Sol Alliance

The Sol Alliance
The human superpower, this federal union is the unquestioned bastion of humanity and the largest nation in the Orion Spur. Though often held back by bureaucratic corruption and efficiency, many look to reform the fading Alliance. The great megacorporations, and humanity as a whole, originated in the Sol Alliance. It is one of the most diverse entities in space, with people from every species, background, and origin living in it.

Overview
An absolute juggernaut in terms of cultural and political influence, the Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations (ASSN), commonly referred to as SolGov, the Sol Alliance, and sometimes the Alliance, is a federal union of 125 member state star systems, and 212 dependencies including the Eridani Federation. Dependencies can vary between undeveloped star systems, outposts on asteroids, or even micro-nation space stations. The capital of the Sol Alliance is the bustling Unity Station in orbit over Earth. 52 Alliance states and 25 dependencies are located within the Inner Colonies. The remaining dependencies are located within the Mid Colonies and outer colonies. With control of hundreds of systems and a large population of about 100 billion, the Sol Alliance is by far the largest nation within all of known space. It is arguably the most culturally and linguistically diverse entity within known space, owing primarily to the age of its colonies and its control over the Sol system and Earth.

Economics
The economy of the Sol Alliance is dominated almost entirely by the four megacorporations: Nanotrasen Corporation Hephaestus Industries, Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals and Einstein Engines. Nanotrasen is the largest of these mega-corporations, utilizing its monopoly on phoron to keep the Sol Alliance firmly reliant on them for intergalactic travel.

The Alliance never fully recovered from the Second Great Depression of 2260. That economic collapse and the resulting civil war left confidence in the Alliance economy extremely shaky. The Alliance has an extremely condensed cycle of boom and bust, with a brief year of growth followed by two years of recession, on average. This is partially the reason that trans-stellar corporations are so powerful and influential: With Sol Alliance bonds or ventures radically decentralized and untrustworthy, the resilient economic strength of trans-stellar corporations makes them a much more lucrative investment.

The prosperity of the Alliance is extremely centralized to the inner colonies, most notably the Sol system, which benefit from their proximity to Earth and being the commercial and industrial centers. Farther away from Sol, the average wealth of systems gradually decrease. The frontier of the Sol Alliance territory tend to be far less wealthy than the inner colonies. In some extreme cases, travel to and from these systems can be made difficult as maintenance of bluespace beacons or shuttle services are the responsibility of individual systems. The only assurance in all Alliance systems is the presence of the federally funded Extranet post-service, allowing messages, if not people, to go from one end of the Alliance to the other. And the tax office.

Alliance Anthem
“Our United Alliance” - ASSN Anthem

Our Solarian Sovereignty undisputed Our vision, transcendent Our heads high, our will strong Arise my Alliance, for we are supreme From Sol to the frontier, our right

We are humanity, our vision great The stars, our destiny manifest Through the toil of our people We expand to the horizon For our Humanity, we expand

Our Solarian Sovereignty undisputed Our vision, transcendent Our heads high, our will strong Arise my Alliance, for we are supreme From Sol to the frontier, our right

We are humanity, our vision great Proud people under your leadership Through the blood of our people Always ready to give our due For our unity, we stand strong

Overview
The Sol Alliance operates as a hybrid between a Federal Democracy and Westminister system, while at the same time also being an alliance between systems, hence its name. Being the result of original negotiations on Earth to create a new world order between over a hundred nations, including the former United Nations, and the resulting few hundred years of development has left the Alliance government a nearly impenetrable labyrinth of complexity and seeming hypocrisies. An ongoing joke by seasoned politicians is that no one elected to an office actually knows what they're doing.

Current Ruling Parties
The current status quo came into power after the Unathi Crisis of June 2457 sparked a snap election. The election saw a radical shift in the political climate of the Sol Alliance, with GAIA and ATLAS forming a coalition that currently holds 73% of seats in the Alliance Parliament, and 65% of the seats in the Alliance Senate. This gives it a super majority in the Parliament and Senate, effectively seizing control of the entire Alliance legislator. Their coalition appointed Miles Theodore Chater as their choice for Prime Minister, with him becoming the Prime Minister of the Sol Alliance on June 30th, 2457.

However, this dichotomy was radically changed in October of 2460.

GAIA, also known as Earth and Ares Initiative Associated is a party founded by Gregory Theadore Miles on the 22th of April, 2447 with a primary agenda of furthering the prosperity and ensuring survival of humanity, concentrating on the places where majority resides. They seek to investments and regulations on Alliance economy, wanting to decrease the overall power and economic significance of mega-corporations. The new GAIA front has retained a majority in both houses only thanks to their unification with other parties. GAIA now has 42% of seats in the Senate from 33%. They also have 51% of seats in Parliament, up from 44%.

ATLAS, also known as the Sol National Union, is a party was founded early in the creation of the Alliance, and its mission and platform has slowly evolved. Now the mandate of ATLAS is a "human first" policy, stressing the importance of human supremacy in the galaxy for the greater prosperity and safety of mankind. They have strong grassroots support in the outer colonies, and their coalition with GAIA have given them a very strong voice in the federal government. ATLAS now makes up 40% of the seats in the Senate from 32%. They also now make up 49% of seats on Parliament, up from 29%.

The Worker's Party, which holds 11% of the seats in Parliament and 15% in the Senate, is a coalition of socialists, communists, and anti-megacorporation advocates that seek radical unionization and the dismantling of the major galactic monopolies.

The Utopian Front is the last major party, which holds 16% of the seats in Parliament and 19% of the seats in the Senate. They seek equal integration of all alien species into the Sol Alliance, increased regulation on mega-corporations, and peaceful coexistance with other major galactic factions.

Branches of Government
The Sol Alliance's federal government is divided into three branches of government, and their relationship with one another is incredibly complex, but the basics have much in common with 21st century federalism.

The Executive Branch
The Executive Branch is based on Unity Station in orbit of Earth. It carries out and enforces laws passed by the legislative branch. It includes the Prime Minister, the Cabinet, executive departments, independent agencies, and other boards, commissions, and committees.

Alliance citizens do not directly elect the Prime Minister. Parties appoint a representative from within their party to represent them as candidate for Prime Minister, and that representative becomes Prime Minister if their party wings the majority of seats in Parliament or, during a tie, they enter a coalition with another party to gain the majority.

The current Prime Minister of the Sol Alliance is Miles Theodore Chater, a member of the GAIA party. He won a contested election in June of 2457 during snap elections during the Unathi Crisis. He won with his platform of "humanity first", though more moderate than the ATLAS platform.

The Judicial Branch
The judicial branch interprets the meaning of laws, applies laws to individual cases, and decides if laws violate Alliance law.

The judicial branch is comprised of the Alliance Supreme Court and other federal courts.

The Legislative Branch
The legislative branch is made up of the bicameral upper Alliance Senate and lower Parliament.

The Senate is made up of 129 Senators, one from each member state, and four from the Sol System. Each member state elects a single senator to serve a 3 year term. Qualifications for senators are up to individual states. They can be the head of state of the planet or system, or be a single representative elected separate of the local government.

The lower Parliament is made up of 218 representatives, and represents the dependencies of the Sol Alliance. Each dependency has its own governing parliament, and their Prime Minister becomes a Member of Parliament for the federal Parliament, and serve as long as their term as Prime Minister in their respective system. The Prime Minister of the Sol Alliance is, confusingly, also a member of the lower Parliament, and counts as 6 representatives, one for Earth, Mars, Europa, the Moon, and Unity Station, giving him 6 effective votes in the lower parliament, because each of these locations are individual member states of the Alliance.

Sol Alliance Military
The Military Forces of the Sol Alliance have a history dating back to the second space race, starting as a defensive and peacekeeping force, their role eventually grew into that of a full time military force. The Sol Peacekeeping Corps was originally formed from specially selected units from the military forces of UN member states.

See Also: Alliance Strategic Intelligence

Sol Alliance History
The Sol Alliance's relatively long history holds the origins of many of the current nations, megacorporations, and current conflicts within it. For a detailed overview, see the Sol Alliance history page.

Potential Character Concepts
Here is an example character from the Sol Alliance:


 * Chen Zhang, 34, is a medical doctor who currently works for Nanotrasen, currently stationed on the NSS Aurora. He is usually calm and collected.


 * Zhang is 5’9” and has a slim build, likely 130 lbs. With excellent posture, Zhang moves quickly and efficiently. He has dark brown eyes and has his black hair neatly buzzcut.


 * Zhang currently lives on Biesel in Mendell City, though he is originally from Shanghai on Earth. He is married and has two children. Zhang is also an agnostic. He also supports ATLAS due to their human-centric ideology.


 * Zhang isn’t very fond of Tajara, being a supporter of the sudden Tajara ban. He also dislikes Vaurca due to their sudden appearance throughout Tau Ceti.


 * Zhang speaks Sol Common, Tau Ceti Common, and understands a little Terran Mandarin.

Here is a second example character from the Sol Alliance:


 * Kumari Bhatta, 47, is a chief engineer who has worked for Nanotrasen for 14 years. She is a serious workaholic.


 * Bhatta is 5’7” and has a lithe, athletic build, about 140 lbs. She constantly moves gingerly, with stiff posture. She has dark brown eyes and her long, black hair is usually in a neat braid.


 * Bhatta lives aboard the Odin, with her home in Mumbai on Earth. She moved to the Republic of Biesel with her husband, brother, and daughter. Bhatta is a devoted Hindu. She previously supported GAIA, but, due to her move, cares less about Sol Alliance’s politics.


 * Bhatta has a hard time liking Skrell due to most’s view on artificial intelligence. She does, however, have a slight like toward Unathi because of their honor-based culture.


 * Bhatta speaks Sol Common and Tau Ceti Common.