Bureau of Materials & Supply

The Bureau of Materials & Supply is a bureau of the Parliament of Milk and Honey that functions as the Commonwealth’s central nervous system for resource allocation in the absence of market pricing mechanisms. Without money to coordinate supply and demand across Vekllei’s industrial economy, the bureau uses sophisticated planning methods to track material flows, anticipate resource needs and distribute raw materials where they can be most productively used.

The bureau’s work becomes exponentially complex due to Vekllei’s geography – coordinating resource flows between mining operations in Kala, manufacturing centres in Oslola, agricultural production across the Verde islands and the diverse needs of 83 separate republics of varying size and development. Steel produced in one republic may be needed for shipbuilding in another, while agricultural products from remote islands must reach industrial centres thousands of kilometres away.

This coordination challenge requires the bureau to think in terms of material ecosystems rather than straightforward, sequential supply chains. The bureau tracks not just primary resource extraction but also secondary materials from recycling, seasonal variations in production capacity and the complex interdependencies between different industries. Without conventional profit signals to guide resource allocation, the bureau must balance productive efficiency with economic sustainability and demand.