Sol Alliance



Though its power has waned following the disastrous events of late 2462, this federal union remains the home of humanity and the one of the premier powers in the Orion Spur. Formerly held back by bureaucratic corruption, administrative inefficiency, an overstretched legal system, systemic political infighting, and economic troubles that led to over a century of decline and waning influence culminating in its retreat inwards, many now look to reform the Alliance into a more effective political force.

The Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations (ASSN), commonly referred to as the Solarian Alliance, the Sol Alliance, and sometimes the Alliance, is a federal union of 70 member state star systems, and 198 dependencies including the Eridani Corporate Federation. Dependencies vary between undeveloped star systems and outposts on asteroids, to sprawling space stations and include the capital of the Sol Alliance: the bustling Unity Station in orbit over Earth. The Sol Alliance is divided into two administrative sections known as the Inner and Middle Rings.

Demographics
The Sol Alliance is either the most populated or second most populated in known space, though due to the lack of accurate census-taking in the Coalition of Colonies it is hard to determine. As of its retreat from the Middle and Outer Rings the Sol Alliance has between 40 and 65 billion citizens and roughly 10 billion residents, with the most recent census having been in 2454. Due to mass defection of many Middle and Outer Ring colonies, these census numbers are no longer considered to be accurate. The Alliance's next census will come in 2464 but experts regard its current population as anywhere between fifty and seventy billion individuals. By breadth of controlled territory the Alliance is the largest sovereign state with every ethnicity, religion, culture, and language found somewhere in its borders. Governed at Unity Station in orbit of Earth, hundreds of systems and dozens of member states find representation in the Alliance.

The Colony Rings
The Alliance is divided into two major administrative rings, based on time of colonization and distance from Sol.

Inner Colonies
Also known as the Inner Ring, the inner colonies lie within five light years of Sol. These planets are the oldest settlements outside of the Solar System, and have the highest quality of life. It is the most populous of the three rings. Solarians from these systems are in favor of Alliance rule, with much of Unity Station’s policies focusing on these areas. Very few aliens reside in the Inner Ring, with most being skrell. On the other hand all IPC frames can be found throughout the Inner Ring. Citizens of these areas push the most for expansion of Alliance authority over human areas outside its control.

Notable Inner Colonies

 * Earth
 * Luna
 * Venus
 * Mars
 * Jupiter and its moons
 * Epsilon Eridani

Middle Colonies
Also known as the Middle Ring. The Middle Colonies lie between five and twenty light years from Sol and are the most average areas of the Alliance. Citizens of this ring felt neither the benefits of Alliance rule nor the benefits of distance from Unity Station prior to the general Solarian retreat from the Middle Ring, leading to many defecting to the Republic of Biesel or, less commonly, the Coalition of Colonies. Many simply fell into a vacuum of no control known as the human wildlands. For those Middle Ring worlds remaining with the Alliance, the quality of life in this area is as high as the Inner Ring with plenty of security provided by the mighty Solarian Navy, but the remaining systems find themselves in a battle between Alliance and megacorporation control. Sometimes it is unclear where one begins and the other ends. The separatist Republic of Biesel was considered part of these middle colonies prior to its independence.

Notable Middle Colonies

 * Silversun
 * New Hai Phong

Economics
The economy of the Sol Alliance was, prior to the recently-passed Industrial Reclamation Mandate of 2463, dominated almost entirely by megacorporations. Hephaestus Industries, Idris Incorporated, Zavodskoi Interstellar, and Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals increasingly find themselves pushed aside by the massive Einstein Engines, which stands above other megacorporations in the Alliance. Due to its involvement in the Republic of Biesel and continued meddling in Solarian affairs the Nanotrasen Corporation has been banned from operating within the Alliance itself, and the majority of its assets have been seized by the Alliance. Many suspect Einstein Engines as being behind the Alliance's aggressively anti-NanoTrasen stance. Despite its retreat from the Middle and Outer Rings Sol remains the Orion Spur's second largest economy, trailing only slightly behind the Republic of Biesel.

In recent times the Alliance has pushed forward an aggressive campaign of nationalisation following its retreat from the Middle and Outer Ring. The now centralised and more authoritarian Alliance has, for the most part, managed to make good on many of its nationalistic promises but has been forced to make some compromises with the corporations that remain within its systems of control. Hephaestus Industries stands out among these corporations and has retained of its control over New Hai Phong due to compromises with Senator Hendrik Strom, one of the main drivers behind the Solarian Corporate Authority, the government entity now responsible for much of the now-nationalised assets from corporations present in Solarian space.

The Alliance has not fully recovered from the Second Great Depression of 2260. The 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 following its retreat, and its remaining systems benefit from their proximity to the Sol System. Most remaining Solarian systems are major commercial and industrial centers, such as New Hai Phong.

Politics
The retreat from its outlying colonies has dramatically shifted the nature and state of politics in the Solarian Alliance, and the political scene as it existed previously has all but disappeared following the death of Prime Minister Michael Frost and the chaos that followed it. While the Alliance remains a federal democracy on paper, with a functional upper and lower house, and its byzantine system of legal codes and regulations remains despite reforms, the Alliance is in reality controlled by an emergency government.

Government
The Alliance Provisional Military Government is the true government of the Solarian Alliance in the trying times following the retreat from the Alliance's colonies, and its governing power is split between the Navy and a small amount of government functionaries including the two most prominent candidates for the Alliance's next Prime Minister: Senators Hendrik Strom and Le Hanh Trang. While many have criticised the APMG as a mere dictatorial officer's clique tacitly supported by pro-navy politicians, it has promised a peaceful transition of power to a civilian government once the situation has become more stable in the Alliance. Whether this promise will be carried through remains to be seen.

Sol Alliance Military
The Solarian Armed Forces has a history going as far back as the onset of the new mandate. Although originally created as a peacekeeping force it developed over time into a professional military force with fleets capable of projecting the Solarian Alliance’s power on a galactic scale. While the Alliance has significantly reduced its size its military is hardly a shadow of its former self, and the Solarian Navy's one-hundred fleets - freed of their obligations to patrol seemingly endless amounts of space - now stand perhaps stronger than ever. The only military entity capable of rivaling the Solarian Navy is the Nralakk Federation’s Navy.

A standard Solarian Navy fleet consists of roughly one-hundred ships for a main fleet, and fifty ships for a patrol fleet. A Solarian battlefleet is one of the most intimidating organizations in the Orion Spur, and consists of four main fleets with one supporting patrol fleet. Though many Solarian Navy vessels are presently hamstrung by their lack of phoron thanks to an ongoing phoron embargo by the Republic of Biesel they are increasingly being retrofitted with the Einstein Engines-produced Suzuki-Zhang Hammer Drive, a recently-invented Helium-3 burning engine that is advertised as rivalling the best phoron-fueled bluespace engines. With Einstein Engines continuing to support the Alliance, the matter of a fully-modernized Solarian Navy is one of when not if.

While the Sol Alliance has shrunk dramatically in recent years, it remains the strongest human naval power in the Orion Spur even after its retreat to its core worlds. If anything its military is, arguably, stronger than ever - territorial consolidation and constant combat experience along the borders with the human wildlands have dramatically increased the effectiveness and readiness of the Solarian Navy's hundred fleets. However the Navy remains plagued with political factionalism, with many supporting warlords in the wildlands and others dueling over power in the current emergency military government.

The Sol Alliance sees the independence of Biesel as a serious mistake; during a crisis where there was a very real prospect that the entire human galactic economy would cease to exist, NanoTrasen used its considerable influence and power to coerce the Alliance to grant independence to Tau Ceti in 2452.

IPCs in the Sol Alliance
The Sol Alliance is the birthplace of integrated positronic chassis and they have found a place in almost every level of society, offering relatively cheap, autonomous, and skilled labour. The discovery of ancient drones in 2406 led to the development of the positronic brain which provided manufacturers with a processor capable of holding AI that could consume knowledge and control a humanoid body with the same level of competence as a human. Owing to their cost, the majority of the Alliance’s robotics’ needs are fulfilled by simpler, human-designed AI or unreliable and controversial cyborg processors. Positronic intelligences are instead used in roles which require a high degree of autonomy and adaptability, or simply replace humans directly, especially in dangerous fields.

IPCs, alongside all synthetic life in the Sol Alliance are exclusively property, either owned by individuals, companies, or the government itself. Although not standardized, most government synthetics and IPCs work with a basic restriction that prevents them from harming people or damaging property to avoid accidents. Most local governments, particularly those with reservations about the spread of IPCs obligate the usage of similar directives for IPCs. Directives act as a more relaxed version of laws in order to capitalize on adaptability of positronic brain-based AI, outlining the objectives of an IPC. They are often chosen for their ability to be quickly modified by their end-consumer towards specified behvaiors.

In the case that an IPC malfunctions or commits a criminal offense, the responsibility is placed firmly on the owner of the machine and the manufacturer is often fined. The machine itself is then frequently reset, repossessed by the state, or in some cases, recycled for parts. An IPC without an owner is repossessed by the government. In cases where the IPC isn’t in a condition to be readily used, they are often sold back to the public at a substantially cheaper price.

With the fracture of Sol, IPCs find themselves in increasing use by the government and military in order to make up for losses of skilled labor and to cut through perceived rivalries between officials. In order to prevent potential dissent or uprising among the machines, personality wiping, loyalty programming, and strict directives are often employed by the government.

IPCs have their movement restricted, being forbidden from travelling alone without written authorization, and without passing through a mile of red-tape and checkpoints. Free IPCs, as well as those belonging to companies not based in Sol space often find themselves captured and nationalized or auctioned off to new owners if they cannot escape. All IPCs from out of Sol are barred entirely unless they are owned and have someone present and accountable for them. Outside IPCs that are owned which cannot produce a supervisor, or free IPCs trying to smuggle themselves in are subject to capture and sale or confiscation for use by the government.

IPC in the Sol Alliance Military
Overview

Technological progress has seen Humanity starting to employ all sorts of machines and especially robotics, especially since the creation of the Positronic brain. Self thinking synthetics have been recognised as offering unique solutions to complicated problems in a military setting, making them a powerful asset when coupled with the robustness of an artificial chassis. As such, the Alliance Army and Navy was bound to adopt them. Today, IPCs are utilised as specialised equipment in a variety of dangerous and demanding settings, mostly in a technical and auxiliary role rather than frontline combat. From spaceship maintenance to clearing minefields, synthetics are favoured in these circumstances due to being less important than the well-being of human service members. The majority of positronic frames in the military is dominated by Baselines and Industrials, though Mobility and Shell frames are also encountered as paramedics and clerks.

Ranks

Positronics in both the Army and Navy are not considered equal to their human counterparts, and are officially classified as equipment, much like a weapons system belonging to the ship or military formation under which they are assigned. As such, they are enlisted under the rank of Synthetic Auxiliary, clearly distinguished from the rest by gray highlights attached to their uniform, a standardised designation across the Alliance's branches. These IPCs are tightly controlled by human operators, but in cases where contact is expected to be hampered or severed, a trusted synthetic may be put in command of a squad or detachment of synthetics. These are "promoted" to Synthetic Lead, receiving a gray chevron on their shoulder as a mark of seniority. Indeed, many years of service and experience are usually required for a positronic to achieve this position, in a conservative Solarian culture that both distrusts and undermines self-thinking IPCs.

Treatment

Positronics serving within the Solarian Military experience harsh treatment in accordance with their designation as equipment rather than personnel. Accommodations are kept to a bare spartan minimum and luxuries are unheard of amongst IPC service members, with only the equipment required for their tasks being provided, while free time is minimized. This attitude also affects the standards positronics are held to in terms of presentation and behavior, being even more strict than those given to human personnel, with deviations from expected behavior being seen as a sign of potential disloyalty or future trouble. Social interactions between Human and IPC service members are discouraged and monitored. Human service members are instructed to view these synthetics as tools to be used, and considering them otherwise will likely result in disciplinary action.

Punishments inflicted on Positronics range from slaps on the wrist to mind-wiping or forcible retirement, however more extreme disciplinary measures are considered very rare and often only used in cases of outright disloyalty. Despite the harsh line the Solarian Military takes towards their Synthetic service members, there is some good for those IPC who end up in this environment. The Solarian Military ensures that its Synthetics are well-maintained, powered and repaired as they would any other piece of equipment and abandonment of IPC personnel is only done when there is no other option available, and significant risk to human life would be present in attempting to recover them.

In the Warlord States

Since the breakup of large swaths of Alliance space from the main core, military synthetics were included as part of the naval formations that came to rule these areas. A general breakdown in communication, coupled with the lack of proper maintenance facilities and spare parts have made the upkeep of these Positronics a costly affair, while generally casting them fully to the mercy of local officers. Indeed, Solarian military IPCs in Warlord jurisdiction are met with different and unexpected fates. In what was the Southern Fleet Administration, IPC units were either quickly sold off for profit or worked to destruction, the disorganised and bandit-like vessels having few resources to put towards their proper maintenance. In the Southern Military District on the other hand, treatment of synthetics remains in line with proper Solarian guidelines, with machinist depots on Visegrad being utilized by the fleet.

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

Languages
Sol Common is, shockingly, the dominant language of the Sol Alliance across all classes of society. Tau Ceti Basic is commonly available in schools, though it is generally regarded as a second language for Solarians. Tradeband is uncommon outside certain areas such as the Sol System and the Eridani Corporate Federation but, thanks to the economic power of these systems, remains a common language for interstellar trade. Freespeak, otherwise known as Gutter, is viewed as the language of lower-class individuals, such as now extinct Martian separatists and dregs and barely-civilised frontiersmen from the Coalition of Colonies. Solarian Sign Language is a popular elective course in higher education in the Sol Alliance and can be found throughout the Alliance itself, in addition to forming the basis of modern Galactic Sign Language.

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.