League of Kelownan States

The League of Kelownan States, while a mild misnomer, is the official name of the Tauni government. Despite the name, it includes both the Tauni off-world colonies and is a unified state. The current League is the second one, the original being an international organization similar to the United Nations on Earth, which dissolved in the aftermath of first contact with the Harmony of Horizon.

While the Tauni system of government is not, perhaps, the most efficient, the Tauni take great pride in it. It is a reconstruction of a pre-Harmony system, one that demonstrated the possibility of Tauni unification without outside help. The current League is different from, and far more unified than, the First League, but the Tauni consider it a close enough match, and superior in organization. Still, however, it is very clear that the system, as it currently exists, is an idealized reconstruction of a system built for an era of nation-states. As such, a number of issues with the distribution of power between the branches remain.

The First League of Kelownan States
The original League of Kelownan States, founded in the aftermath of a series of major natural disasters on Kelowna, was a multi-national organization dedicated to providing a common ground for all Tauni. The organization hoped to ensure a joint response to any future disasters, preventing the great number of deaths that had followed the initial series of disasters. The organization was founded by the most powerful of the Tauni states at the time, which had survived relatively unscathed. The same state was responsible for the initial creation of the Space Gate Command, an organization which would remain a closely held secret for a number of decades. Ultimately, a Space Gate Command team would make contact with the Harmony of Horizon, and doom the First League.

Harmony Contact
Following initial encounters with SGC forces, the Harmony of Horizon traced Tauni radio signals back to Kelowna, allowing them to make their case to the Tauni people. The exposure of Space Gate Command destroyed the credibility of the strongest Tauni state, and led to an immediate spike in international tensions. With the founding state, and, by extension, its allies, discredited, the League of Kelownan States faced an immediate crisis of confidence.

Dissolution
With tensions rising, and the organization discredited, the League of Kelownan States began to lose members rapidly. While the League attempted to mediate disputes between the nations of Kelowna, the Harmony proved far more effective, still able to deploy military force, and seen as completely neutral. The League became one of the most anti-Harmony organizations on Kelowna, emphasizing Tauni unity, but, unable to successfully mediate, was essentially ignored. Eventually, only a few nations remained in a rump organization, which dissolved itself in 2257.

Reformation
Following the Atlas Sinking of 2287, the increasingly popular Tauni resistance movements realized that they would need to form a state in a hopefully post-Harmony era. These factions formed the second League of Kelownan States, which would act as a joint negotiating body. The success of the group during the Treaty of Shyenn resulted in it becoming the de facto Tauni government, becoming the de jure government following a merger with the various regional governments on Kelowna and the off-world colonies. Ultimately, the various resistance movements would (mostly) dissolve back into civilian life, or go military, leaving the League in its present form.

Structure
The League of Kelownan States is a federal republic, organized along regional lines created by the Harmony, following the accession of the Tauni into the Harmony of Horizon. The regional governments created by the Horizon have remained, at least partially, in place, as the nations that preceded them had completely dissolved.

Secretariat
The Tauni executive branch, the Secretariat, is led by a Secretary-General, responsible for the overall direction of the Tauni state. The Secretary-General chooses the leadership of various cabinet positions from the cabinet committees created by the League Assembly. The Secretariat has control over Space Gate Command, along with the Joint Tauni Forces, an entirely ground-based military organization formed from a number of the stronger and more professional resistance movements. Election of the Secretary-General is direct, by all League citizens of voting age.

Space Gate Command
Space Gate Command is the Tauni organization responsible for all off-world activity. It operates the Tauni starship fleet, as well as the remaining Iconian gates. Space Gate Command is the direct descendant of the original, pre-Harmony organization, surviving as an elite resistance movement, which continued to explore the wider galaxy in a search for allies against the Harmony.

Naval Intelligence Department
The Naval Intelligence Department, or NID, is the name for the intelligence branch of the SGC. They are descended from a maritime naval intelligence agency of the pre-Harmony era, which went underground during the dissolution of the various national governments. They served as the resistance movements intelligence arm, maintaining, like the SGC, their professional reputation. NID, despite being a part of the SGC has a long standing rivalry with the wider organization, dating from a rivalry between their respective nation-states in the pre-Harmony era. In recent years their reputation has been severely damaged by the destruction of much of Kelowna's moon, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths, along with the presence of NID agents in the Kelownan Liberation Committee.

Joint Tauni Forces
The Joint Tauni Forces are a ground-based military organization responsible for the defense of Kelowna. They were created from a merger of the major resistance groups following the end of the Harmony era. The Joint Tauni Forces are, unlike the SGC, not considered a particularly elite force. There is, in fact, something of a continuous feud between the two, the JTF believing that they should be allowed to operate on the Tauni off-world colonies, a privilege which the SGC guards carefully.

The League Assembly
The League Assembly is responsible for the passage of laws, and the creation of the cabinet committees. These committees are composed of 5 members of the assembly each, and act as a smaller deliberative body, with some executive power over their area of jurisdiction. The Secretary-General is then permitted to select the head of the committee. Assignment to a committee takes place randomly, among all members of the Assembly in their second term or greater. Assembly representatives are apportioned based on population, with each representing a geographic region on Kelowna or one of the off-world colonies.

Committee on Foreign Affairs
For other governments, the Committee on Foreign Affairs is one of the most important Tauni bodies to deal with. They are responsible for the ratification of treaties approved by the Secretary-General, along with serving as the most important Tauni ambassadors, when they are required to do so. The head of the committee is responsible for the creation of Tauni foreign policy, as directed by the Secretary-General.

Committee on Military Affairs
The Committee on Military Affairs is responsible for the oversight of all Tauni military and intelligence organizations, including SGC, NID, and the JTF. The chairmanship of Committee on Military Affairs, was, until recently, held by a former member of the resistance. This has changed only due to the increasing age of the majority of the members of the resistance's leadership.

Committee on Public Health
The Committee on Public Health is responsible for the management and regulation of the Tauni healthcare system. In addition, they are responsible for the investigation of Harmony-era medical and biowar rumors, a role which frequently puts the committee into the public spotlight, whenever new allegations surface. They have a direct line to the Committee on Military Affairs, so that the SGC may be employed in investigative work when necessary.

Special Investigative Group
The Tauni civilian intelligence organization, the Special Investigative Group, is an outgrowth of the Committee on Public Health. It is most notably tasked with intelligence work against the Harmony of Horizon, though it also has agencies in most of the Tauni's neighbor polities.

The High Court
The Tauni High Court is a peculiar example of the Tauni cabinet system, 5 members are elected by the general population, from a pool of lower court judges. Those judges are themselves appointed by the Secretary-General. The High Court makes all final judgements on the basis of the League Charter, as well as debating cases which are likely to seriously affect the reputation of the League on the interstellar stage.

Regional Governments
The regional Tauni governments, despite being holdovers from the Harmony era, have still in some cases returned to older systems. For instance, at least two of the regional governments have returned to being constitutional monarchies. Both of these regions, notably, were hotbeds of early resistance activities. The League does, however, require all of the regional governments to adhere to democratic norms. Several of the smaller Tauni colony worlds, and all mining and research colonies, are run under the jurisdiction of a single regional government. Additionally, the Tauni maintain a set of open seats for the "Governorate of Japha", in memory of those Tauni who remained with the Harmony, and those Tauni who died fleeing either from territories that voted to stay with the Harmony, or from those that voted to secede.

Foreign Relations
The League of Kelownan States maintains diplomatic relations with a number of its neighbor polities, most notably the United Federation of Planets. It notably also does not maintain a permanent embassy with the Harmony of Horizon, preferring to dispatch temporary envoys, and those only when strictly necessary.

United Federation of Planets
The Tauni maintain a very close relationship with the UFP. However, the relationship has not always been so close, and has frequently been troubled, notably by a resurgent Kelownan Liberation Committee. The Tauni are confronted by a simple, but vexing problem. The UFP is the only regional power capable of confronting most of the threats that face the Tauni, such as the Breen, much less the Harmony of Horizon. However, the UFP is also, in the eyes of some Tauni, far too good to be true. Instead, those Tauni suspect the UFP to be another Harmony. A civilization which appears, on the surface, to be trustworthy and friendly, but in reality is likely to slowly eliminate Tauni culture, perhaps with a course of warcrimes on the side. While many of these Tauni have been mollified by Federation actions, others have radicalized, most notably staging a series of terrorist attacks against embassies and the USS Spirit, killing the vast majority of the bridge crew, and leaving the ship in a decaying orbit. These actions were undertaken by SGC/NID forces, which had either been infiltrated by the KLC, or simply been recruited from.

Ultimately, however, the Tauni appear to be on a slow but steady path towards integration with the Federation. The SGC operates no vessels not built to Federation designs, and assistance from the Federation is widely regarded as the only possible way for the Tauni to hold off an offensive campaign by the Harmony, or any of the other nearby threats. Additionally, it has become increasingly clear that the Federation is tolerant of and encouraging of wide diversity in its member races. While the Federation Task Force Beyond has not been focused on the Tauni, comments from senior officials such as "But in the two years I have spent out here dealing with the Harmony of Horizon, I have concluded that the Apiata would never have a place in their Harmony. They would not understand us, and unlike the Federation they could never tolerate that lack of understanding," have helped to mollify Tauni fears.

The Star-Kin
Relations between the Tauni and the Star-Kin are excellent, especially between the Yan-Ros and the Tauni. However, this has come with a dark side. Several Kelownan Liberation Front operations have taken place with support from Yan-Ros criminal elements, making those operations far more dangerous conventionally than they would otherwise be.

The Ked Paddah
Relations between the Ked Paddah and the League are cordial. The League sees the Ked Paddah as a very reliable Federation ally on their flank, which has already provided Space Gate Command with two capital warships, the most powerful units in the Tauni fleet. Additionally, League and Ked Paddah forces conferred several times in the lead-up to the Coreward Border War, leaving a number of relatively strong connections between the The Magen Chalal and Space Gate Command.

Harmony of Horizon
While relations between the League of Kelownan States (in this case, an important distinction) and the Federation have been on the up, relations with the Harmony of Horizon have been hostile. The League of Kelownan States refuses to maintain a true embassy, instead dispatching envoys when the situation demands, but do maintain a small office on the world of Japha, under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Public Health. The office is officially tasked with investigation of Harmony and Tauni actions during the occupation from the other side, and the continuation of relations with Tauni in the Harmony. In this role, they provide a valuable service reconnecting families separated by the Treaty of Shyenn. Unofficially, however, nearly the entire office consists of Special Investigative Group agents, rotated frequently to avoid agent-flipping by the Harmony. Here, they continue the official work, but undercover, attempting to access classified Harmony records. They also arrange for defections of Tauni officials in the Harmony when possible. In addition, they perform the other actions expected of an intelligence agency. In this role, they have a major advantage over most other intelligence agencies, in that they have agents indistinguishable from the average Tauni Harmony citizen to even perfect bio-scanners.

As much as the League of Kelownan States is hostile to the Harmony, it is also forced to maintain at least some contact, in a desperate, continuing effort to keep the Tauni people at the very least related and communicating with one another. These efforts have been at least somewhat successful, though it is likely that the seats for the Governorate of Japha will never be filled.

Interstellar Commonwealth
Relations between the League of Kelownan States and the Interstellar Commonwealth have grown increasingly close in recent years. Both polities have reported major hostile actions by the Harmony of Horizon, and see each other as comrades-in-arms in the struggle against them. However, the Tauni are highly uncomfortable with the predisposition of the Commonwealth towards total war, not wishing to see their cousins in the Harmony be injured, as they assuredly would be.

Laian Unity
Relations between the Tauni and the Laio are fairly good, but have been strained by the Coreward Border War. The League went to a state of limited mobilization and high alert as the nations of the region slipped towards war. The League was bothered by, but understanding of, the Laian desire for war against the OSA.

Outer Space Alliance
Relations between the League and the OSA have been rather strained by the recent war, the Tauni being rather more hostile to their cause than the wider Federation. SGC operatives proposed toppling the OSA government, and replacing it with one that would be willing to clamp down on corporate actions. However, relations between the two nations have been on the up since the end of the war, as the OSA committed to major reforms.

Arcadian Empire
The League has no strong love for the Arcadian Empire, regarding the feudal state as horribly obsolete. The Tauni have also grown worried over imperial aggression, noting their attempts to derail the talks that ended the Coreward Border War. At present, however, with the end of the war, the League has been hoping to get off on a new foot, considering the possibility of the Licori joining the Harmony as far more dangerous than any other option.

League of Independent Felis States
The Tauni have limited contact with the Felis, but, as with the Arcadians, have been very worried about the possibility of the Felis joining the Harmony of Horizon. The League of Kelownan States sees something of a reflection in the Felis, starting at the very name of the Felis government. This, while coincidental, has resulted in a rather greater deal of attention being paid to the Felis than might otherwise be expected for a relatively distant civilization, especially when combined with Tauni concerns over Harmony influence in Felis space.