Commonhold

The commonhold is the primary political community of the Siur people, constituted by the investiture of a governing power, or rather party, with defined and limited authority through the bilateral agreement known as tryggð. As Siur rulership fundamentally answers to the exact text of each oath that authorises it, and the terms of any tryggð may be intensely disputed and negotiated, the government of a commonhold may thus hold different responsibilities and powers with respect to different constituents, all strongly negotiable and frequently subject to revision.

Besides conditional regal and executive powers entrusted to the government, policies are adopted and officials appointed through formal revisions known as setningar, which usually demand the convention of þing assemblies or parliamentary bodies. Senior officeholders often derive their posts from broad-based elective processes known as amskyldr.

The actual term for 'commonhold' used across Transaphrasian nations varies; the preferred term in Siurskeyti is sameiginhaldið (տամեիգինհալդիձ), which loosely translates as “(something) held of one’s own”, while Helminthasse favours the term viðald (վիձալդ), generally taken to be a truncated form of the phrase við haldum all, “we hold all”. Both terms were intended as indications of common ownership and common responsibility, and have been interpreted as such for most of the modern era. Other countries such as Tassedar and Yfirland use 'freehold' (Ֆրիհալդի fríhald), emphasising the independent nature of the polity.

History

In the western Messenia of antiquity, the commonhold was simply the sum of all oath-based political contracts made with a ruler, whose authority was loose and power typically fleeting. In the early Digull, commonholds were so temporary that they were almost always discussed in the plural, though by the 5th century confederacies that customarily came together to elect princes and war-leaders were stable enough to receive geographical names. By the emergence of Arlatur in the 7th century, royal authority was being established at a rate that had begun to cause tensions that fed into support for the new philosophy. Under Secote rule this seemed to culminate with the establishment of a more imposed form of governance in kunentsyism.

The commonhold as a distinct political form evolved through the negotiations and struggles for power between post-Secote rulers and their subjects in the Trying Times. Royal-patrimonial authority was circumscribed and ultimately made to be defined by contractual customs, and respublican, representative political systems were established as fundaments for fair kingship. Governmental powers were defined in detail in tryggð, and provisions were grounded in the maturing system of Siur law. As a collective force, the commonhold most notably manifested in the form of hóf, the pursuit of common interests that propelled most participation in the tryggð-state. It was around this that state and government were further defined, almost exclusively, by appeals to potential, opportunistic common gain they could provide, especially in the wake of the Endurbygging, which separated government from any law-related concerns. The commonhold thus effectively became a large raiding party or commercial partnership. Theinship itself grew with institutions such as fylgd which primarily served the commonhold in these pursuits. The rise of major alliances during the Skjóll-Vonskil rivalry contributed to the definition of the commonhold as an entity in diplomacy and law, specifically its rights in alliances and confederacies.

In early Siurskeyti the unified Siur federation was defined as distinct in character from the commonholds that united into it, and a concept of the commonhold itself would be further developed as part of the Tryggðarleikur over commonhold rights and freedoms. Commonhold theinships and the federal thárship evolved towards competing for separate obligations from individual liegemen through the eras of Endurtendrandi Idealism, the Summer War, and Economism. Outside of Siurskeyti and Helminthasse, the respublican governments of Transaphrasia were redefined similarly. Samskyldism further expanded the purview of modern Siur government through the 20th century, and standing governments with wide-ranging concerns and well-defined, ceremonious procedures comparable to other Messenian cultures were established.

Commonholds today

Siurskeyti

The commonhold or sameiginhaldið is the primary political division of Siurskeyti, although the sameiginhölduð have usually had somewhat lesser autonomy as against the centre, given Siurskeyti’s nature as an essentially unitary state. The seven Siursk commonholds are: Geirroð, Hélla, Mirrey, Móðalund, Skjóll, Skógarey and Vonskil. Of these, Mirrey and Skógarey are comparatively recent creations, the two Median island territories having been raised to the status of commonholds in 1827 and 1830 respectively (at least partly to fill the void left by the Helmin secession). Hélla, due to loss of territory to Helminthasse during the Summer War, is now surrounded entirely by that country and exists as an exclave; the southern part of the former commonhold was transferred to Móðalund’s administration in 1856. Siurskeyti’s Ascesian holdings in Sæmunsvar remain a territory rather than a commonhold, and this is administered as part of Skjóll, although it has petitioned the home country for elevation to commonhold status three times since the end of the Long War in 1958.

Helminthasse

Helminthasse's five commonholds; Helminthasse (orange), Sarevi (grey), Vinhaxa (red), Ærlasse (blue) and Æthelin (yellow)

The commonhold or viðald is likewise the primary political division of Helminthasse; the five viðaldar have, with minor changes in boundaries, remained essentially unaltered in configuration since their secession from Siurskeyti in 1812. The five are: Helminthasse, Sarevi, Vinhaxa, Ærlasse and Æthelin. Helminthasse, although not the largest of the five, was the primary driver of the secession process, and saw its name attached to the new country in common usage as a result. This has created some occasional confusion; however, the people of the commonhold have consistently refused entreaties to change the name, and most recently voted down a proposal to that effect in 1987. Helmin commonholds retain a significant degree of autonomy, mostly as regards internal financing, although the nation was subjected to strong centralising influences in the wake of the failed Vinhaxan Usurpation in 1879, and this has only been relaxed in comparatively recent times.

Name	Area	Population	Density	Largest town / city
Helminthasse	68,017 sq km (26,261 sq mi)	10,382,620	152.6/sq km (395.4/sq mi)	Virkið
Sarevi	82,582 sq km (31,885 sq mi)	9,816,274	118.9/sq km (307.9/sq mi)	Lágskáli
Vinhaxa	33,124 sq km (12,789 sq mi)	1,491,133	45.0/sq km (116.6/sq mi)	Nárá
Ærlasse	64,373 sq km (24,855 sq mi)	2,571,422	39.9/sq km (103.4/sq mi)	Öldhólmur
Æthelin	56,465 sq km (21,801 sq mi)	2,539,936	45.0/sq mi (116.5/sq mi)	Hydrædsdalur
TOTAL	304,561 sq km (117,592 sq mi)	26,801,469	88/sq km 227.9/sq mi	Virkið