. Meanwhile, Harak went after her policy platform, observing that for all the things Boknar had to say, her speeches and proposals were very light on the specifics of what her administration would look like. Taken together, these attacks suggested that Boknar’s candidacy was paper-thin and asked, what did Boknar actually stand for?

For two days, Piriam and Harak continued to hammer away at Boknar, and the three seemed to be neck-and-neck in the vote counts. The magistrates began to whisper amongst themselves that they would have to sit in session for a week or more before taking a formal vote, a stark contrast to the day-long sessions it had taken to select the last five Directors-General. But Boknar had one more trick up her sleeve. On the night of August 20th, she invited Harak to a private, one-on-one meeting. They met for three hours, as Piriam, the magistrates, and even their own aides waited and speculated and worried. Finally, they emerged with a deal. Somehow – and neither party would ever reveal the details of their conversation – Boknar had convinced Harak to withdraw from the race and endorse Boknar, leaving Piriam out in the cold. It was a stunning turn of events after a week of stunning reversals, but Boknar was emerging victorious.

The formal vote of the College the following day made it official. Birm den Boknar would become the 27th Director-General of the Tebazed Unified Governance. But one significant question lingered: What exactly did Boknar want to do with her new office?

NewRulerBoknar.jpg

At the start of her term, the new Director-General’s priorities were a mystery.


Footnotes

[1] A misnomer of sorts, as it was in this period that vailons ceased to be a majority of the polity they had founded centuries ago. Still, official galactic sources persisted in using the dominant species of particular states as shorthand for the whole.
[2] The story of the rise and fall of Lertrak Aspinaca is worthy of its own book, and it cannot be done justice in this setting.
[3] Though the pithok invasion would not occur until 285, their military buildup along the border sent a clear signal and forced the sebans to slow their own invasion of cyggan space.
[4] The peace treaty was not exactly favorable to the cyggans; they were forced to surrender several border systems and an outlying colony to the sebans. But the terms were a lot better than they would have gotten if seban fleets had been allowed to penetrate to the cyggan core worlds.
[5] In the period leading up to the selection he also held the position of Director of the Core Sector, to which he was appointed during the Directorate reorganization of 272.
[6] The College had not selected an individual in their 70s to ascend to the Director-General position since 182, more than a century in the past.
[7] N-space was a theoretical hyperdimension that allowed for the passage of matter between wormholes. Though several states had already claimed the ability to map wormholes passages and send manned ships between them, such a technology was still in the distant future for the Governance.
[8] Minor cabinet officers in charge of science departments were promoted through the ranks and insulated from the political vicissitudes of the day.
[9] Piriam narrowly edged out Harak, garnering 40% of the vote to the latter’s 38%. Boknar came in at 26%, with the remainder going to an assortment of minor candidates.
 
Hello all! In what has become a major theme for me, I must apologize for my long absence. I am excited to be back, however, with a new chapter covering the transition to a new administration. Coming installments will cover some major changes to domestic politics and demography in the TUG, after which we will return to the long slog of the war with the saathids and finally reach the end of the century.

I want to say to everyone, thank you for sticking with me. I know that long gaps can sometimes dampen enthusiasm, so I am glad for each and every one of you returning to my story.
 
An unexpected twist. I am glad that you can send aid against the Saathid threat, it is long time that major action was taken against them.
 
Always beware of deals made in locked rooms. I wonder when Harak will come to collect their debt.
Boknar is a very interesting figure, I'm curious to see how they will fare in governance, there is certainly no lack of political acumen.
The story of the rise and fall of Lertrak Aspinaca is worthy of its own book, and it cannot be done justice in this setting.
I hope we'll get to have an outside view of such a notable rise and fall.

Also, welcome back! I was just thinking about how much I missed this AAR and I'm really happy to see it return. I'm looking forward to the next update!
 
Glad to see this back in action! :D
 
Chapter Twenty - Free Haven
By the early 240s, it had become clear that the galaxy was populated not by a handful of alien species but dozens of different xenos, many of whom were at roughly the same level of technological development as the vailons. Demographers in the Science Directory, Sociology Section, were intrigued by the possibility of a multi-xeno society, and so they built a model to predict xeno integration. The model incorporated a range of factors, such as the level of migration between alien societies (largely a guess, given the lack of practical data on the topic) and the likelihood of border realignments as a result of war or diplomacy. Running simulations using a variety of assumptions, the demographers projected that, in the long term, vailons would become a minority of the population in their own state. In different circumstances, the model spit out different dates for the demographic transition to a vailon minority, but the most likely scenario put the event around the late 4th or early 5th century. This was, obviously, not an immediate concern for the incumbent administration, which paid little attention to obscure events many generations in the future, so the Sociology Section filed away the results.

The demographic trajectory of the Governance underwent a major shift during the mid-century refugee crisis. With armed conflicts breaking out across the galaxy, billions of sentients were forced to leave their homeworlds. Some fled or were evicted by bloodthirsty xenociders; others were displaced during the wars of conquest waged by the so-called civilized [1] societies. Valdrig den Subir, Director-General from 265 to 285, focused her foreign policy on tackling this crisis. During the first eight years of her term, she made great strides towards addressing the crisis through interstellar cooperation, forging agreements with states in all four quadrants.

War, however, derailed her ambitions, both foreign and domestic. In 273, the Seban Commonwealth invaded the Governance’s cyggan allies; in 275 the vailons themselves renewed their long conflict with the varelvivi; and in 280 Subir agreed to honor the defense pact she had signed with the ragerians against a saathid invasion. Once the Governance found itself in three simultaneous wars, the administration could no longer sustain efforts to maintain partnerships across the galaxy in the name of liberty; more immediate concerns leapt to the forefront. The dream of building multi-lateral partnerships to manage the tide of refugees was set aside.

The leadership vacuum that ensued had profound consequences. Exact numbers will never be known, but some scholars estimate that the lack of coordination in dealing with the crisis led to an additional 20 billion deaths. Governments, left to fend for themselves, felt they had little choice but to shut their borders to the convoys streaming out of the war-torn regions of the galaxy. While a humanitarian crisis was a terrible thing, each independently calculated that it would be far worse to see their own finite resources overburdened with the needs of billions of non-citizens. Without a centralized body ensuring an equitable sharing of the burden, no one state could run the risk of taking on a disproportionate share of the refugees.

In this respect, the vailon polity was exceptional. As a reflection of the peculiar characteristics of modern [2] vailon society, the political culture of the Governance was uniquely devoted to the principles of tolerance and meritocracy. Free migration and refugee resettlement were core values to many vailons; these ideas were essential to the society they wished to embody. When the first major refugee convoys began arriving at border posts at the edge of Governance space, there was tremendous excitement in the public at the opportunity to make good on those values. The administration, however, was unprepared to handle the influx. Subir and her cabinet were entirely focused on the conduct of the wars. Their saving grace – an already existing capacity to scale up migrant and refugee processing rapidly – was a gift from Subir’s predecessor.

When the first wave of interstellar refugees arrived during the administration of Vabrig den Telnik, the Interior Directory created a dedicated section, Migration, to handle the influx. The new section had two priorities at its founding: build enough physical infrastructure in the border systems to process the incoming flow without delays, and hire the personnel necessary to staff those processing facilities as well as the resettlement centers to be scattered across Governance space. As an independent entity, the section was able to pull in the resources to accomplish its goals without relying on the whims of other bureaucrats who might have their own priorities. Very quickly, the section leadership also realized that the wave of the 250s might just be the tip of the iceberg. Internal projections showed increasing numbers of refugees in subsequent decades, potentially overwhelming the processing infrastructure just being put into place. Armed with this information, the leaders were able to develop plans to expand their capabilities quickly if it actually proved necessary in the future. Thus, once refugee flows indeed exploded in the 280s, the Migration Section was prepared to handle them, even without strong guidance from the Director-General.

And the refugees came. In 285, a wave of sathoris, displaced by successive attacks from the Belmacosa Empire and the Djunn Bloodletters. In 286, and again in 299, large groups of pelx-cradonians, and in 291 and 295, furkians, all exiled from their homeworlds by the Jess’Inax Hive. Convoys of rontors in 292, and, after a reversal of fortune, of djunn in 298. The largest stream flowed from the collapsing ragerian state, conquered by the saathids between 287 and 289. For the decade following the first occupations, billions of ragerians fled the advancing tide, most making their way towards the friendlier confines of vailon territory. There was even a smattering of varelviv refugees entering the Governance. Defeat in the Third Varelviv-Vailon War had been followed by a brief but decisive invasion by the cyggans, which resulted in the annexation of several colonies; despite previous hostilities between the varelvivi and the vailons, many of the former preferred the relatively liberal rule of the TUG to the harsh autocratic regime of the Cyggan Empire.

By the 290s, a disproportionate number of refugees was arriving at the borders of the Governance and not being turned away. Combined with the lax immigration regime that had existed since the 220s, this brought about a major shift in the demographic profile of the “vailon” state. At the beginning of the 280s, two-thirds of the population of the Governance were vailons (nearly half of whom still lived on the homeworld of Tebazed). By 290, the vailon proportion of the population had fallen below 50%. By 300, the percentage was below 38%. The founders continued to account for a large plurality of the population, however, and no one xeno species predominated over the others (the second-largest species, tezhnid, accounted for 8.5% of the population in 290 and 9.2% in 300). Throughout the last two decades of the century, vailons still occupied the vast preponderance of positions in the cabinet as well as the upper echelons of most directories; despite the decades of an increasingly diverse populace, there had never been a major xeno candidate for Director-General. Change in the halls of power, even in an ostensibly meritocratic society, comes but slowly.

Nevertheless, a real shift was noticeable, whether one walked the streets of Sedrin, traversed the industrial heartland of Varba, or roamed the vast farmsteads of Ferdera. There were, of course, differences in the experiences of the several colonies of the Governance. On the vailon homeworld, the founders remained in the majority for decades to come. Fewer xenos chose to move into the long-established settlements across the surface of Tebazed; as a result, the metropolitan hinterlands continued to be a bastion of the vailon population, maintaining high growth rates via a steady birthrate and an increasing lifespan for the founder species. The capital, however, drew in millions of non-vailon citizens and foreigners. As the center of the state apparatus, it was by necessity an important destination for those seeking political fortune or influence. Sedrin, even by the 250s, had become the cosmopolitan city of the Governance; by the end of the century, it rivalled the likes of Mirovandia City and Jukla [3] in wealth and diversity. On the other hand, population centers on the outlying colonies tended to see polyglot communities, vailons mixing with a wide variety of xenos. Varba and Ferdera, both bordering mith-fell territory, were popular destinations for incoming migrants from the eastern regions of the galaxy, with tezhnids in particular settling there in large numbers. Elsewhere, many sathoris put down roots on Firintarogga, the watery world initially given over to mith-fell immigrants early in the Telnik administration; and by the end of the century Kampira was home to significant concentrations of pithoks and pobellins.

It was on The Veil, however, that the multi-species community of the Governance was most visible. The so-called “Gaia” planet, [4] the third orbiting the star Turim, had been discovered by explorers in 214, occupied by the varelvivi between 224 and 264, and finally settled by vailon colonists in 267. The new colony was a testament to vailon ingenuity and persistence; within a few years it had also become a prominent symbol of their generosity and commitment to the rights of all individuals. With its sheer diversity of climates, the Subir administration chose the planet as the location for thousands of new settlements needed to house the refugees streaming in from all quadrants of the galaxy. This created a situation that was, as far as anyone in the Governance knew, unique: a colony home to major concentrations of individuals from dozens of different species. [5] Obevni, ragerians, rontors, pithoks, sathori, pelx-cradonians, and furkians all lived in significant numbers on the planet, along with smaller communities of mith-fell, norillga, and tezhnids. Many vailons also migrated there in the early years, helping staff the resettlement centers and other administrative positions. By 280, however, internal migration to the colony had slowed, and the few vailons who lived there would eventually be greatly outnumbered by the xenos. [6] The flood of refugees also generated explosive population growth; by the end of the century, barely three decades after its founding, it was the second-most populated planet in the Governance. [7]

The changing composition of the Governance was a self-sustaining phenomenon. With a growing xeno share of the population, the proportion of non-vailon new births was also increasing. Additionally, the rate of population migration to the TUG was accelerating, including both refugees and those who chose freely to seek a better life. For refugees, who were being turned away from so many other states in the latter decades of the 3rd century, the acceleration was particularly striking. In the two decades prior to 280, refugees had typically arrived in large groups after specific, catastrophic events, but the yearly average was in the tens of millions. Over the 280s, as warmaking grew across the galaxy, the pool of refugees increased exponentially, and so did the number of refugees heading directly to the Governance. By 290, a billion refugees were entering the TUG every year; ten years later that figure was three billion. Immigration, too, increased over these years, though at a slower rate – from one billion in 280 to just over two and a half billion in 300.

At the turn of the century, the Governance could no longer be truly said to be a vailon society. Rather, the TUG had slowly but surely morphed into a cosmopolitan, multi-species society, the first of its kind in the galaxy. Despite being a member of the founder species, Birm den Boknar proved to be a fitting Director-General for the era, as her agenda strengthened assimilation programs for new arrivals and increased basic income guarantees for all citizens. She set the tone in her inauguration address, giving voice to the hope of so many vailons, for three centuries now, to see a truly free and open society:

Today is the dawn of a new era. We have defined ourselves for too long by those around us, and by what we could do in the great wide galaxy out there. We have lost sight of our purpose. We must refocus on a purpose which allows us to perfect ourselves, to perfect the society we have built, before we turn outwards. We will be a shining beacon of hope. We will be a free haven to all those who seek shelter. Here, all individuals will be safe, and secure in prosperity. Every citizen, every person in the Governance will be free…


Footnotes

[1] Some scholars use an uncivilized/civilized dichotomy to differentiate between those xeno societies who wish to eradicate all other sentient beings and those who, even the warmongers among them, allowed for the existence of alien life.
[2] That is, the period of time since the upheavals of The Collapse.
[3] The capital cities of the Galactic Mirovandia Commonwealth and the Mith-Fell Independent Commonwealth, respectively.
[4] The surface of the planet was a literal paradise, featuring biomes suitable to virtually every known and theoretical lifeform. When it was discovered, however, it was experiencing cyclical phase shifts, occurring every three months, that prevented it from being inhabited. While the planet was shifted out of phase, it became covered with a thick, purple fog – the inspiration for the unique name of the colony. A science team, led by early explorer and erstwhile leader of the Peaceful Progress Initiate Suldirm den Harak, was able to stabilize the planet in its habitable form in 220.
[5] Of course, outside the colonial capital of Vilim, the various xenos generally lived in widely dispersed communities, each species located in a region well suited to their particular physiology.
[6] Vailons accounted for only 3% of the population of The Veil in 300.
[7] With some 39 billion individuals living on its surface in 300, The Veil had outstripped every other colony of the Governance, including the two oldest, Eldetha (35 billion) and Varba (32 billion), both founded more than fifty years earlier than the “Gaia” planet. Only Tebazed, with just over 60 billion individuals at the end of the century, surpassed it in population.
 
Most impressive. I have never seen so many xeno's in an empire.
 
That is a surprising amount of refugees, the galaxy is not in a good place at the moment. I wonder if the vailons will be able to play the peacemakers in galactic politics where negotiations can be had.
I'm curious about how the first xeno in the administration will be treated and act when the time comes.
The Veil seems like a very interesting place to visit, the culture developing there must be remarkable.
I really enjoyed this look at the social aspects of the administration, looking forward to more!
 
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Most impressive. I have never seen so many xeno's in an empire.
That is a surprising amount of refugees, the galaxy is not in a good place at the moment. I wonder if the vailons will be able to play the peacemakers in galactic politics where negotiations can be had.
I'm curious about how the first xeno in the administration will be treated and act when the time comes.
The Veil seems like a very interesting place to visit, the culture developing there must be remarkable.
I really enjoyed this look at the social aspects of the administration, looking forward to more!

The galaxy spawned a ton of warmongers - three fanatic purifiers and fifteen other militarist empires. Given that, it's hardly a surprise to see so many refugees (I got hit with 30ish refugee events by the end of the century), or for the vailons to be dragged into so many wars themselves.

There have been a few xenos in government - two governors and a general to this point - but we have yet to see a major wave. A disappointing note on the gameplay - in 2.5 (the version I'm using for the game), there is a bug for oligarchies that locks out non-founder species from ruler elections, so there won't be any xeno Directors-General until and unless a great change comes to the Governance.

We've almost reached the end of the century in the narrative. At that point, I'll be taking a break from the chronological story and devoting a few chapters to economic and societal changes in the Governance over the past 100 years. So you've got that to look forward to!
 
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