Difference between revisions of "Sol Alliance"
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[[File:Sol Alliance Flag.png|Civilian/Government flag of the Sol Alliance.|thumb]] | [[File:Sol Alliance Flag.png|Civilian/Government flag of the Sol Alliance.|thumb]] | ||
Though its power has waned following the disastrous events of late 2462, this federal union remains the home of humanity and the one of the premier powers in the Orion Spur. Formerly held back by bureaucratic corruption, administrative inefficiency, an overstretched legal system, systemic political infighting, and economic troubles that led to over a century of decline and waning influence culminating in its retreat inwards, many now look to reform the Alliance into a more effective political force. | |||
The | The Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations (ASSN), commonly referred to as the Solarian Alliance, the Sol Alliance, and sometimes the Alliance, is a federal union of 70 member state star systems, and 198 dependencies including the Eridani Corporate Federation. Dependencies vary between undeveloped star systems and outposts on asteroids, to sprawling space stations and include the capital of the Sol Alliance: the bustling Unity Station in orbit over Earth. The Sol Alliance is divided into two administrative sections known as the Inner and Middle Rings. | ||
== | ==Demographics== | ||
The Sol Alliance is either the most populated or second most populated in known space, though due to the lack of accurate census-taking in the Coalition of Colonies it is hard to determine. As of its retreat from the Middle and Outer Rings the Sol Alliance has between 40 and 65 billion citizens and roughly 10 billion residents, with the most recent census having been in 2454. Due to mass defection of many Middle and Outer Ring colonies, these census numbers are no longer considered to be accurate. The Alliance's next census will come in 2464 but experts regard its current population as anywhere between fifty and seventy billion individuals. By breadth of controlled territory the Alliance is the largest sovereign state with every ethnicity, religion, culture, and language found somewhere in its borders. Governed at Unity Station in orbit of Earth, hundreds of systems and dozens of member states find representation in the Alliance. | |||
==The Colony Rings== | |||
The Alliance is divided into two major administrative rings, based on time of colonization and distance from [[Sol]]. | |||
=== | ===Inner Colonies=== | ||
Also known as the Inner Ring, these colonies lie within five light years of [[Sol]]. These planets are the oldest settlements outside of the Solar System, and have the highest quality of life. It is the most populous of the three rings. Solarians from these systems are in favor of Alliance rule, with much of Unity Station’s policies focusing on these areas. Very few aliens reside in the Inner Ring, with most being skrell. On the other hand all [[IPC]] frames can be found throughout the Inner Ring. Citizens of these areas push the most for expansion of Alliance authority over human areas outside its control. | |||
====Notable Inner Colonies==== | |||
*[[Earth]] | |||
*[[Luna]] | |||
*[[Venus]] | |||
*[[Mars]] | |||
*[[Jupiter]] and its moons | |||
*[[Epsilon Eridani]] | |||
===Middle Colonies=== | |||
Also known as the Middle Ring, these colonies lie between five and twenty light years from Sol and are the most average areas of the Alliance. Citizens of this ring felt neither the benefits of Alliance rule nor the benefits of distance from Unity Station prior to the general Solarian retreat from the Middle Ring, leading to many defecting to the Republic of Biesel or, less commonly, the Coalition of Colonies. Some simply fell into a vacuum of no control known as the Wildlands, where they remained until the end of the Solarian Civil War in July 2465. For those Middle Ring worlds remaining with the Alliance, the quality of life in this area is as high as the Inner Ring with plenty of security provided by the mighty Solarian Navy. The separatist [[Republic of Biesel]] was considered part of these middle colonies prior to its independence. | |||
====Notable Middle Colonies==== | |||
*[[Silversun]] | |||
*[[New Hai Phong]] | |||
*[[San Colette]] | |||
== | ==Economics== | ||
The | The '''Solarian Standard Credit''' (民/SSC) is essentially the Orion Spur's standard currency due to the prevalence of the [[Sol Alliance|Solarian Alliance]] prior to its collapse in 2462. Outside of the Alliance, use of the SSC is common throughout certain parts of the [[Coalition of Colonies]], the [[Empire of Dominia]], and the [[Corporate Reconstruction Zone]] of the [[Republic of Biesel]]. Within Sol's collapsed warlord states, it has lost much of its value due to the lack of central authority. The SSC is available in electronic, bankcard and traditional notes forms. Responsibility for the currency falls to the Solarian Central Bank, which is located on Unity Station in the Sol System. The Central Bank manages monetary policy and the supply of the Solarian Standard Credit for the Alliance and greater Spur, and this management of supply and interest rates ensures that the Solarian Credit is able to function as a fiat currency. The SSC is worth less than the Biesel Standard Credit. | ||
The economy of the Sol Alliance was, prior to the recently-passed '''Industrial Reclamation Mandate of 2463''', dominated almost entirely by megacorporations. [[Hephaestus Industries]], [[Idris Incorporated]], [[Zavodskoi Interstellar]], and [[Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals]] increasingly find themselves pushed aside by the massive [[Einstein Engines]], which stands above other megacorporations in the Alliance. Due to its involvement in the Republic of Biesel and continued meddling in Solarian affairs the [[Nanotrasen Corporation]] has been banned from operating within the Alliance itself, and the majority of its assets have been seized by the Alliance. Many suspect Einstein Engines as being behind the Alliance's aggressively anti-NanoTrasen stance. Despite its retreat from the Middle and Outer Rings Sol remains the Orion Spur's second largest economy, trailing only slightly behind the Republic of Biesel. | |||
In recent times the Alliance has pushed forward an aggressive campaign of nationalisation following its retreat from the Middle and Outer Ring. The now centralised and more authoritarian Alliance has, for the most part, managed to make good on many of its nationalistic promises but has been forced to make some compromises with the corporations that remain within its systems of control. Hephaestus Industries stands out among these corporations and has retained of its control over New Hai Phong due to compromises with Senator Hendrik Strom, one of the main drivers behind the '''Solarian Corporate Authority''', the government entity now responsible for much of the now-nationalised assets from corporations present in Solarian space. | |||
The Alliance has not fully recovered from the Second Great Depression of 2260. The economic collapse and the resulting civil war left confidence in the Alliance economy extremely shaky. The Alliance has an extremely condensed cycle of boom and bust, with a brief year of growth followed by two years of recession, on average. This is partially the reason that trans-stellar corporations are so powerful and influential: With Sol Alliance bonds or ventures radically decentralized and untrustworthy, the resilient economic strength of trans-stellar corporations makes them a much more lucrative investment. The prosperity of the Alliance is extremely centralized following its retreat, and its remaining systems benefit from their proximity to the Sol System. Most remaining Solarian systems are major commercial and industrial centers, such as New Hai Phong. | |||
==Politics== | |||
The retreat from its outlying colonies has dramatically shifted the nature and state of politics in the Solarian Alliance, and the political scene as it existed previously has all but disappeared following the death of Prime Minister Michael Frost and the chaos that followed it. While the Alliance remains a federal democracy on paper, with a functional upper and lower house, and its byzantine system of legal codes and regulations remains despite reforms, the Alliance is in reality controlled by an emergency government. | |||
=== | ===Government=== | ||
The Alliance Provisional Military Government is the true government of the Solarian Alliance in the trying times following the retreat from the Alliance's colonies, and its governing power is split between the Navy and a small amount of government functionaries including the two most prominent candidates for the Alliance's next Prime Minister: Senators Hendrik Strom and Le Hanh Trang. While many have criticised the APMG as a mere dictatorial officer's clique tacitly supported by pro-navy politicians, it has promised a peaceful transition of power to a civilian government once the situation has become more stable in the Alliance. Whether this promise will be carried through remains to be seen. | |||
===Departments=== | |||
The Alliance's primary method of internal governance and management, the Alliance's departments are massive, Spur-spanning entities which are often regarded as corrupt and inefficient due to their sheer sizes. Below are some of the major departments in the Alliance. | |||
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====Department of the Interior==== | |||
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Perhaps the largest government entity in the entire Spur in terms of employees, the Department of the Interior (DoI) is responsible for ensuring the Alliance’s infrastructure is maintained. It is the single oldest Solarian department as its establishment was a condition for the Alliance’s formation, which ensures it is as old as the Alliance is. The DoI’s duties have gradually become more and more complex over the centuries, though colonization itself was handled by a separate department until fairly recently, which has led to its immense size and reputation for inefficiency and corruption, particularly in the Outer and Middle Rings after the Interstellar War. The War devastated the Alliance’s infrastructure and the DoI’s budget, which resulted in it neglecting much of the Alliance’s more remote infrastructure throughout the following centuries. Those who did wish for something to be done to their Outer or Middle Ring infrastructure often had to pay costly “consulting fees” to the DoI, which only led to further neglect and growing corruption. | |||
By the 25th century the DoI had effectively split into two major sections, the Outer and Core sections, in addition to subordinate departments such as the Department of Energy — responsible for fuel production and management — and the Department of Education — responsible for Solarian education outside of private schools. The Core Section served the Inner Ring, and some sections of the Middle Ring, continuing the DoI’s reputation for excellence in these regions while remaining untangled from the Navy and other elements. The Outer Section, due to lacking the wealth, influence, or manpower of its counterpart, had the Middle and Outer Ring regions it was responsible for fall into neglect and slowly become more and more corrupt. Navy actors in the Outer Section’s areas of responsibility often dominated and bent the Section to their will, further eroding its effectiveness while increasing corruption. [[Sol Alliance History# 2460-61: Michael Frost Ascends to Power|Frost’s administration]] fired many of the Outer Section’s more qualified personnel when they protested some of his decisions and instead replaced them with loyalist flunkies, which only exacerbated the Section’s corruption problems and contributed significantly to the territorial losses of late 2463. | |||
The Inner and Outer Section division is mostly irrelevant post-2462 as all of the Outer Section, aside from the area responsible for [[New Hai Phong]], was lost during the Collapse. The Inner Section has remained intact and has, perhaps due to its lesser corruption, mostly endured both the Collapse and the Frost administration’s rampant mismanagement relatively intact. The DoI is heavily involved in both [[Solarian Reconstruction Mandates]] and has promised to avoid the mistakes of its prior staff in these areas. However, only time will tell if the new regions under the DoI’s control will be more effective than their precursors. | |||
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==== | ====Department of Justice==== | ||
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The Alliance’s Department of Justice is responsible for policing and court systems across the Alliance. It is younger than the Department of the Interior as it was formed in the late 2100s due to issues between the Soviet bloc and the Western bloc’s justice systems. The DoJ supervises [[Solarian Security and Law|Solarian multi-planetary policing agencies]] such as the Solarian Interstellar Security Agency (SISA) but has no authority over the Solarian Interstellar Intelligence Bureau (SIIB), which has little oversight. Its duties of police and court supervision have remained the same throughout the centuries and the DoJ has a reputation as a relatively non-corrupt Solarian department but has often found itself brutalized by political figures seeking to undermine its authority and credibility. | |||
By the mid-2400s the Department of Justice had found itself tested by decades of ATLAS-aligned governments which had sought to erode its authority while corrupting the Department at all possible levels, but it remained mostly independent and uncorrupted until the election of Michael Frost in 2460-61, when ATLAS finally gained a supermajority in the Solarian government. Frost’s regime furloughed or sacked much of the DoJ and replaced those it fired with loyalists. The followers of Prime Minister Frost now found themselves effectively insulated from the threat of investigation and prosecution by authorities in the Alliance. Corruption began to grow unchecked and public trust in the government sharply dropped. Ironically, many corrupt officials put into place by ATLAS and Frost readily defected to Biesel during the Solarian Collapse of 2462 despite their professed loyalty to ATLAS and Sol. Some have speculated this is due to bribes, and these individuals being more loyal to Credits than country. | |||
Anti-Frost elements in the Department of Justice were a major force behind the coup which seized power following his death in 2462. The post-Frost Department has rapidly resumed its former prestige and role as an enforcer of justice, starting with a massive purge of its ranks to remove remaining loyalists to the now-banned ATLAS. Some of these individuals then joined the Solarian Restoration Front and now find themselves the target of the DoJ once again as the Alliance re-exerts its authority over the Northern Reaches and seeks to punish those involved in the Front’s criminal actions. | |||
''' | The current head of the Department of Justice is '''Attorney General Henri Fontenot'''. Born on 24 May, 2413, in New Orleans, [[Earth]], Fontenot rose to prominence as a stringent and incorruptible prosecutor who fought against corruption in the Solarian government’s Outer Ring. Recalled to the Sol System by Frost’s government in the summer of 2462, presumably to be punished for his role in dismantling an ATLAS-led voting machine, Fontenot’s fortunes were rapidly reversed by the coup against Frost and he has since found himself the Alliance’s Attorney General. During his tenure as AG Fontenot has continued his crusade against corruption and now finds himself leading the Alliance’s tribunals of criminals in the Northern Reaches. | ||
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====Department of State==== | |||
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The oldest continuous diplomatic service within human space, the Solarian Department of State is responsible for maintaining and promoting Solarian interests and relations abroad. It is also responsible for ensuring Solarian citizens can receive the services abroad they need: its offices, and their [[Solarian Armed Forces#The Solarian Army|Solarian Army]] guards, are common sights across the Orion Spur. Employees of the Solarian Department of State are members of the Solarian Foreign Service — a government organization with an infamously difficult entry exam which requires the applicant to be at least trilingual. The Department of State is known as the least corrupt Solarian department due to its high barrier of entry and often difficult postings which can be light-years away from the Alliance’s borders. | |||
The Department of State is the most recently created department and was only established in 2287 after the Treaty of Zurich ended the Interstellar War and Solarian hegemony over humanity. Looked down upon by Solarian hardliners who advocated for a policy of no diplomacy with the ex-Solarian [[Coalition of Colonies]], the Department proved its worth by stabilizing relations with the Coalition and ensuring the free passage into the Alliance for all Coalitioners who wished to become Solarians. It was instrumental in ensuring the [[Republic of Elyra|Elyran]] secession did not destabilize into another all-out war and did much to normalize Sol-Coalition relations during the 2300s. However, the Department was consistently defunded and neglected by Solarian governments after the Tau Ceti Accords, which it was scapegoated for. What Foreign Service staff refer to as the “decade of humiliation” only ended in December 2462 following the death of Frost and the anti-Frost coup. | |||
In the post-Frost era the Department finds itself scrambling to reassert Sol’s position in the broader Spur after a decade of diplomatic neglect and the devastating Solarian Civil War of 2462-65. Its officers are incredibly busy crisscrossing the Spur, from [[Assunzione]] to [[Moroz]] to [[Biesel]], to once again represent what seems to be an ascendant Alliance after two-hundred years of decay. Whether they can keep the Alliance’s foreign diplomacy remains to be seen, particularly with it now once again sharing a border with the Coalition. | |||
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====Department of Commerce==== | |||
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An old department which dates to the foundation of the Alliance, the Department of Commerce is responsible for managing the Solarian Credit and the overall economic policies of the broader Alliance such as trade agreements, taxation, and other forms of monetary policy. One of the largest Departments by sheer number of staff, it was nearly destroyed by the Second Great Depression and the economic fallout of the Interstellar War. The secession of the Coalition arguably saved the Department as it significantly reduced its workload. | |||
However, the secession of the Coalition did not reduce the Department’s total staff as it was mostly based within the Solarian Core Worlds. In the chaotic political aftermath of the Interstellar War and the[[Sol Alliance History# 18 May, 2289: Naval Coup Attempt|Navy’s coup attempt]], the Alliance was unwilling to fight with its own department and conceded to it retaining its grossly overinflated staff. The Department quickly found itself filled with unqualified and unreliable individuals put into these positions through either bribery or nepotism, and remained inefficient as a result. Over time this inefficiency turned into corruption, such as paying benefits to avoid taxes and counterfeiting by some banks. By the time Frost seized power much of the Department was effectively rotten outside of the Solarian core, and many Department staff defected to the Republic of Biesel in exchange for retaining their positions and salaries. | |||
What remains of the Department after the [[Sol Alliance History#2462: The Solarian Civil War|Solarian Collapse]] is the best and brightest of its bloated staff: the Core Worlds Division. The Core Division is responsible for many of humanity’s oldest fiscal institutions and is notably less corrupt and more efficient than its counterparts due to managing space near Unity Station and the Sol System. With the collapse of Frost’s government and the subsequent anti-Frost coup by reformists it now finds itself the only division of the Department of Commerce, and has been given the monumental task of rebuilding it. To the frustration of some Department members the Solarian Corporate Authority (SCA) has been allowed to operate without any oversight from the Department of Commerce, with the Solarian government consistently stating the SCA is far too important to be restrained by checks and balances on its actions. For the moment, the SCA answers directly to the Prime Minister’s office and completely bypasses any other authorities. | |||
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====Department of Defense==== | |||
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The Solarian Department of Defense (DoD) is an entity with a long history of success, failure, and cronyism. Headquartered in Harmony City, [[Luna]], the Department is responsible for ensuring the [[Solarian Armed Forces]] — perhaps the largest organized fighting force in the Orion Spur — remain ready for duty and easily able to defeat any who would contest them. The Department is subdivided into the Department of the Army, headquartered on [[Earth]], and the Department of the Navy, headquartered on Luna. The Department has long been another arena of the Solarian Army-Navy rivalry which has defined the SAF since the Interstellar War, and the Navy has historically been the more powerful subdepartment of the Department of Defense. | |||
Established on 17 July, 2143, shortly after the Alliance’s founding it has long been allowed to act with a degree of independence from the broader Alliance and, due to being headquartered on Luna, has always been dominated by Lunarians — residents of Luna, Earth’s only moon. Historically the Department has been a breeding ground for radical Solarian nationalists such as Michael Frost and [[Sol Alliance History#8 October 2278: The Bombing of Gadpathur|Terrence Hopper]], the latter of which established much of the ideological foundations later used by ATLAS to take over the Solarian government in the late 2450s. Prime Minister Michael Frost, an ideological follower of Hopper, further empowered the radical wing of the Department at the expense of its efficiency and credibility, ultimately turning much of it into an enforcement tool for ATLAS. It was only with Frost’s death and a Navy-led counter-coup that the Department began to right its course and reckon with its more radical elements. | |||
''' | The contemporary Department, under Minister '''Lucien Courtois''', a Lunan and reformist naval officer, has done much to improve its efficiency and destroy the remaining loyalists of Frost and ATLAS. Massive purges carried out of Navy and Department staff have allowed it to essentially “clean house” but have left some aspects of the Department shorthanded, particularly as it now moves to assist in the Solarian Reconstruction Mandates and re-exert Solarian influence on the galactic stage. The Department has much work to do, but many — particularly its Minister — are more than willing to do whatever it takes for the Alliance’s military to succeed. | ||
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====Department of Colonization==== | |||
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A now-defunct department which has been integrated into the Department of the Interior, the Department of Colonization was — at its peak in 2259 — the most important part of the Solarian government as it managed colonies and colonization. Its influence stretched from Solarian Core to the [[Sol Alliance History#Historical Solarian Sectors and Regions|Solarian Frontier]], and it managed the welfare of thousands of worlds ranging in size from the populous [[Xanu Prime]] to refueling stations staffed by under a hundred Solarian citizens. Its personnel could be found nearly anywhere in the Spur, and were renowned for their dedication and efficiency. | |||
The decline of the once-mighty Department of Colonization began with the [[Sol Alliance History#18 June, 2260: The Second Great Depression Begins|Second Great Depression]] and was accelerated by the [[Sol Alliance History#25 March, 2278: Outbreak of the Interstellar War|Interstellar War]]. At the War’s end the Department was a shadow of its former self and unable to carry out any major colonial efforts or expeditions, such as the expedition which eventually would become the nomadic [[Scarabs|Scarab Fleet]]. Ultimately it was integrated into the Department of the Interior and faded into history as the Alliance became more corrupt and insular, forgetting its hegemonic era and eventually collapsing into civil war in 2462. The Department of Colonization is, for most, a distant memory and a reminder of better times for the Alliance. | |||
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==[[Solarian Armed Forces|Sol Alliance Military]]== | |||
[[File:Sol Navy.png|thumb|alt=Flag of the Navy of the Sol Alliance.|The ensign of the Sol Alliance Navy, once flown from Earth to the human frontier.]] | |||
The Solarian Armed Forces has a history going as far back as the onset of the [https://wiki.aurorastation.org/index.php?title=Sol_Alliance_History#The_United_Nations_New_Mandate new mandate]. Although originally created as a peacekeeping force it developed over time into a professional military force with fleets capable of projecting the Solarian Alliance’s power on a galactic scale. While the Alliance has significantly reduced its size its military is hardly a shadow of its former self, and the Solarian Navy's one-hundred fleets - freed of their obligations to patrol seemingly endless amounts of space - now stand perhaps stronger than ever. The only military entity capable of rivaling the Solarian Navy is the Nralakk Federation’s Navy. | |||
A standard Solarian Navy fleet consists of roughly one-hundred ships for a main fleet, and fifty ships for a patrol fleet. A Solarian battlefleet is one of the most intimidating organizations in the Orion Spur, and consists of four main fleets with one supporting patrol fleet. Though many Solarian Navy vessels are presently hamstrung by their lack of phoron thanks to an ongoing phoron embargo by the Republic of Biesel they are increasingly being retrofitted with the Einstein Engines-produced [[Einstein Engines#Products|Suzuki-Zhang Hammer Drive]], a recently-invented Helium-3 burning engine that is advertised as rivalling the best phoron-fueled bluespace engines. With Einstein Engines continuing to support the Alliance, the matter of a fully-modernized Solarian Navy is one of when not if. | |||
While the Sol Alliance has shrunk dramatically in recent years, it remains the strongest human naval power in the Orion Spur even after its retreat to its core worlds. If anything its military is, arguably, stronger than ever - territorial consolidation and constant combat experience along the borders with the human wildlands have dramatically increased the effectiveness and readiness of the Solarian Navy's hundred fleets. However the Navy remains plagued with political factionalism, with many supporting warlords in the wildlands and others dueling over power in the current emergency military government. | |||
The Sol Alliance sees the independence of Biesel as a serious mistake; during a crisis where there was a very real prospect that the entire human galactic economy would cease to exist, NanoTrasen used its considerable influence and power to coerce the Alliance to grant independence to Tau Ceti in 2452. | |||
==IPCs in the Sol Alliance== | |||
Alliance | The Sol Alliance is the birthplace of [[IPC|integrated positronic chassis]] and they have found a place in almost every level of society, offering relatively cheap, autonomous, and skilled labour. The discovery of ancient drones in 2406 led to the development of the [[Positronic_Brain#Software|positronic brain]] which provided manufacturers with a processor capable of holding AI that could consume knowledge and control a humanoid body with the same level of competence as a human. Owing to their cost, the majority of the Alliance’s robotics’ needs are fulfilled by simpler, human-designed AI or unreliable and controversial cyborg processors. Positronic intelligences are instead used in roles which require a high degree of autonomy and adaptability, or simply replace humans directly, especially in dangerous fields. | ||
IPCs, alongside all synthetic life in the Sol Alliance are exclusively property, either owned by individuals, companies, or the government itself. Although not standardized, most government synthetics and IPCs work with a basic restriction that prevents them from harming people or damaging property to avoid accidents. Most local governments, particularly those with reservations about the spread of IPCs obligate the usage of similar directives for IPCs. Directives act as a more relaxed version of laws in order to capitalize on adaptability of positronic brain-based AI, outlining the objectives of an IPC. They are often chosen for their ability to be quickly modified by their end-consumer towards specified behvaiors. | |||
In the case that an IPC malfunctions or commits a criminal offense, the responsibility is placed firmly on the owner of the machine and the manufacturer is often fined. The machine itself is then frequently reset, repossessed by the state, or in some cases, recycled for parts. An IPC without an owner is repossessed by the government. In cases where the IPC isn’t in a condition to be readily used, they are often sold back to the public at a substantially cheaper price. | |||
With the fracture of Sol, IPCs find themselves in increasing use by the government and military in order to make up for losses of skilled labor and to cut through perceived rivalries between officials. In order to prevent potential dissent or uprising among the machines, personality wiping, loyalty programming, and strict directives are often employed by the government. | |||
IPCs have their movement restricted, being forbidden from travelling alone without written authorization, and without passing through a mile of red-tape and checkpoints. Free IPCs, as well as those belonging to companies not based in Sol space often find themselves captured and nationalized or auctioned off to new owners if they cannot escape. All IPCs from out of Sol are barred entirely unless they are owned and have someone present and accountable for them. Outside IPCs that are owned which cannot produce a supervisor, or free IPCs trying to smuggle themselves in are subject to capture and sale or confiscation for use by the government. | |||
==IPC in the Sol Alliance Military== | |||
'''Overview''' | |||
The | Technological progress has seen Humanity starting to employ all sorts of machines and especially robotics, especially since the creation of the Positronic brain. Self thinking synthetics have been recognised as offering unique solutions to complicated problems in a military setting, making them a powerful asset when coupled with the robustness of an artificial chassis. As such, the Alliance Army and Navy was bound to adopt them. Today, IPCs are utilised as specialised equipment in a variety of dangerous and demanding settings, mostly in a technical and auxiliary role rather than frontline combat. From spaceship maintenance to clearing minefields, synthetics are favoured in these circumstances due to being less important than the well-being of human service members. The majority of positronic frames in the military is dominated by Baselines and Industrials, though Mobility and Shell frames are also encountered as paramedics and clerks. | ||
'''Ranks''' | |||
Positronics in both the Army and Navy are not considered equal to their human counterparts, and are officially classified as equipment, much like a weapons system belonging to the ship or military formation under which they are assigned. As such, they are enlisted under the rank of '''Synthetic Auxiliary''', clearly distinguished from the rest by gray highlights attached to their uniform, a standardised designation across the Alliance's branches. These IPCs are tightly controlled by human operators, but in cases where contact is expected to be hampered or severed, a trusted synthetic may be put in command of a squad or detachment of synthetics. These are "promoted" to '''Synthetic Lead''', receiving a gray chevron on their shoulder as a mark of seniority. Indeed, many years of service and experience are usually required for a positronic to achieve this position, in a conservative Solarian culture that both distrusts and undermines self-thinking IPCs. | |||
Solarian Military Synthetics use a standard format of a designation followed by a singular name for identification. Whilst the assigned names of IPC can be greatly varied their designation is chosen based on their branch of service. With the Navy using NU (Navy Unit), Army AU (Army Unit) and Marines MU (Marine Unit). | |||
'''Treatment''' | |||
Positronics serving within the Solarian Military experience harsh treatment in accordance with their designation as equipment rather than personnel. Accommodations are kept to a bare spartan minimum and luxuries are unheard of amongst IPC service members, with only the equipment required for their tasks being provided, while free time is minimized. This attitude also affects the standards positronics are held to in terms of presentation and behavior, being even more strict than those given to human personnel, with deviations from expected behavior being seen as a sign of potential disloyalty or future trouble. Social interactions between Human and IPC service members are discouraged and monitored. Human service members are instructed to view these synthetics as tools to be used, and considering them otherwise will likely result in disciplinary action. | |||
Punishments inflicted on Positronics range from slaps on the wrist to mind-wiping or forcible retirement, however more extreme disciplinary measures are considered very rare and often only used in cases of outright disloyalty. Despite the harsh line the Solarian Military takes towards their Synthetic service members, there is some good for those IPC who end up in this environment. The Solarian Military ensures that its Synthetics are well-maintained, powered and repaired as they would any other piece of equipment and abandonment of IPC personnel is only done when there is no other option available, and significant risk to human life would be present in attempting to recover them. | |||
'''In the Warlord States''' | |||
Since the breakup of large swaths of Alliance space from the main core, military synthetics were included as part of the naval formations that came to rule these areas. A general breakdown in communication, coupled with the lack of proper maintenance facilities and spare parts have made the upkeep of these Positronics a costly affair, while generally casting them fully to the mercy of local officers. Indeed, Solarian military IPCs in Warlord jurisdiction are met with different and unexpected fates. In what was the '''Southern Fleet Administration''', IPC units were either quickly sold off for profit or worked to destruction, the disorganised and bandit-like vessels having few resources to put towards their proper maintenance. In the '''Southern Military District''' on the other hand, treatment of synthetics remains in line with proper Solarian guidelines, with machinist depots on Visegrad being utilized by the fleet. | |||
==Alliance Anthem== | |||
“Our United Alliance” - ASSN Anthem | |||
Our Solarian Sovereignty undisputed | |||
Our vision, transcendent | |||
Our heads high, our will strong | |||
Arise my Alliance, for we are supreme | |||
From Sol to the frontier, our right | |||
We are humanity, our vision great | |||
The stars, our destiny manifest | |||
Through the toil of our people | |||
We expand to the horizon | |||
For our Humanity, we expand | |||
Our Solarian Sovereignty undisputed | |||
Our vision, transcendent | |||
Our heads high, our will strong | |||
Arise my Alliance, for we are supreme | |||
From Sol to the frontier, our right | |||
We are humanity, our vision great | |||
Proud people under your leadership | |||
Through the blood of our people | |||
Always ready to give our due | |||
For our unity, we stand strong | |||
==[[Languages]]== | |||
Sol Common is, shockingly, the dominant language of the Sol Alliance across all classes of society. Tau Ceti Basic is commonly available in schools, though it is generally regarded as a second language for Solarians. Tradeband is uncommon outside certain areas such as the Sol System and the Eridani Corporate Federation but, thanks to the economic power of these systems, remains a common language for interstellar trade. Freespeak, otherwise known as Gutter, is viewed as the language of lower-class individuals, such as now extinct Martian separatists and dregs and barely-civilised frontiersmen from the Coalition of Colonies. Solarian Sign Language is a popular elective course in higher education in the Sol Alliance and can be found throughout the Alliance itself, in addition to forming the basis of modern Galactic Sign Language. | |||
==[[Sol Alliance History]]== | |||
The Sol Alliance's relatively long history holds the origins of many of the current nations, megacorporations, and current conflicts within it. For a detailed overview, see the [[Sol Alliance History|Sol Alliance history page]]. | |||
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Latest revision as of 06:45, 30 September 2024
Solarian |
H. Sapiens / Human |
Home System: Sol |
Homeworld: Unity Station |
Language(s): Sol Common |
Political Entitie(s): Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations |
Though its power has waned following the disastrous events of late 2462, this federal union remains the home of humanity and the one of the premier powers in the Orion Spur. Formerly held back by bureaucratic corruption, administrative inefficiency, an overstretched legal system, systemic political infighting, and economic troubles that led to over a century of decline and waning influence culminating in its retreat inwards, many now look to reform the Alliance into a more effective political force.
The Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations (ASSN), commonly referred to as the Solarian Alliance, the Sol Alliance, and sometimes the Alliance, is a federal union of 70 member state star systems, and 198 dependencies including the Eridani Corporate Federation. Dependencies vary between undeveloped star systems and outposts on asteroids, to sprawling space stations and include the capital of the Sol Alliance: the bustling Unity Station in orbit over Earth. The Sol Alliance is divided into two administrative sections known as the Inner and Middle Rings.
Demographics
The Sol Alliance is either the most populated or second most populated in known space, though due to the lack of accurate census-taking in the Coalition of Colonies it is hard to determine. As of its retreat from the Middle and Outer Rings the Sol Alliance has between 40 and 65 billion citizens and roughly 10 billion residents, with the most recent census having been in 2454. Due to mass defection of many Middle and Outer Ring colonies, these census numbers are no longer considered to be accurate. The Alliance's next census will come in 2464 but experts regard its current population as anywhere between fifty and seventy billion individuals. By breadth of controlled territory the Alliance is the largest sovereign state with every ethnicity, religion, culture, and language found somewhere in its borders. Governed at Unity Station in orbit of Earth, hundreds of systems and dozens of member states find representation in the Alliance.
The Colony Rings
The Alliance is divided into two major administrative rings, based on time of colonization and distance from Sol.
Inner Colonies
Also known as the Inner Ring, these colonies lie within five light years of Sol. These planets are the oldest settlements outside of the Solar System, and have the highest quality of life. It is the most populous of the three rings. Solarians from these systems are in favor of Alliance rule, with much of Unity Station’s policies focusing on these areas. Very few aliens reside in the Inner Ring, with most being skrell. On the other hand all IPC frames can be found throughout the Inner Ring. Citizens of these areas push the most for expansion of Alliance authority over human areas outside its control.
Notable Inner Colonies
Middle Colonies
Also known as the Middle Ring, these colonies lie between five and twenty light years from Sol and are the most average areas of the Alliance. Citizens of this ring felt neither the benefits of Alliance rule nor the benefits of distance from Unity Station prior to the general Solarian retreat from the Middle Ring, leading to many defecting to the Republic of Biesel or, less commonly, the Coalition of Colonies. Some simply fell into a vacuum of no control known as the Wildlands, where they remained until the end of the Solarian Civil War in July 2465. For those Middle Ring worlds remaining with the Alliance, the quality of life in this area is as high as the Inner Ring with plenty of security provided by the mighty Solarian Navy. The separatist Republic of Biesel was considered part of these middle colonies prior to its independence.
Notable Middle Colonies
Economics
The Solarian Standard Credit (民/SSC) is essentially the Orion Spur's standard currency due to the prevalence of the Solarian Alliance prior to its collapse in 2462. Outside of the Alliance, use of the SSC is common throughout certain parts of the Coalition of Colonies, the Empire of Dominia, and the Corporate Reconstruction Zone of the Republic of Biesel. Within Sol's collapsed warlord states, it has lost much of its value due to the lack of central authority. The SSC is available in electronic, bankcard and traditional notes forms. Responsibility for the currency falls to the Solarian Central Bank, which is located on Unity Station in the Sol System. The Central Bank manages monetary policy and the supply of the Solarian Standard Credit for the Alliance and greater Spur, and this management of supply and interest rates ensures that the Solarian Credit is able to function as a fiat currency. The SSC is worth less than the Biesel Standard Credit.
The economy of the Sol Alliance was, prior to the recently-passed Industrial Reclamation Mandate of 2463, dominated almost entirely by megacorporations. Hephaestus Industries, Idris Incorporated, Zavodskoi Interstellar, and Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals increasingly find themselves pushed aside by the massive Einstein Engines, which stands above other megacorporations in the Alliance. Due to its involvement in the Republic of Biesel and continued meddling in Solarian affairs the Nanotrasen Corporation has been banned from operating within the Alliance itself, and the majority of its assets have been seized by the Alliance. Many suspect Einstein Engines as being behind the Alliance's aggressively anti-NanoTrasen stance. Despite its retreat from the Middle and Outer Rings Sol remains the Orion Spur's second largest economy, trailing only slightly behind the Republic of Biesel.
In recent times the Alliance has pushed forward an aggressive campaign of nationalisation following its retreat from the Middle and Outer Ring. The now centralised and more authoritarian Alliance has, for the most part, managed to make good on many of its nationalistic promises but has been forced to make some compromises with the corporations that remain within its systems of control. Hephaestus Industries stands out among these corporations and has retained of its control over New Hai Phong due to compromises with Senator Hendrik Strom, one of the main drivers behind the Solarian Corporate Authority, the government entity now responsible for much of the now-nationalised assets from corporations present in Solarian space.
The Alliance has not fully recovered from the Second Great Depression of 2260. The economic collapse and the resulting civil war left confidence in the Alliance economy extremely shaky. The Alliance has an extremely condensed cycle of boom and bust, with a brief year of growth followed by two years of recession, on average. This is partially the reason that trans-stellar corporations are so powerful and influential: With Sol Alliance bonds or ventures radically decentralized and untrustworthy, the resilient economic strength of trans-stellar corporations makes them a much more lucrative investment. The prosperity of the Alliance is extremely centralized following its retreat, and its remaining systems benefit from their proximity to the Sol System. Most remaining Solarian systems are major commercial and industrial centers, such as New Hai Phong.
Politics
The retreat from its outlying colonies has dramatically shifted the nature and state of politics in the Solarian Alliance, and the political scene as it existed previously has all but disappeared following the death of Prime Minister Michael Frost and the chaos that followed it. While the Alliance remains a federal democracy on paper, with a functional upper and lower house, and its byzantine system of legal codes and regulations remains despite reforms, the Alliance is in reality controlled by an emergency government.
Government
The Alliance Provisional Military Government is the true government of the Solarian Alliance in the trying times following the retreat from the Alliance's colonies, and its governing power is split between the Navy and a small amount of government functionaries including the two most prominent candidates for the Alliance's next Prime Minister: Senators Hendrik Strom and Le Hanh Trang. While many have criticised the APMG as a mere dictatorial officer's clique tacitly supported by pro-navy politicians, it has promised a peaceful transition of power to a civilian government once the situation has become more stable in the Alliance. Whether this promise will be carried through remains to be seen.
Departments
The Alliance's primary method of internal governance and management, the Alliance's departments are massive, Spur-spanning entities which are often regarded as corrupt and inefficient due to their sheer sizes. Below are some of the major departments in the Alliance.
Department of the Interior
Perhaps the largest government entity in the entire Spur in terms of employees, the Department of the Interior (DoI) is responsible for ensuring the Alliance’s infrastructure is maintained. It is the single oldest Solarian department as its establishment was a condition for the Alliance’s formation, which ensures it is as old as the Alliance is. The DoI’s duties have gradually become more and more complex over the centuries, though colonization itself was handled by a separate department until fairly recently, which has led to its immense size and reputation for inefficiency and corruption, particularly in the Outer and Middle Rings after the Interstellar War. The War devastated the Alliance’s infrastructure and the DoI’s budget, which resulted in it neglecting much of the Alliance’s more remote infrastructure throughout the following centuries. Those who did wish for something to be done to their Outer or Middle Ring infrastructure often had to pay costly “consulting fees” to the DoI, which only led to further neglect and growing corruption.
By the 25th century the DoI had effectively split into two major sections, the Outer and Core sections, in addition to subordinate departments such as the Department of Energy — responsible for fuel production and management — and the Department of Education — responsible for Solarian education outside of private schools. The Core Section served the Inner Ring, and some sections of the Middle Ring, continuing the DoI’s reputation for excellence in these regions while remaining untangled from the Navy and other elements. The Outer Section, due to lacking the wealth, influence, or manpower of its counterpart, had the Middle and Outer Ring regions it was responsible for fall into neglect and slowly become more and more corrupt. Navy actors in the Outer Section’s areas of responsibility often dominated and bent the Section to their will, further eroding its effectiveness while increasing corruption. Frost’s administration fired many of the Outer Section’s more qualified personnel when they protested some of his decisions and instead replaced them with loyalist flunkies, which only exacerbated the Section’s corruption problems and contributed significantly to the territorial losses of late 2463.
The Inner and Outer Section division is mostly irrelevant post-2462 as all of the Outer Section, aside from the area responsible for New Hai Phong, was lost during the Collapse. The Inner Section has remained intact and has, perhaps due to its lesser corruption, mostly endured both the Collapse and the Frost administration’s rampant mismanagement relatively intact. The DoI is heavily involved in both Solarian Reconstruction Mandates and has promised to avoid the mistakes of its prior staff in these areas. However, only time will tell if the new regions under the DoI’s control will be more effective than their precursors.
Department of Justice
The Alliance’s Department of Justice is responsible for policing and court systems across the Alliance. It is younger than the Department of the Interior as it was formed in the late 2100s due to issues between the Soviet bloc and the Western bloc’s justice systems. The DoJ supervises Solarian multi-planetary policing agencies such as the Solarian Interstellar Security Agency (SISA) but has no authority over the Solarian Interstellar Intelligence Bureau (SIIB), which has little oversight. Its duties of police and court supervision have remained the same throughout the centuries and the DoJ has a reputation as a relatively non-corrupt Solarian department but has often found itself brutalized by political figures seeking to undermine its authority and credibility.
By the mid-2400s the Department of Justice had found itself tested by decades of ATLAS-aligned governments which had sought to erode its authority while corrupting the Department at all possible levels, but it remained mostly independent and uncorrupted until the election of Michael Frost in 2460-61, when ATLAS finally gained a supermajority in the Solarian government. Frost’s regime furloughed or sacked much of the DoJ and replaced those it fired with loyalists. The followers of Prime Minister Frost now found themselves effectively insulated from the threat of investigation and prosecution by authorities in the Alliance. Corruption began to grow unchecked and public trust in the government sharply dropped. Ironically, many corrupt officials put into place by ATLAS and Frost readily defected to Biesel during the Solarian Collapse of 2462 despite their professed loyalty to ATLAS and Sol. Some have speculated this is due to bribes, and these individuals being more loyal to Credits than country.
Anti-Frost elements in the Department of Justice were a major force behind the coup which seized power following his death in 2462. The post-Frost Department has rapidly resumed its former prestige and role as an enforcer of justice, starting with a massive purge of its ranks to remove remaining loyalists to the now-banned ATLAS. Some of these individuals then joined the Solarian Restoration Front and now find themselves the target of the DoJ once again as the Alliance re-exerts its authority over the Northern Reaches and seeks to punish those involved in the Front’s criminal actions.
The current head of the Department of Justice is Attorney General Henri Fontenot. Born on 24 May, 2413, in New Orleans, Earth, Fontenot rose to prominence as a stringent and incorruptible prosecutor who fought against corruption in the Solarian government’s Outer Ring. Recalled to the Sol System by Frost’s government in the summer of 2462, presumably to be punished for his role in dismantling an ATLAS-led voting machine, Fontenot’s fortunes were rapidly reversed by the coup against Frost and he has since found himself the Alliance’s Attorney General. During his tenure as AG Fontenot has continued his crusade against corruption and now finds himself leading the Alliance’s tribunals of criminals in the Northern Reaches.
Department of State
The oldest continuous diplomatic service within human space, the Solarian Department of State is responsible for maintaining and promoting Solarian interests and relations abroad. It is also responsible for ensuring Solarian citizens can receive the services abroad they need: its offices, and their Solarian Army guards, are common sights across the Orion Spur. Employees of the Solarian Department of State are members of the Solarian Foreign Service — a government organization with an infamously difficult entry exam which requires the applicant to be at least trilingual. The Department of State is known as the least corrupt Solarian department due to its high barrier of entry and often difficult postings which can be light-years away from the Alliance’s borders.
The Department of State is the most recently created department and was only established in 2287 after the Treaty of Zurich ended the Interstellar War and Solarian hegemony over humanity. Looked down upon by Solarian hardliners who advocated for a policy of no diplomacy with the ex-Solarian Coalition of Colonies, the Department proved its worth by stabilizing relations with the Coalition and ensuring the free passage into the Alliance for all Coalitioners who wished to become Solarians. It was instrumental in ensuring the Elyran secession did not destabilize into another all-out war and did much to normalize Sol-Coalition relations during the 2300s. However, the Department was consistently defunded and neglected by Solarian governments after the Tau Ceti Accords, which it was scapegoated for. What Foreign Service staff refer to as the “decade of humiliation” only ended in December 2462 following the death of Frost and the anti-Frost coup.
In the post-Frost era the Department finds itself scrambling to reassert Sol’s position in the broader Spur after a decade of diplomatic neglect and the devastating Solarian Civil War of 2462-65. Its officers are incredibly busy crisscrossing the Spur, from Assunzione to Moroz to Biesel, to once again represent what seems to be an ascendant Alliance after two-hundred years of decay. Whether they can keep the Alliance’s foreign diplomacy remains to be seen, particularly with it now once again sharing a border with the Coalition.
Department of Commerce
An old department which dates to the foundation of the Alliance, the Department of Commerce is responsible for managing the Solarian Credit and the overall economic policies of the broader Alliance such as trade agreements, taxation, and other forms of monetary policy. One of the largest Departments by sheer number of staff, it was nearly destroyed by the Second Great Depression and the economic fallout of the Interstellar War. The secession of the Coalition arguably saved the Department as it significantly reduced its workload.
However, the secession of the Coalition did not reduce the Department’s total staff as it was mostly based within the Solarian Core Worlds. In the chaotic political aftermath of the Interstellar War and theNavy’s coup attempt, the Alliance was unwilling to fight with its own department and conceded to it retaining its grossly overinflated staff. The Department quickly found itself filled with unqualified and unreliable individuals put into these positions through either bribery or nepotism, and remained inefficient as a result. Over time this inefficiency turned into corruption, such as paying benefits to avoid taxes and counterfeiting by some banks. By the time Frost seized power much of the Department was effectively rotten outside of the Solarian core, and many Department staff defected to the Republic of Biesel in exchange for retaining their positions and salaries.
What remains of the Department after the Solarian Collapse is the best and brightest of its bloated staff: the Core Worlds Division. The Core Division is responsible for many of humanity’s oldest fiscal institutions and is notably less corrupt and more efficient than its counterparts due to managing space near Unity Station and the Sol System. With the collapse of Frost’s government and the subsequent anti-Frost coup by reformists it now finds itself the only division of the Department of Commerce, and has been given the monumental task of rebuilding it. To the frustration of some Department members the Solarian Corporate Authority (SCA) has been allowed to operate without any oversight from the Department of Commerce, with the Solarian government consistently stating the SCA is far too important to be restrained by checks and balances on its actions. For the moment, the SCA answers directly to the Prime Minister’s office and completely bypasses any other authorities.
Department of Defense
The Solarian Department of Defense (DoD) is an entity with a long history of success, failure, and cronyism. Headquartered in Harmony City, Luna, the Department is responsible for ensuring the Solarian Armed Forces — perhaps the largest organized fighting force in the Orion Spur — remain ready for duty and easily able to defeat any who would contest them. The Department is subdivided into the Department of the Army, headquartered on Earth, and the Department of the Navy, headquartered on Luna. The Department has long been another arena of the Solarian Army-Navy rivalry which has defined the SAF since the Interstellar War, and the Navy has historically been the more powerful subdepartment of the Department of Defense.
Established on 17 July, 2143, shortly after the Alliance’s founding it has long been allowed to act with a degree of independence from the broader Alliance and, due to being headquartered on Luna, has always been dominated by Lunarians — residents of Luna, Earth’s only moon. Historically the Department has been a breeding ground for radical Solarian nationalists such as Michael Frost and Terrence Hopper, the latter of which established much of the ideological foundations later used by ATLAS to take over the Solarian government in the late 2450s. Prime Minister Michael Frost, an ideological follower of Hopper, further empowered the radical wing of the Department at the expense of its efficiency and credibility, ultimately turning much of it into an enforcement tool for ATLAS. It was only with Frost’s death and a Navy-led counter-coup that the Department began to right its course and reckon with its more radical elements.
The contemporary Department, under Minister Lucien Courtois, a Lunan and reformist naval officer, has done much to improve its efficiency and destroy the remaining loyalists of Frost and ATLAS. Massive purges carried out of Navy and Department staff have allowed it to essentially “clean house” but have left some aspects of the Department shorthanded, particularly as it now moves to assist in the Solarian Reconstruction Mandates and re-exert Solarian influence on the galactic stage. The Department has much work to do, but many — particularly its Minister — are more than willing to do whatever it takes for the Alliance’s military to succeed.
Department of Colonization
A now-defunct department which has been integrated into the Department of the Interior, the Department of Colonization was — at its peak in 2259 — the most important part of the Solarian government as it managed colonies and colonization. Its influence stretched from Solarian Core to the Solarian Frontier, and it managed the welfare of thousands of worlds ranging in size from the populous Xanu Prime to refueling stations staffed by under a hundred Solarian citizens. Its personnel could be found nearly anywhere in the Spur, and were renowned for their dedication and efficiency.
The decline of the once-mighty Department of Colonization began with the Second Great Depression and was accelerated by the Interstellar War. At the War’s end the Department was a shadow of its former self and unable to carry out any major colonial efforts or expeditions, such as the expedition which eventually would become the nomadic Scarab Fleet. Ultimately it was integrated into the Department of the Interior and faded into history as the Alliance became more corrupt and insular, forgetting its hegemonic era and eventually collapsing into civil war in 2462. The Department of Colonization is, for most, a distant memory and a reminder of better times for the Alliance.
Sol Alliance Military
The Solarian Armed Forces has a history going as far back as the onset of the new mandate. Although originally created as a peacekeeping force it developed over time into a professional military force with fleets capable of projecting the Solarian Alliance’s power on a galactic scale. While the Alliance has significantly reduced its size its military is hardly a shadow of its former self, and the Solarian Navy's one-hundred fleets - freed of their obligations to patrol seemingly endless amounts of space - now stand perhaps stronger than ever. The only military entity capable of rivaling the Solarian Navy is the Nralakk Federation’s Navy.
A standard Solarian Navy fleet consists of roughly one-hundred ships for a main fleet, and fifty ships for a patrol fleet. A Solarian battlefleet is one of the most intimidating organizations in the Orion Spur, and consists of four main fleets with one supporting patrol fleet. Though many Solarian Navy vessels are presently hamstrung by their lack of phoron thanks to an ongoing phoron embargo by the Republic of Biesel they are increasingly being retrofitted with the Einstein Engines-produced Suzuki-Zhang Hammer Drive, a recently-invented Helium-3 burning engine that is advertised as rivalling the best phoron-fueled bluespace engines. With Einstein Engines continuing to support the Alliance, the matter of a fully-modernized Solarian Navy is one of when not if.
While the Sol Alliance has shrunk dramatically in recent years, it remains the strongest human naval power in the Orion Spur even after its retreat to its core worlds. If anything its military is, arguably, stronger than ever - territorial consolidation and constant combat experience along the borders with the human wildlands have dramatically increased the effectiveness and readiness of the Solarian Navy's hundred fleets. However the Navy remains plagued with political factionalism, with many supporting warlords in the wildlands and others dueling over power in the current emergency military government.
The Sol Alliance sees the independence of Biesel as a serious mistake; during a crisis where there was a very real prospect that the entire human galactic economy would cease to exist, NanoTrasen used its considerable influence and power to coerce the Alliance to grant independence to Tau Ceti in 2452.
IPCs in the Sol Alliance
The Sol Alliance is the birthplace of integrated positronic chassis and they have found a place in almost every level of society, offering relatively cheap, autonomous, and skilled labour. The discovery of ancient drones in 2406 led to the development of the positronic brain which provided manufacturers with a processor capable of holding AI that could consume knowledge and control a humanoid body with the same level of competence as a human. Owing to their cost, the majority of the Alliance’s robotics’ needs are fulfilled by simpler, human-designed AI or unreliable and controversial cyborg processors. Positronic intelligences are instead used in roles which require a high degree of autonomy and adaptability, or simply replace humans directly, especially in dangerous fields.
IPCs, alongside all synthetic life in the Sol Alliance are exclusively property, either owned by individuals, companies, or the government itself. Although not standardized, most government synthetics and IPCs work with a basic restriction that prevents them from harming people or damaging property to avoid accidents. Most local governments, particularly those with reservations about the spread of IPCs obligate the usage of similar directives for IPCs. Directives act as a more relaxed version of laws in order to capitalize on adaptability of positronic brain-based AI, outlining the objectives of an IPC. They are often chosen for their ability to be quickly modified by their end-consumer towards specified behvaiors.
In the case that an IPC malfunctions or commits a criminal offense, the responsibility is placed firmly on the owner of the machine and the manufacturer is often fined. The machine itself is then frequently reset, repossessed by the state, or in some cases, recycled for parts. An IPC without an owner is repossessed by the government. In cases where the IPC isn’t in a condition to be readily used, they are often sold back to the public at a substantially cheaper price.
With the fracture of Sol, IPCs find themselves in increasing use by the government and military in order to make up for losses of skilled labor and to cut through perceived rivalries between officials. In order to prevent potential dissent or uprising among the machines, personality wiping, loyalty programming, and strict directives are often employed by the government.
IPCs have their movement restricted, being forbidden from travelling alone without written authorization, and without passing through a mile of red-tape and checkpoints. Free IPCs, as well as those belonging to companies not based in Sol space often find themselves captured and nationalized or auctioned off to new owners if they cannot escape. All IPCs from out of Sol are barred entirely unless they are owned and have someone present and accountable for them. Outside IPCs that are owned which cannot produce a supervisor, or free IPCs trying to smuggle themselves in are subject to capture and sale or confiscation for use by the government.
IPC in the Sol Alliance Military
Overview
Technological progress has seen Humanity starting to employ all sorts of machines and especially robotics, especially since the creation of the Positronic brain. Self thinking synthetics have been recognised as offering unique solutions to complicated problems in a military setting, making them a powerful asset when coupled with the robustness of an artificial chassis. As such, the Alliance Army and Navy was bound to adopt them. Today, IPCs are utilised as specialised equipment in a variety of dangerous and demanding settings, mostly in a technical and auxiliary role rather than frontline combat. From spaceship maintenance to clearing minefields, synthetics are favoured in these circumstances due to being less important than the well-being of human service members. The majority of positronic frames in the military is dominated by Baselines and Industrials, though Mobility and Shell frames are also encountered as paramedics and clerks.
Ranks
Positronics in both the Army and Navy are not considered equal to their human counterparts, and are officially classified as equipment, much like a weapons system belonging to the ship or military formation under which they are assigned. As such, they are enlisted under the rank of Synthetic Auxiliary, clearly distinguished from the rest by gray highlights attached to their uniform, a standardised designation across the Alliance's branches. These IPCs are tightly controlled by human operators, but in cases where contact is expected to be hampered or severed, a trusted synthetic may be put in command of a squad or detachment of synthetics. These are "promoted" to Synthetic Lead, receiving a gray chevron on their shoulder as a mark of seniority. Indeed, many years of service and experience are usually required for a positronic to achieve this position, in a conservative Solarian culture that both distrusts and undermines self-thinking IPCs.
Solarian Military Synthetics use a standard format of a designation followed by a singular name for identification. Whilst the assigned names of IPC can be greatly varied their designation is chosen based on their branch of service. With the Navy using NU (Navy Unit), Army AU (Army Unit) and Marines MU (Marine Unit).
Treatment
Positronics serving within the Solarian Military experience harsh treatment in accordance with their designation as equipment rather than personnel. Accommodations are kept to a bare spartan minimum and luxuries are unheard of amongst IPC service members, with only the equipment required for their tasks being provided, while free time is minimized. This attitude also affects the standards positronics are held to in terms of presentation and behavior, being even more strict than those given to human personnel, with deviations from expected behavior being seen as a sign of potential disloyalty or future trouble. Social interactions between Human and IPC service members are discouraged and monitored. Human service members are instructed to view these synthetics as tools to be used, and considering them otherwise will likely result in disciplinary action.
Punishments inflicted on Positronics range from slaps on the wrist to mind-wiping or forcible retirement, however more extreme disciplinary measures are considered very rare and often only used in cases of outright disloyalty. Despite the harsh line the Solarian Military takes towards their Synthetic service members, there is some good for those IPC who end up in this environment. The Solarian Military ensures that its Synthetics are well-maintained, powered and repaired as they would any other piece of equipment and abandonment of IPC personnel is only done when there is no other option available, and significant risk to human life would be present in attempting to recover them.
In the Warlord States
Since the breakup of large swaths of Alliance space from the main core, military synthetics were included as part of the naval formations that came to rule these areas. A general breakdown in communication, coupled with the lack of proper maintenance facilities and spare parts have made the upkeep of these Positronics a costly affair, while generally casting them fully to the mercy of local officers. Indeed, Solarian military IPCs in Warlord jurisdiction are met with different and unexpected fates. In what was the Southern Fleet Administration, IPC units were either quickly sold off for profit or worked to destruction, the disorganised and bandit-like vessels having few resources to put towards their proper maintenance. In the Southern Military District on the other hand, treatment of synthetics remains in line with proper Solarian guidelines, with machinist depots on Visegrad being utilized by the fleet.
Alliance Anthem
“Our United Alliance” - ASSN Anthem
Our Solarian Sovereignty undisputed Our vision, transcendent Our heads high, our will strong Arise my Alliance, for we are supreme From Sol to the frontier, our right
We are humanity, our vision great The stars, our destiny manifest Through the toil of our people We expand to the horizon For our Humanity, we expand
Our Solarian Sovereignty undisputed Our vision, transcendent Our heads high, our will strong Arise my Alliance, for we are supreme From Sol to the frontier, our right
We are humanity, our vision great Proud people under your leadership Through the blood of our people Always ready to give our due For our unity, we stand strong
Languages
Sol Common is, shockingly, the dominant language of the Sol Alliance across all classes of society. Tau Ceti Basic is commonly available in schools, though it is generally regarded as a second language for Solarians. Tradeband is uncommon outside certain areas such as the Sol System and the Eridani Corporate Federation but, thanks to the economic power of these systems, remains a common language for interstellar trade. Freespeak, otherwise known as Gutter, is viewed as the language of lower-class individuals, such as now extinct Martian separatists and dregs and barely-civilised frontiersmen from the Coalition of Colonies. Solarian Sign Language is a popular elective course in higher education in the Sol Alliance and can be found throughout the Alliance itself, in addition to forming the basis of modern Galactic Sign Language.
Sol Alliance History
The Sol Alliance's relatively long history holds the origins of many of the current nations, megacorporations, and current conflicts within it. For a detailed overview, see the Sol Alliance history page.