//------------------------------// // The First Century // Story: A Brief History of Equestria // by K9Thefirst1 //------------------------------// The Equestrian Republic: The First Century Settling Accounts With the question of just what sort of government Equestria would have solved, the next order of business was figuring out how the day-to-day operations of government would work, as well as how to best integrate the existing institutions of the three previous governments. After all, each of the tribes had their own military force, judicial system, financial institutions, and a host of other departments that were all now mutually redundant. Due in large part to the bureaucratic inertia all of these institutions had developed over their lifetimes, it would be years before the confusion was phased out. Over the course of the following twenty-five years after the convention, it would be decided, via natural selection more often than not, whether or not the tax system of the Unicorns would be used, or that of the Republic, or if a synthesis would be more efficient. In large part, it would be the third option that would be the most common solution: Superfluous or corrupt practices of one or two of the institutions would fall away, adopting the more expedient practice of the third, which would likewise be scrubbed of bulky matter in preference of more lean workings taken from the other two. Of course, while this synthesis would be clear to anypony examining the details, on the whole it would be obvious that the rule of thumb would be that military matters would adopt the mechanics of government from the Junta, the machines of governance from the Republic, and, surprisingly enough, the tax system would be largely transferred from the Kingdom. Territory One matter of debate concerned just how much territory the infant republic covered, and how that territory was to be divided up, which could not so much as be opened for debate in full until the former question was answered. The issue was complicated due to the fact that much of the territory had been left entirely unexplored. The Aswipeh Mountains in the far west prevented the Griffin Empire from expanding their borders. The mountains extend far into frigid far north, cutting off that route for rounding the mountains, leaving the best avenue for expansion to be by sea. However, by the time the Empire reached the mountains their internal strife had grown to the point where further expansion was impossible to consider without risk of becoming overextended. Archaeological evidence suggests that the Mongrel Empire had significant holdings in the territory, but nothing suggesting permanent has remained to the modern day as of this edition. Although digs are always finding something new every few months, so future editions may include information on discoveries. Without knowledge of what was out there, it was argued by some, it would be the height of folly to simply grab up territory that held dangers, or worse, nothing of value at all. However, the arguments of the majority of the convention, that claiming the territory would make expeditions of exploration more expedient, and that with the population of the Republic booming living space would be a must, won out. And so with a single vote the Equestrian Republic grew in size from an average-sized state huddling around a mountain with a little bit of coastline to a state that covered an area in size that rivaled that of the Griffin Empire during its golden age of expansion. The delegates then looked over the population distribution of the territory, and divided up what was settled into thirteen provinces, ten on the mainland, three on the two, large islands just off the coast. These territories included provinces that many ponies would recognize even in today's Equestria, such as Stalliongrad, Trottingham, and Canterlot. Reproduction of the Ancient Equestrian borders of the key provinces. The northern border was left unspecified due to both the cold of the far north, and the mountain regions north of Manehattan. Note the size disparities of Stalliongrad, Coltifornia, Bitalia, and Illineigh. This was due to the territories in question being sparsely populated at the time. The land on the western side is the Claimed Territory, which was agreed by the delegates to be used as a settlement territory to be divided up at a later date. That date would never come as for much of the Republic's existence the population still had plenty of room to grow in the core territories, a situation not helped by the Talonhoof Assault. Note how Neighpon is also regarded as Claimed Territory. The first ponies to settle the islands would not arrive until the late 850s AW. 1: Canterlot (a corruption of the Ancient Equestrian term for 'Friendship Cavern') 2: Manehattan 3: Stalliongrad 4: Bitalia 5: Lippinstein 6: Trottingham 7: Lyrland 8: Coltifornia 9: Illineigh 10: Maneitoba 11: Shetland 12: Nopondy 13: Mountreal Votes Another area of debate was over how voting would be carried out in terms of representation, whether it would be proportional to population, or a set number of representatives from each province, thus the debate became tightly entangled with the territory debate. The side backing the set representatives side, chiefly the provinces such as Stalliongrad, Coltifornia and Bitallia, argued that doing so would ensure that the provinces with smaller populations would be given equal say with provinces with more ponies. However, the side backing for proportional representation claimed that as the populations changed in the future, the representatives would be unable to accurately advocate the motions of their constituents. After nearly a month of debate back and forth, Smart Cookie and Platinum unveiled The Vote Compromise. Smart Cookie, taking into account her years of political experience and knowledge of the history of Democracy in the Hyracotherium Republic, and Platinum's political savvy, essentially presented a model with two houses of representatives, each selected by different methods. One house, the Congress, would be voted in by proportion per capita for the population of each province. The other house, the Senate, would be equally represented, with three senators voted in from each province. Also included in the compromise was a series of criteria and hard-wired restrictions into the voting process that would prevent another Puddinghead coming into power. No doubt something she had been drafting for over a decade. The compromise was largely a success at the convention, except for the Unicorn Faction, who demanded a separate house for the nobility. The next day Clover offered them just that, the House of Lords, where members of the nobility could meet and debate the issues of the day and send bills to the leader to be signed in. However, the constitution that was ultimately formed gave the House of Lords no power to authenticate any bills produced, and in practice the House of Lords was little more than a country club without the country that young nobles could join and leave at their leisure because it looked good on a list of credentials. The final area of debate was focused on the nature of the leader of the Executive Branch of the new Republic. After nearly a year, the delegates present had grown used to Smart Cookie's brand of fair but firm leadership, and thus they all managed to quickly form up the sort of office a prospective Premier around her. For further reading on the constitution of the Equestrian Republic and how it changed throughout the Republic's existence and how it can be felt even in Modern Equestria, consult Long Breath's sixteen volume The Equestrian Concordance, An In-Depth Look at Ancient Equestrian Law, Jurisprudence, Office and Executive Powers and Modern Equestrian Law, Jurisprudence, Office and Executive Powers; In Which the Governments of Princess Celestia and Premier Smart Cookie are Examined and Cross-Referenced. With the uneasiness of a lack of a government addressed, the ponies of Equestria could focus on other matters of importance, such as the establishment of towns and villages, laying down and maintaining infrastructure, and of course keeping track of the exploding population. As today, a census was held every decade, and these records show the population, now no longer constrained by geo-political boundaries (and self-imposed mate selection boundaries based on race to an extent), growing at a geometric and towards the end of the century an almost exponential rate. Furthermore, racial integration continued apace, however while all other departments in the new state continued to improve, the blending of Pegasi, Unicorn and Earth Pony cultures and societies was sluggish at best, regressive at the worst. But other than this and the slow die-off of the Founding Generation, little else of real note occurred in the Equestrian Republic's first century. However, one area in particular worth mentioning is that during this time period came the birth of two individuals who would irrevokably change the fate of all Equestrian's forever. One being the unicorn Mimic, known to historians as Mimic the Great and Powerful, and the Hippogriff Talonhoof. Talonhoof the Reviled.