The Treaty of Centauri

## The origins

As the Exodus led the two groups of elves to the Known Universe about 4000 years ago, they rapidly expanded due to their massive population and brought with them massive conflicts in the region as well. The Protectorate Association, which had been pretty much the only power in the region at the time, was pressed into combat by the Realm and the Empire, which regarded them as "inferior, non-magical" beings at the time. At that time, anything went as far as space wars went, as colonies were destroyed by artificial asteroid strikes, necromantic armies raiding various camps and an arms race to gather as many allies as possible and everyone arming themselves to the teeth. The Hu Syndicates viewed this as a threat to the very existence of sentient life in the Known Universe and forced all parties to come together and sit at what would become the unofficial neutral zone of the galaxy-wide conflict, near the star known to Terran as Alpha Centauri.

### The original signature and the Treaty

The three factions agreed to a cease-fire for the time being and sent a large delegation of ambassadors to Alpha Centauri, to meet on a Hu Traveller-class vessel, one of the rare times a member of the Hu race was seen by anyone. The three parties came together to build the treaty in what became the original Tripartite Council.

The treaty was separated in multiple parts, but some of the most important points were the following:

* A complete ban on undirected orbital bombardment, leading actually to a generalised ban on orbital bombardments of any kind. Using asteroids or orbital debris to destroy installations on a planet was also banned.
* A ban on space travel prevention for a planet, including a large section on recovering debris in orbit of inhabited planets.
* A cultural contamination clause, which prevented (mainly the Protectorate) the various powers to approach civilizations that had not reached a certain point in their socio-cultural and technological advances.
* A restriction on ship tonnages and weapon capacities, preventing the construction of "super-battleships" and the loading of planet-destroying weapons on ships. This also included a firm limitation on what types of ships a Client-State or Protectorate could build on its own, with anything larger than a Light Cruiser (or anything capable of jumping on its own) having to be built by the main power.
* Tracing of the original borders and neutral zones between the Empire, Union and Protectorate.
* A restriction on the production of any weapons that would be meant to kill mainly civilian populations, including viral agents and genetic desequencer.

While there were quite a few contentious issues that came from the treaty, it was accepted as a generally good thing for the well-being of the Known Universe.

### Further signataries

As time went by, other powers came into being in the region, most of which wanted to be assured the protections included in the Treaty of Centauri. The Dread Ones, as disunited as they are, signed the treaty and were given a "secondary vote" on the Council, same with the Etherites, whose entire Federation is currently within the Protectorate territory. With how powerful the Terrans and Baal'Ken have become in recent years, especially due to their expansionist nature, many observers believe the Hu will request that they sign the Treaty of Centauri in a near future to prevent them from acting against the well-being of the region.