Historic nation-state occupying the upland plateau of northwest Anasthias, now a province of modern Orror.

Siltorn was the greatest independent modern republic in the modern aeon. Founded c.720 HM, it survived for over two millennia until its annexation by the Orror in 3137 HM.

History

The early Siltun were a practical and business-like people of West Thalsic ethnicity, who had settled the fertile lands on the Silt River, above the Great Lake, around the fourth century HM. Enmities and inter-village vendettas scarred their early history, leading to vicious clan conflict.

Seyuller and the First Constitution

The great magistrate and legislator, Seyuller (667-c.740 HM), from the city of Initerer on the north side of the Great Lake, was often called upon to mediate in these disputes, because of his reputation for fairness and cool objectivty. Not all disputes were settled to the satisfaction of all, but they certainly achieved more than violence. Soon he was called upon more and more, and he spent years travelling between various communities, to settle what were usually only trivial disputes that had spiralled out of control.

Knowing that this took far too much of his time, and fearing that after his death all might once more fall into anarchy, he began devising a strict though straightforward system of rules for the process of discussion and arbitration. This was the Code of Seyuller. He furthermore proposed a regular standing body to administer and enforce the Code, made up of representatives of all the principal towns and villages in the region. The body as a whole had powers to mediate, and to draw up future rules and codes of conduct governing relations of trade, boundaries and so on.

He later formulated a set of basic Principles, agreed upon by all sides, promoting peace, prosperity, mutual co-operation and defence. The Code and Principles were are written into a treaty or Accord, binding on all parties in the Standing Body. This agreement, published in 720 HM, was later called the First Constitution of the Republic, and the Siltorn calendar begins with this year. Though it was altered much in terms of proportionate representation of the people, the Republic was peaceful and successful for almost two and a half thousand years, based on this original document. Seven major constitutional revisions were made in that time, and although the last working constitution was a much longer, and much less worthy document, its predecessors all retained the essential principles of its first.

Constitutional Government

The Assembly of the Republic at first met in towns and cities throughout the land on a cyclical basis, but eventually settled permanently at Initerer. Initerer subsequently became the largest and most affluent city on the Great Lake, a centre for business, trade and government.

Towns and groups of villages were each given a certain number of votes, expressed as representatives in the Assembly. How the member was elected was entirely dependent on the locality, the only rules being that the position could not be hereditary (though political families did often maintain power for generations), the method of appointment must be freely agreed upon by the locality, and the representative should broadly represent the views of his consituency.

Most representatives were appointed either by local government, or by direct ballot of the people. The system was sometimes open to abuse but it was largely respected, except in times of particular strife. The major changes came in deciding electoral boundaries, and how it should be decided how many votes each community should get. In different eras it was proportionate to population, land, wealth, volume of trade, or by financial contribution to the Assembly.

The Assembly's job was firstly to decide boundaries between localities, deciding on land allocation. This was the primary cause disputes, and delegating the final say to a higher power might not have made people happy, but it avoided violence. The Assembly's secondly concern was regulating trade, initially to encourage trade between cities, to prevent protectionism, and to provide food and basic necessities to the needy in times of hardship. Latterly the Assembly came to be pre-eminent in defence.

Later Constitutions

In the founding days of the Republic, unrest had occurred between the states, not against them, but in later centuries the Republic was forced to deal with constant external threats. The original constitution was not designed to deal with this. By the 3rd millennium HM, the Mordant tribes to the west, the Kingdoms to the southwest, and the Dor-en-Sann Empire to the east made constant military incursions, forcing the Republic onto a debilitating military footing.

Under the Fourth Constitution , every constituent town of the Republic was duty-bound to submit troops and arms, and the Republic elected a War-Leader from a selected list of candidates. War-Leaders were not allowed to be representatives or to submit legislation, but in times of dire need they could take on extraordinary powers, originally delegated to him for a limited period by the Assembly. There were three famous occasions of lengthy Dictatorship (under the abusive Fifth Constitution, in which War-Leaders could declare emergencies at their discretion), only one of which caused long-term damage and civil war.

The Sixth Constitution of the early 4th millennium was devised in the subsequent peacetime, meant to prevent any one person or faction from gaining ultimate authority, in order to prevent the return of tyranny. In a time of comparative peace, with the Empire demilitarising and the Mordant involved for once in their own affairs, this seemed sensible. Its crucial failing however was that in the face of imminent military threat, the Republic was unable to take swift decisive action.

When barbarians marched down the Silt River, the Republic sat in committees and ballots, squabbling over the inevitable.

Downfall of the Republic

The "Mother Army" took just three years to sweep across the Republic, crushing all opposition. The Assembly swore an oath of fealty and formal capitulation under the treacherous Seventh Constitution, in Year-of-the-Republic 2418 (3137 HM). The Assembly formerly continued, but it was peopled with dupes, religious converts to the Prophet Therion, and collaborators that came to be despised by the people.

All trade was ceded to the Mother Army, which thereby as majority contributor to the economy, legally held most votes in the Assembly. Siltorn was occupied by the Mother Army, with Initerer and the other river ports used as a base to launch an assault on the Dor-en-Sann Empire. The cities of the Weil River were crushed, and after four years of occupation, the military headquarters was moved from Initerer to the EnSanni city of Remel.

Peace returned, but the Republic was destroyed: it had become a mere puppet state, a hollow shell doing the will of its true master. Siltorn became merely a conduit for troops and supplies travelling between 'Old Orror' and the new Mother Nation, formally founded in 3150 HM.

In 3195 HM the Republic finally came to an end. The Constitution was dissolved, and the Assembly was replaced by an Orroran governorship with an appointed council of administrators and advisors. In Year-of-the-Republic 2475, the once proud nation was finally absorbed into the machinery of the Orroran State.