Fiction:Chalag Khanate

The Chalag Khanate is a feudal monarchy in the Ottzello Sector of the Borealis Galaxy. The Khanate is the result of decades of work by nationalists, representing the Urdesi, or, nomadic, peoples of the Drodo species. The Khanate houses the significant majority of the Urdesi diaspora, who were traditionally marginalised in Imperial society up until this point. The Khanate is believed by many Urdesi to be the ultimate destiny of their people- to be the final and greatest Khanate that had been so awaited by the Urdesi, and anticipated to a religious level.

Government
The Chalag Khanate runs on a quasi-feudal system, based closely off of the historical khanates of old, and the models that were used for many centuries at a planetary level in the Empire. In a break from tradition, the Chalag Khanate possesses a written constitution- outlining societal structure, class division, the limits of government, and the form of government. However, this constitution remains quite vague, with most of the government's functions and institutions being culturally, instead of legally, enforced. In this way, the Khanate is often defined as a weak state by academics. Indeed, the government of the Khanate and the society of the Khanate are indivisible from one another. The government starts at the top, with the royal tribe- the Khan being the leading male member, or patriarch, of said tribe. The royal tribe in general and the Khan in particular represent the head of state and head of government, advised by a large body of court officials who may come from abroad, or be from the noble tribes. The Khan maintains its own royal army and directly controls a considerable portion of crown land- essentially having their own labour force and direct source of income, as well. The royal tribe's best equivalent in most states would be the federal level of government. The noble tribes form the second tier of society and second level of government. The noble tribes are a landed aristocracy, led by patriarchs known as Jhiks (feudal lords). They essentially operate in a miniature version of the royal tribe. The Jhiks act as governors and military commanders, with other members of these tribes often acting as elite soldiers, administrators/bureaucrats, and governors of crown worlds where necessary. Jhiks are tasked with running and maintaining economic- especially andasium and agricultural- operations and on average pay 40% of their yield to the Khan in taxes. The noble tribes own a majority of the Khanate's land, and essentially act as a provincial level of government and the primary source of tax income for the royal tribe. The commoner tribes are the majority of Urdesi tribes, with most of whom living traditionally on the steppes of worlds; managing small andasium and agricultural operations; and running a scavenger economy, based on disassembling starships and salvaging parts. Commoner tribes pay low taxes, and form the bulk of the khan's military. Even impoverished commoner Urdesi stand tall above wealthy alien subjects, and by law all Urdesi are to be given an aristocratic level of respect and obedience by subjects. At the bottom of the societal pyramid are the subjects. Making up the majority of the population, alien subjects live in service of their local Jhik and the royal Khan, and do the vast majority of the labour and economic production under the eye and protection of the Urdesi. However, the Urdesi make, for the most part, undemanding rulers- local alien subjects are more or less free to practice their culture and way of life, distinctly separate from their Urdesi overlords, so long as they are able to pay the expected taxes in andasium, livestock, grain, and other products. To meet these quotas, most subjects work in the andasium production and agricultural sectors, with a small minority in industrial production.

Economy
The Khanate is not an industrialised, formal economy. As with the operation of government, most regulations are enforced by culture as opposed to law, and the economy is pushed forward by powerful noble tribes and their use of subjects to produce, as opposed to capitalist ventures and wage labour being used to produce. The largest sectors in the economy include agriculture, Andasium production, and salvaging by number of people employed. The alien subjects in the Khanate make up the largest workforce, with most of them involved in Andasium production and agriculture. Both the territory and land owned by the royal tribe and the noble tribes are involved in these industries, with the noble tribes sending forty percent of their tax/quotas from their production in these two sectors to the royal tribe, and the royal tribe keeping all proceeds from their own production. The commoner tribes are variably involved in ranching/herding, security or military work, and salvaging, especially ship breaking. Ship breaking in the Khanate is risky, though lucrative work, dominated by conglomerates of common tribes working together. Lacking heavy or formal equipment, but working fast and skilfully, ship breaking often involves buying the old ship via bidding war; landing or running aground the starship in question; picking it clean of supplies or usable equipment; and then pumping out any fuel or fluid before chopping the ship apart for parts, weapons, systems, and scrap. The majority of starships that are salvaged are personal shuttles, freighters, and cargo ships. Military starships, while rare, are highly-valued targets for salvagers for their advanced systems, valuable weapons, high-quality parts, and the possibility of finding classified information left on the hard drives and computers of the ship. Other miscellaneous junk, often dumped there by other nations, is also picked through for valuables, or melted down and resold as raw materials. Due to the cheap nature of the subjects' labour, the Chalag Khanate- while currently not among the largest Andasium producers- has very competitively-priced Andasium. The proceeds from the sale of Andasium are used to purchase manufactured goods from industrialised economies such as starships, firearms, medicine, and other machines. Thus, the Khanate keeps warm relations with neighbouring countries and the corporations within them.

Military
The Chalag military is traditional in nature, as with many aspects of the Khanate. The royal house maintains a large retinue of Urdesi warriors, who fight from the backs of Drodo Empire-produced robohorses, which functions essentially as a standing army. This well-equipped royal retinue is supported by levies of noble tribes, contributing their own Urdesi horsemen. While these horsemen are modernised- using shielded robohorses, vibroweapons, and state-of-the-art firearms, they can't fight alone. The Khanate's core of cavalry is supported by mobile field guns from the Drodo Empire, starships, and often also mass-levies of subject aliens, often fighting on foot. The Chalag military focuses on the offense in every way, and to outmaneuver and deceive their enemy, before leading them in to a crushing trap.