United Federation of Planets

The United Federation of Planets (abbreviated as UFP and commonly referred to as the Federation) is an interstellar union of planetary governments that agrees to exist semi-autonomously under a single central government based on the principles of universal liberty, rights, and equality, and to share their knowledge and resources in peaceful cooperation, scientific development, space exploration, and mutual defense.

Size and Location

This galactic power is located across the Alpha Quadrant and the Beta Quadrant; it speaks of the Federation's power that Sol is, in fact, considered the 'border' between the two. By the 2390s, the power's territory has spread to over 8,000 light years with over a thousand semi-autonomous colonies and over 150 members. Most of those members are distinct species and cultures united under the Federation's government and principles, though powerful early colonies may have established themselves as separate members with separate, distinct interests. Because of this size, the Federation shares a border with every major power of both quadrants, as well as many of the lesser powers.

Government

The government consists of three branches: the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.

The Executive

The executive branch of the Federation oversees the day-to-day administration of the government. This branch is headed by the Federation President, who is democratically elected and acts as both head of state and head of government. The executive branch is thus responsible for most of the Federation's foreign policy and economy, and the President acts as supreme commander of the Federation's forces. The executive is based out of the Palais de la Concorde in Paris, Earth.

The Legislature

The Federation Council is the unicameral legislative body of the Federation. Composed of representatives from the various member worlds, the Federation Council holds the power to create, amend, and ratify Federation law. The Federation Council also holds a great deal of influence over the operations of the Federation's military service, Starfleet. It sometimes serves as the judging body of specially-convened courts-martial, and on occasion issues operational orders to Starfleet. The Council also holds influence over the making of Federation foreign policy. The Council's meeting chamber are in the Earth city of San Francisco, on the west coast of the North American continent.

The Judiciary

Responsible for justice administration in the name of the state according to Federation law with its highest level, the Federation Supreme Court.

The Federation Constitution

This was a series of guarantees which list specific responsibilities and rights for the citizens, governments and executive agencies of the Federation.

Executive agencies

The Federation also controlled a number of organizations that assisted in its administration of the affairs of the Federation.

Federation Archeology Council
Federation Astronomical Committee
Federation Bureau of Agricultural Affairs
Federation Bureau of Industrialization
Federation Bureau of Planetary Treaties
Central Bureau of Penology
Department of Cartography
Department of Temporal Investigations
Earth Broadcasting Company
Federation Naval Patrol
Federation News Network
Federation News Service
Federation Science Council
Federation Science Bureau
Federation Starfleet
Terraform Command
United Earth Space Probe Agency (UESPA)

Economy

The Federation's economy no longer consists of money and the driving force was the attainment of a comfortable standard of living for all rather than the attainment of personal wealth and the cheap production of consumer goods.

There is still a basic unit of exchange called the Federation credit, which was used in payments and sales involving non-Federation governments. There was also regulations requiring member worlds to assist other members when they did not possess resources in times of emergencies.

Membership

Joining the Federation was either by a successful petition of a world, invitation or a civilization who truly wished to join. Membership was only granted when they had met certain requirements. The government had to submit its official petition to the Federation Council with its wish to join. The next step was a thorough investigation of the applicant's culture. This investigation could take several years, and was done to ascertain whether or not the culture truly shared the Federation values of benevolence, peaceful co-existence and co-operation, the rule of law, and equal rights and justice.

Even before the investigation, the member had to meet a number of requirements:

The race had to have an advanced level of technology using the baseline definition of whether or not they had the capability for Faster Than Light space travel.

Respecting the rights of the individual had to be accepted and the achievement of stable planetary political unity.

There could be no form of caste discrimination present either overtly or covertly practiced on the world in question.

History

Founded in San Francisco, Earth in 2161. The seeds of this interstellar conglomerate with a temporary alliance in 2154, during the search of a Romulan drone ship. It was this that first brought together the four species that would found the Federation: Human, Vulcan, Andorians and Tellarite. After a few bumps and bruises they stayed together and formed the precursor to the Federation, called the Coalition of Planets, a year later. Soon other species became members, the Denobulans, Rigelians, Coridianites among others. During the next few years, their ties became stronger and structured, until in 2161 they became the Federation.

Even though their intentions were peaceful, the powers around it didn't subscribe to its intentions such as the Klingon and Romulan Empires. The size of the Federation grew due to its admittance of an increasing amount of worlds bringing it into conflict with the Romulans and the Klingons. During the 23rd Century, its main rival was the Klingon Empire, with war between the two briefly in 2267. before the Organians halted it.

Thankfully the tensions between the two galactic entities eased considerably at the end of the century with the Khitomer Conference in 2293. This conference saw the signing of the Khitomer Accords, that ended the hostile relations.

At the beginning of the 24th Century, the Federation had an unprecedented period of peaceful exploration without major conflicts, as its main adversary was now at peace with it. However, this was not going to last with the emergence once again of the Romulan Star Empire, relations remained hostile and there was a period of a "cold-war" with some minor skirmishes in the 2340s at which point the Federation came into contact with the Cardassians, Talarians and the Tholians.

The period of peaceful exploration came to a swift halt. During the year of 2365, the Federation encountered The Borg. One of the most destructive and dangerous forces in the known galaxy, it attempted to conquer the Federation twice and were only forced back due to luck and ingenuity. The Federation then learned the lesson that in the vast unexplored spaces of the galaxy further then they had explored there were threats that they could not fathom.

Contact was made with the Dominion, the main power over much of the Gamma Quadrant in 2370. After a number of skirmishes and extreme cases of bad luck the Cardassian Union joined the Dominion and thus the invasion of the Alpha Quadrant began. In time they were joined by the Breen Confederacy. This war was the greatest crisis faced by the Federation in its short history, forcing them to join forces with two former mortal enemies the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Star Empire to prevent the victory of the Dominion. Although they succeeded a number of important member worlds such as Betazed, Coridan, and Benzar were taken over before being forced back. Thousands of vessels were destroyed, thus millions of lives were lost and turned into the most destructive and bloody conflict in Federation history. In 2375, The Breen attacked the Federation at its heart with a surprise attack on its headquarters.

With the war over the Federation was allowed to return to its traditional space exploration establishing new relations with its former enemies, the Romulans specifically. During 2379, the Federation assisted the Romulan Star Empire to defeat the Romulan Praetor Shinzon who would of destroyed both entities in his attempts to commit genocide. This new relationship has led some to belief that the centuries of hostility between the two galactic powers has finally come to an end.