Name: The Confederacy of Human Free States Government Confederation of five constituent Republics (The Federal Republic of Neuerde, The Federation of Canaan, The Social and Democratic Republic of Libégafra, The Republic of Æhura. and The Free State of Orange) General Galactic Location: TBD History: Though it would not truly come into existence for over a century, the origins of the Confederacy lie in the unification of Earth and the formation of the Greater Interplanetary Commonwealth. Not all were happy with the unification, and not all agreed with the new human government's policies. And for the first time since the discovery of the New World they had the option of simply leaving and traveling to a new world, though it was not easy. FTL travel was still expensive and not as common as it is today, and the early colonists had to deal with setting up colonies on worlds that had never harboured terrestrial life of any form. Many of them failed, but many of them also succeeded in their endeavours. And it was the colonies set up to the galactic southwest of Earth, towards the galactic rim, that would eventually band together into first the Four Republics and eventually the Confederacy of Human Free States itself. The early years of the colonies were not not always easy; inhabited planets were spread out over a wide area and it wasn't uncommon for pirates and smugglers to set up in uninhabited systems to use as bases of operation for their unsavoury and illegal business. They were a constant threat to the early colonies, and they were an important reason for the founding of the Four Republics. Independent and spread apart the colonies were weak and easy prey, but once they banded into larger and more powerful governments they were more able to resist these attacks, though they never completely stopped. The Four Republics of these days were Neuerde, Canaan, Libégafra, and Æhura (Orange would not exits until the actual founding of the Confederacy). The colonies may have bound together into nations, but they were still fiercely independent and for the most part relations were strained with the Greater Interplanetary Commonwealth. Some were worried that the GIC might try and incorporate the Republics into a single human government, and that was what coloured diplomacy between the GIC and Republics despite the GIC not having any designs of the sort. There were also several events continue to effect the views of the Confederate people to this day, despite occurring several centuries prior. The Republics had always considered themselves staunchly 'human' nations, though at their conception there'd only ever been contact with a single extraterrestrial species. But that species had declared war upon humanity without so much as an attempt at diplomacy. And then the GIC made contact with the Stoor, who began to raided and attacked Earth's border systems. Though the Republics weren't involved in the fighting, indeed the Stoor didn't even realize the Republics existed at that point as they took the few systems of the Republic their scouts had stumbled upon as outlying colonies of the GIC, it made the peoples of the Republic even more distrustful of any and all alien species. The Republics began taking steps to prevent aliens from gaining a foothold there, such as restricting access, citizenship, and rights to non-human entities. But the fact that many of the laws pertained to 'non-human sentients' would prove to result in a disaster that would directly effect the Republics. The debate about such topics as transhumanism, cloning, and artificial intelligence was one that had been ongoing since before the founding the Republics. The Republics were staunchly in favour of humanity, but not all agreed on what constituted 'humanity'. There were some who viewed transhumans as something other than human, some viewed them as superior beings and others as abominations. Neither side was in the majority, with the exception of the Federation of Canaan where the religiousness of the inhabitants had turned the majority against transhumanism. But it was in Libégafra that the disaster would begin in earnest, at an anti-transhumanist rally that was the site of a major terrorist attack. Not only the rally, but important government offices were all bombed and resulted in the deaths of thousands. Officially the bombing were done by pro-transhumanist terrorist groups for allowing the rally to take place, and the government used it as an excuse to crack down on transhumanism. The official decision in Libégafra was that transhuman constituted non-humans, and thus the non-human laws affected transhumans as well. Naturally this went poorly with the pro-transhumanists of Libégafra, and unrest and rioting began as resentment among them grew. And so the President of Libégafra, former General Pèire Gilford, declared martial law in many of the offending systems. The riots grew into outright revolt and rebellion against the government across Libégafra, which began putting down dissidents in brutal and violent fashion. Pro-transhumanists in the other Republics were disgusted and outraged by these occurrences, and many demanded that their governments get involved to restore order. But the other Republics were loathe to involve themselves in Libégafra's affairs, with one exception: Canaan. However, Canaan would not intervene against Libégafra, but rather in favour of their anti-transhumanist policies. President Gilford welcomed Canaanite support, and the Republic's move further outraged Neuerder and Æhuran pro-transhumanists. Some traveled to Libégafra to fight alongside the rebels, while others formed terrorist groups within their own nation with the intent to provoke them into action. Unfortunately this did provoke the Neuerder and Æhuran governments to take action, but against pro-transhumanists. And thanks to this, transhumans and those in favour of them gained an unsavoury reputation among the Republics as monsters and terrorists, to the point that even those who were peaceful were being beaten to death in the street and pro-transhumanism was a political death sentence for anyone in power. The major period of chaos and bloodshed lasted a scant few years, but the Transhuman Pacification (as it came to be known) resulted in all of the Republics extending their laws to include transhumans as on the same level as aliens. It had an even larger effect on Libégafra; in the chaos, President Gilford enacted emergency powers in order to deal with the crisis and essentially assumed total power in the country. But the charismatic Gilford managed to keep public opinion on his side by making a convincing case that everything he did was in reaction to the terrorists and rebels, and when he came out victorious from the flames and never gave up his power the majority were on his side. He used the fear and hate against transhumans to convince his people that they were lurking around the corner and waiting for another chance to tear the nation apart. And those who disagreed had an unfortunate tendency to disappear or conveniently have their status as pro-transhumans revealed to the public. And few even complained when Gilford appointed his son, a decorated Army Captain, as his successor. Very few knew the truth, that it was in fact at the behest of President Gilford that the original 'terrorist' bombings had been carried out and that his plan to assume total control of his nation went completely as he'd wished. Of course some had their suspicions but they either disappeared or were deemed conspiracy theorists and tin-foil hat anti-government lunatics. Things would continue on much as they had before, with the Republics vying for dominance and power in the region. Though it was primarily through diplomatic or economic means; true violent conflict between the multitude of states, small and large, was uncommon though not unheard of. Unfortunately for the region, violent conflict would eventually find them in the form of the Uarashi Swarms. The first contact with the Uarashi was approximately a century ago, suddenly and with little warning. The Uarashi attacked one of the smaller states on the fringes of the region, swiftly overpowering the local military and taking out the world. And the Swarms continued on like this on the fringes, with the same result every time. At first the major Republics didn't bother, assuming that the tales from the fringe were exaggerations or outright fabrications. When it became clear they weren't exaggerated, most believed themselves strong enough to fend off these aliens and thus safe from attack. However, they eventually began sending aid to smaller states who would be unable to resist; first in the form of funds and military volunteers, and later in the form of actual military aid to those in the path of the Swarms. This continued on for several years, with those in power of the major Republics still believing they themselves to be safe from attack. But that would change soon enough, on the Æhuran planet of Herebeorg. Herebeorg was a planet known for its orbital shipyards, which housed a fair portion of the Æhuran fleet and was a vital world for trade. And it was here that the Uarashi first attacked one of the Four Republics. There attack came swift and without warning; though the Æhurans were able to get a fair portion of the ships there to bear, not all were battle ready. Herebeorg was taken, the orbital shipyards destroyed and the surface in ruins. Though the Uarashi had taken more casualties than before, they had still ended up victorious. But this attack would be the beginning of the end for them, for it was what prompted the Four Republics to finally take their threat seriously. Representatives from all of the states in the region were called together, from the Four Republics and single-planet states alike, in what is now known as the Council of Wuldor, named for the Æhuran capital where the meeting took place. Talks continued on for days, and days turned into weeks, but eventually a consensus was reached; divided they had been falling, but united they may stand a chance against the alien locusts that were the Uarashi. And so the Alliance of Human Free States was formed; a military alliance of every human state in the region. The first major engagement after the Alliance was formed was the Second Battle of Herebeorg, where the Uarashi were taken by surprise by the size of the united fleet. Lead by Admiral Harald Orange, the fleet utterly decimated the Uarashi forces. And though the planet was by this point destroyed, it was a great moral victory for the humans of the Free States. What followed was a long campaign of several years to kick the Uarashi out of their space, with victories and defeats on both sides. It was only made more difficult by the Uarashi's complete lack of diplomatic communication; the Alliance had no choice but to use force to try and make the Uarashi decide to leave on their own. And eventually they did; though human casualties were great, they managed to inflict enough damage to the Uarashi that they finally decided to withdraw from the region completely. The war had several major effects upon the region, the most major of which was several years later: the signing of the Constitution of Confederacy, marking the official founding of the Confederacy of Human Free States. This would not have been possible without the efforts of Admiral Orange, the man who had lead Alliance forced to their first great victory and who had continued to pile victory upon victory during the course of the war. As a result, the man was widely regarded as a war hero throughout the entire sector, and he was largely in favour of a centralized and single human state in the region. He championed the cause of unification, though there were many who were unwilling to give up their sovereignty. The Confederacy was a compromise between the two sides, though Admiral Orange continued to be outspoken in his support of true unification until his death a decade later. Fortunately, his wishes were somewhat honoured with the creation of the Free State of Orange; the only constituent Republic to be formed after the formation of the Confederacy. Orange was named after the Admiral, and it was composed of all the small and minor states who had joined the Confederacy combined into a single republic. And to this day, Orange still continues to be the Republic most in favour of a strong and centralized government, even houses what amounts to the de facto capital of the Confederacy. And this has been the political situation for the last century. Though they are now united into a single state, the Republics still retain much individual power within the Confederacy. While the efforts for centralization have born some fruits, such as the continuing standardization of the militaries and indeed the formation of an actual Confederate military alongside the adoption of a common currency, there have been many compromises to the individual Republics. Other: TBD