NETWORK – The Confederacy of Independent Systems; otherwise known by its acronym CIS has always experienced a tumultuous path of progress. Originally founded to answer the frustrations of systems and companies that became dissatisfied with the Galactic Republic the CIS stood in opposition to the Republic and made incredible gains against them before its abrupt end at the birth of the Galactic Empire. These days the CIS continues to operate on a less grand scale still retaining control of a number of sectors across the galaxy. Whilst many governments seek to consolidate their control into clusters of sectors the CIS is spread sporadically throughout the northern areas of the galaxy.
Siejo Kutol, leader of the CIS agreed to sit down with NETWORKRabbit and discuss the current state of the CIS as well as what has been going on within what many might consider a relatively secluded government. We also discussed alliances with Siejo as the CIS is a founding member of the Interstellar League.
We asked him what the biggest changes he’s seen since being in the highest levels of office. He told us “Things are quite different when one compares our current government with those of the past and I would say the biggest change really have depended upon leadership. When I initially led the Confederate Alliance and later the first Confederate government, we focused mostly on infrastructure. We were rather small and this required reinvesting most of our funds into logistics projects and building infrastructure. We had to rebuild our shipyard hubs, settlements, income cities, as well as our logistics fleet. I focused heavily on diplomacy, mostly trying to avoid the mistakes of the past. Once I stepped down, near the end of Year 14, the leaders who took my place focused more on military projects and expanding the Confederate war machine.”
“Samuel Ashen did a wonderful job building up the Confederate Military, and truthfully much of his hard work directly benefits me today. That said, diplomacy and bureaucracy suffered. There were open disagreements with the eXiles and the Trade Federation and the Confederate Alliance fractured. Even our closest allies, such as the Corporate Alliance left our side and sought alliances elsewhere. This overall lead to the slow but steady decline of the government until it was overthrown by the Red Fury Brotherhood in Year 18.”
“After taking the helm of Kutol-Chan Industrial, I was presented the opportunity to working with our former confederate partners in the Interstellar League. This ended up being something that brought many benefits to our members. In time, it was felt that the best avenue for advancement and continued success was to join forces. Under the Cyan Accords, the Hevvrol Federation and Confederate Remnant under Taldar Logas merged, reforming the Confederate Government. Ruling as a team has really helped both of us. It allowed us to share the load of work and deligation. This allows us so that we we can divide responsibility and work towards each of our own strengths. The new Confederate Government is not only much larger than it has had been before, but now also has stronger leadership and teamwork. “
We asked him how he viewed the CIS amongst the other governments of the galaxy and whether he felt the CIS can achieve more within the current scope of the galactic war. On these points he said, “Honestly, for now Taldar and I are dedicated to neutrality. We have been very lucky so far in the Interstellar League and I’ve been working closely with our allies to not only secure our own safety but also build ourselves economically. There may come a time when things change have to change, and while we will be ready for it, right now we are dedicated to our allies and neutrality. The CIS wants to work with those who share our values and who wants to work with us as long as they are respectful and honest upfront.”
We moved on to discuss the territorial integrity of the CIS, asking how confident he felt about being able to respond at pace to escalations of tension that may border their sectors. He was quite open about their position telling us “That’s actually an excellent question! Those who pay close attention to things may have noticed that, right before the merger with the Confederate Remnant, the Hevvrol Federation actually contracted our holdings, selling off some of our Outer Rim holdings and focusing on our territories in the Mid Rim Sectors. Meanwhile, most of our allies in the Interstellar League were based in the Outer Rim. This was a difficult choice but I was thinking of the future and had doubts about our ability to defend our colonies out in the Outer Rim.”
“With the merger, not only did it bring the Thesme Sector into the fold, but it included the Confederate Remnant fleet. This improved my confidence in our ability to defend our assets out there. With this confidence, gave us the opportunity to reacquire some previously lost confederate space. We added back the Ciutric Sector as well as establish some trade agreements that brought with it control of the Illisurevimurasi Sector and Xappyh Sector.”
“The benefit of these Outer Rim colonies is that they are in close vicinity of our allies. It helps us not only in defense of our own space but also theirs and also helps with trade. In regards to our initial colonies in Hevvrol, truthfully they are heavily fortified. I have never doubted our abilities to defend these systems. With the addition to the fleet and our Navy, I have great confidence moving forward.”
We then moved onto a discussion about alliances. As Siejo talked about the Interstellar League often we asked him his view on the growing number of alliances forming in the galaxy beyond the Imperial Union and Galactic Alliance and what he felt made the Interstellar League different enough to attract companies wanting to be part of the League. He was candid in his reply back telling us “No one ever enjoys failure but real leaders learn from it. We learned quite a bit from the failure of the first Confederate Alliance. We learned the dangers of excessive bureaucracy as well as approving members that may not meet a higher standard. This has helped us in the creation and growth of the Interstellar League. I can give you an example without mentioning name. In the original Alliance years ago, we accepted applicants because they owned unique datacards even if they were not a good fit personnel wise. I think we did this to hopefully create relevance. It did not take long for this to blow up in our face.”
“This time around, we have denied applicants with unique datacards because the fit didn’t seem right. Not everyone has to agree all the time, but if you try to force things, tension grows and in time it can destroy you. We learned this and hopefully it will help us.”
“I think the perfect member of the league is open to teamwork. We have multiple projects in place where we try to work together, both in logistics as well as trade. In the future, we have plans to develop specialized fleets for all members to access in time of need. We have to be able to work together, sometimes at the sacrifice for profit if we are going to achieve these goals. For instance, when I reformed as a government with the merger, many Confederate production Hubs went idle. Loronar Corporation independently offered to travel through our many sectors and restart at least 50 shipyards with little benefit for themselves. That’s a damn good ally. It goes both ways. Everyone has something they can offer. Personally, the government has been very lucky in regards to cash flow and so we tend to be more than happy to assist financially with some of our allies. We are not looking for anything in return, more just trying to help them grow. I believe that if our allies grow, it helps the group as a whole and then in the end helps us.”
Finally we asked what the next 12 months would look like for the CIS and what impact Siejo could make on the CIS “I feel that may be a difficult question to answer. First off, I always believe in being candid and honest. It wasn’t just the initial alliance that was flawed; I believe it was also the government. Not all of us come from money and, personally, I think I struggled with relevance. I wanted people to see me as a good leader and successful. I thought that I had to go out and prove that we were worth it. I was very blessed early in my career. The Trade Federation and several others gave me significant help initially when started, but otherwise most of Corporate Alliance conglomerate was built by myself and some of my own people. It was a pretty successful company until I led it to government and realized I was just a small fish in a big pond.”
“It took time and personal letdowns to force myself to look internally for the shortcomings. I think it takes a real leader to self-reflect and realize your failures. This time around, I don’t seem to find myself feeling the need to please others. I don’t know if it’s due to my partnership with Taldar, that fact that we are financially sound, or just more maturity on my part but I suddenly feel comfortable in my own skin. I honestly believe that solid mature leadership and the teamwork I spoke of before should hopefully help with the stability of the Government moving forward. We have all we need. We have our people, our sovereignty and our allies.”
Time did not allow us to pursue the conversation further with Siejo and we thanked him for the time he could afford us. The CIS continues to see advancement and growth. There are currently a number of companies that sit as provisional members within the Interstellar League making it a relatively large conglomerate of industries supported by and alongside the CIS.
With this glimpse into the Confederacy, history will tell if this incarnation of their government can outlast the ones prior to it.
How do you view the CIS? Have you had good or bad interactions with them? What has been your experience? Contact NETWORKRabbit and share your thoughts!