Triangulum Covenant Territories

"What is it with the Triangulum galaxy, anyhow? It seems like every week there's another skirmish, insurgency, sortie, planned offensive, counter-strike, police action, border conflict or plain old-fashioned war breaking out. While the chaos and anarchy are great for a spacefaring merchant vessel that's willing to transport certain cargo of questionable legality, I sometimes have to stop and wonder if this madness will ever end."

- Aeril Baeli

The Triangulum Covenant Territories are the holdings of the Ankoran Covenant within the Triangulum Galaxy. Occupying space primarily within the Dinaobis Sector the eighty-seven planet region is the poorest ankoran-owned territory in the Local Group, and least loyal to the Ankoran Covenant, with fears of a schism occurring by 2975.

Although acting as an autonomous political district under the sovereign rule of the Ankoran Covenant, the region is under heavy-handed authoritarian control by the Ankoran Covenant, who continue to attempt to bring stability and political faith to the region, and enforce Covenant law on the populace.

Governance
Like the other branches of the Ankoran Covenant, the Triangulum Covenant Territories are governed by the rule of the state church, with the acting head of church also operating as head of state. Operating as an asymmetric federation and semi-presidential republic, wherein the High Ecclesiarch is the head of state, acting in a manner similar to a president, and the Prime Minister is the head of government, the Triangulum Covenant Territories has the most separation between church and state of any other Covenant sub-faction, earning the ire of the strictly theocratic homeworld.

Foreign relations
Foreign policy in the Triangulum Covenant Territories is seen as being born from the conflict between three rival schools: Galactisism, seeking a closer-but-independent relationship with the hegemonic Teyan Dominion and wider Triangulum Galaxy in general; Imperialists, seeking a rise to a semi-hegemonic status and claiming of power; and Nationalists, promoting the isolation of the state within its own cultural sphere. While Galactisism was the dominant ideology during the founding years of the Triangulum Covenant Territories, under Kozyae Androm, the promotion of Paetu Kasovi to Minister of Foreign Affairs has marked the beginning of a more nationalistic approach to foreign policy.

Despite its distrustful and cautious approach to its militaristic neighbours - most especially the once-xenocidal Pelx-Cradonian Remnant - the Triangulum Covenant Territories maintains openly cordial relations with the Teyan Dominion and has extensive under-the-table dealings with a variety of its subjects and allies, many in direct breach of the Ankoran Covenant's orders.

The Triangulum Covenant Territories is the second-largest purchasers of Dominion military equipment.

Political divisions
As an asymmetric federation, the territories of the Triangulum Covenant Territories are sub-divided into twenty-three federal states. These subjects have equal representation—two delegates each—in the Holy Council. However, they differ in the degree of autonomy they enjoy. The status and power of each sub-division depend on its recognition by the church, with the church able to merge, separate, elevate, or demote the sub-divisions of the Triangulum Covenant Territories at will.

There are five classes of sub-division recognised by the Triangulum Covenant Territories.


 * Territory: A vast region of politically unimportant space, with few colonies, but significant extra-planetary resource-collection operations. Typically heavily defended, but politically ignored.


 * Province: nominally autonomous; each is tasked with drafting its own constitution, church-approved head of province or a similar post, and parliament. Republics are allowed to establish their own official language alongside Teanga but are represented by the federal government in international affairs. Provinces are meant to be home to specific ethnic minorities or political groups, such as xeno migrants, or unrecognised religious followings.


 * Autonomous Sectors: Sectors of the Triangulum Covenant Territories which are given near-complete independence politically, although remain bound by the Triangulum Covenant Territories n international affairs. Autonomous sectors are typically managed from a single system or planet within the core of the sector.


 * Autonomous Systems: Systems within the Triangulum Covenant Territories which are given near-complete independence politically, although remain bound by the Triangulum Covenant Territories n international affairs. Autonomous systems are managed by the most populated or religiously significant planet in the system and require more than one inhabited world to be considered for the status.


 * Federal World: Major planets, such as Iraeli, Aet Amasi, and Mercor which function as independent regions with their own representation.

Military
The Triangulum Covenant Territories divides its military between three major branches; the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Although the three branches are intrinsically linked through the military's high command, each branch remains a separate and deeply rivalrous organisation. The Covenant Ghost Program is incorporated into the army within the Triangulum Covenant Territories.

The Triangulum Covenant Territories have a military budget of 3.40 trillion credits.