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Kingdom of Bretonia
| House Bretonia | |||||
| United Kingdom of Bretonia | |||||
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| Capital | Planet New London, New London System | ||||
| Official languages | English | ||||
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| Founded | 19 A.S. | ||||
| Controlled space | |||||
| Affiliated organisations | |||||
Bretonia, or the United 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 are currently engaged in a war with the Kusari Empire over the ownership of the Tau-31 system. Patrols are also frequent in the system of Omega-3.
History
Main article: History of Bretonia
The Bretonian systems were founded by the inhabitants of the British sleeper ship Bretonia. The ship arrived almost 20 years after the Liberty. The region is now ruled over by a monarch and its capital is Planet New London.
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 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 sleeper ship had arrived, most of the resource rich areas of the sector had already been claimed by the passengers of the other colonists, with the Liberty settling a lucrative area at the sector core. Bretonia was forced to select a less than ideal site near the Barrier. 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.
Controlled and contested space
The Kingdom of Bretonia is made up of seven star systems (New London, Cambridge, Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Dublin), although as officially stated by the government it includes six more: Inverness, Chester, Dundee, Poole, Salisbury and Tau-31. Out of those systems, three include habitable planets: New London, Cambridge and Leeds.
Territorial claims
The government of Bretonia has laid claim to the system of Tau-31 since 812 A.S. placing Bretonia in a state of conflict with the Kusari Empire. Tau-31 is currently under near total control of Kusari, with planet Harris being the last pocket of resistance.
Bretonia also lays claim to Tau-23, the BMM attepting 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 the Omega-3 system, bound by agreement with Rheinland to protect the vulnerable and heavily attacked trade lanes there.
Government and politics
The Realm of Bretonia is a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral parliament. Power is divided between the Monarch, House of Commons and House of Lords. The Commons are elected directly by all Bretonian citizens from the constituencies of all Bretonian planets and civilian space stations, and have exclusive control over financial matters, as well as maintaining a check on the legislative power of the Lords. The House of Lords consists of all the hereditary Lords and Ladies of the Bretonian aristocracy, as well as those appointed for life by the Monarch, and are generally considered the more powerful of the two Houses, proposing and voting on all policy other than finance bills. The Monarch inherits the Crown of Bretonia from his or her forbears, by male-preference primogeniture, selects the Prime Minister from either Commons or Lords, and has considerable influence over the Armed Forces, Police and Judiciary, as well as having a veto over Parliament and control over war declarations and treaties.
The current Monarch is Carina I, who inherited the throne from her father George V in 786 A.S. at the age of 29. She has generally been considered one of Bretonia's more popular Monarchs, with the Royalist Party remaining in power in Parliament throughout all her reign except for a brief period in 795-797 A.S. where the Populist opposition gained control of the Commons. Her bold stance during the Nomad War of 801 A.S. gained her considerable support from the populace, and she was seen as a strong figure in opposing Kusari expansion into the Tau border worlds in the lead-up to the current Tau War.
This position of popular support was threatened in the Constitutional Crisis of September 816 A.S. when a pretender to the Throne, Lord George Mountbatten, Duke of Westminster, started a short-lived rebellion based on false claims fed to him by his dying father. The ending of the rebellion, when the Duke renounced his claims realising his mistake, was seized upon by the Populist Party in Parliament as an opportunity to reform the constitution in favour of greater democracy and a weakening of Royal Powers. This second crisis prompted a Royalist Coup, in which Carina attempted to disband the growing populist movement by force, using her Private Fleet, the QCRF, to move against her enemies in Parliament. The coup was only partially successful, however, and whilst the Populists were ousted from Parliament and many of their members arrested, their leaders escaped to begin the subversive Federalist movement, whilst the Queen was forced to disband the QCRF and renounce her direct control over the Admiralty Board in order to stave off a significant loss of popular support.
The most recent political developments occurred in February 817 A.S. when the conservative Royalist Government of James Worthington was ousted by a group of more progressive Royalists under the leadership of Lord Mountbatten, who had been pardoned and regained considerable support since his September rebellion. Mountbatten used the context of a debate over re-writing the Constitution, as well as criticisms of Worthington's failing war effort, to overthrow the ineffective government and replace it with his own supporters. Whilst safely Royalist, the new progressive government of Mountbatten is nevertheless seen by some of the older Royalists as a threat to the position of the Monarchy, with Mountbatten's strong leadership of the growing war effort, and the absence of any more democratic alternative, granting him a popularity amongst the masses challenging that of even Carina herself; a rare occurrence in Bretonian history.
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.).
Foreign relations
Bretonia maintains close ties with Liberty, the two Houses cooperating on many issues such as security in Magellan and Cortez, scientific research and counter-terrorism. Relations with Rheinland have been somewhat cold ever since the Nomad War of 801 A.S., with the Liberty-Rheinland conflict not helping matters, but despite this the importance of trade links through the Omega border worlds ensure that the two Houses are forced to maintain at least passable, if not exactly friendly relations, and are still occasionally involved in cooperation against Corsair pirates.
Relations with Kusari, naturally, have ceased almost completely for the last 3 years - the two governments maintain no formal diplomatic relations. A temporary ceasefire did hold for much of the December holiday season, but since the Kusari assault on Leeds, the conflict between the two Houses has reached new heights.
Crime and dissent
Bretonia has two local 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 rumors tell about detected Gaians in Corsair space.
The Bretonian government generally takes a somewhat liberal stance towards their unlawful groups. The BAF has been known for working with the Mollys repeatedly against Kusari offensives in the past as well, while the Bretonian courts rarely prosecute captured Gaian terrorists. The government is also suspected of dealing with the Outcasts against Kusari, but no such claims were proven so far.
Aside from these two factions, both Corsairs and Outcasts 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.
