Fjällsta Stift

Fjällsta Stift is a more recent Mellanhand Orkanan congregation with followers all over Vittmark. It was established as a Stift in 7569 and served as a non-territorial member state of Vittmark from 7569 to 7611. After the state reforms of 7611 the members of Fjällsta Stift became residents of the state they were living in. At this moment, the Stift has about 1.3 million members and is the 6th largest Orkanan congregation of Vittmark. Outside that nation, it has a few followers in Sokoku.

Early history

The Stift has its origin in displaced individuals and communities from the Pan-Anarian War and following Three Ways Conflict. Many Orkanans did not want to convert to the Stift of the nation state that ruled the territory, or were not allowed too. Many of these landless subjects fled south, at first to the flanks of the Blue Mountains, but when the situation escalated in the 7550 also south of the mountains. As unaffiliated people without land rigts, they were vulnerable for exploitation by landowning stims and industrials.

In the late 7550's people started gathering in small groups, trying to build unions, acquire land or simply receive residence in regions like Kulla, Friställen, Uppförsbackar and Inälvsdalen. When Ådalen and Liden tried to extend their zones of influences south of the mountain range, these groups started sabotaging and later attacking occupying forces. This under the banner of treudden, which was more of a mental movement than an organisation.

Frifågel stond

Parts of the movement started gathering in stonds, unaffiliated and informal Orkanan stims. The Frifågel Stond of Palne Iordlösa became the starting point for what would become Fjällsta Stift. When Frifågel started manifesting itself as a local support group for landless Orkanans, the organisation was declared a terrorist organisation by local and regional leadership. So Frifågel started building a parallel society, especially in places lacking landowning stims and sockens.

The organisation rooted in the mining town of Fjällsta, high up in the mountains of Uppförsbackar. Almost all the workers and residents were landless or stimless, which proved to be a good breeding ground for association. With Fjällsta as base, Frifågel started registering as many as possible landless workers in the south, a registry that soon counted over 100,000 names.

Member state of Vittmark

In 7567, Palne Kristersson was invited to meet the new queen of Vittmark, Anna av Kulla. He saw it as an opportunity to unveil the miserable situation of many people in the south, who were not registered as residents of the member states or federal territories. Kristersson gave insight in his registries with 185,000 members.In order to force the federal leadership of the territories in the south to address the situation, Queen Anna recognised Fjällsta Stift in her capacity as head of the Mellanhand congregations.

But when the negotiations leading to the formation of Sörmark as a member state replacing three federal territories didn't seem to lead to an inclusion of the landless people, Queen Anna grnted Fjällsta Stift statehood in 7569. There was a precedent in the form of the Bengtst Stift, a non-interventional branch of Orkanans tking cre of the trunkbulls and their natural habitat. They were granted statehood despite them not administering any land or even being a Mellanhand congregation.

Statehood years

Fjällsta Stift jumped into the gap between the federal government with its limited budget and the often reluctant member states to start executing development plans. Projects like the Blue Mountains Railways and building residential dwellings in places like Östervallen, Kopparbruk and Kronsta earned the Stift and its members the reputation of the executives of Queen Anna's plans for the nation. The Stift could easily finish complicated building projects as a part without any land owning stakes. A good example is the construction of Kungens Nygata as a thoroughfare through the New Town of Östervallen in a border region between four different sockens.

Stift members also earned a reputation as "freethinkers" with a modern interpretation of Orkanan principles and a progressive political agenda. Stift members started Sörmarkspartiet to guard their interests, for example in federal parliament, where they cooperated often with the Loyalist Party.

Thanks to these executive projects, Stift members got responsibilities like surveyors, maintenance workers, caretakers and similar professions that fell outside the scope of traditional landowning stims and their sockens. Much of the railway staff on the Blue Mountains line were Freethinkers. The experiment of a parallel society as started by Frifågel Stond had reached a different level, enabling the Stift members to work on self realisation.

Fjällsta Stift played an important role in the emancipation of the native Kakuri people of the overseas member state of Fisks by accepting them all as members in 7575, thus making them citizens of Vittmark. Even after the Kakuri gained statehood themselves in 7578, many of them remained a member of Fjällsta Stift as a religious congregations. The Fjällsta policing forces, the Affirmation, often represented the Kakuri interests in Vittmark.

Religious congregation

However, Vittmarker society changed, partially because of the successful reintegration of the landless class as full members of society. In an ever more industrialising and urbanising nation, the ways of the land owning stims and sockens became a thing of the past more and more. Land ownership was no longer pivotal in the lifestyles of the turn of the 77th century, it was all about influencing modern means of production.

In 7604 Tovemor Palnesdotter av Blåkulla, herself a member of Fjällsta Stift, became the next queen of Vittmark. Her main task according to herself was to reform the federation into a more symmetrical set-up, where there was no place for privileges for the large principalities, but even no place for non-territorial member states. She carried out the plan her stepmother and predecessor wasn't capable of in the 7560's, integrating the Stift members as residents in the 12 remaining member states. Instead, both Fjällsta and the Bengtists got a position in the new House of People, safeguarding the interests of ethnic, religious and socio-economic minorities in Vittmark. Even the Sunnist Stift with many followers in the new state of Austland got a position here.

Fjällsta Stift reverted to a strictly religious congregation, but was now able to register worldly possessions as well in the form of real estate and business stocks. As such the congregation modernised and played an important role in the further economic development of Vittmark during the first half of the 77th century.

Recent developments

TBA

The seat of the Stift is currently located in Kopparbruk, thanks to its central location in Vittmark. The Stift operates mantalshus in many industrial and harbor towns and has larger facilities in Östervallen and Kronsta. The representation in Fjällsta is only nominal, with the mining town as good as deserted these days. The town is mainly used as retreat and for educational and training purposes.