Endless Blue – Week 121 – Governments of the Fluid Nations – The Mer Currents

Politocology

Governments of the Fluid Nations: Mer Currents

Federation of the Mer Currents
Aliases: The Sea of Ideas, the Pearl in the East
Region: The Periphery
Capital: Special, each current has a government with capital, and the newly elected ruler chooses which of these capitals will serve as the national seat of government.

The Federation of Mer Currents is located in the east of the Core, directly north of the Creche of Civilization, with the Chelon Sea to the northwest and the Yaun-Teel Bights to the north east. It is the shallowest of all the Fluid Nations, and it’s position close to Elqua’s equator results in year long temperate weather.

While the Mer Currents presently consist of eight provinces, there were at one time thirteen. Some of these original currents were wiped out by military actions of others (The Cetacean Hordes or The Kraken Invasion), some have wiped themselves out through fighting each other, or even by their own hand. From west to east, the remaining Mer Currents are Yrmensas, Mensas, the bifurcated North and South Estuary, Mere Paradise, the surrounded East Loch, and the paired Novum Cascade and Verdant Shoals.

The Dark of the Dumasque

The Dumasque were one of the original thirteen provinces. History tells that the Current was exterminated by the expansionist Cetaceans during the battle known as Khan’s Folly. This is not the whole truth.

Make no mistake, the Cetacean Hordes slaughtered many of the Dumasque as they fled the Horde. This became known as the Mer Exodus, and had the Dumasque Current migrate north through the Chelon Sea in order to escape the First Khan. Ultimately the Khan’s navy trapped the Dumasque. With victory almost within reach, the remaining Mer Current decided that death at their own hand was preferred to complete slaughter. They threw themselves into the Undertow, and as it dragged them down they denied the Khan his prey.

Infuriated, the Khan drove his tired and wounded forces into the whirlpool. Just as the Dumasque were swallowed into the sea bed, so were the Cetacean Horde. Thought lost and his victory stymied, the Khan retreated. But in truth, both the Dumasque stragglers and the Cetacean veterans survived, dragged into the subterranean expanse beneath the sea floor. They became trapped there by the “Bubble Below”, a vast cavern of air that the Undertow poured through.

Society

Demonym: Mer, Merfolk (antiquated)
Population: 54,870,000
Races: Mer (33,000,000), Orcan (2,100,000, 150,000 of which are Narwahl), Chelon (1,100,000), Kouton (550,000), Locanth (5,750,000), Lumulus (2,750.000), Sahaguin (1,640,000), Yaun-Teel (8,230,000)
Other: Ceph (260,000), Kelpygmy (unknown, believed none)

Population Breakdown per Mer Current

	Yrmensas	Mensas	North Estuary	South Estuary	Mere Paradise	East Loch	Novum Cascade	Verdant Shoals
Mer	9,220,000	7,575,000	6,255,000	4,609,000	334,000	3,290,00	987,000	658,000
Orcan	614,000	505,000	417,000	305,000	22,000	215,000	66,000	43,000
Chelon	307,000	252,000	208,000	153,000	10,500	106,750	33,000	22,000
Lumulus	768,000	361,000	521,000	384,000	27,500	292,500	82,500	54,200
Kouton	153,500	126,200	104,000	76,750	5,400	53,800	16,500	10,750
Locanth	1,490,000	1,262,000	1,050,000	77,250	52,500	543,000	171,000	109,300
Sahaguin	460,000	378,000	312,000	230,500	16,500	144,500	49,500	32,750
Yaun-Teel	2,304,500	1,893,00	1,563,750	1,152,000	82,000	823,250	246,750	164,500

Due to the Mer Currents’ small size and its temperate climate, it is the most densely populated of the Fluid Nations. Add the homesea’s openness to new ideas and discoveries, pisceans have schooled to nation. One prominent group of immigrants were the Anatomists — forefathers of modern medicine — whom established the College of Doctors in the heart of the Mer Currents as a result of the Culling Purge.

Because of the heavy population density of the Mer Currents, it is believed that no Kelpygmy tribes reside inside its borders. There are few untouched kelp forests inside the Federation, and any credible sighting to the vegetative bantams has always been along the borders of the no-mer’s-seas between homeseas. Such incursions are quickly classified as extra-national and the idea of kelpygmy infiltration dismissed.

Religion

Official Religion: None, but generally expected Trishnan values, with a rising contingent of Olyhydrans.
Accepted Religions: Pantheon/Idolatry accepted, other religions tolerated.
Alignments: Lawful Good, trending Lawful Neutral

Trishnan tradition is deeply ingrained into Mer culture. Popular belief held by a majority of Mer is that, while the Federation is not a religious regime, it is a regime that follows the ideals of Trishna.

The domination of Trishnan culture in the Mer Currents is slowly eroding away. A new religion has formed, given sanctuary due to the Mer’s intrinsic acceptance of new ideas. Olyhydranism, the worship of the Mistress of Law, is growing in popularity, population, and power. Waters have be conceded to the Church of Olyhydra slowly over time, as the faithful worked their way into political influence. One day, with the right piscean as Head Presider, the Pearl Pontiff may decide it is time for the Holy Waters of Olyhydra to demand independence.

Commerce

Imports: Nacre, abalone, ice, luxuries.
Exports: Ricelqua, textiles, jade, religious artifacts (Olyhydran).
Currency: Nobles, sovereigns, and crowns (100 noble = 10 sovereign = 1 crown)
and Cupreium, argeium, and aurieum (1 cupreium = 8 copper, 1 argeium = 8 silver, 1 aurieum = 8 gold).

The Mer employ two separate monetary systems, rural coinage, and lucrum (trade coinage). Rural coinage is the money used in everyday transactions — buying food, paying debts, etc. These are the noble, sovereign, and crown. They are comprised of a special red coral and carved into distinct shapes that make it impossible to be chiseled down into the other coins.

Lucrum, on the other hand, is designed for trade with other nations. Each octagonal coin is comprised of a troy ounce of its respective metal, tying its worth to the material. The coins are etched with grooves that aid in snapping the coinage into fractions. This allows a trader to make exact change on the spot while also taking price fluctuations of the base metal into account. The Federation can later re-press separate coin pieces into new, whole coinage, as the value of the coin is based on the metal, not the minting.

The majority of the Mer Currents consists of great swaths of fertile, shallow shoals and shore whose temperate waters make them perfect for aquaculture. The bordering island chains that shape the Mer Currents are sparsely populated, and what abominations that do live above the sea are relatively placid. With few “apex predators” to worry about, this has allowed the Mer to farm sea beds closer to the surface than any other homesea.

With greater farming land comes greater harvests. Ricelqua aquaculture prospers in the Mer Currents, as does the raising of staple flora and fauna used for textiles. As a result of this trade, the Federation economy provides even the lowest economic performers with a higher level of living. When everyone has a chance to import luxuries, everyone’s standard rises.

Politics

Government Type: Religious Democracy
Ruler: Head Presider w/presidium council
Selection Process: Hierarchical promotion from province level government, general election otherwise.

The Federation of the Mer Currents is a Religious Democratic Federation where the leaders are elected on a local level, but those representatives decide who will be the nation’s leader. That leader then decides which provincial capital too use as the nation’s capital.

Each current is ruled over by a central council named after the province of origin (North Estuary Council, for example). Those council nominate and vote upon which of their number will serve upon the national Presidium Council. This process is repeated again with the members of the Presidium Council to determine the ultimate head of the Federation, the Presider.

With the growing conversion of Merfolk to Olyhydranism, the religious underpinning of the Mer culture is becoming more contested. As each election passes, Olyhydran adherents progress further up the electoral ladder. This is by design of the Church of Olyhydra, and they believe it is only a matter of time until circumstances are perfect for an Olyhydran to claim the Mer Presidency. The shift between traditional liberalism of Trishnan beliefs and the more orthodox conservatism of Olyhydranism is something the Federation has not had to deal with prior. But the Sea of Ideas is nothing if not accepting of new interpretations.

Military

Name: United Marine Command
Organization: Multiple squads, called shoals, forming larger military units.

All military shoals initially consist of six mariners and two attachments — one packbreeder, and the shoal standard bearer, a vexillifer. Groups of 2 to 4 shoals form a School, 2 to 4 schools form a Company, and so on, creating Flotillas, Brigades, Division. Corps, and finally the complete a Fleet. Fleets, of which there are traditionally thirteen, are led by Admirals (for active fleets) and Rear Admirals for retired ones.

Ranks in the UNC start at Ensign and rise to Captain, with further promotions into Fleet command starting with Commodore and ending with Fleet Admiral. Fleet Admirals report to the Presidium Council.

“If no navy can stop an idea whose time has come;
What can stop a navy mobilized by those ideas?
Not tyranny, not doubt.
Only by letting it slip from memory can our navy truly die…”
— “Epigraph of the Dumasque”