Volume XXXVI: Legacies of the League—Marik-Stewart and Regulus

Fact Sheet: The Marik-Stewart Commonwealth
Founding Year: 3082 (2238 as Republic of Marik)
Capital (City, World): Dormuth, Marik
National Symbol: a black eagle and banner before a golden disc and purple rectangle
Location (Terra relative): Rimward-antispinward of Terra, interior
Total (Inhabited) Systems: 31
Estimated Population (3130): 91,200,000,000
Government: Parliamentary Democracy (currently operating under military rule)
Ruler: Captain-General Anson Marik
Dominant Language(s): English (official), Slovak, Czech, Romanian
Dominant Religion(s): Judaism, Islam, Christianity (Orthodox)
Unit of Currency: Eagle (1 eagle = 0.52 C-Bills)

Dormuth, capital of Marik and of the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth, is a remarkable urban sprawl with a skyline of exotically angled towers, domes, and spires that gleam in the orange light of the noontime sun. Orbiting close to that star, Marik is a hot, dry world, but one rich in metals and active in manufacturing. Much of the world has been rebuilt in the decades after the formation of The Republic. Thus, much of what the casual observer sees in the sprawling metropolises astounds those historically astute, who expect a trip back in time on this birth world of the Free Worlds League. And yet, for all the changes, there is much that remains the same here on Marik. The government and military command buildings in Dormuth and Malkent are Spartan in nature, nothing like the grand palaces of other realms. And the biggest tourist draw is the annual races out of the Burlingrad Hoverdrome, which locals proudly say inspired the hover-derby races on Solaris VII.

The largest of the former Free Worlds League member-states, and including the former capital of Atreus, the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth is actually the fusion of the original Marik Commonwealth and the Stewart Commonality, plus several neighboring systems and minor alliances either annexed or brought into the alliance in the years following the Word of Blake Jihad. Once the power base of the Marik family’s dominance over Free Worlds politics and the core of the Captain-General’s power, today it is one of the most fractious of the former League states, an echo of the fallen League itself, if you will.

Duchess Alys Rousset-Marik of Augustine, who actually called for the repeal of Resolution 288 (and with it, the title of Captain-General), in 3067, ironically was in the running to be this realm’s first Captain-General after the League’s final collapse in 3078. But when even this state began to erupt in internal conflicts, she instead ceded her world and several others to the nascent Republic of the Sphere. Corrine Marik instead would claim the Captain-Generalcy over the Marik Commonwealth in 3082, and lead the battered nation in a military effort to secure its sovereignty against The Republic, the Capellans, the Lyrans, and even its former fellow League members, such as Oriente and Regulus.

Nominally, the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth claims to be a parliamentary-style democracy, but a Captain-General has sat upon the throne since the state went independent in 3082, citing a state of emergency in an eerie reminder of the old House Marik tradition. This democratic basis has given voice to many of the Commonwealth’s subject worlds, many of which chafe under Marik leadership not because it is heavy-handed so much as because it has made minimal effort to reclaim lost ancestral worlds today claimed by House Steiner and The Republic of the Sphere. Other political factions within the Commonwealth also call for military action against Regulus and Oriente, many with an eye toward rebuilding the Free Worlds League as a stronger, more unified realm than ever before. Understandably, these vocal political factions and the ongoing rule by a military hierarchy “for the duration of the crisis” have led to many confrontations and frosty foreign relations, but have also contributed to the strength of the central government and the military that protects it.

The people of the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth, however, are a more cosmopolitan society. Claiming many of the former League’s most industrialized worlds and thriving with trade—even to hostile neighbors—the Commonwealth is the wealthiest as well as the largest of the former League states. Having been an interior realm for much of the reign of the Free Worlds League, the Commonwealth suffered little damage during the Succession Wars, allowing it to flourish as an industrial and cultural power. Many of those hailing from the original Marik Commonwealth are among the former League’s greatest patrons of the arts, literature, and entertainment. And despite their realm’s current political strife, many of the people here are remarkably friendly and trusting, hardly a picture of the warlike state many of their neighbors paint in the mass media.

Fact Sheet: The Regulan Fiefs
Founding Year: 3086 (2243 as Principality of Regulus)
Capital (City, World): Tunis, Regulus
National Symbol: a blue eagle rising behind the world of Regulus
Location (Terra relative): Rimward-antispinward of Terra, central.
Total (Inhabited) Systems: 27
Estimated Population (3130): 18,000,000,000
Government: Constitutional Monarchy (currently operating under martial law)
Ruler: Captain-General Lester Cameron-Jones
Dominant Language(s): English (official), Hindi, Urdu, Mongolian
Dominant Religion(s) : Hindu, Islam, Christianity (Orthodox)
Unit of Currency: Rupee (1 rupee = 0.58 C-Bills)

Regulus, capital of the Regulan Fiefs, is a warm world, orbiting a hot yellow-white giant. Made wealthy by centuries as a hub of commerce throughout the Free Worlds League territories, this world, like Marik, is also well developed. Huge agro-complexes and massive cities dot the striking landscapes of the temperate and tropical zones, with the largest by far being the capital and port city of Tunis. Home to over five million Regulans, Tunis is as much a work of art as it is a center for trade and government, and the architecture here is a magnificent blend of classic Eastern Indian, Middle Eastern, and even Asian styles, still reflecting the cultural influences of the planet’s founding Selaj dynasty centuries after their departure.

Once the second most powerful of the Free Worlds League’s three founding nations, the Principality of Regulus experienced a waning of political strength after the rise of the Marik family. This waning only increased with the disgrace of the founding Selaj family, which fled the League in the 2550s, after several efforts to depose the Captain-General. Though rarely overtly disloyal—even refusing to ally with the Anduriens during their brief bid for independence in the 3030s—the Regulan leadership has ever opposed the increasingly centralized rule of the Captain-Generals. Indeed, after Andurien, many historians have tended to regard Regulus as one of the most secessionist of the League’s member-states, despite the relative absence of violence.

And yet, ironically enough, for all their centuries’-long political struggle for independence under the League, the Regulans have embraced a monarchic style of government. (Regulus itself is a reformed dictatorship, presently ruled by the Cameron-Jones clan.) Their leader has even gone so far as to assume the title of Captain-General for himself. What does this say about the ambitions of Regulus? Well, like their counterparts in the Oriente Protectorate and Marik-Stewart Commonwealth, the Regulans, too, perhaps dream of one day restoring the fallen League and ushering in the prosperity lost in the fires of the Jihad.

An interior realm, spared much of the fighting throughout the Succession Wars, the Principality of Regulus enjoyed the fruits of its own economic stability for centuries before the Jihad, despite its loss of political clout. The Regulan people’s hard-working nature, a relentless drive to succeed in all affairs, particularly in business and politics, has created a nation that now bears few scars even from that war, while at the same time raising a powerful enough armed force to challenge its neighbors.

And challenge is certainly a Regulan specialty. Soon after the fall of the League, Regulus moved to secure its neighboring provinces, the Regulan Free States and the Principality of Gibson, before any of their neighbors. Redeclaring themselves the Regulan Fiefs in 3086, the realm is now wedged between the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth and the Oriente Protectorate, while virtually covering the entire rimward-antispinward border of the Commonwealth. Their military has clashed with those of Marik-Stewart, Oriente, Andurien, and even the Rim Commonality. Twice since securing these neighboring worlds, the Regulans have even assaulted Atreus, former seat of the League government.

Yet the people of Regulus do not see their nation as warlike, but merely a survivor of the League’s legacy, and perhaps even the vessel for its eventual salvation. There is a pride here, a pride that has grown ever since Regulan forces obliterated the surface of Gibson and, with it, the stain of the Word of Blake’s deadly reign of terror in the League. It’s this pride that tells these people that someday, perhaps very soon, they will bring their neighbors back down the path of enlightenment, and rebuild the fallen Free Worlds, stronger and better than ever before.

In our fifth segment on the former Free Worlds League, the legacy of the League brings us to the territories on the Capellan border! Join us, for a look at the Oriente Protectorate and the Duchy of Andurien. I’m Bertram Habeas.