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Initium Novum 2128

Initium Novum shares many similarities with Elysia. Both were founded around the same time, both have original historical domed districts, both terraformed to very Earth like planets through the use of Oxgae. Their political and ideological backgrounds however are completely different.

The planet is regarded as company property of Regal Calculus; extending the concept that you can own an iron nugget, an asteroid or a mountain so why not a planet. The planet is recognised as company property in the same way you can own a piece of land in a country, and that aspect is agreed on by everybody. The legal grey area comes from the fact that the Earth is fully claimed by sovereign governments, where any land owned by a company is still ultimately owned by a nation and company ownership is just a ledger entry on the nations ‘land’ account.

Before nationhood, Regal Calculus, following legal advice, took themselves to court, got the issue up to the Supreme Court where it will be exceptionally difficult to challenge and got the court to agree that the plant is just a lump they can own. As private land, Regal Calculus could prevent people landing on their planet under existing trespass laws in Swinterland (where the RC is registered). The entire population therefore are Regal Calculus employees on the Regal side (out of HA jurisdiction) and each one has gone through a thorough screening process to assess suitability. No family members are allowed unless they too are qualifying employees.

Over the 10 years after founding, the population grew to 19,000 and the HA began to take an interest. Despite efforts to keep the population below 20,000, in 2133 Regal Calculus decided to bite the bullet and allow the working population to go over that legal threshold which triggers the Settlement Act 2109. To offset any intervention, RC took a company survey of the population who almost completely voted to not have political representation. The HA felt this was not a free vote so began to take action by appointing General Dew Combustible Ironside (of obvious Belter origin) to take a referendum. Over a couple months, tensions grew until Astry General Ironside decided to send down marines led by General Aurora Sarah Lightningstorm to take a referendum by force. At that point RC finally capitulated and decided to fully support the vote, taken on the marine’s transports. The population voted for independence as a nation by 2/3 majority. The marines pulled out once the vote was taken, allowing normal business to resume.

The HA announced a new nation of Initium Novum which was immediately challenged in court by RC as only 14k people actually voted for independence. They pointed out that they could move the 7k loyal voters people back to Swinterland dropping the population back to 14k and below the legal threshold. The high court ruled that the population is over 20k so the declaration still stands, but spending court time on a maybe was counter to the public good. It gave RC one month to move its population, and if the population dropped back to 14k then it would reconsider the case, although it might still rule the same way. RC decided the cost of the upheaval, the task of identifying the real loyal 7k people and the 'us and them' fracturing of the work environment wasn't worth it on a maybe, so the one month expired and the declaration of a new nation stood.

The next legal test came shortly afterwards, but this time it was in regards to the HA authority to implement the Constitution. The RC said they respect the courts and the rule of law so they do recognise the nation of Initium Novum, but the planet itself was company property. It stated that the HA had created a 'homeless nation'. At this point, the protest group Demostratus gained fame by a media campaign showing RC as a company that made a whole nation homeless, showing REC’s actions with Elysia as a model of how it should be done. Demostratus was successful and the 'homeless nation' concept stuck as a negative against RC. Again, in the Supreme Court, the judges ruled that RC was correct, it did not need to support the HA's new nation as it was just a company, and it did own Initium Novum the planet. It then stated that RC is a company registered to Swinterland so the undeveloped majority of the planet was RC owned at the business level, but on a sovereign basis, it Swinterland's (also out of its own HA jurisdiction). In regards to the developed part of the planet, the volume 150km radial from the centre was also owned by RC but under the sovereignty of the nation of Initium Novum, a HA colony. It also stated that not only should RC not be forced to develop the civil infrastructure, it should be actively prevented due to a conflict of interest. The HA was therefore empowered and instructed to task HABIT with the job of setting up a hub to provide all civil services on Initium Novum empty sovereign land. The HA did this and the RC regretted not building the infrastructure voluntarily as it now had zero influence over the civil areas.

Although the sovereign nation of Initium Novum was within the HA framework, where the HA did collect income tax and provide free services, and despite the vote for independence, the population was still entirely made up from RC employees. Not only that but these employees had been vetted before they arrived and did lean towards the Regal philosophy. Due to the closed company style of building, the next legal challenge came from HANA on behalf of journalists who tried but failed to gain access to speak to the citizens of Initum Novum. They were prevented as the citizens lived in accommodation owned and controlled by RC and HANA argued that not being able to speak to the citizens invalidated their Constitutional rights. The Supreme Court disagreed saying that the citizens were free to speak to HANA journalists but that doesn't mean that HANA journalists had the right to make unsolicited contact with the citizens. The Supreme Court did however view the current communications net controlled by RC to be inadequate to the securing of Constitutional rights due to potential conflict of interest and moral hazard. It therefore ordered the HA hub to install and pay for an independent set of phones (includes video), controlled by the HA hub on Initium Novum. Also RC must allow the installation of these phones and unusually for a court order, the citizens must have them installed so the HA can know they are not being coerced to reject them.

The latest legal challenge came from Demostratus who tried to add to the population by landing a self-supporting ship in the empty territory in the sovereignty of the nation of Initium Novum. They came with the idealistic purpose of freeing the local population from the 'yoke of RC' by increasing the electorate under the principle of the free movement of people. They only added 350 people to the population but Demonstratus was keen to state it was a principled action to set a precedent. The population were actual RC loyalists so they objected to the presents of the Demonstratus protestors and sought to have them evicted. The court case IN vs Demonstratus again went to the Supreme Court and the court surprised many as it ruled that the sovereign territory was currently too small and no supporting food resources were available to support the group if their ship failed. As the immigration laws for IN hadn't yet been written they defaulted to the law used by Swinterland, the culture from which IN was taken. IN was therefore allowed to use force to remove the ship in order to protect their Constitutional rights. Of course many from Demonstratus cried foul, claiming corruption and the ‘purchasing of justice’ but critically the actual spokepersons said they accept the court’s ruling in full and without issue. The sovereign population of IN remains completely made up of Regal Calculus employees and the guest population is only the HA hub population that has a legal right to be there. The HA Hub does allow a limited amount of guests but they cannot support very many many.