Botchok Planetary Congress

The Botchok Planetary Council (BPC) was allegedly the legislative and governing body of the Orion homeworld, Botchok (Rigel VIII), and of the Orion Colonies as a whole. However, it had very little actual power over them, and mostly only served as a front to other interstellar states.

It controlled the Orion Space Navy (OSN) and the Orion Colonies Intelligence (OCI).

Organization
The BPC was lead by a President and comprised of delegates from the nation-states of Botchok, though it is dominated by those of the Big Four nations of Kulian, Mazak, Tipot and Yuin. These posts were possibly elected. Some Orion Colonies, like Zchol and Namezk had governments based on the BPC model.

It was, however, quite disorganised, with no set officials for important governmental tasks, while delegates would often argue over who would accept responsibility, take credit, or get the blame. Many used their connections outside the BPC to force events their way, or used the BPC to further their own ends. Equally, they found the Federation government stiff and arbitrary.

This system frequently confused and conflicted with the Federation embassy, until they demanded some sort of order, and suggested certain officers with specific titles doing defined work. The idea was surprisingly popular, and for a year, the BPC merrily assigned Ministers for ever smaller and more ridiculous tasks, including a Minister for Rigellian Communications, a Minister for Insurance Claims, and another for Insurance Regulation, and one more for Insurance Writing, and culminating in a Minister for Simplifying Government. The exasperated ambassador’s question of if they planned to name a Poobah resulted in the formation of a for the Nomination of a Poohbah and some research into the position. The official report was later deleted from the record, and the number of joke ministers dropped.

The BPC raised its funds in several ways. The first was by receiving donations from its member nations, who gave as much or as little as they wished. If one of these states was unimpressed by the BPC’s decisions over the last fiscal year, the money would decrease, even disappear altogether. It also conducted its own trade, though this was relatively small compared to the powerful Orion families and businesses.

Another was via under-the-table ‘settlements’ collected by the OCI from each party involved in a dispute. Though the Colonies resented this, most paid up, since the BPC usually had some evidence on them through the OCI. Failure to pay might result in the Federation’s Starfleet receiving a tip-off about illegal activities, a hidden base or secret mission. Blackmail and extortion made up a sizeable proportion of their income.

Lastly, the BPC was suspected of being complicit with Orion pirate activity.