Unified Armed Forces

To Be Elaborated: The Unified Armed Forces represents the primary military and homeguard of the Stellar Confederation. Originally establised as, quite literally, a unification of the militaries of the five founding species of the Confederation, over the millennia it has expanded into a massive and more flexable fighting force that it is entirely independent of the militaries of the Confederation's member states. Members are recruited from the ranks of the militaries of member states, in the form of voluntary offers to existing military personnel, but the majority of those serving within its ranks are recruited directly from the civilian populus of the Stellar Confederation.

## History

To Be Developed: Initial establishment as a cross-species alliance of militaries during Origin Wars for logistical purposes. The massive growth as Confederation expanded beyond the founding species, the alliance growing to include hundreds of species militaries cooperating to protect each others territories and maintain the peace. The eventual repurposing from this alliance into an independent peacekeeping and expeditionary military force that answered solely to the government once the growth of the Confederation turned it from a normal confederation into an active political force, creating the modern branches of the UAF.

## Branches

To Be Developed: A More in-depth explanation and analysis of each branch.

* The Unified Ground and Cavalry Forces: A joint combination of standard infantry and Armored and Mounted Cavalry units (the latter primarily only used in environments where amoured vehicles are difficult or impossible to use. The majority of the Armored Cavalry units are comprised of Drones, whilst the Mounted Cavalry is mostly organic troops. These units are both defensive and offensive, making up the majority of ground-based planetary garrisons. They are technically also marines, being the forces transported down to a planet during an invasions. They do not, however, serve as the actual anti-boarding defense forces on-board starships.

* The Unified Suborbital and Atmospheric Forces: The equivalent of the an airforce, the USAF is entirely comprised of drones for both air combat and and in-atmosphere survellance drones. Primarily, it is adefensive force with occasional deployment during planetary invasions in offensive capacities when an orbital bombardment would be overkill or too damaging to the environment. Despite what one might expect, they are not responsible for ferrying troops to and from the capital ships that brought them into orbit.

* The Unified Aquatic Navy: The ground based navy, usually little more than a defensive coast guard on planets that rely on water trade or there would be a potential for genuine water warfare. They are composed of both above water ships, including battleships and carriers that catter to USAF aircraft, as well as various forms of submersibles. Their deployment in an offensive capacity is incredibly rare, usually only in cases where worlds are entirely covered in water or otherwise the major settlements are under water.
* The Unified Astral Navy: The spacefairing navy, and the largest of its kind in the Silver River. They are charged with maintaining patrols around the orbit of all Confederate worlds and ensuring they are protected against criminal activites and attack by hostile nations. They are also responsible for maintaing the orbital weapon platforms and space stations that make up the defense grids around each world in the Confederation. Additionally, they obviously serve as the attack force for the space portion of any planetary invasion, as well as transporting ground forces to and from the planet and serving as orbital artillery during battle. Thus, they are one of the few branches that interacts with all others regularly in the course of their duties.
* To Be Developed: Special Forces Branch
* To Be Developed: Specialized Drone Branch

## Organizational Structure

To Be Elaborated: This entire section, once everything is solidified.

Due to the nature of the Stellar Confederation, incorporating over nine-hundred species of various psychologies and innumerable cultures that co-exist without any one world view being pushed beyond stability and general equality, the Unified Armed Forces' operating structure can be considered atypical for a military. It combines a sort of democractic nature to determining policy and strategy as per the needs of each Sector with the typical infalliable leaders who issue orders that are expected to be followed without question or hesitation. To this end, the structure of billets, and to a degree ranks, within the UAF can be divided into three categories, with a techinical fourth existing primarily only on a buracractic level. These are: First, the Unified Branch Command which is comprised of the individual heads of each branch of the UAF. Second, there are the Sectorial and Planetary Oversight Forces, which is composed of officers in charge of Sectors and Planetary Garrisons, as well as the Non-Commissioned Officers and Enlisted personnel that make up the bulk of garrison forces. The third, and last official, grouping is that of Mobile and Combat Forces, comprising of those who are a part of the armies, fleets, and so on intended to be used in the case of interstellar war. The fourth techincal category is that of the Commander-in-Chief, a role filled by the current President of the Stellar Confederation. The role is largely symbolic, the President holding next to no authority over members of the military. Instead, should any significant political decisions be required, they are put forward in front of the Unified Council of Species Represenatives and voted upon.

The Unified Branch Command is one of two categories of the UAF's organizational structure where rank equats billet without exception, in this case for obvious reasons. Thus the ranks and billets within the UBC are as follows: the Supreme Commander of the UGCF, the Chief Air Marshal of the USAF, the Grand Admiral of the UAQN, the Chief Star Marshal of the UASN, the Supreme Commander of the Unknown Special Forces Branch, and the Primary Controller of the Unknown Specialized Drone Branch. Each of these ranks is considered to be a Commander of Branch, or COB, Grade officer. They are thus higher than the normal paygrade of Commissioned Officer, owing to the fact each of them is effectively in charge of trillions of individual soldiers and is responsible for managing not only garrisons charged with securing the individual sectors of the Confederation as well as coordinating the movements and actions of mobile patrols as well as offensive forces during war time. As well as being provided hefty bonuses to keep quiet about the sheer level of corporate influence on military policy and actions. Each COB is required to have thirty standard orbits service in their respective branch, both on the field and away from it in a command position. Exceptions can be made in the case of extremely short-lived species showing extreme command promise, but these are rare due to the simple fact that their short lifespan also means it's more likely they won't hold the position long enough to be of use. Each COB holds their position until their death or discharge, whichever comes first. It is thus entirely possible for a COB to remain in their 'office' of sorts for millenia, if they are of a longer lived species.

Underneath the UBC are the two effective divisions of all operating units in the UAF. These are the Sectorial and Planetary Oversight Forces (SaPOF) and the Mobile and Combat Forces (MaCF). The SaPOF organizes all forces assigned as local defenses for the Confederation and its Member States on a sector, star system, and planetary basis. However, they are not the primary means of defense persay. Almost every Member State of the Stellar Confederation is allowed to maintain its own military or Home Guard, with certain species exempt due to political, cultural, or economic reasons. The justification for this arraignment for this is that it is far easier for a species to see to its own defense, both logistically and financially, than the Confederation to recruit, equip, and maintain massive planetary and orbital garrisons as well as patrols across all of its thousands of star systems. Thus, the SaPOF instead is tasked with two roles. First, to provide supplementary forces to the Member State Home Guards and assist with dealing with threats to said Member States that may appear. Second, serve as peacekeeping forces to ensure cooperation between the Member States and the Confederation and that the laws of the Confederation are followed. Thus, they protect Confederation trade routes, maintain orbital defenses, and patrol along side the Home Guards to keep the peace. The MaCF, meanwhile, serves as the direct standing military of the Confederation. Despite claiming that open warfare should be used only as a last resot, the Stellar Confederation maintains the largest military in the Silver River. While only moderately large during peacetime, in the event of an armed conflict, units are pulled from SaPOF garrisons to supplement already existing MaCF forces. Defense of territories are then left to the Member State Home Guards, while the MaCF moves to take on whatever opposition may exist. Thus, one can consider the SaPOF a sort of Military Reserve as well as a Home Guard.

At the top of both the Sectorial and Planetary Oversight Overces and the Mobile and Combat Forces are what are known as Grand units. These are the Grand Army of the UGCF, the Grand Airforce of the USAF, the Grand Fleet of the UAQN, the Grand Brigade of the UASN, the Unknown Grand Special Forces Unit of the Unknown Special Forces Branch, and the Unknown Grand Specialized Drone Unit. A Grand unit is less what one thinks of when hears of a military unit, i.e. a squad of soldiers or a wing of fighters. Instead, Grand units serve as effective logistical organizations of smaller units for the purpose of making mass deployments easier. For this reason, they are most commonly created for MaCF forces, as the SaPOF usually are organized at much smaller levels owing to their supplementary nature. But there are exceptions to this rule. As they require years of experience and extremely careful direction, the heads of bopth SaPOF and the MaCF Grand units are always the Commissioned Officer, Grade 13 (CO-13) officers. The ranks of the CO-13 Grade are as follows: the High Commander of the UGCF, the Air Marshal of the USAF, the Sectorial Admiral and the War Admiral of the UAQN, the Star Marshal of the UASN, the High Commander of the Unknown Special Forces Branch, and the Network Controller of the Unknown Specialized Drone Branch. Typically, officers promoted to the role of commanding a Grand unit serve in the MaCF. As, usually, these units are formed in response to a brewing or active war, and thus will be shortly deployed to various campaigns under which these CO-13 officers will oversee their branch's forces and ensure they complete their objectives. However, owing to the vast size of the Stellar Confederation, these units similarly allow for easier deployment of SaPOF garrisons whilst maintaining the required oversight to keep them functioning and effective. Thus, a Sector will often have at least one of each Grand unit, which is tasked with maintaining all of their branch's forces in the region. Each CO-13 officer in this case makes up part of what is know as that Sector's Defense Council. A Defense Council is charged with determining military policy for the SaPOF, with assistance from liasons from Member State Home Guards, in regards to how to best defend and keep peace in the Sector. The Head of the Defense Council, who serves as the de facto leader of all SaPOF forces in that Sector, is determined by seniority of orbits served or by direct posting by the UBC in certain cases.

A Grand units are all strictly regular in terms of the personnel and materiel that composes them. While other units may vary in these facts, Grand units can always be expected to follow these numbers exactly in their deployments.

A Grand Army is composed of three million (3,000,000) infantry, two million five hundred thousand (2,500,000) of which are organic forces drawn from any variety of species. The remaining five hundred thousand (500,000) infantry are drones of various makes and models. Supplementing these infantry are one million five hundred thousand (1,500,000) armored cavalry units evenly divided between manned and drone units. Occasionally, these units may be replaced with mounted cavalry partially or entirely, depending on the terrain of the world in question they are deployed. Due to the limit use for large infantry units outside of active combat or occuptation as well as the costs of maintain hundreds of such armies, the vast majority of Grand Armies are formed solely in war time. The SaPOF Grand Armies that do exist have their forces peppered in various numbers across the various planets in the Sector. More often, the UGCF forces that exist in Sectors are merely smaller units stationed on only important worlds rather than every single settled world.

A Grand Air Force is composed of twenty-five thousand (25,000) aircraft, fifteen thousand (15,000) of which are combat aircraft. The remaining ten thousand (10,000) is evenly divided between transport and scout craft. Though maintained by organics and drones alike, the majority of aircraft are drone piloted due to their abillity to react within nanoseconds and process changes in dogfights. There are gunships and transport craft are manufactured to allow for organic pilots to prevent a total reliance on drones, but they make up the minority of the aircraft used. This fact, along with the all drone starfighters of the Unified Astral Navy, is repeatedly lambasted by the Confederation's sapient drone community as being a cruel and unethical practice due to the thinking and learning natures of these combat craft lending itself a high probability of them developing self-awareness and yet they are sent into circumstances which near guarantee their destruction because organics are unwilling to risk themselves. Such reasoning is why drone infantry and armor are far more limited than their organic counterparts, despite being hundreds of times more effective. Grand Air Forces, like Grand Armies, are largely existant in wartime and are limited among the SaPOF. However, unlike Grand Armies, they are often manufactured as needed due to largely being drone based and thus are somewhat easier and less costly to maintain. Thus, SaPOF Grand Airforces are more common than SaPOF Grand Armies, but only marginally. Like above, most USAF in a sector will be smaller units deployed to important planets only.

A Grand Fleet is composed of one thousand eight hundred (1,800) combat vessels, with an additional seven hundred (700) support craft supplementing them. These can be further joined, by joint operations, with a varying number of USAF aircraft part of Carrier Groups. It is not, however, guaranteed these aircraft, nor their carriers, will be deployed, as it generally depends on the nature of the combat and whether atmospheric conditions permit their use. In the case where the majority of combat is underwater, due to the native species living there and not being land dwelling, these aircraft are less effective compared to submersibles and underwater combat vehicles. Such logic is also used to determine the composition of the Grand Fleet itself, as there have been certain conflicts where the vast majority of a Grand Fleet was composed of submersibles, with only a few basic support vessels remaining on the surface with a few combat-capable ships to defend them. Grand Fleets, unlike the above formations, are rather common among the SaPOF for a very important region. When a Sector's species lives on planets that are covered nearly entirely, or actually entirely, in water or a similar liquid, a Grand Fleet may be deployed to the Sector and take on the role of what an ordinary SaPOF garrison would be, with a small compliment of UGCF marines to assist them. Due to the terrain of the planets preventing use of UGCF and USAF forces often times, it therefore becomes more cost effective to build Grand Fleets to maintain the same presence and protection that the SaPOF normally affords the Confederation's Member States.

A Grand Brigade is, similarly to Grand Fleets, a form of logistical unit. Its goal is to organize the Brigades deployed across a Sector or during a campaign. Compared to the UAQN however, the UASN holds far less variation in its units and thus there is much less to manage. As a result, a Grand Brigade is normally composed of twenty-eight (28) dreadnought type starcraft, supplemented by eighty-four (84) frigates, one-hundred and sixty-eight (168), and two-thousand four-hundred and fifty (2450) fighter-bomber drones. In the case of wartime Grand Brigades assigned outside the supply lines of the Stellar Confederation's territories, an additional one-hundred and fifty-five (155) support craft can added to the total vessels allotted to a Grand Brigade. Further, regardless of being a wartime or peacetime unit, a Grand Brigade also maintains the VESBORGUAT (VESsel BORn GUardian and ATtack) troopers assigned to the craft that compose it. This usually roughly around ninety-two thousand seven-hundred and fifty (92,750) VESBORGUAT personnel, which is entirely unrelated to any UGCF forces that may be transported on these vessels. These vessels and personnel are usually divided into one of three types of Brigade depending on the nature of the Grand Brigade's objective. The differences between these units shall be explained below. These are the Attack Brigade, the Defense Brigade, and the Patrol Brigade. The UASN keeps sixteen Grand Brigades on constant deployment throughout the Confederation as part of the MaCF, serving as mobile taskforces that can strike at internal threats such as pirates, rebels, and terrorists at a moment's notice. These supplement the standard SaPOF Grand Brigades that are assigned to each Sector to oversee the direct orbital defenses and local Defense Brigades. Despite their objective being defense, they are comprised of Attack Brigades rather than Defense or Patrol Brigades.

Special Forces Grand unit TBD

Specialized Drone Grand unit TBD.

Underneath the Grand units are the standard sized units. These are the units that build up the bulk of Grand Units, as well as being deployed on a planetary system basis in Sectors. The exact numbers for materiels and personnel per unit can vary, as per the needs of their deployment. In certain cases, they can be far above or below what can be listed below. The numbers listed represent the averages of personnel and materiels these units are composed of however, for ease of understanding. When it comes to the officers assigned to the billet in charge of these units, rank varies and generally strictly denotes seniority among their peers serving in similar billets. The name of certain ranks slightly changes when an officer is assigned to a particular unit's billet, but these ranks maintain the same Paygrade as the other rank in the respective categories all the same. This will be detailed further on.

An Army is composed of seven-hundred and fifty thousand (750,000) infantry, five-hundred thousand (500,000) of which are organic and the remaining two-hundred and fifty thousand (250,000) are drones. These are supplemented by three-hundred and seventy-five thousand (375,000) armored cavalry units, once more evenly divided divided between manned and drone units. These, once again, can be swapped for mounted cavalry as required. A SaPOF Army is usually deployed to whatever qualifies as the local capital country, province, state, etc. of an individual world, with a few of its units deployed globally to keep the peace and ensure that each of the planet's possible goverments remain loyal to the Confederation and follow the law.

An Airforce of the Unified Suborbital and Atmospheric Forces comprises of two-thousand five-hundred (2,500) aircraft, divided between two-thousand combat craft (2,000) and five-hundred (500) support craft. Unlike a SaPOF Army, an a SaPOF Airforce works on a far larger scale. It usually covers a single continent or other landmass on a planet. This can be the capital's location, an area that is requested to be patrolled by the local inhabitants for whatever reason, or it can simply be a place of interest to the Confederation. The number of Airforces on a planet can thus vary, though it usually is only around one to two, seeing as the local inhabitants have aircraft of their own they can use to keep the peace far more effectively and less costly than the Confederation. A MaCF Airforce, meanwhile, would generally be assigned a specific objectives per the campaign of their Grand Airforce. They are usually attached to either a Fleet or Army, and operate out of bases that are build on land with prefabricated equipment and buildings.

A Fleet is made up of generally one-hundred and fifteen (115) combat vessels, with an additional one-hundred and fifteen (115) support craft to serve in logistical and repair roles. Much like a Grand Fleet, a Fleet more a logistic gathering of multiple units rather than a being an active combat unit within itself. Battle Groups, Carrier Groups, and so forth make up the bulk of a Fleet, and its duties are to micro manage these units. While this may seen as repetitive, given that this is similar to the purpose of the Grand Fleet, the difference is that a Fleet generally oversees the activities of these units on a planetary or even geographically regional while a Grand Fleet oversees multiple Fleets on a Sectorial basis or across an entire Theatre of war. Simply put, one most likely would find a Fleet assigned to a particular sea of a planet, rather than an entire Star System or Sector.

A Brigade, contrary to most units this far up the framework of the UAF, is actually a combat unit. Thus, one can expect a Brigade to be an active part of campaigns and system defenses rather than simply seeing to logistic structure that organizes such units. Similarly, A Brigade is one of the few units within the UAF that has variations based on its duties. An Attack Brigade is a Brigade usually created in wartime whose entire purpose is, as its name suggests, seek out and attack whatever objective is assigned to them. A Defense Brigade is a Brigade assigned to a particular star system or even planet to serve as its orbital garrison, maintaining its safety and protecting it from pirates and enemies of the Confederation. A Patrol Brigade is special type of brigade, operating largely independently of a Grand Brigade to police the whole of Confederation space. They move from system to system, sector to sector, with the objective to seek out criminal elements that threaten the safety of trade routes and eliminate them. Regardless of type, each Brigade is lead by a Bridgadier (flagship) that falls under the dreadnaught type of starships. Such vessels usually host a compliment of forty-thousand five-hundred (40,500) operational and maintenance personnel, with an additional ten-thousand (10,000) VESBORGUAT (VESsel BORn GUardian and ATtack) troopers, specially cross-trained UCGF soldiers intended for defense against boarding actions as well as serving as the assault force in the case of Confederate boarding actions on enemy vessels and space stations. They occasionally supplementing standard UCGF personnel during planetary invasions, but generally avoid land operations. Each of these Brigadiers further carries three-hundred (300) fighter-bomber drones for attack and defensive purposes. These craft are primarily built for space flight, but can be modified on-board the Brigadiers for atmospheric flight. An Attack Brigade usually has up to four (4) additional dreadnaught type vessels supplementing the Brigadier. A Defense Brigade usually host two (2) more dreadnaughts, and a Patrol Brigade has only its Brigadier as a dreadnaught. Moving on, each Brigade is typically composed of around twelve (12) frigates and twenty-four (24) corvettes. This can be higher in Attack and Defense Brigades, depending on the nature of their assignment, but is almost always the exact amount for a Patrol Brigade. Each frigate has a compliment of twenty-five thousand one-hundred and fifty (25,150) operational and maintence personnel, with an additional two-thousand five-hundred (2,500) VESBORGUAT troopers serving as security and defense. Fifty (50) fighter-bomber drones make up their attack and defense drone compliment. The corvettes each have ten-thousand one-hundred (10,100) operational and maintenace personnel, with a compliment of seven-hundred and fifty (750) VESBORGAUT troopers aboard. Unlike the larger vessels, the corvettes do not host any fighter-bomber drones. Typically, there are one to three Defense Brigades per star system in a sector, depending on how many planets are inhabited and are usually part of that Sector's Grand Brigade. Grand Brigades assigned to campaigns or part of the MaCOF Grand Brigades meanwhile are entirely composed of Attack Brigades.

The leader of a SaPOF unit's rank depends on whether one is speaking on a Sectorial or System level. The overall commander of a SaPOF force in a sector is a CO-13 Grade officer. But an actual unit below the Grand level is typically a CO-7 to a CO-12 Grade officer, as their rank depending on their senority. As well as depending on the rank of the officer who serves as commander the system they are stationed in, which can vary from a CO-10 to a CO-12 Grade. These lower officers determine local policy, deploy units to trouble areas where required, and generally just keep their troops in line. The higher ranking ones take this feedback and then strategise on a grand scale as to where and how these policies should be implemented to best benefit the Confederation. Whilst one might assume this is a great deal of work, it is not. Most species in the Confederation maintain their own militaries that host far larger garrisons and are far more active in the protection of their homeworlds. The Confederate garrisons serve more as a gentle reminder of the citizen's obligations to the Confederation, as well as providing an additional layer of protection against any that would harm those that are their Member States. Meanwhile, a MaCF unit is commanded by a CO-7 to CO-12 Grade officer who is strictly beholden to the CO-13 Grade leader of their Grand unit. For instance, an Army is that is one part of a Grand Army can be lead by a Commander, but this Commander operates underneath the sole direction of their Grand Army's High Commander to accomplish whatever tasks that Grand Army is assigned as per its campaign.

## Ranks

1. Commander-in-Chief (CIC): President of the Stellar Confederation
2. Unified Branch Command (Commander of Branch/COB): Supreme Commander (Unified Ground and Cavalry Forces), Chief Air Marshal (Unified Suborbital and Atmospheric Forces), Grand Admiral (Unified Aquatic Navy), Chief Star Marshal (Unified Astral Navy), Supreme Commander (Unknown Special Forces Branch), Primary Controller (Specialized Drone Branch)
3. Sectorial and Planetary Oversight Forces and Mobile and Combat Forces (Commissioned Officer, Grade 13/CO-13): High Commander (Unified Ground and Cavalry Forces),
4. Sectorial and Planetary Oversight Forces and Mobile and Combat Forces (Commissioned Officer, Grade 12/CO-12): Commander (Unified Ground and Cavalry Forces)
5. Sectorial and Planetary Oversight Forces and Mobile and Combat Forces (Commissioned Officer, Grade 11/CO-11): Major General (Unified Ground and Cavalry Forces)
6. Sectorial and Planetary Oversight Forces and Mobile and Combat Forces (Commmissioned Officer, Grade 10/CO-10): Captain General (Unified Ground and Cavalry Forces)
7. Sectorial and Planetary Oversight Forces and Mobile and Combat Forces (Commissioned Officer, Grade 9/CO-9): Lieutenant General (Unified Ground and Cavalry Forces)
8. Sectorial and Planetary Oversight Forces and Mobile and Combat Forces (Commissioned Officer, Grade 8/CO-8): General (Unified Ground and Cavalry Forces)
9. Sectorial and Planetary Oversight Forces and Mobile and Combat Forces (Commissioned Officer, Grade 7/CO-7): Brigadier General (Unified Ground and Cavalry Forces)
10. Sectorial and Planetary Oversight Forces and Mobile and Combat Forces (Commissioned Officer, Grade 6/CO-6): Colonel (Unified Ground and Cavalry Forces)
11. Sectorial and Planetary Oversight Forces and Mobile and Combat Forces (Commissioned Officer, Grade 5/CO-5): Lieutenant Colonel (Unified Ground and Cavalry Forces)
12. Sectorial and Planetary Oversight Forces and Mobile and Combat Forces (Commissioned Officer, Grade 4/CO-4): Major (Unified Ground and Cavalry Forces)
13. Sectorial and Planetary Oversight Forces and Mobile and Combat Forces (Commissioned Officer, Grade 3/CO-3): Captain (Unified Ground and Cavalry Forces)
14. Sectorial and Planetary Oversight Forces and Mobile and Combat Forces (Commissioned Officer, Grade 2/CO-2): First Lieutenant
15. Sectorial and Planetary Oversight Forces and Mobile and Combat Forces (Commissioned Officer, Grade 1/CO-1): Second Lieutenant
16. Commissioned Officer-In-Training (Recruit, Grade 2/R-2): Cadet
17. Sectorial and Planetary Oversight Forces and Mobile and Combat Forces (Warrant Officer, Grade ?/WO-?):