Xiwantandu

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Six Domains of Tandire Xiwantandu
Motto: Progress, Prosperity and Peace
Capital	Cuauhquemecan
Largest city	Itztlan
Official languages	Tandan Standard
Demonym(s)	Xiwa
Government	Semi-democratic Imperial Federation
• Sovereign	Toloche Cancuzuma
Establishment
• Great Reformation	14th of August, 1284 AM
Currency	Licra (Lb)
Date format	dd-mm--yyy

Xiwantandu (lit. Domain of Six Realms), occasionally known in shorthand as the Domain, is a state existing within the Gentian system, located in the Gamma quadrant of the Milky Way Galaxy. Xiwantandu is based on the planet Tandire, the second planet from the Gentian sun, and is almost entirely comprised of native Tandans both in its government and general population, as alien interest and involvement in the Gentian system is minimal due to the star system's relatively isolated locale. Colonization efforts by enterprising Tandans of other planetary bodies and asteroids has occurred both within the Gentian system and to neighboring star systems, however the state of Xiwantandu does not exercise control beyond the inner Gentian system, being limited by the scope of its power projection capabilities to primarily operate on the planet Tandire and its immediate satellites, the moons Selisera, Hatheria and Maguleth. Being the only habitable planet within the Tandan sphere, the home-world Tandire is exponentially more populated than any Tandan colony or outlying settlement. Xiwantandu does not control the entirety of Tandire, but stands as the planet's sole superpower state, and its administered territory along with its satellite nations and dependent states totals approximate three quarters of the land area of Tandire. The Domain's maritime forces have a functionally uncontested control over Tandire's vast world-spanning ocean.

The population of Xiwantandu is divided between the three native sapient species of Tandire, belonging to the Archaeopterids family. These are, in order of population and general distribution, the Miri, the Kypra, and the Rorkar. The Kypra, natives of the extensive Sondrilos island chain in the planet's tropical zone, are the physically smallest and most diminutive of the three being roughly a meter in height on average. Kypra are commonly viewed as the dominant species of Xiwantandu due to their near-monopoly on the highest political offices and generally high social standing outside of the government and within the military. By contrast, the Miri are by far the most widespread and populous of the Archaeopterids being the dominant species in terms of their numbers on all three continents, and appearing as the majority on every landmass except the Sondrilos islands. The Miri make up the most generalist of the three species from a biological perspective, and also sit at a middle range of roughly two meters in height on average. Rorkars are by far the least populous and least widely distributed of the Archaeopterids, having a more specialized herbivorous biology than their siblings and being geographically limited to small regions of the far north of the planet. They stand at a towering three meters in height and have a powerful physical build. All three Archaeopterid species can be found within Xiwantandu society and are treated with a modicum of equality, although the stark biological differences between the species in terms of physicality and mental capacities create notable social strata within the state, typically having the Kypra islanders at the top and the Rorkars at the bottom, with those of the Miri species filling out the social roles in between.

The state known today as Xiwantandu was formed out of the Sondriline colonial empire, a massive sea-faring empire with the islander Kypra at its core. Sondrilos was in those days one of many major powers of Tandire, but nonetheless one of the most powerful imperialist states on the planet, exerting Sondriline cultural and Kypra racial imperialism over the other cultures and species of the planet. Old Sondrilos was dominated by a feudal society with a noble ruling caste at its top, with administrators, soldiers, workers and traders arranged below them in a social hierarchy, wherein colonials of the other species were maintained at the lowest rungs of society. A political crisis spurred on by a combination of increasingly rash and incompetent actions by the Sondriline nobility and an escalating secession crisis within colonial holdings of the Sondrilos empire caused an event known as the Great Reformation. This was effectively a coup by the bureaucratic organs below the nobility, made of administrators and imperial officials of lowborn status, in coordination with traders and merchants, to overthrow the feudal government of Sondrilos and prevent the dissolution of the colonial empire to secessionist movements that had been spurred on by the noble's repressive approach. The subsequent state, while not entirely democratic in nature, was organized on the principle of equal treatment and the supremacy of the law above all individuals within and without the government.

Etymology

Xiwantandu, meaning Domain of Six Realms, is a name that originates from classical Sondrilos islander culture dividing the known world into six principal divisions that break up the physical world into distinct components. These were based on the 'Four Directions', a philosophy that ascribed one of the cardinal directions to each landmass of Tandire, these being the three continental bodies as North, West, and South, and Sondrilos as East. The fifth realm was the realm of the planet-wide ocean that surrounded the cluster of landmasses on one hemisphere, and the sixth was the open sky that stretched out above. Mythical elements were ascribed to the Four Realms and the extended Six Realms, although these often varied through history. The Six Realms are commonly understood to symbolize the entire universe, as the philosophy of the Six Realms was developed in a time when the rest of space was not known to exist.

Domain of Six Realms, Xiwantandu in the Sondriline tongue, is meant to evoke the classical concept of the infinite universe as being under the new state, a grand Domain. This change in name accompanied many other moves during the Great Reformation to transition from the framework of the Sondriline Empire into something that would be seen as a universal state, above even the proud peoples and rulers of the Sondrilos islands, in an effort to thoroughly dis-empower the old Imperial institutions while reinvigorating the outlying territories and colonial citizens with a sense of belonging within the as yet Sondrilos-based state and not to their own local powers.

Government and Administrative Divisions

The administration of the vast territories of Xiwantandu on Tandire and beyond requires a complex federalized system of government in order to retain a level of functionality and cohesion in a state governing multiple cultures and religions of several species at once. Generally, the territories under the control of Xiwantandu fall into one of three categories; core states, dominion states and peripheral states. Core states are those ruled directly by the central government of Xiwantandu, best exemplified by the Sondrilos island chain on Tandire, where the Domain's capital is located. Dominions of Xiwantandu are semi-autonomous administrative bodies that rule over large areas of territory and population in the name of the central government, and are balanced between local autonomy and oversight by the central government's offices. Peripheral states are those which are neither the centrally ruled main territories nor territories that have been organized under a Dominion government. On Tandire, peripheral states are often formal vassal states and dependencies, even nominally independent satellite states nonetheless largely under the de facto governance of Xiwantandu officials. Occasionally, peripheral states can be areas under military administration or the oversight of a special colonial government that presides over territories either newly acquired and not yet organized into a Domain, or territories too small and fragmentary to be so organized yet too isolated and undeveloped to be considered properly as core states.

Core States

The core territory of Xiwantandu, organized into state and provincial divisions, make up the areas directly ruled by the Sovereign of Xiwantandu and her government. This Sovereign is their head of state and of government and is entirely in control of all executive functions of core states government. The Core States operate the primarily legislative assemblies of Xiwantandu, which create the laws that govern the Core States territory and to an extent hold a degree of influence over the Sovereign's executive branch. Likewise, the courts of the Core States are considered to be central court system of Xiwantandu and effectively preside over the courts of Dominion governments and peripheral territories.

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Dominions

A Dominion of Xiwantandu is a semi-autonomous polity under the state, forming a distinct subordinate government from that of the central Xiwantandu government which runs the core states directly. Primarily, the Dominions have their own legislative bodies and this have a separate set of laws applying to their citizens, while still held under a set of universal laws applied acorss all of Xiwantandu from the core states legislature and enforced by the Sovereign. The Sovereign remains the head of state but a distinct Dominion head of government is put in place, typically nominated by the local Dominion legislature and ratified by the central government, although in some cases the central government has intervened to appoint Dominion heads of government under extraordinary circumstances. Dominion courts are considered subordinate to Xiwantandu courts in the core states. Because of this, the central courts may at time overturn decisions of the Dominion court, and may often hear appeals from parties within the Dominions to this end.

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The Periphery

Those areas too distant to be integrated within the direct Xiwantandu government and added to the core states, yet too disparate themselves or freshly added to Xiwantandu's control to be organized into a Dominion government are the areas known as the peripheral states, or collectively as the Periphery. These include the small island territories and formal vassal states of Xiwantandu on Tandire, and many settlements outside of the home-world that are far too small and distant to be properly ruled from Tandire or be organized into a formal Dominion. These areas typically fall under military administration by maritime or space navy forces, but may also be governed by local bodies or corporate entities empowered to rule in the name of the Sovereign and answerable to the Xiwantandu central government. The ultimate political goal of most peripheral territories is to one day be reincorporated as a Dominion government, gaining a higher standing and legal status within Xiwantandu and her other Dominions, although this goal is sometimes unattainable by territories too isolated from each other to be integrated in this fashion. The process of Dominion incorporation from peripheral territories is best exemplified by the Lunar Dominion, which was recently incorporated out of the peripheral settlement governments on Selisera, Hatheria, Maguleth and minor outposts on the Tandan ring system.

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