Sol Alliance

The Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations (ASSN), commonly referred to as SolGov, the Sol Alliance, and sometimes the Alliance, is a federal union of 23 member states, 15 Associated States, and 112 dependencies. All 23 member states and 79 of the Alliance's dependencies are located within the Inner Colonies. The remaining 33 dependencies and all 15 associated states are located within the Mid Colonies. With control over 188 systems of significant population and a population of about 20.8 billion, the Sol Alliance is by far the largest polity 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. The capital of the Sol Alliance is Administration Station Nova Concordia, in orbit over Mars in the Sol system.

Large-scale extraterrestrial colonization began in the 2070's, followed by the first extra-solar colonies in the 2140's. In the year 2140, the United Nations formed the Alliance of Solarian Colonies (ASC), the first incarnation of the Sol Alliance, to oversee the colonization of other star systems.

General
Official Title(s): "The Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations" (SC)

Motto:  'A United Future for all of Humanity.'  (SC)

Capital:Administrative Station "Unity Station", in orbit around Earth.

Demonym: Solarian, Alliance Citizen

Official Language(s): Sol Common, Tau Ceti Basic, Spanish, Hindi, 21 additional Recognized Minority Languages.

Population:
 * 2445 Census: 30,835,259,000
 * 2457 Est.: 31,056,727,000

System(s): Sol, Sirius, Altair, Procyon, Alpha Centauri, Sigma Draconis, Eta Cassiopeiae, Delta Pavonis, Epsilon Eridani, Epsilon Indi, Ophiuchi, Van Maanen, Barnard, Wolf, Lalande, Luyten, Groombridge, Cancri, Gliese, 170 others.

Autonomous Member States: Earth-based governments, Eridani Federation.

Drives on the: Varies per System

Military strength: Strong.

Economics
Official Currency: Sol Alliance Credit (cr.)

GINI Coefficient: 34.0

Standard of Living: The standard of living in the Sol Alliance varies drastically, being high in the inner colonies and lowering the further out you get.

Societal
Ethnic Groups: Religion(s): Secular; Religious Freedom; Variety of Religions.
 * 17% Han Chinese
 * 15% Arab
 * 14% Hindustani
 * 12% Various European
 * 11% African
 * 31% Other

Government
Type: Federal Democracy

Head of State: Chairman of the Executive Council
 * Executive Minister of Commerce
 * Executive Minister of the Defense Staff

Upper House: Alliance Senate

Lower House: Alliance Popular Assembly

Judicial: Alliance Central Judiciary
 * Alliance Court of Justice
 * Alliance Central Court

Administrative Divisions
The Sol Alliance is divided into Member States, Dependencies, and Associated States.

Member States are represented in the Alliance Senate and possess varying degrees of autonomy. They can comprise anything from one to five star systems. The Alliance Charter grants certain rights to member states, which can only be revoked by amending the Alliance Charter. The degree of autonomy varies by member, with certain members such as the Eridani Federation retaining near-complete control over internal affairs, while others such as Sol maintain only negligible autonomy.

Dependencies contain the vast majority of Alliance systems; they are sparsely populated systems with little to no control over their internal affairs, which are subject to all Alliance laws, although day-to-day operations are left to locally elected legislatures or corporate sponsors.

Associated States are independent states which have agreed to turn over control of their external affairs to the Alliance in return for military protection and economic aid. Associated states reserve the right of secession and have de jure control over their internal affairs, though the prerequisites attached to Alliance aid gives the Alliance considerable influence.

As of 2456, there are 23 member states, 112 Dependencies, and 15 Associated States.

Alliance Senate
The Senate is the 'upper house' of the Alliance Assembly. Senators are appointed for five year terms by the government of their constituency rather than by direct election. There are currently 230 seats in the Senate, with each member state sending a delegation of ten senators. Each senator has a 'voting weight' directly proportional to the population of their constituent. As only member states can appoint senators, dependencies and associated states are not represented within this chamber. Associated States are limited to sending one non-voting observer each.

Special powers accorded to only the Alliance Senate include: Senators tend to be senior politicians with decades of experience. There is no term limit.
 * Approval of changes in borders between the member states and dependencies of the Sol Alliance;
 * Approval of a decree of the Executive Council on the introduction of martial law;
 * Approval of a decree of the Executive Council on the introduction of a state of emergency;
 * Approval of international treaties.
 * Approval of nominations for the Chairman of the Executive Council
 * Approval of nominations for ministers of the Executive Council

Popular Assembly
The Popular Assembly is the 'lower house' of the Alliance Assembly. Assembly-persons (often called 'legislators') are directly elected for five year terms by Sol Alliance citizens with member state citizenship residing within a member state or qualifying dependency. There are 5000 seats within the Alliance Assembly, which are divided among the member seats by population. The few dependencies which surpass the minimum population threshold (currently 4.16 million) are also granted representation within the Alliance Assembly. All other dependencies go unrepresented.

The Popular Assembly is the only body able to submit spending bills. It also has the power to nominate a Chairman of the Executive Council, who must then be approved by the senate.

Executive Council
The Executive Council is the executive branch of the Sol Alliance and is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the government. It is headed by the Chairman of the Executive Council, informally known as the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is selected by the Popular Assembly and is normally the leader of the dominant political coalition. They are in charge of appointing administrators to head the various government agencies, determining the priorities of the government, and overseeing the operation of the various government agencies.

Alliance Security Council The Alliance Security Council (Or ASC) is a body of government officials serving as the primary forum used by the Chairman of the Executive council for considering security and foreign policy matters with his senior security advisers and Cabinet officials.

Attendees of ASC meetings can be sorted into three groups; Statutory Attendees, Regular Attendees and Invited Attendees.

Statutory Attendee's: - These members of the government must be in attendance by law.
 * Chairman of the Executive Council
 * Vice Chairman of the Executive Council
 * Executive Minister of Defense
 * Executive Minister of Energy
 * Executive Minister of Commerce

Regular Attendee's: - Although not required by law, these members customarily attend meetings of the Security Council.
 * Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - Military Adviser
 * Director of Alliance Intelligence Services - Intelligence Adviser
 * Director of Internal Affairs - Internal Affairs Adviser
 * Foreign Affairs Minister - Foreign Affairs Adviser
 * Alliance Security Adviser - Security Adviser
 * Minister of the Alliance Central Judiciary

Additional/Invited Attendees - Although not officially members of the security council, these members of government are invited to sit on the security council at the discretion of the Executive council.
 * Assistant to the Chairman for Economic Policy - Economics Adviser
 * Ambassador to the Republic of Biesel
 * Ambassador to the Eridani Federation
 * Ambassador to the Governance of Akhet

Alliance Central Judiciary
The Alliance Central Judiciary consists of two separate institutions; the Alliance Court of Justice and the Alliance Central Court. The Alliance Court of Justice is responsible for resolving disputes between member states and on matters regarding international law.

History and Background
The Sol Alliance, often just addressed as “The Alliance” or sometimes just “Sol” is a strong federation of the core colony worlds originally settled by the Humans from Earth. Founded early in the recent era, the Sol Alliance represents the combined effort of Humanity to successfully leave the planet spurned by fears of economic collapse due to resource depletion. Slowly however, the Alliance began assuming more duties until it declared itself the governing body of humanity. It is by far the most powerful of all Human governments, with only the Skrellian Confederation being near an equal in power, wealth and technological advancement. It is a democracy de jure however power within the Alliance often falls into the hands of a number of influential and wealthy 'inner worlds' which serve as a sort of aristocracy, having the largest populations in human space. These inner colonies have exercised unopposed near total control over Alliance politics from the Alliance's founding. In the last election, however, Salvatore Abbiati from the Jovian moons won in a landslide upsetting the the tradition of inner-world rule. The Alliance is emerging from an marked era of economic stagnation and territorial contraction. This period was headed by the isolationist “Sol” party, which has since been ousted by Abbatis' “Oath” party.

The Alliance began as an evolution of the UN designed to administer all colony worlds. As the inner-colonies grew, the Alliance gained more power until it garnered enough political and military clot to declare itself the governing body of humanity. Alliance politics during these first couple centuries of rule are best described as 'Earth' vs the 'Inner-Colonies'. Earth was by far the most populated and influential place is human space but relied on the colonies for raw resources to keep it alive. Earth also viewed the colonies as 'hers' and a strong sense of 'Earth-planetism' ensured that the homeworld was always draining more and more resources from the colonies. The Alliance became split on colony and Earth lines, eventually culminating in the first Alliance Civil War. The populated worlds of the Sol System, including Earth, were extensively damaged during the course of the War, and it has taken more than a century for them all to recover. Today, the Alliance is a 'Inner-colony centric' government, reflecting the prestige of the most developed, populated and prosperous planets in human space.

The Alliance is an extremely diverse society with no specific ethnic group of any kind making up a majority. More than 31% of the population is composed of minority ethnic groups spread across the Sol system and the colonies, both in cosmopolitan population centers and a handful of ethnic enclaves. Socially, the Alliance is a rather pleasant place to live as-long as you’re not too insistent on being involved in the political system. It is among the more liberal of the empires, with tolerance, social equality and opportunity seen as the birth-right of all mankind, and to some extent aliens, not just those citizens of the Alliance. Religious Freedom is also viewed by Solarians as an integral human right, reflected in a secular society where government interference with personal religion is forbidden by law.

Politically the Sol Alliance is a quagmire. Two centuries of codified laws complicate the electoral process to an almost byzantine degree. Furthermore, the vast majority of politicians come from a pseudo-aristocracy based primarily in the inner-most worlds which over the centuries has gained a strong, almost fearsome foothold in matters political and governmental. While officials outside of these ‘families’ are somewhat common, they typically confined in lower ranking positions. Most seats on the Sol Senate are held by the 'political families' or those affiliated with them.

The executive branch of the Alliance divests its power into three individuals. While usually being referred to as an executive Councillor. The three Councillors are: the leader of the majority/plurality party (Chief Councilor), the Executive Minister of the Defense Staff, and the Executive Minister of Commerce. The leader of the majority party takes the role of head of the executive council, while the two un-elected officials are viewed as subordinate, though both other councils can together veto an action of the Chief Councilor. Though this method an unstable or otherwise unreliable leader can have their power checked by the other two Councillors, mitigating the damage they are capable of inflicting. On the reverse, this can render an otherwise talented head counselor incapable of performing their duties if they are not well-liked by the other Councillors.

Critical to the Alliance's survival is the Warp-gate network. A Warp Gate is present in low orbit of each and every garden or developed core world. This network of transit stations is connected to their host-worlds by orbital elevators. Each has anywhere from one to twenty wormhole-gates which can connect to any other gate in the network allowing for cheap, nearly instantaneous travel across the Alliance's wealthiest worlds is available to all.

Taking advantage of their superior agricultural and 'green' technology, Alliance worlds manage to achieve low population densities despite its massive population, with the notable exception of Earth. Painfully aware of the environmental disasters humanity caused on its homeworld, the Alliance prides itself on building comfortable settlements while simultaneously leaving the vast majority of nature on settled planets untouched.

Though the Alliance was isolated politically and economically until extremely recently. They are now gearing up for heightened trade with outer, fringe and alien colonies, powered by bluespace drivers. The Alliance is by far the highest exporter in Human space, trading medical supplies, ship-parts and industrial equipment and luxury goods for foodstuffs, refined plasma, exotic goods and natural resources.

Shaped over time by a series of extremely damaging civil wars, the Alliance has retreated from her outer-most colonies, slowly shrinking over the centuries. Sol has set down her border at a roughly 75 ly bubble around Sol. Its borders are ferociously guarded by its Navy and few rivals has attempted to break through the border. However, an invasion of the Alliance isn't all that necessary: For the past several centuries, the outer-most Alliance systems have been slowly but steadily braking away to join various outer-colony empires and conglomerations.

Since the election of Salvatore Abbiati, things have changed in the Alliance. With the loyalty and support of the Minister of the Defense Staff and Minister of Commerce, Abbiati has been able to force reforms through the Alliance Senate, crippling the power of the old families and opening the upper echelons of the government to the lower-class. However, the Alliance is coming to realize the uncomfortable reality that not only do they rely on NanoTransen to keep the economy going, they may be exerting a dangerous amount of influence over Alliance affairs. The current administration is also highly suspicious of the conditions behind the forming of the Tau Ceti Free Trade Zone, not to mention what amounts to the loss of one of its core systems.