The Foundation of Worlds, original the Foundation of Hanar, is an interstellar polity based around a joint human-Gelt colony. As of 436 IE, the Foundation consists of six worlds: Hanar, Thule, Metis, Amargosa, Farigha, and Bonaparte. Human-dominated, but non-human friendly, the Foundation often acts as an intermediary between the Compact of Humanity in Assembly and the Realm.
A First Citizen, chosen by Parliament but not a member, serves as head of state, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and senior diplomat. The Parliament, originally the planetary parliament, then an conglomeration of the member world legislatures before the present system was codified, handles legislative functions.
Early Days
In early 429 IE, the Gelt invaded the human colony of Gilead in an unauthorized operation spearheaded by the Laral Family. Lattus Kai, a young nobleman, was granted possession of Gilead in exchange for his support. When Lattus discovered the operation was unauthorized and based on a deception, he challenged Laral Jorl, the head of the family, in single combat. Before the battle, he sent his concubine Tishla to Metis, which was Gilead’s parent world. This had the effect of freeing her from indenture and, as she was pregnant with his twins, making her his wife. Kai did not survive the single combat, and the slaughter of humans continued.
The Return of Lattus Tishla and Former Chartering of the Foundation
Tishla returned and successfully wrested the Larals’ claim from them before the Sovereign of the Realm. With a Warrior‘s sword at her throat, she gave the human survivors a choice: Rebuild with her and the unwilling Gelt settlers or order the Warrior to behead her on the spot. They chose rebuilding.
The new joint colony took adopted the Gelt name “Hanar,” which in one Mother Tongue dialect means “second chance.” As the colony consisted mainly of a city in rebuilding phase and a human separatist enclave, governance was informal. Tishla took the title “first citizen” and used a ruling council with a chancellor to run the colony. Tishla chose “Foundation” for the polity’s formal name after reading the human book Foundation by Isaac Asimov.
When Metis, a Compact core world, sent a Navy ship and Athena Jovann on a fact-finding mission, Tishla welcomed them and offered Hanar as a staging ground and ally in the Liberation of Amargosa. The Compact, faced with a situation where Metis could legally secede, handed authority over Gilead, Amargosa, and Farigha–all three attacked by the Larals–to the core world. Once Amargosa was liberated, Hanar “amicably disputed” possession of Amargosa with Metis to provide additional resources to the new provisional government and give Amargosans an option to unite with Hanar after rebuilding.
In 432, when the Metisian Republic seceded from the Compact, taking Amargosa and Farigha with it, they immediately allied with Hanar. During this era, the ruling council and first citizen worked on a more formal charter and bill of rights. It was ready for implementation in 436, a process interrupted by a coup.
Coup of 436 IE
In 436 IE, Gelt separatists seized the new Parliament in an attempt to oust Lattus Tishla from power. A rival force of human separatists, led by Nobu Katsumoto, attempted to kill her by taking over the Residence, the seat of the first citizen. Chancellor Orias and Sheriff Colt evacuated Tishla and her daughter to Amargosa. Tishla traveled to the Throneworld to plead for help from the Sovereign, offering herself for indenture. When her indenture was challenged, then counter-challenged, the ensuing duel before the Sovereign resulted in Hanar become the Realm possession of JT Austin. As a joint Compact-Republic operation put down the human insurgency and secured the Parliament building, the Sovereign arrived and formalized Austin’s claim on the planet. During the transfer, the distant world of Thule offered to unite with Hanar, making what the Sovereign cryptically called “other space.” This was followed by the Metisian Republic and Bonaparte, which had a legal pathway to secession from the Compact. This ended Tishla’s voluntary indenture and allowed her to resume the claim giving Hanar its autonomy by marrying Austin. The Sovereign decreed Hanar and its new Foundation would be completely independent of the Realm.
Foundation of Worlds, 436 onward
With Parliament restored and working in tandem with the legislatures of its new partners, the Foundation of Hanar became the Foundation of Worlds. Tishla was finally permitted to step down. Douglas Best, the longtime governor of Amargosa, assumed duties as first citizen. Unlike Tishla, who simply stepped into the role while Hanar sought to define its governance, Best took an oath and would serve a fixed term. The combined parliaments and ruling councils then set about to drafting a new constitution.
Appearances: Suicide Gambit