Article 35: Dark Elf Society 1

Ever since Aria Gentlewind's tribe of umbra-scarred Elves took to the mountains and caves of Mythar II, the Dark Elves have had a relatively unique culture. Though their system of Matriarch and Apprentice seemed to work out for them, during the Legion War so many of them were sold into slavery on behalf of a few corrupt Matriarchs that the system was altered to try and prevent this from ever happening again. This system eventually tied in with the formation of the Castaways Treaty System, and though within that faction each race contributes to their leadership differently, the basic structure was created by the Dark Elves, as the other races looked up to them as more civilized and capable of leading them. Thus, the CTS's political structure as a whole and their racial Matriarchy are closely tied with how any given CTS Dark Elf lives their life. First, I will discuss in simple terms the composition of the Castaways Treaty System's leadership, then the nuanced specifics in the Dark Elf portion, and finally I will show how this is tied in with civilian life and individual aspirations.

At its heart, the CTS is somewhere between an oligarchy and a republic, with leadership held by a council of a few dozen representing the various races chosen by means specific to each race. These leaders have an amount of power to enact and enforce legislation proportional to the total population of their race within a system, and have a large number of subordinates that exist to communicate needs and desires from those populations to the leaders. Each leader has a different title as well as a different means of earning it: The Orcs, though they as a population whole rarely practice shamanism, select their leader every ten years by convening a large number of religious leaders together, performing various rituals to produce a set of criteria which they keep secret, then observing the populace to see who will first fulfill those criteria. For this reason, the representative Orc is called "The All-Chosen". Trolls, on the other hand, maintain their leader's position until that leader falls sick or is injured, at which point a battle tournament is held to find a new leader. Groups of fans may be allowed to assist their chosen champions in various ways throughout the tournament which lends better odds to more popular candidates, and the winner of the tournament is crowned Supreme Champion. Nekos test each generation's genetics, determine who is closest to a match with their Empress-figure Kasumi, and groom whoever has the highest percentage of Kasumi's DNA to be the Nekopotamian DyNyast. Mecha have a representative chosen by weighted random number generator, with more weight given to ones that have shown good leadership and those with the free cycles to dedicate towards the role and less weight to candidates whose skills are better served elsewhere. Many of the less-represented races, such as Humans and Elves, hold one of a number of types of Votes to determine their representative.

The CTS's leadership, referred to in modern times as Alpha Command, reside within the CTS's high power structure, the Sovereign Citadel. Onboard this Citadel, the various leaders meet on a regular basis to discuss policy, bring up actionable items, and determine the ongoing direction of the faction. The Sovereign Citadel is not, as many might assume, located on any specific planet, though it regularly returns to the CTS capital system of Purraxia for repairs and upgrades, rather it is a biowarp-capable space fortress crafted partially from the remains of the Golden Alliance ship The Castaway, whose sabotage was one of the formative events in the CTS's history. Though it is incredibly well-armed, it is strictly forbidden from engaging with hostile forces except in cases of self-defense, and its position changes on a weekly basis. Within the halls of the citadel, it is considered bad form to speak the name of any races, as it is assumed that doing so is invariably part of an attempt to institute prejudiced policy. The leaders are expected to vote for the good of all citizens of the Castaways Treaty Systems, and it is customary for dissenting voters to join the majority to create unanimous decisions and for failed motions to be withdrawn completely. News of remaining dissenting votes or un-withdrawn failed motions are often deeply concerning as they represent incredibly contentious issues (or ridiculously disagreeable leaders). The lead Dark Elf representative is called the High Matriarch, and is one of many of the Dark Elves' Grand Matriarchs.

As one can tell based on the Citadel's composition of leaders, the Dark Elves who designed it are fans of representation. This is largely a result of the fiasco that was the corrupt Matriarchs that sold them into slavery, and the restructuring to their system as a result. Though they still liked the idea of the matriarch-apprentice pairs, they felt that the reason they could so callously be sold into slavery was that those matriarchs had no connection to the Dark Elves they served. Thus, when they became their own space faction after the Castaways Treaty was signed, a new set of Matriarchs were chosen from the various families that had participated in the war, each attached to one or more family lines who had done great deeds towards helping them achieve freedom. In total, there were 43 original CTS Dark Elf Grand Matriarchs, 40 of them being actual Dark Elf women. The remaining three exist as a quirk of the rules they created--a non-dark-elf family that contributes greatly to the freedom, safety, or prosperity of the Dark Elf race can be granted a family line of their own. In this manner, family lines can be added to the Dark Elf Council of Grand Matriarchs, increasing the number of representatives at each council meeting. What constitutes a family in these cases can vary considerably. The 41st Matriarchal line, for example, belongs to the Orcish pirate queen Raltha and the crew of her ship, the Berserker Zero, which assisted in the liberation and mutiny of over fifty Dark Elven crews in the postwar era of the CTS's formation. Her seat is left ceremonially empty, as her inheritors long ago decided that an empty seat is what Raltha would have wanted. For lesser deeds that still save Dark Elven lives, an honorary position within an existing family line is offered. Because of all of this, various citizens within the CTS, as well as a few outside of its jurisdiction, have representation within the Dark Elf Council of Grand Matriarchs, and at its current state there are at least 130 Grand Matriarchs in common attendance.