Federalist Lodges
The Federalist Lodges are an informal association of private membership organisations descended from the local correspondence committees of the Renaissance Party. Although they are primarily social and charitable institutions, the Federalist Lodges preserve a great deal of the identity, traditions, pageantry, and iconography of the Renaissance Party, and some continue to wield substantial (though informal) influence over the Federalist Republican Alliance, Coscivian National Congress, and the Kiravian officialdom generally.
The Federalist Lodges trace their roots to the local correspondence committees of the Renaissance Party. Some of these committees on the Mainland operated as clandestine organisations under Kirosocialist rule, but most were formed after Kiravian Reunification to coördinate the Party’s political activities in a particular region. When the national committee of the Renaissance Party dissolved itself ahead of the Anti-Party Law (which it had supported) taking effect, it was succeeded by the SRA. The SRA included many provincial parties that were not derived from the Renaissance Party, and furthermore many provincial Renaissance Party chapters fissured or rebranded during this time, dispensing with RP traditions and imagery.
Federalist Lodges function primarily as social clubs and are financed primarily by membership dues. They provide their members, associates, and guests with opportunities for drinking, smoking, dining, lodging, more drinking, and sport. Lodges have a décor that celebrates the Renaissance Party, including party flags, old military regalia, and portraits of V.R. Sarosten, Séan Kæśek, and prominent Renaissance Party figures such as Eridan Vrixur and [idk another guy].
Structure
The Lodges are hierarchical organisations. Members are assigned to one of several “ranks” with different responsibilities and privileges, and are ceremonially promoted from one rank to the next. The Lodges extend certain privileges to non-member “associates” sponsored by a senior member, who may enjoy certain club activities and facilities. Candidates for membership must first spend significant time as an associate.
Rank structure of the Eriadun Lodge:
Senior Officer
Junior Officer
Senior Member
Full Member
New Member
Associate
Valēka Lodge:
???Upper Ranks Unknown???
High Officer
Senior Officer
Major Officer
Lieutenant Officer
Senior Member
Member
Associate
All lodges are governed by a Correspondence Committee (or simply Committee) elected by members holding Officer rank from among themselves. Most Federalist Lodges are organised as nonprofit registered associations or nonprofit corporations, and most have Entity C tax status, which bars them from making political donations or becoming involved in most other overt political activities. Inter-lodge organisations for regional groupings and other specific purposes exist, but all lodges are independent and there is no higher authority above the Correspondence Committee of an in individual lodge.
Influence
Political
Numerous Kartika insiders have been quoted in the press saying that essential functions of a political party - such as vetting and rating candidates for office, providing nomination shortlists for appointments, and coördinating the activity of officeholders - that would have been handle by the Renaissance Party's national apparatus before the Anti-Party Law, are now secretly and informally conducted through the Federalist Lodges for the benefit of the SRA and administrations friendly to it. It is also considered common knowledge inside the Kartika Beltway that membership in a Lodge is a prerequisite for success in Shaftonist-Republican politics, and that progress through the ranks of a Lodge tends to track with the advancement of a member's political or para-political career. Spokesmen for interlodge organisations flatly deny this, pointing to examples of prominent SRA-linked politicians such as Andrus Candrin and Seachíall Ó Níall who are unaffiliated with any Federalist Lodge.
The Federalist Lodges have been criticised by figures associated with the Caritist Social Union and Christian-democratic movement for violating the spirit of the Antipartisan Law and allegedly incorporating Masonic elements. The Inter-Federalist Service Foundation of Metropolitan Kartika denies these accusations on its FAQ page.
The Inter-Federalist Service Foundation of Metropolitan Kartika is an autonymous partnership formed by several Kartika-area Lodges to jointly undertake certain service projects and public relations efforts. Although its main activities are providing assistance to Kiravian military veterans, widows, and orphans, as well as maintaining the Memorial to Victims of Socialist Tyrrany site, it also serves as the de facto provincial affiliate of the SRA in the District of Coīnvra, where political parties are banned. It has a different tax status from its member organisations, which allows it to do such things.
Artistic
The Federalist Lodges have done much to patronise and develop painting, historically a neglected artform in Coscivian societies, in Kiravia, and are credited with sustaining the Kiravian Naturalist art movement. Numerous painters of this school have received commissions and grants from Lodges or Lodge-affiliated charities to support their work, and several prominent painters have been inducted as members.
List of Lodges
- Federalist Lodge of Valēka - The largest lodge by membership, located on Tandhurin Island.
- Federalist Lodge of Eriadun - Oldest lodge in continuous operation and second-largest by membership.
- Society of Friends of Séan Kæśek - Located in Kartika; the most prominent and exclusive of the capital region lodges
"Irregular" lodges:
- Revolutionary Correspondence Committee of the Kiravian National Renaissance - Located on Ansalon Island in Valēka and affiliated with the Revolutionary Committee of the Renaissance Party, a left-wing minority splinter of the Renaissance Party that threw in with the Kirosocialists and survives today as a minor party in Kaviska.
Known Members
- Ivor Arolian - Former Chief Defence Executive
- E. Sarna Kośikarin - President of the Institute of Cronan Studies