Post by bluesnailok on Mar 6, 2022 18:15:57 GMT
It had felt like an eternity for the population of Natar since this election had begun. It had been most inconvenient that the elections for the new stadtholder, the administrator over the memberstates of the Associated States of Natar, had come around in a time like this. Within a month of the crash, over a dozen national governments had fallen through and god knows how many riots had taken place. Entire wars on the planet had broken out amidst the collapse of order and a sense of stability. It didn’t help that Mose Tetlisun, the infamously authoritarian Stadtholder of Natar, had postponed and hesitated to initiate the elections for fear of losing. The result was yet more instability.
The following months had been a veritable slog of militancy, disorder, backstabbing, bribery and threats. Natar had become effectively paralysed by its own political deadlock, both on the local national level and the international level. In the midst of this battlefield emerged six different factions in the international assembly, each backed by national and private interest groups.
First of these groups were the Tetlisunites. Simply as the name implies, the camp represented the loyalist forces in the assembly aligned with Tetlisun. Whether out of ideological alignment, persuasion or fear, they had stuck. These representatives were what remained of a once-near political monopoly that the Stadtholder had once dominated the assembly with before the rats began leaving the sinking ship. Tetlisun had made concessions by resigning and appointing the dusty, inanimate Togarn Matras as his successor - Though few expected Matras to be more than a puppet for a new Tetlisun Shadow Government. Their mandate was support for the continuation of Tetlisun’s globalist policies: Trade, neutrality and pragmaticism.
Next came the Thalernoists. Before the time of Tetlisun, the Thalerno family had long been a respected name as insiders of the international assembly. Originating as the heads of the monarchist and traditionalist factions within the assembly, the Thalerno family had come to monopolise the politics of the assembly prior to, and during, Natar’s early spacefaring years. But with their deposition by Tetlisun, their strength and dignity had been torn. Since then, a new Thalerno: Massiney Thalerno, had risen to prominence and restored her family influence under the banner of stability, paternalism, social duty, unity and dignity.
Another veteran in the political ring was Carela, the former Invigilator for the Executive Assembly. A weathered international politician from a relatively young age, Carela had become the magnet for all those unwilling to dirty their hands in amorality, radicalism, reactionism or corruption. Strongly entrenched in the devolution of government back into the hands of local governments, the dismantlement of Tetlisun’s authoritarian institutions and the rule of law, the Carelans stood as a staunch bulwark for a backpedaled, moderate Natar.
A faction formed out of the complete collapse of political loyalty to Stadtholder Tetlisun, the Arcamavirists were an unexpected bloc to be created amidst the election. Led by Saljir Arcamavir, the former Director of Finances for Tetlisun, the camp had been formed by Arcamavir’s own ambition and by self-interested political insiders. In light of their betrayal of Tetlisun, it was perhaps ironic that their ranks were almost entirely the result of Tetlisun’s own policies of promoting pragmatists, kleptocrats and ambitious representatives. Their defection stood officially on the principles of a more moderate form of Tetlisun’s globalism, one with greater caution and prudence. In actuality, the movement was not after popular backing or change, its core was to expand the political gravy-train that Tetlisun had started.
Two other factions remained. Outliers and unknowns: The Socialists and Capitolite-Militarist Bloc. The first was a coalition of varying left-populist ideologies led by Tohn Kotegaman’s Altak People’s Republic. Filling its seats sat old pre-spacefaring populist democracies like the old, failed Technocratic Directorates, the rare social-democracy or two, and the numerous socialist governments that had rapidly usurped a number of the Teliran plutocracies during the discontent of the Market Crash.
The Capitolite-Militarists meanwhile were a curveball from the other flank. Their bloc was an unpredictable one. Some of its states were outright enclaves of the Capitol Empire, led by directly or indirectly, by the Capitolite emigres that had been given refuge in their borders following the Second Galactic War. Other members were simply nationalistic populist regimes that detested the Socialist’s internationalism and official rejection of the state or corporatism. Then there were the militarists, the numerous military juntas of Natar that had been brought into a pact of convenience with the Capitolites thanks to the help of General Relanio Ketha.
So the table was set and the pieces were on the board. But none knew for certain who would come out on top. The elections would soon bring about an answer to that.
Appearing through the smoke and fire of Grindstone War, the Aedleshaven crisis and the foundation of CONA, the results of the first votes by the international assembly were revealed.
____
Tetlisun: 23 Votes.
Arcamavir: 37 Votes.
Thalerno: 26 Votes.
Carela: 26 Votes.
Socialists: 11 Votes.
Capitolite-Militarists: 22 Votes.
____
The first round had ended in uproar and turmoil. No one was content except, ironically, the Socialists, who had previously never even been permitted representation within the assembly before.
Tetlisun had at the first hurdle, been slain by the fragmentation of his monopoly. With neither popular following or political strength to whip his cronies into keeping in line, his electorate had been fractured and those that remained were too few to snowball the pragmatists back into betting on Tetlisun as the winning horse. The faction had only exceeded the numbers of the upstart Capitolite-Militarists in the first round by a single vote. Almost immediately the faction protested the results, highlighting that, numerically, a majority of countries had voted for them but the Association’s weighted voting had favoured a clique of fewer, more rich or powerful memberstates with a unequal amount of the votes.
Arcamavir had filled Tetlisun’s void. With a mixture of continuing Tetlisun’s economic style in a new approach, promises of political enrichment, extension of power to the major players of the international assembly, secretive and powerful elites and allies, as well as being a new but controllable face, Arcamavir had successfully stolen the vast majority of Tetlisun’s puppets and allies. The Director known for his unnerving smile, nicknamed the Cheshire Cat, had come out of the first round on top, despite having nearly no popular backing among the actual masses of Natar. Almost immediately the celebrations and parties had been initiated by Arcamavir’s string-pullers and accomplices, even as the public outrage of such an infamous and disliked figure coming closer to victory sparked international protests on the streets.
The Thalernoists fared disappointingly poorly. They had hoped that, with the deterioration of Tetlisun’s superparty, their camp would be expanded with defectors and those eager for a more sane and moderate government. What they had not considered, however, was the ideology or interests of the deserters. Most of Tetlisun’s people were market liberals, corrupt ladder-climbers or new meritocrats who were suspicious of Thalerno’s old guard. With the Thalernoists still carrying the reputation of traditionalists, paternalists and anti-corruptionists, these deserters had instead flocked to Arcamavir’s arms or the smaller parties more akin to their interests. Consequently, the faction that had been the effective opposition to Tetlisun’s government for all these years remained almost unchanged by the collapse of his regime.
Most of the uncorrupt, more pragmatic and liberal-minded of Tetlisun’s breakaways had instead turned to a force formerly believed to be a non-factor: Carela’s Independents. Judged to be too devoid of a significant mandate or insider backing, Carela’s faction had been expected to form a small, special-interest clique of neutrals in the election. But this very reputation of uncontroversial neutrals had magnetized the sheep and fence-sitters of Tetlisun’s party who did not aspire for drastic change or to appear disloyal. They had thus turned to Carela with aspirations of ‘sitting out of this one’ without challenging or alienating whichever faction formed a new Stadtholdership. With such a mass of neutrals and independents turning to the group, Carela’s faction had unexpectedly soared into being a major contender with 26 votes.
The Socialists had been jubilant at the news of the election. Formerly a banished ideology without a single seat at the table. The rise of Socialism had only recently forced the old, entrenched assembly accept the rising number of Socialistic states into representation within the assembly. The election, the assembly knew, was never going to flock to their cause, but the existence of their own faction being officialized by this vote had invigorated the people. Nations who had significant disenfranchised socialist populations, dismayed by their elitist delegates voting for the likes of Tetlisun or Arcamavir, had instigated further public disorder among the ranks of the liberal republics and old monarchies. For them, the vote and their defeat at the first round had been a resounding victory in exposing the sham image of international democracy that the assembly represented.
Lastly were the Capitolite-Militarists, who had come close to surpassing even the bloc of the old Peasant-Stadtholder. They had expected their delegates to vote for the likes of Ketha’s international militarists, but they hadn’t expected the rivaling superblocs to become so fragmented and divided. The bloc quickly came to claim that, of all the voters, their delegates were the most coherently representative of the actual views of their countrymen while other bloc’s had ‘voted irrespective of their actual constituent’s desires’. Their declaration was a preemptive declaration that, even if in the subsequent rounds they were voted out by coalitions of compromise, the entire thing wasn’t truly in the public interest.
And so, with the end of the first round, with the least number of votes, the Socialists were rejected. Their electorate had their votes restored to them and time was allotted to allot their support to the remaining factions. Soon enough, the 11 Socialist delegates had reselected after an onslaught of attempted bribes, lobbying attempts and faction meetings.
____
Tetlisun: 23 Votes.
Arcamavir: 37 Votes.
Thalerno: 26 Votes.
Carela: 31 Votes. (+5)
Capitolite-Militarists: 28 Votes. (+6)
____
The Second Election had resulted in a split of socialist factional opinion between its two primary component ideologies.
The Democratist Technocratic assembly members: The old native attempts at partyless democracy on Natar that had preceded their contact with alien life, turned to Carela’s centrists to advance their interests. For a Carela Stadtholdership would favour a devolution of power from the assembly and a complacent peace for them to continue under.
Meanwhile, the other half of the socialists, led by Tohn Kotegaman had turned to the likes of the other new, populist outsider to bolster their ranks: The Capitolite-Militarists. Citing the mutual interests of anti-capitalism, anti-hedonism, anti-corruption, anti-establishment, pro-populism and pro-statism, the Kotegaman’s Socialists joined forces with the alliance of Fascists, Nationalists, and Capitolites.
As a consequence, both the Carela and Capitolite Blocs had now exceeded the old parties that had once abolished, suppressed and outcasted them: Tetlisun’s capitalists, and prior to him, Thalerno’s traditionalists. The former now stood as the minority in the assembly which once they held complete sway over. With the Tetlisunite candidacy now dismissed, the third round of voting was executed.
____
Arcamavir: 52 Votes. (+15)
Thalerno: 29 Votes. (+3)
Carela: 35 Votes. (+4)
Capitolite-Militarists: 29 Votes. (+1)
____
With the Association’s current leadership now rejected, it had become anyone’s game. Tetlisun’s faction held a great number of seats and, now with Tetlisun's puppet now blocked, the remnants of his pragmatists and apolitical dealmakers practically began auctioning their votes off.
It was Arcamavir’s following the served as the main beneficiary of the disembowling of the Tetlisunite mission. Arcamavir was a previous member of the Tetlisun cabinet; he was apolitical, predictable and rife with promises for opportunity. Tetlisun cared little for principle or loyalists, he cared about getting people he could control by promises, bribery and because they understood the calculus of power. The delegates he had nurtured under his Stadtholdership represented this and, in line with the philosophy he had helped to create, these opportunists flocked to those who could promise the most success. It was therefore only natural that most of these men and women thus had swarmed to the enticing offers of the Arcamavirists.
Every other faction was able to coax at least one of Tetlisun’s apolitical yes-men to their cause; even the Capitolite-Militarist bloc received the backing of a former arms-manufacturer turned-delegate. But more significantly, the Thalernoists managed to acquire the support of three new delegates which brought their candidacy for Stadtholder into equal measure as the Capitolite-Militarist’s candidacy for a Ketha administration.
The result was a turn to the electoral bylaws of the Associated States. The faction with preference was given to the first faction that had previously held the higher majority. This preference went to the Capitolites.
With the resulting outcome, all hell was let loose. The Capitolite-Militarists came one step closer to a completely legal, a completely legitimate leadership over the Associated States of Natar. The Thalernoists, contested the bylaw as outdated and endangering the stability of effective governance over Natar, with one of the faction’s delegates famously referring to the Capitol-Militarist candidate: Gen. Relanio Ketha as a ‘Bloodthirsty Bastard who is worth less than the contents of a Barcean Latrine’ which prompted a fistfight within the assembly room.
Despite the hostility and outrage at their loss to the Capitolites, not all of Thalerno’s advocates were so hostile. Particularly revanchist or weathered conservatives monarchies soon came to terms with their loss as the elections came forth towards the fourth round of the election.
____
Arcamavir: 55 Votes. (+3)
Carela: 43 Votes. (+8)
Capitolite-Militarists: 47 Votes. (+18)
____
The fourth round was a disturbing revelation to many, it was unbelievable to more. As the Thalernoist camp of traditionalists, monarchists and conservatives fell through, it had hotly contested its defeat. Some of its staunchest conservative delegates had directly challenged the upstart Capitolite-Militarist coalition. But it was the shocking call of Massiney Thalerno, the candidate for the conservative forces themselves, that surprised all.
Lady Thalerno sidestepped the issue of the legitimacy of the election round results yet, surprisingly, vocally promoted a turn to the Capitolite-Militarist coalition for her electorate. Commentators debated the basis for this decision. Some argued that it was a deal she had made with the Militarists. Others state it was on common principles of Teliran monarchism, which effectively operated in the modern era as a rightwing populist version of Stalinism, and the Coalition’s own politics.
Whatever her reasons, Thalerno’s announcement had its effect. What many expected to be a saving-grace victory by the Carela faction over the Capitolite-Militarist-Socialist confederacy, instead resulted in a paling surge forth by the bloc that left the Carelans in the dirt. The fourth round was over and Carela’s centrists, independents and neutrals had lost; the final vote was about to begin.
____
Arcamavir: 55 Votes. 86 (+31)
Capitolite-Militarists: 59 Votes. (+12)
____
The final vote was decisive and conclusive. As the swarms of flies left the carcass of Carela’s faction, they headed towards the lights most alluring to them. Many voted for the Capitolite-Militarists, most of whom were the Thalernoists who now, without much other choice, rejoined the rest of their electorate in backing the Capitolites. A couple of others were technocratic delegates recognizing the coalition of the socialists with the populist group.
A much larger number, however, were prepared to make their peace with the corrupt Cheshire Cat, Arcamavir. Tetlisunites, Carelans, Thalernoists. With only him as their moderate choice, or because they felt they had no other option, the rest of the electorate turned to the Arcamavir bloc.
Saljir Arcamavir had won. The Cheshire Cat was destined to become the new Stadtholder over all of Natar.
The following months had been a veritable slog of militancy, disorder, backstabbing, bribery and threats. Natar had become effectively paralysed by its own political deadlock, both on the local national level and the international level. In the midst of this battlefield emerged six different factions in the international assembly, each backed by national and private interest groups.
First of these groups were the Tetlisunites. Simply as the name implies, the camp represented the loyalist forces in the assembly aligned with Tetlisun. Whether out of ideological alignment, persuasion or fear, they had stuck. These representatives were what remained of a once-near political monopoly that the Stadtholder had once dominated the assembly with before the rats began leaving the sinking ship. Tetlisun had made concessions by resigning and appointing the dusty, inanimate Togarn Matras as his successor - Though few expected Matras to be more than a puppet for a new Tetlisun Shadow Government. Their mandate was support for the continuation of Tetlisun’s globalist policies: Trade, neutrality and pragmaticism.
Next came the Thalernoists. Before the time of Tetlisun, the Thalerno family had long been a respected name as insiders of the international assembly. Originating as the heads of the monarchist and traditionalist factions within the assembly, the Thalerno family had come to monopolise the politics of the assembly prior to, and during, Natar’s early spacefaring years. But with their deposition by Tetlisun, their strength and dignity had been torn. Since then, a new Thalerno: Massiney Thalerno, had risen to prominence and restored her family influence under the banner of stability, paternalism, social duty, unity and dignity.
Another veteran in the political ring was Carela, the former Invigilator for the Executive Assembly. A weathered international politician from a relatively young age, Carela had become the magnet for all those unwilling to dirty their hands in amorality, radicalism, reactionism or corruption. Strongly entrenched in the devolution of government back into the hands of local governments, the dismantlement of Tetlisun’s authoritarian institutions and the rule of law, the Carelans stood as a staunch bulwark for a backpedaled, moderate Natar.
A faction formed out of the complete collapse of political loyalty to Stadtholder Tetlisun, the Arcamavirists were an unexpected bloc to be created amidst the election. Led by Saljir Arcamavir, the former Director of Finances for Tetlisun, the camp had been formed by Arcamavir’s own ambition and by self-interested political insiders. In light of their betrayal of Tetlisun, it was perhaps ironic that their ranks were almost entirely the result of Tetlisun’s own policies of promoting pragmatists, kleptocrats and ambitious representatives. Their defection stood officially on the principles of a more moderate form of Tetlisun’s globalism, one with greater caution and prudence. In actuality, the movement was not after popular backing or change, its core was to expand the political gravy-train that Tetlisun had started.
Two other factions remained. Outliers and unknowns: The Socialists and Capitolite-Militarist Bloc. The first was a coalition of varying left-populist ideologies led by Tohn Kotegaman’s Altak People’s Republic. Filling its seats sat old pre-spacefaring populist democracies like the old, failed Technocratic Directorates, the rare social-democracy or two, and the numerous socialist governments that had rapidly usurped a number of the Teliran plutocracies during the discontent of the Market Crash.
The Capitolite-Militarists meanwhile were a curveball from the other flank. Their bloc was an unpredictable one. Some of its states were outright enclaves of the Capitol Empire, led by directly or indirectly, by the Capitolite emigres that had been given refuge in their borders following the Second Galactic War. Other members were simply nationalistic populist regimes that detested the Socialist’s internationalism and official rejection of the state or corporatism. Then there were the militarists, the numerous military juntas of Natar that had been brought into a pact of convenience with the Capitolites thanks to the help of General Relanio Ketha.
So the table was set and the pieces were on the board. But none knew for certain who would come out on top. The elections would soon bring about an answer to that.
Appearing through the smoke and fire of Grindstone War, the Aedleshaven crisis and the foundation of CONA, the results of the first votes by the international assembly were revealed.
____
Tetlisun: 23 Votes.
Arcamavir: 37 Votes.
Thalerno: 26 Votes.
Carela: 26 Votes.
Socialists: 11 Votes.
Capitolite-Militarists: 22 Votes.
____
The first round had ended in uproar and turmoil. No one was content except, ironically, the Socialists, who had previously never even been permitted representation within the assembly before.
Tetlisun had at the first hurdle, been slain by the fragmentation of his monopoly. With neither popular following or political strength to whip his cronies into keeping in line, his electorate had been fractured and those that remained were too few to snowball the pragmatists back into betting on Tetlisun as the winning horse. The faction had only exceeded the numbers of the upstart Capitolite-Militarists in the first round by a single vote. Almost immediately the faction protested the results, highlighting that, numerically, a majority of countries had voted for them but the Association’s weighted voting had favoured a clique of fewer, more rich or powerful memberstates with a unequal amount of the votes.
Arcamavir had filled Tetlisun’s void. With a mixture of continuing Tetlisun’s economic style in a new approach, promises of political enrichment, extension of power to the major players of the international assembly, secretive and powerful elites and allies, as well as being a new but controllable face, Arcamavir had successfully stolen the vast majority of Tetlisun’s puppets and allies. The Director known for his unnerving smile, nicknamed the Cheshire Cat, had come out of the first round on top, despite having nearly no popular backing among the actual masses of Natar. Almost immediately the celebrations and parties had been initiated by Arcamavir’s string-pullers and accomplices, even as the public outrage of such an infamous and disliked figure coming closer to victory sparked international protests on the streets.
The Thalernoists fared disappointingly poorly. They had hoped that, with the deterioration of Tetlisun’s superparty, their camp would be expanded with defectors and those eager for a more sane and moderate government. What they had not considered, however, was the ideology or interests of the deserters. Most of Tetlisun’s people were market liberals, corrupt ladder-climbers or new meritocrats who were suspicious of Thalerno’s old guard. With the Thalernoists still carrying the reputation of traditionalists, paternalists and anti-corruptionists, these deserters had instead flocked to Arcamavir’s arms or the smaller parties more akin to their interests. Consequently, the faction that had been the effective opposition to Tetlisun’s government for all these years remained almost unchanged by the collapse of his regime.
Most of the uncorrupt, more pragmatic and liberal-minded of Tetlisun’s breakaways had instead turned to a force formerly believed to be a non-factor: Carela’s Independents. Judged to be too devoid of a significant mandate or insider backing, Carela’s faction had been expected to form a small, special-interest clique of neutrals in the election. But this very reputation of uncontroversial neutrals had magnetized the sheep and fence-sitters of Tetlisun’s party who did not aspire for drastic change or to appear disloyal. They had thus turned to Carela with aspirations of ‘sitting out of this one’ without challenging or alienating whichever faction formed a new Stadtholdership. With such a mass of neutrals and independents turning to the group, Carela’s faction had unexpectedly soared into being a major contender with 26 votes.
The Socialists had been jubilant at the news of the election. Formerly a banished ideology without a single seat at the table. The rise of Socialism had only recently forced the old, entrenched assembly accept the rising number of Socialistic states into representation within the assembly. The election, the assembly knew, was never going to flock to their cause, but the existence of their own faction being officialized by this vote had invigorated the people. Nations who had significant disenfranchised socialist populations, dismayed by their elitist delegates voting for the likes of Tetlisun or Arcamavir, had instigated further public disorder among the ranks of the liberal republics and old monarchies. For them, the vote and their defeat at the first round had been a resounding victory in exposing the sham image of international democracy that the assembly represented.
Lastly were the Capitolite-Militarists, who had come close to surpassing even the bloc of the old Peasant-Stadtholder. They had expected their delegates to vote for the likes of Ketha’s international militarists, but they hadn’t expected the rivaling superblocs to become so fragmented and divided. The bloc quickly came to claim that, of all the voters, their delegates were the most coherently representative of the actual views of their countrymen while other bloc’s had ‘voted irrespective of their actual constituent’s desires’. Their declaration was a preemptive declaration that, even if in the subsequent rounds they were voted out by coalitions of compromise, the entire thing wasn’t truly in the public interest.
And so, with the end of the first round, with the least number of votes, the Socialists were rejected. Their electorate had their votes restored to them and time was allotted to allot their support to the remaining factions. Soon enough, the 11 Socialist delegates had reselected after an onslaught of attempted bribes, lobbying attempts and faction meetings.
____
Tetlisun: 23 Votes.
Arcamavir: 37 Votes.
Thalerno: 26 Votes.
Carela: 31 Votes. (+5)
Capitolite-Militarists: 28 Votes. (+6)
____
The Second Election had resulted in a split of socialist factional opinion between its two primary component ideologies.
The Democratist Technocratic assembly members: The old native attempts at partyless democracy on Natar that had preceded their contact with alien life, turned to Carela’s centrists to advance their interests. For a Carela Stadtholdership would favour a devolution of power from the assembly and a complacent peace for them to continue under.
Meanwhile, the other half of the socialists, led by Tohn Kotegaman had turned to the likes of the other new, populist outsider to bolster their ranks: The Capitolite-Militarists. Citing the mutual interests of anti-capitalism, anti-hedonism, anti-corruption, anti-establishment, pro-populism and pro-statism, the Kotegaman’s Socialists joined forces with the alliance of Fascists, Nationalists, and Capitolites.
As a consequence, both the Carela and Capitolite Blocs had now exceeded the old parties that had once abolished, suppressed and outcasted them: Tetlisun’s capitalists, and prior to him, Thalerno’s traditionalists. The former now stood as the minority in the assembly which once they held complete sway over. With the Tetlisunite candidacy now dismissed, the third round of voting was executed.
____
Arcamavir: 52 Votes. (+15)
Thalerno: 29 Votes. (+3)
Carela: 35 Votes. (+4)
Capitolite-Militarists: 29 Votes. (+1)
____
With the Association’s current leadership now rejected, it had become anyone’s game. Tetlisun’s faction held a great number of seats and, now with Tetlisun's puppet now blocked, the remnants of his pragmatists and apolitical dealmakers practically began auctioning their votes off.
It was Arcamavir’s following the served as the main beneficiary of the disembowling of the Tetlisunite mission. Arcamavir was a previous member of the Tetlisun cabinet; he was apolitical, predictable and rife with promises for opportunity. Tetlisun cared little for principle or loyalists, he cared about getting people he could control by promises, bribery and because they understood the calculus of power. The delegates he had nurtured under his Stadtholdership represented this and, in line with the philosophy he had helped to create, these opportunists flocked to those who could promise the most success. It was therefore only natural that most of these men and women thus had swarmed to the enticing offers of the Arcamavirists.
Every other faction was able to coax at least one of Tetlisun’s apolitical yes-men to their cause; even the Capitolite-Militarist bloc received the backing of a former arms-manufacturer turned-delegate. But more significantly, the Thalernoists managed to acquire the support of three new delegates which brought their candidacy for Stadtholder into equal measure as the Capitolite-Militarist’s candidacy for a Ketha administration.
The result was a turn to the electoral bylaws of the Associated States. The faction with preference was given to the first faction that had previously held the higher majority. This preference went to the Capitolites.
With the resulting outcome, all hell was let loose. The Capitolite-Militarists came one step closer to a completely legal, a completely legitimate leadership over the Associated States of Natar. The Thalernoists, contested the bylaw as outdated and endangering the stability of effective governance over Natar, with one of the faction’s delegates famously referring to the Capitol-Militarist candidate: Gen. Relanio Ketha as a ‘Bloodthirsty Bastard who is worth less than the contents of a Barcean Latrine’ which prompted a fistfight within the assembly room.
Despite the hostility and outrage at their loss to the Capitolites, not all of Thalerno’s advocates were so hostile. Particularly revanchist or weathered conservatives monarchies soon came to terms with their loss as the elections came forth towards the fourth round of the election.
____
Arcamavir: 55 Votes. (+3)
Carela: 43 Votes. (+8)
Capitolite-Militarists: 47 Votes. (+18)
____
The fourth round was a disturbing revelation to many, it was unbelievable to more. As the Thalernoist camp of traditionalists, monarchists and conservatives fell through, it had hotly contested its defeat. Some of its staunchest conservative delegates had directly challenged the upstart Capitolite-Militarist coalition. But it was the shocking call of Massiney Thalerno, the candidate for the conservative forces themselves, that surprised all.
Lady Thalerno sidestepped the issue of the legitimacy of the election round results yet, surprisingly, vocally promoted a turn to the Capitolite-Militarist coalition for her electorate. Commentators debated the basis for this decision. Some argued that it was a deal she had made with the Militarists. Others state it was on common principles of Teliran monarchism, which effectively operated in the modern era as a rightwing populist version of Stalinism, and the Coalition’s own politics.
Whatever her reasons, Thalerno’s announcement had its effect. What many expected to be a saving-grace victory by the Carela faction over the Capitolite-Militarist-Socialist confederacy, instead resulted in a paling surge forth by the bloc that left the Carelans in the dirt. The fourth round was over and Carela’s centrists, independents and neutrals had lost; the final vote was about to begin.
____
Arcamavir: 55 Votes. 86 (+31)
Capitolite-Militarists: 59 Votes. (+12)
____
The final vote was decisive and conclusive. As the swarms of flies left the carcass of Carela’s faction, they headed towards the lights most alluring to them. Many voted for the Capitolite-Militarists, most of whom were the Thalernoists who now, without much other choice, rejoined the rest of their electorate in backing the Capitolites. A couple of others were technocratic delegates recognizing the coalition of the socialists with the populist group.
A much larger number, however, were prepared to make their peace with the corrupt Cheshire Cat, Arcamavir. Tetlisunites, Carelans, Thalernoists. With only him as their moderate choice, or because they felt they had no other option, the rest of the electorate turned to the Arcamavir bloc.
Saljir Arcamavir had won. The Cheshire Cat was destined to become the new Stadtholder over all of Natar.