Kass`l Protectorate

The Kass`l Protectorate was a in the satellite galaxy.

History
The worlds which would become the Protectorate were colonized and conquered by the warlord Lothar Kass`l, founder and Lord of the Dread Fleet. Kass`l carved out an enclave in Firefist known for its ferocious independence, militance, and single-minded war against the, although it periodically fought the mainstream Nagai society from as well. Lothar's holdings, which he ruled as a dictator from the Belzior, included s, production centers, and at least two shipyards, making them largely self-sufficient.

In 157 ABY, Lothar's twin sons Broll and Veli, who had fled Firefist in 136 ABY to escape their father's cruelty and repressiveness, returned to their homeworld. With some reluctant assistance from Zhezur Tarhy, they managed to infiltrate Lothar's chambers and kill him. The brothers took control of Belzior and its home fleet, but were soon confronted by their half-sister, Jehra, at the head of her own fleet. The ensuing conflict between the siblings became the Brothers' War.

In 159 ABY, the Tofs, seeing an opportunity with the Dread Fleet divided and turned against itself, struck at Nagi and its constituent worlds, then attacked the Dread Fleet planets too. Broll and Veli struggled to hold ground and Jehra was pushed to the brink of disaster, but the siblings finally allied to rout a Tof fleet at the Battle of Konzertha. The alliance held throughout the rest of the war, and after Broll and Jehra captured the Tof Prince Nuwarg at the Battle of Gerletha'ap, the Tof King Zongar accepted a ceasefire.

With their worlds safe, the four Kass`l siblings (Broll, Veli, Jehra, and Jehra's younger brother Ravi, who had spent most of the war a prisoner of his twin half-brothers) met on Belzior with their senior commanders and representatives of all the worlds under the Dread Fleet's sway. Given that the Kass`ls had (eventually) delivered their worlds from the Tofs, their commanders were willing to continue following them. None of the siblings could agree who would run the government, so they decided to share power instead. They established the Kass`l Protectorate to rebrand their holdings with an emphasis on protecting their citizens.

To prevent too much stress from overlapping duties, the siblings opted to divide responsibilities. Jehra, the most experienced in space combat, became the Admiral of the Dread Fleet. Ravi served as head of Protectorate Intelligence. Veli took over leadership of the Dread Sentinels, and Broll (with advice from Selina) ruled Belzior itself.

The government's first priority was restoring order and security on the worlds which had been damaged in the civil war or by Tof action. Veli and Selina Quinn also negotiated a nonaggression pact with Nagi, normalizing relations between the Protectorate and much of the rest of Firefist and permitting some limited freedom of movement between societies; the four Kass`l siblings signed the Belzior Pact in 161 ABY.

Government structure
The Protectorate was established as a ; only those who had served in the Dread Fleet could hold elected public office. Several of the Protectorate's worlds were directly administered by military governors, while some were allowed to elect their leaders from among veterans of the Dread Fleet (native or otherwise).

At the head of the Protectorate was the Supreme Commander, who governed the Protectorate with largely dictatorial authority. Though the system was not designed for it, to preserve the peace, the four Kass`l sibling founders served as joint Supreme Commanders. Disputes on courses of action were resolved by vote, effectively requiring a 3-1 vote; foreign relations matters had to be decided unanimously. The Supreme Commander(s) appointed military governors, promoted Dread Fleet officers to captain (or the ground-based equivalents) and higher ranks, and passed legislation.

An Advisory Council, made up of elected representatives from every world in the Protectorate, served as a quasi-legislature, recommending legislation to the Supreme Commander. In practice, the Advisory Council was often more aware of the conditions of individual worlds, and the Supreme Commanders often rubber-stamped the Advisory Council's suggestions.

Politics
Military culture dominated the Protectorate's politics as much as it did other aspects of life, and many of the pressing political questions concerned the military. The hawkish members, known as the Traditionalist Party and somewhat derisively called "Lotharians", advocated the traditional practice of the Dread Fleet in actively pursuing aggressive warfare against the Tofs and any other encroachers. The Protectorate Security Party favored a primarily isolationist Protectorate, with a strong military used solely for defensive purposes. The more centrist Expansionist Party favored expanding the Protectorate through the voluntary acquisition of new worlds seeking the Dread Fleet's protection in a dangerous galaxy.

Economy
Lothar Kass`l had conquered and colonized strategically, and the Protectorate's initial worlds included s, production centers, and at least two shipyards. As a result, the Protectorate could provide for itself at more than a subsistence level. However, as part of the normalization of relations following the Belzior Pact, the Protectorate entered into trade with Nagi and other, more mainstream worlds of Firefist.

Society and culture
Though most Protectorate worlds included a handful of alien enclaves, and some, such as Konzertha, had entire native populations, the Kass`l Protectorate was dominated by Nagai. As such, the Nagai culture, which prized honor and skill at arms, was enormously influential. This caused occasional cultural strife, as Nagai were also renowned for their independence and disinterest in concerns other than their own families. However, the Protectorate officially adopted the policy that the duty to support the government was a bond of honor from citizens to rulers, complemented by a duty of the rulers to protect the people. Long experience suffering at the hands of the Tofs also moderated concerns about the centralization of authority.

Lothar Kass`l had been a savage and remorseless defender of his people, but had also adopted policies which saw those very people label him a tyrant. The Kass`l Protectorate officially disavowed political persecution, forced disappearances, summary executions, and forced labor camps, except for prisoners of war. Free speech was generally permitted. Public trials were required, although all were led by military judges.

All Nagai members of society were expected to be proficient in combat, but apart from tehk'la blade techniques, the Protectorate did not prefer any style of fighting over others, and many martial arts came and went in vogue.

Military
The military of the Protectorate was the Dread Fleet; after a brief discussion, the Kass`l siblings unanimously decided to keep the name, believing that it caused instinctive fear in the Protectorate's enemies and would be valuable in deterring threats. It was something of a misnomer, as "Dread Fleet" encompassed the spaceborn vessels and their fighter complements as well as ground forces. In the early Protectorate, a single Admiral was the commander of the Dread Fleet, answerable only to the Supreme Commander(s).

The Kass`ls also kept the Dread Sentinels, their father's elite guard of the most skillful warriors from the Dread Fleet. The Dread Sentinels acted as a combination of bodyguard unit, tactical reserve, and strategic advisors for the Supreme Commanders, though they could be dispatched to any unit's command (or to assume a command themselves). Following the model begun by Zhezur Tarhy, the Kass`ls established the post of Dread Commander, the leader of the Dread Sentinels responsible for their overall organization.

All citizens were required to register for conscription in the Dread Fleet upon reaching the age of majority, and the Dread Fleet annually conscripted a double-digit percentage of the population for service, though terms for conscripts were shorter than those for voluntary enlistees. Non-Nagai were not exempt, although the Dread Fleet often used aliens in military specialties such as engineering or combat support.

The Dread Fleet was primarily concerned with the defense of the Protectorate against large-scale assaults by organized enemies such as the Tof Kingdom, but was fully capable of dealing with pirates and other smaller threats as well.

Protectorate Intelligence was a distinct agency apart from the Dread Fleet, responsible for both domestic and foreign intelligence operations.

Astrography
The Kass`l Protectorate occupied a distinct enclave within Firefist, most of its occupied worlds closer to one another than to any other inhabited planet. This astrographic proximity theoretically permitted attacking forces to move quickly from world to world, but also allowed rapid response by the Dread Fleet to any threat.

Because it was both deeply entrenched in the minds of the Protectorate's citizens and fortified to withstand almost any assault Firefist's species could throw at it, the Kass`ls opted to keep the capital at Belzior. Most of the Protectorate's worlds were Nagai colonies, but some were alien worlds which voluntarily sought protection from the Kass`1s.