Continental Obligations

Continental Obligations refer to a series of diplomatic obligations of nations on Sarpedon with respect to Caphiria, specifically actions which formally recognize the authority of the Imperator of Caphiria specifically and Caphiria generally over a large part of Sarpedon. The Obligations are undertaken personally by the heads of state of the nations under Caphirian influence. The Obligations themselves generally consist of some kind of personal act of submission on behalf of the state to the Caphirians upon an individual taking office within a Sarpedonian nation or on special occasions such as a jubilee celebration. The Obligations also carry the implication that assuming leadership within these nations happens as a condition of the Imperator's approval. The Obligations themselves, which began as real acts of fealty during the medieval period, have long become nominal formalities which oblige nations to no particular course of action. Most of the nations which offer the Obligations have adopted statutes recognizing them as "traditional diplomatic exchanges", disavowing the still-extant implication of Caphirian approval for their leadership.

The Obligations also consist of a formalized act of tribute, usually involving the submission by heads of state to the Imperator an item of nominal value or some small amount of currency. Unlike the political implications, these have real effects, as the Caphirian government will typically not form any kind of economic agreements with nations who do not offer token tribute.

Aciria and Lariana are both exempted from the normal system of obligations in their own particular ways, as set forth under the Assumption Accords. The Emperor of Aciria is under no obligation to personally do the Imperator homage, he is instead obligated to travel to Venceia to be invested as "junior Imperator", recognizing the Emperor of Aciria's imperial authority while still establishing him as lower in dignity to the Imperator in Venceia. Within Lariana, meanwhile, the Governor-General of the Kingdom offers his Obligations only "on behalf of the administrators and magistrates of the Kingdom of Lariana", confirming the nominal subservience of the Larianan state while making no such claim of the King of Lariana, who is the Apostolic King of Urcea.