The Confederacy

*"The ancient gods, our guardians, our protectors. Those who give rain, storm, light and dark. Those from whom all gifts are derived. Those to whom we owe everything." - excerpt from a prayer written about the Confederacy by a member of a primitive civilization they interfered with.*

## THE CONFEDERATE DEFENSIVE NATIONS OF THE CERLUS CLUSTER

### Alternate Names

* The Confederacy
* The Confederate Nations
* The Hexapact
* The Defensive Nations

## Politics

### Official Languages

* Trans-Confederate Standard
* Leukomoc Standard
* Akal Gelfor
* Ultika Alkete'ä
* Shorvfona
* T-rak Standard
* Kannor

## Civilization Statistics

### Civilization Type

Representative Democratic Federation of Worlds

### Other Important Worlds

* Dedre

The Six Homeworlds:

* Fakar Nilu
* Thicmon
* Olhotalä
* Klankiro
* Estathul
* Partenaw

Other Worlds:

* Omaro
* Impora
* Kharae
* Yesq
* Eseth

### Member Species

* Leukomoc
* Gelfor
* Alkerre
* Shorvfon
* T-rak
* Wekuna
* Plus minorities of other species

### Travel Methods

* Alcubierre Drive
* Wormholes

## Leaders

### Secondary Leader

Vice Chancellor Atonr

The Confederacy is the largest, oldest, most economically powerful, and second most militarily-powerful nation in the entirety of the Cerlus Cluster. For the majority of it's existence, the Confederation was only a defensive pact between countless nations and species that strengthened until the entities federated, forming The Confederacy. While each nation maintained it's autonomy and independence, they were required to defend each other and abide by common laws, as well as relinquish any right to conquering or colonizing new systems.

Today, however, The Confederacy has shrunk to just six species, six nations; a shadow of a shadow of its former glory. Once a pan-cluster federation of species, acting as the final authority over all matters, now it is an ageing empire, bureaucracy and tradition weighing heavy on its shoulders. Though it has fallen from grace, the Confederacy is still by far the most powerful nation in the entirety of the cluster and possibly beyond,

Systems that are obtained by The Confederation are put under governmental control. When joining the Confederacy, a nation maintains it's control over every system they own, but cannot legally obtain any news ones. The vast majority of systems within Confederate control are under governmental control, with only 1.87% being under member control.

At it's peak, the Confederacy covered 54.3% of the Cluster, and had a defining role in the development of most civilizations in the cluster.

## History

Thirty thousand years ago, the Confederacy was little more than a loose alliance between three nations - one of which is now extinct. Armeno, Yanro-ci-Estathul and the extinct nation of Kimnora Selsevoris. In an ancient war, long lost to the decay of databanks and historybooks, Kimnora Selsevoris broke away from the pact, and attacked the other two. A civil war ensued, in which the Confederate states were victorious. The third party was exiled from their home systems, and was forced to wander the cluster, or possibly the galaxy, as a series of nomadic ships. Legend states that they are still out there today.

The conclusion of the civil war and the subsequent exile of the Kimnora Selsevoris happened approximately 28 500 years ago. In an age lasting ten thousand years, the Confederacy shrunk, as the two nations retreated into each other, berated on each side. Both nations became isolationist paradises, utopias to their citizens, but stagnant culturally and economically. The addition of the Gelfora Imperii 18 343 years ago shook the decadent confederacy up, returning them to their previous age. They expanded at a pace unseen before, admiring countless species and nations, becoming the foremost nation in the entire cluster, until they encountered the Republican States of Klankiro.

Back then, over seventeen thousand years ago, the RSK was not the liberal paradise it is today. It was a fascist state brimming with unrest and armed to the teeth. A period of warfare between the Regime of Domain Ortan and the budding Confederacy was the defining moment in the alliances history. It marked the transition between loose alliances to full, federal control. The majority of the countless nations agreed to cede their sovereignty to a higher government, which coordinated the effort and, eventually, pushed the Domain back to their core systems.

In a move still taught today in Confederate schools, and even beyond, the Defenders of Omaro (21st Battle Fleet, Omaro), a division of the Confederate United Forces, laid siege to the Domain homeworld of Klankiro. Starving the world of resources, while the Domain's fleets were tens of light years away, Klankiro soon fractured into tribal warfare over the limited resources. Nuclear war ensued, and particle weapons were employed. Klankiro was utterly devastated.

While morally debatable, the Defenders of Omaro had successfully wiped out the Domain's central leadership, and reduced an enemy to ashes. The remainder of the CUF hunted down and destroyed or imprisoned the headless Domain's worlds and fleets.

This marked the end of the Domain Wars, sparking the beginning of a period of prosperity. Little expansion occurred, but massive engineering and industrial projects were undergone. It lasted two thousand years, up until 15 thousand years ago, when the RSK was detected as it climbed it's way out of Klankiro's devastated atmosphere.

Initially, the Confederacy approached the new nation with distant caution, remembering the troubles of the past war. However, after a brief period of study, it was found that the new Republic was nothing like their fascist ancestors. Learning their lesson on the poisoned soils of Klankiro over the period of two thousand years and the deaths of billions, the RSK almost immediately, upon learning of their past, united with the Confederacy.

To this day, the Shorvfona are seperated into two species. Shorvfona Tanrl, meaning "Peaceful People" in their language, and Shorvfona Ghanto, meaning "Surviving People" in their language. The Peaceful People are the descendants of those who were imprisoned and, over time, gradually were assimilated into Confederate culture, while the Surviving People are the descendants of those who climbed out of Klankiro's gravity well and took their place in the Confederacy.

What followed the unification of the many nations was what is now known as the "Pax Confederia," a period of peace dominating the entirety of the Cerlus Cluster, in which the Confederacy had a defining role. At the time, it was by far the most powerful political and economic entity in the Cluster, and had a defining role in the development of the new civilizations around it. The Confederacy expanded little, but developed massively, with almost every system having at least one terraformed world. Some systems, including all the Home Systems, had **every single world** terraformed, colonized and massively industrialized.

Pax Confederia lasted for twelve thousand years, in which the Confederacy acted as the cluster "policeman," interfering in almost every war and imposing it's will to the edges of the Cluster. Only very recently has that peace been disturbed, with the Confederacy loosing a series of coalition wars from the civilizations that once belonged to it.

Ever since then, the Confederacy has been loosing territory to upstart nations that, individually, would pale in comparison. But united, they can, and are, providing significant difficulties to the Confederate Nations. Nations have been leaving and entire species are vanishing from Confederate space

The admission of Alkataha Asterresi, the first admission in thousand of years, is the sign billions of people are waiting for. The sign that the sleeping giant is waking again, and is ready to impose it's will once more upon the starry skies of Cerlus.

## Astrogeography

The Confederacy controls over eighteen thousand stars, centered around the comparatively small sphere that contains the capital. Star systems under confederate control are scattered around the Cerlus Cluster, creating massive and disgusting bordergore, remnants of the largest extent of the nation. Today, these outposts far from the core worlds act as handholds into regions that have fallen out of confederate control, with wormholes linking each exclave to a central hub system, located far outside of the cluster. This hub system, known as the Varbandi System, is a lone star wandering the gap between the center of the Silky Way and the rim. Through the exclaves and the Varbandi System, the confederacy controls the largest and most extensive wormhole network in the entire cluster, and possibly one of the largest in the galaxy.

Trade passes through the wormhole network, and a heavy tax is placed upon it. This is the primary source of income for the Confederacy, and the majority of it is used to maintain and upkeep the wormholes. This is a source of unrest for the smaller and weaker trading nations of the cluster, but they cannot do anything about it as the network is by far the quickest and most efficient method of travelling the cluster.

The Confederacy has been shrinking for a long time, retreating from the bastions that once defended its myriad worlds from the horrors of the cluster. New and unruly civilizations have sprung up and taken control of systems formerly confederate gems. At it's peak, the Confederacy controlled 434 412 stars, over half of the cluster, and vast amounts of wealth and riches flowed back to the homeworlds and the capital worlds. Today the remnants of their infrastructure and power are scattered like dust across the stars of the cluster. Younger, less advanced civilizations have taken advantage of these marvels of engineering and power, and have used it to jumpstart their own expansion.

## Culture

As the Confederacy once held thousands of species within it's grasp, there is no one all-defining set of values or ideologies that dominate. Certainly, individual nation-states retain their original ideologies and governmental forms, but in Confederate-administered space it is more of a hodgepodge of cultural identities. As such, the Confederacy is often described as the most diverse of all the Cerlusian nations. It has aspects of almost all nations and species currently in the cluster, and even some that have died out and gone extinct.

However, the most predominant values that the majority, if they can be described as such, are those of freedom, truth, and prosperity. These were the original grounds that the three nations united on in the primordial history of the Confederacy. Threatened on all sides by authoritarian, even fascist, civilizations, the original triumvirate held close together on their shared values to such an extent that they were originally enshrined in its constitution. To this day, the constitution still protects "all sophontic species rights to freedom, truth, prosperity, equality and their innate right to be alive." In practise however, as the Confederacy grew to be a pan-cluster civilization, member-states that were absorbed followed starkly different ideologies and ideas that have remained to the current day. In fact, the world of Yachtiot still follows and upholds the strict caste system their dead civilization implemented.

Overall, the Confederacy **officially** has an ideology to follow; one of freedom, honesty, responsibility and freedom; in practice there is no such thing.

## Member-States

Currently, the Confederacy has six official member-states. In the past, however, that number was in the thousands, and the warm grip of the Confederate government stretched over all the stars of the cluster.

### Armeno

Armeno was one of the original triumvirate, being a founding member of the Confederacy. A nation comprised of the Leukmoc species, arising from the ancient world of Fakar Nilu, Armeno has no official translation of its name into Trans-Confederate Standard. The closest thing that makes sense is the "United and Prosperous Peoples of Fakarnilu," as it was known thirty thousand years ago.

Armeno is one of the largest nations in the Confederacy, along with one of the most developed and closest to the center; all attributes to its incredibly age and status as a founding member. Making up over two thousand stars, (its size when it formed the Confederacy) Armeno is a republican federation of states. Each represents a planet in the Armeno Ta Yani; its equivalent of a senate, and each itself is a federation of independent polities on the surface of each world or habitat. As such, the Armenan decision making process and governmental facilities are incredibly slow, but as a result each and every region gets a say in the government of the nation.

As such, the governmental system would look something like this:

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{\displaystyle Confederacy > Armeno > Planet > Planetary Polity > Regional Polity > Local Polity}

The Regional Polities and the Local Polities are not defined by anything other than usefulness and population by the Planetary Polity - they represent nothing and are only used for ease of bureaucracy.

As the native Leukmoc have bodies that are fundamentally different and alien to the vast majority of life within Cerlus, they communicate two ways. Leukmoc Standard, which is a limited form of communication devised to let the Leukmoc speak and transfer meaning and ideas in simple terms to the other species of the Confederacy, and their native language(s), of which non-Leukmoc speakers cannot distinguish between (if there even are more than one).

### Gelfora Imperii

The Gelfora Imperii, or the Gelforan Empire or just Gelfora, was the first member to be admitted to the Confederacy, **ever**. It reigns over seven hundred stars, again, near the core, and was already an old civilization by the time it joined the Confederacy. It had entered its decline, and through a genius act of governance, prevented its collapse and subsequent annexation by younger, more aggressive civilizations, by joining the Confederacy and providing them access to its extremely advanced (relatively) technology.

The Gelfor arose on the world of Thicmon mostly likely over seventy thousand years ago, in a completely different clusteral age. Though records have been lost to time, there are legends and myths of the Gelfora Imperii being founded by numerous Gelfor worlds, separated by some cataclysm, possibly pushing back the original date of Gelfor starfaring capability to beyond a hundred thousand years ago. Even prior to that, the Gelfor had spent many thousands of years warring on their homeworld. The earliest date of Gelfor civilization beginning is over a hundred and fifteen thousand years ago.

It is a vibrant and key member of the Confederacy, contributing the most to the joint economy and being the ones who construct the vast majority of the infrastructures and industry in the nation.

Originally, the Imperii was an autocratic technocracy, with a basic capitalist system in place. These traits carry through to today, with Gelfor worlds being stratified between their working and ruling populations.

### Alkataha Asterresi

Alkataha Asterresi, or the Federation of Alkhata, is the most recent addition to the Confederacy, after long eons of members slowly dripping away. Officially the smallest nation in the Confederacy, controlling only four systems, the Federation is also the weakest and the least powerful. However, it has found ways to circumvent the laws of the Confederacy, allowing it to gain power and influence, very, **very** slowly. The Federation arose on the world of Olhotalä, as a group of united nations coming together to face their industrialized colonies on a nearby continent. Since then, the united nations, known as the Council, spread out and united the entire planet. The events of the Imperial-Alkete War forced the newly born Alkhata Asterresi to enter into the Confederacy.

A nation dominated by its megacorporations and economy, the Federation government only acts as a referee between said corporations and as a polity to ensure the enforcement of laws and policies made by the Confederacy. Day to day life in the nation, however, is mostly controlled by the corporations.

The Federation is the only nation in the entire history of the Confederacy to circumvent the law against acquisition of territory, though many have tried. This is due entirely to its unique form of government - a hybrid between corporations and normal central leadership. The government has entered into a deal with a corporation in which the corporation will take control of numerous celestial bodies and govern them through a set of 'workplace policies', which in fact are only extensions of the government's laws. This blatant loophole is a source of minor contention between the Federation and the other Confederate Nations.

### Republican States of Klankiro

The RSK, or the Republican States of Klankiro, is not special in any real way. It doesn't stand out from the rest in any specific category. One of the only things that it is notable for is its beginnings, and its interactions with the Confederacy early on in its history.

Many thousands of years ago, the RSK was comprised of one species, not two as it is now. The Regime of Domain Ortan, or just the Regime, dominated the Shorvfona species. A fascist, xenophobic and authoritarian polity, the Regime entered into a destructive war with the Confederacy when it was contacted. Eventually, the Confederacy emerged victorious, and the world of Klankiro was utterly devastated. The Shorvfona fell into barbarism and retreated to their homeworld.

Thousands of years later, they managed to climb the gravity well once more. They emerged into the stars as the Republican States of Klankiro, and almost immediately joined into the Confederacy, the very entity that had killed billions of Shorvfona thousands of years ago.

To this day, the Shorvfona are seperated into two slightly different sub-species. One that was confined to Klankiro upon the war's conclusion, and the other being forcefully assimilated into Confederate culture and society.

Republican Space is incredibly small. As the polity had only just risen out of the gravity well when it was admitted into the Confederacy, it officially only controlled one system. However, it was given ten surrounding systems, systems of incredible importance to the Shorvfona (mostly because they were the original sites of interstellar colonisation by the Regime and their importance has remained through their collective psych). This puts the nation barely ahead of the Alkataha Asterresi in terms of size.

### Yanro-ci-Estathul

Yanro-ci-Estathul, roughly translating to "Estathul for all," is the second and last remaining founding member of the Confederacy. Hugging Armeno, Yanro-ci-Estathul territory is the second largest in the alliance, covering nineteen hundred systems. Both nations are near the center of Confederate space, and are located extremely close to the capital world of Dedre.

Yanro-ci-Estathul, commonly referred to as just Yanro, is one of the oldest sovereign polities in the Cluster. Formed when the T-rak arose on the world of Estathul over thirty thousand years ago, in response to an asteroid impact, Yanro was an emergency government. As the disaster subsided and T-rak civilization returned to 'normal', Yanro solidified its power and united the fractured people of Estathul. Today, Yanro-ci-Estathul still remains as the sole governing body of the vast majority of the T-rak, due to their exotic and 'strange' nature compared to other species throughout the cluster.

Yanro developed as per a normal civilization, growing and solidifying it's hold on the stars surrounding the T-rak homeworld. Soon, it came into contact with the early Armeno, and then the Kimnora Selsevoris. Skirmishes and border disputes were common in those days, but, as the three nations explored farther and farther out, they realized what a hostile place the cluster was. They allied in a trilateral agreement, and managed to surf the rough waves of the Purging Era, arriving into a more peaceful time as the Confederate Defensive Nations.

Today, Yanro space is sparse. Most planets have been dissasembled to provide materials for the construction of Yanro-ci-Demann, or "living space for all," a mega structure designed for, built by, and inhabited by, T-rak.

### People's Federation of Partenaw

The PFP is an egalitarian, almost communistic nation, originating from the world of Partenaw. The Wekuna species spent many years warring on their homeworld, until a communist nation arose and managed to puppet and subsume every other nation on the moon. It then quickly rose, employing sub-light travel in massive ships many many kilometers long to travel between systems and colonies.

The PFP managed to spread out for quite a while before it encountered another alien sentience. Unfortunately, the first sophonts that they encountered were the Alboranga. For two hundred years, the Alboranga hunted down the Wekuna colonies, killing billions and enslaving many billions more. The Wekuna were driven back after many thousands of skirmishes and battles to their homeworld, Partenaw.

Even then, the Alboranga did not stop. They slaughtered their way through the orbital defences, and began the decade-long bombardement of the surface of Partenaw. The deaths of billions of Wekuna are still mourned today, along with trillions of others, as part of the pan-clusteral Alboranga Day.

However, as part of their policy of defending newborn civilizations, the Confederacy came to the defence of the PFP, indirectly sparking the Alboranga Wars. Once the Confederacy arrived and fought off the armada of ships bombarding the Wekuna homeworld, the true stretch of the devastation the Alboranga had wrought was revealed. Partenaw was almost lifeless. Not a single Wekuna was left alive on it, a world of around 15 billion sentients before the bombardement.

It was damaged to such an extent that the atmospheric composition was drastically changed and the planet underwent a period of intense volcanism and geological upheaval. The very structure of the moon was altered, and its orbit around the gas giant Olmatrik was changed. While their civilization was almost completely destroyed, the Wekuna survived on a few colonies, and with the help of the Confederacy after contact was established, they began tentatively to resettle their former homeworld.

Once their civilization was secured, the PFP immediately joined the Confederacy, becoming a crucial part of the alliance. Since those devastating days, the Wekuna have been invaluable members of the Confederacy.

## Technology

The Confederacy, as the oldest nation in the cluster, is almost guaranteed to be the most technologically advanced nation. Even discounting the vital technologies supplied by the Gelfora Imperii. Megastructures are more the rule than the exception, to the extent that most systems have at least one planet that has been disassembled.