The Trade League
The Trade League has been founded in order to encourage trade between the major empires by ensuring the safety of all traders from the member states.
Any nation may ask to join the Trade League
but membership will only be granted upon acceptance.
Article 1
Joining the Trade League
In order to join the Trade League, a nation:
Must not be bankrupt
Must not be in a war with another nation
Must not have trade relations with anyone not in the Trade League
Any nation can be invited by the Trade League even if it does not follow all of those criteria.
In order to be accepted, all Senior Members must accept the request.
Article 2
Junior Member
When a nation joins the Trade League, it will be a Junior Member.
A Junior Member:
May not deny traders from other members of the Trade League access to their markets.
May not accept traders from non-members states unless a majority of the Senior Members has granted their permission.
May not threaten or attack another member of the Trade League.
Is encouraged to not declare war without informing the Trade League first.
Is encouraged to not trade trans-Newtonian tech with non-member states.
When a Senior Member is the defensive party of a war, a Junior Member:
May not have any kind of interaction with the offensive party, except through a Senior Member.
May not deny ground forces from other member states in the defensive party military access.
Is encouraged to shoot down any enemy missiles it can detect.
Furthermore, a Junior Member can be asked to join the war, they are not in any way forced to do so.
They may choose to remain largely neutral by only following the other rules.
A Junior Member may have a military alliance with non-member states as the Trade League is a strictly financial organization.
Article 3
Senior Member
To become a Senior Member, a Junior Member must ask permission from all other Senior Members. Any Senior Member refusing will prevent the Junior Member from becoming a Senior Member
A Senior Member:
May not deny traders from other members of the Trade League access to their markets.
May not threaten or attack another member of the Trade League.
Is encouraged to not declare war without informing the Trade League first.
Is encouraged to not trade trans-Newtonian tech with non-member states.
Is encouraged to trade tech with other Senior Members
When a fellow Senior Member is the defensive party of a war, a Senior Member:
Must help the Senior Member in the war.
Article 4
Defending the Trade League
When a Junior Member of the Trade League is the defensive party of a war, the other members do not have to join the war.
The particular member however, may ask the Trade League to defend them.
When this happens, all members may vote whether to accept or reject to call to arms.
When all Senior Members accept, all members who accepted must join the war.
Junior Members who rejected the call remain out of the war, although they still have to follow the rules in Article 2
When one or more Senior Members reject the call, the Trade League will not join the war.
Article 5
Defensive Alliance
All Junior Members may form a defensive alliance with the Trade League if all Senior Members agree. If the alliance is formed, the Trade League will always defend the Junior Member, but in return the Junior Member always has to join Trade League defensive wars.
Junior Members with such a defensive alliance may also be asked to join in a Trade League offensive war but are not forced to join when that happens.
Article 6
Survey Sharing
Senior Members will share geological and gravitational data they acquire.
Junior Members who have a defensive alliance with the Trade League, per article 5, may also share in the survey data exchange. If they choose to do so, they must share all such data they acquire in the same manner as the Senior Members.
All members participating in the survey data exchange may not share any survey data with nations outside the Trade League
Article 7
Piracy
The Trade League will defend all traders from the member states
against pirates.
The Senior Members of the Trade League are responsible for
organizing and maintaining this protection but they may call upon the
Junior Members for support in this function.
Article 8
Leaving the Trade League
Any member may choose to leave the Trade League at any time for any
reason. Such members loose all benefits, protection and cooperation of
the Trade League immediately upon leaving. Any nation which was
previously a member of the Trade League may again petition for
membership following all the normal rules for such, see Article 1.
The Senior Members may ask any Junior Member to leave the Trade
League. Such Junior Members are not under any obligation to leave
until a majority of the Senior Members agree they must leave, at which
time they are considered to have left the Trade League.
Any Senior Member may be removed from the Trade League or reduced to
Junior Membership by a unanimous vote of all other Senior Members.
Article 9
Altering the agreement
Any member of the Trade League may propose a change to this document.
The change will only become final when all Senior Members approve the change.