Kassel Confederation

One of the more radical governments in the Inner Sphere, Kassel is a self-declared ‘libertarian confederacy’ but is in truth a hopelessly weak dictatorship surrounded by pirates, organized criminals, warlords and independent corporations. While it is in the Coalition camp, it criticizes National Conservatism as often as it does communism. It is one of the more populous Pactist states, theoretically providing the bulk of Pactist forces in the Inner Sphere.

The Kassel Confederation is, despite its name, has firmly American roots. The name of the Confederation comes from the Kassel Atlantic corporation, an originally German transportation company that moved to America sometime in the 22nd century. As the corporation’s business expanded to space, it developed a significant private security force to protect itself from piracy. During the Collapse, Kassel Atlantic found itself possessing the largest armed force in the area and so absorbed the remnant American government in the area. Fearful of the government taking it over as opposed to the other way around, Kassel Atlantic CEO Jacob Simmons penned a radical small government ideology derived from the ideals of American capitalists, Jeffersonian anti-Federalists and the despised Confederate States of America. Although a pragmatic measure at first, through the years Simmons came to believe in his “Libertist” ideology more and more and by his death the modern Libertist ideology had crystalized. Kassel Atlantic still exists in the 28th century and has effectively become the Confederation state.

Libertism in its modern form has many similarities to both communism and National Conservatism and drastic differences to both: it is a radically capitalist ideology, but its rhetoric calls for revolutions of the people as opposed to protection of private interests through the state. Its populist tone glorifies the worker; metal statues of miners and factory workers adorn Confederation worlds much like they would Karl-Marx-Welt, but at the same time the upper and middle classes are depicted as the worker’s natural superior. Like communism, Libertism is radically anti-religious, which caused friction with the Coalition during the latter’s theocratic era. Instead, the free market itself is given a small amount of spiritual significance; some of the more delusional Confederates have taken to worshiping the “invisible hand.” Under Libertism, anything can be private property, including other individuals. Consequently, slavery of both humans and xenos is was, and still is, perfectly legal in the Confederation. Although Libertism was originally anti-nationalist, modern Libertism glorifies the “private state” as it exists in the Confederation. Unlike communism and National Conservatism, Libertism’s official social policy is ‘moral capitalism,’ which operates on the principle of allowing citizens to do whatever they wish, reasoning that anything particularly offensive would be met by intense public disapproval. The state takes no active role in the engineering of society, at least in theory. Libertist theory calls for the decentralization of power to the constituents of the Confederation, but the modern Libertist regime is tyrannical in any areas it has control over.

In the early years of Confederation expansion, Kassel has found itself at odds with Sorrento and Solanum, two states it is now allied with. The Confederation used to dominate the systems making up the modern People’s Republic of Cymaline and Democratic Republic of Judea, which partially caused a rise in communist sympathies in the area. When Acadia (a longtime Confederation ally) was at its height, the Confederation came close to taking over most of the Inner Sphere, stopped only by an alliance of Sorrento, Solanum and other Inner Sphere states. Conflicts with Sorrento were especially common, as the two were ideologically dissimilar and later had many historical reasons to keep fighting. The Sorrentine-Confederation rivalry was only stopped by their mutual membership in the Springfield Pact, a reaction to the rise of the People’s Republic of Cymaline.

Prior to the Galactic War, the Confederation’s primary concern was the reign of warlords, pirates and criminals in many of its worlds. As the Confederation has no formal military (instead opting to hire private military companies to command bands of armed citizens into battle), it historically had trouble fighting groups that managed to violate what few laws the Confederation has enforced. Some fighters have an ideological cause; many private groups felt that Kassel Atlantic had a monopoly on the market and society, becoming no different from the communists Libertism so despises. Many more fight because their profits are in danger. The so-called “Xeno Question” has also become a concern, after a communist revolt by xeno slaves almost overthrew the government in the Kassel system. A radical strain of human supremacist Libertism, calling for more law and order while at the same time appealing to the Confederation’s roots, has taken control of the country and plans are underway to exterminate any xenos in the area and compensating slaveowners with human prisoners from the Galactic War.

As mentioned before the Confederation “military” is not a formal institution, but its core is the Kassel Atlantic Security Force, which produces most of the Confederation’s military equipment. The government regularly hires other private security forces to bolster its own, but sometimes it cannot afford to do so. Kassel mercenaries regularly find themselves in the employ of many nations, within and outside of the Springfield Pact. In fact, some mercenaries have fought against their home country as the highest bidder turned out to be the Communist International.

The Confederation led the charge against the Allies during the start of the Galactic War, mobilizing what it could against the People’s Republic of Cymaline (which acted similarly). Thanks to the ongoing wars at Kassel’s periphery, bribed commanders and the sheer weight of the Cymalian attack, the Confederation was forced to retreat to a more defensible position (a situation they do not want to find themselves in). Sorrentine forces have poured into Kassel to help maintain the defenses, while both wait for the Coalition forces to arrive and liberate their allies from the Cymalians. Many of the Confederation’s former enemies have helped the central government fight against the invading Cymalians; after all, their illegal businesses would be under even more threat under communism.