Cornucopia

The Republic of Cornucopia was founded in the aftermath of the Mars Crisis by a group of unaligned nations and civilian corporations from both major supra-national powers. Nominally a constitutional republic, Cornucopia is more likely ruled as a dictatorship by its founder and "Grand Principle" TildeATH[1]. The current head of government is former UN administrator Coolguye, a.k.a. Calvin Grant.

Cornucopia is not party to any of the major treaties or agreements between other void powers, but does operate a number of contracts and has its capital and only offworld colony on land donated by the United Nations on the asteroid 2 Pallas.

The Flag of Cornucopia

History

Establishment

The Republic of Cornucopia began with the idea of a third option for extraterrestrial colonization apart from Federation and the UN. This arose partly from business concerns and partly as a political expedience, as the UN and Federation had a history of unstable relationships which flared into the First Solar War over Mars. Shortly after the signing of the Odessa Accords, disavowed, former Mimean Governor Ms. Kala TildeATH declared her intention to sponsor the Organization of Unaligned Charters, which would have consisted of unaligned nations[2]. The UN voted down an internal referendum on whether to support an unaligned colony[3].

This setback did not spell an end to TildeATH's ambition. She made a second proposal, offering a list of former Free Mars researchers and scientists in exchange for €100 million[4]. The UN accepted[5] and TildeATH exchanged the list for payment[6].

Machu Picchu Conference

She invited representatives from a number of corporations, unaligned nations, the UN, and the Federation to a week-long conference in Machu Picchu that December[7]. The government of Peru agreed to host the Machu Picchu Conference.

The Federation declined to attend, citing disinterest in the proposal, and Kryuckhov Transport likewise declined. Several other unaligned nations were interested in the proposal but did not participate. The West Africa Association originally sent its regrets, citing an inability to provide equal representation for all of its member states; the true reason was most likely due to the strong Federation-leaning faction within the Association. They did, however, attend in the end. Several other unaligned nations sent their regrets because of poor financial standing despite intense interest[8].

Surprisingly, Beedi Transport and Trading and Sad Container Line both sent representatives. Their participation was most likely aimed as a stab against the close relationship Kryuckhov Transport enjoyed with the Federation, as Beedi and Sad Container were giant Kryuckhov's direct competitors[9]. UN-aligned void logistics companies McKiernan and Yamamoto sent representatives. The Coalición Latinoamericana de Colonización attended as expected due to Tildo's political influence and the Liga Balkana also sent representatives[10].

The UN sent UN Academy civilian administrator student Coolguye and Cmdr. Dawncloack as representatives without agency to agree to any proposals. The UN retained its original misgivings about the unaligned colony plan, but indicated that they were willing to listen[11]. This put them a square away from the Federation, which indicated disapproval of the plan and disinterest in publicly interfering. A willingness to listen to a proposal for the benefit of unaligned nations without an attempt to pressure such nations into declaring an allegiance reaped some political capital for the UN as a result.

An early draft of the document was leaked around November 10th, 2033.

The Board of Directors (The Right or "Mazda" Board) - Proportionate representation from all corporate sponsors with such proportion derived from the percentage invested in the colony. The number of Directors shall be fixed at 200. These representatives shall vote on and pass laws based on simple majority for all activities in the colony related to finance, regulation, and industry as defined by this exhaustive study of modern post-colonial economic theory.

...

The Principle Executive - Single authority to guide the criminal justice system and defense of the state shall be held in the person of the Principle Executive, who shall serve for a term of no less than 5 years but who may be forced to resign by a super-majority vote of the two boards.

...

Regarding fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution, it should be noted the emphasis placed on the inalienable right to privacy, and with it the abrogation of the government's ability in any circumstance to compel testimony of any kind for any activity, regardless of whether it falls under the classical definition of "self-incrimination" or not.

Circulating rumors reported that organized crime outfits were interested or participating in underwriting the costs of the proposed colony[12]

On December 14th, 2033, the Machu Picchu Conference officially kicked off with an address by TildeATH. It was held in a specially-built, 8 story structure which acted both as lodgings and conference site, located at the ruins. Representatives from the ICCS, the UNEC (led by UN Academy student Coolguye), McKiernan Transport Corporation, Yamamoto Marine, Beedie Transport and Trading, Sad Container Line, Brotherhood of Free Mars (led by Lakya Badam, Provisional Brotherhood Council Executive), Coalición Latinoamericana de Colonización (led by Brazil), Liga Balkana, West Africa Association, CONSOL Energy, BP Saturn, and other minor national and corporate figures were counted on the attendance census[13].

In her address, TildeATH outlined the Constitution and Articles of Colonization of a state provisionally named Nova Timbuktu[14].

Selection from Conference Schedule Pamphlet

Main Schedule

• 14th December 2033, Day 1: Opening ceremonies, remarks from Conference Organizer, Integration Ball
• 15th December 2033, Day 2: Presentations by McKiernan, Yamamoto, CONSOL, BP Saturn
• 16th December 2033, Day 3: Presentations by Beedi, Sad
• 17th December 2033, Day 4: Presentations by BFM, unaligned nations
• 18th December 2033, Day 5: Presentations by Latin American Colonziation Coalition, Balkan League, West Africa Association
• 19th December 2033, Day 6: Presentations by United Nations representatives
• 20th December 2033, Day 7: Integration Brunch, Closing Ceremonies (+ Afterparties)

Schedule, 14th December 2033

• 9:00 Opening ceremonies and remarks from Conference Organizer
• 10:00 - 12:00: Morning workshops/panels
• 12:00 - 13:30: Lunch workshops/panels
• 14:00 - 18:00: Afternoon workshops/panels
• 19:30 - ?????: Integration Ball (A tasteful black-tie affair intended for introductions and networking)

Schedule, 15th December 2033

• 9:00: Remarks from Conference Organizer
• 10:00 - 10:45: Presentation by BP Saturn
• 11:00 - 11:45: Presentation by CONSOL Energy
• 12:00 - 13:30: Lunch workshops/panels
• 14:00 - 17:00: Afternoon workshops/panels
• 17:00 - 18:00: Presentation by Yamamoto Marine
• 19:00 - 20:00: Presentation by McKiernan Transport Corporation
• 20:30 - 21:30: Evening workshops/panels

Schedule, 16th December 2033

• 9:00: Remarks from Conference Organizer
• 10:00 - 12:00: Morning workshops/panels
• 12:00 - 14:00: Lunch workshops/panels
• 14:00 - 17:00: Afternoon workshops/panels
• 17:00 - 18:00: Presentation by Beedi Transport and Trading
• 19:00 - 20:00: Presentation by Sad Container Line
• 20:30 - 21:30: Evening workshops/panels

Schedule, 17th December 2033

• 9:00: Remarks from Conference Organizer
• 10:00 - 12:00: Morning workshops/panels
• 12:00 - 14:00: Lunch workshops/panels
• 14:00 - 17:00: Afternoon workshops/panels
• 17:00 - 18:00: Presentation by Brotherhood of Free Mars
• 19:00 - 20:00: Presentation by Representatives from Various Unaligned Nations
• 20:30 - 21:30: Evening workshops/panels

Schedule, 18th December 2033

• 9:00: Remarks from Conference Organizer
• 10:00 - 11:00: Presentation by Balkan League
• 12:00 - 14:00: Lunch workshops/panels
• 15:00 - 16:30: Presentation by Latin American Colonization Coalition
• 17:00 - 18:30: Afternoon workshops/panels
• 19:00 - 20:00: Presentation by West Africa Association
• 20:30 - 21:30: Evening workshops/panels

Schedule, 19th December 2033

• 9:00: Remarks from Conference Organizer
• 10:00 - 11:30: Morning workshops/panels
• 12:00 - 18:30: Afternoon workshops/panels
• 19:00 - 20:00: Presentation by United Nations
• 20:30 - 21:30: Evening workshops/panels

Schedule, 20th December 2033

• 9:00: Remarks from Conference Organizer
• 10:00 - 11:30: Integration Brunch
• 12:00 - 18:30: Afternoon workshops/panels
• 19:00 - 20:00: Closing Ceremonies and Remarks from Conference Organizer
• 20:30 - ?????: Unofficial afterparties

Much of the conference was taken up with bargaining spheres of interest and rewards for those who chose to participate in the colony project. Super Grand Friend TildeATH also revealed that former BFM researcher Dr. Rao was her right hand on research-oriented policy on the first day of the conference[15]. Former Cmdr. Raw_Beef also made a surprise appearance that evening[16]. The name "Cornucopia" was selected and confirmed through conference workshops[17].

Among the first concrete examples of colony industrial planning came from CONSOL Energy, which upstaged BP Saturn's previous presentation with a developed business plan for setting up integrated TNE extraction facilities and production. Yamamoto likewise made a big splash with news that it had committed both funding and colonist transport capability to the nascent colony, and that a Cornucopia Transport Authority organization was already in the works and would serve as a merchant marine organization. McKiernan also divulged its pledge of funds and two freighters to the CTA, which greatly enhanced the plausibility of Cornucopia in the minds of prospective investors[18]. Federation-aligned Beedi and Sad Container followed up with a slightly more conservative liquid assets pledge, but two more advanced freighters and a high-capacity colony ship, which would make them the lead in transport capability within the CTA[19].

The imbalance of liquid assets versus fixed assets pledged between UN-aligned interests and Federation-aligned interests at this initial stage caused great concern in the UN. The high fixed assets pledge by the Federation would have provided their faction with more influence over the civilian-controlled aspects of Cornucopia, while high liquid asset pledges by the UN would have placed them as the majority in a distinctly unstable form of plutocratic government. This highly visible "pay to play" situation would have quickly cost the UN its very small amount of political capital in the post-war years, and the UN would have almost certainly lost control on the government as a result of demands for referendum which the UN would have been forced to acknowledge per its own laws and precedents[20]. This was precisely the type of culture war the UN needed to avoid in order to escape irrelevancy as a wishy-washy, first world plutocracy versus the Federation's populist, velvet-gloved space might. As a result, the UN entered the game as a participant instead of maneuvering strictly through its proxies when the UNRA authorized the sale of Pallas 2 and the BP Saturn automines [21] and UNSA approval of the release of 1st and 2nd generation technlogies[22].

An interesting proposal arose from the remaining unaligned BFM remnant: approximately half a million had expressed their willingness to relocate to the future Cornucopia colony, bringing infrastructure, a self-defense garrison, industrial capability, and other facilities to the new colony and an additional 2.5 billion Euro capital--possibly funds seized after the Battle of Elysium.

A collection of unaligned nations and the Ukraine also offered, jointly, 500 million Euro and 200,000 volunteers to colonize Cornucopia territory[23].

TildeATH issued her Declaration of Sentient Rights on the 18th, reinvigorating debate over what sentience was and at what level of cognition was a being sufficiently sentient to have enumerated rights. This declaration might have been especially significant for UAIs.

The Balkan League pledged €500 million and 75,000 colonists. The LACC was a much more liquid and passionate supporter: they pledged €5 billion plus 3 million colonists as well as siting the bulk of Cornucopia's Earth-side manufacturing within Coalition territory. The LACC also announced that they were pushing to convert most of its remaining conventional industry to TNE facilities, of which a portion would be available to Cornucopia at a discount (effectively a partial subsidization of Cornucopia's future productive capacity). This announcement permitted the LACC to muscle the WAA out of the game in terms of building void capability and consolidating power in Cornucopia. As a result, the West Africa Association withdrew from the conference the same day[24].

UN Internal Decision-Making Regarding Support

• UNFRaD disapproves the donation of 2 Pallas, defers to the UNSA on technology, approves of money, disapproves of infrastructure
• UNCAO approves the donation of 2 Pallas, defers to the UNSA on technology, approves of money, disapproves of infrastructure
• UNDOT votes yes to giving them 2 Pallas. No on tech, money and infrastructure.
• UNRA votes yes for the sale of 2 Pallas. Yes on the sale of 7 of the 9 mining complexes from Titan to CONSOL (Infrastructure). Defers to UNSA on tech. Implied no on money.
• UNIN votes no on all.
• UNIEB votes Yes for giving Pallas, defers for the technology (though our corps would like some of the base techs), and no for everything else (we already have our private interests assuming the risk, no need for us to tie up any actual UN assets)
• UNSA votes to allow the transfer of Pallas, money and basic techs (allowable: GeoSurvey sensors, Active Sensors 10, Beam fire control 10K, EM sensitivity 5). No to allowing the transfer of TNE installations.

As a result, the motions to offer 2 Pallas, geosurvey sensors, Active Sensors 10, Beam Fire Control 10k, and EM Sensitivity 5 were approved. Funding, infrastructure, and further fixed assets were denied[25].

Aggregate Resources Pledged to Cornucopia

Administrator-student Coolguye provided the following account of resources all factions and powers pledged to Cornucopia.

UN-friendly elements: Offer on the table to buy mines from our BP Saturn buyout for Cornucopia (CONSOL) Direct mineral input to the colony from moon mining operations (BP Saturn) 9.25 billion Euros (3 from Yamamoto, 6 from McK, 250m from private firms like Intel) 1 Ascendency colony ship (Yamamoto) 2 Aberdeen freighters (McK) 2 Pallas (the UN itself)* Basic/old sensor technologies (the UN itself)* Laboratory facilities (UN private firms like Intel)* Tax breaks for firms opening branches on the colony (the UN itself)* Media ansibiles to ensure high speed internet and access to earth news (the UN itself)*

Federation-friendly elements: 1.5 billion Euros (750 mil from both Beedi and Sad) 2 Udaloy-31 freighters (one from each company) Open-ended statement of more void ships dependent on the state of their fleets at the time of the opening, with the goal on becoming the primary power holders in the transit authority. (Joint Beedi and Sad statement) Comet Veazey-Gagarin (The Federation itself)

Unaligned elements: 8.5 billion Euros (BFM Remnants, unaligned nations, Balkan League, LACC - 2.5b of this is probably stolen Federation money so if anything is likely to disappear in this package, it's this) 250k tons of infrastructure (BFM remnants) 2 Construction Factories (BFM remnants) 6 Mines (BFM remnants) Senior military commanders (BFM Remnants) 3,850,000 guaranteed colonists (BFM Remnants, unaligned nations, Balkan League, LACC) Housing for Terran support infrastructure for the colony (LACC) Discount factories and mines to be shipped to the colony as needed (LACC)

• - This denotes a line-item that was dependent on UN actions.

His summarized, subsequent analysis showed that prior to the UN's pledge of Pallas, the Federation would have had the balance of influence on the Ahura board and in the CTA, whereas the UN would have mainly held the Mazda board. The donation of Pallas meant that all seats which would have belonged to the Federation due to the use of the Gagarin-Veazey Comet would instead switch to the UN's ownership. Neither board seemed to be a long-term prospect[26].

Councilor Jimmy4400nav made his surprise presentation to the conference and announced the UN's commitment of 2 Pallas and technology to the Cornucopia cause[27].

Organization

The first action of the Grand Principle was to declare Conception Day and award all participants with the Creation of Cornucopia medal on December 20th, 2033. Subsequently, the second office fully incorporated was the CTA, announced jointly by Beedi, Sad, Yamamoto, and McKiernan. Therefore the Cornucopian merchant marine was operational even before any officially Cornucopian infrastructure landed on 2 Pallas[28].

On February 1st, 2034, the UN and Federation announced open trade agreements with Cornucopia.

The first 30,000 colonists were delivered to 2 Pallas on March 17th, 2034, aboard the SS Bosphorus[29].

On August 2nd, the first Cornucopian shipyard, Gran Colombia Shipyard, entered Earth orbit over Sao Paolo, Brazil[30][31]. The addition of a naval shipyard to the growing Cornucopia organization caused great concern within the UN and likely within the Federation as well. Speculation pointed to support not from aligned corporate interests, but rather unaligned nations interested in projecting some of their own power into space. Given, however, that the shipyard was constructed in Brazil, the LACC and the nation of Brazil herself are the most probable major supporters.

Both TildeATH and Captain Raw_Beef issued announcements after the shipyard entered orbit; TildeATH announced the shipyard, but Capt. Raw_Beef announced the organization of the Cornucopia Defense Force (CDF)[32]. From his garbled Spanish address came two phrases which entered into meme infamy: BATTLESHIPS WITH NUCLEAR FIRE REIGN and A DANCE DANGEROUS.

Constitution

The constitution of Cornucopia was designed to draw both legitimate and illegitimate businesses, as well as provide a safe haven for disreputable elements, including ex-BFM members. As written by Grand Principle TildeATH, the constitution can be summarized as follows:

Articles of Colonization A large report outlines the draft constitution of the the State of Nova Timbuktu. It contains many details, notably:

A tripartite system of government shall consist of:

The Board of Governors (The Left or "Ahura" Board) - Equal representation from all states who send colonists (like the United States senate in its treatment of states for representation, this shall consist of a Senior Governor and a Lieutenant Governor). These representatives shall vote on and pass laws based on simple majority for all activities in the colony related to human rights as construed by this exhaustive list summarized as sanctity of life, right to worship, and access to means of material prosperity. Governors shall be assigned by their states as per those states' internal selection processes. Mechanisms for expulsion require a supermajority to remove an individual for malfeasance.

The Board of Directors (The Right or "Mazda" Board) - Proportionate representation from all corporate sponsors with such proportion derived from the percentage invested in the colony. The number of Directors shall be fixed at 200. These representatives shall vote on and pass laws based on simple majority for all activities in the colony related to finance, regulation, and industry as defined by this exhaustive study of modern post-colonial economic theory. Directors are selected by their representative corporations but follow strict term limits in their board duties. No director can ever represent a separate company on the board.

The Principle Executive - Single authority to guide the criminal justice system and defense of the state shall be held in the person of the Principle Executive, who shall serve for a term of no less than 5 years but who may be forced to resign by a super-majority vote of the two boards. Provisional military within 5000km of the colony will be administrated by the Office of the Principle Executive, while any activity beyond that range will be managed by a Chief of the Armed Forces who shall serve under the Office of the Principle Executive with oversight from the two boards.

In regard to activities that overlap the designated spheres of influence, each area of government shall have a single vote and any such measure shall pass with the assent of two of the three areas. Mechanisms to reduce the representation of a state or corporation require supermajority vote as well as approval by both the Board of Directors and the Office of the Principle Executive.

Regarding fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution, it should be noted the emphasis placed on the inalienable right to privacy, and with it the abrogation of the government's ability in any circumstance to compel testimony of any kind for any activity, regardless of whether it falls under the classical definition of "self-incrimination" or not. Similarly, funds and possessions and labor cannot be confiscated or compelled except through civil trial as established in Article VIII. Criminal punishment therefore is limited to banishment, corporal and capital methods, wherein such cases individual property will be remanded to their legal heirs in the case of death or the custodianship thereof in case of temporary loss of faculties.

Initial territorial allotments will be to states and corporations, to be sold and leased to citizens in an equitable manner outlined in Section 43a.

And so on, and so forth...

Diplomacy

After the establishment of the Cornucopia colony on 2 Pallas and the launch of the Earth-based Gran Colombia Shipyard, TildeATH officially declared Cornucopia to be a signatory of the Hague Convention, International Criminal Court, and other trans-national treaties. Additionally, she presented the Universal Declaration of Sapient Rights[33].

Military

Cornucopia maintains a small defense force, composed of a single Moskva corvette, the CDF Simón Bolívar, and an unknown number of paramilitary ground forces. The Moskva and subsequent crew training were provided by the Federation. In addition, Cornucopia has a single small military shipyard, located in orbit over Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Territory

Cornucopia is essentially coterminous with the CLC, although it had holdings in other small SNOs and the UN. Cornucopian holdings function as leased areas from their investor nations, with citizens taking dual-citizenship but agreeing to pay tax to and operate the industry of the Republic of Cornucopia. In return for these grants of land and citizenry, each investor nation gains a share of Cornucopia's profits and a voice in government.

Cornucopia's only sovereign territory is their portion of the asteroid 2 Pallas, donated by the United Nations at Macchu Pichu. This section of the asteroid is regarded as sovereign soil, and houses a small colony centered around Grand Principle TildeATH's palace.