Politics and Citizenship Draft
The Federal Republic of Worlds governs occupied space; Council of 11 holds veto; jump-tax & licensing; sharp citizen-vs-resident legal divide.
World Rules
- Citizens get uniform federal protection, federal-law supremacy, right to appeal against member worlds, and freedom of movement. A member world cannot execute a citizen; only the Military can, only for treason (else deport/deny entry). Citizenship is by birth or by military/government service; revocable.
- Non-citizens (residents) abroad have no federal protection. Violations → deported to home world + travel-banned, plus local punishment. The home world must accept them back.
- PCs are citizens by default; playing a non-citizen requires the Second-Class Citizen disadvantage.
- Inter-world commerce is the Republic's main lever: ships pay a jump tax to use gates (per-route rate), and the Republic licenses people/corps for space operations, including in unoccupied space.
- The Republic keeps covert listening posts inside licensed systems, tracking ship movement in-system independently of any company's reporting. Their existence is not advertised; a Marshal may disclose one when it matters.
- Forged Federal Republican citizen ID cards can be sourced through fixers and pass basic security checks and planetary travel protocols. They do not survive deep federal scrutiny — any scan thorough enough to break the forgery finds what the holder actually is.
Overview
The Federal Republic of Worlds governs all occupied space and everything between member worlds. A Senate and Commons handle most governance, but a Council of 11 worlds (7 founding, 4 added) holds veto power. Member worlds self-govern within federal law; violators are blockaded, then face military intervention in the extreme.
Details
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Commerce & licensing: the jump tax tolls gate use per route; licenses authorize space operations. Who holds which license, and where, is the quiet currency of frontier power.
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Citizenship is everything. Citizens are federally protected, can appeal against member worlds, move freely, and cannot be executed by a member world (only the Military, only for treason). Earned by birth or service; revocable.
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Residents (non-citizens) have none of this — deportable, travel-bannable, at the mercy of local law. On a frontier vice-town like Thides Station, this means a population of people who can vanish and be ruled to have “skipped town.”
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The Republic is listening anyway. Corporate reporting policy blinds a Marshal to station business, so the Republic runs its own covert listening posts inside licensed systems. There is one in the Thidian Belt tracking every hull that moves in-system, and it is what proved Kinetic Logistics traffic was going down to Thides I rather than out through the gate. Julija Borja named it to the crew in Session 5.
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Citizenship can be forged — to a point. Forged citizen IDs are a fixer’s commodity (Roselyn Monroe produced five in an hour) and pass basic security checks and planetary travel protocols. Deep federal scrutiny breaks them, and for a non-citizen holder that is the moment the resident rules above apply in full. Confirmed Session 7.
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Controlled biohazards. Black Ice (Stimulodiscus pericensis) is a class one controlled biohazard. Possession off-world can mean immediate imprisonment and the termination of any corporate contract. Confirmed Session 11.
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System lockdowns. The Republic’s military can close an entire system by broadcast: nothing enters or leaves for a stated period, and no reason need be given. The Katha System was closed for forty-eight hours and reopened with a mandatory search of every ship leaving the system through a gate (The Katha Lockdown). Confirmed Session 12.
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Performer contracts. Investors in a contracted entertainer hold a legal right to have her brought back to fulfil the contract, and may post a reward for her return (Adelina Feliciano). Confirmed Session 12.
Cross-Domain Links
- FTL and Hyperspace — gates, jump tax, and the licensing that lets corps operate in the dark.
- Interstellar Travel — transponder law and fleet enforcement; the ship-side twin of ID checks.