Articles of Cooperation

The **Articles of Confederation** is the document forming the basic law of the Free Seas Fellowship, and the Free Territories of the Shattered Chains before it.

## Text of First Edition (FTSC)

### Preamble

We, who are people originating from a world that has been ravaged for centuries by the boundless lust for wealth and power,

We, who came to a new world in hopes of creating a better life, and setting an example for the rest of the world,

We, who in the first short years upon Nova have witnessed with dismay the same mistakes being repeated,

We, who have witnessed rulers seizing dominion, borders being drawn, pristine native environments being polluted, wars being waged, corporations taking and taking and taking,

We, who are determined to forge a sustainable and equitable way of life, free from the twin scourges of capital and power,

We come together to establish the Articles of Cooperation.

### Part I -  General Principles

#### Article 1

1. The Articles of Cooperation of the Free Territories of the Shattered Chains, [hereinafter “the Articles”], is a renewed social contract between the peoples of the Free Territories. The Preamble is an integral part of the Articles.

#### Article 2

1. Authority resides with and emanates from the people of the Free Territories. It is exercised by governing councils and public institutions elected by popular vote.
2. The people constitute the sole source of legitimacy for all governing councils and public institutions, which are founded on democratic principles essential to a free society.

#### Article 3

1. The Free Territories is a free, sovereign, and democratic territory, governed by a system based on principles of decentralization and pluralism.

### Part II - Structure of Governance in the Free Territories

#### Article 4

1. The People
	1. The people of the Free Territories hold the ultimate power of self-governance. No law, declaration, or treaty shall be binding without approval via popular referendum.
	2. The people hold the right to recall any elected official via popular Vote of No Confidence at any time, at which point a new election will be held.
	3. Amendments to the Articles shall be made only by 2/3rds majority vote of the people.
2. The People’s Canton Councils
	1. The Canton Councils shall hold the power to make and refine local Canton legislation, with the advice and consent of the people.
	2. The Canton Councils, with the advice and consent of the people, may organize militia and coast guard for the purpose of community defense.
	3. The Canton Councils shall hold limited executive power, to be invoked only in the following explicitly outlined circumstances.
		1. In the event of wartime- The Councils may call for the Canton militias to organize under a Territory-wide military body for the defense of the Free Territories. This body would exist only through the duration of wartime, and would automatically be dissolved upon cessation of hostilities.
		2. In the event of natural disaster- The Canton Councils may declare a State of Emergency, calling upon the Free Territories’s emergency response organizations to organize disaster relief together.
		3. Other legislative powers must be explicitly amended into the Articles by vote of the people.
3. Office of the Envoy
	1. The Envoy shall be elected by direct vote of the entire Free Territories, and shall hold the responsibility to conduct diplomacy with foreign powers.
	2. The Envoy may appoint ambassadors to represent the Free Territories’s interests, with the advice and consent of the Arbitrator, and serving at the pleasure of the people.
	3. Other powers must be explicitly amended into the articles by vote of the people.
4. Office of the Arbitrator
	1. The Arbitrator shall be elected by direct vote of the entire Free Territories, and will hold the power to make recommendations on legislation to all Cantons and their Councils, which they may accept or reject.
	2. The Arbitrator shall hold the responsibility of ensuring cohesion between Cantons and their various laws, as well as mediating internal legislative disputes, with the powers granted to them in the Articles.
	3. Other executive powers must be explicitly amended into the articles by vote of the people.
5. Commission of Elections
	1. Elections shall be held by an independent commission separate from other government institutions, in as transparent a manner as reasonably possible.
6. Judicial Courts
	1. The Courts shall be organized by the Canton, in groups of nine, with each panel of judges being made up of six randomly selected lay people over the age of majority and three elected judges of a rotating pool, the number of which is left up to the individual Canton.
		1. Lay people selected to be judges who have other responsibilities or circumstances which prevent them from serving may submit a request for excusal, and be excused from serving as a judge.
	2. The Courts may hear criminal, civil, and constitutional cases.
	3. It is the duty of the Judges to be unbiased, fair, and to ensure that the rights and dignity of all involved are being respected.
		1. Judges who are found to have failed to uphold this duty, elected or lay, will be barred from serving on a panel for the rest of their life or until a majority vote of the people reinstates them. Any cases they have overseen will be re-evaluated by the courts at the soonest opportunity.
	4. The majority opinion of the Court shall determine the verdict.
	5. Should a party involved in a case choose to appeal and be judged to have sufficient grounds to do so by the Canton Council, a new panel of judges will be convened to hear the appeal, made up entirely of judges who did not participate in the prior one, with the same makeup of lay-judges to elected judges.
	6. If a court considers that a provision conflicts with a provision of a fundamental law or with a provision of any other superior statute, or that the procedure prescribed was set aside in any important respect when the provision was introduced, the provision shall be nullified.

#### Article 5

1. All cities, towns, and villages in the Free Territories which accede to these Articles may form Cantons falling within the Free Territories.

#### Article 6

1. All Cantons in the Free Territories are founded upon the principle of local self-government. Cantons may freely elect their representatives and representative bodies and may pursue their rights insofar as it does not contravene the Articles of Cooperation.

#### Article 7

1. The official languages of the Free Territories are myriad and will depend on the community involved.

#### Article 8

1. The Free Territories and its Cantons have the right to be represented by their own flags, emblems, and anthems. Such symbols shall be defined by the cantons.

#### Article 9

1. There shall be a separation of powers between the legislature, executive, and judiciary.
2. No person shall hold multiple offices, in the legislative, executive, judiciary, or any of the aforementioned combined, concurrently.

### Part III - Economic and Political Principles

#### Article 10

1. Unlawful acts and omissions and the appropriate penalties are defined by legislation made by the Cantons.

#### Article 11

1. Natural resources, located both above and below ground, are the public wealth of society. Extractive processes, management, licensing, and other contractual agreements related to such resources shall be regulated by Canton and ecological councils.

#### Article 12

1. All buildings and land in the Free Territories, owned and controlled de facto by the Territory, are public property. The use and distribution of such shall be determined by the Canton Councils through contract and legislation.

#### Article 13

1. The economic system in the cantons provinces shall be directed at providing general welfare and in particular granting funding to science and technology.
2. It shall be aimed at guaranteeing the daily needs of the population and ensuring a dignified life for all within the borders of the Free Territories.
3. Monopoly is prohibited by the government. Labor rights and sustainable development are guaranteed.

### Part IV - Rights and Liberties

#### Article 14

1. The Articles hold as inviolable the fundamental rights and freedoms set out in international human rights treaties, conventions, and declarations.

#### Article 15

1. The following rights shall be guaranteed to all people of the Free Territories of the Shattered Chains, regardless of age, sex, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, or race. This is a non-comprehensive list.
	1. The right to self-defense and to organize themselves into patrols for community defense against both internal and external threats.
	2. The right to actively participate in public and political life.
	3. The right to be treated as equal, in all capacities public and private, as both communities and individuals.
	4. The right to vote and run for political office and public positions.
	5. The right to live in a clean and ecologically balanced environment.
	6. The right to freedom of movement and freedom to choose their residence within the Free Territories.
	7. The right to freely experience and contribute to academic, scientific, artistic, and cultural expressions and creations, through individual or joint practice, to have access to and enjoy, and to disseminate their expressions and creations.
	8. The right to free primary and secondary education.
	9. The right to have their basic daily needs met.
	10. The right to free and competent health and social care, according to circumstances and needs.
	11. The right to adequate housing.
	12. The right to teach and be taught in their native language.
	13. The right to freedom of opinion and expression; including freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
	14. The right to not be compelled to share information, should it relate to the security of the Free Territories, public safety and order, the integrity of the individual, the sanctity of private life, or the prevention and prosecution of crime.
	15. The right to peacefully assemble, including the right to peaceful protest, demonstration, and strike.
	16. The right to freedom of worship, to practice one’s own religion either individually or in association with others, and to be free from persecution on the grounds of their religious beliefs.
	17. The right to freedom of association with others, including the right to establish and freely join any political group, association, trade union, and/or civil assembly, including cultural groups.
	18. The right to a speedy and public trial.
	19. The right to due process, which includes
		1. An unbiased panel of judges.
		2. Notice of the proposed action and the grounds asserted for it.
		3. Opportunity to present reasons why the proposed action should not be taken.
		4. Opportunity to present evidence, including the right to call witnesses.
		5. The right to know opposing evidence.
		6. The right to cross-examine adverse witnesses.
		7. The right to a decision made by the courts based solely on the evidence presented in court.
		8. Opportunity to be represented by qualified and competent counsel.
		9. The right to request and be granted a record of the evidence presented.
		10. The right to a written finding of facts and reasons for the Court’s decision, written by the courts.

#### Article 16

1. The following rights shall be guaranteed to all persons within the borders of the Free Territories. This is a non-comprehensive list.
	1. The right to the use and enjoyment of their personal property.
	2. The right to not be deprived of their personal property, except upon payment of just compensation, for reasons of public utility or social interest, and in the cases and according to the forms established by the Canton Councils.
	3. The right to not suffer economic exploitation through wage theft, coerced labor, or any other such form of it.
	4. The right to not suffer torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, up to and including execution.
	5. The right to seek political asylum.
	6. The right to liberty and security of their person.
		1. All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with compassion and with respect for the inherent dignity of the sentient being.
	7. The right to humane conditions of detention, which protect their inherent dignity.
	8. The right to freedom of expression.
	9. The right to not be deported without a decision made by a competent, impartial, and properly constituted judicial body, where all due process rights have been afforded.

#### Article 17

1. The following acts shall be, in particular, outlawed across the whole Free Territories on penalty of rehabilitative imprisonment for a term determined by the Courts. This is a non-comprehensive list.
	1. The marriage of anyone under the age of majority.
	2. Knowing economic exploitation of any capacity.
	3. All forms of non-consensual physical violence against another, including sexual.
		1. This does not include reasonable force utilized in defense of the self, others, or in the fulfillment of the law by members of community patrols.
	4. The damaging of vital infrastructure through acts of sabotage or terrorism.
	5. The knowing harassment, stalking, or performing of threatening acts to another person.
		1. A restraining order is also issuable by the courts in this situation, in addition to the period of rehabilitative imprisonment.
	6. Knowing damage to the ecosystem without authorization or a clear community need.

## Text of Second Edition (FSF)

### Preamble

We, who are people originating from a world that has been ravaged for centuries by the boundless lust for wealth and power,

We, who came to a new world in hopes of creating a better life, and setting an example for the rest of the world,

We, who in the first short years upon Nova have witnessed with dismay the same mistakes being repeated,

We, who have witnessed rulers seizing dominion, borders being drawn, pristine native environments being polluted, wars being waged, corporations taking and taking and taking,

We, who are determined to forge a sustainable and equitable way of life, free from the twin scourges of capital and power,

We come together to establish the Articles of Cooperation.

### Part I -  General Principles

#### Article 1

1. The Articles of Cooperation of the Free Territories of the Shattered Chains, [hereinafter “the Articles”], is a renewed social contract between the peoples of the Free Territories. The Preamble is an integral part of the Articles.

#### Article 2

1. Authority resides with and emanates from the people of the Free Territories. It is exercised by governing councils and public institutions elected by popular vote.
2. The people constitute the sole source of legitimacy for all governing councils and public institutions, which are founded on democratic principles essential to a free society.

#### Article 3

1. The Free Territories are a free, sovereign, and democratic territory, governed by a system based on principles of decentralization and pluralism.

### Part II - Structure of Governance in the Free Territories

#### Article 4

1. The People
	1. The people of the Free Territories hold the ultimate power of self-governance. No law, declaration, or treaty shall be binding without approval via popular referendum.
	2. The people hold the right to recall any elected official via popular Vote of No Confidence at any time, at which point a new election will be held.
	3. Amendments to the Articles shall be made only by 2/3rds majority vote of the people.
2. The People’s Canton Councils
	1. The Canton Councils shall be elected and organized by vote of the people of the canton.
	2. The Canton Councils shall hold the power to make and refine local Canton legislation, with the advice and consent of the people.
	3. The Canton Councils, with the advice and consent of the people, may organize militia and coast guard for the purpose of community defense.
	4. The Canton Councils shall hold limited executive power, to be invoked only in the following explicitly outlined circumstances.
		1. In the event of wartime- The Councils may call for the Canton militias to organize under a Territory-wide military body for the defense of the Free Territories. This body would exist only through the duration of wartime, and would automatically be dissolved upon cessation of hostilities.
		2. In the event of natural disaster- The Canton Councils may declare a State of Emergency, calling upon the Free Territories’ emergency response organizations to organize disaster relief together.
		3. Other legislative powers must be explicitly amended into the Articles by vote of the people.
3. The Free Territorial Councils
	1. Cantons may, by vote of the people, enter into free association with other cantons, forming a Territory.
	2. The Territorial Councils shall be elected and organized by vote of the people of the Territory.
	3. The Territorial Councils shall hold the responsibility of ensuring cohesion between Cantons and their various laws, as well as mediating internal legislative disputes, with the powers granted to them in the Articles.
	4. If empowered by the people or the Canton Councils, the Territorial Councils may organize the defense or other emergency response of the Territory.
4. The Forum
	1. Representatives to the Forum shall be selected in the following manners.
		1. Sortition of one eligible individual per five million, selected randomly from the general population above the age of majority.
			1. Lay people selected to be representatives who have other responsibilities or circumstances which prevent them from serving may submit a request for excusal, and be excused from serving as a representative.
		2. Election of one representative per Territory.
	2. Representatives shall serve six-year terms. Elected representatives may run for re-election. Randomly selected representatives shall be removed from the pool, and cannot be drawn from the sortition again; however, they may run for elected positions.
	3. The Forum shall  hold the power to make recommendations on legislation to all Cantons and their Councils, which they may accept or reject.
	4. The Forum shall advise the Envoy in matters of foreign policy.
5. Office of the Envoy
	1. The Envoy shall be elected by direct vote of the entire Free Territories, and shall hold the responsibility to conduct diplomacy with foreign powers.
	2. The Envoy may appoint ambassadors to represent the Free Territories’ interests, with the advice and consent of the Forum, and serving at the pleasure of the people.
	3. Other powers must be explicitly amended into the articles by vote of the people.
	4. The Envoy shall keep the Forum apprised of all significant diplomatic developments, and shall seek the Forum’s advice and consent in executing foreign policy.
6. Office of the Arbitrator
	1. The Arbitrator shall be elected by direct vote of the entire Free Territories, and shall chair the Forum.
	2. The Arbitrator shall hold the responsibility of ensuring cohesion between Territories and their various laws, as well as mediating internal legislative disputes, with the powers granted to them in the Articles.
	3. Other executive powers must be explicitly amended into the Articles by vote of the people.
7. Commission of Elections
	1. Elections shall be held by an independent commission separate from other government institutions, in as transparent a manner as reasonably possible.
	2. This commission shall also hold sortitions for relevant positions as outlined in the Articles.
8. Judicial Courts
	1. The Courts shall be organized by the Canton, in groups of nine, with each panel of judges being made up of six randomly selected lay people over the age of majority and three elected judges of a rotating pool, the number of which is left up to the individual Canton.
		1. Lay people selected to be judges who have other responsibilities or circumstances which prevent them from serving may submit a request for excusal, and be excused from serving as a judge.
	2. The Courts may hear criminal, civil, and constitutional cases.
	3. It is the duty of the Judges to be unbiased, fair, and to ensure that the rights and dignity of all involved are being respected.
		1. Judges who are found to have failed to uphold this duty, elected or lay, will be barred from serving on a panel for the rest of their life or until a majority vote of the people reinstates them. Any cases they have overseen will be re-evaluated by the courts at the soonest opportunity.
	4. The majority opinion of the Court shall determine the verdict.
	5. Should a party involved in a case choose to appeal and be judged to have sufficient grounds to do so by the Canton Council, a new panel of judges will be convened to hear the appeal, made up entirely of judges who did not participate in the prior one, with the same makeup of lay-judges to elected judges.
	6. If a court considers that a provision conflicts with a provision of a fundamental law or with a provision of any other superior statute, or that the procedure prescribed was set aside in any important respect when the provision was introduced, the provision shall be nullified.

#### Article 5

1. All cities, towns, and villages in the Free Territories which accede to these Articles may form Cantons falling within the Free Territories.

#### Article 6

1. All Cantons in the Free Territories are founded upon the principle of local self-government. Cantons may freely elect their representatives and representative bodies and may pursue their rights insofar as it does not contravene the Articles of Cooperation.

#### Article 7

1. The official languages of the Free Territories are myriad and will depend on the community involved.

#### Article 8

1. The Free Territories and its Cantons have the right to be represented by their own flags, emblems, and anthems. Such symbols shall be defined by the cantons.

#### Article 9

1. There shall be a separation of powers between the legislature, executive, and judiciary.
2. No person shall hold multiple offices, in the legislative, executive, judiciary, or any of the aforementioned combined, concurrently.

### Part III - Economic and Political Principles

#### Article 10

1. Unlawful acts and omissions and the appropriate penalties are defined by legislation made by the Cantons.

#### Article 11

1. Natural resources, located both above and below ground, are the public wealth of society. Extractive processes, management, licensing, and other contractual agreements related to such resources shall be regulated by Canton and ecological councils.

#### Article 12

1. All buildings and land in the Free Territories, owned and controlled de facto by the Territory, are public property. The use and distribution of such shall be determined by the Canton Councils through contract and legislation.

#### Article 13

1. The economic system in the cantons shall be directed at providing general welfare and in particular granting funding to science and technology.
2. It shall be aimed at guaranteeing the daily needs of the population and ensuring a dignified life for all within the borders of the Free Territories.
3. Monopoly is prohibited by the government. Labor rights and sustainable development are guaranteed.

### Part IV - Rights and Liberties

#### Article 14

1. The Articles hold as inviolable the fundamental rights and freedoms set out in international human rights treaties, conventions, and declarations.

#### Article 15

1. The following rights shall be guaranteed to all people of the Free Territories of the Shattered Chains, regardless of age, ability, sex, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, race, or origin. This is a non-comprehensive list.
	1. The right to self-defense and to organize themselves into patrols for community defense against both internal and external threats.
	2. The right to actively participate in public and political life.
	3. The right to be treated as equal, in all capacities public and private, as both communities and individuals.
	4. The right to vote and run for political office and public positions.
	5. The right to live in a clean and ecologically balanced environment.
	6. The right to freedom of movement and freedom to choose their residence within the Free Territories.
	7. The right to freely experience and contribute to academic, scientific, artistic, and cultural expressions and creations, through individual or joint practice, to have access to and enjoy, and to disseminate their expressions and creations.
	8. The right to free primary and secondary education.
	9. The right to have their basic daily needs met.
	10. The right to free and competent health and social care, according to circumstances and needs.
	11. The right to adequate housing.
	12. The right to teach and be taught in their native language.
	13. The right to freedom of opinion and expression; including freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
	14. The right to not be compelled to share information, should it relate to the security of the Free Territories, public safety and order, the integrity of the individual, the sanctity of private life, or the prevention and prosecution of crime.
	15. The right to peacefully assemble, including the right to peaceful protest, demonstration, and strike.
	16. The right to freedom of worship, to practice one’s own religion either individually or in association with others, and to be free from persecution on the grounds of their religious beliefs.
	17. The right to freedom of association with others, including the right to establish and freely join any political group, association, trade union, and/or civil assembly, including cultural groups.
	18. The right to a speedy and public trial.
	19. The right to due process, which includes
		1. An unbiased panel of judges.
		2. Notice of the proposed action and the grounds asserted for it.
		3. Opportunity to present reasons why the proposed action should not be taken.
		4. Opportunity to present evidence, including the right to call witnesses.
		5. The right to know opposing evidence.
		6. The right to cross-examine adverse witnesses.
		7. The right to a decision made by the courts based solely on the evidence presented in court.
		8. Opportunity to be represented by qualified and competent counsel.
		9. The right to request and be granted a record of the evidence presented.
		10. The right to a written finding of facts and reasons for the Court’s decision, written by the courts.

#### Article 16

1. The following rights shall be guaranteed to all persons within the borders of the Free Territories. This is a non-comprehensive list.
	1. The right to the use and enjoyment of their personal property.
	2. The right to not be deprived of their personal property, except upon payment of just compensation, for reasons of public utility or social interest, and in the cases and according to the forms established by the Canton Councils.
	3. The right to not suffer economic exploitation through wage theft, coerced labor, or any other such form of it.
	4. The right to not suffer torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, up to and including execution.
	5. The right to seek political asylum.
	6. The right to liberty and security of their person.
		1. All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with compassion and with respect for the inherent dignity of the sentient being.
	7. The right to humane conditions of detention, which protect their inherent dignity.
	8. The right to freedom of expression.
	9. The right to not be deported without a decision made by a competent, impartial, and properly constituted judicial body, where all due process rights have been afforded.

#### Article 17

1. The following acts shall be, in particular, outlawed across the whole Free Territories on penalty of rehabilitative imprisonment for a term determined by the Courts. This is a non-comprehensive list.
	1. The marriage of anyone under the age of majority.
	2. Knowing economic exploitation of any capacity.
	3. All forms of non-consensual physical violence against another, including sexual.
		1. This does not include reasonable force utilized in defense of the self, others, or in the fulfillment of the law by members of community patrols.
	4. The damaging of vital infrastructure through acts of sabotage or terrorism.
	5. The knowing harassment, stalking, or performing of threatening acts to another person.
		1. A restraining order is also issuable by the courts in this situation, in addition to the period of rehabilitative imprisonment.
	6. Knowing damage to the ecosystem without authorization or a clear community need.

### Part V- War Powers & Responsibilities

#### Article 18

1. No Canton, Territory, nor organization thereof shall be empowered to declare war upon a nation-state or other similarly internationally recognized entity without the consent via majority vote of the entire Free Territories.
2. No Canton or Territory shall be empowered to enter a state of war against another Canton or Territory.
3. An attack upon one Canton shall be considered an attack upon all the Free Territories. All Cantons are obligated to defend a Canton under attack.

#### Article 19

1. The Shattered Flotilla
	1. Canton coast guard organizations may enter into free association with one another by joining the Shattered Flotilla.
	2. The Flotilla shall act in accordance with the laws and proclaimations of the Free Territories.
	3. Members of the Flotilla shall elect an Admiralty Board, consisting of Admirals representing each constituent coast guard organization.
		1. The Admiralty shall hold the responsibility to coordinate interterritorial Flotilla activities.
		2. In times of war or other disaster, the Admiralty Board may appoint one from among their membership to the position of Grand Admiral.
			1. The Grand Admiral shall hold the responsibility to ensure Flotilla cohesion.
			2. The Grand Admiral may be removed by the Board in the event of misconduct or miscarriage of their duties, or upon the cessation of emergency status.
		3. Each Admiral shall serve ten year terms.
2. The United and Armed Anarchist and Socialist Self-Defense Militias of the Cantons within the Free Territories
	1. Militia organizations may enter into free association with one another by joining the UAASSDMCFT [hereinafter “the United Militias”].
	2. The United Militias shall act in accordance with the laws and proclaimations of the Free Territories.
	3. The United Militias shall maintain decentralized modes of operation and command.

#### Article 20

1. No person shall hold multiple offices in the Shattered Army, Flotilla, or either of the aforementioned combined concurrently.
2. Members of the Shattered Army and Flotilla are barred from serving in legislative, executive, or judicial office concurrently with their militia or coast guard service.