Systems Alliance (Futuro de Daniele)

The **Human** **Systems Alliance**, colloquially known as the **Systems Alliance** or more informally as simply the **Alliance**, is the representative body of Earth and all human and quarian colonies in Alliance-administered space. Backed by Earth's most powerful nations, the Alliance has become humanity's military, exploratory, and economic spearhead. The Alliance unites all humans, quarians, and synthetics within its colonies and while the Alliance is relatively new to the galactic community, it has already made a name for itself, defeating the Turian Hierarchy in the bloody Second Contact War and taking in the Quarians as a client race. The Alliance is governed by a parliament based at Arcturus Station, which also serves as the Alliance's capital.

## History

### Establishment

In early-2128, a United Nations mining team on Mars made the greatest discovery of mankind. After investigating the southern pole of Mars, the team unearthed the subterranean ruins of an ancient alien civilization, revealing incontrovertible proof of the existence of alien life. Nothing of value could be gathered from the ruins; the entire subterranean complex was stripped clean of all technology and consisted of only crumbling stone and rusted metal. The archives contained nothing but a message. Inscribed in simple pictograms, the ancient alien civilization claimed they watched and studied humanity as they evolved, but "they" came and "they" wiped their civilization from the stars. The message indicated that the aliens on Mars were the only survivors of their race and that "they" could trace their technology, so the survivors are leaving in order to keep the Humans safe. The message ended with a warning not to trust "the Gates" nor "the Keep" and to grow strong and avenge the fallen civilization. It was signed with the head of an alien, though no name of the civilization could be found.

The impact on humanity was huge; it was proven that they were not alone in the universe. For all they knew, they were the last surviving species in the galaxy that faces a civilization-destroying threat. The new discovery dominated the media and raised questions about these aliens. What happened to the "Fallen Civilization"? Is whatever destroyed them still out there? These questions had a unifying effect on politics; every nation on Earth now realized that they were a small part of an incredibly vast universe. Six months after the discovery on Mars and endless debates within the United Nations about the possibility of intergalactic war, the Systems Alliance Charter was drafted and ratified by the G20.

Shortly thereafter, nearly all the nations in the world joined in backing the Systems Alliance, and pooled their resources into creating the Systems Alliance Defense Force. In 2129, the Alliance discovered the Sol system's mass relay, which the Alliance dubbed the tuning gate, orbiting Pluto at the precise location that Pluto's moon, Charon, was thought to have been. Remembering the message, the gate was not activated, but instead reverse-engineered to help advance humanity's technology. The groundwork for a united Human front was laid and humanity began preparing themselves to reach beyond the stars.

### Expansion and First Contact

Humanity's technology continued to advance, but so did its population; however, the message left by the fallen civilization made the Alliance weary of expanding beyond the solar system. But in 2156, the Alliance finally scouted out nearby systems using Warp Drive technology and discovered Eden, beginning mass-colonization efforts immediately. Another close-by planet named Roof was discovered as well, but that was colonized much more slowly, for humans were just now getting used to colonizing Eden. By the turn of the 23rd century, the population of roof had barely cracked the one million mark, the vast majority of whom lived in the capital (and only) city of

Humanity's first contact with alien life came on July 24, 2201, when a small naval detachment of the Alliance encountered a quarian scout flotilla above Valhalla, an unofficial Alliance planet that housed a research station dedicated to exploring human settlement options. This was the first planet explored through the tuning gate Communication, at least on the onset, was peaceful and the two sides communicated with videos, pictures and animations detailing their mutual interest in a benevolent friendship. The two met on Valhalla's surface, with each side bringing only six soldiers as per the Alliance's request. The Alliance was represented by the Minister of Extraterrestrial Affairs Ivan Chan, and Admiral Rael'Zorah nar Rayya vas Belari represented the Admiralty Board. Conversation was difficult due to the linguistic and cultural barrier, but thanks to body language, drawings and video presentations, both sides returned to their respective ships after an hour with a strong indication that peace and cooperation were the goals of both races.

The second confrontation was problematic, as the appearance of the Alliance AI made the quarians rather uneasy and the quarian marines initiated a standoff that while diffused by Minister Chan, raised tensions with the quarians to a point where the quarians refused a third visit. A video presentation was sent to the quarians detailing humanity's research and relationship with artificial intelligence, emphasizing the agreement made between humans and AI that allowed for their integration into human society that propelled them into a golden age.

### Second Contact War

#### Contact and initial engagements

For six months the refugees and Humans of Eden co-existed peacefully. From them, the Humans learned about the galaxy and the Citadel Council, finding out that there are a myriad of other galactic civilizations. They learned that the Fallen Civilization was actually an empire of aliens known as the Protheans who ruled the known galaxy. The Pantorans, in turn, learned how humanity evolved without the aid of Prothean technology and integrated themselves into Alliance society, all the while the Turian Hierarchy was hunting the outcasts.

Above Roof, the Alliance navy, both Human and a few Pantoran ships, was contacted by an attack force from the Pantoran homeland. The outcasts tried to prevent them from attacking by warning of their intrusion into Alliance space, but the Pantoran homelanders called their bluff and engaged the fleet. The Alliance navy responded, and although they were outnumbered, the Alliance was winning due to their different weaponry and ship construction. However, the Pantoran homelanders contacted the Turians with their position, and suddenly two fleets from the Turian Hierarchy's navy appeared above Roof.

The Alliance had no choice but to retreat, unfortunately leaving the colonists behind. The Turians and Pantorans landed ground troops on Roof, swiftly taking the few military targets. Although the small planet was occupied, the occupying forces were surprised with a rebellion by the colonists, degrading Roof's surface into a bitter guerrilla war. With the Alliance navy routed from Roof, the Turians chased them to Earth, naively thinking that was their main force and that they would swiftly crush the Pantoran outcasts and their Human allies. When the Turian fleets arrived in Earth's space, they were met with the Alliance's Summer Fleet; the combined might of all of the Alliance's warships.

## Military

The Alliance military has replaced the Turian military as the most feared in the galaxy since the conclusion of the Second Contact War and the annihilation of much of the Turian fleet. The Humans are known to be fast, flexible and incredibly unorthodox by normal galactic standards. They employ sophisticated technical support and emphasize mobility and individual initiative. The rest of the galaxy regards the Alliance as a "sleeping giant" as only 3% of Humans volunteer for military service, which scares the galaxy to think what the Alliance could do when that number is doubled, never mind when the entirety of humanity contributes to the war effort.

## Diplomatic Relations

Overall, the Systems Alliance enjoys relatively warm relations with the Citadel Council, though this is mostly out of fear and/or hope that they do not get on Humanity's bad side. The Asari have become a close economic trade partner, though the Alliance is aware and weary of their push to share technological secrets. The Salarians associate with the Alliance due to their desire to learn about the newest Galactic species. The Hanar's Illuminated Prophecy has a neutral stance towards the Alliance, though the Vol Republic takes a liking to the Humans as Systems Alliance Director Jason Whyte's beration of the Council is directly related to them becoming a sovereign power and a Council race. Relations between the ex-Council species the Turian Federation, formerly the Turian Hierarchy, exist but are cold.

As a founding member of the Galactic Commonwealth, the Humans enjoy very close relations with the member states; the Sangheili Hegemony, the Batarian Hegemony, the Quarian Confederation and more recently, the Krogan Horde. The Alliance treats the other races of the Commonwealth as equals, although the others look to Humanity as a paramount leader due to their status as a superpower. Although relations between the Humans and Batarians were initially tense due to the Alliance's claim territories initially sought after by the Batarians, the two races came to an agreement on the borders between the two entities. The Sangheili received aid from the Alliance during their civil war upon the disbandment of the Covenant and have become close ever since; the Humans being close to the Sangheili Hegemony's client races as well. The Krogan were given economic and relief aid, which helped the Krogans unite the clans into an actual government and became a close friend to the Alliance. A cure for the genophage was being researched by Alliance scientists, which cause an international incident and nearly incited war with the Salarian Union.

To most of the galaxy outside of Council space, the Humans are feared after they dismantled the Turians' status as a galactic superpower and have become the de facto sole superpower of the Galaxy. They worry that the Alliance, who have spontaneously thrust upon the galactic stage and found their place in Galactic politics upon a mountain of Turian bodies, has been expanding too fast and that they could perhaps take over the entire galaxy, although the Alliance holds no such desires.