System: Trellisane

The people of Trellisane have devised a unique political structure. Settled early in the Exodus by disaffected political expatriates seeking a new democracy, Trellisane had a fiercely public-spirited populace for two generations. The descendants of the original settlers, however, soon became as complacent about their democratic rights and privileges as their Terran ancestors had long before. Particularly galling to the leaders was the fact that both voters and voter registration had steadily declined over the years, as more people figured that their vote would make little difference. When voting dropped below 50% of those eligible, the leaders declared a crisis and introduced a surprising solution.

Because the numbers of voters had become so unwieldy but because voting was the cornerstone of participatory democracy, the leaders declared that everyone eligible to vote would be required to do so by law, but that each adult would be eligible to vote only once in every three elections. Thus, the electorate would be smaller, and everyone would have their chance at voicing their opinion at how the government should be run. Knowing that the next election in which they could vote would be six years away, rather than two, a far higher percentage of people actively campaigned and debated issues. The next plebiscite had the highest voter turnout ever in the history of Trellisane.

[3067] Most of the League’s aerospace industry centers on ImStar and Andurien AeroTech, but the determination of Daniel Guttierez has won a small but significant niche for his advanced F-94 variant of the Stingray. Though outperformed by more modern variants and new designs like the Shiva, the Guttierez model was the first to feature advanced technology (beating the Andurien variant by four months). Produced in relatively limited quantities, the F-94 has developed a cult following, with its advocates evangelizing Guttierez’s precision-built and hand-finished product.

FWLM statistics lend credence to these claims, suggesting that the Trellisane model’s survivability is up to twenty percent higher than other variants of the Stingray. In addition to several refinements of the original F-94, Gutierrez Aerospace is working on a new production model of the Lancer technology testbed, as well as a second new model scheduled to debut before 3070. Negotiations with Diverse Optics to license several new laser technologies have caused considerable speculation, but at present no firm specifications of the new model are available.