Alexandra Pierce  |  March 20th, 2640  |  The Times of DC

Even historians could be forgiven for not knowing the name Jan Kowalski. A former technology executive with old-fashioned frontier dreams, in 2356 he left his home in Albany, New York to embark on a real adventure, striking a deal with Washington D.C. to begin a new American colony on the dwarf planet Arjan in the Hudson system; a colony he named Nova Albany, but which quickly became more commonly known as Kowalski’s Folly. The Hudson star lay on the route to other American colonies further afield. Competing settlements were established on Arjan by Spain, Free City Gdansk, and North Italy. When Nova Albany won its independence in 2415 (the United States being preoccupied with other issues, and no longer interested in maintaining what its President termed “a useless backwater”), the fledgling nation became a popular target for raids from its neighbors. For the first 28 years of its existence, it was a dysfunctional failed state, marked by resource mismanagement and disastrous skirmishes.

Due to the nature of space travel and the lack of faster than light (FTL) communication, (which still evades us two hundred-odd years on) news and messages could take months to travel between solar systems, especially between far-flung colonies several jumps away from the Earth-centric core systems. Instantaneous communication, taken for granted within worlds, was simply not possible on an interstellar scale. Albany’s own Uriah DeVol saw an opportunity and founded Lugus Networking in 2443; he purchased and refitted small, almost derelict patrol crafts being auctioned off by Spain to support its own struggling Arjan-based colony, and used them to gather communications and news from settlements in nearby solar systems. Since the only cargo was information, costs could be kept to a minimum; each of these crafts could be sent to a different system to gather communiques, then turn around and return to Arjan within ten days. News reports were often simply plagiarized from local outfits in the systems the ships visited, but proved more reliable than the infrequent updates that came from the sparse cargo traffic entering Hudson. Early users of the service were largely governments and wealthy private entities who were willing to pay DeVol’s astronomical premiums. DeVol used his returns to purchase more ships, including customized unmanned drones, designed only to fly into systems, gather data, fly out, jump to their destinations, and deliver their digital payload. Prices were lowered and business grew accordingly. Courier vessels bearing the Lugus brand began jumping between systems on a daily, and eventually hourly basis. For even greater efficiency, DeVol contracted with shipping companies to piggyback his customer’s data on their servers. Concurrently, Lugus’ success allowed it to become a journalistic voice for DeVol’s growing media empire.

Uriah DeVol spent his growing fortune not only to grow his business, but to help rebuild his homeland. Within a decade, Uriah's monopoly had turned Nova Albany into the center of local market trading. His networks provided a service that was recognized as financially and politically invaluable by nearby nations. 2451 saw Uriah nationalize his company, essentially taking over the government of Nova Albany. The next year, he paid the government of Gdansk to give up its colony on Arjan, essentially transforming it overnight into a wholly owned subsidiary. Spain would soon give up its claims as well, but Italy refused to capitulate, and today the little colony of North Italy remains a stubborn outlying territory of its Earthbound mother.

Uriah rebuilt the nation by granting all citizens, both old and new, base salaries simply for being citizens, with the understanding that refusal to hold a job up to age 70 (if physically able) would result in a loss of citizenship. Lower, more mundane jobs were gradually handed off to foreign aliens, with an open invitation to work toward citizenship by way of success as defined by the government. Today, an entire societal class of these aliens is housed on the extensive Ring Isles that encircle Arjan's single continent; they are often referred to as "incomers" based on the understanding that Albanite citizenship remains their most common goal. Citizens are mainly encouraged to become part of the corporate hierarchy or one of the numerous market middlemen that rely on Lugus' infrastructure. Most government jobs have been combined with corporate ones over time, with the relatively few permanent civil service appointments in existence becoming stigmatized as dumping grounds for family members unable to serve in the nation's frontline business occupations.

Uriah himself served as Chairman of Lugus Networking and President of Nova Albany for most of the rest of his life; it was only fitting, given that he had established his government as a replacement for the original direct democracy. He also oversaw the renaming of the nation's capital city (to Hydemoor) and its regions. It has been said that he did not so much erase the past as wholly purchase the rights.

Though it was originally thought that the accomplishments of the DeVol family would keep them in power in perpetuity, history was to take a different turn. It is commonly understood that Uriah's son John “lacked the ability” of his father. In less than two years, a series of bad decisions culminated in his forced resignation over the Ravindran-Kinnock Affair. The issue, a settlement of plagiarism and compensation claims from local partner companies of the Albanite monopoly, came about because he failed to enforce rules he himself had created. His duplicity, combined with his inability to hide it from the public, resulted in a serious loss of prestige and capital for the DeVol family. With that, power passed through several of the old money families of Nova Albany. Eventually, the Gentleman's Agreement of 2495 settled the Chairmanship on Vosco Mondragon, from a family of respected and steady Spanish aristocrats.

During this period, the ideal of “success” began to emerge as a central tenet in Nova Albany, creating a culture ostensibly based on ultimate merit—a notion often contested by the nation's detractors. As Mondragon increasingly fell short of this ideal, calls for change were heard once again, inspiring Lugus CFO Demi Ricci to create what was dubbed the Ricci Equation to determine who was objectively the most successful citizen by weighing personal wealth, influence, innovation, contribution, and overall accomplishment. In 2504, the equation was adopted as the official mechanism for selecting the chairman on the 1st of February of every new year, allowing time for 4th quarter earnings to be fully processed. The list of top ten citizens is updated daily, creating fierce and ongoing competition. Elections continue to be the norm for political positions, but in practice they strongly follow the winds of corporate success: it is extraordinarily rare for a newly elected president not to also be the Chairman of Lugus, and political death for said president to lose his Chairmanship while in office. Political campaigning has become synonymous with climbing the corporate ladder.

Nova Albany is now rarely at war, devoting most of its time to expanding and maintaining its network. As the middleman to a multitude of nations, Albany does its best to keep business growing and money flowing. Considering the necessity of their services, few would be inclined to destroy Nova Albany – a hostile takeover would be more likely, but extremely risky due to more powerful allies who rely on Lugus for their own communication. A takeover would first require irreparable damage be done to its standing in the eyes of its allies. Its large network of supporters has resulted in Nova Albany having a relatively small military. Service is not compulsory, and many officer commissions and ships are purchased by private citizens. Ground forces are leased entirely from off-world sources, and assigned to “houses” depending on reputation, capability, experience, specialization, and cost.

The nation is well regarded by the interstellar community at large; today, Albanites of high standing are regularly appointed as ambassadors to other nations or as “prestige” negotiators between other entities, cementing Nova Albany’s place in interstellar dealings as the nation of mediators and communicators. Offending the great Albanite families, significantly disrupting business, or outright destroying wealth draws their ire; it is a nation founded on and driven by success.