The Aviarium Continuum: The Greater Flight of the Bird People - A Mildly Interactive/Democratic AAR

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First Vote: Dove Lobby, I am 100% Pro-Dove, less they do something awful
Second Vote: Sparrow Lobby

Voting for Hawk makes you a Dork! Show some Love and vote for Dove!
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Also, congratulations @Yenzen, I chose this for this weeks AAR Showcase!
 
The Flock must be a Strong Rock! Vote Hawk!
First Vote: Hawk
Second Vote: Sparrow

@Yenzen, are you considering giving the Tendrakkians their own party in the future? I don't know their ethics, but I would image that they would want more equality for their species (i.e their species as leaders, etc., and maybe even a different form of government).
 
I would like to join the ranks of the voting elite. Having served my time in that rather fruitless war, I believe what we need is more policies focused on colonization and expansion into the shadow sector.

First Vote: Dove
Second Vote: Hawk
 
I would like to join the ranks of the voting elite. Having served my time in that rather fruitless war, I believe what we need is more policies focused on colonization and expansion into the shadow sector.

First Vote: Dove
Second Vote: Hawk
The war, as well as the Disaster of Ecynth, were caused by none other than the Doves, with their blind trust in their fungal friends and their disregard for the state of our Fleet.
 
I respectfully disagree. It was the sparrow-hawk coalition that left our fleet so weak. The dove government was not under a mandate to increase the fleet strength. The blame should fall squarely on our previous Consul and our ill-prepared allies. I do not think our new consul, elected in a dove government will make the same mistakes.

Let us spread our wings, without baring our talons - expansion through peace is the way into the future.
 
I respectfully disagree. It was the sparrow-hawk coalition that left our fleet so weak. The dove government was not under a mandate to increase the fleet strength. The blame should fall squarely on our previous Consul and our ill-prepared allies. I do not think our new consul, elected in a dove government will make the same mistakes.

Let us spread our wings, without baring our talons - expansion through peace is the way into the future.

Yet it was the inept Dove Lobby, who had sole control of the government. Their prosecution of the war left us as humiliated victors. It is clear that the Hawks are the true experts in warfare. The Hawks would have compelled our lackluster ally to act. The Doves are done. Elect Hero Hawks!
 
First vote: Dove
Second vote: Sparrow
We should form and enhace our military alliance (not federation) and interstellar cooperation with civilizations which share common values (military republic, indirect democracy, direct democracy, etc.) to secure ideas of liberty in the Galaxy
 
1st Vote: Hawk
2nd Vote: None

I had said from the start that only the Hawk Lobby would have been able to prevent such a massacre as occurred early in the war. And I agree that we would have completely conquered our foe had it not been for the soft bellies of the Dove Lobby.

In this current election I refuse to vote anything but Hawk as the Dove Lobby is too afraid to fight and the Sparrow Lobby cannot listen to reason when we explain the great opportunities that lie with us killing two birds with successive stones.
 
1st Vote: Hawk
2nd Vote: None

I had said from the start that only the Hawk Lobby would have been able to prevent such a massacre as occurred early in the war. And I agree that we would have completely conquered our foe had it not been for the soft bellies of the Dove Lobby.

In this current election I refuse to vote anything but Hawk as the Dove Lobby is too afraid to fight and the Sparrow Lobby cannot listen to reason when we explain the great opportunities that lie with us killing two birds with successive stones.
How dare you talk about killing birds!

We must kill two mammals with two stones!
 
First Vote: Sparrow
Second Vote: Dove
 
The Othari are the threat, there's no point in waiting for them to declare war on us. But frankly I'm a bit disappointed in the Obevni too, they took a lot more in that war than they had any right to. It might be time to set some rivals and take advantage of that sweet sweet bonus influence from being militarists. The Qix'Potrak look like a safe bet there, serving to underline how wrong the bird people could go and making us a number of friends. The Othari would also make a good rival, being hegemonic imperialists.

First Vote : Dove
Second Vote : Hawk

The Aviarium current has three rivals:

- The Qix'Lufran lookalikes. (Their charming appearance is outdone only by their ghastly politics.)
- The Drull'Perfen Kingdom. (We shan't let them rest before they're wiped out)
- The Confederacy of Guma (They're as bad as the Othari, buteven ruder!)

First Vote: Sparrow
Second Vote: Hawk

No love for Dove! If you want life to be less harrowing, we need politics to be more sparrowing!

I don't think you'll like how the rest of your Sparrow mates voted!

I just want to say that The Shadow Sector sounds like a lovely place that will never spawn any sort of universe devouring cosmic horror.

Nope, all sunshine and space lollipops (and ludicrous tax rates to enable the central government to wage expensive wars)

Vote 1: Sparrow
Vote 2: Hawk

it is better to war prudently but war in the shadows will temper our steel.

Yeah. Prudently. Always.

(shifty eyes)

First Vote: Dove Lobby, I am 100% Pro-Dove, less they do something awful
Second Vote: Sparrow Lobby

Voting for Hawk makes you a Dork! Show some Love and vote for Dove!

Also, congratulations @Yenzen, I chose this for this weeks AAR Showcase!

Again, thank you for the nomination. I'll have to think about who to nominate before the weekend is over!

The Flock must be a Strong Rock! Vote Hawk!
First Vote: Hawk
Second Vote: Sparrow

@Yenzen, are you considering giving the Tendrakkians their own party in the future? I don't know their ethics, but I would image that they would want more equality for their species (i.e their species as leaders, etc., and maybe even a different form of government).

They're an extreme minority and can't even get elected, so not at the moment. Hell, it seems like the one POP left, so the one growing is growing at a rate of 0.

Very likely, when the xeno leadership tech is unlocked, will there be a debate and election about extending the vote or not. I don't like making political issues of what I can't do anything about anyway.

Right now three parties work really well to keep me relatively sane. Sometimes it's hard to just represent three points of view, so if I introduce a fourth party, it would need to be very stark compared to the others (maybe AI focused, maybe very regional with never imposing more than 50% taxes, etc.)

I would like to join the ranks of the voting elite. Having served my time in that rather fruitless war, I believe what we need is more policies focused on colonization and expansion into the shadow sector.

First Vote: Dove
Second Vote: Hawk

The Shadow sector isn't going to be expanded much if the Dove lobby won, as they argued for war with the Othari and there are a grumpy Fallen Empire to the east and fellow democratic fungi with long legs to the west!

Don't worry too much about colonization though... you'll see.

Civilizations in galaxy packed like sardines. How many stars did you choose in starting options? 600 or 1000?

1000, four arms. About 30 AI empires (?). It just seems like two of the arms were extremely tightly packed.

First Vote: Hawk
Second Vote: Dove

The Religious Sparrows don't have the Grand Galactic view of the Bird People in mind!

The cold materialism of the Dove and Hawk lobby have clouded your judgement and it's important that we remember the lessons of those who came before! ... Is what a sparrow lobby supporter might say.

First vote: Dove
Second vote: Sparrow
We should form and enhace our military alliance (not federation) and interstellar cooperation with civilizations which share common values (military republic, indirect democracy, direct democracy, etc.) to secure ideas of liberty in the Galaxy

Haha, but ironically invading other democratic empires would probably make handling the population easier, as there would be less ethos conflict.

But democracy isn't about things being easy, is it?

1: Sparrow
2: Dove

Nice AAR love reading it!

Thank you! I'm very happy about the degree of user participation too. I was worried if I would even get 5 votes for the system to function properly.

1st Vote: Hawk
2nd Vote: None

I had said from the start that only the Hawk Lobby would have been able to prevent such a massacre as occurred early in the war. And I agree that we would have completely conquered our foe had it not been for the soft bellies of the Dove Lobby.

In this current election I refuse to vote anything but Hawk as the Dove Lobby is too afraid to fight and the Sparrow Lobby cannot listen to reason when we explain the great opportunities that lie with us killing two birds with successive stones.

If you consider each of the parties equal as minority partners, that's a fair point of view, but keep in mind that secondary votes matter a lot since it makes it easier for a party to become the majority party, which has the greatest effect (the sparrowhawk coalition was led by the Sparrow Lobby first, Hawk Lobby next).

It also means that if a party you dislike the least wins, the Hawk Lobby can influence it as a minority partner.

How dare you talk about killing birds!

We must kill two mammals with two stones!

It's okay, as long as said birds are dirty space seagulls or something.

Everyone - Thank you for voting!

2245-2265: Chapter 3 - Corewards


The chapter begins, as so many others, with the results of the elections. No party was able to secure 45%< of the votes with a 5% lead over any other party, hence the Dove Lobby had to resign their government and any new ruling government would have to be a coalition.

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The Hawk Lobby gained 104 mandates with 35% (8/23) of the vote
The Sparrow Lobby gained 78 mandates with 26% (6/23) of the vote
The Dove Lobby gained 118 mandates with 39% (9/23) of the vote

As the largest party, the Dove Lobby first sought to make a coalition government. Despite the growing voices asking for a return to traditional parties with a Dove/Hawk coalition, support among dove lobby voters was greater for a dove/sparrow coalition (66%). This interest was returned by only half of the Sparrow lobby, while the other half wanted a coalition with the Hawk Lobby. As there wasn't a majority of Sparrow Lobby voters supporting the Dove-Sparrow coalition, the third round method would have to be attempted.

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- Every mandate of a party is assumed to support any coalition, where their party is the majority party.
- A minority party would only support the formation of a coalition with the fraction of mandates their voters gave them for that specific coalition (if party A is larger and 1/3 B voters support party B with a second vote on party A, they can add all A mandates and a third of B mandates to an AB government to see if it passes the 150 mandate marks for a majority)

The obvious options are a Hawk/Sparrow Coalition and a Dove/Sparrow coalition. A Dove/Hawk coalition is also possible, but would only be officially supported by 1/3 of what would be the ruling Dove Lobby, and so other options are tested first:

- The Hawk Lobby has 104 mandates, and with half the Sparrow lobby voters supporting coalition with them, 143. Not enough to form a majority.
- The Dove Lobby has 118 mandates and with half of the Sparrow lobby mandates, 157 mandates. Enough to form a coalition government.

The outcome was hence a Dove-Sparrow Blue-Black coalition with the Dove Lobby as the majority party.

Meanwhile, the Sparrow lobby negotiated the following changes to policy:

- The allowance of limited orbital bombardment.
- Hostile First Contact Policy (though keeping at a distance)
- Influence spent towards increasing social output.
- A targeted policy regarding the planned Othari war: That if possible a path should be carved to the next galaxy arm connected with the center.

Note: It's worth noting that a Dove/Hawk coalition was, as noted, also possible with this method, as half of the Hawk voters would have been fine with that constellation also yielding a majority (9 Dove + 4 Hawk). However, with most Dove supporters preferring Dove/Sparrow and only half of Hawk voters wanting hawk/dove, it was the choice between a coalition supported by the majority of the majority ruling party and half of the minority ruling party, or one supported by a minority of the majority ruling party and half of the minority ruling party. The former seemed the most sensible, the third election method is mostly about forming a government as close to the ideal of the second as possible.

This is the third election where one person voting differently (one hawk supporting hawk/sparrow over hawk/dove) would have changed the ruling party.


Let's get on with it.

Chapter 3: 2045-2065 - Corewards

Suffice to say: Plume of Green never lost his mandate throughout these years, impressively.

The Aviarium Continuum settled into sort of a calm after the election. The Dove Lobby set about sending colony ships to the remaining 5 desert planets, which would consume much of the resources for the first years.

Meanwhile, the 1st Grand Flock was sent on forays to annihilate the local interstellar fauna which plagued a few star systems, and these were soon open for the newly hired Scientist Claws of Yellow to uncover.

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If you look at the second event you'll see the Aviarium fleet engaging these pests.

The signs of the precursors were abundant in the newly cleared systems. Whatever had threatened this federation of twelve nations had been frightful indeed.

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Don't spoil me, but I'm guessing this is a setup to an end-game crisis or the revelation that the war was a civil war where they wiped themselves out.

Not to be outdone by the young upstart, the aging Feathers of Blue found some space charts in the area between the Shadow Sector and the Grumpy Guardians, containing information about a system that would take a few months to scan, if we had just traveled there normally...

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That's nice, Blue...

As well as an archive of some sort.

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The internet is just a fad. Old textbooks and murals are where it's at!

Many of these new desert colonies were quite impressive, such as this one in the northern parts of the Proxima sector.

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Having made peace with the Bhenn'Thells meant that it was also time to make trade with them. The migration agreement came as a matter of course, not that much was expected to be gained from it.

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For the record: The central government of the Aviarium is an almost constant energy deficit. Not a large problem as everyone else loves to trade minerals in exchange, often favorably so.

The Republic of Kergaros, righteously liberated from the Drull'Perfen Kingdom and now a (small) beacon of democracy was invited by the other parties to join the Republican Force. The Dove Lobby and Aviarium in general kind of shrugged and said "okay", though there were some questions about how much they could actually add to a war.

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By 2050, the Aviarium fleet had grown to 55 corvettes and all desert planets in known space were colonized. A war declaration, which would carve a path to the new galaxy arm and split the Othari in two, was made.

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The Othari were outnumbered four to one (okay, one of those four was weak and useless, the other one would need to crawl using wormhole stations so 2:1). This should be a quick war.

The 1st Grand Flock took route towards the closest inhabited Othari system and quickly put it under planetary siege, with no apparent response.

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Then they came.

Armed with a new ship class that the Aviarium miraculously had still not discovered and weapons that might prove useful against the missiles of the Aviarium. A retreat to rendezvous with the UOC was ordered, though disconcertingly they had hyperdrives.

Which meant they could follow immediately, before the next FTL jump could be made.

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Hyperdrive vs hyperdrive wars can be... punishing for the one with the weaker navy.

The Bird People fought bravely, but in the end the new ships proved too much to handle. The last remaining ships successfully performed an emergency FTL jump through a series of enemy territory, and the enemy did not manage a pursuit.

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Why they didn't follow it and wipe it out, I'll never know.

The enemy, however, had a badly damaged fleet as well and the UOC had moved into Aviarium territory. For now they did not move into Aviarium space, possibly convinced that the forces of the UFN were actually able to arrive with their wormhole ships to lend support.

It gave the Aviarium time to rebuild their fleet, mostly financed by selling Aviarium technology to irrelevant faraway nations and make favorable deals with nearby powers.

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If only these pacifists knew what they were supporting...

While there were of course other concerns, there was some mild celebration at home as Feathers of Khaki, early retired from traveling scientist status, managed to uncover the secrets of colonizing planets that had seemed just too damn cold before.

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"Okay guys, they're just like Arid planets, you just have to... bring more blankets!"

It would take time for the new Quantum missiles and destroyer vessels to be completed, a new fleet to be built and existing ships to be updated. In the meantime, the Othari were too worried about the combined fleet power of the Republican force to move into their territory

(I seriously lucked out since the AI assumed that it was vastly outnumbered thanks to my "allies". Selling Aviarium technology for minerals is also a bit cheap, but in my defense, this game really punishes you for making one bad call and your allies are so very useless most of the time)

In other, not at all concerning news, the Tendrakkians underground were asking for weapons... They probably only needed them to clear some more caves... The Dove Lobby agreed, if only to keep good relations after they got angry about the defectors.

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Right? There can't possible be any bad consequences for this.

During the navy rebuilding effort, notices came that Purple nest was underdeveloped and many were unemployed. This exceeded the expected POP growth and a cursory look revealed the source of the problems:

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Yeeees. Check out the ethics too!

The immigration treaty with the Democratic Bhenn'Thell Council had worked beyond expectations and their less pacifist brethren had willingly chosen to leave and make the Aviarium Continuum their new home! As a Gaia planet, Purple Nest worked as a beacon for these new Bhenn'Thell to adapt quite well to.

Meanwhile, It had taken until 2057 before the new fleet was ready. Once again the same system was breached by Aviarium forces, this time with no response from the Othari.

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It turned out that they were simply gathering their forces, for they, too, had been building up a new navy.

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The UOC had finally made it into the battlefield that they moved into flank the Othari as the two equal fleets engaged one another. This would be the test of the new prototype Aviarium spacecraft, the destroyer-class IBP Wildfire.

It was an intense struggle, but in the end the combined Aviarium and UOC fleets combined won through.

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During the battle, the cowardly Beak of Bronze had quit the field for unknown reasons (seriously, why does that keep happening?) He would later be executed for desertion. In his stead, a new commander took the reins and she would lead the fight to the utter annihilation of the enemy fleet.

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She's both gale-speed (+5% evasion, +20% fleet movement speed) and aggressive (+20% fire rate). Win. Also the damn events don't reveal genders either.

The Othari were nothing if not resilient, and they refused to give into demands until their capital world fell in 2060.

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The Othari were crushed and they surrendered the claimed systems. This also meant that a pathway into another galaxy arm was open, although it might just be populated already.

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Yeah. Just a minor setback. A mere flesh wound in the fabric of space-time.

The Othari were not overly happy with their new rulers, but it seemed as if once the humiliation of the defeat passed, they would adjust to their new democratic freedoms.

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To ease the adjustment, the new people of the Aviarium were integrated into the newly formed semi-autonomous Othari Republic.

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The Othari Republic also had a few robots. The Aviarium Continuum had some interest in them, but with no technological know-how to build their own, and with a growing cosmopolitan population that could handle most climates, they were deemed more of a curiosity than anything.

To speed up the discovery and colonization of the new galaxy arm, a third science vessel was built. As Feathers of Blue had sadly passed from old age during the war, two new scientists would join the (now) Senior Claws of Yellow:

- The IBP Farsight headed by Plume of Magneta would explore along the most proximate worlds to discover colonies that could be connected with the Aviarium directly.
- The IBP Inner Eye headed by Claws of Yellow would scan the new Othari Republic for unknown discoveries, followed by investigating exotic species in the Aviarium space and signs of the precursors.
- The IBP Evaluating Eye headed by Wings of Lavender would scout faraway systems, which the 1st Grand Flock passed through first, where there had been located planets that were deemed possibly colonizable.

There was no time to think of such peripheral concerns as the inner makeup of space crystals and other irrelevant fauna.

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To relieve the workload, as the new world was discovered, a new sector was established at home.

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They would be given control over more of the western systems, if that didn't mean giving away planets with non-sentient aliens.

The Republican Force had a public debate about turning into a federation, but every party in the Murmuration refused. The Aviarium Continuum had simply become too powerful to consider the other alliance members equals.

As if unlocking desert and tundra planets had not been enough for the New World scientist Feathers of Khaki, the truth to colonizing Arctic planets soon became unlocked too. The Bird People were exceptionally badly adapted to such a climate, though (Too cold. Just too damn cold. And wet.).

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Retiring him from field science was one of the best things ever done by the Aviarium.

Luckily, the newest Bhenn'Thell citizens of the Aviarium, who had abandoned their pacifist ways, were more than willing and able to do the task... And the new world soon turned out be complete void of space faring civilizations and to have multiple planets open to colonization to Bird People and Bhenn'thell both. The first optimal planets were found in the Atmir and Ruinam systems.

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That was only the beginning. Soon, thanks to exchanged maps of the area, half a dozen livable planets became known to the Aviarium, and colony ships containing Bird People for the Arid, Desert and Tundra planets as well as Bhenn'Thell for the Arctic planets were soon pouring into the new land. The western planets have already been unified under the newly dubbed "Coreward" sector.

The Aviarium also now has significant minorities of Bhen'Thell (sharply increasing due to new colonies), Drull'Perfens (due to am immigration treaty with the Republic of Kergaros), a couple of Robots and Tendrakkians.

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A lot of these systems are only known (=white) because of exchanged star maps.

Multiple of the systems in the region have turned out to contain signs of the precursors, but Scientist-Captain Wings of Lavender humbly admits that she does not have the knowledge to fully comprehend the complexity of them yet, and the effort should wait until she has the expertise.

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There was much to learn, both from the old world in the Othari Republic and from the New World.

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One of the Atmir planets were found to have a stone age civilization on a continental planet, but the task of uplifting these was judged too hard. However, the Holden system has locals that, for reasons unknown, had caused quite the stir in the Aviarium.

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Smug Slugs. Xenophile, Tundra-loving Charismatic Smug Slugs!!!

Having been still denied the ability to uplift the species on the south-western systems of the central government, calls have come out to find a way to integrate these xenos, but opinions differ on the best path.

All is not well in the aftermath of the Othari Liberation War. Many Othari at home are still discontent regarding the fallout of the war and it is estimated that a rebellion may happen at some point, despite attempts at postponing the issue. This had become yet another issue for political discussion.

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The remaining Othari Coalition have joined in federation with five other factions, including the severely weakened Drull'Perfen kingdom, hoping to find safety in numbers to defend themselves, and some argue, to prepare an attack against the Aviarium Continuum.

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No, I have no idea why they would think those northern nations would be of much help.

End of Chapter 3. A new election is underway, check the first page.


---------
Appendix - Politics

Political issues.

Political commentary by the opposing Hawk Faction on recent events

- We admit that attacking the Othari Coalition was not a mistake, the vast open space near the core that now lies open to us is a testament to that. However, the current governments ability to delay the armament of a proper navy combined with their recklessness in not waiting for our allies, meant that we only won the war due to sheer force of economy, not strategy! Many losses could have been prevented, and the war shorter, had a larger navy been built and patience for our allies sought at the very first engagement. Additionally, we wouldn't have to have to sell our of unique Aviarium technology to half the galaxy to fund our victory!

- The continued support of these Tendrakkians is bordering on the insane. Why are we arming those living in our space, but who refuse our authority?

- In rebuttal the government argues that all evidence pointed towards the Othari navy being smaller and that it was through their screw dealings that the war was won. The Tendrakkians are a little careless with their digging, but they have showed nothing but good intentions.

Dealing with the Othari rebels


- The Dove lobby:
We should keep trying to ease the tension until the effects of the war dissipate, as such things always will, given enough time. We will keep our assault troops nearby if need be, though
- The Sparrow Lobby: We should make an attempt to suppress the media until the war weariness dies down, but also be prepared with defensive armies, should this effort not buy enough time.
- The Hawk Lobby: We have invested enough resources into trying to delay this problem with integration campaigns. If some of these Othari really do arm themselves, we will station loyalist armies in these planets to deal with them.

Dealing with this new "Federation" formed by the enemies of the Aviarium

- The Dove lobby: They are a rather pathetic lot, while our countless new colonies require most of our resources. In the next 15 years or so, we should only increase our fleet power conservatively and focus on building up our colonies, inside the new sector before they are seized by other factions, and inside our borders where planets previously unavailable to us now are open to colonization.
- The Sparrow Lobby: We should seek out conflict with them, as expanding by war is by our experience, far more expensive than colonization. We do, however, need to build up a decent number of destroyer and even cruiser size warships to dissuade them from trying anything. Of course colonization is still a priority.
- The Hawk Lobby: We should prepare for war against this new federation grows too large. Our top priority should be to be ready in 10-15 years to wipe out the sad remains of the Drull'Perfen Kingdom and to further liberate the remaining Othari under control of their immoral corporate masters.

Concerning the Jogollwa "smugslugs"


- The Dove lobby: These magnificent creatures should be enlightened, though the path to getting these bronze age people into space will be long, it is the right way.
- The Sparrow Lobby: We should just study them from afar or colonize their planet. They are very primitive and the time and effort required is simply not worth it.
- The Hawk Lobby: We should prepare a ground invasion of their society and take them over by force. As the Sparrow Lobby says, enlightening them will take too long, and they are probably too backwards to talk into joining, but people of this age respect a show of strength and they have the inherent intelligence to become good citizens, once they adapt.

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Election bill:

Party Choice

First choice:
Second Choice:
 
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