Campaign:NHNE/Governments/Belt
Description[edit]
While officially a single political entity, The Belt is divided into a number of smaller groupings bound together by the Belt Standards Authority - a bureaucracy that sets trading standards for ores, air, water, etc. The whole can agree on little, and yet it has a common cause in wanting to keep the Downer corporations and governments out of its affairs. Historically, this has been aided by the early predominance in shipping afforded by the Defection of the Captains that allowed The Belt to be established in the first place.
Flag[edit]
The Belt's official standard is a black field with three heptagons denoting the three vessels that formed the first expedition to the belt (Hope, Narayana and Union). The border was added when the seamstress noted that black field would not stand out against the black of the belt's sky.
Political Factions[edit]
Belt politics is driven by two streams:
- Representational Politics
- Independent Politics
Of the two the first is a centralising force - trying to organise an ordered state and generally split into two strands:-
The latter is a decentralising force that includes such groups as the Belt-Wide Dark Star Group and various settlement specific elements e.g. Siwan Station, New Montana and, of course Sparks.
A third stream is anarchical and includes such groups as the (recently destroyed) Taktsang Pirates, the Iku Pupa and the local ends of the interstellar gangs such as the Eithaf Syndicate and Nepenthe.
Finally, behind these groups are the Belt's great families - quietly pulling and pushing behind the scenes.
What makes the whole situation so dynamic is the dynamic nature of the astrography of the belt. One moment two great cities may be adjacent and trading at nearly no cost; and at another they can be half a belt apart. Smaller stations can be near their markets one month and far away another. Trade comes and goes with the motions of the spheres; Power ebbs and flows.
Flag[edit]
The flag itself was not deemed necessary until The Belt started sending representatives to the New Earth Council on New Earth.
History[edit]
The Belt was established as a separate government and recognised by the New Earth Council in Year 12 as part of the negotiations over the tens of thousands of tons of refined metals brought to New Earth Orbit by the Narayana that year.
Under the settlement, The Belt was defined as streaching from 4.5 to 6.5 AU from Flare-Bright.