Reader FAQs: Who’s in Charge, Anyway?

Happy Friday, dear readers! First off, I wanted to say that I’ve been blown away by reception for The Stars Ablaze. It’s an honor to have so many people invested in Kerelle and her world, and I love hearing everyone’s reactions to the characters (a number of people have told me Ilyen is their favorite; secret confession, he’s my favorite too).

On the subject of Kerelle’s world, I’ve gotten several reader questions recently on a rather central topic: planetary governments, multigalactic corporations like SysTech, and how they relate to each other. So you know what that means - time for another Reader Q&A (note: minor spoilers for The Stars Ablaze).

Q: How is the galaxy governed? In the books, this seems to be all over the place.

That’s because it is all over the place! Just like earth, different localities have different governments, different rules, and different relationships with each other.

In general, most settled worlds have some kind of planetwide government, if just to make it easier to deal with each other. For wealthy, prominent planets like Tallimau and Astallia, this might be the central authority that runs the entire planet, with a uniform court system and local administrators that ladder up to a ultimate executive figure.

On the smaller, less-established frontier planets that dot the edges of the galaxy, like Cashaal (or places like Palhee that aren’t big on things like “rules”), individual settlements and areas might be more self-governing. At least on paper, these places usually still have some kind of “planetary governor,” even if that person’s primary job is just making sure the port taxes are getting collected - and picking someone to represent them at the CIG.

Q: So what is the CIG, anyway?

The Council of Interplanetary Governments is sort of a cross between the UN and the WTO. It’s made up of representatives from all eligible settled planets (more on that later), who come together to make rules governing relations between the member planets. Generally this means things like trade regulations, managing the standard currency, running the equivalent of Interpol, etc. If a rule transcends a single government or locality, it’s a matter for the CIG.

That’s why a lot of the rules governing multigalactic corporations (…such that they are) are matters for the CIG. That thing about multigalactics like SysTech having “talent acquisition rights” to conscript psionics into the PsiCorp? Agreed on by the CIG. That’s why in order to get those regulations overturned, Lilika needs to get in front of the CIG itself.

Q: So what’s this about “eligible” settled planets?

So this actually ties into another FAQ, which is “how is SysTech able to get away with All That on Elekar.” The answer has to do with how some space colonies are organized.

Founding the first human settlement on a new planet is really expensive. There’s transport logistics, building costs, supply costs, a certain amount of time before the colony can become self-sufficient, and a ton of other things that all add up (not to mention recruiting people to come live on a new planet in the first place).

So how does one raise the funds to actually launch a human colony on a new planet? Sometimes through an expansion-minded government, sometimes with a wealthy backer…but often, through a corporate sponsor. A large number of colonies across the galaxy were built on exactly that: funding provided by a multigalactic corporation.

Of course, multigalactics don’t do anything for free. If a colony is founded under corporate patronage, you can bet its charter will be written to the patron’s advantage around things like taxes and resource rights, usually until the startup costs are repaid (with interest, naturally). During the repayment period, the colony does not have independent representation in bodies like the CIG, and instead is represented by the patron (who essentially holds a lien on the whole planet).

Since the founding costs are generally astronomical, in practice this means that the “repayment” period often lasts several decades (or more). For resource-poor colonies like Elekar, there may be no realistic chance of ever exiting the patronage relationship.

Q: So sometimes SysTech is the government?

In practice, yes. SysTech generally isn’t interested in the nuts and bolts of actual governance, so standard practice is for its sponsored colonies to be self-governing…unless SysTech is unhappy enough with the way things are going, and invokes the clause in all its colony charters that allows it to assume direct control. This is what happens on Elekar, shortly before Kerelle’s arrival at the start of The Stars Within.

Q: Why is Amaecea special?

Unlike worlds such as Elekar or Zharal V, Amaecea was settled by humans without any corporate money (this is what Aureis is referring to, when he says Amaecea was bootstrapped). The fabulously wealthy Haskrai family bankrolled the majority of the founding costs…which is why they’ve played a hugely prominent role in Amaecean politics since the colony’s beginning.

Since Amaecea isn’t under corporate patronage, it has its own representation in the CIG - and so it’s able to get the Psionic Union on the CIG agenda.

Got a burning question for the next FAQ? Let me know at lena@lenaalisonknight.com.