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<center>'''YELL AT DAVE TO UPLOAD THE IMAGES ONTO THIS ONCE EDITING IS DONE'''</center>
[[File:Dominia_Flag_Small.png|thumb|The Imperial standard.]]
<center>[[File:Solarian Intelligence.png|500px]]</center>
For an expansionist state such as the Empire of Dominia a strong military is of the highest concern, as is the sprawling military-industrial complex that supports it. The '''Dominian Imperial Military''' is thus consistently lavished with funds, equipment, and training as a result of its critical nature, which has made it into one of the most-experienced fighting forces in the contemporary [[Orion Spur]]. Yet there is one aspect of its nature cannot be changed no matter how much money is thrown at it: the fact that the vast majority of its least senior personnel — from enlisted soldiers guarding occupied Fisanduh, to the ground crews that maintain the supersonic aircraft favored by typically noble pilots, to the crewmen of the Imperial Fleet’s ships — are Ma’zals.
<center>''The traditional emblem of the Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations' security services. The gold represents the police and security personnel shielding the Alliance from danger, while the sun represents the Alliance. The sun is blue to signify that justice views all in a neutral, unbiased light.''</center>


While those that supervise these Ma’zals as officers are generally Secondaries or Primaries, the ones below them almost always outnumber them. This seeming contradiction — that the instrument of conquest, and thus the creation of Ma’zals, itself is made up of those conquered — has long seemed puzzling from the outside, yet the Empire has shown that it is able to make the contradiction seemingly sensible, against all reasonable odds. The answer to this puzzle lies in the Empire’s taxation policy: the [[Empire_of_Dominia#The_Mo’ri’zal|Mo’ri’zal]].


The often-high Mo’ri’zals that Ma’zals incur simply due to being born as a Ma’zal motivates many to pursue a career in the Imperial Military, which often is the only way that many Ma’zals and their families will be free of debts incurred for the privilege of being born in the Empire. Some join for other reasons — many from Novi Jadran in particular join out of a sense of duty to those they perceive as their betters, and often rise higher than their Ma’zal counterparts — but the majority are motivated by their Mo’ri’zal, and the better lives they will live after they are rid of it. The sheer number of willing volunteers that sign up to serve in the Imperial Military has ensured that the Empire has not had a draft since the War of Moroz, a fact that it often dangles tauntingly over the head of the conscription-heavy [[Elyra Military|Elyran Armed Forces]].


The [[Empire_of_Dominia#Dominian_Society|Primaries, Secondaries, and Ma’zals]] of the Imperial Military are divided into three major branches: the Imperial Army, His Imperial Majesty’s Fleet, and the Imperial Flying Corps.  
Policing and security in the Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations is managed by a Byzantine mass of bureaucratic agencies and regulations which, in some cases, date back to the Alliance’s founding in 2140 -- making some Solarian security agencies older than every other human (and most non-human) nations in the Orion Spur. The oldest of these agencies is the massive '''Solarian Interstellar Policing & Crime Prevention Agency (SIP-CPA)''', a system-spanning organization with millions of employees that is responsible for coordinating inter-system policing in the Alliance. Other similar agencies include the '''Solarian Interstellar Security Agency (SISA)''', a more recent agency formed for the purpose of domestic intelligence, and the '''Solarian Interstellar Intelligence Bureau (SIIB)''', a much older agency that serves as the Alliance’s highest security authority.


==The Imperial Army==
==History==
<center><b>''L'Honneur Accorde la Victoire''</b></center>
The history of interstellar policing and security in the Solarian Alliance is as old as practical human space travel itself, although it only became formally institutionalized with the formation of the Solarian Interstellar Policing & Crime Prevention Agency in 2140. Prior to this point interstellar policing had primarily been carried out by individual countries and organizations based upon on Earth, which had become increasingly impractical as humanity branched out first into the Sol System and then beyond it with the advent of practical warp engines in 2130. The SIP-CPA proved itself to be significantly more effective than the smaller agencies that had preceded it and this success would eventually lead to the founding of its sister agency, the Solarian Interstellar Security Agency (SISA), in 2157.
<center><i>“The typical infantryman of the Imperial Army is almost always Ma’zal, a member of a social/economic group similar to Non-Citizen Persons. They are well-trained and well-equipped soldiers who have often seen combat on the Imperial Frontier. Do not underestimate them or their ballistic armament in combat — doing so may <u>COST YOU YOUR LIFE</u> in a combat situation!”</i> — Excerpt from the [[Elyra Military|Elyran Army’s]] <i>Know Your Enemies</i> training manual (2463 edition).</center>


[[File:House_Strelitz.png|thumb|right|The dark red standard of House Strelitz, the great house that dominates the Imperial Army.]]
But these two agencies would eventually find themselves overworked and overtaxed by the rapidly expanding Alliance as the 22nd century ended and the 23rd began. The Alliance’s push to expand its borders had clearly overcome their capabilities by the mid-2220s, requiring the creation of an entirely new agency in 2228: the Solarian Interstellar Intelligence Bureau (SIIB), an agency tasked solely with ensuring the security and stability of the Alliance’s distant colonial frontier. Due to the increasingly shaky control of the Alliance over its distant colonies the SIIB was given nearly unlimited authority and almost no oversight in its mission to ensure security and stability, and the Bureau almost immediately turned to what it referred to as “strong methods” in order to ensure loyalty to Sol remained. While the SIIB -- despite its methods -- failed to prevent the outbreak of the Interstellar War and subsequent formation of the Coalition of Colonies it remained active due to its deeply-seeded intelligence networks across the Coalition, effectively proving its usefulness to the Solarian government despite any moral qualms they may have had over its techniques.
The oldest and largest of the Empire’s branches is the Imperial Army, which was first formed by the Imperial Alliance the predecessor of the modern Empire — in the years leading up to the War of Moroz. This makes it older than the Empire itself, though constant reforms and modernizations have ensured that it bears little resemblance to the force that once became stuck in a mountainous quagmire when it had to fight the Confederated States of [[Fisanduh]]’s Army. [[Empire_of_Dominia_Great_Houses#House_Strelitz|House Strelitz]] is the unquestioned master of the Imperial Army, but their conservative nature — and sense of duty — have ensured that the Army is unfailingly loyal to the Emperor, though some more conservative members of it are rumored to disdain the apparently liberal and reformist heir apparent, [[Keeser_Royal_Family#Crown_Princess_Priscilla_Keeser|Crown Princess Priscilla Keeser]].


The Imperial Army has perhaps the most practical experience out of any comparable force in the [[Orion Spur]] due to the Empire’s seemingly unending conquests, which are providing it with ample opportunities to cut its teeth in open warfare and counterinsurgency operations. Its large size and multitude of active combat operations have given the Imperial Army a massive need for officers, regardless of their origins. Though it remains heavily stratified it is— despite the conservative leanings of House Strelitz — not unheard of for a Ma’zal to become an officer, though those that rise to such ranks are typically from [[Empire_of_Dominia#Novi_Jadran|Novi Jadran]]. While a Ma’zal is capable of rising to the officer ranks, ranks above non-commissioned officers consist almost entirely of Secondaries and Primaries, and a majority of these officers are a part of or affiliated with House Strelitz. Noble officers of the House can be found at a variety of ranks ranging from platoon officers to general staff, and families of the House consider it a point of pride to have a relative serving as an officer involved in active combat. To many Strelitz no location is better suited to the honing of martial pride than an active battlefield, where the path to glory so often originates.
Following the Solarian collapse after Violet Dawn the Alliance’s security, policing, and intelligence agencies remain as valuable and important as ever for the now-shrunken Alliance, though they now find themselves scrambling to deal with the aftermath of Violet Dawn even a year later. The Alliance’s security -- and its future -- may very well depend upon them, and none wish to be found wanting by history.


While the Imperial Army is primarily a human organisation it does have some aliens within its ranks, primarily unathi from or affiliated with House Kazhkz and its Han’san faction. These unathi are formed into their own species-based units commanded by human, and often Strelitz-affiliated, officers that are attached to Imperial battalions as assault infantry. These “unathi regiments,as they are typically known are highly prized by Imperial Army commanders, who often deploy them to the most dangerous areas of an assault.
==Domestic Agencies==
While much of the Alliance’s day-to-day security is managed by local planetary policing agencies such as the Venusian VPPF and Callistean CMPD situations often arise that go beyond the authority a planet or system and require greater authority to resolve, such as issues with piracy and smuggling in the Middle and Outer Rings before the events of late 2462.


The common soldiers of the Imperial Army are most typically deployed on the Imperial Frontier, where they are responsible for much of the fighting and dying that takes place when a planet does not immediately surrender to the Empire when His Imperial Majesty’s Fleet arrives in the system in force. One of the most recent notable invasions carried out by the Imperial Army was the invasion and pacification of [[Empire_of_Dominia#Sun_Reach|Sun Reach]], a planet located in a system with rich deposits of Helium-3. While the conquest took barely two months the Imperial Army has since found itself in a protracted war against insurgents on the planet, and has resorted to using more and more severe methods to pacify the population. While much of the Imperial Army’s combat operations are carried out against similar unconventional forces, it has engaged many conventional forces: primarily the militias and limited armed forces of colonies the Empire conquers. In these scenarios it almost always has an overwhelming advantage, and has yet to face a serious defeat on the open battlefield as a result. Imperial Army forces are also involved in what they term as “peacekeeping operations,” in Fisanduh alongside the Imperial Flying Corps, where they have been involved in an ongoing asymmetrical conflict for decades.
===Solarian Interstellar Policing & Crime Prevention Agency (SIP-CPA)===


Compared to its major regional rival, the Elyran Armed Forces, the Imperial Army is significantly more experienced but has begun to lag behind in technological parity as the Elyran military has reformed. The equipment demands that result from its large size and multitude of conflicts have given the Imperial Army a preference for equipment that has been proven to work effectively. Unlike the glamorous clothing associated with [[Moroz|Moroz’s]] nobility, the typical Army regular’s uniform and armor consists of dull earthen tones designed to blend in with the environment. The most common rifle used by Imperial Army troops is the MPR-24/5 (Moroz Pattern Rifle, Year of 2426, fifth modification), a 40 year old rifle that has been continuously upgraded and modified since its inception as ballistic weaponry, in the eyes of Army command, is both more reliable and easier to train Ma’zals with. As a result energy weaponry is generally kept within special units consisting of more trusted Ma’zals, such as those from Novi Jadran, and the Army’s primarily-Morozian special forces.
<center><i>“Empires run on information, y’know? Starts at the bottom, then gets funneled up through all the layers until the powers that be can act on it. If you think the only thing the Sippies are doing with that budget and manpower pool is helping planetary cops talk to each other, you’re [censored] delusional.”</i> - Anonymous conspiracy theorist posting on the /sol/ board of 64tan, 2460.</center>


The special forces of the Imperial Army are known as His Majesty's Special Operations Group, or simply as “the Group.” The Group is primarily recruited from the Empire’s core worlds and Novi Jadran, and is divided into two wings: geneboosted and non-geneboosted. The geneboosted wing is the older and more prestigious branch, dating back to the end of the War of Moroz and the Strelitz troops used to decisively end it. This wing consists entirely of geneboosted Primaries and is often regarded as the most prestigious unit of the Army. The non-geneboosted wing is primarily recruited from Novi Jadran (though Lyodii and Secondaries often find their way into it) and, despite their lesser prestige, is responsible for the majority of the Imperial Army’s special operations due to its larger size and greater flexibility. Commandos from the non-geneboosted wing can be found throughout the Empire, but are most often associated with long-range expeditions into Fisanduh to destroy 3F arms factories. These long-range patrols are often equipped with non-Dominian weaponry in the name of plausible deniability, and to avoid any diplomatic consequences.
Founded in 2140, the Solarian Interstellar Policing & Crime Prevention Agency (SIP-CPA) is the eldest of Sol’s intelligence agencies, and the one most overlooked by Solarian media. Primarily concerned with rear-echelon administrative and management duties, it lacks the glamor and fame of “field” organizations like the SISA, but loses none of its importance. Without the analysts and number-crunchers of the SIP-CPA its sister branches, and numerous local agencies, would have no reference from which to direct their own talents.


Standards of living of the soldiers of the Imperial Army vary depending on both their rank and their social class of origin, though the meritocratic nature of its recruitment and organisation has ensured that these social class gaps – at least those in common ranks, such as the enlisted and lower-ranked officers – are not egregious. The general staff of the Imperial Army goes to great lengths to ensure that Ma’zals within it are treated well and have a better standard of living while in the Army than many had on their planets, which ensures that it always has a steady stream of willing volunteers signing up to serve. While life is often difficult in the Imperial Army, its personnel – from the greenest Ma’zal recruits just sent to Moroz for basic training to its Primary general staff – can count on the Army not abandoning them to die, or to go hungry in the cold.
It first and most pertinent duty is to coordinate, assist, and facilitate the operations of planetary and system police forces across the member states of the Alliance. The first of these tasks is the one for which the Agency is most well-known, and it occupies the largest single chunk of its quarterly budget and manpower reserve. Across the Alliance many thousands of clerks, couriers, and routing staff are in constant communication on behalf of their local departments, both within systems and between stars, transmitting case files, wanted notices, and endless quantities of paperwork through the informational spiderweb tying the Alliance's law enforcement agencies together. This focus on coordination also applies to the planetary police agencies of the Alliance, with SIP-CPA coordinators being found in nearly every large-scale joint security operation.


===Notable Imperial Army Units===
Beyond this primary duty it is responsible for ensuring the Alliance’s member state police forces are up to standard in training, equipment, and in their internal accountability. When a given member state cannot provide sufficient funds to their force it will send supply and material requests up the chain to the Department of Justice, which will fill requests as needed -- though sometimes this replacement material can be old, or out-of-date. Should a department’s performance or behavior prove insufficient, it provides the training personnel and opportunities needed to improve them. And if an officer should betray the law they swore to uphold, it is called to serve as a neutral arbitrator in the case pending referral to judicial authorities. These tasks have given its personnel a somewhat mixed reputation, especially on planets far from the Jewel Worlds, where some independently-minded security forces resist what they see as bureaucratic meddling from the Sol System.


<center><i>“By Her will, in Her name,”</i> - Regimental motto of the 56th Jadranic Infantry Regiment.</center>
Much less well-known is the SIP-CPA’s third function, that of the largest intelligence-gathering network within the Alliance. Where SISA focuses on targeted investigation and direct action, it instead utilizes a “wide net” strategy of passively acquiring as much information as is possible. Webcrawlers, bugs, and paid informants are only a handful of the methods used by the Agency in the course of its operations outside the public eye. All the while, as is a (legal right of the SIP-CPA, all of the data acquired in partnership with planetary security agencies is dutifully collated, copied, and dispatched to Sol for further categorization and analysis, then distributed back to the same law enforcement agencies through the Inter-Alliance Criminal Information Network (IACIN). While the Agency rarely acts on this information itself, actionable intelligence collated by the SIP-CPA has served as a stepping stone for the other members of the Intelligence Trinity more times than can be feasibly counted.


The oldest regiment in the entire Imperial Army, the '''Royal Morozian Regiment''' can trace its history to the Imperial Alliance which preceded the modern Empire. It served with distinction in the War of Moroz and has contributed troops to nearly every colonial conflict, though typically only as bodyguards for generals assigned to the front. The Royal Morozian is made up, as the name implies, entirely of Morozians and is recruited primarily from great house-affiliated Secondaries. The Royal Guard recruits directly from the Royal Morozian and the Regiment itself is often used to guard important buildings in Nova Luxembourg. As the regiment is mostly ceremonial joining it is considered to be an honor bestowed upon few Secondaries and most who manage to secure a position within it know they are on a fast-track for ennobling. The Regiment’s status as a mostly ceremonial unit has engendered some bitterness towards it in the broader Imperial Army and has earned it the nickname of the “Toy Soldier Regiment” in some corners.
Outside of Sol it maintains campuses and facilities across nearly every Solarian member world, though with a higher density of infrastructure within the Jewel Worlds. Universally located near command centers of local police units to facilitate rapid communication, SIP-CPA intelligence campuses are typically compact but vertically developed, often including high-rise buildings entirely dedicated to the clerical work which encompasses much of its mandate.


Originally formed by [[Empire of Dominia Great Houses#House Caladius|House Caladius]] as a regiment entrusted with defending the Holy Kingdom’s border with the Confederated States of Fisanduh far before the Empire was formed, the '''1st Mountain Division''' is perhaps the oldest Imperial Army unit aside from the Royal Morozian Rifles. But unlike its Imperial Alliance counterpart the 1st Mountain did not shift into a ceremonial role after the War of Moroz. As [[Fisanduh]] remained a hotbed of insurgency the mountaineers continued to fight for the Empire in the mountains and, over time, expanded into a division-strength formation made up of recruits from across [[Moroz]], though most of its recruits still hailed from mountainous regions. The 1st has fought in Fisanduh since the War of Moroz and is, despite its status as the only Imperial Army unit commanded by a Caladius affiliate, regarded as the most senior unit in the Army’s Fisanduhian garrison. Despite House Strelitz’ attempts to place one of their own in command of this division it has always been commanded by a Caladius or Caladius affiliate, much to the infuriation of the Strelitz
The leader of the SIP-CPA is '''Director Almir Fazlić'''. Originally from Novo Igman, Fazlić has led the agency since 2463, when he replaced a Frost-aligned director, and seen it through the upheaval of the Solarian Civil War and its aftermath. A lawyer by training and innately familiar with Solarian federal criminal code, and many local codes, he is a conservative leader who has done little to change the agency's mission and a great amount to ensure its capabilities have remained effective. He was retained by PM Strom after the recent election and is expected to serve as director for the remainder of Strom's term.


The '''56th Jadranic Infantry Regiment''' is, as the name implies, the fifty-sixth regiment mustered from the planet of [[Empire of Dominia#Novi Jadran|Novi Jadran]]. The regiment is one of the most well-equipped and experienced Jadranic regiments and is commonly known as “Glavan’s Own,” due to the close relationship the regiment has with the planet’s ruler. While the enlisted and most officers of the regiment are natives of Novi Jadran its commander has always been a House Strelitz Primary. and the reasons for this are twofold. First: The regiment is widely seen as a prestigious unit to command despite not being Morozian due to the relatively high position Novi Jadran holds as a colony. Second: The residents of Novi Jadran have long held a culture of honoring Primaries, who most view as their natural leaders and betters which have clearly been chosen by the Goddess Herself to rule over them. If the 56th were to be led by a Secondary or Ma’zal from Novi Jadran most in it believe it would anger the Goddess, and upset the natural order of things. Despite being an infantry regiment the 56th is more accurately described as a mechanized unit, and makes heavy use of the iconic JA-32/3 “Lyodcrawler” AFV. The Regiment is currently stationed in Outer Fisanduh, and has acquired a reputation as one of the most effective regiments in the garrison.
===Solarian Interstellar Security Agency (SISA)===


The '''1st Armored Brigade''' commonly known as the “Goddess’ Hammer” or simply “Hammerer” Brigade is a formation of the Imperial Alliance which dates to the War of Moroz, though it did not see much action in the War itself due to its consistently mountainous environments. But despite its lack of martial glory outside of limited actions in the flatter environments of Fisanduh the Brigade continued to be extremely well-funded by the Strelitz, who realized the potential benefits armored warfare could bring them in future conquests. The Hammers derives their nickname from their intended purpose: after Ma’zal infantry secure a landing zone the Brigade would be deployed to the area in order to push out and create a gap between the enemy’s position for slower infantry and mechanized infantry regiments to exploit, thus hammering them into submission. One of the main uses of the JA—57/2 breakthrough tank as a result, the Brigade mostly consists of Morozian Secondaries with only a handful of Primaries — often members of House Strelitz — who serve as its regimental command staff and limited number of Ma’zals, who mostly serve as maintenance crews.
<center><i> “Protecting The Nation, Upholding The Law, and Securing The Future.”</i> - Motto of the SISA.</center>


The elite '''12th Airborne Operations Brigade''', affectionately known as “The One-Two Punch,” a portmanteau of its numerical designation, and more formally as the 12th AOB, is the Emperor’s rapidly deployable lightweight scalpel. The 12th AOB is specialized in two combat operations: paradrops from aircraft behind enemy lines and rapid air assaults on key enemy positions with helicopters. A favorite piece of equipment for the 12th AOB is the ZIA-37 “Bat” helicopter gunship, a fearsome machine often deployed during airborne infantry landing and assault operations as a fire support platform alongside lighter-armed transport helicopters. The missions the brigade is tasked with range from scouting actions, to supply route disruptions and sabotage operations behind the opposing front, to precision assaults targeting enemy defenses and leadership. The isolated and cut-off conditions under which the 12th AOB often operates while behind enemy lines have garnered it a cantankerous reputation among other units: the brigade does not take kindly to being ordered around by other formations which have not fought under similar circumstances. Despite having high standards for entry which often disqualify many applicants, the unit is one of the most egalitarian and meritocratic of the Imperial Army. Its formations are composed of servicepeople from all over the Empire and of all classes of Imperial society; its leadership is often promoted from the rank-and-file. Soldiers of the 12th Airborne Operations Brigade are commonly referred to as “Paras” and are easily identifiable from their maroon berets.
The Solarian Interstellar Security Agency, or SISA, was founded as the “action” counterpart to the SIP-CPA. Where the SIP-CPA performs intelligence gathering and administration on the strategic level, SISA was created with the intent of directly assisting and supplementing Alliance member police forces on the ground. As the only member of Alliance Intelligence Trinity to have official law enforcement authority, it serves at the long arm of Alliance domestic security, operating armed field offices on nearly every world in the Alliance. It holds jurisdiction over the Alliance's federal crimes and maintains both the Solarian Alliance Terror & Extremism Watchlist and the list of the Alliance’s most wanted fugitives.


A specialized infantry regiment intended to fight in the harshest arctic climates, the '''Lyodic Rifles''' are prized by the Imperial Army for their marksmanship and ability to rapidly travel on foot. Recruited entirely from the [[Moroz#The Lyodii|Lyodii of Moroz]], the regiment has acquired something of a reputation for eccentric behavior as most members of it practice borderline-heretical Lyodic Tribunalism which greatly alters the seventh edict’s interpretation.. The Lyodii of the regiment are de facto under the protection of House Strelitz, which shields them from the prying eyes of House Caladius and the myriad Tribunalist staff attached to the Army. The regiment is the only in the Imperial Army to employ priestesses not certified by the Holy Tribunal as its religious staff are instead drawn from Lyodii shamans. Officers of the Lyodic rifles, up to the regimental commander, are exclusively Lyodii as the Army believes they are the best fit for themselves and few House Strelitz nobles wish to be seen as the commander of a regiment of “backwards savages.” The regimental commander, prior to their ascension to command, is required by tradition to travel to the northern pole of Moroz to earn the regiment’s respect. Most officers typically adorn themselves with traditional Lyodic fetishes to mark their rank.
The most commonly seen units of SISA across the Alliance are its Special Agents, federal law enforcement officers entrusted with the rights to conduct investigations, serve warrants, and make arrests, regardless of Solarian jurisdiction, in the case of federal crimes. They are granted significant legal authority in the pursuit of these objectives, being permitted to install wiretaps, search property without notice but with reason, and assume full control over a case should it be deemed necessary. Crimes which will merit the involvement of SISA include terrorism, large-scale drug trafficking, sapient lifeform trafficking, and serial murder, among several others. As a general rule, an intervention by SISA means that a case is of serious importance to both the local jurisdiction and the Alliance as a whole.


===Notable Imperial Army Equipment===
Said intervention is not always appreciated by the local forces SISA is ostensibly supporting and agents have developed a somewhat mixed reputation among the Alliance’s holdings. More Sol-skeptical forces see them as haughty know-it-alls who take command over cases and assert their authority at the expense of the local police unit they are assisting, while pro-government individuals see them as Unity Station stepping up to the task of enforcing the Alliance's federal laws. This issue is further compounded by SISA agents often rotating between posts across the Alliance, leading to a degree of separation existing between them and planetary agencies. While the SIP-CPA strives to smooth over such conflicts wherever they arise, a level of distrust still exists between a number of Middle Ring security forces and SISA personnel.


The '''Jinxiang Armaments Year of 2432, Third Revision, “Lyodcrawler” armored fighting vehicle (JA-32/3)''' is one of the most commonly used armored vehicles in the modern Imperial Army. Designed to transport a squad of infantry in safety, if not comfort, the Lyodcrawler’s name comes from its most prominent feature: a set of large treads originally designed to allow it to move across the snowy Lyod with ease. These treads, when combined with its heavy armor and twin-linked autocannon, require a powerful engine to move, and the Lyodcrawler is easily recognizable due to how incredibly loud it is while in operation as a result of this engine. The JA-32/3 AFV is capable of being easily modified and many Imperial Army units have their own variations of it, such as the 56th Jadranic Infantry’s JA-32F (Fisanduh) which further armors the bottom and sides of the vehicle to prevent damage from mines and improvised explosives — two of the largest threats while on patrol in Fisanduh. The crews of these loud and typically infantry-supporting AFVs are generally Ma’zals, and few find the prestige their Secondary counterparts do in the JA-57/2 breakthrough tank.
Like the SIP-CPA, recruiting for SISA agents is a pan-Solarian process, though it places much higher emphasis on physical fitness and practical skills than the SIP-CPA. Once accepted, prospective recruits are transported to one of several expansive training centers within the Jewel Worlds to be educated in the fine art of federal law enforcement. Modeled after the Solarian Navy’s own “Alliance-Wide” system, this method of centralized training is designed to instill loyalty to SISA and the Alliance over one’s homeworld, along with standardizing the training and education of SISA’s personnel. That this method also serves to maintain the gap between SISA and its planetary charges is viewed as an unfortunate necessity in the eternal struggle to guarantee the safety of the Alliance.


Though much of the Imperial Army’s equipment seems to be deliberately bombastic and often overdesigned — perhaps a result of competition between Houses Zhao and Strelitz — the humble '''7.5cm Imperial Army Mountain Gun (75mm IAMG)''' is anything but bombastic. Designed during the War of Moroz to meet the specifications of the 1st Mountain Division, the IAMG is a lightweight artillery piece which is designed to be broken into multiple parts and hauled by teams of trained yupangyangwangmi to wherever it is needed. Advances in artillery since the War of Moroz have rendered the IAMG largely obsolete compared to the long-ranged, and often mechanized or motorized, howitzers now used by the Imperial Army, but some units — such as the Lyodic Rifles — retain a limited number  due to the gun’s mobility and firepower.
The current leader of SISA is '''Director Andrii Savchuk'''. Born in New Odesa, Luna, Director Savchuk is a lifelong Department of Justice bureaucrat who became director in 2463 when his predecessor was arrested for public corruption following the anti-Frost coup. He is known to be exacting and demanding in his private and personal life, sleeping very little and spending most of his time at SISA's headquarters in New Odesa, where he is rumored to sleep. Slow to praise, twice-divorced, and quick to criticize anything he perceives as wrong, Savchuk is not a popular man, but is a very effective director: under his leadership SISA has arrested thousands of criminals and handled multiple major domestic incidents, ranging from a major hostage crisis on Visegrad to the capturing of Lycoris' Solarian Restoration Front-aligned governor. He is known to always wear a suit and maintains strict personal grooming standards he has attempted, with some success, to disseminate to the rest of the agency: suits, ties, and cleanly-shaven faces.


The '''Jinxiang Armaments Year of 2457, Second Revision breakthrough tank (JA-57/2)''' is one of the cornerstones of modern Imperial Army doctrine. Heavily armored and capable of carrying a variety of different armaments, the JA-57/2 is designed to smash through enemy lines and create a gap which can be exploited by the Ma’zal infantry of the Imperial Army. Service in a JA-57/2 is considered to be a prestigious position and many rank commanders find themselves ennobled for their deeds, which has led to the crews of this vehicle being overwhelmingly Secondaries. While not quite equivalent to the Solarian Army’s venerable M35A6 the JA-57/2 is easily capable of outmaneuvering and destroying any Elyran or Coalition vehicle unlucky to come across it. Of particular note is the experimental “Obliterator,” pattern of the JA-57/2. Intended to eliminate even the heaviest enemy vehicles, the Obliterator has a unique main armament: two standard JA-57/2 cannons bolted together. Immense recoil means the Obliterator is often physically thrown backwards by shooting, but very few targets require more than one shot of its main guns to destroy.
====SISA - Counter-Terrorism Response Group (SISA-CRTG)====
<center><i>"To Save Lives and Uphold the Law"</i> - CTRG motto.</center>


Intended primarily for urban operations and funded in part by the [[Moroz Holy Tribunal]] via House Caladius, the '''Jinxiang Armaments, Year of 2418, Third Revision, (JA-18/3) heavy-duty combat exosuit''' is a weapon hated by the Imperial Army and feared by its enemies. Hot, cramped, uncomfortable, and — even worse — armed with thermite weaponry which demands the presence of highly-combustible fuel tanks on the exosuit’s rear, the one saving grace of the JA-18/3, or “Gremlin” as it is commonly sarcastically known, is the ejector seat built into it which allows for the safe escape of its operator in an emergency. Bizarrely, many models of the JA-18/3 have the Edicts written onto their chassis in various locations due to demands by the more conservative wing of House Caladius. Gremlin pilots in the Army are typically disgraced Primaries seeking redemption and glory through combat, and few Ma’zals or Secondaries volunteer for the duty. These pilots are never drafted into the role and must always volunteer for it. If there are no volunteers, the machines simply sit unused.
One of the most decorated and experienced tactical units fielded by SISA, the Counter-Terrorism Response Group (CRTG) specializes in hunting down the most dangerous criminals the Alliance and neutralizing them by any means necessary. It has secured an operational success rate and mission count unrivaled by any other non-military force in the Alliance through a combination of high-end equipment, exacting training standards, and intelligence superiority. It is often said CRTG's trainings are danger-free operations and its operations are dangerous trainings. Over the course of its half-century and counting existence it has proven instrumental in neutralizing major criminal threats across the Alliance, from Martian separatists to Visegradi nationalists to the stay-behind units of the Solarian Restoration Front to triad members in Ton Gwai Pei, New Hai Phong. Despite this record of success it has attracted controversy for its apparent lack of oversight, as the SISA director can make the call on when and where they go in without consulting local authorities -- a measure to guard against insider threats, per the agency -- and a track record of violence towards non-human residents of the Alliance, such as tajara (prior to 2462).


A rifle seemingly from another era, the '''Moroz Pattern Marksman’s Rifle, Year of 2408, Second Revision (MPMR-08/2)''', is an incredibly precisely-machined sharpshooting rifle based upon hunting rifles in fashion with the Empire’s Primaries intended for use by specialist units. The MPMR-08/02 uses a mechanism rarely seen anywhere in the armies of the Spur outside of Adhomai: a straight-pull bolt which must be worked after every shot by a trained shooter. Despite, or perhaps due to, this grossly antiquated mechanism the rifle’s stress-machined parts and high quality demanded — with ninety of every hundred barrels rejected — have given it a peerless reputation for accuracy and precision. In the hands of a trained sniper, such as a member of the Lyodic Rifles, the 08 is capable of drilling a hole through a coin at a kilometer. It is, despite the concerns of House Strelitz, one of the few Imperial Army weapons readily exported beyond Dominian borders, and many competition shooters swear by it.
One of its most notable recent operations was its campaign against the Tajaran Revolutionary Army (TRA). Following the New Hai Phong bombings of 2460, which made the TRA the agency's top priority, CTRG was the spearhead of the agency’s subsequent effort to wipe the TRA from the face of the Alliance. Given a blank check by the Frost administration to prosecute and neutralize, “any and all responsible parties,the CTRG performed hundreds of raids on suspected TRA safe houses and collaborators, often with few arrestees, little evidence, and many bodies. Most of the records for these operations were -- conveniently -- lost in the chaos of the Solarian Civil War, leaving the exact number of casualties unknown, though rumors hold that many of the “terrorist targets” were in reality unaffiliated tajara communities struck as part of the Frost administration’s virulently xenophobic agenda. While very few CTRG operatives sided with the SRF during the Civil War, a widespread purge of its ranks carried out by the provisional government has led some to suspect it was more ATLAS-adjacent than the Department of Justice stated in its 2465 review of the team.


==His Imperial Majesty’s Fleet==
==The Solarian Interstellar Intelligence Bureau (SIIB)==
<center><i>''Soit Gagner Soit Mourir''</i></center>
<center><i>"To Grant Freedom Through Truth.</i> - Official motto of the SIIB</center>
<center><i>“The duty of the enlisted voidsman is to serve and obey. The task of the officer is to render their service effective,”</i> — Common Imperial Fleet saying. Year of origin unknown.</center>
Originally created as the SISA and SIP-CPA’s counterpart in the Solarian frontier (now the modern [[Coalition of Colonies]]), the SIIB has since become the Alliance’s primary intelligence service for external concerns. As a result of this role the Bureau is shrouded in deliberate secrecy and few outside of it itself, and the higher echelons of the Solarian government, understand the extent to which it operates within other nations -- or within the Alliance itself. While it is known to operate in the Republic of Biesel '''you should not play an active or former SIIB agent as a non-antagonist on-ship character''', as Bureau operatives often work directly against the interests of NanoTrasen and the [[Stellar Corporate Conglomerate]].


[[File:Zhao_Flag_Small.png|thumb|right|The white-and-grey standard of House Zhao, the great house that dominates the Imperial Fleet.]]
Due to its role the Bureau has never had significant oversight, which has led to it developing and adopting a variety of quasi-legal methods in order to achieve its ends. These are typically described as its “strong methods,” in official documents released to the public. The “strong methods” the Bureau employs have contributed to its controversial history, which dates back to before the Interstellar War and its original purpose as an organization designed to ensure stability in the Alliance’s colonies. Its shadowy nature has only enhanced the reputation of these strong methods and much of the information on them is still classified, which has led to rumors about what the exact methods used in its interrogation rooms are.
While the junior of the Imperial Army in terms of age — being founded in the final years of the War of Moroz — His Imperial Majesty’s Fleet (often shortened to “HIMF,” or simply the “Imperial Fleet,”) is no less important, with many arguing that it is far more important to Dominia’s imperial ambitions than its planetbound counterpart. Vast funds and countless factories are devoted to the purpose of ensuring that the Imperial Fleet is strong enough to counter any threats to the Empire; whether they be pirates, unathi savages, frontiersmen, or Elyrans — the main regional rival of the Empire. Much of the Imperial Fleet’s equipment is produced by Zavodskoi Interstellar in collaboration with [[Empire_of_Dominia_Great_Houses#House_Zhao|House Zhao]] and [[Empire_of_Dominia_Great_Houses#House_Caladius|House Caladius]]: the Zhaos provide the industry and many of the crews, while the Caladius provide the funding required. While the traditionally more liberal House Zhao is the unquestioned master of the Imperial Fleet, the Fleet itself is a more conservative organization that is steeped in traditions and shaped by its sense of unwavering duty towards the Emperor. Many naval officers in the Fleet belong to often-exclusive officer’s societies that exclude most Ma’zals on principal, and officers outside these societies can find their promotions denied or otherwise stymied. Imperial Fleet vessels can be identified by the prefix HIMFS (His Imperial Majesty’s Fleet Ship).


While it is smaller than many of its human counterparts — having only 15 fleets with mere hundreds of ships in each — the Imperial Fleet is perhaps the most experienced of the Orion Spur’s human fleets, having fought a variety of pitched battles and border skirmishes in the course of the Empire’s steady outwards expansion over the course of the last century. The experience gained during the course of these conquests has shaped the Fleet’s doctrine of “decisive battle,” in which the entire Dominian force moves as one in a massive show of force in an attempt to make the planet capitulate without serious resistance. Many frontier worlds, which often only have a paltry sum of combat-ready vessels, have surrendered upon witnessing the fully assembled strength of an Imperial fleet.
Over the years of its mandate, it has subsumed much of the authority for overseeing Alliance informational security and data classification. The only branch of the Bureau to be granted explicit permission to perform operations within Solarian territory, SIIB-INFOSEC enforces the sanctity of the Alliance’s classified materials, and was responsible for the creation of the Alliance’s modern six-tier data classification system. Unique among the SIIB’s components for its law enforcement authority, INFOSEC is charged with identifying and prosecuting breaches in the Alliance’s data security, both against internal thieves and foreign hackers. They are responsible for maintaining all '''ROMEO VERMILLION''' classification material, which is the Alliance's highest level of classification. Reportedly, only a few individuals outside of the prime minister and the SIIB's director are aware of all romeo vermillion material.


The pride of the Empire’s fleets is the HIMFS ''Moroz'', the current flagship of [[Notable_Humans#Duchess_Huiling_Zhao,_Grand_Admiral_of_His_Imperial_Majesty’s_Fleet|Grand Admiral Huiling Zhao]], the master of the Imperial Fleet, and the command vessel of the Empire’s First Fleet. Originally launched in 2445 and recently modernized in collaboration with Zavodskoi Interstellar in 2464, the ''Moroz'' is regarded as a symbol of national pride, and has never been bested upon the field of combat. To serve aboard it in any function – even at the lowest level – is to bring immense pride to one’s family name, and thousands of hopeful naval personnel apply to serve on the vessel every year. Though it primarily relies upon tried-and-true Helium-3 engines, the 'Moroz'' is one of the few ships in the Imperial Fleet capable of bluespace jumps. In theory, should the Emperor desire to visit the Republic of Biesel, he would be borne to it on the Imperial Fleet’s flagship.
Despite the well-known reputation of its interrogation rooms, its primary day-to-day work is centered around gathering intelligence through passive interrogation and observation alongside active infiltrations, which it has become adept at since the Interstellar War. It is rumored to have nearly completely infiltrated the government of the [[Republic of Biesel]] on almost every level despite efforts by Biesel’s local authorities to stop and is alleged to have had a hand in many of the crises the young Republic has suffered, up to and including the infamous Clandestine Incident of 2462. The governments of the [[Coalition of Colonies]] and [[Republic of Elyra]] are said to be similarly infiltrated, as is the nearby [[Empire of Dominia]], where rumored SIIB agents are reported to have met with officers of the Dominian Imperial Intelligence Directorate. While operations in the [[Human Wildlands]] by the SIIB have not been officially confirmed by the Bureau or by the Solarian government, rumors of meetings between officials of the SRF, SSMD, and SPG and unknown actors in Solarian-produced ships can be found across social media. While the SIIB's purpose in the Wildlands is not currently known, it is doubtlessly heavily involved despite its lack of official confirmation.


While the Imperial Army is prone to the occasional non-Jadranic Ma’zal officer out of sheer necessity, the Imperial Fleet is not the same. To be a naval officer is a great honor for many, and it is a right reserved for a select few: Primaries, Secondaries, and notable Novi Jadranic Ma’zals, which the Imperial Fleet views as “honorary Morozians,” for all practical intents and purposes. The highest ranks of the fleet are dominated by the Empire’s nobility, and none come from outside of House Zhao. Unathi in particular are looked down upon in the Imperial Fleet and rarely rise above the lowest ranks, with many believing that House Zhao’s intense distaste for their piratical backgrounds is the reason behind this. Those unathi that do opt to fight for the Empire in the vast reaches of the Orion Spur often avoid the Imperial Fleet entirely, instead opting to serve as privateers. These privateers, which are often crewed exclusively by unathi, are often viewed in a poor light by House Zhao and the Fleet.
The Bureau’s infiltration efforts do not stop at other human governments and it has influenced non-human governments across the Orion Spur to further Solarian interests, with its skrellian and tajara branches being the most prevalent of its non-human intelligence wings. The SIIB’s Nralakk Federation branch is the eldest and most built-up of its international establishments, having been created shortly after first contact with the Federation in 2332. Cooperating extensively with the Federation’s various Enforcer organizations, the SIIB’s centuries-long relationship with the nation has been extremely productive for both parties, with ongoing intelligence and technology sharing agreements keeping their relations warm. The tajara branch, however, is no longer present on Adhomai, though its influence can still be felt.


When compared to its major regional rivals, the Elyran Navy and [[Coalition of Colonies]], the Imperial Fleet maintains a technological edge on both and a numerical advantage on the Elyran Navy. However, a direct comparison to the Coalition is difficult due to its dispersed strength and varying development. While a [[Himeo|Himean]] or [[Xanu_Prime|Xanusanii]] fleet may be as strong as their Dominian counterparts, there are many worlds in the Coalition that cannot hope to stand against an Imperial fleet on their own. Imperial Fleet vessels rely overwhelmingly on large-scale ballistic armaments and tend to be large and heavily-armored in order to have more space for well-protected gun turrets. Fleet crews are constantly drilled in order to achieve the best accuracy possible, and little attention is paid to strategies such as ramming in order to board. Dominian vessels are generally slower than their Elyran counterparts as they use Helium-3 powered warp engines rather than phoron-based thrusters. With the shortage worsening every day, it seems that their vessels will be made with He3 engines for the foreseeable future.
The skrellian branch is widely-known throughout the Bureau for its creative approaches to hiding classified information from a psionically-capable species. Bureau facilities (and some facilities that are not affiliated with them at all) are generally aluminium-lined to prevent nlom field interactions within classified areas such as interrogation rooms, and the skrellian branch was responsible for the creation of the first practical mindshield shortly after first contact. While similar corporate mindshields exist, Bureau mindshields are highly-classified and exclusive to the agency itself. Rumor has it that they are capable of turning the psionic energies of a skrell onto the skrell themselves but they, like much of the Bureau, are shrouded in rumors and falsehoods.


An Imperial Fleet capital ship of enough importance, or renown, is assigned a complement of Imperial Marines for the purpose of repelling boarding parties or any boarding missions the ship itself may have to carry out. Clad in white-and-red prejoroub and Jinxiang-pattern suits, these well-trained infantry are primarily recruited from non-geneboosted Primaries and Secondaries. To have a child serve in the Imperial Marines is a badge of honor for many families, due to the prestige of the Fleet and the Imperial Marines’ reputation for bravery. Once Imperial Marines leave the Fleet they are often sought by both [[Zavodskoi Interstellar]] and Dominia’s various noble houses and families to serve as guards, retainers, and duelists-by-proxy. To employ a former Imperial Marine is often enough to give even the most dull Caladius bureaucrat a modicum of flair and prestige, even if retaining such services may force them into fiscal ruin in the long term.
While smaller than its counterpart the tajara branch has a long history of clandestine activities on resource-rich [[Adhomai]] stretching back to the First Revolution, where it was initially active through the use of long-range observation equipment. The People’s Strategic Intelligence Service, the main intelligence organization of the People’s Republic of Adhomai, was trained by the Bureau until the start of the Second Revolution, with the Bureau’s instructors leaving shortly before the war began. While President Hadii’s [[Notable Tajara#Tufir Nazzirai|assassin]] was a PSIS agent, and did assassinate him with a rare energy weapon, the Bureau has repeatedly denied that it had any role in the assassination or chaos that followed. With the breakdown of normal relations between Sol and Adhomai the Bureau’s presence on the planet has allegedly lessened yet some on Adhomai still believe it operates in [[Crevus]] under the cover of the city’s non-tajara population, still manipulating events on the planet from behind the shadows.


Non-capital ships, and many capital ships unable to fully staff their Imperial Marine contingent, are instead given larger, though less well-equipped, compliments of Imperial Fleet armsmen. Typically clad in armor similar to their Imperial Army counterparts or in typical Fleet voidsuits given additional armor, Fleet armsmen are enlisted Ma’zals which are generally recruited from the Imperial Army with the promise of higher pay or chosen from more experienced enlisted Fleet personnel. The armsmen of the Fleet are respected by their fellow voidsmen but are not nearly as famous as their marine counterparts despite performing roughly the same duties. They are additionally, unlike their marine counterparts, fully expected to carry out the duties of regular crew if necessary. Despite their lesser prestige, armsmen are known to often have rivalries with Imperial Marines assigned to vessels in their battlefleet due to believing, perhaps rightfully, that armsmen do far more work than their noble counterparts.
The leader of the agency is '''Director Shufen Feng''', who has led it since 2463. A veteran of the Department of State's Foreign Service Officer Corps, Feng has spent much of her life abroad and was recalled by Frost in 2461, at which point her activities become unknown until she was appointed Director by the emergency government. She was reportedly present on Unity Station during Frost's assassination but has never confirmed if she was present or what she was doing there at the time. Like most SIIB directors Feng is an extremely private woman with little known about her career or private life. What is known of her career -- postings across the Coalition and Elyra as a FSO -- is so unexceptional and dull that it has led to rumors she has always worked for the agency and her entire history is simply a fabrication and cover for one of the first SIIB case officers to become agency director.


Armsmen are often regarded as highly superstitious and ritualistic even by the standards of the Fleet, and many have religiously-inclined pre-boarding rituals they engage in. One of the most common rituals employed by armsmen prior to boarding is to hold a mass prayer session of the entire unit in the ship’s chapel where the first bullet to be shot by each armsman is immersed in holy water and blessed by the ship’s priestess. In some circumstances these ceremonial blessings have been known to also involve blades, grenades, and other martial equipment. Carrying icons of the Goddess or writing prayers to Her on one’s armor is similarly common.  
====Solarian Interstellar Intelligence Bureau - Special Activities Branch====
<center><i>“Your faces have been erased. Your names will be forgotten. Only your deeds will endure,”</i> - SIIB Director Shufen Feng, concluding a speech to a newly inducted cadre of SAB operatives, date unknown.</center>


Unlike its planetary counterpart, the living standards of the Imperial Fleet are very much divided along lines of social class and rank. Enlisted personnel live in tight, cramped quarters designed to use space as efficiently as possible while their officer counterparts – which are generally nobles – live in comfortable (and for some, opulent) chambers that are most often private, or at least only contain one to two other persons in the case of junior officers. The Ma’zals of the Imperial Fleet often chafe under these conditions, and as a result the Fleet has a smaller amount of “careerist” enlisted (those that have decided to live their life in service of the Imperial military) than the Imperial Army. Despite the clear class divisions in the Imperial Fleet many Ma’zals still opt to serve in it, as a naval career – and the skills learned in it – can provide immense material benefits for a Ma’zal family.
Charged with utilizing the information acquired by the Bureau for the good of the Alliance, the Special Activities Branch (SAB) is the long arm and closed fist of the Bureau, exerting influence and force abroad. Conducting direct action missions such as raids, sabotage, and targeted killings, it is the paramilitary force of the SIIB and one of the Alliance’s most effective irregular warfare units. The latter speciality also makes the SAB one of the go-to detachments for clandestinely rendering aid to pro-Sol governments and insurgent groups, such as the Alliance’s reported involvement in supporting the Mictlani Samaritans and Founding Movement. It may still be active on [[Mictlan]], though the Alliance has denied these rumors. In any situation where the Alliance wishes to directly and deniably involve itself outside the public eye, the ever-reliable SAB is tasked with addressing the issue.


==The Imperial Flying Corps==
Though the Bureau has been working in the Alliance for over two centuries, the vast majority of the SAB’s operational records remain heavily classified. Their most notable recent campaign (that is available to the public, at least) remains the Bureau’s participation in the Solarian Civil War. As the Alliance’s central government worked to rebuild itself, its agents were the first to re-establish contact with surviving Solarian statelets in the Human Wildlands, escorting Bureau personnel as they performed clandestine meetings with those Solarian patriots who still held out hope for a united Alliance. From 2462 until the defeat of the Front on Lycoris, the SIIB was working to shore up support and strength within the Sol-aligned states of the Middle Ring Shield Pact, with SAB units on the ground ensuring the steady flow of weapons, supplies, and expertise that would allow them to hold out against the onslaught of the Front and League. Persistent rumor even holds that operatives of the SAB can be seen in active combat at various points in the Xanusii News Service’s acclaimed reporting saga of the war, though the Bureau has declined to comment in this regard.
''Nous Protégeons et Vengeons''


For as long as mankind has walked, he has dreamt of flight. Though not the youngest of the Imperial Military’s branches, the Imperial Flying Corps (often called the “IFC,” or simply “Flying Corps,”) it is by far the smallest, having only a fraction of the personnel that the Imperial Army and Imperial Fleet have under arms. Yet despite this small size it exerts a significant amount of influence due to who tends to join the IFC’s ranks of pilot officers: unlike any other branch in the Imperial Military the IFC’s combat troops are often drawn from the Empire’s nobility, with less prestigious positions (such as ground crews and bomber crews) made up of Secondaries and Ma’zals. To be a fighter pilot — the most prestigious position in the IFC — means that one is, in almost every scenario, also a Primary. As a result of how many nobles fill its officer ranks, no single great house dominates the IFC. As with its naval counterpart many officer pilots in the IFC belong to exclusive societies that exclude Ma’zals on principle, with some of these societies excluding Secondaries as well.
Given the extremely sensitive nature of their missions, personnel of the Special Activities Branch often operate without uniforms. The only known standard uniform used by the SAB are sets of unmarked grey Solarian Army fatigues and accompanying body armor, which their agents have been observed wearing in the scant few operational recordings publicly released by the Bureau.


The Imperial Flying Corps is seconded to both the Imperial Army and His Imperial Majesty’s Fleet, and provides the both with the majority of their fighter, bomber, and support aircraft. This has led to an often-awkward relationship between the IFC and its attached branch, as many officers in the Fleet and Army come from non-noble backgrounds and, in the eyes of noble-born IFC pilots, are socially inferior to their IFC counterparts. Attempts to integrate the IFC into either the Imperial Army or Fleet instead of having this dual structure have consistently failed due to the Corps’ influence, which stretches up to the Emperor’s throne via the Chief Commissioner for Imperial Aviation, Annaliese Strelitz.
==Courts and Law==
<center><i>“Military deep state confirms the military deep state does not exist after giving the Supreme Court to the military deep state,"</i> - Headline of the satirical newspaper <i>Fish News</i> following the Solarian junta’s packing of the Supreme Court, 2462.</center>


To be a pilot of the IFC means many things depending upon what aircraft one is placed in charge of, or what air wing one is assigned to serve in. The fighter wings of the Flying Corps are the most prestigious of the entire force; viewed as knights of the skies, the stereotypical Dominian fighter pilot is a (non-geneboosted) Primary capable of taking down any threat to the Empire, whether in the void of space or the skies above Fisanduh or Sun Reach, before retiring to the polite society of their officer’s clubs. In reality, a significant minority of non-noble fighter pilots — primarily Secondaries with the occasional Ma’zal — also serve as IFC fighter pilots, and are often passed up for opportunities in favor of their noble counterparts.
Under the Solarian Federal Constitution the Alliance operates two primary sets of judicial systems: local planetary law and Solarian federal law. Solarian federal law is solely created by the senate on Unity Station and is binding in all Solarian jurisdictions save the Eridani Corporate Federation. Local laws are instead dictated and enforced solely by the member state in question, and can apply to at most a solar system. In cases where Alliance federal law and member state laws conflict, Alliance law will always take precedence, as defined under the Solarian Constitution's supremacy clause.


For pilots not in the Corps’ fighter wings life is much less glamorous. Bomber crews — which log more flight hours than any other category in the IFC — do much of the work of supporting the Imperial Army’s offensives and counter-insurgency operations, and gain none of the prestige of their fighter-flying noble counterparts. Those that crew the IFC’s supersonic bombers are, as a result of this lack of prestige, a mix of Secondaries and Ma’zals. These men and women are beloved by the Imperial Army and often hated by the residents of recently-occupied planets, which view them as the source of many of their woes. Those that fly ground attack craft, the most dangerous duty in the Flying Corps, are almost always Ma’zals, and suffer from much of the same issues as their bomber counterparts.
Trial by jury is an enforced right of the court system outside of Alliance military mandates, and is generally composed of 13 randomly selected local jurors, though Alliance member states may adjust the exact arrangement for local courts. All judges within the Alliance, regardless of whether they are local or federal, must pass a standardized Solarian bar exam in order to be accredited, which is published by the Department of Justice and updated biannually.  


The ground crews of the IFC and those in it that fly what the Corps broadly calls “utility” craft — transport planes and such — are almost always Ma’zals. In the highly-stratified Flying Corps, itself a microcosm of the Empire’s broader society, the Ma’zal works for the Primary’s benefit. Behind every Primary sitting in his cockpit, ready to bring home prestige and accolades to his family, there is a team of Ma’zals: they load the missiles, fuel the fighters, and a dozen other things. But they receive none of the credit, none of the prestige, and none of the attention. Thus goes the nature of the Empire of Dominia, and thus shall it always continue unless the Goddess Herself intervenes.
The Alliance Supreme Court, located on Unity Station, is the highest legal authority in the nation, and the head of the Solarian Judicial Branch. The Court is composed of nine justices who serve for life, barring any extenuating circumstances which would merit their removal. Under the federal constitution justices are typically appointed by the prime minister and confirmed by the senate. The Court’s current roster is an exception, however, having been appointed unilaterally by the military junta which ruled throughout the Solarian Civil War. Consequently the current Supreme Court is staffed entirely by former military judges who are near-invariably aligned with the rightward factions of the SPP and SFP -- a boon for the current prime minister.


As one might expect, the living standards of the Imperial Flying Corps are starkly divided along lines of class and rank. The Primaries that serve in it live luxurious, glamorous lives and have many amenities, with most Primaries of the IFC having their own chauffeurs and housing themselves in the finest available accommodations. On the other hand the Secondaries and Ma’zals of the IFC must make do with barracks – often in muddy environments, due to the amounts of earth that must be moved to create an effective airfield – or simple canvas tents. Few Ma’zals, or Secondaries, opt to make a career out of service in the Flying Corps, with many instead transferring out to the Imperial Army or Imperial Fleet. The Flying Corps has, thus far, not cared to address this issue, as many of its high-ranking officers simply view non-nobility as entirely beneath notice.
===Correctional System===
<center><i>“Is anyone aware of what 'corrections' the Department is even making? Like, I certainly don’t know anyone corrected by twenty years in a closet-sized metal room!”</i> - Senator Kaylissa Orten (SSUP-CAL), during a speech advocating for prison reform, 2452.</center>
 
While Alliance member states will typically maintain their own local jails and short-term confinement facilities, all prisons and psychiatric detention centers within the ASSN are managed by the Solarian Department of Corrections (SDOC). As a rule, Alliance prisons are more geared towards confinement and security than rehabilitation, with conditions that can be generally described as “functionality first.” While no Alliance prison will go without running water or electricity, they are austere structures designed to meet federal prison requirements as efficiently as possible in both cost and space. The sole exception to this is found in non-criminal psychiatric detention centers, designed to house mentally ill individuals who, despite having not committed criminal acts, cannot be adequately housed within the broader population. These centers are much more comfortable than typical correctional facilities, often being described as, "a country club you aren’t allowed to leave.”
 
Though privately-owned prisons made up a significant minority of Alliance facilities prior to the Solarian Civil War, auxiliary bills to the Industrial Reclamation Mandate have seen all such corporate prisons be taken into the custody of the Department of Corrections.
 
The Alliance also remains one of two major nations in the Orion Spur to practice capital punishment, despite being a signatory of the Luna Accords. Permitted only for a specific list of capital crimes, all executions performed by the Alliance must be authorized by a federal judge and are typically performed via lethal injection, with the firing squad having been prominent during the civil war and its period of unrest. While complaints over this practice have arisen from multiple foreign powers, most notably the Nralakk Federation and the Republic of Biesel, the Alliance has shown no intent of ceasing the use of capital punishment.
 
==Policing in the [[Eridani Federation]]==
 
Though officially a member state of the Alliance, the Eridani Corporate Federation’s status as a de facto independent nation inside of the Alliance extends to its law enforcement as well. Due to several provisions within the labyrinthine mess of contracts and agreements nominally binding Eridani to Sol, Solarian federal law enforcement agencies are forbidden from operating within Eridani jurisdictions, save when they are directly requested by Eridani security forces. Instead, every facet of law enforcement within the ECF is handled by its bevy of private security companies and mercenaries contracted to the state’s ruling megacorporations. As a consequence, Eridanian security forces are generally regarded as unrestrained, poorly disciplined, and untrustworthy by their Alliance peers. This reputation is not helped by the tendency for Eridani PMCs to lack the level of oversight their counterparts in the Alliance do, leading to an endemic culture of corruption and brutality among their rank-and-file officers. The special status of the ECF is a source of immense frustration for the Department of Justice and Attorney General Henri Fontenot, which consider Eridani a wretched hive of criminal activity actively worsening the Alliance around it. 


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Latest revision as of 00:22, 11 April 2026

YELL AT DAVE TO UPLOAD THE IMAGES ONTO THIS ONCE EDITING IS DONE
The traditional emblem of the Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations' security services. The gold represents the police and security personnel shielding the Alliance from danger, while the sun represents the Alliance. The sun is blue to signify that justice views all in a neutral, unbiased light.


Policing and security in the Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations is managed by a Byzantine mass of bureaucratic agencies and regulations which, in some cases, date back to the Alliance’s founding in 2140 -- making some Solarian security agencies older than every other human (and most non-human) nations in the Orion Spur. The oldest of these agencies is the massive Solarian Interstellar Policing & Crime Prevention Agency (SIP-CPA), a system-spanning organization with millions of employees that is responsible for coordinating inter-system policing in the Alliance. Other similar agencies include the Solarian Interstellar Security Agency (SISA), a more recent agency formed for the purpose of domestic intelligence, and the Solarian Interstellar Intelligence Bureau (SIIB), a much older agency that serves as the Alliance’s highest security authority.

History

The history of interstellar policing and security in the Solarian Alliance is as old as practical human space travel itself, although it only became formally institutionalized with the formation of the Solarian Interstellar Policing & Crime Prevention Agency in 2140. Prior to this point interstellar policing had primarily been carried out by individual countries and organizations based upon on Earth, which had become increasingly impractical as humanity branched out first into the Sol System and then beyond it with the advent of practical warp engines in 2130. The SIP-CPA proved itself to be significantly more effective than the smaller agencies that had preceded it and this success would eventually lead to the founding of its sister agency, the Solarian Interstellar Security Agency (SISA), in 2157.

But these two agencies would eventually find themselves overworked and overtaxed by the rapidly expanding Alliance as the 22nd century ended and the 23rd began. The Alliance’s push to expand its borders had clearly overcome their capabilities by the mid-2220s, requiring the creation of an entirely new agency in 2228: the Solarian Interstellar Intelligence Bureau (SIIB), an agency tasked solely with ensuring the security and stability of the Alliance’s distant colonial frontier. Due to the increasingly shaky control of the Alliance over its distant colonies the SIIB was given nearly unlimited authority and almost no oversight in its mission to ensure security and stability, and the Bureau almost immediately turned to what it referred to as “strong methods” in order to ensure loyalty to Sol remained. While the SIIB -- despite its methods -- failed to prevent the outbreak of the Interstellar War and subsequent formation of the Coalition of Colonies it remained active due to its deeply-seeded intelligence networks across the Coalition, effectively proving its usefulness to the Solarian government despite any moral qualms they may have had over its techniques.

Following the Solarian collapse after Violet Dawn the Alliance’s security, policing, and intelligence agencies remain as valuable and important as ever for the now-shrunken Alliance, though they now find themselves scrambling to deal with the aftermath of Violet Dawn even a year later. The Alliance’s security -- and its future -- may very well depend upon them, and none wish to be found wanting by history.

Domestic Agencies

While much of the Alliance’s day-to-day security is managed by local planetary policing agencies such as the Venusian VPPF and Callistean CMPD situations often arise that go beyond the authority a planet or system and require greater authority to resolve, such as issues with piracy and smuggling in the Middle and Outer Rings before the events of late 2462.

Solarian Interstellar Policing & Crime Prevention Agency (SIP-CPA)

“Empires run on information, y’know? Starts at the bottom, then gets funneled up through all the layers until the powers that be can act on it. If you think the only thing the Sippies are doing with that budget and manpower pool is helping planetary cops talk to each other, you’re [censored] delusional.” - Anonymous conspiracy theorist posting on the /sol/ board of 64tan, 2460.

Founded in 2140, the Solarian Interstellar Policing & Crime Prevention Agency (SIP-CPA) is the eldest of Sol’s intelligence agencies, and the one most overlooked by Solarian media. Primarily concerned with rear-echelon administrative and management duties, it lacks the glamor and fame of “field” organizations like the SISA, but loses none of its importance. Without the analysts and number-crunchers of the SIP-CPA its sister branches, and numerous local agencies, would have no reference from which to direct their own talents.

It first and most pertinent duty is to coordinate, assist, and facilitate the operations of planetary and system police forces across the member states of the Alliance. The first of these tasks is the one for which the Agency is most well-known, and it occupies the largest single chunk of its quarterly budget and manpower reserve. Across the Alliance many thousands of clerks, couriers, and routing staff are in constant communication on behalf of their local departments, both within systems and between stars, transmitting case files, wanted notices, and endless quantities of paperwork through the informational spiderweb tying the Alliance's law enforcement agencies together. This focus on coordination also applies to the planetary police agencies of the Alliance, with SIP-CPA coordinators being found in nearly every large-scale joint security operation.

Beyond this primary duty it is responsible for ensuring the Alliance’s member state police forces are up to standard in training, equipment, and in their internal accountability. When a given member state cannot provide sufficient funds to their force it will send supply and material requests up the chain to the Department of Justice, which will fill requests as needed -- though sometimes this replacement material can be old, or out-of-date. Should a department’s performance or behavior prove insufficient, it provides the training personnel and opportunities needed to improve them. And if an officer should betray the law they swore to uphold, it is called to serve as a neutral arbitrator in the case pending referral to judicial authorities. These tasks have given its personnel a somewhat mixed reputation, especially on planets far from the Jewel Worlds, where some independently-minded security forces resist what they see as bureaucratic meddling from the Sol System.

Much less well-known is the SIP-CPA’s third function, that of the largest intelligence-gathering network within the Alliance. Where SISA focuses on targeted investigation and direct action, it instead utilizes a “wide net” strategy of passively acquiring as much information as is possible. Webcrawlers, bugs, and paid informants are only a handful of the methods used by the Agency in the course of its operations outside the public eye. All the while, as is a (legal right of the SIP-CPA, all of the data acquired in partnership with planetary security agencies is dutifully collated, copied, and dispatched to Sol for further categorization and analysis, then distributed back to the same law enforcement agencies through the Inter-Alliance Criminal Information Network (IACIN). While the Agency rarely acts on this information itself, actionable intelligence collated by the SIP-CPA has served as a stepping stone for the other members of the Intelligence Trinity more times than can be feasibly counted.

Outside of Sol it maintains campuses and facilities across nearly every Solarian member world, though with a higher density of infrastructure within the Jewel Worlds. Universally located near command centers of local police units to facilitate rapid communication, SIP-CPA intelligence campuses are typically compact but vertically developed, often including high-rise buildings entirely dedicated to the clerical work which encompasses much of its mandate.

The leader of the SIP-CPA is Director Almir Fazlić. Originally from Novo Igman, Fazlić has led the agency since 2463, when he replaced a Frost-aligned director, and seen it through the upheaval of the Solarian Civil War and its aftermath. A lawyer by training and innately familiar with Solarian federal criminal code, and many local codes, he is a conservative leader who has done little to change the agency's mission and a great amount to ensure its capabilities have remained effective. He was retained by PM Strom after the recent election and is expected to serve as director for the remainder of Strom's term.

Solarian Interstellar Security Agency (SISA)

“Protecting The Nation, Upholding The Law, and Securing The Future.” - Motto of the SISA.

The Solarian Interstellar Security Agency, or SISA, was founded as the “action” counterpart to the SIP-CPA. Where the SIP-CPA performs intelligence gathering and administration on the strategic level, SISA was created with the intent of directly assisting and supplementing Alliance member police forces on the ground. As the only member of Alliance Intelligence Trinity to have official law enforcement authority, it serves at the long arm of Alliance domestic security, operating armed field offices on nearly every world in the Alliance. It holds jurisdiction over the Alliance's federal crimes and maintains both the Solarian Alliance Terror & Extremism Watchlist and the list of the Alliance’s most wanted fugitives.

The most commonly seen units of SISA across the Alliance are its Special Agents, federal law enforcement officers entrusted with the rights to conduct investigations, serve warrants, and make arrests, regardless of Solarian jurisdiction, in the case of federal crimes. They are granted significant legal authority in the pursuit of these objectives, being permitted to install wiretaps, search property without notice but with reason, and assume full control over a case should it be deemed necessary. Crimes which will merit the involvement of SISA include terrorism, large-scale drug trafficking, sapient lifeform trafficking, and serial murder, among several others. As a general rule, an intervention by SISA means that a case is of serious importance to both the local jurisdiction and the Alliance as a whole.

Said intervention is not always appreciated by the local forces SISA is ostensibly supporting and agents have developed a somewhat mixed reputation among the Alliance’s holdings. More Sol-skeptical forces see them as haughty know-it-alls who take command over cases and assert their authority at the expense of the local police unit they are assisting, while pro-government individuals see them as Unity Station stepping up to the task of enforcing the Alliance's federal laws. This issue is further compounded by SISA agents often rotating between posts across the Alliance, leading to a degree of separation existing between them and planetary agencies. While the SIP-CPA strives to smooth over such conflicts wherever they arise, a level of distrust still exists between a number of Middle Ring security forces and SISA personnel.

Like the SIP-CPA, recruiting for SISA agents is a pan-Solarian process, though it places much higher emphasis on physical fitness and practical skills than the SIP-CPA. Once accepted, prospective recruits are transported to one of several expansive training centers within the Jewel Worlds to be educated in the fine art of federal law enforcement. Modeled after the Solarian Navy’s own “Alliance-Wide” system, this method of centralized training is designed to instill loyalty to SISA and the Alliance over one’s homeworld, along with standardizing the training and education of SISA’s personnel. That this method also serves to maintain the gap between SISA and its planetary charges is viewed as an unfortunate necessity in the eternal struggle to guarantee the safety of the Alliance.

The current leader of SISA is Director Andrii Savchuk. Born in New Odesa, Luna, Director Savchuk is a lifelong Department of Justice bureaucrat who became director in 2463 when his predecessor was arrested for public corruption following the anti-Frost coup. He is known to be exacting and demanding in his private and personal life, sleeping very little and spending most of his time at SISA's headquarters in New Odesa, where he is rumored to sleep. Slow to praise, twice-divorced, and quick to criticize anything he perceives as wrong, Savchuk is not a popular man, but is a very effective director: under his leadership SISA has arrested thousands of criminals and handled multiple major domestic incidents, ranging from a major hostage crisis on Visegrad to the capturing of Lycoris' Solarian Restoration Front-aligned governor. He is known to always wear a suit and maintains strict personal grooming standards he has attempted, with some success, to disseminate to the rest of the agency: suits, ties, and cleanly-shaven faces.

SISA - Counter-Terrorism Response Group (SISA-CRTG)

"To Save Lives and Uphold the Law" - CTRG motto.

One of the most decorated and experienced tactical units fielded by SISA, the Counter-Terrorism Response Group (CRTG) specializes in hunting down the most dangerous criminals the Alliance and neutralizing them by any means necessary. It has secured an operational success rate and mission count unrivaled by any other non-military force in the Alliance through a combination of high-end equipment, exacting training standards, and intelligence superiority. It is often said CRTG's trainings are danger-free operations and its operations are dangerous trainings. Over the course of its half-century and counting existence it has proven instrumental in neutralizing major criminal threats across the Alliance, from Martian separatists to Visegradi nationalists to the stay-behind units of the Solarian Restoration Front to triad members in Ton Gwai Pei, New Hai Phong. Despite this record of success it has attracted controversy for its apparent lack of oversight, as the SISA director can make the call on when and where they go in without consulting local authorities -- a measure to guard against insider threats, per the agency -- and a track record of violence towards non-human residents of the Alliance, such as tajara (prior to 2462).

One of its most notable recent operations was its campaign against the Tajaran Revolutionary Army (TRA). Following the New Hai Phong bombings of 2460, which made the TRA the agency's top priority, CTRG was the spearhead of the agency’s subsequent effort to wipe the TRA from the face of the Alliance. Given a blank check by the Frost administration to prosecute and neutralize, “any and all responsible parties,” the CTRG performed hundreds of raids on suspected TRA safe houses and collaborators, often with few arrestees, little evidence, and many bodies. Most of the records for these operations were -- conveniently -- lost in the chaos of the Solarian Civil War, leaving the exact number of casualties unknown, though rumors hold that many of the “terrorist targets” were in reality unaffiliated tajara communities struck as part of the Frost administration’s virulently xenophobic agenda. While very few CTRG operatives sided with the SRF during the Civil War, a widespread purge of its ranks carried out by the provisional government has led some to suspect it was more ATLAS-adjacent than the Department of Justice stated in its 2465 review of the team.

The Solarian Interstellar Intelligence Bureau (SIIB)

"To Grant Freedom Through Truth. - Official motto of the SIIB

Originally created as the SISA and SIP-CPA’s counterpart in the Solarian frontier (now the modern Coalition of Colonies), the SIIB has since become the Alliance’s primary intelligence service for external concerns. As a result of this role the Bureau is shrouded in deliberate secrecy and few outside of it itself, and the higher echelons of the Solarian government, understand the extent to which it operates within other nations -- or within the Alliance itself. While it is known to operate in the Republic of Biesel you should not play an active or former SIIB agent as a non-antagonist on-ship character, as Bureau operatives often work directly against the interests of NanoTrasen and the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate.

Due to its role the Bureau has never had significant oversight, which has led to it developing and adopting a variety of quasi-legal methods in order to achieve its ends. These are typically described as its “strong methods,” in official documents released to the public. The “strong methods” the Bureau employs have contributed to its controversial history, which dates back to before the Interstellar War and its original purpose as an organization designed to ensure stability in the Alliance’s colonies. Its shadowy nature has only enhanced the reputation of these strong methods and much of the information on them is still classified, which has led to rumors about what the exact methods used in its interrogation rooms are.

Over the years of its mandate, it has subsumed much of the authority for overseeing Alliance informational security and data classification. The only branch of the Bureau to be granted explicit permission to perform operations within Solarian territory, SIIB-INFOSEC enforces the sanctity of the Alliance’s classified materials, and was responsible for the creation of the Alliance’s modern six-tier data classification system. Unique among the SIIB’s components for its law enforcement authority, INFOSEC is charged with identifying and prosecuting breaches in the Alliance’s data security, both against internal thieves and foreign hackers. They are responsible for maintaining all ROMEO VERMILLION classification material, which is the Alliance's highest level of classification. Reportedly, only a few individuals outside of the prime minister and the SIIB's director are aware of all romeo vermillion material.

Despite the well-known reputation of its interrogation rooms, its primary day-to-day work is centered around gathering intelligence through passive interrogation and observation alongside active infiltrations, which it has become adept at since the Interstellar War. It is rumored to have nearly completely infiltrated the government of the Republic of Biesel on almost every level despite efforts by Biesel’s local authorities to stop and is alleged to have had a hand in many of the crises the young Republic has suffered, up to and including the infamous Clandestine Incident of 2462. The governments of the Coalition of Colonies and Republic of Elyra are said to be similarly infiltrated, as is the nearby Empire of Dominia, where rumored SIIB agents are reported to have met with officers of the Dominian Imperial Intelligence Directorate. While operations in the Human Wildlands by the SIIB have not been officially confirmed by the Bureau or by the Solarian government, rumors of meetings between officials of the SRF, SSMD, and SPG and unknown actors in Solarian-produced ships can be found across social media. While the SIIB's purpose in the Wildlands is not currently known, it is doubtlessly heavily involved despite its lack of official confirmation.

The Bureau’s infiltration efforts do not stop at other human governments and it has influenced non-human governments across the Orion Spur to further Solarian interests, with its skrellian and tajara branches being the most prevalent of its non-human intelligence wings. The SIIB’s Nralakk Federation branch is the eldest and most built-up of its international establishments, having been created shortly after first contact with the Federation in 2332. Cooperating extensively with the Federation’s various Enforcer organizations, the SIIB’s centuries-long relationship with the nation has been extremely productive for both parties, with ongoing intelligence and technology sharing agreements keeping their relations warm. The tajara branch, however, is no longer present on Adhomai, though its influence can still be felt.

The skrellian branch is widely-known throughout the Bureau for its creative approaches to hiding classified information from a psionically-capable species. Bureau facilities (and some facilities that are not affiliated with them at all) are generally aluminium-lined to prevent nlom field interactions within classified areas such as interrogation rooms, and the skrellian branch was responsible for the creation of the first practical mindshield shortly after first contact. While similar corporate mindshields exist, Bureau mindshields are highly-classified and exclusive to the agency itself. Rumor has it that they are capable of turning the psionic energies of a skrell onto the skrell themselves but they, like much of the Bureau, are shrouded in rumors and falsehoods.

While smaller than its counterpart the tajara branch has a long history of clandestine activities on resource-rich Adhomai stretching back to the First Revolution, where it was initially active through the use of long-range observation equipment. The People’s Strategic Intelligence Service, the main intelligence organization of the People’s Republic of Adhomai, was trained by the Bureau until the start of the Second Revolution, with the Bureau’s instructors leaving shortly before the war began. While President Hadii’s assassin was a PSIS agent, and did assassinate him with a rare energy weapon, the Bureau has repeatedly denied that it had any role in the assassination or chaos that followed. With the breakdown of normal relations between Sol and Adhomai the Bureau’s presence on the planet has allegedly lessened yet some on Adhomai still believe it operates in Crevus under the cover of the city’s non-tajara population, still manipulating events on the planet from behind the shadows.

The leader of the agency is Director Shufen Feng, who has led it since 2463. A veteran of the Department of State's Foreign Service Officer Corps, Feng has spent much of her life abroad and was recalled by Frost in 2461, at which point her activities become unknown until she was appointed Director by the emergency government. She was reportedly present on Unity Station during Frost's assassination but has never confirmed if she was present or what she was doing there at the time. Like most SIIB directors Feng is an extremely private woman with little known about her career or private life. What is known of her career -- postings across the Coalition and Elyra as a FSO -- is so unexceptional and dull that it has led to rumors she has always worked for the agency and her entire history is simply a fabrication and cover for one of the first SIIB case officers to become agency director.

Solarian Interstellar Intelligence Bureau - Special Activities Branch

“Your faces have been erased. Your names will be forgotten. Only your deeds will endure,” - SIIB Director Shufen Feng, concluding a speech to a newly inducted cadre of SAB operatives, date unknown.

Charged with utilizing the information acquired by the Bureau for the good of the Alliance, the Special Activities Branch (SAB) is the long arm and closed fist of the Bureau, exerting influence and force abroad. Conducting direct action missions such as raids, sabotage, and targeted killings, it is the paramilitary force of the SIIB and one of the Alliance’s most effective irregular warfare units. The latter speciality also makes the SAB one of the go-to detachments for clandestinely rendering aid to pro-Sol governments and insurgent groups, such as the Alliance’s reported involvement in supporting the Mictlani Samaritans and Founding Movement. It may still be active on Mictlan, though the Alliance has denied these rumors. In any situation where the Alliance wishes to directly and deniably involve itself outside the public eye, the ever-reliable SAB is tasked with addressing the issue.

Though the Bureau has been working in the Alliance for over two centuries, the vast majority of the SAB’s operational records remain heavily classified. Their most notable recent campaign (that is available to the public, at least) remains the Bureau’s participation in the Solarian Civil War. As the Alliance’s central government worked to rebuild itself, its agents were the first to re-establish contact with surviving Solarian statelets in the Human Wildlands, escorting Bureau personnel as they performed clandestine meetings with those Solarian patriots who still held out hope for a united Alliance. From 2462 until the defeat of the Front on Lycoris, the SIIB was working to shore up support and strength within the Sol-aligned states of the Middle Ring Shield Pact, with SAB units on the ground ensuring the steady flow of weapons, supplies, and expertise that would allow them to hold out against the onslaught of the Front and League. Persistent rumor even holds that operatives of the SAB can be seen in active combat at various points in the Xanusii News Service’s acclaimed reporting saga of the war, though the Bureau has declined to comment in this regard.

Given the extremely sensitive nature of their missions, personnel of the Special Activities Branch often operate without uniforms. The only known standard uniform used by the SAB are sets of unmarked grey Solarian Army fatigues and accompanying body armor, which their agents have been observed wearing in the scant few operational recordings publicly released by the Bureau.

Courts and Law

“Military deep state confirms the military deep state does not exist after giving the Supreme Court to the military deep state," - Headline of the satirical newspaper Fish News following the Solarian junta’s packing of the Supreme Court, 2462.

Under the Solarian Federal Constitution the Alliance operates two primary sets of judicial systems: local planetary law and Solarian federal law. Solarian federal law is solely created by the senate on Unity Station and is binding in all Solarian jurisdictions save the Eridani Corporate Federation. Local laws are instead dictated and enforced solely by the member state in question, and can apply to at most a solar system. In cases where Alliance federal law and member state laws conflict, Alliance law will always take precedence, as defined under the Solarian Constitution's supremacy clause.

Trial by jury is an enforced right of the court system outside of Alliance military mandates, and is generally composed of 13 randomly selected local jurors, though Alliance member states may adjust the exact arrangement for local courts. All judges within the Alliance, regardless of whether they are local or federal, must pass a standardized Solarian bar exam in order to be accredited, which is published by the Department of Justice and updated biannually.

The Alliance Supreme Court, located on Unity Station, is the highest legal authority in the nation, and the head of the Solarian Judicial Branch. The Court is composed of nine justices who serve for life, barring any extenuating circumstances which would merit their removal. Under the federal constitution justices are typically appointed by the prime minister and confirmed by the senate. The Court’s current roster is an exception, however, having been appointed unilaterally by the military junta which ruled throughout the Solarian Civil War. Consequently the current Supreme Court is staffed entirely by former military judges who are near-invariably aligned with the rightward factions of the SPP and SFP -- a boon for the current prime minister.

Correctional System

“Is anyone aware of what 'corrections' the Department is even making? Like, I certainly don’t know anyone corrected by twenty years in a closet-sized metal room!” - Senator Kaylissa Orten (SSUP-CAL), during a speech advocating for prison reform, 2452.

While Alliance member states will typically maintain their own local jails and short-term confinement facilities, all prisons and psychiatric detention centers within the ASSN are managed by the Solarian Department of Corrections (SDOC). As a rule, Alliance prisons are more geared towards confinement and security than rehabilitation, with conditions that can be generally described as “functionality first.” While no Alliance prison will go without running water or electricity, they are austere structures designed to meet federal prison requirements as efficiently as possible in both cost and space. The sole exception to this is found in non-criminal psychiatric detention centers, designed to house mentally ill individuals who, despite having not committed criminal acts, cannot be adequately housed within the broader population. These centers are much more comfortable than typical correctional facilities, often being described as, "a country club you aren’t allowed to leave.”

Though privately-owned prisons made up a significant minority of Alliance facilities prior to the Solarian Civil War, auxiliary bills to the Industrial Reclamation Mandate have seen all such corporate prisons be taken into the custody of the Department of Corrections.

The Alliance also remains one of two major nations in the Orion Spur to practice capital punishment, despite being a signatory of the Luna Accords. Permitted only for a specific list of capital crimes, all executions performed by the Alliance must be authorized by a federal judge and are typically performed via lethal injection, with the firing squad having been prominent during the civil war and its period of unrest. While complaints over this practice have arisen from multiple foreign powers, most notably the Nralakk Federation and the Republic of Biesel, the Alliance has shown no intent of ceasing the use of capital punishment.

Policing in the Eridani Federation

Though officially a member state of the Alliance, the Eridani Corporate Federation’s status as a de facto independent nation inside of the Alliance extends to its law enforcement as well. Due to several provisions within the labyrinthine mess of contracts and agreements nominally binding Eridani to Sol, Solarian federal law enforcement agencies are forbidden from operating within Eridani jurisdictions, save when they are directly requested by Eridani security forces. Instead, every facet of law enforcement within the ECF is handled by its bevy of private security companies and mercenaries contracted to the state’s ruling megacorporations. As a consequence, Eridanian security forces are generally regarded as unrestrained, poorly disciplined, and untrustworthy by their Alliance peers. This reputation is not helped by the tendency for Eridani PMCs to lack the level of oversight their counterparts in the Alliance do, leading to an endemic culture of corruption and brutality among their rank-and-file officers. The special status of the ECF is a source of immense frustration for the Department of Justice and Attorney General Henri Fontenot, which consider Eridani a wretched hive of criminal activity actively worsening the Alliance around it.