Will the Bāhira two-leader problem ever be mended?
It was a quiet autumn afternoon when the two Bāhira leaders shook hands and walked away from one another over the decision to support Auxientia’s Airship Force Initiative. With the factions of Auxientia gridlocked—Parastin and Irregulars against the vote and Gilded and Luciole for it—-it fell to the Bāhira to break the stalemate and decide Auxientia’s future in the air.
The vote, which was introduced ten months ago, would create a military Air Force under Auxientian control in the interest of policing the skies against pirates and defending Mutu’s borders, as well as scouting outside Mutu in search of potential threats. Gilded and Luciole factions favor the creation of the Air Force for the trade and security it promises, whereas the Parastin and Irregular factions believe that such a force under government power would inevitably be employed to control and monitor the people, and that the persons nominated to command such an Air Force might become the most powerful persons in Auxientia.
The Bāhira themselves are divided on the proper course of action: Their traditional faction objects to any power that threatens Bāhira supremacy in the air, and their spiritual leaders predict that a fleet of military ships would ultimately be used to hunt and destroy Mutu’s sacred wyverns. The progressive faction of the Bāhira, however, wishes to spearhead the new Air Force and become its first generals and leaders, believing that Bāhira tradition has always centered around mastery of the air.
The gridlock is likely to continue for the foreseeable future until one of Auxientia’s disparate factions changes its stance one way or another. However, due to the current vehemence within the other factions, the choice is likely to lay with the Bāhira.
