Solhaven: The Next Generation

[Aerandariel]

It is time for Solhaven's evolution to finally come to fruition.

As many of you know, when I started Solhaven it was a Skyrim-esque collection of city-states that formed a loose confederacy. There really wasn't a strong central government with much of the political power reserved to the nine cities. Before I fell into my unintended hiatus, Solhaven was slowly changing into a more centralized state, but still divisions lingered particularly between East and West. I call this period the "Original Solhaven" because the country was still trying to find its place in the world and still trying to get its act together.

Now comes the "Next Generation".

From this point forward, Solhaven will look like this:

POPULATION AND CULTURE
In 1585, the Solhaven Confederacy ceased to exist as was replaced with the Solhaven Federation. Hyperion remains the nation's capital but has fallen to the third largest city in the country, with the city of Enceladus now overtaking the capital as the largest city (3.5 million in Hyperion, 5.94 million in Enceladus) with Magecastle now the second largest city (4.42 million). The Federation still has a heavy English/Welsh tilt to it as compared to real life, and (if the current statistics page is to be considered wholly accurate) has a population of 70.76 million.

GOVERNMENT
The government of the Federation transformed a council-ruled confederacy into a parliamentary democracy headed by an Chancellor. There are 550 seats in the Federation House of Delegates, and it is here where the power lies. As you would expect in a parliamentary (or Westminster) system, the Chancellor would be the leader of either the majority party or the largest party in a governing coalition. Currently there are four - yes, FOUR - major parties in the Federation. They are the Union Party (center-left, liberal), Federation Party (center-right, conservative), Democratic Republican Party (left-wing, border-line socialist), and Alliance Party (right-wing, ultra-conservative). The last election was in 1595 (so two RP years ago) to seat the 3rd Federation Parliament, with 275 seats needed to clinch majority. The Federation Party won the most seats and ended on 209, 66 shy of a majority. The Union Party took second place on 143 seats, and the Democratic Republican and Alliance Parties tied for third on 99 seats each. Needing a coalition, the Federationists allied with the Alliance to form a government headed by Chancellor Montgomery Scott, who was retained for a third term.

FOREIGN POLICY
With a conservative-leaning government, the Federation has taken to a more globalist stance in foreign affairs now that most of the domestic affairs of the past ten years have been addressed to some degree. The Federation has taken to strengthen its ties with its Kvaennan neighbors as well as some of the premier economic powers of the world, such as Nyland, the HLE, West Brigidna, and Severyane. While not hawkish, Solhaven will show a willingness to exercise its strengthening military might (which I'll get to in a minute) if it feels threatened.

MILITARY
In 1587, two years after the formation of the Federation, Parliament commissioned Solfleet, the military arm of the Federation. Created technically as a government agency, much of Solfleet's command structure operates independently of the government itself despite the look of a regular military consisting of an Army, Navy and Air Force. Over the last few years, Solfleet has greatly expanded the military capabilities of the Federation, with several large bases throughout Federation territory and sea-based defensive platforms (built in a manner similar to an oil rig) that act as both a shield against invasion and as a supplement to the Navy and Air Force.

Got any questions? Feel free to ask.