This has me confused. Some known facts....
- Inside member state original territory, Federal law need not apply
- Anywhere else, Federal law applies.
The question is, for all that is harped on about "member states", if one takes a very base look at it...this means that it works out like...
10 systems Intaki
10 systems Jin-Mei
10 systems Mannar
200+ systems Federation
This seems a bit disproportionate for a 'Federation'...the current level of authority and autonomy is...
1 - Federal (Three branch system)
2 - Region (?)
3 - District (Parliamentary system with judiciary 'district court')
4 - Sub-district (?)
5 - Planetary (Any system, as long as universal suffrage and other laws are abided by)
6 - Planetary division (Any system, as long as universal suffrage and other laws are abided by)
(7 - Municipality inc. megalopoli or rural regions)
Planets on non-temperate worlds with large populations, such as the subterranean Seyllin I with 500 million population may or may not have level 6 divisions. I am GUESSING deadspace colonies and stations would fall under level 3 or 4 authority, or
may have their own branch of level 5 authority (without any levels beneath that). EDIT - Deadspace colonies I think would by level 7 authority, by population versus compared to planets
The primary question is what sort of authority the Intaki Assembly and other member states have beyond their original territory. PF makes mention of a "Mannar mining colony" (that can be anywhere in the Fed) and there was an "Intaki farming colony" on Reschard V. The question that I raise is...
- Are they referring to ethnic composition? If so, why would this be an issue of the 'widely diverse' Federation?
What I can GUESS is that the individual member states are free to colonize any area outside their original territory, if "Intaki" or "Mannar" refers to the member state. HOWEVER, they are then bound by Federal Law (which is, in theory, agreed to by everyone in the Federation).
This article talks about "new Amarrian settlements on the border regions"...the Gallente epic arc has a Minmatar clan settled in Federation deadspace, while
this AURORA IGS post has a Minmatar clan living in the Federation.
My head hurts from this. If member states were free to colonize worlds outside their original territory, then the idea of a "Federation" would make more sense. HOWEVER, this may conflict with the Federal system and levels of authority. For example, if a Sang Do lord ruled a continent on Tolle V, where does it fit on the Federal scale?
so confusing.
Otherwise, if such a system did not exist, then member states would be so small in relative size of the Federation, that their existence and focus on them "being autonomous" would be pointless and miniscule.