Official Missive from the Heiliges Klatchisches Reich
To all Nations of the Galaxy
Your head of State is cordially invited to attend the coronation of Alexia ap Adam, first Kaiserin of the Heiliges Klatchisches Reich, in the city of Peskovatka on the planet of Daer. If you wish to send a delegate in your place, you are more than welcome to do so. This is a matter of great significance to the Nations of the Reich and we hope that you will enjoy the festivities.
If you have any special dietary, medical or environmental requirements, please make the Reichskommissariat aware so that we can ensure that food and quarters are prepared for your comfort.
If you are unable to find berth and would like to attend, transport can be arranged for you.
Security for the facility will be provided by the Alitakian and Barilecki Defence Forces. If you wish to bring a security detail of your own we would ask that you do not bring more than five personnel. No weapons, aside from ceremonial blades and sidearms, are permitted in either the Cathedral or the conference rooms of the Kaiserlicher Palast except for those carried by members of local security.
Yours sincerely,
Reichskanzler C. ab Ieauf
The first question most nations would be asking themselves was 'who on earth are the 'Heiliges Klatchisches Reich'? The answer took a little explaining...
Dyelli Beybi was an unusual entity. There had once been a State called Dyelli Beybi, though over the years the multi-species, multi-ethnic budding star empire had proved to be utterly ungovernable. After numerous years of infighting it had imploded being replaced by a loose Confederation of independent States who all acknowledged the 'Tzarina' as either their Head of State or their Head of State's suzerain. The Confederation, usually referred to as 'the UHR' (an acronym that stood for 'United Holy Realms' had a tiny central Government which, occasionally did things on behalf of the whole, but mostly left the States to go about their business as they saw fit. The Heiliges Klatchisches Reich was an example of what happened when the States were left to their own devices...
Many years ago, when Dyelli Beybi was still a united state, the planet of Daer had been mostly unified in a Federation. The Federation though, had eventually collapsed. Over the years though, most of the former Federation States had become members of the UHR. These States had begun to see the UHR as the successor to the old Federation; however, many of the States in the UHR were States from other planets who, frankly, couldn't care less about 'rebuilding the Federation'. The Vrakians were the first to propose the idea of recreating the Federation as a separate entity, affiliated to the UHR, but not a part of it. The Federation had though, in the minds of many members, been corrupt and inefficient. If it were to be reformed it would need to be different. The idea was popular and, after years of careful negotiation over exactly what form the 'new Federation' would take, the former Federation States called a last meeting of Federal Parliament where they voted to 'dismantle and replace' the Federation, abolish the Constitution and replace it with the 'Articles of Institution of the Heiliges Klatchisches Reich'. The Federation was officially dissolved and replaced with the Reich.
In short, the Reich were a number of Dyellian States who had formed an 'Empire within the Empire'. The Dyellian States were trying to reopen diplomatic links with the outside world and the Reich coronation was a great excuse to do that and have a party at the same time. The long story was (predictably) a little more complicated.
For those who cared to come, the Spaceport of Daer was open, shuttling people back and forth to the surface where they were welcomed at the rather pleasant red neo-baroque palace the Vrakians had built for the occasion. It was, by the standard of Dyellian palaces, a relatively modest affair, compact but pretty, like the kind of building that might adorn a fancy box of chocolates. There were several acres of carefully manicured garden to go with it, though at the moment it all lay under three inches of newly-fallen snow.
The streets of Peskovatka had taken on a festive air. Curiosity had drawn people to the city; it was a chance of being there at such a historic occasion, though for many the motivation was more to get a look at some of the strange aliens who promised to be a visible presence on the street and the Alitakian and Barilecki security did not disappoint. The Alitakians were huge, green skinned, surprisingly handsome humanoids who wore uniforms of black uniforms with blood red sleeves and strange wooden pauldrons to signify their rank. The Barilecki, on the other hand were more human height, for the most part grey skinned and with thickened scaly ridges around the eyes and nose. Oddly it was not universal, a small number had more human looking skin tones and considerably less scales. Those ones might almost have passed as humans... if it wasn't for the scales on the nose. Their dress uniforms were two tone, dark blue to mid chest, with a grey top portion that started mid-way up the chest and forearm and rank pips on the collar.
Both detachments were alert, both seemingly looking to prove they were the more competent. Both had also brought military bands with them and they had set themselves up amongst the city's markets, entertaining the crowd with a variety of patriotic music (an awful lot of which included revanchist calls to reunify the old Federation). On the surface, everything seemed rather jolly.
The long story...
While the majority of the old Federation were now members of the UHR, there were also a number who, after the fall had come into the Vaadian sphere of influence. While the UHR States carried the numbers to amend the constitution even were the Alconans and Karmanyakans present, they didn't invite them to the Parliament of Peskovatka (though there were invited to the coronation and, by extension, to join the Reich). The UHR States didn't imagine the Vaadian-aligned neighbours would be particularly impressed by the Articles of Institution and saw no reason to give them any opportunity to derail the process by doing anything nefarious like trying to set up a puppet government in a failed Federal State. Nevertheless they followed the minutia of the old laws, declaring the four votes owed to the absent Karmanyakans and Alconans to be abstentions counted against the motion to dismantle and replace and the vote therefore carried by the required three quarter majority - 20 votes in favour, 4 abstentions.
The vote was also timed to coincide with the opening of a new canal near the city of Peskovatka. It ran around the former Federal Capital of Port Olympus, skirting the borders of the city by 20 miles, providing an alternative route for shipping between the great lakes and the Djel/Benj river that did not involve going through Port Olympus. Port Olympus was inside of Vrak. The Vrakians maintained a claim to the city though they had no intention of pressing the claim, allowing it to retain self-governance. The last time the Vrakians had gone in, during the time of the Federation the city had rioted. There had been blood on the streets. It just wasn't worth the hassle. Nevertheless, Port Olympus had, under its somewhat paranoid new leadership, built a massive layer of fortifications on its outskirts. The Dyellians saw this as an obstacle to the movement of goods and materials, so they had built the canal to bypass the city entirely, making Peskovatka, once a small village, into the new trading hub for central Klatch. The massive construction surrounding the canal had allowed the Vrakians to build a number of municipal buildings, which it was now revealed were not intended to house Vrakian Government departments but rather the offices of the Reich.
Finally, the way the Articles were laid out effectively guaranteed that whomever was Tzar/Tzarina of Dyelli Beybi would, automatically be elected Kaiser/Kaiserin of the Reich. The idea of having a freely elected Kaiser/Kaiserin had been popular with some states, though in the end they had gone with the system of votes being automatically for 'the Nation's Head of State or their Suzerain' in order to ensure that the Reich did not have the potential to destabilise the UHR. Yes, some people might see it as unfair, but safeguarding the future against the wars that had gripped Dyelli Beybi for so many years had to be everyone's top priority.