The Alliance
The Alliance of Mutual Species is the interplanetary governing body overseeing the Ardent’s mission. Founded 400 standard cycles prior to the launch of the AES-Ardent, the Alliance has been a beacon for cooperation and mutual productivity in all regions of the galaxy, bringing all willing species and their territories into a bond of protection that is much stronger than its individual parts.
The strength of the Alliance is its people. Common goals and legal structures allow wildly different governments to coordinate, trading expertise and resources for the betterment of all. From the automated corporatists of Viront Z85 to the anarcho-syndicalist research groups of Geostation Kessler, as many ideologies thrive within the Alliance as there are individuals to hold them.
Many species and many planets are represented by the Alliance. The crew of the Ardent are a representative sample of the biodiversity within the Alliance’s population – the best and brightest, casting their light into the unexplored recesses of our galaxy.
Each planet within the Alliance is free to set its own agenda and craft its own laws according to the needs and wants of their population. These legal systems must, however, be compatible with and subordinate to the Alliance’s constitution, which defines the duties of the Alliance to itself and to others. If there is a conflict, the Alliance’s laws come first.
Some key tenets of Alliance law include: respect for the freedom and autonomy of others, prevention of harm, creation of opportunity, respect for difference, and making a fair contribution to the success of the Alliance as a whole.
Measuring Time
There is no single set time in The Alliance; each planet uses its own timekeeping, and the Ardent is the same, using its own timekeeping system starting from its launch date. Because it is a primarily human mission, each Ardent year is 365 days just like an Earth year. BA refers to “Before Ardent”, and A is “Ardent Time”. The first of the Ardent’s missions will be during the year A1.
On Earth, the current date is 2525 at the start of the game, exactly 500 years in our future.
