Bretonia

Template:Version Template:House Infobox Bretonia, or the Kingdom of Bretonia is the title of one of the four original houses in Sirius. It's territory extends across many systems on the western side of The Barrier, with various claims to systems bordering the Walker Nebula as well as ones deep within The Barrier itself. It is a constitutional monarchy with the monarch (King or Queen) representing the state while the parliament presides over the government. Bretonian sovereign territories border the systems of Omega-3, Magellan, Cortez and Tau-31. The Armed Forces were involved in a long standing conflict with the Kusari Empire in the Tau systems, before being faced with an invasion by forces of the Gallic Royal Navy. The war has since ended, however it has left lasting effects upon Bretonia with the loss of Planet Leeds. Bretonia now seeks to recover to the best of its ability and prevent further damage by maintaining strong relations with those friendly, and containing those not.

History

Main article: History of Bretonia

The Bretonia was one of the last sleeper ships to arrive in the Sirius Sector, almost twenty years after the Liberty, Kusari, and Rheinland had made planetfall on what became their respective homeworlds. In the chaos of the Exodus, the starboard engine array of the Bretonia was destroyed, requiring her to limp the rest of the way to Sirius.

By the time the Bretonia arrived, most of the resource rich areas of the sector had already been claimed by the passengers of the Rheinland and the Kusari, while the Liberty had settled the lush planets at the sector core. The passengers of the Bretonia were forced to select a less than ideal site near the Barrier, a giant belt of ice that spans the entire western half of the Sirius Sector. Here they established the colony of New London, on one of the few habitable planets in the area. Isolated by the Barrier from the other houses and years behind, Bretonia began an accelerated program of rebuilding their industrial civilization.

Historically quiet in terms of crime, Bretonia is the home of two narrowly focused terrorist groups, the Mollys and the Gaians. Common criminals were quite rare until the recent arrival of Corsairs and Outcasts within the colony, which has severely tested the capabilities and resources of the Police Authority and Armed Forces.

Controlled and contested space

The Kingdom of Bretonia is made up of eight star systems (New London, Cambridge, Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Dublin and Poole), with significant presense in Omega-3 and Tau-31.

Claimed Border Worlds

The Kingdom of Bretonia claims large parts of the Taus (Tau-23, Orkney, Tau-31) and Omega-3, out of which two include small populated Planets: Harris and Sprague.

Territorial claims

Bretonia also laid claim to Tau-23, the BMM attempting to conduct mining operations there, in competition with the IMG and much to the consternation of the Outcasts.

Bretonian Armed Forces are also frequently on patrol in Omega-3 and Omega-48, bound by an agreement with Rheinland to protect the vulnerable and heavily attacked trade lanes there.

Government and politics

Bretonia is ruled by a Constitutional Monarchy with Queen Carina at its head and the Parliament as its elected governing body.

Economy

The primary sources of employment in Bretonia are mining (BMM), shipbuilding (BMM and Bowex), heavy industry (primarily BMM and other industrial giants operating in Leeds), commercial shipping (dominated by Gateway and Bowex), the vast government bureaucracy, tourism (particularly OSC in Edinburgh), scientific research (centred around the Cambridge Research Institute and Sunderland Research Station) and terraforming (Planetform, Inc.).

Bretonia Exports

A list of most important export products and trading objects of Bretonia; this includes Omega-3 and the BAF side of Planet Leeds:

Food and other agracultural or watercultural products of Bretonia:

Resources

Industrial Products

Human Resources & Tourism

Crime and dissent

Bretonia has two local major unlawful factions, both committed to different ideological goals but still unfriendly toward each other due to varying alliances.

Mollys are a separatist group committed to freeing the Dublin system from Bretonian rule by attempting to force the parliament to pull out BAF forces from the system through attacks on civilian, commercial, and military targets.
Gaians are a terrorist faction opposed to any alteration to the natural environment of a planet, specifically those brought about through terraforming. They mainly operate in Edinburgh, in Bretonia space and the nearby Border Worlds, but some rumours speak of detected Gaians in Corsair space.

Aside from these two factions, the Corsairs are a frequent sight in south and north Bretonia respectively, with the former especially wreaking havoc on trade and civilian traffic due to the thinning of BAF forces in Cambridge out of necessity of defending Leeds against foreign invasion. Lane Hackers are also a frequent sight in the Manchester system, spilling over from their central system of Magellan. Earlyier there were also more Maltese raiding in Bretonia, but the two Tau-Wars created an alliance between them, that is strong enough to stop most of the Maltese pirating behavior in Bretonia.

The Bretonian government generally takes a somewhat liberal stance towards their unlawful groups, and in particular Bretonian courts rarely prosecute captured Gaian terrorists.