Pator - In a historic joint announcement held at the Great Caravanserai on Matar, Sanmatar Maleatu Shakor presented and affirmed the Tribal Chiefs of the Starkmanir and Nefantar Tribes, bringing an end to a long, politically-complicated search that first began just over four years ago with the Elder Invasion of the Ammatar Mandate and Amarr Empire. The two chiefs - Eleca Valkanir and Jeoran Setul - were greeted with cheers from the Nefantar and Starkmanir crowds there, many of whom had arrived over the past several days as rumors of the imminent announcement spread.
"Valkanir has been instrumental in securing our place in the Republic," says Kaplan Chiroln, a member of Chief Valkanir's staff. "This honor is not something she is simply entitled to, it is a result of her life's work."
Nefantar Chief Eleca Valkanir is 78 years old, and spent most of her life as a civil servant within the government of the Ammatar Mandate. During this time, says Chiroln, Valkanir (then Eleca Taanish) facilitated secret transports of Nefantar tribalists out of Amarr territory. "Her work paved the way for the Nefantar people to become a tribe again."
"I may not have as much experience of galactic politics as Chief Valkanir," says Starkmanir Chief Jeoran Setul in an interview with The Scope, referencing the fact that he spent the majority of his 33 years as a farmer in the Jarizza system, "but I have been chosen to represent my tribe. I am honored, and humbled, by all of this." When asked about the large crowds having gathered on the station prior to their arrival, Chief Setul laughed. "I did ask some of my family and friends to come by - I guess word got around."
Shakor presented the two chiefs with staffs of office, and expressed his gratitude to the Nefantar and Starkmanir peoples "for producing such respectable representatives."
"The road to this point has been long, and it has been hard," said Sanmatar Shakor "but we are finally in a place where we can set to work creating the world we want to live in. Each of the seven tribes has a head, each of the seven tribes can stand on its own, but we are Minmatar, and Minmatar stand together. Thus it brings me great joy to be able to call for an assembly of the chiefs."
While the details of such a tribal assembly remain unknown, it is expected to return the Republic to political stability and formalize some of the goals Sanmatar Shakor laid down in his "Vision for Minmatar" in September four years ago, beginning with the formation of a "Council of Tribal Heads" meant to be the supreme executive body of the Minmatar.