We haven’t had enough interaction with Muffinvania as yet to say conclusively how we feel about it. However, we’ve heard good things and look forward to closer relations in the future.

~Answered by Lord Túrelio nos Fingolfin, Prefect of State.

I love muffins. Muffins are delicious. That is… if it’s okay for me to have some.

~Added by Fluttershy, Subprefect for Pony Affairs

Contrary to popular belief, yes, trade unions are in fact legal in Menelmacar. However, this is the case only in the private sector. Unionization is not permitted in the public sector for several reasons.

The intent of a trade union is to acquire for workers a greater portion of the profits of the business. Since the government does not generate profits, there are no profits to negotiate for — merely more tax money. Ultimately, when the public union strikes, they are striking against their ultimate employer — the average citizen.

Relatively few unions exist in the Menelmacari private sector, either. There are several reasons for this.

One, there are a number of regulations which, though not explicitly or even implicitly intended to do so, effectively depress union numbers. For example, all of Menelmacar is ‘right to work’. Even in a union shop, there is no requirement to join the union or pay union dues as a condition of being employed there.

Another example is certain limitations on strikes; they are considered protests, and so fall under the same rules as any other protest. As a rule, it is held in Menelmacar that the rights of person A end where the rights of person B begin. As such, harassment of replacement workers is illegal, and picket lines cannot impede the movement or passage of others in or out of the workplace (or, indeed, anywhere else). Protests also cannot take place on private property without the consent of the property owner, which as you might imagine tends in the case of a strike to be either the employer or their landlord.

Finally, Menelmacari workers themselves tend to be reluctant to join a union. Union labor has a reputation in all levels of Menelmacari society as being lazy, unreliable, and overpriced. More than once, particularly in construction, a business has been unionized only to find that its customers have gone elsewhere as a result.

It is also a factor that several other successful union drives have resulted in the closure of the workplace by the employer. This tactic was the subject of several high-profile lawsuits several centuries ago but was found legal by the bedhryn*. In the vast majority of cases, most of the staff affected by such a closure are placed elsewhere by the employer.

In answer to your original question, approximately two percent of the Menelmacari private-sector workforce is unionized. The most unionized sectors are retail, at four percent, and construction, at three percent.

~Answered by Lady Serindë nos Eärendil, Prefect of Trade

*A badhron (pl. bedhryn) is a magistrate or judge.

As a very broad generality, academia is highly respected in Menelmacar. Knowledge and the pursuit thereof, in almost any field, is held in great esteem. Likewise those who propagate knowledge to new generations are also generally quite respected. However, it is generally expected (though not legally required) for a teacher to have significant knowledge or experience in the field being taught.

Research and science in Menelmacar receives its funding from a variety of sources. My own department, the Prefecture of Education and Science, receives a fairly substantial portion of the annual Imperial budget, which is itself funded both by taxes and a portion of proceeds from Menelmacar’s sovereign wealth fund. We have two main missions. One is to fund grants to university research departments and scientific laboratories, and even individual research projects on occasion, and the other is to set standards and funding for the educational system at large.

To receive Imperial funding a research project must generally demonstrate how it might be applied to provide real benefits to Menelmacar, but a substantial ‘common-sense’ fudge-factor is applied to these reviews. For example, theoretical physics tends to have a lower applicability standard applied, because while it may seem arcane and esoteric to the layman, it is indisputable that such research has led to immense understanding, applications and improvements throughout Menelmacari society.

However, it is required that all data and results from a government-funded study must be released to the public, not merely the final conclusions of the study. In this way all such studies are easily verified by peers and the scientists behind them are held to honest account, and it is quite difficult in practice to fudge data in order to further a policy agenda or exploit public funding.

Alternative sources of funding are myriad. Non-profit and charitable organizations exist to fund research, usually in a particular field of interest. Donations can be solicited from wealthy individuals. And corporations are nearly always willing to fund research in areas related to their products and services.

Public-release laws related to privately-funded research are not as strict as for publicly-funded, but do exist; in most cases there is given a grace period so the funders or owners of the research may have first crack at exploiting or applying their own discoveries. Of course in any case the funder or owner is free to voluntarily disseminate, and this is not uncommon.

Education itself in Menelmacar is generally ‘free’, up to a point. Every family with children receives a voucher annually which they can redeem for tuition for their children at the school of their choice. Adults seeking university degrees are also eligible for vouchers for their own use.

Schools compete for ‘business’ as would any other industry, seeking to differentiate themselves from their competitors with superior facilities, track record, reputation, or faculty. The very finest schools charge more than the voucher is worth; the voucher in that case serves as a discount, but the family is responsible for making up the rest.

Due to the low birth rate among Quendi, class sizes are usually very small, the largest usually under ten children. However, Menelmacari schools tend to be more expensive to operate than their counterparts elsewhere, due to the longer length of schooling for elven children (who reach maturity at fifty), plus the costs of superior facilities and equipment, and compensation for teachers who are usually subject-matter experts rather than ‘career teachers’.

Finally, Menelmacar boasts one of the finest collections of knowledge known to exist, in the Library of Ages in Vinyatírion. The final responsibility of my department is the maintenance and expansion of this archive, which contains a copy of every book, journal, magazine, newspaper, and audio-, video-, or holo-recording we know to have ever been published.

The originals are kept safely in a classified location but all content has been digitized for the access of all Menelmacari citizens at any time, as well as the citizens of certain other nations, notably The C’tan, with whom Menelmacar is close and has ratified relevant treaties. Access to publications still under copyright is by nominal monthly-flat-rate or per-download fee, which funds royalties to the copyright holders.

Access to the Library of Ages is not generally permitted to foreigners except by specific request by time and particular data sought, and these requests are granted or denied on a case by case basis.

In particular many publications with respect to highly advanced Menelmacari science such as gravitics, fabbing, or magic, tend to be restricted to Menelmacari or trusted-ally citizens; generally if you can’t find it in export-grade products, you won’t be able to read about it in the Library without Menelmacari citizenship. For the purposes of public-release of research data, publication in a journal posted in the Library will do the trick.

~Answered by Lord Celebrimbor nos Fëanor, Prefect of Education and Science, Lord-emeritus of Eregion, and Forger of the Three Elven Rings of Power

There is very little that Menelmacar fears, as a nation. Individual Menelmacari vary greatly but tend to be very confident in their general outlook. Many of the more conventional, and even unconventional, fears of other realms do not especially apply to Menelmacar, or have been mitigated or prevented.

That said, there is still two things that truly concern Menelmacar. One is the possible return of, and defeat by, the Enemy, Morgoth, and the other is an existential threat by an as-yet-unknown superior and hostile power. The possibility of either outcome is immensely remote, but considerable measures have been taken in the name of preparation, to ensure the future survival and prosperity of Menelmacar, regardless of any catastrophe that may befall the Empire as we know it today.

First and most importantly is the preservation of the people of Menelmacar. Through the same recall-teleportation technology that protects Thoron pilots in place of an ejector seat, many Menelmacari citizens have the capability to, in case of catastrophe, recall themselves to a distant and safe location. There are, in addition, multi-layered evacuation protocols in place. The specifics of these vary by location but regular drills are conducted.

Next, the vast data-storage capabilities available to Menelmacar include the ability to ‘back up’, so to speak, all of Menelmacari territory. Typically this is funded through insurance policies and such backups are used frequently on smaller scales. When you take out homeowners’ insurance, you are purchasing a backup-scan of your own property. If some fate should befall your home or its contents, industrial fabbers will be deployed to reconstruct your property from the atom up.

Full-scale backups are also held by the government. If a colony world or even Menelmacar itself is attacked and damaged or destroyed, all settlements, terrain, and infrastructure can be restored within months at the most.

Another preparedness measure taken, particularly for the event of occupation of Menelmacari territory or the outright destruction of the planets and orbitals on which it resides, is in the form of vast caches of knowledge, resources, materials, energy, and ships hidden at various classified locations throughout the galaxy, its neighbors, and the intergalactic void. These caches have been gathered over many centuries and provide a very substantial last-ditch measure for a people under siege, and the supplies required to mount a counterattack or, in the most dire circumstances, flight to safer pastures. Such a fate is not out of the question; it was precisely that sort of event that led to the founding of Menelmacar to begin with.

~Answered by Lord Maglor nos Fëanor, Crown Prince of Menelmacar and Prefect of Compassionate Relief

Well, Octavia… I came here a while ago on a vacation because I heard there’s pretty forests here, and cute animals, and everypony here was sooooooooo nice… well, I just had to stay.

When all the other pony nations started popping up, and all my friends turned out to be leaders or important officials in one nation or another, I wanted to help ponies everywhere too, and Lady Siri is friends with Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, and I think they told her about me, so now I handle pony affairs here… or something. I like working with Lady Siri. She’s so nice, and she works hard at stopping meanies like slavers and people who hurt ponies and my friends.

Did you know they have talking trees here? Nice ones. And I have this pet little green dragon thing now, it’s soooooooo cuuuute…

~Answered by Fluttershy, Subprefect for Pony Affairs

Elven societies have always tended towards feudalism, or some variation thereof. Remarkably consistent among elves — whether Quendi or not — is the presence of a monarch, usually hereditary, a class of nobility, and so forth. These traits persist, to an extent, in modern Menelmacar, but I have found in my time here that, contrary to many human societies, they have adapted in such a way as to mitigate and prevent their traditional drawbacks.

Menelmacari society is in large part divided into numerous Great Houses, the numbers of which vary frequently, but at last count numbered 10,483. Membership in these Houses can run the gamut from several thousand to tens of millions, and nearly everypony in Menelmacar is affiliated with one or more of them by extended family relationship or marriage.

While the nobility per se is usually limited to those related by relatively direct descent to the House’s founder, specific rules on recognition of noble title vary by House.

However, Menelmacari Houses have the curious property of in large part preventing the eldest elves (all of the Quendi, after all, are immortal) from having near-total direct control of the Menelmacari economy, and encouraging upward social mobility.

It has been held as a general rule in Menelmacar that House and personal assets should be considered separate from one another, and corporate assets separate from those. While the eldest elves are frequently rich enough to have lost count of their personal assets, much of their productive activity is nonetheless invested in managing their House. Quendi longevity brings incalculably vast economic benefits, but most of this is held by the Houses and reinvested in younger generations of the family.

For example, it is common practice to resell land to one’s House, and junior members of a House can usually get mortgages from their House on extremely generous terms. Likewise, many Houses are active in wealth generation, and numerous of the larger Houses majority-own large conglomerates with concerns in many industries. Most famous of these is House Fëanor’s Fëanor Holdings Group.

In short, there is generally a consistent familial commitment not to hinder the economic potential of the young, and even when one comes from individually unfavorable circumstances, one’s House can provide many opportunities for growth. Any individual member can prosper personally as much as they like; there is no censure placed on wealth, or lack thereof. However, by investing time and resources in the House, one can further derive considerable social and political benefits that can be a greater draw once one has reached a certain level of personal prosperity.

Many of these factors seem to mitigate the rich-poor divide in Menelmacar, though such a divide is not generally considered an issue, thanks to the ubiquity and inexpensiveness of basic necessities, and is in any case very much a relative thing.

As far as I have seen, there is no specific societal taboos against nobles or warriors engaging in menial activities, but one might wonder why they would do so when automated solutions to such problems exist almost without exception. However, almost certainly there are those who do so simply because they find it pleasant or relaxing, much like the former American president George W. Bush, who was known for spending his vacations working on his ranch.

As I noted earlier, the number of Houses varies frequently. They can merge through marriage. New Houses can be formed by decree of the Elentári to recognize contributions to Menelmacar. Or they can, in theory, vanish due to an end to the line or through colossal mismanagement, though in practice this is nearly unprecedented.

There are also numerous merchant-families that are larger than the smallest Houses, and function internally much as a House does, but are not considered Houses due to lack of title. These families frequently lobby the Elentári for recognition as a House, and the granting of such a petition is, while not an everyday occurrence, also not uncommon.

~Answered by Invisible Hoof, supply-side economist (and pony)

Menelmacari efforts beyond Arda have always had a large private-sector component. More primitive realms continue to struggle with — pardon the pun — astronomical costs to lift cargo to orbit, whether it be freight for shipping, equipment, construction materials, or the ships themselves. In most cases these costs are, and continue to be, too high and with too little immediate return to bear for non-state actors.

However, as a clinically immortal people, Menelmacari have always taken a famously long view of such things. It is not uncommon to sink significant investment into a project, even planetside, expecting the big payoff no sooner than decades out. Among the stars a still-longer-term view is frequent. For example, terraforming a planet or constructing an orbital or other megastructure can provide truly gargantuan profits, but this frequently takes centuries to realize.

However, it is not merely the largest and most well-funded of firms that can, in modern days, make profit in interstellar commerce. Menelmacari technology reached several thousand years ago the point where costs-per-ton to lift to orbit declined to scarcely higher than to ship by sea.

Today there are more shipping companies in Menelmacar that ship between stars than between terrestrial nations, but there is considerable overlap between these. There is a significant number of independent captains as well, who own a single ship, and work contract to contract. Indeed, nearly every citizen today owns a gravcar capable of interplanetary, if not interstellar, flight. Doing business in space is nearly as simple, and inexpensive, as doing business on Arda.

The short answer to your question, therefore, is “Because we could afford it.”

~Answered by Lady Serindë nos Eärendil, Prefect of Trade