Karlsbund

=Karlsbund (Karl's Federation)=

Government
The Karlsbund is a decentralized federation of free cities led by the city of Karlsburg.

The Federation is ruled by a Federal Council consisting of the senior senator of each member city. As prescribed in the foundation charter, the council resides in Karlsburg and the senator of that city has the power to break voting ties. Decisions are made with simple majority votes and are to be adhered to by all member cities.

Each free city is ruled by its own senate. Rules and procedures vary, but generally senators are admitted to the senate by majority vote after qualifying for the post by performing public duties, distinguishing themselves in times of crisis, contributing large amounts of money or goods to the city or even bribing enough members of the current senate.

Religion
The state religion and also majority religion in all the member cities is the Sotiran Church. Parts of the rural hinterland still follow the Omnican Church, which is largely tolerated as long as they don't interfere with public order, security or business. Most peasants also embrace remnants of the old Thurian Mythology, which has somewhat merged with the new Aurelian faiths and added a distinction to Karlist Sotiracy.

Thurian Era
The area of the Karlsbund had been known in ancient times as Thure and Whitehaven. When the old Archadian Empire crumbled under the pressure of numerous external and internal wars, Thure gained new lands and with them new subjects. Whitehaven, culturally close to Thure, was devastated by a sudden change of climate, depriving the people of their living space. Most of the Whitehaveners moved to Cecasandria to blend with the locals, while Thure's men of power suddenly found themselves the masters of large swathes of fertile soil. With the decline of the old world abroad, trade became less and less profitable. At the same time, Nosamo's navy ruled the sea and enforced the ban on piracy. Slowly, Thurian raiders and seafarers became farmers and artists. Especially as the Solarian faith began to spread, putting an end to the aggressive propagation of warfare by the Thurian gods. About 200 years ago, desaster struck. As if to punish the old Thurian capital for being the only town not yet having renounced the old gods, pestilence broke out right there, at the heart of the trade node of an entire region. More than three quarters of the population perished in agony, peasants and nobles alike. Rudwik the Wise recognized the nature of this threat and closed city gates as well as the harbor, thus shutting off traffic into and out of Thure and thereby preventing the further spreading of the plague. But to the simple people on the street it was a sign of the Solarian god that those who do not follow him will get wiped from his world. The big fire of 1998 WE, only one year after the pestilence receded, put an end to the city. There were not enough people left to rebuild what was lost. Cecasandria was separated from the older Thurian territories and developed its own culture. The towns that had lived in the shadow of Thure for many centuries had no interest in paying for its revival.

Founding of Karlsbund
Due to the land's distance from the heart of the Empire and the strategic position at the pulse of the southern trade routes, cities in the region gained much power and a strong class of burghers formed. With the rise of the Sotiran church in Tor Ardwen a hundred years ago, the rather well educated burghers quickly adopted the new ideas. Instead of transfering the profits of their hard work to a decadent clergy in a far away land, the townsfolk decided to take their religious well-being into their own hands. They translated the age-old religious texts into their local language and established a new clergy which emancipated from the heliarch. Of course the Civil War sparked by the schism also affected the region, and soon the first towns layed under siege. It was a local shipwright, Karl Reedewik, who raised funds and forged alliances with many towns of the south, refit the merchant fleet to take up military duties and finally freed the entire region of Omnican troops. The temporary alliance he created proved effective, earning him much popularity and wealth. In the year 2102, two years before the Omnicans would win the Civil War in the former Empire, the Karlsbund was formally created. In order to not favor any particular member of the federation, a new capital was erected and named Karlsburg.

Contemporary Events
Relations to the neighbouring Desteylle are swinging back and forth between wary comradeship on the grounds of common faith and shared history on one side, and harsh rivaly and competition in trade interests and colonialism on the other side. After a short period of diplomatic reconciliation the War of the Spice Islands recently flung both realms into a new diplomatic ice age, with Desteylle closing its ports and markets to Karlist merchants and the Karlsbund openly declaring its neighbour the largest menace to the federation.