Militarism

Militarism has many levels of organisation and application. This ranges from favouring the Military over Diplomacy to an all-out Military styled government. Usually, when an alliance is refered to as Militaristic it means that the alliance actively pursues military action, such as Tech Raiding. It can also mean that the alliance has put a large amount of effort in perfecting its military organisation. Rarely it can mean that the alliance has addopted the military as the ruling body of the alliance.

=Levels of Militarism= Militarism comes in many shapes and forms, especially when the military acts as an alliance's government. Militarism comes in a continuum, starting with Pacifistic and ending with a Military Dictatorship.

Military Culture
An alliance that adopts a 'Military Culture' can be any kind of alliance, but puts a stronger emphasis on military service. Members often will carry their warbands and brag about nations they have ZIed. The military is probably strongly organised and reutinely checked, practiced and used. Even so, the alliance does not adopt the military as the soul of the alliance. The alliance will usuually have a non-military leader, or even a civilian as Chief of Staff. In many cases the Minister of War is an elected position, and prone to politics and re-election.

Martial Law
In a rare case, an alliance might declare Martial Law. Even so, rarely does this mean that the government steps down in favour of the military. In many cases it just means a suspension of normal rights, such as Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Action, and Freedom to Information. These suspensions usually come with an increase in powers of the main leader or leaders. Rarely does the military actually take command. This is usually because the true Chief of Staff ends up being a civilian figure. Martial Law tends to be temporary, and life will return to normal after the issue has ended or is under control.

Military Rights
It might be the case that the military of an alliance might have special rights or the ability to work on its own. If this is the case, the military might control its own system of aid, recruitment, and organisation. It might be the case that the military can appoint and change the holders of positions as per the commander's need. In another case, only people who have served in the military have full rights as alliance members. This might be to guarentee activity within the alliance, or ensure that members contribute to the mother alliance.

Military Theme
An alliance might adopt a militaristic theme without actually being a militaristic or martial alliance. It simply means that some aspect of the military, usually a historical reference, has been adopted as a part of the alliance theme. The leader might have a specific name, and there might be an apparent martial rule, but annalysis shows civilian organisations and the normal structure of an alliance. The theme of the alliance is very different than its actual working.

Martial vs Militaristic
A martial alliance is under the direct control of the alliance's military; A militaristic alliance simply has tendencies to show agression, military supremecy or a militaristic theme. Martial alliances are always militaristic; Militaristic alliances are not always martial.

=Martial Government= Eventually it comes to a point when the government of an alliance and its military become synonymous. This can, theoretically, come in many forms, but currently only Alpha Orionis has officially announced a Martial Government. In this case the military and the government are the same thing, and all ministries are sub-servient to the military, and no politican holds more power than an officier.

Military Republic
In a theoretical Military Republic, the Military reigns supreme but in a form that is unfamiliar to the cyberverse. Members of the military, probably starting with Sergeant, can vote for the different position, laws, and treaties. The Domestic Ministry is non-existant, and the Head of State is a military rank, usually above or equal to Field Marshal. Other ministries serve the military directly. This means that the Economic Ministry might be lead by a Quarter Master; the Foreign Ministry might be lead by a Communication Officer. Military members hold rights over other members, or in the most probable case, there are no members not in the military.

Ausburgism
Submitted by Klaus von Ausburg, Ausburgism is a form of a military republic and currently the official government of Alpha Orionis. It is both more centralized and less centralized than a military republic. Originally, the Martial Charter of Alpha Orionis called for all members starting with Colonel could vote for Grand Marshal, the leader of the alliance. Klaus later limited this only to the generals. This meant that an elite few, voted amongst themselves to decided the new leader of the alliance. In the Ausburgian theory, all power was given to the Grand Marshal, making it more like a Military Dictatorship. As for the other ministries, they remain subserviant to the Military, but can act outside of the military. This is with the exception of the Domestic Ministry, which is united with the Ministry of War.

However, Ausburgism is not truely a Military Dicatorship. It comes to a simple technicallity, and that is that there is no civilians to dictate to. Since all members are part of the military, it is not possible for the military to enforce its rule on anyone else. Instead, it is assumed that the alliance functions as a military unit. That is, there are Officers and Commanders who give orders, and Soldiers who carry out orders. Soldiers are free to act and speak as they please in private forums, but when in the military forums (the body of alliance) must remember their place. Members are quickly placed into a division, usually based on who recruited them, and are given work. Division act independently, containing aid systems acting independently of the state aid programs, as well as the recruiting programs. This means that healthy and friendly rivalries exist between divisions and that pride eminates from the division as well as the alliance.

Ausburgism combines many experiences that Klaus gathered during his travels and jobs. It is obvious to those who have tracked his progress to see where his philosophy has come from. Pieces of the Byzantine Empire, as well as proposed alliances such as Imperium Magnum exist within the main body of Ausburgism.

In contrast to many alliances, Alpha Orionis does not organise his divisions by member NS. Instead each Division acts as a "Flying Column". The Flying Column is a military organisation that includes all form of combat utilities in one division. In real life this means including artillery and armour within what would normally be an infrantry division. It is usually used by smaller armies, especially guerilla armies.

Flying Column
The following is a quote from Klaus von Ausburg:

"Many alliances divide their soldiers up by Nation Strengths. This has worked for some alliances, but generally the most important part is that fireteams. It is important, in my eyes, that a division have a whole range of capabilities. That way a division can quickly take on a whole range of targets, as well as have the ability to "run" a target. This way, larger members of a division can aid smaller members and during a war, when a target drops out of the range of a larger member, it can quickly be "run" down to the divisions smaller fireteams.

Flying columns in real life are divisions and brigades that contain all forms of fighting. This means, infantry, snipers, machineguns, artillery, vechicals and armour. It allows smaller forces (especially during Guerilla Wars) to engage larger forces easily and successfully. It allows Divisions to work independent from each other, cutting the number of people that must be contacted to get targets to the right people.

Also, in a general sense it also prevents stigmas from the divisions. Divisions earn their noteriety, as compared to Division One always being known as the 'Noob' Division because it contains members between 0 and 500 NS. It also keeps that stigma from applying to the General, who would be known as the 'Noob General'. It also allows the Generals and Officers to fight alongside their division as compared to having to command one division and fight in another."

Military Dictatorship
In theory, a Military Dictatorship means that there is a military population and a civil population. The civilian population is under the direct control over the military population. This is usually reflected in a permanent status of true martial law. A Military Dictatorship is usually ruled by a single military commander, who probably siezed power from pre-existing government. The system is in a constant state of limbo between being a martial government and being an imperial government. It can be as simple as the military dictator delegating control of the military to a another that makes the switch. It could be a complicated process of powers being delegated over time, until such a point that the original military commander becomes a figurehead or a politican versus a true military commander.