Sol Alliance History
History
Pre-Alliance Earth
By the 2120's, after overcoming great obstacles in engineering and rocketry humanity saw several nations, primarily the United States, Russia, China, and Iran, all manage to establish small colonies on Mars and the moon. While this happened more nations were beginning to tap into the vast wealth of the solar system in what is now called the Second Space Age. However these advances in science had come on the heels of an immense economic crisis; the economy of Earth had collapsed in the Crisis of 2127, which saw world trade halt and the entire world GDP drop by half within three weeks.
This crisis saw many economies go under overnight and nations would cease to exist as their central governments effectively stopped functioning. Civil unrest and upheaval paralyzed what nations were still managing to limp along through crippling energy shortages. Power plants, water treatment centers, tax collection, infrastructure - almost every element of central government disappeared or found itself crippled. Fusion technology had been available for some time but was slow to integrate and miniaturize, the demands far outpaced the supply. The distant martian and lunar colonies saw themselves dragged into complex political disputes as the various nations of Earth began bickering over who owns what parts of the moon and Mars.
The discovery of warp technology in 2130 allowed the few, critically underfunded space programs to coordinate with private companies still functioning to send out probes to other solar systems. Warp technology, which is inferior to modern bluespace technology, had trips take weeks or months compared to modern days or hours. And the immense energy requirements were beyond the capabilities of most single world governments. Nevertheless, the discovery of rich, untapped resource and the startling discovery that solar systems held habitable worlds, all created a new sense of purpose and drive, but there was no feasible way for any nation to utilize this passion.
The United Nations New Mandate
The United Nations had seen its mandate grow increasingly important and vital since the Crisis of 2127. The supranational organization had been the primary source of deliberation, peacekeeping, and humanitarian assistance to beleaguered nations of Earth. Individual nations had no way of financing their space programs to even begin to dream of colonizing Tau Ceti or expanding into space.
After years of intense negotiations it was finally decided to transform the United Nations into the Sol Alliance. Even if it was out of naked self-interest, the remaining stable governments of Earth recognized that if they didn't pool their resources and sacrifice political independence to a new world government that they would face utter extinction or a return to the iron age.
The Sol Alliance at this time was still managed primarily by the general assembly of the former united nations. Their decisions were binding for all nations in the world, and they were the only organization permitted to own and manage colonies in outer-space along with being the only source of stability for a world wracked by immense turmoil.
The Trans-Stellar Corporations
By 2155 Sol Alliance colonies had begun to officially become self-sufficient and even create surplus' of many types of goods. Tau Ceti itself became a hub of the limited commerce and trade that was beginning to be fostered between the system and Sol. The Alliance in its early years took an extremely lax approach to interstellar trade; regulations barely exists and those that did were rarely enforced. It was in these early years that the first interstellar corporations began to form. The first major corporations were Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals and Einstein Engines, who dominated the biomedical and industries of Alliance space respectively.
This era also saw the first elements of piracy flare up, necessitating the formation of the Sol Alliance Navy, which found its responsibilities and political clout begin to grow as it became the only source of relief from raiders and pirates from deep space. Despite these challenges, Earth found itself slowly being pulled out of poverty and unrest. The many goods and jobs provided by the growth of orbital industries and interstellar colonization had created both reliable incomes for families and a new confidence in the Sol Alliance. While many still resented the loss of their national identities and independence, major political powers had begun to recognize that their prosperity and social structures relied on this new, if precariously balanced, world order.
The Second Great Depression
New Years on 2260 saw a sudden, massive recession strike the young Sol Alliance. Withdrawing or transferring funds between star systems would take days or weeks, and the Tau Ceti Central Bank had found itself emptied out by a sudden influx of large withdrawals originating from Sol, which depleted their banks and forced them to freeze financial withdrawals. This lead to a panic and a run to the banks as news of the freeze was spread, with many media stations fanning the flames that there was a new economic collapse imminent.
The fears became self-fulfilling. The run on the banks caused the banks to become paralyzed, and the fears caused a massive drop in stock values. The incredibly fragile and complex network of interstellar economics toppled quickly, and trade between systems vanished as trans-stellar corporations couldn't find any profit in regular shipments. Dozens of corporations go bankrupt, including the titans of the time, Zeng-Hu and Einstein Engines, nearly going under themselves. They desperately use their influence to reap massive bail-outs and having their enterprises considered "too big to fail".
The government of the Sol Alliance agreed, and despite the economic contraction they loaned out hundreds of thousands of credits while giving nothing to smaller corporations, causing most of them to go under or be gobbled up by Zeng-Hu and Einstein Engines.
The economic recession soon became a full blown depression that lasted for over a decade, well into the First Interstellar War. It wasn't until after the war that the economy began to recover.
Rising Tensions
In 2265 the Prime Minister of the Sol Alliance Kambiz Entezam pushed through a bill that would place high tax rates on non-sol colonies, as well as raising trade tariffs. This leads to anger from these colonies, and questions over the credibility of the Sol Alliance's claim of representing all of humanity. Many of these systems had developed unique cultural identities for their respective systems, and resented the growing control of the Alliance and its flagrant indifference to the plight of their systems.
Many of these solar systems, primarily in the outer fringes of the Alliances' frontier, began banding together and outright refusing to pay the new taxes. Prime Minister Entezam believed that this refusal to pay taxes was an existential threat to the authority of the Alliance itself, and greatly expanded the power of the navy to arrest civilian leaders of the systems and planets refusing to pay the taxes.
This outraged many sector governments. Many outer colonies and frontier colonies never interacted with the central Alliance government save for limited postal services and semi-regular tax collection. Suddenly having military fleets warp into their system and arresting their leaders had many people fear a totalitarian Sol Alliance was attempting to impose martial law on all its colonies.
The conflict and disagreements escalated for the next 10 years, all while the economy remained in recession. On 2257 the Alliance 12th Fleet warped into the outer-colony Jamestown star system to arrest Governor Richard Hawkins, who had a month prior declared he was ceasing all trade and tax payments to the federal government. The system had only a single habitable planet with a population scattered in the rugged terrain. When military police landed just outside the capital city they were surrounded by Jamestown Militia, who demanded that they leave the planet. The military police refused and attempted to break the blockade by force. Warning shots by the military police prompted the militia to open fire, and the firefight saw the military police retreat to their shuttle after several of their number were wounded and two killed.
The Jamestown Massacre and Resulting Secessions
This incident is considered the catalyst for the First Interstellar War. Alliance authorities blasted the Jamestown system for the unprovoked murder of military officials while outer and frontier colonies applauded the firm stand Jamestown had made for its independence.
The situation escalated when the orbiting 12th Fleet declared the system to be "in secession" without contacting the federal government in New York, landing its detachment of marines to arrest the leaders of the rebellion and disarm the militia. The Sol Marines quickly overwhelmed the militia garrisoned in and around the capital building, causing over a dozen fatalities from the fighting. Governor Richard Hawkins was arrested after a firefight in the capital building, and brought to orbit, tried for treason by Admiral Melissa Martinez herself, and executed by firing squad.
Admiral Melissa Martinez would find herself stripped of command and given a court-martial for her actions but the fallout from the incident was immense and immediate. A military officer unilaterally executing a member of the civilian government confirmed the worst fears of many outer and frontier colonies of the Alliance. During the next year system after system declared its independence from the Sol Alliance, all of them banding together into the Coalition of Colonies. The vast distances involved, with both communication and travel, the entire process unfolded in slow-motion, as it common for major incidents at the time.
The First Interstellar War
The Coalition of Colonies was never recognized by the Sol Alliance, who sent in the Sol Alliance Navy to crush resistance and enforce Alliance authority on sectors that broke away. In 2278 the Coalition formally attacked Alliance military forces who refused to leave their systems. The Coalition fleet was drastically smaller and less equipped than the Sol Alliance, but the massive size of their territory and the slow response times caused by warp technology means they enjoy a successful defensive guerrilla war.
The war dragged on until 2287. The 9 years of conflict had seen tens of millions killed on either side, though the true number is impossible to estimate. The growing mega-corporations were accused of trading weapons and other materials with both sides, with little regard for anything but the highest bidder. Numerous weapons were first developed and used in the conflict, from combat mechs, modern combat ships, RIG suits, the first pulse rifles, and other weapons that greatly increased the casualty count.
On 2287 a formal peace accord was reached with the Alliance agreeing to recognize the independence of the seceded colonies and withdrawing its fleets from the frontier. In exchange the frontier guaranteed that it would stop attacks on Alliance shipping and systems. Skirmishes still broke out between the two factions after the accord, but formal fighting had stopped. Sol also found itself redefining what it means to represent humanity, and plans for a new capital were proposed and approved.
The Warp Gate Project: The First Mega-Corporations
The newly constructed Unity Station is officially opened in March of 2300. In orbit around Earth, the massive space station serves as the capital of the Sol Alliance while being large enough to accommodate its population of 250,000 permanent residents. The station was a symbolic gesture, with the capital of the Sol Alliance moved out of the former UN headquarters in New York and put in orbit, it was meant to show that the Alliance represented the entire galactic community of humanity.
At the same time, trade and travel in the Sol Alliance had become predictable and regular. The economy was slowly beginning to improve, though the entire human economy has extremely sharp recessions and rebounds that make large-scale trading and commerce complex and difficult.
In 2355 Prime Minister Nicolas Chirac began the extremely ambitious Warp Gate Project. Bluespace was still unknown at the time, and galactic travel relied on cumbersome and expensive Warp Drives that relied on immense amounts of energy. Travel between neighboring systems would take days, trips to the middle and outer colonies would take weeks, and journeys to the frontier of human space could take months.
The Warp Gate Project was an immense project in terms of sheer scale, cost, and ambition. The Alliance government rewarded Einstein Engines with the contract to design and construct the gates, agreeing to shoulder a third of the 72.3 trillion credit cost.
The massive warp gate network took 30 years to construct, and the cost quickly ballooned beyond the initial cost projections to a whopping 82.1 trillion credits. Bound by contract to take the burden of the cost, the Sol Alliance found its debt rapidly rise while at the same time the economy fell into recession and rebounded into growth over a dozen times in the 30 year period. The project began to strain the Alliance economy, and it carried many critics.
However by the completion of the project in 2390 the benefits were immediate and obvious. While the project itself has brought millions of new jobs during construction, the end of the project had also created massive economic booms for the systems it connected. Traveling through the warp gates cut travel time in half, and many systems, including Tau Ceti, became centers of trade and commerce as hundreds of thousands of travelers now regularly traveled to and through the systems.
The Warp Gates were powered by multiple fusion reactors and their usage required a small fee to be paid. With Einstein Engines controlling the Warp network and the fees they saw their profits soar, launching them forward to become the most powerful corporation in human space at the time and earning the title of the first Mega-Corporation. The growth in trade and commerce also became a boon for the whole of the Alliance economy, with the greater interconnections, communication, shared culture, and growing tax revenues began to slowly justify the immense investment the project required.
However this reality is not shared in all systems. Many sectors that were important trade hubs before the Warp Gate Project found themselves now bypassed by the new galactic network. Many systems suffered economic decline or outright went bankrupt. And the benefits were over the long-term that are only becoming true in the 2400's; at the time the debt of the Alliance and the economic instability in bypassed systems lead to the Alliance agreeing to release several outlining systems in exchange for debt forgiveness
First Contact
First contact is made with the Skrell on 2413 after Jargon communications are discovered and decoded by Alliance scientists. The news of sentient alien life created cultural and social shock waves throughout human space. Over the next few years, the Sol Alliance and Jargon Federation came and began to cooperate on cultural and scientific cooperation. The Sol Alliance, optimistic about this new alien race, forged many economic and cooperation treaties with them while the trans-stellar corporations competed to reverse-engineer Skrellian technology for various fields.
The Age of Bluespace
The discovery of bluespace and phoron soon allowed NanoTrasen to grow to dominate the economy of the Alliance in the 25th century.
NanoTrasen's Rise
Nanotrasen's discovery of phoron and bluespace had profound impacts on the Sol Alliance. Phoron quickly become the primary method of energy generation and FTL travel, rendering warp travel and fusion energy obsolete. Owning the patents on all of these designs Nanotrasen was able to, within a decade, catapult itself to being the most powerful corporation in human space and the wealthiest private organization in the known galaxy.
Tau Ceti Independence
After years of control under the Sol Alliance, the system of Tau Ceti declared independence from Sol and created The Republic of Biesel in 2452 through economic strongarming. As a result many worlds in the Sol Alliance began to feel inspired by Tau Ceti's defiance. With movements demanding independence from the Outer Rim to even Mars itself The Sol Government had a new issue. The growing desires of independence, self reliance, and autonomy.
The Blockade and Tau Ceti Occupation
In 2458, on request of the Skrell Jargon Federation, the Sol Government requested the 33rd fleet of the Sol Navy to blockade Tau Ceti. The blockade caused economic troubles for everyone within Tau Ceti, travel was heavily regulated along with trade. Prices sky rocketed, many of those with low income suffered greatly. The blockade continued to 2459 where it had then become a fully fledged illegal occupation of Tau Ceti. Going against orders from Sol Goverment, Admiral Frost of the 33rd had begun to sell free synthetics into slavery, dismantle synthetics and robotics labs, install a military order, and arrest the president of Biesel in a bloodless coup. This act of war had only gone on for a week before the loyal 25th fleet arrived, smashing apart Frost's ships and forcing the disloyal admiral to flee to the frontier.
Permanent Ban on Tajara Entering Sol Space
In 2460, Prime Minister Chater announced rather suddenly. His decree orders the Office to deny all Visa and immigration requests from Tajaran applicants made after Thursday, 11:59:59pm (GST) "permanently". In addition Visa renewals will no longer be available to any Tajaran residents in Alliance space, and once these Visas expire they will be required to return to Adhomai space.