House Marik: The Free Worlds League

The Marik Commonwealth

Stronghold of the Marik family, this province owes much of its cultural roots to the peoples of old Terra's Eastern and Central Europe. Romanian, Slovak, Czech and Hungarian are spoken on many planets, in addition to the League-wide official English. The Commonwealth's location far from the League's borders largely spared its worlds the worst ravages of the Succession Wars, and so Commonwealth-based businesses and manufacturers were among those best positioned to take advantage of the recent economic upturn. On New Olympia, several newly flush corporations have joined with scientific researchers to repair three agricultural domes damaged during the Second Succession War. The surplus crops grown there are expected to cement New Olympia's position as the breadbasket of the Marik Commonwealth. A sizable amount of the foodstuffs are already earmarked for the expanding cities of Atreus, which is losing much of its arable land to housing and new manufacturing ventures. This trade agreement is typical of many between Marik Commonwealth planets; worlds in this region value their many cultural ties as much as a good deal, and will often bend over backwards to keep trade "in the family."

Other contributing factors to the clannishness of Marik Commonwealth worlds are the region's history as a founding League state, the long-standing supremacy of the Mariks and the presence of the Marik Militia, backbone of the Free Worlds military. Local citizens like to believe that the Free Worlds League owes its existence to their Commonwealth, a military power led by the talented Marik clan from its very beginnings. Without Commonwealth armies and Marik commanders, they say, the Terran Hegemony would have overrun the Principality of Regulus and the Federation of Oriente before the 2330s. The long years of the Succession Wars only confirmed this insular viewpoint by further emphasizing the vital role of the military in the League's survival. This regional arrogance does not sit well with Leaguers from other provinces, most of whom hold similar attitudes about their own home regions or planets. In more troubled times during the League's history, such provincial pride was a source of frequent flare-ups, as different regions jockeyed for prominence in League affairs. The current optimistic mood, flavored with a heavy dose of pro-Marik patriotism, has somewhat smoothed over these rough edges. Visitors to the Marik Commonwealth are more likely to share the locals' pride in their ruling House, and Commonwealth citizens in turn can afford to be generous with praise of other provinces where many of them have never set foot.

The major exception to the insularity of many Commonwealth worlds and their citizens is the Travelers, descendants of the Roma tribes of ancient Terra. During humanity's first great wave of space exploration, a few better-off Roma tribes pooled their resources to build ships that would take them along the space lanes much as painted wagons had carried their ancestors along the trails and roads of Terra. More of the Roma followed, and the Travelers have been plying the roads between worlds ever since. A large number of the later arrivals came aboard colony ships that landed in what would become Marik-held space, and so they came to regard the Free Worlds League as a home base of sorts. Small Roma communities exist on virtually every Marik Commonwealth world, where their space faring brethren can find welcome whenever they feel the need for solid earth under their feet. Otherwise, the Travelers live in their ancient ships, going wherever the mood strikes them. Some remain in Commonwealth territory, while others venture far beyond it. Their vessels are far more space worthy than they frequently appear, lovingly maintained with great skill by gifted Roma engineers. The Travelers' knack for machinery is so proverbial throughout the League that the few Roma technicians in military or civilian jobs can often write their own ticket.