The Foundation was the official name of the government on Hanar. Lattus Tishla gave the new polity its name after reading a translation of Isaac Asimov’s book by the same name. It would be a world of humans and Gelt nominally independent of the Realm. It would welcome anyone of any species who wanted to leave their own native polity.
The Foundation officially began with a speech in which Tishla rejected the titles of governor or queen. She insisted the leader of the new Foundation should be one of the people, selecting the title “first citizen.” As she declared she would one day be replaced, a would-be assassin shot her. She survived, but the bullet contained biogel laced with mersa, poisoning her unborn twins. This resulted in riots that Tishla was able to calm.
Tishla opted for a council with equal numbers of Gelt and humans to counterbalance what she saw as a benign dictatorship she had implemented. Palak, who had become her chancellor, voiced concerns that, while Gelt and human views of individual rights differed, the issue needed to be addressed quickly. Because of this, she refused to execute her shooter, Nolan Rosc in spite of protests from her Orias Palak, whom she had appointed chancellor.
Tishla explained to Palak how Dr. Troughton told her about Asimov’s Foundation series. At that moment, the Realm and the Compact were more or less at war with each too fragile to sustain total war. In addition, the Laputan Guardianship practice of wars of first contact would eventually lead to that species’ extinction. Asimov’s sprawling epic concerned a tiny settlement created as a galaxy-spanning empire went into decline would shorten the coming dark ages and create a replacement empire in the end. Tishla felt a multispecies polity could prevent war from becoming the norm rather than the exception.
Shortly after the assassination attempt, the council passed a bill of rights banning torture and capital punishment with one exception. Marcus Leitman had a death warrant permanently signed against him. Yrdesh became the last person executed on Hanar.
Appearances: Tishla