View source for Unified Colonial Confederacy

{{EmpireBox
|game=CYOE5
|player=Omega Chief
|player2=Bubble Wrap
|neutral1=Moderate Colonisation Initiative
|positive1=Ancient
|positive2=United
|positive3=Elite Training
|negative1=Incompetent Raiders
|disposition=Guardian
|design=Titanic
}}

==History and Organisation==

===Pre-Scattering Era===

The Confederacy’s history has its roots in the political nightmare that was the Solar System in the days before the node storm hit. It all began with dissidents and rebellious colonists throughout the Jovian moons, tired of having the inner system leach of their supplies and aggravated by the focusing of colonisation resources that could have made their lives better was being focused into the boondoggle of giant interstellar colony ships that would never get anywhere anyway. So the colonists made pacts with various pirates and mercenary outfits who proceeded to raid shipyards and supply depots for the colonial supplies, due to realising that they could never repel a full scale military retaliation for these acts the colonists poured everything they had into construction their own vast colony ship, perhaps out of spite.

Things went well, and undetected, until shortly after the launch of the colony ship from its secret shipyard on Ganymede. It made its way off towards the edge of the system escorted by a small flotilla of pirate ships, and ran straight into a patrol cruiser. Before the captain of the cruiser could even get the full details of the motley collection of ships he saw before him, the node storm hit and the ships all just happened to be right on top of where a node formed, hurling the surprised colonists, pirates and military personnel alike far across the galaxy.

===Early Colonisation Era===

As the crews picked them selves up off the decks of their respective ships and start to correct their flight patterns so they didn’t collide, they got their first view of the system they found themselves in. A large green sun bathed a series of five planets in its light and none of them looked particularly habitable.

It was at this moment that aboard the lead pirate ship, a captain was about to make a choice that would forever reverberate throughout the history of the confederacy. Not wanting to see how long the patrol cruisers captain’s hospitality would last (And knowing that he and his men would probably be executed because they no longer had the resources to spare on prisoners) and knowing that his ships wouldn’t last long against the patrol cruiser, fired several shots at the colony ship, breaching it’s hull in several places, killing a few hundred colonists and leaving the ship venting atmosphere.

Unwilling to leave the ship to bleed all of its atmosphere (and colonists) into space, the patrol cruiser remained behind to patch it up as the pirate ships fled deeper into the system soon escaping the sensor range of the patrol ship. With stopgap repairs completed the colony ship and patrol cruiser limped into the system and eventually entered orbit of the second planet, it was barren and covered with deserts, with no sign of life at all not even on a microscopic level (The reasons for this are still being debated but a leading theory is of a Gamma Ray Burst having passed through the system at some point) but given the other planets in the system were even less appealing this was where they made landfall, settled and eventually named “New Ganymede”.

Townships were founded at every suitable location, and the people took to the challenge of terraforming their new home with great gusto, there were many worries at first about the pirate ships returning, but with the patrol cruiser in orbit everyone’s safety was almost guaranteed. For the first generation things went well, the lack of native life meaning terraforming could proceed far faster then usual, though the O2 content of the atmosphere would remain uncomfortably thin for almost a century.

Here are there things didn’t go so well though, supplies unaccounted for the disappearance of the odd fabricator, enough to worry people at the time but nothing that could be linked to anything. This state of affairs lasted for approximately eighty four years, when the last of the initial generation of colonist were starting to enjoy their retirement in the oasis of greenery that surrounded their townships, disaster struck, the pirates returned, with both old and new ships, they quickly swarmed the poor understaffed patrol cruiser and tore it to shreds before descending down on New Ganymede to start a series of terrifying raids.

Though their industry wasn’t up to the challenge t first the colonies quickly armed themselves with what they could and suspended most other research and building projects in order to churn out fighters and the like to defend themselves with. As the initial raids concluded or were driven back the material disappearances throughout the early history of the colony were deduced as being where the pirates had procured the supplies for their new ships from. In an instant the level or paranoia in the colonies was ratcheted up, someone on the planet had to be working with the Pirates, supplying them with who knows what information as well as supplies.

And so the Era ended with the colonies one by one breaking off all ties with each other, fortifying themselves and standing alone against the never ending pirate raids.

===Air Champion Era===

Alone each colony did not have the resources to produce a full military, they could barley produce one or two fighters a year and even that took so much production capacity it left many of their own troops without weapons.

In desperation a solution was found, the colony would send forth a champion in a fighter to duel with the leader of the pirates in an attempt to spare the colony, with his defeat causing the colony to instantly hand over tribute as demanded by the pirates. Surprisingly the pirates agreed to this, having themselves never had much manpower to start with and the casualties they had taken in the initial raids had hurt them far more then they could be allowed to let on.

For the next two centuries this was how the colonies lived, slowly expanding and developing now that they had to only maintain a smalls table of champions as a military force. The Pirates too benefited from this time, their victories bringing them new technology, ships and captives that allowed them to restore their own manpower and stay on an even playing field with the colonies.

But this age of relative peace could not last forever, a young Champion began tog row restless with his lot in life, that his city would be doomed to be visited by the pirates at least once a decade (Or more if they were unlucky), and so he rallied the champions of his home city and several surrounding townships and together they flew out to launch a raid against those who would raid them.

The group of pirates never knew what hit them, in an instant the entire pirate forces on the planet were decimated, and with no idea who it was that had attacked them, their vengeance would have to be sated with a random target. The city of Emerald Spire was chosen, and what followed became one of the darkest hours in New Ganymede’s history as the pirates unleashed one of the fusion bombs they’d looted from the patrol cruiser two centuries ago (Which they’d carefully maintained ever since). In an instant the city was replaced by a glassy crater and its millions of inhabitants little more then burnt out shadows.

While this had the effect of rallying almost half the city sates on the planet behind the young champions cause (As the initial Confederacy of Independent Colonies), it also united a full third of them against this confederacy (As the Alliance to restore Order), blaming them for the death of Emerald Spire.

As the remaining colonies banded together in the Neutral Coalition of the Silver Desert a massive three sided war engulfed most of the planet for almost a decade. It finally ended in the battle of the Silver Desert, the Confederate forces engaged in a running battle with the pirates, ran right into the main Alliance forces about to ‘restore order’ to the Coalition.

When the silvery dust settled the Confederates were victorious, the Alliances generals were awaiting trial and the last anyone saw of the pirates was several transports leaving the atmosphere. The planted was united once more, the Coalition happily merging with the Confederacy while the Alliance was brought to account for the crimes it had committed during the war.

The freshly formed senate chose to take a bold and daring step to finalise the unified planet, which was to focus everything industrial and scientific towards returning to space and becoming a star faring people once again.

===Mid-Colonisation Era===

It did not take the Confederacy long to return to space, it’s first experimental ship paying tribute to the looted hulk of the patrol cruiser that had guarded them so long ago. From there orbital facilities sprang, named in memorial of the cruisers captain.

Things would not be entirely easy though, pirate raiders still occasionally struck, leading to the formation of a space based military almost right away. And a proper well funded well maintained military it was, the Confederacy was done playing with pirates, indeed this massive anti-pirate sentiment lasts to this day throughout all levels of Confederate culture.

Soon the remaining planets of the system were being surveyed, the first Fenris Corvettes were leaving space dock and the pirates main base on the frozen outer planet of Europa. Once more the Confederate military marched, but the battle of Europa would be a long one that could barley be called a victory, yes the pirates were driven out and the military gain almost exclusive control of the world as a fortress and training ground, but it had taken twenty three years and cost almost three entire fleets and hundreds of thousands of men and women had died.

Worse still was a startling discovery from their outer system probes, Nodes had opened and it was quite possible that the pirates had fled through them…

===Frontier-Era===

With the nodes once again open and the endless menace of the pirates perhaps having fled through them the forces of the Confederacy moved after them. What they found was quite stunning, in the Altair and Luyten systems wreckage and mines that were clearly not of confederate make were discovered. There were too many for it to have been the work of the pirates, but unfortunately they provided the pirates with ample hiding spaces.

Not every system was a write off though, Vega proved to have tremendous untapped mineral and gas wealth, which lead to a massive drive by the civilian branch of the government to establish a new phase of colonisation to exploit these resources, even the ghost ships of Altair proved of interest to some intrepid salvagers and so the brief Frontier Era gave way to a new age of colonisation

===Late Colonisation-Era===

With the military establishing its strongholds (Or interdicting in the case of Luyten) in other systems the Confederacy began a period of growth that continues to this day.

The most notable even of this era was the reorganising of fleets based into other systems (As all have previously been based out of Europa) and the establishment of the Colonial Congress to represent off world colonies.

And so the Confederacy enjoyed its peace and growth as the Universe prepared it’s next great event…

==Organisation==

===The Senate===

Every city and town on New Ganymede, and indeed the colonies and stations large enough to warrant inclusion in this category, elect a senator to the Confederate Senate. A small quirk of the Confederacy is that there’s no set procedure for how Senators are chosen, while most are selected through secret ballet there are still a fair few more unusual methods practiced by certain cities, such as the legendary election duels of Sarum-by-the-Sea.

The Senate itself elects the head of state, or Senator Prime as the official title is, while there are no official political parties, groups of senators and hopeful senators tend to congregate into certain groups based on certain topics. This makes elections very amusing to watch as the factions fluctuate, dissemble and reform on an almost daily basis.

===The Colonial Congress===

The colonies outside of Beta Aquilae are represented by the Colonial Congress, which while officially is an equal and identical counterpart to the Senate, has thus far proven to be rather timid and only acting on the proposals of the senate instead of being active in policy decisions, this has lead to a small but vocal minority calling for a reform of the current political system in the light of the growing confederacy.

===Champions===

While not part of the political system, every township, city, colony and in some cases ships and military units, has an official or unofficial champion. These champions are minor and major celebrities, who often take part in duels against other champions in various sports and is as close to an official unifying cultural identity as can be found in the Confederacy.

===CARA===

The Confederate Advanced Research Agency (CARA) can trace its origins back to the early aerospace research facilities used by the colonies during the Air Champions era. During the subsequent war between the Alliance and Confederacy, the confederate research facilities were all placed under central command, and CARA was officially founded. CARA was originally headquartered in Marine City, and developed the weapons and technology needed to give the Confederacy the edge over its rivals.

With the end of the war, and the final unification of the planet under Confederate rule, CARA received a new mandate: return the Confederacy to space. This was a task it undertook with zealous determination. Relocating its headquarters and primary research facilities to White Island Aerodrome and the attached Advanced Aerospace Research Facility, CARA drew upon every facet of knowledge available from the pre-colonial era, as well as the technologies developed for the Air Champions. After a series of suborbital flights, the first spacecraft finally took off from White Island, rendezvousing in orbit with the derelict patrol cruiser that had once guarded them.

The first spacecraft were unarmed variants of the Perseus interceptor. Suborbital flights were achieved with the Perseus Mk2, and although simulations showed it to be capable of achieving orbit, it was not designed for re-entry and so was never used in this capability. The first orbital flight thus fell to the Perseus Mk3, which demonstrated both orbit and re-entry capability. These interceptors served to guard New Ganymede while dedicated heavy-lift rockets moved the massive structures needed for the first orbital facility into place. With refuelling in space now an option, dedicated Perseus wings were located in orbit, a permanent presence to guard against further attacks.

CARA’s next challenge was to eliminate the need for heavy lifting from the planet’s surface, which thus far was limiting the ability of spacecraft to leave the planet’s orbit. Using modified technology from the original colony ship, CARA developed the Hydra, a modular transport vessel that could be configured to carry anything from fuel to munitions to people. Even in this early stage, the Hydra was recognisable as the transport ship that would form the backbone of Confederate space-travel to this day. With unmatched interplanetary transport capability, the Hydra was even capable of atmospheric launch and re-entry and its first use was to establish the early fuel harvesting operations around Jove. Though capable of being constructed on a planet’s surface, all Hydra craft are constructed in orbit, originally at the CARA Orbital Docking Facility, and later at the dedicated Hydra Construction Yards around Callisto and Io.

The attack on Europa led to a surge in military research for CARA, as well as massive expansion of the Callisto and Io shipyards, which had been located around the dual-worlds for easy access to their heavy metal deposits. The use of carefully plotted trajectories that used gravitational anomalies between the worlds allowed fully loaded Hydra’s to reach orbit using a mere fraction of the fuel normally needed, speeding up the construction process vastly.

With the discovery of the jump nodes, CARA was given the task of exploring and analysing the strange phenomena located beyond them. To this end, CARA has established two task forces: the Altair Technological Salvage and Engineering Taskforce (ATSET), and the Luyten Advanced Spatial Navigation & Exploration Taskforce (LASNET). While ATSET focuses on recovering and reverse engineering alien starships, LASNET is working on means to travel safely through anomalous and hazardous space. It is hoped that the two together will enable the mysteries of Altair and Luyten to be solved.


{{CYOE5 Empire}}