Xiwantandu

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Six Domains of Tandire Xiwantandu
Flag
Motto: Progress, Prosperity and Peace
Capital and largest city	Itzcoatl
Official languages	Itztli
Demonym(s)	Xiwa, Tandan
Government	Atlepetl Federation
• Sovereign	Toloche Cancuzuma
Establishment
• Great Reformation	14th of August, 1284 AM
Currency	Tulu (Tl)
Date format	dd-mm--yyy

The Six Domains of Tandire (Itztli: Xiwantandu ), also known as the Tandan Hegemony, is a star state located in the Gamma quadrant of the Milky Way Galaxy. The eponymous Tandire, a primarily ocean-covered life bearing world in the Gentian system, is the seat of Xiwantandu and the homeworld of its founding species, the Miri. The Gentian system is the only fully controlled star system claimed as core territory by Xiwantandu, and the overwhelming majority of the Tandan population as well as space constructs, infrastructure for extraction, production and transportation and the state's military and scientific centers are located within what is termed cislunar space, or the space generally encompassed within the orbit of Tandire's smallest and outermost satellite Efira, generally considered to mark the outer edge of the planet Tandire's gravity well. Xiwantandu is a minor power within the Gamma quadrant and holds negligible influence over the wider galaxy, but has demonstrated its capability to operate in the local region and continues to focus on the furtherance of greater prosperity and development within its home system both through internal and external means.

Tandan government is a theocratic technocracy governed by the duly elected Sovereign and a caste of clerical administrators overseeing a vast temporal and secular civil service. The religious law which governs the operation of the Xiwa state lays out strict codes of conduct and absolute responsibilities, such as the requirement of state officials to guarantee the material needs of those under their stewardship without exception, and the duty of the citizenry to lend their labor to the state in exchange for and indeed often in furtherance of these services. As a result, Tandire and the broader sphere of the Xiwa is a highly ordered and moralistic society balancing a universal guarantee of physical and psychological needs to its citizens with a deeply engrained central organization and somewhat authoritarian proselytization and imposition of rigid religious principles on the populace. Xiwantandu's internal structure takes the form of a coalition of major city states across the landmasses and island chains of Tandire in what is known as an Atlepetl, or City State, Federation. Formally, all the powers and authority of each individual city and its chief executive, or Tlatoani are ceded to the central government and the supreme Sovereign, however in practice the daily operation of the local region is usually conducted by the Tlatoani or the military equivalent Cuauhtlatoani in the Sovereign's name as a form of delegated authority.

Xiwantandu possesses a planned economy composed entirely of either state owned or community owned organizations and is devoid of what is traditionally termed private enterprise. Nevertheless, central planning is usually limited to large scale projects across the planet and in space, while the daily political and economic activities in a given region are usually overseen by the local community through a rule by committee system at the city and ward/township level. The Tandan economy currently find itself in a period of prolonged expansion through the technological augmentation of its capabilities, specifically the exploitation of oceanic and lunar resources, the former providing untold mineral and agricultural wealth to the terrestrial cities and the latter unlocking the resources necessary to further expand and colonize the Gentian system and project power to better secure Tandire and its populace.

Government and Politics

The structure of Xiwantandu is based on a long political tradition of precursor Tandan civilizations of the medieval and classical ages. At the highest level of organization, Xiwantandu is a federation of individual city-states or Atlepetl, each of which is in turn governed by their own lord (Tlatoani) or an appointed viceroy usually acting as a military governor (Cuauhtlatoani). Many of these states, especially those located on the planet Tandire itself, are usually many hundreds or thousands of years old and may be ruled by ancient lineages that have survived numerous empires rising and falling. Each city state in turn is traditionally divided into calpolli districts, which describe both rural towns and wards within an urban center. As much as the Atlepetl is the principal unit of government at the large scale, the Calpolli is the center of day to day life for the average Xiwa citizen. Each Calpolli is made up of several kin-groups which collectively own and govern the lands and property of the Calpolli, which may include tracts of agricultural land, mines, forests or even factories, offices and storage depots. Consequently, most centers of economic activity in Xiwantandu are publically owned and operated by a dedicated community attached to that specific productive center. Since the modern day, many Atlepetl tier states have specialized their Calpolli to function as connected nodes of a supply chain, such that a single Atlepetl or a small group of Atlepetl working together can fully transform raw materials into any number of finished products through the use of the productive specializations of each of their Calpolli units.

This Calpolli system has functionally been the basis of every Tandan civilization since before the Bronze age. The principle factor setting Xiwantandu apart from its predecessor is the elimination, or in most cases simply the marginalization, of the hereditary nobility which traditionally held all the seats of power, being replaced by religious institutions. While many Tlatoani lineages remained in place in their specific Atlepetls, the events of the Great Reformation led to the clerical caste overthrowing the last Heuy Tlatoani (equivalent to an Emperor or King of Kings) and installing the first Sovereign of Xiwantandu, Irolen Itzcoatl to rule. The old Jaguar Knights (Ocelomeh) were reformed into the hereditary military caste of Xiwa Janissaries, while the new tensions between clerical and warrior castes led to the emergence of many Temple Guard organizations, which would later merge into the armed cleric Eagle warriors (Cuauhtli), which serve as a counterweight to the Janissaries and as the pretorian bodyguards of high ranking Xiwa officials.

At the empire-wide level, the government is split into three distinct sections knowns as the "Columns of State", each of which holds the Sovereign at the top. The columns, which are the military, the administration and bureaucracy, and the political and legal system respectively, each contain more specialized organs to tackle more specific tasks and are represented on the scale of an individual Atlepetl and often an individual Calpolli, to some extent. Each column has its own chief officer who could be considered a high tier minister to the Sovereign, and who in turn oversees lower ministers. Each column exercises a significant amount of power over the component Atlepetl units of the federated Xiwantandu, demonstrating the centralized nature of the Xiwa political structure in defiance of its federal structure which is largely a vestige of its decentralized, medieval past.

The military column is unique in that its general membership is composed of a type of slave or bonded soldier raised within specialized military Calpolli from birth to serve the Sovereign in battle. Consequently, the members of the Xiwa standing military are technically the property of the office of the Sovereign (although mass mobilized troops drawn from the Calpolli during wartime are free volunteers), and their leaders are the only high level officers of the Xiwa government who are not of the cleric caste. The Calpixque in turn make up a vast class of steward-administrators who are governed by a Huecalpixque and oversee the bureaucracy and the vast majority of day to day government services such as postal/communications networks, transportation infrastructure, as well as education and medical services. Members of this administrative caste are all ordained priests of various Tandan temples, which is used as a mechanism to enforce ethical rules through the strict application of religious law as well as stringent entry requirements as initiation rituals double as civil service examinations. As the Xiwa government began to expand faster than this elite caste of administrative clergy could recruit new members, a secondary subservient class of secular bureaucrats known as the Pochteca was created to raise manpower for the aparatus of state without diluting or lessening the high standards to which the Calpixque are held. Similar standards are applied to the cleric arbitrators under the legal and political column of state, which is headed by the Cihuacoatl who is considered to be the vice-ruler and second in command to the Sovereign. While their central duty is to staff and oversee the Xiwa system of courts, their role as mediators definitively places the underlings of the Cihuacoatl at the center of political life in Xiwantandu, despite holding a smaller role in the day to day lives of the citizens than the administrative Calpixque. The Cihuacoatl and the court system, besides the day to day adjudication of common disputes and criminal cases, is also tasked with foreign affairs and diplomatic tasks as well as the balancing of internal factions.

Political Divisions

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The Itztlan-Tola Hegemony is a highly complex order of overlapping states of union, vassal-suzerain relationships, and alliances. The name Itztlan-Tola by itself officially only refers to the actual municipal areas of the Itztlan and Tola megacities, commonly referred to as the Iron Sisters as sister cities on opposite ends of the Sondriline Sea whose bond is like iron. The state of union between these two cities was established under the Writ of Foundation and is marked as the formal start point for the polity now known as Xiwantandu. These two cities, dominated by their two Temples of the Serpent and the Eagle respectively, established the office of the Sovereign to rule as a middle authority tied to neither pole of the partnership, and to this day in the strictest interpretation of the founding documents, the Sovereign is primarily and in some cases only referred to as the master of the two cities alone. At the time the Writ of Foundation was penned and ratified, these two cities were embroiled in the violent collapse of the former Itztlantec Empire and the full extent of the Sovereign's jurisdiction was only the immediate territories of the two cities.

Although all territories added into the domains of the Sovereign were originally merely subjugated vassal states to either Itztlan or Tola and therefore under their union state, the passage of time and the expansion of the sphere of influence for the Iron Sisters has resulted in many of the territories nearby to the two cities becoming closely tied into them as satellite communities integral to the greater economic and political systems of the large metropolitan centers. Over time, these vassal city states and territories were fully integrated and their governments reorganized from largely self governing vassal states to directly ruled provinces under the Sovereign's civil government. These territories of annexed former vassal states are collectively known as the Central Integrated Territory, or C.I.T. of the Itztlan-Tola Hegemony. The Itztlan-Tola CIT, colloquially referred to as the Core, is economically vital for the industrial economies of the two mega cities to sustain themselves, allowing for many production centers to be spaced out and making ample room for complex supply chains. The high level of industrial development of the CIT has caused it to be a densely populated region, and the only region on the surface of Tandire to have a predominantly urban population, hosting all of the top 25 largest cities of the planet. Notably, many island territories in the Tandan world ocean are directly governed by the Sovereign and are not under a vassal-suzerain relationship, but are not part of the Central Integrated Territories, and are simply considered integrated territory within the Hegemony. An example of a non-CIT integrated territory is the large island of Zolla in the austral polar sea, which is directly ruled as an overseas possession of the Sovereign and serves as a strategic polar launch site for voyages into space.

Lastly, the remaining territory of Tandire as well as its extensions into space are governed by vassal states that have not undergone the total integration of those now defunct states that have been absorbed into the CIT. This complex tributary web can be politically amorphous in some areas, and is referred to under the umbrella term of the Hegemonic Sphere of Itztlan-Tola, whereas the specific term of the Hegemony is used to describe this extended tributary network in addition to the CIT and Itztlan-Tola themselves. Although some of these states do have some level of economic and political integration, most are highly autonomous in their internal affairs and are essentially self governing states and nations, save for the cession of control over foreign affairs and trade to the authority of Itztlan-Tola as well as the payment of tribute. Tribute is usually paid in the form of raw materials and natural resources of a certain monetary value, but can sometimes take the form of military assistance or a technological contribution. By far the largest and most powerful vassal state of the Hegemony are the Metztli, controlling the Tandan moons and possessing an technological and industrial sophistication to rival that of the Itztlan-Tola CIT itself. Because of its nature as an advanced power unto itself and in part due to historical circumstances, the Metztli enjoy a special status as part vassal, part independent allied power to Itztlan-Tola that makes it unique within the Hegemonic Sphere. While many vassal states are highly autonomous, the status of the Metztli goes beyond autonomy as they even exert some degree of influence over Itztlan-Tola in their own right, although they are distinctly the junior partner in the relationship. This is best exemplified by the joint command and operation of the Xiwa Armada space-borne naval forces of Xiwantandu between Itztlan-Tola and their Metztli subjects.

Military

Janissaries

The Janissary corps is the backbone of the Tandan military and represent a martial institution over a millennium old with a legacy of service dating to the turbulent foundation of Xiwantandu. Upon the abolition of the warrior caste's rule over Tandire, many reforms were implemented to establish that caste's new role in the social order. The result of these reforms were the Janissaries, born into service just as the warrior caste Ocelomeh Knights had been prior, but stripped of nobility and instead termed as slaves of the Xiwa Sovereign, loyal only the high office and indoctrinated through childhood to attain unparalleled loyalty as well as a high degree of discipline and practical training. To make this lengthy process of mental and physical conditioning effective, Janissaries are raised from dedicated martial calpolli which are often encircled with barriers or otherwise physically isolated from the rest of an atlepetl, although they are often found near the city's seat of power as a means to enforce the Sovereign's dominion over the lower Tlatoani of each city. Young Tandans are formed into Janissaries in these calpolli, which also serve as general living quarters and military bases for adult Janissaries, the children of whom will often be trained as Janissaries within the same calpolli their parents inhabit.

As a fighting force, the Janissaries represent the apex of the ground power Tandire is able to produce. Their extreme discipline and conditioning can make them extraordinarily effective soldiers under a competent commander. The size of the Janissary body has fluctuated through the centuries, becoming little more than a skeleton force in prolonged periods of peace. Lack of any notable conflicts for extended periods has also caused their equipment to become archaic compared to the level of technology applied in civilian fields. The Xiwa rearmament effort is focused primarily on resolving this technological gap, seeking to equip the formidable Janissaries with modernized weapons of war, and perhaps more importantly train their commanders in modernized doctrines. With the exception of space-based boarding actions and space-to-surface insertion operations, the Janissaries are slotted to fulfill every role of combat, including infantry and mechanized ground combat, atmospheric combat, and maritime naval warfare. The Janissary forces are commanded by the Tlacochcalcatl, or "supreme general", who is the second in command of the entire military apparatus under the office of the Sovereign herself, although they are behind the civilian Cihuacoatl and Huecalpixque in terms of overall control of Xiwantandu, and are barred from becoming involved in non-military affairs or holding a civilian office due to their position in the warrior caste of the Tandan social hierarchy. Underneath this supreme general figure, there is a panel of High Generals known as the Circle of Generals, which serves as an advisory body to the Tlacochcalcatl and may form a collective martial authority to oversee military operations should the Tlacochcalcatl die or be incapacitated.

Militia

The Tandan militia service exists in the modern era as a vestige of the ancient mass levy system used by Tandan city states to raise vast armies of peasant foot soldiers which would be led by a small body of elite Knights. This model was modified with the replacement of the Knights by the Janissaries during the foundation of Xiwantandu, and while levy units were used in great numbers early on, as Xiwantandu expanded and solidified its grip on its territories, Janissary numbers expanded and began to subsume the role of the levy in the military, until the Janissaries became the primary body of the Tandan ground forces. The lack of conflict brought about by the pax tandica has further pushed the wartime only levy mobilization system into obscurity as only the peacetime Janissaries remained in existence. Consequently, the Tandan militia system has atrophied and remains rooted in highly antiquated organizations and traditions. The immediate modernization of Xiwantandu's mass mobilization mechanisms has been deemed a high priority task as it may be of critical importance should Tandire come under alien attack. New mechanisms for voluntary service and conscription have been put in place by the Xiwa administration, however the implementation of these long overdue reforms and more importantly the preparation of material and means of training for these militia forces has proved an arduous and monumental task, one even the notably efficient state apparatus of the Xiwa may take many years to complete. Militia forces fall under the Janissary command structure when mobilized and serve as auxiliary forces.

Armada

Forces designed to fight exclusively in space have been a key focus of both the Xiwa remilitarization effort and of the civilian Open Wings colonization initiative. The space forces of the Xiwa are the newest and smallest of Tandire's armed forces by manpower, although it dwarfs most organizations and even eclipses the Janissaries in terms of the budget and investment of resources made towards the development and construction of a space navy to protect Tandire and the Gentian system. Although most of the naval staff are natural Tandan Miri, ships of the Armada are crewed by an artificial sub-species of Spacer Miri, physiologically modified to boast a near total immunity to the negative biological effects of prolonged exposure to low gravity and microgravity, as well as resistance to G forces and a suite of other alterations to make these Miri inherently adapted to life in service aboard spacecraft. These individuals, known as "Shaved Ones" for their tradition of shaving parts of their plumage, are taken as representative of the entire Armada and naval force as they crew and command the ships, even though a large proportion of the naval staff are not Shaved Ones. The Armada, military shipyards, naval staff and ship crews are based on the Tandan moon Selisera where the Xiwa Tlacatecco military district is located. This entire district including the shipyards and production facilities, as well as the Armada personnel deployed elsewhere, fall under the authority of the Tlacateccatl, an office of supreme command of the naval forces reserved for a Shaved One officer hand picked by the Sovereign. In a similar vein to their Janissary counterparts, the Armada possesses a Circle of Admirals made up of High Admirals which advise the Tlacateccatl and may collectively replace her as a provisional commanding authority in the event of her death until the Sovereign can name a replacement.

Cuauhtli

As the only armed force of the Xiwa belonging to the ruling clerical caste, the Cuauhtli warrior monks of the Eagle Temple play a special and unusual role for a branch of the military. They are entirely outside of the normal military chain of command and answer directly to the Sovereign, bypassing any warrior caste officers in the Janissary forces or the Armada. Their primary function is as an inward facing force which is designed to deter any attempt by the warrior caste, or any other party, to wrest control of the government away from its priestly stewards. Its members are recruited from among the abandoned and orphaned of the planet's cities, raised and trained within Eagle Temples to fight as well as undergoing preparations of the initiation rites necessary to become a Tandan priest. These Cuauhtli warriors were commonly used as a force of bodyguards for important priests and members of the religious government, a role they retained as a matter of tradition long after most credible threats to those individuals had subsided. Two elite units exist within the Cuautli today which stand out from the standing force of warrior monks. The first and most visible of these are the Crimson Cohort, which are clad in all red, considered a royal color on Tandire, and are the personal bodyguards of the Sovereign, although they may also guard the vice-leader Cihuacoatl. The second of these are the Huntress Triads, a sect of fanatical Cuauhtli used to track down deserters and eliminate traitors within the command structure, known to always operate in groups of three giving them their name. Huntress Triads are famous for intentionally seeking out powerful foes and picking difficult fights in order to hone their skills and demonstrate their prowess.