Core Facts of the Alliance

How is the Alliance organised politically?

The Alliance is a multicameral representative democracy: citizens elect delegates to roles within legislative committees, which govern on key issues. These committees are myriad and varied, ruling on everything from environmental protections to import tariffs. If you need a legislative body to render judgement or offer advice on any given topic, it almost certainly already exists.

The interlocking complexity of these committees results in a certain amount of red tape, but building redundancy and the need to co-operate and consult into the system helps to prevent any one body or single person from enriching or empowering themselves at the expense of others.

High-level executive decisions are made by the Alliance Convention, which consists of a rotating chamber of representatives chosen from across the Alliance. Each planet and each species is represented by an independent three person team – per the Alliance’s constitution, this makes ”one to lead, one to guide, and one to learn”. Separating species from their planets of origin allows species with no homeworld – such as the Anthroids – to still have a voice at the Alliance’s highest level, and also enables newer colonies to take stances independently from their homeworlds.

Each planet maintains its own political structure and much of its own autonomy, but agrees to take action in line with the Alliance’s overall goals. A planet that does not abide by the Alliance’s core principles will not remain a member for long.

What is the Ardent Initiative?

The Ardent Initiative is an autonomous body overseen by the Alliance as a whole, which functions like a government department. The headquarters of the Initiative are located at Mount Tenzing on the planet Earth.

The Initiative was responsible for organising the construction and launch of the AES Ardent, and it remains in charge of overseeing the ships mission, providing mission support, and handling general correspondences between the ship and the Alliance so those on board can focus on their work. A-COM derives their authority from the Initiative.

The Initiative was founded to explore the galaxy and study the unknown. Recent breakthroughs with FTL travel have for the first time enabled the Alliance to travel far outside of the Orion arm on this first-of-its-kind spacecraft, marking the start of a new age of space exploration.

Ultimately, the goals of the Initiative are the goals of the Ardent and her crew. These include documenting new planets, making contact with new species, finding and harvesting rare resources, and establishing a trail that others may follow.

How is the economy structured?

The Alliance as a whole is a heavily regulated capitalist economy, guided by committee and administered by a vast bureaucracy. Individual planets can have their own local economic models that better suit their conditions, but all members must uphold a series of standards set by the Alliance as a whole: they have to guarantee provision of food, shelter and healthcare for their citizens to ensure a baseline quality of life, and they must actively work to prevent mass poverty, starvation and illness.

How does the Alliance manage resources and scarcity?

The Alliance is considered to be self-sufficient – agricultural and industrial planets provide resources to their allies across the galaxy, and fabrication/replication (FABREP) technology allows for mass provision of food, water and basic construction elements. There is, however, a growing pressure to source rare and strategic resources to keep up with technological advances.

True poverty is something the Alliance works tirelessly against, and aid is freely given to planets experiencing economic or environmental perils. This doesn’t mean every planet has an easy time – many only just get by, and are heavily reliant on trade routes and fragile agreements to provide all the amenities their citizens need.

Emergency provisions provided by the Alliance are designed to prevent mass casualties and the collapse of planetary governments, and are not intended to be long-term solutions. The right to provisions extends to all Alliance spaceships, no matter where they are in the galaxy, and is discretionary but encouraged for non-Alliance spaceships within Alliance territory. Whenever the Alliance calls upon a planet or spaceship to freely provide emergency provisions to another, this can only be refused if it would cause undue risk or duress to the body providing the help.

What kind of military does the Alliance have?

The Alliance does not have a unified formal military. Instead, it provides contracts to a multitude of different organisations, security task forces, and planetary regiments. The result is a decentralised military force operating under a unified system of committees, checks and balances.

Anyone wishing to provide services that require use of force must obtain a license to do so legally. Purely defensive services that present little-to-no risk to the lives of sentient beings do not require a military license, but must be able to prove this extensively – most defensive services will opt to hold a license to cover themselves and reduce administrative hassle. 

To be eligible for a license, each force must have:

1. A leader
2. A compliance officer (to enforce the restrictions of the license)
3. A licensor (to negotiate the contract)

For simplicity, many companies will use an external licensor to make negotiations with the Alliance, similarly to how companies will hire an external accountant. License terms and restrictions are strictly enforced by a dedicated bureaucracy, with its own subset of licensed task forces for the investigation and prosecution of breaches. Action taken against a licensed group generally starts with the indefinite removal of their license, escalating only if necessary.

The AES Ardent holds a military license to ensure everyone aboard is legally covered if they need to defend themselves, and the MATTOCK division in particular holds an additional license that covers the activities of its members. Groups on board may also have an individual license from before their time aboard.

For information on the Alliance’s rules of engagement, follow this link.

Other examples of licensed security forces from across the Alliance include:

• Sultonia Volunteer Brigade – a peacekeeping militia with law enforcement and dispute mediation duties.
• Marzion Lifeline Force Bravo – a crack first-response team designed to save lives in outer-space emergency situations where lethal opposition may be present.
• The Sentinels – a diverse selection of local preservation groups who fulfil both a technical and spiritual role in protecting Earth’s cultural sites.
• Sunrise PLC – a Vironti corporation which specialises in private asset protection for a variety of VIP and government clients.
• Diogenes College – A Kessler University working group who, among other things, produces autonomous weaponry and capability-enhancing combat suits, cybernetics, and warships.
• Basil’s Cluster Interplanetary Taskforce (disbanded) – the primary naval umbrella group who engaged in the Battle of Glittering Gulf. 

Does the Alliance have superweapons?

The development and use of weapons with a planet-scale destructive capacity is strictly prohibited in all circumstances by Alliance law. This prohibition was set down after the Battle of Glittering Gulf, when THRONE used an unidentified weapon to destroy a strategic moon.

There are unverified reports of planets within the Alliance that developed superweapons prior to this law – some of which, according to rumours on the Alliance extranet, have the capacity to destroy entire star systems. Superweapon-adjacent technology may have been generated through plausibly deniable “dual-purpose” projects, such as terraforming or FTL initiatives. Official statements have emphasized that any weapons that are discovered will be viewed as tools of absolute last resort, and that the Alliance will attempt to safely decommission any devices that it uncovers in times of peace.

In any case, if the Alliance repealed its laws and wished to build their own arsenal of superweapons, they would struggle to source the rare resources needed to complete them – and concealing such a re-armament from rival powers within the galaxy would be almost impossible.

The working assumption is that THRONE possesses technology exceeding the destructive capacity of the superweapon it verifiably used many years ago. SHADOW may have access to holdover superweapons from its predecessors in MOTHER, but it is not believed to have the capacity to maintain or deploy those weapons against the Alliance (yet).

How are relations between Alliance planets?

On the official level, interplanetary relations within the Alliance are equitable and cordial. Many safety levers exist to ensure no one planet can dominate economically or culturally, and that anyone from any planet can move through the Alliance freely – although there are issues with some planets maintaining control of their citizen’s movements via de facto means such as financial coercion (as in the case of citizens not being able to afford transportation, or resettlement, away from a planet).

There are six planets within the Alliance that are considered particularly notable as contributors to the Alliance as a whole, and as sponsors of the Ardent Initiative. These are: the diplomatic hub of Earth, the research base Geostation Kessler, the industrial powerhouse of Marzion IX, the frontier project of Sultonia, and the experimental playground of Viront Z85.

For more information on these notable planets, click here.

Rivalries and diplomatic disputes between planets are frequent, but mediated by committee. The Alliance works hard to address all complaints, especially where they pertain to territories or economic activity, long before they escalate into genuine grievances.

How are relations with other galactic powers?

Species and political organisations outside of the Alliance are treated with careful diplomacy – the Alliance aims to put its best foot forward, so as to encourage new allies and bring them into its sphere of influence. Secession from the Alliance is almost unheard of.

The Alliance has identified four critical threats within the galaxy from rival groups or entities that pose a credible threat to the safety and sovereignty of Alliance citizens. These have been given internal codenames, which assist in grouping related incidents together and add a layer of coded protection on its documents.

In no particular order, these threats are codenamed THRONE, SHADOW, MOSAIC and CIRCUS.

There are other local threats, presenting a risk to the Alliance on a planetary or system-wide scale. These will be detailed as they become relevant to the AES Ardent.

For more information on the threats the Ardent may face, see Threats.

What kind of cultural and species diversity is there?

There is a great variety of many different alien species within the Alliance, not all of which are present on the Ardent mission (due to limitations regarding habitats and life support needs). There is no widespread inter-species discrimination, though jocular rivalries and minor frictions do exist.

The Alliance is keen to ensure compatibility whenever species with different needs live together, and all Alliance vessels and living quarters are built to comfortably sustain all known forms of intelligent life (with the aid of assistive technology, if necessary). Additional care is taken whenever contact is made with a new species, in the interest of preventing the spread of disease(s) and/or invasive pathogens.

As aliens become relevant to the story, they will be detailed on the website. References to species other than the options for player characters and certain non-playable species (such as THRONE synthetics, or the Macule of SHADOW) are not canonical – so please avoid anything other than vague references to other alien species in game.

What is the dominant ideology of the Alliance?

The Alliance believes in co-operation, opportunity, individual liberty and guaranteed quality of life.

Ideologies with the Alliance cover a whole spectrum of belief structures. The Alliance avoids limiting its members freedom of expression, but some activities are explicitly against its goals and therefore proscribed:

• Ending a sentient being’s life (except in self-defence, with that being’s lucid and informed consent, or under the terms of a license for the use of deadly force)
• Enslaving a sentient being
• Forcibly altering or replacing parts of a sentient’s body without their consent

Anything forbidden by our Conduct Policy is not covered here, as it is not permitted as a topic in game.

This game setting is religion agnostic. There are a variety of religions within and outside of the Alliance: you are welcome to play your own real world religion as your character, or a new religion you write specifically for your character. We will not confirm or deny the factual basis or “realness” of any religion, and we won’t explore real world religions as major plot points. We also request in the case of following real-world religions that you do not perform any missionary roleplay or roleplay aiming to convert other characters, or otherwise push your beliefs on them.

If you choose to explore religion in-game, we ask that you do so respectfully, without using closed practices, and as something that adds to your game experience and to that of others.

Is the Alliance expanding, stagnating, or declining?

The Alliance is in a state of unstable expansion as it leaves the Orion arm. By the standards of the known galactic superpowers, it is gaining new territory at a rapid pace, either onboarding a planet or creating a new colony every year.

According to a recent census of all Alliance member states, approximately one quarter of the Alliance’s population are spaceborne – i.e. they are currently aboard trade, colony, or terraforming vessels aiming to expand the Alliance’s borders.

How does the Alliance deal with crime, including organised crime?

The Alliance’s overarching bureaucracy allows for a robust legal system. The emphasis of all legal remedies is threefold: to prevent crimes of desperation, to fairly negotiate grievances, and protect the lives and livelihoods of citizens.

Use of illegal equipment, medicines, and cybernetics is handled with a focus on rehabilitation and mitigation of use for those affected, rather than incarceration. The Alliance doesn’t see owning illegal or unregulated goods as a crime per se, but restrictions on the creation and sale of certain materials are strictly enforced. Some planets opt to have stricter regulations than others, according to their own cultural preferences and social needs.

The Alliance has no death penalty at any time for any reason, and none of its members are permitted to engage in capital punishment or extrajudicial execution.

What does the Alliance know about the universe?

Most of the galaxy is unexplored by the Alliance, though telescopic surveys have allowed many regions to be mapped at a distance. Recent advances in faster-than-light travel technology allow for exponentially more rapid travel across the breadth of the galaxy within a standard lifetime, and these developments have profound implications for the future of the Alliance.

Exploration beyond the galaxy’s rim – into the region known as Void Major, beyond the encircling “Belt of Tiamat” – has only been conducted by Alliance probes via manifold collapse. No notable discoveries have been made public.