Professor Sven Beckert checked his watch, with his back to his students, 2:59pm. In a minute his History of the Allied States of Bustos class will begin. He had hoped the incoming freshman class this year was better than last. He turned around to face this small auditorium of a classroom, seeing what is supposed to be 143 students. He smiled.
“Hello, I am Professor Sven Beckert. You are here to learn about the history of our great country, which is governed by a privatized government that has lasted for over 300 years. So that's a lot of history, let's get started with a brief overview of the company's birth.”
The professor moves over to his podium to his notes on specific events he wanted to make sure he mentioned as he planned to go into further detail on those events over the semester. He looked back up at his class and continued.
“The Pelargir Company was established around 1733 as a trading company with the Seven Baan. Based in Eluvatar, they took advantage of their time period. It was a period of general chaos in the midst of exploration, expansionism, and opening of borders. This chaos allowed the company to grow rapidly and spread to trade all around Cefnor. They used their profits to further expand by buying lands and building trading outposts to increase their control and revenues.”
He took a small remote out of his pocket and clicked on a few buttons. The auditorium lights dimmed and the projector from the ceiling displayed a map of the world as of 1733 onto the large whiteboard behind him. The map then slowly showed the growth of the Pelargir Company over time stopping at 1780.
“Pelargir's economic success allowed them to maintain a private army to protect their trade routes and outposts. As the company grew, so did it's political power, especially in distant regions. In once such region, was a colony of Eluvatar, named Valorium. The, then, noble family of Bustos ran Pelargir's interests in the colony and through the company held near absolute control of the colony.”
Again the professor clicked on a few buttons on his remote. The map highlighted the Eluvataran colony of Valorium and zoomed into its location, showing finer detail of the colony and it's seventeen provinces. Most of the provinces were shaded a light blue and a few a dark blue.
“Only on paper, was Valorium under the control of the Eluvataran government. The colony was split into seventeen smaller provinces, most of which was under direct control of the Pelargir Company. Even the majority of occupational forces were mercenaries contracted to the company. In 1780, during the Second Eluvataran War of Non-Succession, a majority of the government's troops were away supporting the war. This was when the Bustos Family took advantage of the situation and pulled off a coup in Valorium. The breakaway from the Eluvataran government cost them their nobility status. A nobility status, of which, it's power was being dismantled by the Last King. But, not only did they declare their independence from Eluvatar, also from the Pelargir Company. After the split, the family reorganized the company and renamed it, The Allied States of Bustos.”
More buttons were pressed. The close up view of the colony had its provinces relabeled as states. The shaded states, all the same shade of light blue, were given their individual names. The “Colony of Valorium” title changed to that of the newly formed company, “The Allied States of Bustos”.
“The Bustos Family, disgusted with increasing regulation, restrictions, and taxes imposed by the Last King, used their mercenaries to seize control of the local government. A corporate-military dictatorship was the only solution the Bustos Family and their allies could agree on and has worked for over three hundred years. Then, what we now call, the Bustos Dynasty continued as its members are continually elected as Chairperson and are often seated in the highest levels of the corporation and military.”
More buttons pressed and the map of the Allied States withdrew, fading into the background until it disappeared. The cover of “ Oboputh Gewaldesi Goludogalutuil (On Nations Ability to Become Wealthy, your Majesty) by Elendil Gofari” appeared on the board.
“Following the civil war, in 1783, Oboputh Gewaldesi Goludogalutuil (On Nations Ability to Become Wealthy, your Majesty) by Elendil Gofari, was published. This text inspired a new political philosophy of free trade and the virtue of capitalism. While the actual Pelargir Company was explicitly targeted as an opponent of free trade with its legally granted monopolies and corruption, the Allied States used this as inspiration and came to be known as the epitome of laissez-faire.”
The professor continues to explain how the philosophy of laissez-faire demands freedom of choice and the responsibilities of each choice's consequences at the individual level. Which led to the Charter of the Allied States, commonly referred as the Charter of Rights.
Then the professor looks at his students..
“Because Laissez-Faire”
