Hiver (government)
Hiver society has a variety of governing organizations.
- Nests may group themselves together to form a city or city-state.
- Cities may group together to form a nation-state.
- Nations may group together to form a world government.
- The worlds of the Hivers have grouped together to form the Hive Federation.
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Description (Specifications)
The Hivers have only one culture and one language; the Hiver genotype (with individual variations similar in degree to differences between individual humans of the same race) is also constant. Other member races of the Federation are encouraged to follow cultural standards as close to the Hiver norms as is possible given differences in physiology. Internal harmony and cultural unity are the chief features of the pan-Federation society that is embraced by all member races. The government of the Federation has three purposes: the creation and maintenance of Embassies (in the Hiver sense), the development of new worlds and the defense of the Federation.
The Hive Federation, which also bears some properties of a Confederation, is as close to a stateless society (anarchy) as can be found in the major states of Charted Space.
Lines of Authority
The lines of authority in Hiver society are vague. There are nests (or organizations) that handle virtually every aspect of Hiver life, but government is determined largely by nests that coordinate activities between various other nests, or by the leaders of various nests working in concert. Neither has any authority in the sense that humans understand the concept; they merely perform a job like any other nest's job, with no special power or respect being accorded to members of such nests. Certainly Hiver society is utterly egalitarian; competition for power over others is totally foreign to the Hiver nature.
History & Background (Dossier)
No information yet available.
Hiver Planetary Government Types
Some Hiver governments are very similar to the commonly accepted human forms of government, and some are very different. Of the government types in use in the Federation, the following are sufficiently different from human governments to warrant additional explanation.
Sept
Hivers place a great value on the number seven, and sept governments reflect this value. Septs are councils of seven individuals, appointed for life, and given the responsibility of making all decisions relevant to rule of the world. The presence of seven members creates an odd number of members and avoids tie votes. Most governmental activity by sept governments consists of directives to the operating or governing agencies. Decisions and directives by the sept are accorded the force of law by nest leaders (and thus by nest members), but unanimous decisions have a higher or stronger force.
Supervised Anarchy
Supervised anarchy is a peculiarly Hiver institution. Local government is nearly non-existent, and consists primarily of transitory vigilante committees which respond to problems when sufficiently aroused. Usually such vigilante committees are raised at the call of enough nest leaders, and in response to pressing social or economic problems. The Federation maintains observers who advise local nest leaders about potential problems and needs.
Unsupervlsed Anarchy
Unsupervised anarchy is similar to supervised anarchy, but there are no Federation observers/advisers present.
Committee
Committee governments accomplish needed activities by the establishment of transitory committees which meet to define problems and determine solutions, publish their findings, and then disband. Their findings are then implemented by local nests (if the nests approve). There is a social disgrace associated with publication of a committee report which is not later implemented, so committees have an incentive to find workable solutions. Many times, a truly necessary but unimplemented action may be the subject of a manipulation by some individual; many committee reports have served as an inspiration to manipulators.
References & Contributors (Sources)
- Classic Traveller Alien Module 7 - Hivers
- GURPS Traveller Alien Races 3 (Hivers and Droyne)
- TNE - Aliens of the Rim