Terran Federation

The **Terran Federation** is a well-developed interstellar empire which occupies portions of the inner Orion-Cygnus arm of the Milky Way galaxy. Known broadly in Alliance space as a 'group of malcontents, dissidents and unsatisfied elements', they were one of the principle factions of the Solar War and even after reabsorption championed against the lack of an Alliance constitution; they promptly escaped Terran space at the earliest opportunity. In modern times, they are a powerful and well-defended state that, in recent years, has made serious inroads towards becoming a galactic contender on par with their former homeland.

## History

The Terran Federation can trace its ancestry to Earth: the Third World War and the subsequent splintering of the human race, followed by the transformation of the United Nations into the Terran Alliance and the subsequent Solar War to bring the rest of the 'Terrans' back into the fold, was absolutely ruinous for early humanity. While initially re-integrated into the Terran Alliance, the affected dissident colonials and rebellious leaders of the Federation's infant state chose to escape with warp-capable ships at the earliest opportunity and re-establish their faction rather than continue to subject themselves to humiliation and ruination for being the 'losers'.

With travel times measured in decades and astrogation of the time being more limited, the 'Federals' initially only sought to put as much distance as possible between themselves and Terra: it also meant that they collectively had a great deal of time to ponder the reasons for their loss and the ultimate cause. Unlike the Selestrini, which chose to embrace pacifism and religion as the end result of that process, the Federation chose instead to militarize.

## Culture & Society

The Federation is a "citizen's republic": a militaristic form of democracy, where full citizenship can only be gained through military service. The voting franchise is generally limited to full citizens, and they are the only ones allowed to hold public offices.

## Military

The Terran Federation operates a significant military: while not quite the size of the Terran Alliance's own armed forces and not possessing the same blind fervor, they surpass them in general efficiency and in training. The principle arm of the military is, as with any spacefaring civilization, the navy: the Federal Navy. The Federal Army is the junior of the services in consideration of the Federation's non-participation in the Galactic Council *or* the Elysian Accords, which opens up a number of possibilities not available to many other galactic powers (including planetary bombardment and even annihilation).

Federal military technology is highly advanced: they are comparable to the Alliance in several ways, but they have of late developed superior large-scale shielding technologies with the aid of foreign powers in order to put up planetary deflector shields. This makes their planets incredibly resistant to attack, a necessity as they themselves are not protected by the Accords. They have also constructed several massive spherical battle stations in the three navigable corridors to their space, so as to deny passage to intruders.

## Astrography

The Federation's astrography is uniquely placed: located in a stable 'bubble' of navigable territory, the surrounding space outside of their territory is so prone to anomalous conditions that it is considered unnavigable by anything short of an otherspace drive. As yet there are only three stable 'corridors' of space identified that capable of supporting warp travel into their sectors.

### Caelestis

A stormy, mountainous planet of dizzying heights, with chains of islands separated by vast shallow seas; it is from here that the Federal Senate meets to discuss politics and the day-to-day affairs of empire, as well as the Federal Council, which acts as the legislative branch.