[Paid for by the Association of Interglobal Trade, 31 Rue d'Orleans, Montreal, Kingdom of America]
Welcome to the Estates-General Earth, one of the newest worlds available to travelers from the ITA! In the three years since first contact was made between the Estates-General Earth and ITA exploration teams, this Earth has welcomed millions of travelers - and immigrants - from throughout the inhabited worlds.
At present, several provinces of the Kingdom of America and more than twenty other nations have signed preliminary articles of association with the ITA, but the Estates-General Earth does not yet have full member status. Thus, the full range of ITA diplomatic and travelers' aid services are often not available to travelers on the Estates- General Earth, and information about certain areas is sketchy or incomplete. Nevertheless, travelers will find that the stories about the famous Estates-General hospitality are true, and the people of most areas treat foreigners with nothing but welcome.
The Point of Departure for the Estates-General Earth is earlier than that of most ITA member worlds, so many institutions and customs which exist on the majority of other worlds never developed here. On the other hand, the Point of Departure is still recent enough that travelers will find many other aspects of the Estates-General Earth comfortingly familiar. The Estates-General Earth has in many ways maintained its cherished traditions, but visitors will find that the traditional forms often mask a very modern substance. Come to the Estates-General Earth, an experience not to be forgotten!
On 28 May 1998, the 196 members of the Council of Nations agreed to hold a binding worldwide referendum on whether the Estates-General Earth should become a full member of the ITA and, if so, the manner in which it will be represented on the ITA Board of Governors. Proposals for methods of representation will be accepted at the Council of Nations until 1 January 1999 and, if approved by the Screening Committee, submitted to the electorate. Thus far, two proposals have been passed by the Committee: one under which the Estates-General Earth's ITA representative will be directly elected in a worldwide vote, and another under which the representative will be chosen by the Council of Nations.
The referendum is tentatively scheduled for 1 June 1999, with full membership to follow on 1 January 2000 if approved by the voters. If the electorate votes against ITA membership at the 1999 referendum, a second and final referendum will be held on 1 June 2004.
As first contact with the ITA occurred less than three years ago, getting to the Estates-General Earth can still be something of an adventure. At present, only two permanent Gridneys have been established on the Estates-General Earth: one at Ste-Lucie Station in Montreal, the capital of the Kingdom of America, and one at Republic Station in St. Augustine, Province of Florida. A third Gridney is currently under construction at Queen Caroline Station in London.
There are currently four daily connections from Earth-Prime to Ste- Lucie Station and one to St. Augustine. Three daily departures connect to Estaes-General Montreal from the Marketplace, the Communite, Nieuw-Amsterdam, and the Hanseatic League. Marketplace and the Communite also have daily departures to St. Augustine. Travelers from other worlds will have to contract for a private Gridney or make an intermediate stop at one of the worlds with direct connections to the Estates-General Earth. Despite the necessary effort, however, visitors will find that the trip is well worth making.
Entire books can be written - and have! - about the forms of government which exist in the Kingdom of America alone. The unique historical circumstances under which the Kingdom developed led to extraordinary local autonomy being granted to its 72 provinces, even to the extent of limited treaty-making powers. Although the federal government has grown stronger over the last half century, the Crown Charter still guarantees enormous latitude to the individual provinces in governing themselves as they see fit.
The Kingdom itself is a limited monarchy - but unlike many other constitutional monarchies, the monarch is far from a figurehead. Queen Marie-Claire wields constitutional power equivalent to that of the President of the United States on Marketplace or the Prime Minister of the Australasian Federation on Weimar-Earth, and has moral authority which goes far beyond that.
Although the ruling dynasty is Bourbon in name, there is actually little connection between the current Queen and the ruler who fled revolutionary France for America in 1791. Queen Catherine - who was herself from a collateral line of the royal family and was appointed to the monarchy after the King Louis XXII was deposed by the Estates- General - established a tradition of adoptive succession in 1959 when she chose 27-year-old attorney Marie-Claire Arondin as her heir. On 14 May 1997, Queen Marie-Claire continued this tradition by adopting Lady Alison Melayo, Governor (and Poet Laureate) of Louisiana, as her daughter and successor.
The Kingdom's legislature, which gives this Earth its distinctive name, is the Estates-General. Like many other features of the Kingdom, the Three Estates are a mixture of the traditional and the modern. Under the Crown Charter of 1969, certain members of the nobility continue to sit in the First Estate - but so do elected provincial governors and winners of the Lefebvre Prize. (The First Estate in its reconstituted form has been compared to the Roman Senate.) The Second Estate, which was once limited to Catholic clergy, now contains representatives of numerous group constituencies such as universities, corporations, religious faiths and charitable organizations. The Third Estate, of course, is a traditional legislature with members elected by geographic districts. The result is a government whose machinery can be cumbersome and slow-moving, but which insures that any measures which are taken are the result of a true national consensus.
As previously noted, the Kingdom's provinces - many of which were once independent nations - have been the Estates-General Earth's primary laboratory of democracy. About a dozen provinces have governments which mirror the Kingdom's, with a hereditary duke and a provincial Estates or Parliament. Most of the rest have elected governors or prime ministers and legislatures chosen by a variety of means.
Several provincial governments are worthy of special mention. The governments of Vermont, New Sweden and Ste-Marie Provinces are direct democracies which have dispensed with legislative bodies. The Province of New Basel, in keeping with the Swiss roots of its original settlers, is formally governed by the Landsgemeinde, an annual open-air assembly of all adult citizens. (With the increasing population of New Basel, however, the Landsgemeinde has increasingly taken on the appearance of a state fair, with the real business of government being undertaken via initiative and referendum.)
Two provinces - Iroquois and Great Northern - retain many traditional forms of Native American government, while a third - La Salle - grants religious authorities a considerable say in its administration. (Travelers need not fear, however, as the human rights guaranteed by the Crown Charter apply here as well.) Finally, the Provinces of Ten Nations and Illinois are themselves federations of sovereign regions, albeit with considerably stronger central control than the Kingdom as a whole.
Outside America, republics are not as common as on many worlds. Republican government is generally regarded as a radical stage undertaken immediately after a revolution, and the most common form of democracy on the Estates-General Earth is the constitutional monarchy. Nearly all European and African nations are limited monarchies or monarchial federations, as are Turkey, Morocco and the Empire of Brazil. New World governments are more likely to be republican in form, although many of these are in fact oligarchies or military dictatorships. In addition, few Asian or Middle Eastern states are democracies (India, Iran and Israel/Palestine being the exceptions), with traditional monarchies or socialist governments as the most common form of administration.
Although the Kingdom of America still mints gold coins, it has not used the gold standard for its currency since 1974. In that year, America switched to a basket of more than 250 commodities, insuring that the ecu remains one of the most stable currencies on the planet. In the past two years, America has begun to interglobalize its currency by adding commodities on the ITA market to its basket.
Since the Kingdom of America has not adopted a decimal currency, American money is often confusing to outsiders. For travelers who may not be familiar with the mysteries of American coinage, the following is provided as a guide:
American currency is publicly traded on the ITA currency exchange and the exchanges of most member worlds. An ecu, at current free-market rates of exchange, is equivalent to approximately 2.4 ITA pounds or $12 Confed. One livre - the primary everyday unit of currency - is about 0.81 ITA pounds or $4.09 Confed.
Other than the ecu, the primary benchmark currencies on the Estates- General Earth are the Swiss franc, the British pound and the Argentine peso. Along with local currency, ITA Pounds are accepted as current in most major cities and in those provinces which have signed preliminary articles of association with the ITA. Travelers bearing other currencies may exchange them at low premiums in most cities throughout the world.
One of the traditions to which the Estates-General Earth has clung is Old World service and comfort. Thus, the Estates-General Earth has more hotels with ITA five-star ratings than nearly any other world. Travelers will find that even in the one-star hostels and pensions, professional service and warm hospitality are hallmarks.
* * * * * - The best, rare on Estates-General Earth, non-existent on some worlds. These hotels provide every imaginable luxury and some which may not be imaginable. The equivalent would be the King Edward Hotel in Prime or the Forbidden City in Marketplace. Possibly the most renowned example is the following:
L'Aurore, 39 Rue de Palais, Montreal. This hotel was once the palace of Prince Francois, Duc de Quebec, and guests are still treated as if they were royalty. Since 1885, guests at L'Aurore have stayed in luxuriously appointed suites and descended at night to dance in the main ballroom or dine in one of the hotel's four fine restaurants. "Room service" takes on a new meaning at L'Aurore, as each guest is provided with a personal valet (for gentlemen) or maid (for ladies) who is on call throughout the day. Services available in the hotel shops include hairdressers, designer couturiers, manicurists, tour guides and shoppers who purchase your necessities while you see the sights. Nightly world-class entertainment rounds out the Estates-General Earth's most luxurious hotel experience. Rooms, naturally, are expensive; accommodations start at 55 ecus per person per night, and the Dauphine Suite rents at a stratospheric 1440 ecus per night.
* * * * - Luxury hotels, not as good as 5 star but still very nice. A typical luxury hotel on the Estates-General Earth is as follows:
The Chevalier, 59 Exchange Street, New York. Luxury accommodations include two to three-room suites with elegantly appointed furniture, computer workstations for business travelers, conference rooms, a three-star restaurant and an indoor health club. Some on-site shopping and tourist information is available through hotel management. Rooms begin at 20 ecus per person per night.
* * * - Very comfortable
Hamilton Hotels, located throughout America and in many other countries on the Estates-General Earth. Individual, climate- controlled rooms and suites with some accommodations for business travelers and an indoor health club or outdoor swimming pool. A restaurant is available on site, with cuisine which is unspectacular in large cities but above average in small towns. Rooms begin at 10 ecus 2 livres per person per night. (Other chains including Magalhaes, National and Festival, as well as innumerable independent hotels, provide approximately equivalent accommodations.)
* * - Economy comfort
Crown Inns, located throughout America. Clean, well-furnished rooms, some recreational facilities, basic hotel services such as on- site dry cleaning and laundry. Most Crown Inns feature a restaurant, but it is usually occupied only at breakfast or by travelers hurrying to catch a plane. Rooms begin at 4 ecus 1 livre per night; numerous other chains provide equivalent accommodations.
* - Economy
The Estates-General Earth has few inexpensive motor lodges of the type common on Marketplace and certain other worlds. In rural areas, however, travelers will be able to find economical bed-and- breakfast houses, hostels or pensions. These are often family-run and provide a furnished room and a full American breakfast. Although accommodations are inexpensive, many travelers regard these hostels as the high point of their stay on the Estates-General Earth, as the hospitality is intimate and friendly and travelers from throughout the country can be found around the breakfast table. A savvy tourist can obtain comfortable accommodations for as little as 4 livres per night, and multiple accommodations can be found for even less.
1/2 * - Super Economy - A safe place to sleep.
At present, no Sleepmarts or Tube-O-Matics exist on the Estates- General Earth due to low local demand for this type of accommodation.
With the economy expanding at a record rate since contact with the ITA, unemployment on the Estates-General Earth is at an all-time low. Accordingly, skilled workers and entrepreneurs will find it very easy to obtain employment visas in most areas of the Estates-General Earth. For the Kingdom of America, work visas can be obtained at any embassy simply by showing sponsorship from a local employer. In addition, entrepreneurs willing to invest as little as 15,000 ecus to start a business in America qualify for expedited visas as business immigrants. Whether an immigrant arrives as an employer or an employee, he will receive Resident status in 90 days, which confers the right to vote in most local elections and is the first step toward obtaining citizenship after a three-year period.
Investors interested in locating businesses in America or other nations on the Estates-General Earth may also obtain assistance at any embassy regarding regulatory information, taxation, customs regulations and other relevant laws. Assistance with necessary applications will gladly be provided at no charge.
Travel to most areas of the Estates-General Earth is comfortable and safe. However, travelers should be warned that local warfare is taking place in at least two areas of the Estates-General Earth and that xenophobic anti-ITA political movements exist in others. Visitors who plan to journey outside the Kingdom of America or Europe should contact the ITA travelers' assistance center on their home world before departure to obtain the latest travel advisories.