Since the demise of the Kirsshan Union, the Liyan Cluster has been divided among many Powers of different size and capacity. Among them, two Powers soon emerged: the Kirrshan Confederacy and the Gad Unified Council.
Being descendants of a single, original, power, all these States share a similar technological level and material characteristics, and their citizens come from a single humanoid species, commonly labelled as Liyans (since Kirrshans, from their homeworld, is too linked to the Confederacy hegemonic claims).
KIRRSHAN CONFEDERACY
The Kirrshan Confederacy is one of the most powerful States inside the Cluster. It is a confederation of all colonies of the Kirrshan, Attar, and Jabr systems. It is governed by an Assembly, made of two delegates for each colony, with the role of main legislative body. The executive power is represented by a President and his/her Executive Council, made of a variable number of ministers, each one presiding over a particular sector of the government. All institutions (including the judicial courts) are democratically elected.
Balance between the colonies is probably the paramount concern of Kirrshan politics: every single act of the Assembly and the government, every single appointment, is carefully weighed in order not to create a situation where one or a group of colonies collect too much power.
This is probably due to the history of the previous Kirrshan Union, collapsed just because of the power collected by a group of colonies (the future Gad Unified Council).
Ideologically, the Confederacy consider itself the only true heir of the Kirrshan Union. Thus, almost the whole Cluster is considered part of its sphere of influence. This has led to expansionist policies and interferences in the politics of its neighbours, which now see the Confederacy as an unreliable partner at best.
Militarily, the Confederacy keeps a relatively strong force, made up of many battelgroups. Their military organization reflects their emphasis on individualism, allowing for more flexibility and space of maneuver for the commanding officers. While this allows for greater flexibility, it also potentially creates a weakness inside the chain of command.
GAD UNIFIED COUNCIL
The Gad Unified Council is the other superpower inside the Cluster. Born at the beginning of the XXIV century from different colonies of the Kirrshan Union resenting the centralized policies adopted by the homeworld, and thus declaring their independence. The resulting war soon led to the collapse of the Union, allowing the new power to extend its influence over a large part of the Liyan space.
Since then, the Unified Council has struggled to keep its position of power among the States born out of the Union's collapse, trying to present itself as the last stronghold against the expansionism of the Kirrshan Confederacy. However, many are skeptic about Gad as well: for example, his recent involvement in mining disputes between the Kingun Autarchy and the Elyon Republic saw the Unified Council taking the opportunity to directly annex part of the disputed area.
Gad is governed by a Council (hence the name), made up of elected representatives, and chaired by a Master of the Council, appointed by the councillors for life. Paradoxically, the Unified Council is probably more centralized than the Confederacy.
Ideologically, the Gadians often underline their role of protectors of the independence of the successor States of the ancient Union against the Confederacy. They tend to focus more on community than the individual, although without falling into collectivism.
On the military side, the Unified Council has at its disposal one of the most powerful forces inside the Cluster. Although its composition is similar to that of the Confederacy, its doctrine is radically different, pointing more to the creation of massive fleets. The organization is very centralized, and while this allows the Unified Council to quickly mobilize and focus its energies on a single point, it also is a weakness in terms of flexibility and command independence.
OTHER POWERS
The Kirrshans and the Gadians are not the only powers of the Liyan Cluster. There are at least four other smaller powers, usually falling into the sphere of influence of one or the other major power.
They are:
- The Kingun Autarchy
- The Elyon Republic
- The Montr' Junta
- The Klishnah Kingdom