1462

## **The founding of the *Commonwealth of the Charter of Light***

### **The Commonwealth of the Charter of Light**

In diplomatic discussion for the last ten years, a precursor to negotiations, Halruaa and Stonehearth had been working through points of sovereignty, taxation, defense and mutual aid requirements and so on.

Halruaa had fair and reasonable licensing terms for limited raw magic technique, and already benefitted from cross-world trade and travel with Stonehearth. There were parts of the Charter of Light (the Charter or “CoL” for short) that were tolerable, but simply culturally different and part of that had to do with magic versus non-magic rights. Even in **1462** **DR**, this was a significant holdover from Halruaa's Netherese days.

The Stonehearth justice system was heavily influenced by Halruaa’s own truth-spell based investigative system.

Full adoption of the CoL, however, was necessary for unlimited licensing. There was still tax and other responsibilities, but the licensing and use was treated as “domestic” rather than “foreign.” There were also sovereignty rights, where Halruaa had the pride of a long history and wasn’t quite prepared to be subordinate to a marquisate.

There was an idea to take the egalitarian process and procedure, and elevate it to the next level. Where individual polities had their Charter-guided parliaments, there would be a next-level international parliament called a *Congress*.

While Halruaa was tilting towards the concept, they weren’t yet sold. Until Netheril attacked and Stonehearth all but blew Thultanthar from the sky. After the battle, Halruaa had a new enthusiasm for joining Stonehearth.

### **The power of the name…**

There was already a loose association in the region: the Lords’ Alliance, but they didn’t even rate a league, much less a union (or unitary state), federation (or federated state), or confederacy. West Faerûn to Western Heartlands couldn’t strike a balance between a true fusion of resources without fear of a loss of sovereignty. It was understandable: few polities in the area had any resources really worth those tradeoffs.

Except Stonehearth…

“Commonwealth” was chosen as indicator of a single executive and federal system and unified monetary standard, but with different legislative and training/standards-connected but otherwise self-contained defensive armed forces.

The name itself was an indicator that this wasn’t about the House of Stonehearth or any regional conquest. The Sovereign would be Stonehearth, but this wasn’t an expansion of the marquisate, this was about the application of ethics and legal guidance. In that respect, it hailed back to the original meaning of “the common well-being.”

### **Lantan reclassified to blaze a trail to the *Commonwealth of the Charter of Light***

Stonehearth formed the *Commonwealth of the Charter of Light*, and became its first member.

Lantan had been part of the conversation from the very beginning, but didn’t have the same resistance that Halruaa did simply because they didn’t have the original sovereign structures (or the resources).

With the terms of the Commonwealth hammered out, and well in line with the Life, Liberty and Justice philosophy, Stonehearth released Lantan from their previous fealty.

Lantan, in turn, circle back to the fold as a member of the Commonwealth rather than subordinate to the Coronet of Stonehearth.

### **Halruaa was witness to the *Commonwealth* process – and approved**

With Lantan blazing the trail (again), Halruaa soon followed – ratifying the treaty to adopt the *Charter of Light* with minor regional tweaks.

Having adopted the Charter, they petitioned to join the *Commonwealth of the Charter of Light*, and soon after were admitted. The Commonwealth now boasted three members: the Marquisate of the Stonehearth, the Union of Lantan, and the Kingdom of Halruaa, spread out over two worlds.

## **Cross-world Impact**

Just a year prior, in 1461, the Stonehearth Arms had nearly splashed Thultanthar (the flying City of Shade), forcing the Shadovar Netherese into an armistice. After that turn, the diplomatic pull of the Marquisate increased tenfold.

There were now guests in Stonehearth's court and observers in the Marquisate parliament *at all times*. This meant the creation of the Commonwealth was major news – and a gut punch to peers in the Lords' Alliance. Did the Commonwealth represent a rival?

There was enough concern through western Faerûn that there was a call for a formal agreement. To that end, the members of the Lords' Alliance – including Stonehearth – met in several LA locations during negotations. By the time they rotated through Silverymoon, late in the year, they'd finalized language on a non-aggression pact and a mutual-aid treaty.

This document became known as the Silverymoon Accord, or simply "**the Accord**."