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.

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

Government and politics
The Chenango state is a confederacy of three 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". 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 three 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 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.

Republics
The Confederacy consists of three 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.

The First Republic and Third 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 and Third 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.

Island Honeoye
The term "Island Honeoye" commonly refers to the approximately 425,000 people of the Third Republic who are descendants of the maritime Honeoye people. The common Ænglish term "Island" is something of a misnomer as in the original language the term merely implied overseas. Settlement of the Third Republic area by these people began at some point in the 14th century as northern outposts for the fishing and maritime industries famous in Honeoye. Incorporated as part of the Northern Confederation, the Island Honeoye were originally subject to the Little Chenango peoples but became a freestanding member of the Confederation in 1834. The Island Honeoye established favorable relationship with the southern Honeoye and often supported the latter during the growth of Honeoye power within the Confederation which occurred throughout the 20th century.

Many of the people who use this name are not strictly of Honeoye ethnic or ancestral origin, but became galley slaves to the Honeoye and settled along with their masters once freed from service. These individuals with ethnic backgrounds from across the Nysdra adopted the lifestyle and traditions of the northern Honeoye. For this reason, a vast majority of the Island Honeoye view their richer southern brethren as a distant relation and a majority have historically opposed political union.