Chenango Confederacy

The Chenango Confederate Republic, commonly referred to as the Chenango Confederacy, is a country in Cusinaut. It became independent in 2024 from Algoquona during the Final War of the Deluge.

Prior to 2033, the Confederacy held a larger de jure territorial sovereignty than it controlled de facto, including both Housatonic and Pachaug at various times. This occurred as a transfer of the original charter between Housatonic, Pachaug and Urcea while it was part of Algoquona's sovereignty. They were transferred from nominal Algoquonan sovereignty to Chenango sovereignty in 2024. Housatonic became formally independent of the Confederacy with its reorganization as a republic in 2030. In 2033, Pachaug was territorially integrated into the Confederacy.

The Confederacy is a member of the Nysdra Sea Treaty Association.

Government and politics
The Chenango state is a confederacy of four units, each with large autonomy over internal affairs and public administration. The Constitution of the Chenango Confederate Republic is loosely based on the Northern Confederation who coordinated its members external affairs but mostly left members to govern themselves autonomously with loose conflict resolution powers. The Constitution grants extended powers to the central government, however, such as binding arbitration, making it illegal for the Republics to defy a conflict resolution order from the government, as well as centralized custom controls, powers to tax for, create, and regulate transportation networks, and critically the central government is empowered to raise and maintain armed forces. Some observers have noted that the Constitution provides for something more like a "loose federal republic" than a "strong confederacy".

The Confederate central government has two branches, an Executive and Legislative. All judicial matters are the matters of the Republics and disputes between Republican courts are resolved by a direct act of the Legislature. The Legislature is unicameral and is referred to as the "High Council of the Chenango Confederate Republic", which is elected every five years in years beginning with 0 and 5. Seats are apportioned in a system known as "proportional plus five", wherein the seats are assigned each decade in proportion of the population of each Republic out of a pool of 85 seats. After apportionment, each Republic receives an additional five seats. This system was designed to ensure a relative balance between the four Republics. The High Council has authority to approve or reject treaties and has all legislative powers over the limited authority delineated to the central government. The Executive branch is lead by the President, who is elected nation-wide using an in the same terms as the High Council. The President negotiates treaties, generally conducts war and peace on behalf of the Republic including oversight of the military, and has administrative control over the Transportation and Customs Departments, the two main agencies of the central government.

Due to the foreign influence exerted on the Confederacy by Urcea in supporting its constitution, the Chenango Confederacy is sometimes referred to as a benefactor confederacy.

Republics
The Confederacy consists of four confederate units known as Republics. Unlike many other confederate and federate states, each of the republics is numbered rather than named for the place or people it encompasses. Accordingly, the First Republic encompasses the lands of the Great Chenango people, the Second Republic of the Little Chenango people, and the Third Republic of the Island Honeoye. The Republics are largely free to determine their own form of government and how it functions. In 2033, the territory of Pachaug was incorporated as the Fourth Republic.

The First, Third,a nd Fourth Republics share the same form of government which is based on the model of the Urcean province except with unicameral rather than bicameral legislatures that elect the Republic's chief executive, in each case referred to as the "Republican Executive". The unicameral legislature for both the First and Third Republics are simply referred to as the "Republican Constituent Assembly", which assigns its own electoral districts on a decade-by-decade basis. Republican Executives are typically chosen by heritage rather than by political party within the First, Third, and Fourth Republics, with relatives typically succeeding along clan or tribal basis. In both of these Republics, terms for the legislature are five years along Urcean lines; the Republican Executive serves at the confidence of the legislature.

The Second Republic has a hybrid-legislative model wherein all legislative and executive powers are invested in the Council of Five, the leader of whom normally represents the Council but has limited institutional power over his or her peers. The Council is comprised of the hereditary heads of the four largest clans of the Little Chenango people which represent the vast majority of the population. The fifth member is elected from a constituency of all Second Republic citizens who are not members of the four largest clans. The clan leaders serve for life unless removed by a vote of their clan, which a non-governmental function, whereas the fifth, elected, member serves four year terms.

Culture
The Chenango Confederacy comprises of three main cultural groups, with the Great Chenango making up a majority of the population, the Little Chenango a sizable minority, and the Island Honeoye a small minority, which was slightly increased by the integration of Pachaug into the Confederacy.

Military
The Chenango Confederacy has two military branches as well as a shared naval force. The primary component of its armed forces is the Trinational Army (TNA), which is the Confederacy's ground-based military force with some limited maritime and airborne assets as well, primarily helicopters of various kinds. The Trinational Army replaced the Organized Militia of the country, which conducted operations during the Confederacy's quest for independence in the Final War of the Deluge and operated from 2023 through 2026. Unlike the Organized Militia, the Trinational Army is a professional, standing army, and in 2032 it had an on-paper strength of 38,000 men, though many of these personnel are still considered to be in training or fit only for garrison duty. The TNA is organized into three mechanized brigades, a marine and coast guard regiment, an artillery regiment, an engineer regiment, a logistical regiment, and several specialized battallions as well as a training center command. In 2026, the Trinational Army sent its 1st Mechanized Brigade to serve in the joint League of Nations occupation of Varshan, the only Cusinautic country to do so. The mission there concluded in 2029 and served both as a participation in the international mission as well as a continued training and military development exercise, as commanders and personnel from the TNA regularly interacted with military personnel from other occupying countries. The TNA is largely equipped with refurbished versions of previous generation Urcean equipment, but in 2032 it placed orders for more modern Urcean equipment to be delivered in the future. The TNA is the fourth largest army in NSTA, following the armed forces of Urcea, Quetzenkel, and New Harren. In 2032, the TNA entered Pachaug to suppress the Pachoy Rebellion. Although professionally organized, the TNA is generally thought by most international observers to have performed poorly during the rebellion, including and especially in their partially failed attempt to rescue hostages during that conflict as well as during a high profile friendly fire incident. In the wake of the rebellion, the TNA contracted with Intrepid Enterprises to examine its shortcomings, retrain officers and key personnel, and offer recommendations for future improvements to the Army.

The Trinational Air Force is a small air force designed to largely conduct operations in tandem with the larger Urcean Royal Air Force.

The Nysdra Sea Guard serves as the navy of the Chenango Confederacy as well as of several other NSTA members.