"Hail Terra! Hail the Mother World!"
Born from the ancestral nations of Earth, the People's Republic of Terra is what so many political figures from Human history strived for: a single government that rules all of Earth. One world government, with no more war amongst the nations of the planet.
Unfortunately, most of those political luminaries failed to consider the idea that Humanity might ever expand to more that a single world. And that just because Earth is united, that doesn't mean that Humanity is united. And to add insult to injury, most imagined a melting pot of ideals and cultures leading to the formation of something unique and beautiful that would rule over Humanity with benevolence.
The truth, unfortunately, is a bit more one sided and much less benevolent. If anything, the Terran government runs on enlightened self-interest, keeping enough people happy to maintain power, but still often pursuing the interests of those in power over the will of the people.
The People's Republic of Terra was born out of the tail end of World War III and the US Economic Collapse of 2090. The People's Republic of China and their allies had won one of the most costly wars of human history up until that point and the United States had been devastated, with tens of millions dead and several major cities having been bombed in oblivion.
The first act of the Chinese / Russian coalition that invaded the United States was to declare NATO and the United Nations dissolved. In its place (and as a way to ensure that the war didn't continue with Europe) a single world government was established. It was modeled heavily on The People's Republic of China, but with a western facelift and plenty of hindsight.
The first several decades were rocky. Many holdout nations refused to join, and the early Terran Government (primarily composed of former Chinese officials) resorted to some extreme means to bring these countries in line. However, by the time of Second Contact the Terran government had settled into a rhythm, and it was hard to imagine ever going back to the fractured ways of the past.
It wasn't long before the People's Republic of Terra looked to the stars. For many, it was a hopeful thing. Clearly, technology had advanced to the point where humanity could move beyond our homeworld and expand. For others, it was about finishing a job that had been left undone.
The US Government had evacuated to its Mars Colony at the end of World War III and had declared Mars independent from Earth. Since then, a state of cold war had existed between the two planets. Two more Martian colonies were founded while the Terrans began designing and building intrastellar warships to finally bring their enemies to heel.
Of course, things did not go as planned. The Martians had taken notice of the warships being built in Earth orbit and had put their own plan into place. When the Terran First Fleet arrived at Mars, they found the colonies abandoned with no sign of any of their former residents. They knew that the Martians had constructed three massive ships, but there was also no sign of them.
What they found was a trap, forever after referred to as The Coward's Trap in Terran history books. The entire First Fleet was utterly destroyed by nuclear mines left in orbit around Mars by the fleeing Martians. Recovering from the devastating loss of their entire space-born navy, the Terrans focused, instead, on colonization. Despite massive depopulation efforts on both sides during the war, Earth was still experiencing runaway growth, and the Martians had left three perfectly functional colonies on Mars just waiting for new inhabitants. Mars was swiftly brought into the Terran fold, and soon enough, colonies were being founded on the Jovian and Saturnian moons and mining stations were being built in the asteroid belt. If the Martian cowards could make for the stars, then so could the Terrans.
It wasn't until Second Contact that the People's Republic learned that the Martians had not only survived, but that they were thriving and had established a new government of their own: The League of Allied Worlds. Worse still, their old enemy was thriving and had access to technology far beyond the Republic. This news was carried to them by NorAellian abassadors, who brought with them the knowledge to level the playing field.
To the NorAellians, this was the perfect way to settle things amongst humanity. To the Republic, this was a chance to finish their forefather's work. The Republic was grateful to the NorAellians for balancing the scales technologically, though they were less thrilled that the price of such knowledge was their forced acknowledgement that the League was its own independent entity. Many metaphorical fingers were crossed during that announcement. Despite this, the Republic understood that the NorAellians had quite literally saved the Republic from an unbeatable attack from the League and had given them a second chance at becoming the unified human government once again. Soon enough, the Terrans were an interstellar government in their own right.
Despite NorAellian advisors suggesting that they focus on locations closer to the Sol System, the Terrans decided to make a statement. Anything the League could do, they could do bigger and better. Domovoi and Surya were the first two colonies established and they were each nearly 20,000 light years away from Sol and each was clearly chosen as a new hub of further expansion.
Officially, the Terran Government still labels the League's departure from Mars as an act of treason against the unified world government, despite acknowledging the League as a government in its own right. Unofficially, most people in power see the League as a net positive. Its original flight served to remove the single greatest, unified threat to the Republic's success, and now it provides their people with an inherent rival nation, a handy scape goat, and serves as a pressure release valve for any members of the population who are deeply dissatisfied with the Terran Government, a role the League now shares with the Confederacy.
Those same Terran leaders would also be quick to point out that unifying humanity is still their aim, and for that to occur, the League, and more recently the Confederacy, must bow to the might of Terra.
The War with the League has been a constant across the history of the Terrans. For most of Terran history it's been considered an unalterable fact of life. So much of the Terran Government and Military is geared towards fighting this war that it's almost become inconceivable that it could ever end.
The Terran Republic believes, to their very cores, that they are destined to become the singular expression of humanity in the galaxy and while there are plenty of people at all levels of society who are willing to abuse that belief for the furtherance of their own goals, or who are willing to believe that such a destiny is an eventuality unlikely to be seen in their lifetimes, many are willing to devote themselves to that goal.
Unfortunantly, true believers rarely find their way into the upper echelons of power within the Republic. No one wants a zealot in command, after all. Those at the top view the war with the League almost as a goal unto itself. Yes, they would (and have in the past) leap at a chance to land a killing blow or claim more systems, but the war and its execution are what keeps them in power. At this point, winning the war would almost certainly mean the creation of yet another government, and there's no guarantee that they would be at the top of the heap in that new formation.
The war and their stance on it has made the Republic a fairly easy government for dedicated minds to infiltrate and direct. Unfortunately, this infiltration and co-option has gone almost completely unnoticed, as the infiltrators have been careful to only make small changes that go mostly unremarked on their own, but equate to pushing the Republic onto an entirely different path in the long term: a path that leads to ruin for all of humanity.
Amidst their continuous expansion and their technological growth, both the Republic and the League allowed themselves plenty of time for war.
The same year that Second Contact was made, the First Interstellar War was declared, to the surprise of no one except the NorAellians, who had believed that they had stabilized human relations by giving the Republic what they had given the League.
The Terrans based their war declaration on two things:
Firstly, the absolute destruction of the First Fleet over Mars through the use of nuclear weapons. Republic officials referred to it as a trap for a mission meant to re-establish diplomatic ties between Mars and Earth, which historians would later point out is technically true but falls far short of truly describing what that fleet was intended to do.
Secondly, the Republic claimed, correctly, that the League intended to utilize their higher technology level to crush the Republic and conquer Earth themselves and that it was only through the gracious intervention of the NorAellians that this villainous scheme failed. League representatives have never refuted the claim, and though they have protested the use of the word "conquer", they haven't ever been able to provide a viable explanation of how what they would have needed to do to remove the Republic government could have been anything but conquest.
This first war waged amongst the stars lasted 27 years and consisted of little more than small border skirmishes. Neither government had the full fleets that would later characterize the wars between humanity, and as a result, the First Interstellar War was, up until its end, a war that did not see massive numbers of casualties. This was also aided by neither side truly knowing how an interstellar war was waged, though humans are nothing if not amazing at learning new skills.
In 2288, a Terran Strike Team penetrated League space all the way to the Calysto System and, in a move meant as revenge for the the loss of the Terran First Fleet, detonated a nuclear device inside the League's primary shipyard at the time. An entire League fleet was being constructed at the time, consisting of the newest and most advanced ships that humanity had constructed to date and the blast destroyed or irradiated all of them, setting League defensive development back a decade.
This strike had three major effects: it placed the League and the Republic on more or less equal footing in terms of military armament, it brought the League to the negotiating table in early 2289, and it saw both sides agree that nuclear strikes should be restricted to ship-to-ship combat only for all future conflicts.
All in all, historians have largely decided that the Republic was more or less the "winner" of this first war, as they declared it and their actions ended it, however, neither side landed a truly devastating blow on the other outside of the Republic's strike on the Calysto Yards, and neither side was able to conquer any systems of true importance, instead they just swapped border worlds back and forth. The trading of border colonies would go on to be such a hallmark of these wars that by the time the Confederacy War was concluded, capturing a border colony was seen as little more than a nuisance and failed to even show up as a Causus Belli in future wars.
This first cease-fire agreement lasted an impressive 61 years, the longest single span of time that peace has existed between the Terrans and the League since both became interstellar powers.
That peace ended in 2350.
Concluded in 2380.
Begun in 2403
Concluded in 2429
In the century leading up to the Confederacy War (the Fourth Interstellar War), the Republic had "allowed" many of its citizens to strike out on their own and found colonies in the freelance worlds that were, at least culturally, Terran. Now, with active war once again looming on the horizon, it was time to collect these rogue colonies and bring them safely back into the Republic fold.
In 2448, however, in what has been near universally regarded as one of the most inspired and underhanded moves ever attempted on the galactic stage, the League prompted a coalition of these same freelance worlds to unite into a third interstellar human government.
The Republic disagreed with this Declaration, strenuously. To their eyes, the freelance worlds were little more than rebellious citizens of the Republic and needed to be brought back in line. This new Government, which was clearly the doing of the League, was little more than a nuisance, and one that the Republic felt perfectly comfortable to ignore.
When it became clear that the League and their pet Confederacy were not going to stand down and allow the Republic to reclaim what was theirs, an example needed to be made. The Premiere and the Magistrates, along with the High Command, issued a declaration of their own: the Renlei Zhimindi Xuanyan, or Declaration of Human Colonies.
This declaration made it known that the Republic considered all of the freelance worlds to be Terran colonies in revolt, and that they would be treated as such. This document also had the side effect of kicking off the Fourth Interstellar War, also known as the Confederacy War.
In 2493, the Confederacy had cobbled together a fleet, and with the backing of the NorAellians, they made their claim of true independence, both from the Republic and from the direct manipulation of the League. This marked the end of the Confederacy War.
Begun in 2537
Concluded in 2569
Begun in 2612
Concluded in 2652 with the Charlemagne Disaster.
With the signing of the Charlemagne Accords, the galaxy found itself in a time of relative peace once again. Unlike previous ceasefires, there was no real stand down of military readiness on either side. Both the League and the Republic pulled back to their 2652 borders, but neither side felt secure enough to warrant a force reduction. Instead, both sides slightly slowed their breakneck production of war material and opted for a lower burn buildup.
It was clear to all observers that this peace was doomed from the start. What no one was expecting was The Fall.
Paradoxically, the People's Republic of Terra has achieved the dream of every Communist political theorist of the 19th century and beyond, while at the same time evolving into something that would be utterly unimaginable to them.
On its surface, the Republic is the Communist utopia. Everyone is entitled to equal food, funds, shelter, and employment all provided by the government. When you look closer, things become almost comically muddled.
With their conquest of Earth achieved, the early Republic found itself in a position of needing to evolve rapidly to accommodate the cultures of Earth and prevent an endless series of rebellions. Thus, the process of cultural assimilation began.
In the end, three cultures became the societal pillars of the Republic. From the People's Republic of China came the core governmental systems and the reverence of ancestors. From Russia, an inherent belief in the imperial destiny of the Terrans and the acceptance of oligarchs as the new Nobility. And from India a modified caste system and an acceptance of polygamy.
Many cultures around the world had some form of these pillars in place already, allowing for easier acceptance of the remaining tenets. The remaining population of North America, for example, could latch on to the idea of self-made people rising to the top in society, and held an almost religious reverence for the military. Many asian cultures not already consumed by the People's Republic of China practiced some form of ancestral worship or remembrance. In practice, these cultural traits mingled with local expressions of similar ideas and evolved into the social system the Republic has today.
At the top of society are the Zhizheng Guan, or Consuls, and the Noble Houses that evolved out of the old oligarchs. There is frequent overlap between the two groups, but technically, the role of Zhizheng Guan is open to any Republic citizen who can earn it, while the Noble Houses require either birth, marriage, or adoption to enter, or a high enough level of wealth or fame to buy out or earn a noble title.
Below them in this loose translation of the caste system sits wealthy non-Nobles and high-ranking military officers (usually famous Captains or higher), top executives, media figures, and anyone with ludicrous amounts of wealth who have yet to reach for the nobility. You will often find the heads of organized crime houses rubbing shoulders with wealthy merchants, film stars, corporate executives, and Flag Officers for functions at this level of society.
Below them sits the rest of the officer ranks, high-ranking non-commissioned officers, junior executives, stars that have yet to break out on a galactic level, and those comfortably in the "millionaire" bracket.
Below that is what would have once been the middle class. The enlisted soldiers, the white-collar managers, and the lawyers/doctors/academics set.
Below that are the blue-collar workers, skilled or specialized labor, farmers, and local shop owners.
At the very bottom are those that rely almost exclusively on governmental aid. They are frequently drafted as soldiers, or guided into day-labor work in government farms, factories, mines, and other facilities. However, keeping with the communist ideals that were resurrected and perfected, even those at the bottom rung of society are still housed, fed, provided the standard citizen income, and provided full medical care.
It is entirely possible to improve your lot in society. In fact, many within the Terran system would say that doing so is the goal, or even the duty, of the average citizen. Typically, the lower rungs are progressed through via self-improvement. Pursue a better job, or a higher education, or learning a new skill that can propel you to a higher rung.
The higher rungs are also still fairly mobile. As long as you have, and maintain, the right level of wealth or fame, you're in. Even the Nobility is not a closed ecosystem. At the formalization of the Nobility, 200 noble houses were created, though only 10 were filled on that day. In the intervening centuries, that number rose to around 120 noble houses, though a good 40 of those are in danger of losing that status should anyone come along with an offer to buy out the title. The remaining 80 unclaimed titles had their price of entry set at an exponentially higher level than it typically costs to just buy out an existing title.
If someone intends to purchase a title currently held by a Noble House, they must gain the approval of ten other existing houses. The house they are going to purchase must be one with a currently living and legitimate heir. Any house without an heir (like the near mythical House Simon) is held in stewardship by the Office of the Peerage, which is an office under the Premiere.
Houses held in stewardship are held for no less than one century, to allow time for a scion of the House to make themselves known. That scion may elect to take up the House's Title (either to sell it to someone else or claim it for themselves) or reject the title. If a title is rejected, it is placed in limbo for twenty years for the scion or their heirs to reconsider, and then it is moved to the category of unclaimed Titles.
Every five years, Peerage Day is held in either Moscow, London, or New Dehli. This day is a holiday across the Republic that often features lavish public parties thrown by the Nobility. At a ceremony in that year's city, every Noble House is either reaffirmed, passed into Stewardship, or granted to the new holder of the Title. (Useful note if you're in a major city on Peerage Day: the best parties are thrown by new Title holders or by one of the original 10. House Qadir's are near legendary.)
The capital system of the Terran government is Sol, the home solar system of the human race. A majority of the system is now populated with colonies and outposts, but the Terrans have been reluctant to do much mining, wanting to keep the solar system as pristine as possible. Even the asteroids first mined for resources during the Republic's initial intrasystem expansion and first steps into interstellar colonization were catalogued and replacements of similar size and composition were brought in from the Oort Cloud and set in similar orbits.
The Sol System is also the military hub of the Republic with Earth Station serving as the main command and control facility for both Navy and Army. Two massive ship yards exist in-system for the construction, repair, and refit of military vessels. The first is in Mars orbit, the second is in orbit around Neptune. Two massive detection stations were constructed at the L4 and L5 Lagrange points, with a secret fallback facility, Point Reckoner, at the L3 Lagrange point housed in a captured asteroid and officially referred to as a backup supply depot and marshalling yard.
Earth remains the capital world of the People's Republic of Terra, despite some early factions wanting to build a paradise world elsewhere. They see Earth as dirty and scarred, but not yet lost. That is also a primary reason why such proposals meet opposition; there's a sense of pride and legitimacy that comes from their government's seat being the homeworld of Humanity. The seat of government itself resides in a city constructed in the Mongolian steppes specifically for that role: Renlei Heping.
This is the accepted language of the Terrans. It is the only language spoken in schools until the age of six, then it's required that all students become bilingual with English.
Outside of Terran territories, it's rarely used, as all Terrans are required to learn English and it's the primary language of the League already, so why learn more than one? Some merchants who only operate in Terran space do learn and speak Mandarin, however, as a way of setting themselves apart from their competition.
English is considered a "universal" language, as the League (and to a lesser extent the Terrans) have popularized it's use across most of Human controlled space. Since the NorAellians and Lyndri have to trade with Humans, most have had to learn to speak it.
Russian is still spoken in the former Russian territories on Earth, and is very common in Freelance space. (The Russian territories are allowed an excemption to learning Mandarin from birth; they are taught Russian, and then Mandarin and English at age six.
The government of the People's Republic of Terra is just as much an amalgamation as its social structure.
With the benefit of hindsight, the architects of the world government set out to build a perfect system. At that specific goal, they failed. However, the system they arrived at is certainly a unique one.
In theory, the Terran government is a direct democracy, in that every citizen is entitled to a vote on every issue brought forth. In practice, with the span of the Republic, that is not a feasible concept to maintain. What emerged after Second Contact was something else.
Political theorists refer to this new system as tiered democracy and is structured thusly:
Local -> Regional -> Planetary -> Sector -> Republic
Unlike previous democracies that employed a tiered system of authority, this one sets filters at every level similar to the old Electoral College system employed by the former United States.
Citizens do have a vote on every issue. In local issues, those votes are directly tied to the outcome. For votes effecting any other tier, those votes ares reduced down to a simple majority result and an independently appointed figure known as the Voice then casts that majority vote at the next tier up.
For example: a new Republic Premiere is being voted on. At the local level, every citizen casts their vote. Those votes are tallied and the local Voice takes that majority result to the regional tally. The votes of all local Voices in a region are tallied and that majority vote is passed on to the regional Voice, who casts that vote at the planetary tally.
At this point, the system diverges. For many votes, the planetary tally is communicated to the four Zhizheng Guan of each planet who are entrusted to clearly represent the will of their planetary populace.
For other votes, such as the vote for a new Premiere, the result of the planetary tally is passed to a planetary Voice who casts that vote at the Sector level. The result in each of the five Sectors determines the Republic-wide result. Again, a simple majority of three Sectors is all that is required.
At the Republic level, there are four branches of government: executive, assembly, judicial, and military.
A proper review of history lead to the military being given a seat at the highest level table in a more direct way under the assumption that if they are allowed a hand on the wheel, they are less likely to try to seize all power directly. The military branch oversees both the Army and the Navy, procurement, the budget, the enrollment, and the deployment of all Republic forces. Republic High Command is made up of two Lord Admirals, two Lord Generals, and the Premiere, who acts as tie breaker when needed.
The Judicial branch oversees all courts in the Republic. This isn't as many as you might think. After due consideration, the decision was made to appoint local and regional law enforcement as mediators instead of having local level courts. Citizens may appeal any mediated decision to a Regional court, but rarely are meditations overturned. Each Region has three courts, every Planet has three Planetary courts, each Sector has one Sector court, and the Republic itself maintains a single court for any case not firmly resolved at a lower level. Sector and Republic Court cases are rare to the point of spectacle.
The Assembly is less of a legislative body then it is a cross between a country club and a religious ceremony. It is made up of four Zhizheng Guan from each planet in the Republic. The position of Zhizheng Guan is, nominally, an elected one, but once someone is elected to the position, they are not required to open their seat up for election unless they choose to do so. This has largely shifted the position to a lifetime appointment on most planets. A few insist on their Zhizheng Guan standing for election every other year, but those are rare cases. The Assembly itself meets on Earth in Renlie Heping for three years at a pace and then rotates through the other four sector seats for the fourth and fifth years before returning to Earth to restart the cycle.
The goal of the Assembly is nominally the passage of laws and ordinances to better govern the Republic and meet the needs of its citizens. In reality, the Assembly is presented with a slate of laws in need of review and a slate of new laws to debate and approve. This slate of laws comes from the Premiere's advisory council, or as it was once known, the Party Leaders. This council is formed of five individuals who hold exclusive, hereditary, non-purchasable Noble titles and are appointed as the Sector Magistrates. Should there fail to be an heir to one of these titles, or should the heir in question not pass the approval of the other Magistrates and the Premiere, the title and position are striped from the family and granted to another. Thus far, there have been 12 families to hold a Magistrate title.
The Executive branch of the Republic is the strongest of all four branches. It is formed of the Premiere and the five Magistrates. Much like a Zhizheng Guan, the title of Premiere is an elected one. Unlike the Zhizheng Guan, it is designed to be a lifetime appointment, however, the lifetime in question is very clearly laid out: A Premiere may rule for no more than 35 years, at which point, in a religiously inspired ceremony, the sitting Premiere is executed by the incoming Premiere who first ritually lays all the crimes of the Republic on the head of its former leader. Many sitting Premieres deliberately plan to have the transfer of power occur on a planet other than Earth so that they may then be given the honor of being flown back to the Mother World in the First Fleet.
The Executive branch controls the entire governmental bureaucracy, from investigative departments to the tax bureau to the regulatory bodies. They are, in many ways, the embodiment of the Republic, as every penny passes through their hands and every major decision either originated from them or winds up on their desks. If there was a ranking of the most powerful individuals in the galaxy, the six members at the top of the Executive branch would almost certainly rank highly amongst them.
Republic space is divided up into five sectors, each named for its capital or founding world. Sector Magistrates are affectively autonomous within their sectors, as there are no sector, planetary, regional, or local assemblies. Each magistrate appoints a governor to each planet within their sector, and those governors in turn appoint regional Speakers who's role is to listen to the concerns of their constituents and bring those concerns to the governors. Local levels of government may elect either a mayor or a council.
The Terran Military is separated into two services: Navy and Army. Each one has some degree of overlap with the other, IE: the Army maintains a fleet of transport ships and the Navy maintains a force of Marines. This overlap has lead to repeated calls over the years for the two services to be combined into a singular service. These calls keep running into the brick wall that is Terran High Command. High Command is quite content to maintain two distinct service branches and the two separate budgets this provides.
There is very little tension between the two branches. By and large, each one knows that the other has a distinct job to do and that only by maintaining frictionless cooperation can both jobs get done. Every Republic ship has, at a minimum, one Army officer, usually as their Intelligence officer. Some larger ships trade out a Marine detachment for an Army unit.
This flows both ways, as many Army bases have at least one Naval officer to act as a liaison, and larger bases maintain a squadron or wing of fighters. Despite the Army maintaining a transport and supply fleet, more often than not, the Army will dispatch units onboard Naval vessels, especially when there is a major action being planned. For example, when the Charlemagne invasion was being planned, the Army deployed their forces onto both Kali-classes and the four Fortress II-class battleships.
The Republic Army is comprised of three service branches and is mostly utilized in ground operations, though there are units cross trained in more traditionally Marine operations such as boarding actions and zero-g combat.
The first service branch is Ground Command. This is the army proper, as in, the infantry and mechanized combat units. This also includes transport operations. When you think of the Republic Army, this is what you are thinking of.
Ground Command is headed up by a General and operates out of Earth Station. They report directly to High Command and are directly tasked by High Command in return. This branch is responsible for every single planetary or orbital base used by the Army. Every Sector in the Republic has at least one major base, and High Command is striving for an Army presence of some sort in every populated system in Republic space. This goal continues to be pushed back in priority as wars with the League keep on breaking out.
This service branch is the backbone of the Army. The old saying "An Army marches on its stomach" is no less true now than it was on old Earth. Logistics Command is what keeps the food supply moving.
They handle the sourcing, storage, and distribution of food, munitions, spare parts, and anything else the Army needs to continue functioning. Logistics also handles the cargo vessels that the Army utilizes. They are, essentially, an entire division of quartermasters, and they're damned good at their jobs.
Commonly referred to as Terran Intelligence, this branch is made up of the spies, spooks, agents, and handlers that form the boots-on-the-ground side of the Intelligence apparatus. They operate directly with the Naval Defense Command and together, the two groups have managed to build up an entire shadow army and navy that is completely off the books and outside the purview of High Command.
Terran Intelligence is, largely, an obfuscation in and of itself. Roughly 60% of those who work in Intelligence have no idea about what is happening behind the scenes and in the shadows. They either operate as though they are part of an organized criminal syndicate, or they are political appointees who coast by on their looks or connections. Of the remaining 40%, about half are actively working to secure and protect the Republic. The rest have either been co-opted by an outside force (if they aren't agents of that force in their own right) or they are using the power and connections that a position in Intelligence gets them to pursue their own aims and grab whatever wealth or power that they can.
(Note from Matt: Let's be clear here. The entire Republic system is designed to be easily corruptible and infiltrated by the Zealots. That's why it's so byzantine. Terran Intelligence is the easiest place to identify the rot growing inside the Republic. At the time of this writing, there's only ever been a discussion of four people inside Terran Intel. One of them is Director of Intelligence (a political appointee with no idea what he's doing), Misha Vostok, that guy's aid (a competent person who Gregorie and some other good agents took under their wing, and who is likely in communication with McKenzie and is gaining some idea of what the score really is.), Gregorie (we can go on about him for a while. Gregorie is great.), and Gregorie's former partner Anatoli (who is a raging Zealot asshole. Fuck that guy.). Of these, two were political appointees, one is a zealot, and two are actually working for the good of the Republic. This whole thing is doomed to failure by design.)
The Navy has an internal organizational structure that can best be described as "complicated."
Underneath the Republic level, there are three command structures in place, and all three of them are constantly competing for direct control of the ships under their purview. Often times, a ship or fleet may find itself under the nominal command of three to four different command structures who's aims are frighteningly disparate.
Sector Command is, perhaps the easiest of the three to grasp. Each of the five Sectors in the Republic has its own Naval Command element overseen by an Admiral. In theory, any ship operating within a Sector is to be considered at the disposal of Sector Command, so long as any orders given by Sector Command do not contradict those issued by High Command.
In practice, a few courtesy practices have emerged within the Navy. Firstly, any ship who is considered to be "just passing through" a Sector, is not to be considered at the disposal of Sector Command. Secondly, it is considered good manners for any ship or fleet that is going to be laying in at a Naval or Civilian facility for longer than a day to inform Sector Command and, if they are not under orders that may require a specific departure time, to include the phrase "at your disposal" to indicate that Sector Command may tap them for a task as needed.
The complication here is that each Sector has at least two Fleets permanently assigned to them, along with at least a dozen individual ships of various sizes. If there is a situation that requires immediate aid beyond the available resources of Sector Command, that situation should have been brought to the attention of High Command, who should then dispatch resources to deal with it. In reality, it is widely known that High Command prefers Sector Commands to deal with issues on their own and allow High Command to continue focusing on the big picture strategy. Captains often receive guidance from High Command to make themselves available to Sector Commands as often as reasonably possible.
Fleet Command is also not a difficult concept to grasp. Operating out of High Command, Fleet Command directly executes the orders and directives of High Command. They decide which Fleets and ships are assigned to which Sector, or outpost, or base. They are also the ones to directly task the Captains and Admirals of ships or fleets with their orders.
On paper, Fleet Command comes above Sector Command in the org chart. In practice, they are closer together than either would like. Sector Command has, historically, had a bad habit of co-opting ships and fleets for their own tasks. In response, Fleet Command took to assigning uncooperative Sectors with the worst of the Fleets and Ships. Eventually, after a League raid during the Third Interstellar War penetrated deep into Republic space, High Command stepped in and forced everyone to play nice. They reinforced that Fleet Command handles all assignments and deployments and that Sector Commands were tasked with policing and protecting their Sectors. Both were under the watchful eye of High Command and both should learn to play nice.
This has mostly worked out, however, the Domovoi Sector continues its fairly heavy handed practice of co-opting ships whenever it likes. Considering their proximity to Freelance space, High Command and Fleet Command both allow this to continue. In fact, Domovoi is the only Sector with three Fleets assigned at all times.
If Sector Command and Fleet Command have a begrudging respect and understanding between each other, no one has any respect or understanding for Defense Command. Defense Command is a hold out from the very beginning of the Terran Republic. Originally, this Command branch was the internal policing branch. That role has been taken over by Terran Intelligence and Sector enforcement agencies, leaving Defense Command without a clear role in the current balance of military power.
Their continued existence is, quite understandably, a point of confusion for just about everyone attempting to navigate how the Terran military functions. This institutional level of confusion seems to be the point, at least from the perspective of outside viewers.
Defense Command can, at any time and for any reason, pull a ship or fleet off of their assigned tasks and redirect them at will. They can co-opt and deploy any military asset at a whim, and they seem to take a perverse joy in derailing the plans of those in authority at the Sector level and under. The only ones they do not deliberately meddle with consistently are orders originating from High Command.
In reality, Defense Command is the group tasked with watching the watchmen. When they pull assets off of a mission and retask them, they are frequently attempting to cause chaos to shake traitors out of command positions. To Defense Command, anyone pursuing anything beyond the goals of the Republic and using Republic assets to do so is a traitor.
Defense Command works tightly with Terran Intelligence on the Army side and together the two forces operate dozens of black sites and maintain both an army and navy that are completely off the books and outside the normal chain of command. So far, this has worked without too many incidents. Recently, however, cracks have started showing in the facade of Republic unity, and more often than not, its a Defense Command ship or an Intel agent at the center of the crack. Those in the know are beginning to believe that both groups have been fully infiltrated and suborned by the Zealots.
The only Command structure that is largely considered "temporary" is command at the level of individual Fleets.
A Fleet is officially defined as a collection of four or more capital ships who are grouped together under a single commander and tasked with accomplishing a singular mission. Most often, a fleet commander is an Admiral, though technically that commander can be as low a rank as Captain in some situations.
There is some debate as to what, exactly, the difference is between a "battlegroup" and a Fleet. No easy answer has emerged, though many suspect that because a Fleet is a clearly specified organization of assets which require a clear assignment and labels, then the term "battlegroup" is used to differentiated between an official Fleet and an unofficial grouping of assets on similar, if not the same, tasking. Largely, the answer genuinely seems to be that having multiple terms addressing similar things exists to obfuscate operations, both internally and externally.
Fleets maintain their own internal chain of command that essentially boils down to ship Captains answering to their Fleet Commander instead of whichever Commander they are currently tied to. That Fleet Commander then answers to the Command level.
Effectively, most Fleets are treated like exceptionally large ships.
Fleets are almost always considered temporary formations, though the Sixth Fleet and the Tenth Fleet (the ones assigned to Sol Sector) have been in continuous existence and use since they were organized in the late 2280's.
Historically, Fleet Idents are a randomly assigned number between 1 and 500 with any restricted Idents or those currently in use removed from the pool. Further more, Fleet Command enjoys keeping Idents roughly tied to the task the Fleet is being assigned. Invasion and Assault Fleets tend to utilize numbers in the 400-500 range, while Sector Fleets are almost never any number out of the double digits.
Currently, there are only three Idents that are restricted from active use:
(Detail note from Matt: If you've been paying attention, you may realize that the math here doesn't add up. Charlemagne was 50 years ago from the "current day" of the RFI story. Surely at least one Premiere has made it to the normal transfer of power in that amount of time, right? Yes, in fact two Premieres have come and gone since Charlemagne. However, the first was straight up not allowed to arrange for the power transfer to occur off of Earth, as no one wanted that person to be given the honor of the First Fleet. The second, being a legitimately humble individual and widely understood to be the only reason why the Republic didn't fall to pieces in the aftermath of Charlemagne, didn't feel worthy of the honor and refused the offer to hold the ceremony off of Earth.)
115th Fleet
[REDACTED] - (From Matt: look, there needs to be more than two retired numbers. We'll figure this one out when we need to. Until then, just assume something horrific happened to this Fleet that was bad enough that the Ident is considered cursed.)
438th Fleet
The 438th was the Ident given to the Bulawayo and Moskva battlegroups when they were combined into the invasion fleet aimed at Charlemagne. As a memorial to the Disaster that occurred, the number was stricken from the list of available Fleet Idents. Anyone who served in the last 438th may always use that Ident number as part of their standard address (IE, Captain Meera Yen, 438th Fleet, Captain of the TRS Cairo). This memorial allowance is also the only concession ever granted to deserters. If they served in the 438th, they may always claim that Ident until the day they die. (This means that at the time of the Fall, Captain Meera Yen could, when addressing a Terran Officer, claim the 438th, and the Officer could not dispute that usage. However, if she still claimed a Republic Captaincy or referenced being the Captain of the Cairo, they could take offense to that.)
No long-term, functional government exists on its military alone and the Republic is no different.
The taxation branch of the Terran Republic, and also the branch responsible for ensuring the basic benefits are delivered to every citizen.
The RRS operates on a flat tax structure, specifically because it benefits the wealthier members of society. However, in place of tax write-offs, wealthy individuals or corporations can elect to pay an additional percentage of tax for favored status with the government. This is often pitched as insurance against audits as favored status removes one's name from the audit rolls.
As a result of such a blatantly manipulatable system, the govern rakes in funds from those who don't want their books examined closely.
The RSS is equal parts secret police and investigation bureau. They operate primarily at the Republic, Sector, and Planetary levels, though all Regional and Local Law Enforcement Mediators are considered to be within the RSS chain of command.
A holdover from the ancient Soviet Union on Earth, the Psychotronics Institute was originally developed to research mind control, telepathy, telekinesis, and other parapsychological and paranormal effects.
The Institute has managed to continue their existence largely thanks to Focus. Though most researchers and subjects at the Institute have no idea what Focus is, or how it works, enough people have gotten close enough to the truth to make some progress in identifying potential candidates and activating their abilities, or at least that's what they claim.
Something like 80% of the Institute's subjects end up either catatonic or psychotic. 15% end up with some aspect of their innate Focus ability uncovered at the cost of their sanity. These subjects tend to be used as human weapons by the Institute who will drop them in a population center (any population center, even a Republic one) and wait and see what happens. Historically, these subjects tend to be classified as serial killers and dealt with accordingly. Occasionally, the Institute will retrieve them for further research or experiments, but typically, they aren't expected to survive.
The last 5% of subjects are those who have a greater degree of their innate Focus abilities brought to the surface and who suffer only "minor psychological impairments" as a result of the Institute's experiments. These successes are typically held at the Institute as research subjects, but some of the more effective, or more violent, subjects are delivered to Terran Intelligence to be crafted into more precise human weapons.