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Vjun Request
Bernard_OrielDate: Saturday, 20 Nov 2010, 7:02 PM | Message # 1
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Vjun Request

Firstly I would like to clarify Vjun's population. I would like it to stand at around 9-11,000 across the whole world, mostly living in isolated farmsteads, causing the difficulty of holding a census, very little of the Vjun population would be urbanized, most living out on the wide holdings of the Vjunite nobles.

The population would be divided as follows:

The Nobility, making up around 5% of the population this group hold the hereditary power vested in them since time immemorial. Their power has been somewhat abraded by the massive wave of deaths from the Vjunite Plague, leaving many of their tenancies vacant, their children dead and their number ageing. Many of the remainder of this group have consolidated their position by leaving Vjun and marrying the heads of rich (but often not aristocratic) families in order to preserve their genetic stock from extinction. In recent years they have done what all aristocrats do in modern times, trimmed sails and survived.

The Serfs, the serfs are unfree tenants of the nobility (around 85% of the populace). These individuals vary considerably in wealth and status, some holding wide and fertile lands (for Vjun) and having wealth equivalent to the nobles, some have been able to rent the feudal rights for whole estates from absentee nobles, and been able to lord it over the lords tenants as if they were the lord himself. Most, however, are considerably less lucky, eking out a meagre existence from the hard soil of the Vjunite upcountries, or fishing for the horrific creatures which live in Vjun's poison seas. While their existence is often poor, they have benefitted from rents dropping after the plague, leading to more farming. Vjunite serfs may not leave their lord's land for more than a day without permission. Traditionally they may acquire their freedom by living in a town for a year and a day, however, this means forfeiture of all their land, property and family. Thus it is that few serfs leave their lands and become freemen.

Freemen make up the third group in Vjun Society, freemen are not bound to land or lords by feudal ties and often work in trades such as weaving or metallurgy. Freemen as a group vary considerably in wealth also, with some holding wide lands or large companies, however, most are small craftsmen and in some cases labourers. The poorest freemen may find themselves worse off then if they were serfs and in some cases accept feudal tenancies in order to not starve to death. The freemen were the worst hit group in the Vjunite plague due to almost exclusively living in densely populated communities. Freemen, despite a lack of de jure power hold much de facto power, as they run much of what remains of the Vjun state on a day to day basis thanks to the apathy or absenteeism common in the populace.

Vjun is ruled by the nobles, but legislated for by the Parliament of Vjun, composed of 49 members, around 30 representing the nobles and 29 representing the freemen.

Major population centres on Vjun
Bitter End - population 800
The Vale of Horrors - population 540
Drudgetown - population 300
Bast Castle - a small Vjunite shanty community is nearby, featuring a bar and also the living place for menial cleaning personnel, catering etc for Bast Castle's Barracks.

Largely Abandoned population centres
Berrocs Hill, population 1
Sludge - abandoned
Grim Keep - populated by the Count Zahlung's Household FIII droids which fiercely guard the forbidding fortified manor. Count Zahlung passed away during the plague and no heir has claimed his manor.

This fleet would represent a hang over from the old Vjunite Armada, having been around for decades and having been financed by the long dead much larger Vjunite population. A dozen more assorted vessels of similar size would be landed outside of Bitter End, having been landed due to the Inability of the Vjun population to crew them after the plague. These landed vessels would be inoperative due to being landed for a pair of decades in the acidic Vjun environment, however, They would still be a useful source for parts..

The ships would be crewed largely by freemen from families in Bitter End, it being their hereditary right to crew the fleet after the Concord of Darkness, which held that the serfs of a noble may not crew capital ships (after the infamous orbital bombardment of Contwaraberg by the Viscount Malreux's cruiser). Nobles may however hold the captaincy of these ships, but these are usually just feudal titles and in practice their freemen captains actually crew them, while the noble who holds the hereditary captaincy pays for the vessels upkeep.

For example, Bernard Oriel is hereditary captain of the "Misery", a CR70 corvette which has been mothballed for the last three decades due to the cost of keeping her space worthy not being worth the prestige.

1 Consular-class (Militarised clone wars variant)
1 Corellian Star Shuttle - Outfitted with two ion cannon turrets and four quad laser turrets.
2x Gozanti-class Cruisers
12x Cloakshape Fighters
6x Z95 Headhunters
1 Type I Light Duty Space Defense Platform - since armourment isn't stated I'd like it to be armed with 4 turbo laser turrets and 8 quad lasers.
200x Space Mines (scattered around in high orbit and hyperspace jump points), these would be divided into the following
50x Defender ion mine, 50x Mine Type A, 50x Mine Type B, 50x Mine Type C. Only 4 would ever be able to target a single vessel.

For ground forces, there is no organised Vjun Army, militias exist for population centres and outlying communities, while the nobles all have their own retinues of household troopers and droids. All Vjun noble residences are equipped to be defended in a siege, thanks to the rough and tumble small wars common on Vjun a century ago.

These forces specifically do not include Imperial Forces (at Bast Castle, Vjun Rehabilitation Centre, &c).


Bernard Oriel
Senator for the Planet of Vjun
1st Earl Malreaux (Second Creation)
Vjun Delegation to the Imperial Senate


Message edited by Bernard_Oriel - Saturday, 20 Nov 2010, 7:03 PM
 
Jace_VaritekDate: Sunday, 21 Nov 2010, 2:28 PM | Message # 2
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Although I largely approve of this, I also see in it an opportunity to correct something that's always prayed on me and my own conception of a populated Vjun. That is to say that, to my taste, the notion of a "parliament," and even the word "parliament," is a bit grandiose for so miserable a planet. I always thought it more appropriate to have something more along the lines of a House of Burgesses, consisting of landowners and representatives of the governor (or whoever the ranking Imperial is on Vjun). I've always imagined it as smaller, on the order of 20 or so people—this isn't unreasonable, I think, considering that my impression of Vjun's nobles is that they're primarily from elsewhere and only reside occasionally on Vjun. Cambrist, for example. Considering this, the figure of 5% for the nobility (550 nobles, if we go on the 11,000 population estimate) seems a bit high to me. I'd like to see that tweaked down a bit.

I'm also not comfortable with the Mine Type C.

The rest of the request looks good to me, though. I think the rusted out ships are a nice touch. And having no army. The ships and the rest of the mines are reasonable, and so I vote to APPROVE those. Do give me an idea, though, of how the mines are circumvented by regular transports (what the procedure is here, etc.).


Jace Varitek
Manager/Administrator from January 2003 to Present
My recent posts here, pre-2009 archives here

"When my information changes, I change my opinion. What do you do, sir?"
—John Maynard Keynes

Furthermore, a dancing Wookiee:
 
Bernard_OrielDate: Sunday, 21 Nov 2010, 10:44 PM | Message # 3
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Well, blowing them up or steering away from them. Would be the way to deal with the mines (proceeding outside their range), they are similar to other static defences in that respect.

The figure of 550 noblesmon Vjun may seem high. But the nobles are just a demographic group. Perhaps one in every 10 would have any real measure of influence or power, the rest represent the wives, cousins, grandparents, and other genetic hangers on which are common with the nobility.

Many of the noble class would not actually live up to the name. As nobility is just a matter of breeding. Many (cousins of rich noble families etc) would not have wealth or lands in themselves, and only survive from the patronage of the more serious nobility, or in some extreme (but increasingly common) cases taking paid work as lawyers, scribes or other professionals.

Equally many will hold ancient feudal titles with no real meaning anymore (after the massive depopulation). Some will be lords or ladies of wide holdings, but due to a lack of people to farm them (for whatever reason), they are forced to live a scanty existence in 2 or 3 rooms of their manor houses, relying upon their droid servants to feed and look after them.

So 550 sounds high, but if you say 1/10 heads a noble household, he has a wife, two daughters and a son, plus perhaps 2 genetic hangers on, that would mean there were 385 members of noble houses. 55-100 of them senior enough to be considered important men/women. Of this 385, perhaps half-2/3rds would be at the age of majority.

That leaves 165 nobles who for whatever reason are impoverished due to vacant tenancies, disinheritance or other strife. Many of these have married into rich Freeman households rather than suffer the humiliation of poverty. This would mean there were approximately 100 poor nobles, somei of these not of the age of majority.

Also, nobles would likely have survived the plague better than the people as a whole. As their trusty footmen droids could not be infected with the plague, they would be able to protect their masters from infected citizens. Equally, nobles often live in fortified castles or manors, meaning they could simply lock themselves in.


Bernard Oriel
Senator for the Planet of Vjun
1st Earl Malreaux (Second Creation)
Vjun Delegation to the Imperial Senate


Message edited by Bernard_Oriel - Monday, 22 Nov 2010, 6:40 AM
 
BairdDate: Monday, 22 Nov 2010, 10:34 AM | Message # 4
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Jace is durnk. He means

DENY

j/k... I look forward to seeing this play out.


Commander in the Grand Army of the Republic (Former)
Friend of the oppressed.
Liberator of the enthralled.
Damian Baird.
 
Jace_VaritekDate: Monday, 22 Nov 2010, 1:17 PM | Message # 5
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My question re: the mines was more along the lines of what the standard procedure would be for a transport bearing goods for Vjun. That is to say, is there a certain safe "route" through the mines that would be widely known? If not widely known, would a transport be made aware of it? Or would it simply have to figure out a way through on its own? I'm assuming there is at least one route through the mines, considering the volume of Imperial traffic. Or do I understand from your post that they're not terribly difficult to navigate?

I don't think you touched on my point about the parliament, and I noticed your latest post on the Senate continues to mention a parliament. Your case with the nobles though is well made, although, on a very minor point, I don't imagine there being a lot of professionals on Vjun (even before the plague, really. It's just a miserable, miserable place).


Jace Varitek
Manager/Administrator from January 2003 to Present
My recent posts here, pre-2009 archives here

"When my information changes, I change my opinion. What do you do, sir?"
—John Maynard Keynes

Furthermore, a dancing Wookiee:
 
Bernard_OrielDate: Monday, 22 Nov 2010, 7:22 PM | Message # 6
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There would be a specific route to pilot to the world, depending on how the mines were positioned that day, this would be provided to all vessels on the approval of their request to enter Vjun airspace, the Imperial Attache to the Vjun Armada would also have details of the mines placement relayed to him daily. Imperial Forces would have deactivation codes for the mines also. They wouldn't be particularly dense in most areas.

While there may be few professionals, lawyers and doctors are always in demand, even if not properly qualified in some cases.

Regarding the Parliament, this may be a grandiose word, but Noble families always adore pomp and circumstance. A parliament is inappropriate for such a small community, but people hold on to traditions. In the works of William Makepeace Thackary there is a work called Vanity Fair, in this he parodies the hundreds of tiny, often powerless, German city states with his fictional state of "Pumpernickel", in which despite the population being in the hundreds, almost everyone has a title of some kind, while this is a parody, it is not far from the mark. Vjun's nobility operate in this tradition, and the Parliament is emblematic of their love of pomp over functionality, with lengthy oratory sessions on even trivial subjects, it stands as a symbol of inefficiency and form over function.


Bernard Oriel
Senator for the Planet of Vjun
1st Earl Malreaux (Second Creation)
Vjun Delegation to the Imperial Senate
 
Jace_VaritekDate: Friday, 26 Nov 2010, 8:47 PM | Message # 7
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Okay, seems reasonable enough. The term "parliament" still isn't to my taste, but your explanation isn't unconvincing and I've done all the insisting I'm going to. So, with no input from Orion on this, apparently, the request is APPROVED.

Jace Varitek
Manager/Administrator from January 2003 to Present
My recent posts here, pre-2009 archives here

"When my information changes, I change my opinion. What do you do, sir?"
—John Maynard Keynes

Furthermore, a dancing Wookiee:
 
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