Qing Long

The Qing Long Republic is the the second largest country in the Verse in terms of number of planets. And like the UAP it controls an entire Planetary System. However the similarities to the Alliance end there. Blue Sun is far less populous than the Core and has far fewer services, industries and bureaucracy. Born of rebellion the Republic went through several stages of development: a participatory democracy, a military dictatorship, a loose confederacy until it settled on a kind of Democratic Republic. Stars of the rebellion have mostly stepped out of the limelight, in part due to the frustrations with actually governing, and also due to a few scandals involving abuses of power.

Government

Bicameral Legislature. All legislation must pass both houses with simple majorities to become law. If a budget increase is requested by the Executive it must be approved by the Senate, otherwise the previous budget rolls over.

Senate

41 Seats - Each Planet or Moon with a population over 100K gets a Senator. Then One Senator for every 1 Million people
Meridian 16 Seats

Burnet 1 Seat

New Canaan 2 Seats

Lilac 1 Seat

Muir 5 Seats

Arminius 1 Seat

Shepherd's Mission 1 Seat

Fury (GG)

Coldstone 1 Seat

Highgate 6 Seats

Perth 1 Seat

Dragon's Egg (GG)

Yudhishtira 1 Seat

Nakula 1 Seat

Deadwood 3 Seats

Haven 1 Seat

New Omaha 1 seat

People's House

Using the Cortex each and every citizen of the Republic can introduce legislation, debate policy, and vote on bills, both from the People's House and from the the Senate. Bills introduced in either house can be voted on no earlier than two weeks after introduction and 'Receipt' by a quorum of citizens. The quorum currently stands at 20% of the adult population. Some bills die in this house because citizens have not looked at them.

In addition to voting on laws, the People's House also elects the Executive. The Executive is in charge of the implementing the laws, and running the government. They serve at the will of the People's House. A new election can be called for with a simple majority of either house or senate. Although Executive has considerable power, he or she is more of a bureaucrat than a presidents. The majority of governing is done the Legislature.

Ballot Boxes - Each household is entitled a single limited use cortex box that uses very strong encryption to send in votes. A two tiered id system is used to ensure the identity of the user. These devices are audited using several techniques, and so far there has been no reported large scale fraud in the system. This does not prevent intimidation, vote buying, or other methods of election tampering. A Ballot Box can be used for Emergency communication, but abuse of this can result in loss of voting privileges AND criminal prosecution.

Executive

This position is currently held by Janice Bishop a former settler and rancher from Deadwood.

Magistrates

The Legislature also appoints Magistrates who mete out justice in the system. Because of the sparse population, these Magistrates tend to have considerable power and become the law. A check on this, is the People's House. Citizens can report the Magistrates for corruption or abuse of power and have their appointments reviewed. While in principle this should work, in practice it is rare.

Sheriffs

The Magistrates can hire sheriffs necessary to maintain law and order. In some small towns the Magistrate may serve as Sheriff though this is discouraged.

PDF

The Armed Forces of Qing Long is the PDF or Planetary Defense Force. The PDF began as the rebel army against the Alliance made up mostly of volunteers. Now it is a more professional organization. It's primary duties are (a) protect ship traffic and planets from hostile forces, in particular Reavers, (b) anti-piracy, (c) maintain deep space posts to protect the "border". The PDF also maintains a garrison and operated the weapons systems of Pericles Station (officially independent). Occasionally the PDF will escort convoys of ships to other systems.

Notable Laws

Laws are classified as Universal (Throughout Qing Long), Planetary, Regional, or Municipal. Crimes committed in space rely on Interplanetary Space Law.

Open Juries - Any adult citizen of the jurisdiction a crime is committed can be on a jury for that crime. So if a municipal law is violated, any in the town can be on the jury. If a Planetary law is broken, any citizen of the planet can be on the jury. On the larger scales these cases rely on the same technology as the People's House .

Homestead Law - A person can establish ownership by demonstrating the use and habitation of land without complaint from other would be owners. In addition, no person or company can claim ownership of land without responsible exploitation and habitation. This prevents people from "buying" or "claiming" land sitting on it, and waiting for price to rise. Some people have gotten around this by establishing habitation in an area and leasing to corporations for use (forestry, mining, etc..) In addition to establishing property rights, the Homestead Law requires any government official to get a warrant from the local magistrate before entering the property. In cases where the Magistrate refuses to cooperate with the 'higher level' authorities, the issue must go before the Legislature.

Reasoned Fear - If a person can show "reasoned fear" for life, they are permitted to take lethal action in response. This is sometimes called the "Reaver Act." It has been used to justify ship to ship battles, and other pre-emptive strikes. The logic being that the very real possibility of a Reaver attack justifies a shoot first, ask questions later approach.

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