BARD PAPER: OPAL2070

Nex

D55476A-6

by Patrice Lemire

Nex was an extremely rambunctious participatory democracy before the final war, And with the Collapse succumbed to mob violence and extreme technophobia. Local military leaders, however, seized control of the administration of the government and protected a significant part of the world's technological base from the panicked population, all but ending both looting and vandalism. While technically a TED , the planets ruler imposed order and ended the worst of the violence.

Although the successor to the original TED was more in the familiar mold of a petty tyrant, the planet's third (and current ) ruler since the Collapse , General Haim Laszczansk, has returned to the original philosophy of the first Military Governor. Laszczansk has developed trade and diplomatic relations with Oriflamme and is currenTLy negotiating for entry into the Coalition . The planets current government values are :

Oriflamme sponsors this membership and has pushed for allowing the government type to be considered a feudal technocracy, given adoption of a formal constitution acceptable to the Coalition Assembly . Aubaine , however has opposed this, fearing that this is simply a ploy on Oriflamme's part to add further F-tech votes to the assembly at any price . Aubaine has instead proposed a global referendum and constitutional congress to develop a, ore pluralistic form of government, a position unacceptable to both Oriflamme and Laszczansk , as Laszczansk righTLy fears that a referendum would merely affirm the xenophobic and technophobic tendencies of his population, and overturn the "middle ground" that he is enforcing.

From Path of Tears p141

Nex has finally gained entry into the Coalition . This was made possible by three key events. First General Laszczansk invited the Aubani government to send a fact finding mission to his world, which it did, in order for them to understand why their demands were so problematic. Afterward the general himself travelled back to the Coalition to plead his case in front of both the Aubani government and the Coalition Assembly culminating in an en-passionate speech before all 192 representatives. Most found the general's arguments well thought out and his concerns for the future well being of his people to be genuine and sincere.

The third event and possible the most important of the three was the bargain struck by both the Centrist and Federalist block to grant simultaneous membership to both Nex and Teldora. In this deal the general had to make a few compromises on his own. While wide scale democratic reform are unacceptable he did agree to implement some on a smaller scale. Up to now all setTLement on Nex have been run by a military administrator the rank and power of which depended on the size of the settlement. The municipal structure will be modified with the addition of locally elected town consuls. The military administrator will still be present but will have a vote equal to that of any other individual consul member.

In order to raise local living standard a bootstrap operation is under study. The general is all to well aware of his population's technophobia and so has this operation to take a more leisurely pace. The plan call for a boost to TL-8 over a 10 to 15 year period. Its is felt that TL-8 is close enough to the current level (6) as to not traumatize Nexian society overly yet is high enough to both bring tangible living condition improvements and to give them a taste for more later on. The extended time (10 to 15 years subject to adjustment as the project goes along) will give them both time to accept the change and their new-found Coalition citizenship.

Even before membership was granted the general took the initiative to renovate the old starport enough to classify it as D. The port in question was previously a secondary class B facility as Nex old class A fell victim to a Black War strike force when Lucan's navy retreated before the advancing Solomani forces. In turn the Solomani navy turn it into a forward base. Still buried in underground landing bays are three powerful Solomani built Ramrod Missile Boats, the previous rulers left them undisturbed due to fear of a viral infection. The bays hold other assets that have yet to be uncovered.

For now the world must rely for Vampire defense on a few surviving TL-12 PAD silos, a large number of TL-6 AD batteries and a smaller number of TL-9 ones imported from Oriflamme. The Nexian military has also imported a few orbital passive arrays and a single missile platform placed in geostationary orbit above the new port.

The world sees light commercial traffic thanks to the new fueling station at L`steich specifically built by Oriflamme to provide a viable jump-2 route to Nex. Baldur has built a similar station at Sarid to extend this route to their new colony at Poyzen via So Skire and Ehart. Because of the developing situation with the Solee Empire in neighboring Shenk the Coalition Navy taking a cue from the Solomani has built (in a rather rushed manner ) a small scout base to act as a forward staging area. A pair of Dragon SDBs was brought in to guard the facility.