United Federation of Arta

## Government

Each city has a representative selected to represent the city as part of the federation consul. How each representative is chosen depends on the city. A merchant republic like Gatia might assign a prominent merchant to the position, a theocratic city like Jasarri might assign a theological member, while an aristocratic city like Thaquailiaporta (Thalia) might choose a noble to represent their city. The council passes legislation, elects cabinet positions from within the UFA, and accepts and processes new member states entering their union.

Since each new member into the union shifts the political and economic makeup of the union, new memberships are not always guaranteed, and considerations such as treatment of minorities and monster-kind are often considered in the vote.

There are a few main political forces within the UFA, each of which hold strong values:

The Chains are a strong, pro slavery faction which are concerned largely with the proliferation of money. This group is made up of many merchants. They believe slavery to be an important part of the international market, and also keeping the cities free from monsters and monster-kind.

The Magi are also a strong faction, made up of xenophobic nationalists chiefly concerned with bloodlines and the purity of the cities within the union. They often support measures which centralize the power within the union, while also being tepid about supporting abolitionist movements.

The Feathers are a fanatically religious group of theological movements who care deeply about the extermination of impure groups of people who do not believe in the divinity of the Phoenix.

And finally, the Liberties are a small faction of fanatical abolitionists who seek the liberation of slaves and the protection of minorities within the UFA. Their more reserved consideration of who is considered a monster causes them to often come into conflict with the adventuring guilds, and on several occasions completely expel the guilds all together.

In regards to monsters and monster-kind, the definition and application of such terms vary between culture and acceptance. Elves, for example, are often not considered monsters, but are occasionally listed under monster-kind in some cities. Furthermore, certain sub races of elves are sometimes considered monster-kind such as dark elves.

Each city has its own policy and enforcement of rules based on race, religion, magical prowess, ethnicity, gender, and so on. These policies also extend to what monsters are hunted by the guilds, and where.

The UFA directs most of its funding into different guilds, each of which also have their own representatives within the UFA dependent on the number of guild locations, the availability of their resources, and the financial support given to the UFA. For example, a beekeeping guild that produces honey within a single city would not be eligible for a consulship, but a beekeeping guild which produces honey in several cities, employes a substantial workforce, is open to expansion within other cities, and pays above a certain threshold of taxes would be eligible to apply for senate recognition.

To this end, guild rights are often protected, and sometimes even expanded by the senate, since the guilds almost make up their own faction within the senate- although infighting within the guilds is common.

War is often difficult to manage with the decentralized nature of the UFA. To better help, each city enters a defense-pact with all the other members of the UFA, and each must send either trained militia or mercenaries in the event of war. The kingdom of Floria to the east has been a common enemy to the UFA, and in recent years they have even taken over a couple of cities within the UFA.