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The League of Free Cities (自市同盟, zì shì tóngméng, Franvils lig), also known as the Huranian Hansa, was an association of Principean colonies and trade posts in Northern Huran to defend their interests in the Hou River and trans-oceanic trading. It began as an alliance of Blaco colonists against the Former Tan state and especially against its monarch: Tan Mingdi who had overturned most of his father' pro-Blaykish policies and began a purge of foreign elements in his country. After the civil war, the League maintained itself and became a founding member of the Grand Covenant alongside the Kingdom of Bian and the Later Tan Dynasty. Despite being officially recognized in treaties as an equal partner, it was never a state nor was it sovereign. The colonists were still Blaykish subjects and under its colonial administration, led by the Resident minister in Condor-Royal. The cities and ports in which they were established were still administered by Tan or Bian Mandarins and part of their respective states. Their establishments existed as free-ports or factories only by Tan or Bian decrees and special status were freely-revocable privileges. But in practice, real power in a colony was held by its Odoquole, an informal council of the factory' wealthiest and most influential colonists. While not recognized by either the Tan, the Bian, nor Blayk, local Mandarins and administrators consulted them before every major decision and followed the policies set by the Odoquole as, because of their influence, its members had the power to make or break careers in their cities.

Since its beginning as a military alliance and despite its informal nature, the League was led by a central authority formed by representatives from every colony: the Megodoquole. While it had no power over the colonies' internal affairs, it kept international relations and military affairs as its prerogative. It was also the final arbiter in case of conflicts between colonies and would develop its own Tribunal de commerce. To finance its growth in Neidi, the League also created its own banque, the Caisse de l'Ouranie, as a private venture with many features of a central bank including issuance privilege. It would also form its own military corps including the famous Tirailleurs Ouraniens and Voltigeurs Tartares as well as a permanent navy. The growth of the League would be such that by the second half of the 19th century, it would be able to dictate terms and matter of internal affairs to both Tan and Bian, and would often ignore colonial decisions from Blyak.

The League was not the only form of Blaykish colonisation in Huran. Even though closely co-dependent, Perendist missions remain independent. As the Tan Civil War which gave birth to the League was concurrent to the Blaykish Civil War (1800-1822) and the Colonial Wars of Independence (the Amand War of Indpependence (1801-1807), Marceaunian Wars of Independence (1802-1806)...) both the League and the Missions formed and expanded outside of colonial authority.

The League main trading partners were the other ex-colonies of Blayk. Mainly Amandine and Sainte-Mélitine. They traded in Silk, Taffeta, Satin, Velvet, Felt, Porcelain, Lacquer, but also indentured workers in the form of Coolies. Non-Perendist Hua workers were more often sent across the ocean than those who had converted, who were preferred to work on Manors in Huran. The "human capital" of Huran compared to that of the other Blaykish colonies proved a valuable commodity during the League's day and although slavery was made illegal in the Grand Covenant, Indentured servitude was common.

Administration

The Promotion System

André Desalles, Vergodane of Tourane in 1843, with his family

Colonies adopted a system known as the Course-aux-honneurs (跑爵; pǎo jué. Officially: 晉升體系; jìn shēng tǐ xì; Promotion System) in parallel to the administrative rankings of the Tan and Bian states. The positions adopted and recognized by the League were:

1) The Financial Affairs Officer (财务官; cái wù guān; Dane-au-trésor)

2) The Urban Officer (市政官; shì zhèng guān; Dane-urbain)

3) The Proeminent Officer (裁官; cái guān; Prodane)

4) The Officer-in-activity (执政官; zhí zhèng guān; Vergodane)

5) The Supervising Officer (監官; jiān guān; Censeur)

To become a public officer, or "Dane", a decade of service in either the League's Merchant or War navies and a minimal age of 30 was mandatory. The colony's Odoquole would then pick from the pool of potential recruits the candidates for this year' positions who were then presented to the colony' citizens (gathered in a Comitelle) for approval. The Course-aux-honneurs was often compared to a Ladder: everyone had to start as a Financial Affairs Officer and then climb up the ranks. The exact duration of a mandate varied from colony to colony, but generally lasted a year. Only in the smallest of colonies was there only one officer of a rank. In their majority, colonies had at least two of each ranks, sometime more.

Financial Affairs Officers, or Danes-aux-trésor, as their name implied, were tasked by their Odoquole to handle the public treasury. They also controlled the colony' archives, kept the ledger, and organized the Ferme générale (共莊; gòng zhuāng; Common Farm): the outsourcing of taxation to private collectors. The Urban Officers' were responsible for the maintenance of public buildings, including infrastructure like roads, and the organization of festivals and holy days. Prodanes could serve as judges (法官; fǎ guān; Bretodane) or police commanders (指挥官; zhǐ huī guān; Vellaune). Finally the Vergodanes, who could serve in pair, were the colonies Mayors and supreme magistrates. A fifth rank, accessible only to ex-Vergodanes, was the Supervising Officer who was tasked with organizing the colony' population census, with the power to grant or revoke citizenship. He also wrote the list of people invited to seat at the Odoquole.

Ladder of Successes

A Magistrate in his Jinshi attire

In the Tan Dynasty, Colonies were still under the nominal control of a local magistrate (知縣; zhī xiàn) as Townships (鄉; xiāng) within a County (縣; xiàn). The local magistrate is responsible for collecting taxes, hearing trials, public order, education, examinations, morality, and religious customs. Replaced every three years, necessarily foreigners to the county they administered, overseeing population of tens of thousands with a team of about two hundred people at best, the Local Magistrate was dependent on local elites and networks to establish his authority. In Counties with Blaykish colonies, this often meant having to consult the Odoquole on all matters of taxation, land development, and justice. Mandarins who often under the patronage of the Odoquole, when the local magistrates appointed in League' dominated counties weren't themselves clients of one of the League's official who used their influence to grant them their position.

So, public officials could hold ranks in both the Colony' and the County's administrations. However, holding a Royal degree was a prerequisite to public service. There were three degree levels in the Tan Dynasty, forming the so-called "Ladder of Successes":

1) Tongsheng (童生, child student): County-level degree. Allow for service in the county administration.

2) Juren (舉人, recommended man): Prefecture-level degree. Allow for service as a Local Magistrate.

3) Jinshi (進士, advanced scholar): Royal-level degree. Allow for service in the government.

Agreements existed between the Tan and the League for private schools in the latter to grant degrees equivalent to the Tongsheng. When the League decided to open its own schools, the Ecole Speciale Militaire de Saint-Melin and Ecole Spéciale de Commerce de Saint-Antoine, their degrees were recognized as Juren-equivalent. This allowed the League to control more directly the Tan administration and expand its influence.

Blaykish influence over Tan administration also appeared in schools programs. Because of the defeat at the hand of the Great Covenant, the Tan Dynasty was forced to reform its examinations. In many counties, Ruist knowledge was no longer enough to pass the examination. Knowledge in mathematics, 'Auressian sciences', and other domains were demanded. Missions and Colonies, who had a privileged access to these new knowledges, were in prime position to use their authority to create a new generation of Mandarins who owed their positions to the colonists. Those 'Technical Experts', seen with scorn by the traditional scholarly-gentry, would nonetheless find positions even in the royal palace.

The Cénacles

Sénons informal meeting with Tan officials

At the core of a colony sat a Cénacle. They began as informal gathering of Blaykish migrants in Huran: social circles meeting irregularly in participants' houses or at restaurants or tea houses. After the Tan Civil War, the Odoquoles remained purely informal affairs but their members, called the Sénons, represented the best established and most influential people in the Blaykish communities and took upon themselves the matter of administration and public life in the absence of colonial and royal authorities. A magistrate, either the Zhixian or any of the Danes, could summon them so as to get their opinion and advice on a question. The Odoques would express themselves in turn, the order being determined informally based on prominence and respect, and could speak of anything they wanted, in the manner they preferred, for as long as they wished. But by the end of their intervention, they needed to have expressed their opinion on the question brought to them, even if it was simply by agreeing to an opinion or a view already presented. If they agreed with a later intervention, they could interject to say so, although "interjection" couldn't be longer than a word. Presiding over an Odoquole was the Magistrate that summoned it.

The final opinion of the Sénons was called a "consultation" and was a non-binding document expressing the opinion and desire of the council. However, due to the nature of the members as the de-facto most influent and powerful people in the colony, they often held more power than official decrees or laws. In the most powerful colonies such as Vives-Eaux, even the Zhixian would demand and follow the advises of the Cénacle.

The Marocénacle and Promagistrates

The Aquatic Residence has been since its opening the Marocénacle' main meeting place.

The Marocénacle was the constituent assembly of the League. Contrary to the smaller Cénacles, it was a formal and internationally recognized institution and a member of the Great Covenant in its own right. It was the institution that represented the Colonies in matter of diplomacy and war and could sign treaties in the name of all its members. Each colony' Supervising Officer was tasked with selecting two representatives to send to the Marocénacle. At first, the assembly was not a permanent affair, only being summoned in case of embassy or at the demand of one of the colonies. But due to the League rapid growth, it became a permanent fixture held in Vives-Eaux.

While incapable of intervening in the colonies' internal affair, the Marocénacle served as a court of final appeal in matters of inter-colonies disputes and commercial litigation involving a colonist. It had the control of the League' war navy, a treasury of its own, collected contributions from the colonies, handled matter of the League' participation in the Great Covenant, and established its own schools for officers and magistrate as well as its own economic institutions such as the Caisse de l'Ouranie. To ensure the direction of all these services, the Marocénacle appointed administrators known as Promagistrates with titles and functions paralleling the Course-aux-honneurs: the Argantodanes, the Platiodanes, the Ardanes, and the Vergobret. The Argantodanes took care of the treasury, the archives, the finances, and one of them served as president of the Caisse de l'Ouranie. The Platiodanes handled League' financed public projects, roads, canals, port infrastructures, and the League' special schools such as the Ecole Speciale Militaire de Saint-Melin and Ecole Spéciale de Commerce de Saint-Antoine. Ardanes could take on a number of special leadership positions as seen fit by the Megodoquole, such as League ambassadors, or military officers, or Residents in areas under League' authority. The Vergobret was the official pinnacle of the League' system, was the final arbiter of disputes, but served only for a year and could not leave Vives-Eaux.

Society

Huranian Kinship

Qiao clan's Ancestral Home

With the collapse of the Lin and then Tan dynsties authorities throughout the 18th century, Huranian people re-organised themselves around their basic social bloc: the so-called Clans (宗族, Zōng Zú, Les Proches de l'Ancêtre). Clan members share a surname, a common ancestor, and an Ancestral Home or, lacking that, an Assembly Hall (zongting).

Originally, the role of the Clans was to preserve their Ancestral Home, Ancestral Shrine, and Graveyard. Clan members donated a portion of their revenues or incomes to their association responsible for the sites who then organized community work. With time, the role of the Clans expanded and were able to own lands, other shrines, multiple graveyards, and even businesses, becoming Corporate entities. An evolution that was completed and re-framed under the influence of the Principeans.

Under the Great Covenant, Ancestral Corporations owned lands, which they gave to their landless members as Tenant farmers for the Corporation. They also handled an investment fund, built on top of the profits of their farms, shrines, and other businesses, which they could then re-invest into the members' companies. They also handled charities, which could not be taxed, handling healthcare and insurance for their members as well as their education through the patronage of schools. The latter mission was considered especially important, if they wanted some of their members to climb through the Ladder of Successes of Huranian society and gain friendly Mandarins and other high placed magistrates.

Many of the more business oriented Clans looked for patronage within the Free-Cities. This often took the form of marriages, business agreements, contracts, but also donations to Perendist temples or Principean-style schools. Some Clans, especially those within the colonies themselves, Auressianized their clothes, names, and even converted: constructing within their Ancestral Homes or Town Houses Perendist shrines, adopting a Perendist saint when they couldn't have their Ancestor recognized as one.

Citizenship

Citizenship was a core aspect of the Free Cities political life. Every 5 years, the Supervising Officer would perform a census within his city, updating the numbers of citizens. He was also the magistrate with the power to grant or revoke citizenship, following the city's laws. A citizen had the right to vote, to run for office, and own properties within his city. Citizenship within one colony also granted the Hanseatic Citizenship proper to the League as a whole. Hanseatic Citizenship granted freedom of movement and freedom to trade with every other colonies, and to own properties, but not to participate in their public lives. If convicted of certain crimes, one could see his full-right citizenship removed, leaving him only with his Hanseatic Citizenship. Hanseatic Citizens were also sometime referred to as "Passive Citizens".

Finally, the Grand Covenant had what was called Compact Citizenship where every subject or citizen of states part of the Covenant could move in and trade with every other state within the Covenant, but couldn't own properties.