Lestria Directives

The Lestria Directives are the protocols set forth at the 1959 Congress of Kethpor concerning the role of the civilised powers on the Lestrian continent. The Directives largely remain in force to this day, serving as the framework governing interordinate relations in Lestria, one of the few mutually recognized agreements between the Messenian and Vaestic spheres.

The most significant and longest-lasting consequence of the Directives was the establishment of the Lestrian Neutral Zone, which placed the majority of the continent's territory under the jurisdiction of the Joint Lestrian Commission, based in the city-state of Taikoo. Within the Zone, direct military or political intervention by any power is forbidden, as is formal diplomatic recognition of any native polity without the consent of the Joint Lestrian Commission. Commercial activities associated with individuals and firms from the civilised powers are permitted with the commission's oversight. Beyond the Zone, Directive 32 schedules the native polities that the formulating powers decided warranted interordinate recognition, with these states predominantly located in northern and eastern Lestria, where regular longstanding contact with outside powers occurred.

This arrangement replaced the Great Lestrian Banner, an abortive effort sponsored by Agamar, Lacre, and Zemay (the Three Power Bloc, although acting outside this capacity) to govern the affairs of Vesnites and estates in an effort to mitigate imperial conflicts in the continent. In a Messenian geopolitical context, this new system was similarly intended to eliminate the previous patchwork of non-mutually recognized native polities, frontiers, and spheres of influence and thereby reduce the likelihood of imperial conflict in Lestria.

Directive 17 prohibits the further annexation of Lestrian territory by any civilised state. This provision specifically targeted the Messenian powers, many which engaged in territorial aggrandizement in Lestria prior to 1959. By the time of the Congress, these powers consisted of Helminthasse (Kisilland), Madaria (Pekhmet), Matal (Aheed), Odann (Múantín), and Zeppengeran (Alberdsland). The Vaestic powers, joined by Siurskeyti, Savam and Tassedar, asserted that the direct conquest of Lestrian territory represented a serious threat to the geopolitical order, with the Zemayan jurist Naglis Girskis stating that "the further extension of direct sovereignty in Lestria by the concerned powers elevates the stakes of a potential future conflict with an opposing power to unsustainable heights." In the case of Kisilland and Múantín, whose frontiers both abut the Lestrian Neutral Zone, the Directives also imposed new interordinately-recognized boundaries. The 2003 incorporation of Alberdsland into the Zepnish metropole caused minor controversy following allegations from Tassean officials alleging that it violated Directive 17, which ultimately went unresolved by the Court of Arbitration.

The Directives also codified the authority of the Interordinate Free Port of Demirci over the Strait of Calcar and the Korath Straits Authority over the Straits of Korath, ensuring free navigation through two of the most important chokepoints along the Great Golden Arc. Although the Interordinate Free Port disbanded in 1964, the directives' signatories recognize the Freta Mano Commission as its effective successor.

Criticism

Foreign policy experts largely agree that the Lestrian Neutral Zone's vast size and the Joint Lestrian Commission's limited resources and frequent bureaucratic entanglements hinder the enforcement of many directives. Despite the ostensible prohibition on imperial interference within the Lestrian Neutral Zone, proxy conflicts nonetheless occur through the use of mercenary armies and co-opted native forces. The phenomenon of zeephen states, such as Baan, demonstrates the willingness of the Great Powers to skirt the obligations of the Lestria Directives and engage in de facto diplomacy with native polities. Entities like the Zepnish General Lestrian Consortium, ostensibly a private commercial enterprise, exist as thinly-veiled vehicles for the exercise of imperial influence within the Lestrian Neutral Zone. In some instances, great powers may altogether ignore the Directives, as is the case with the Terophatic air base at Ohrzeesh, in the unrecognized Imetizwe Kingdom.

The Lestria Directives face serious native objections on an individual and institutional level. The continent's two largest powers, the Baygil Empire and the Tondaku, both reject much of the Directives' provisions, most notably in their refusal to recognize the existence of the Lestrian Neutral Zone and the authority of the Joint Lestrian Commission over it. Consequently, both powers claim and administer territory nominally under interordinate jurisdiction and diplomatically recognize many native polities within the zone. This is most evident in the Ultratondaku region, where the Joint Lestrian Commission effectively exercises no influence.