“The Concert brings harmony to cacophony… as its composer.”
Overview
The Concert of Stars is an interstellar organisation that exists to maintain order and peace in known space in Stellima. It consists of the 84 most powerful star nations.
Current role
In addition to keeping order within the member star nations, the Concert of Stars maintains peace and order in Farspace as part of its role. Of course, with conflicts and events that are of limited interest to the Concert, little action is taken as it does not disturb their power or influence. They rarely become involved unless something happens that can disturb their interests.
Things that will attract their involvement whether within the Concert or in Farspace include violations to the Orion Accords, a treaty signed by any star nation large enough to have a voice, regardless of membership in the Concert. Of course, the signing of it is entirely voluntary without any consequences for non-compliance! The Orion Accords govern many aspects of life, and the Concert acts as one if they determine that the Accords have been violated.
Founding ideals
As the Era of Strife continued, wars waged, and star nations grew ever more powerful, a consensus was reached among the most power star nations that they needed to establish interstellar peace to prevent further losses, especially as these star nations were at a point where they could wipe out most of their rivals and wreak havoc on their equals. The Dominion sent the first message to the other leaders of the large militaries, soon to be the Core members, and soon a meeting took place. Despite the worries of some, the meeting proved to be a success, and soon plans were in place to develop a permanent system of interstellar order, with the Core members at the centre, of course. The Concert as it is known today first met on 16992.4.
Rings of power
The Concert consists of three groupings, listed in order of decreasing power and influence: the Core members, the Major members, and the Minor members. There are 12 Core members, 24 Major members, and 48 Minor members. While the more powerful groupings rarely change, the weaker levels are sometimes in flux.
The 12 Core members wield the most power and influence, building alliances and rivalries between one another in order to maintain a balance of power. They often take clients from the Majors for patronage in exchange for loyalty, obedience, and resources.
The 24 Major members similarly take on clients in patronage from the Minors; they also often act as enforcers of the Core’s will toward the Minors and those not in the Concert. The Majors often form rivalries and alliances that match their patron’s own rivalries and alliances.
The 48 Minor members are more fluid and come and go easily so they are more prone to form alliances and rivalries among themselves that do not reflect the Core members' dynamic. They are also much more prone to make concessions to Majors in order to retain their membership in the Concert so that potential new powers rising up are kept in check. They are known to occasionally form large blocks for causes that they consider very important which occasionally pull in several Majors and can get the Cores to pay attention.
Core Concert members
One thing to remember is that all Concert Members are multispecies star nations with over 10 member species each.
Divine Dominion: A theocracy ruled by their deity in the flesh. They are very aversive to war but infamous for not backing down if declared upon. They are a champion for peace, liberties, and prosperity.
United Federation of Workers’ Labour Unions: A democratic socialist star nation ruled by their elected “Supreme Union Leader.” They are famous for their egalitarian views and focus on unions and worker’s rights. They often form bitter relations with anyone that favours capitalists over workers.
Raixhen Empire: A constitutional empire ruled by their Xhaisin and Supreme Generals. They are famous for their cultural focus on loyalty and the military. Their militarism has led them to punch way above their weight class and makes them very prone to use their Imperial Fleet to settle disputes.
Commonwealth of Worlds: A democratic republic ruled by their three houses and their president. They are famous for advocating democratic ideals and housing the most diverse range of species within their borders. They are known to do a lot to maintain peace among the Farspacers.
Duarchy of Fungi: A duarchy ruled by their spiritual leader and their royal family. They are famous for their strong ties to their ancestral spirits and immense tolerance of people of different needs than their own. They do have a propensity for being unpredictable due to them listening to the spirits' wills.
Confederacy of Oceans: An aquatic confederacy ruled by a council consisting of many individual interstellar states together. They are known for their general xenophobia toward land dwelling life and shooting first before asking questions with trespassers in their space.
6 yet to be decided core members: To be announced.
The League of Tshutsi World & Colonies
The Tshutsi are not a formal member but rather the facilitators and custodians of the Concert. They fill all administrative jobs and host the summits on their world where the Concert Complex is located. Their solar system is locked down and hard to get into without their permission, and they remain aggressively neutral in interstellar affairs, making them ideal for this type of stewardship. In important deadlocks of the Core members, the Tshutsi have been known to act as a thirteenth member to break the tie.
Requirements to Concert membership
The requirement to be admitted into the Concert is as simple as it is brutal: power. If you, as a star nation, possess enough power to topple or significantly hurt a pre-existing member of the Concert, you may be allowed to replace the one you have now surpassed. Admittance may be blocked, however, if a star nation from a higher ring of power vetoes or denies admittance through administrative actions or, in rare circumstances, dismantles the rising power militarily so their power is no longer enough to be admitted.
Orion Accords
The Orion Accords are among the oldest and most important treaties in known space. Signed by every star nation that forms the Concert and every star nation with aspirations of joining, it represents the most comprehensive and cohesive documents to outline basic accepted practices and rights of sapient creatures everywhere.
War Protocols
The Orion Accords lay out, among other things, the conduct of war. This includes what is considered a legit casus belli, or cause for war, how war declarations are to be made, how the aftermath of a space battle is to be conducted, and how prisoners of war are to be treated.
Casus Belli: Signatories may not go to war without a legitimate cause for war. The Accords define legitimate causes as including but not limited to aggression by other parties, violations of Concert sanctioned treaties, illegitimate acquisition of solar systems, and any reason that the Concert as a whole approves of.
War Conduct: Acceptable conduct during hostilities is covered in the Accords, with a heavy focus on how to minimise damage toward non-military targets and death tolls of civilians. It also includes sections about engagements in space versus on a planet within its air-, water-, or ground-space in order to minimise the possibility of escalations.
Aftermath of Space Battles: The Accords offer guidelines on how to deal with the debris after battles and the necessity to help anyone in escape pods in space first and foremost.
Neutral Parties’ Assistance: The treatment of neutral parties that come to assist civilians or wounded parties in a war after a battle's conclusion is outlined in the Accords, including the rights and obligations of the neutral and warring parties.
Prisoners of War: Because the treatment of prisoners of war is a critical component in order to protect them and it keeps wars more civilised, the Accords go into detail on the rights granted a prisoner of war, including rights such as monitored communications, xenane treatment, and protection against torture and execution.
War Crimes
The Orion Accords also define what constitutes war crimes in interstellar conflicts. This include but is not limited to the following:
Targeting Civilians: Intentionally targeting civilian populations or non-military infrastructure.
Usage of Banned Weapons: The utilisation and deployment of weapons that are forbidden within the Accords, such as planet-destroying weapons, biological weapons, chemical weapons, vathyron weapons, or any technology that causes undue suffering.
Destruction of Ecosystem: Intentionally targeting and destroying ecosystem, entirely or partially, for the purpose of rendering a planet more or entirely uninhabitable.
Torture and Abuse: Mistreating prisoners of war, including but not limited to torture, medical experimentation, solitary confinement, sleep deprivation, and other forms of abuse.
Destruction of Important Sites: Attacking or destroying locations on planets or moons of significant cultural, historical, or scientific importance without military necessity.
Proclamation of Sapient Rights
The part of the Accords that took the longest to draft and was the most contentious due to what everyone thought should be included and what should be excluded was the inherent rights that would be proclaimed for all sapient life. After years of negotiation, it finally took its current form. In broad strokes, it contains sections covering the following:
Universal Rights and Equality: It establishes the inherent dignity, equality and rights of all sapient beings. This is across all species regardless of one's origin and current place of living.
Right to Life and Basic Needs: The Accords affirm the right to life and security, including the basic necessities that enable life to prosper such as food, water, shelter, healthcare, and, in addition, freedom of information and the right to physical, mental, and social well-being.
Prohibition of Inxenane Practices: The Accords prohibit torture, slavery, involuntary servitude, and any degrading form of treatment. It also emphasises bodily autonomy and the right to a dignified existence.
Cultural, Linguistic, and Personal Freedoms: In addition to protecting an individual’s right to express and maintain and celebrate one’s language, culture, and tradition, the Accords also guarantee one’s right to have official documents and education in one’s native language and support educational access and freedom of movement and expression.
Legal Protections and Asylum Rights: It guarantees fair legal treatment, the right to a fair trial, legal representation, and the presumption of innocence, regardless of one's species, legal status, and planet of origin. It also protects against arbitrary actions affecting privacy, property, and freedom of movement. The accords ensure that anyone has the right to seek asylum from persecution.
Location of Headquarters
The Concert Complex, CC, is their headquarters for when Concert members are required to meet up in person with all of the heads of states. It is located far away from any city on the planet of Tetshutsi in the system of Lotshutsi, controlled by the Tshutsi League. Back during the end of the Era of Strife, the representatives of all soon-to-be Core members had to meet up but had no trust with each other.
The Tshutsi had by then already established themselves as uninterested in affairs outside of their own system and aggressively neutral, so they were asked to house the meetings as a neutral party where all Core members-to-be could feel equally safe and none had an advantage over any other.
As the negotiations were drawing to a close, it was also decided that Tetshutsi would be a superb place for them to meet up in the future and make certain that no favouritism was being given. The Tshutsi accepted this and allowed them to rent land and build what was required on it.
In modern times, the CC consists of 13 large buildings, one for each of the twelve core members a thirteenth to act as a neutral ground where the actual meetings can occur. All buildings are maintained and staffed by local Ketshutsi. The Core Concert members house their clients and subclients within their building in general. Each building has a dining area where people can eat and discuss upcoming discussions and debates.