| Tirane | Introduction The Tiranische Freistaat und hafen - or in English, the Tiranean Free State and Haven - is a young country, dating its existence from its 2292 declaration of independence from the emerging German state. This declaration, made only a few short months after the tumult of the War of German Unification and the collapse of the French Twelfth Republic, irrevocably transformed the political map of Tirane and the astropolitical arrangements of humanity. Until September of 2291, the Bavarian colony of Garten was the jewel of the Bavarian colonial empire. With a population more than six times as large as that of the Bavarian homeland, a liberal colonial regime that included limited self-government at the local, regional, and colonial levels, and an immensely prosperous industrial economy whose products drove the expansion of the Bavaria’s interstellar possessions, Garten was a major power inside the Bavarian sphere. Yet, Garten was different from Bavaria. In the last quarter of the 22nd century, it was imperative for Bavaria to settle the vast demi-continent that it had claimed on the nearest habitable world to Earth, yet Bavaria itself was still underpopulated thanks to the Twilight War almost two centuries earlier. In order to people its colony, Bavaria turned to its European neighbours, to the weaker German states to its north but above all to its southern and eastern neighbours - Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austrovenia, Poland, Croatia, Serbia, even Greece and Turkey. These diverse immigrants arrived on Freihafen, some settling their own autonomous cultural communities, others joining Bavarian citizens in the major settlements of the colony. In the century after First Settlement, Garten managed to accumulate one of the most diverse and largest populations in the world, even as the colony blossomed into one of the largest and most prosperous industrial economies in human space. The inhabitants of Garten, one century after the beginning of Bavaria’s interstellar colonization, made up a majority of the population of the Bavarian empire and profited accordingly, yet they did not think of themselves as Bavarians, at least not in the same strict sense that München would have preferred: They lived in a natural and human environment far too different to do that. Accordingly, when the War of German Reunification led to the annexation of Terrestrial Bavaria into the new Bundesrepublik, and threatened to bring in Garten - German-speaking but definitely not German in the narrow sense used by the Hannoverians - Garten split. The Garten Kolonialtag voted against Bavarian unification even when a decisive majority of Terrestrial Bavarians voted in favour, and promptly organized a referendum on secession. This referendum passed by a margin of three-to-one, and after the Tirane Council refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the representative sent by Germany to take Freihafen’s place, Freihafenian independence was assured. Freihafen has been an independent state for almost eight years. In that period, the Freihafeners have begun to become used to their independence. As one of the most populous countries in all of human space, and one of the dozen largest industrialized economies in same, Freihafen is already a major force. With its inherent appeal to the ex-Bavarian colonies and even to Terrestrial Bavaria, and with its intimate (but not compromising) links with France, America, and even Manchuria, though, Freihafen seemed to be almost destined for greatness as this - arguably the first major independent starfaring country created off of Earth - gropes towards its future. Acknowledgements This introduction was written by Randy McDonald. Articles The People of Freihafen - by Randy McDonald Freihafen's Diplomacy - by Randy McDonald Freihafen's Space Operations - by Randy McDonald
Regions of Freihafen Neu-Tsingtao
and the Südgarten Kreis |
