Systems Alliance (Futuro II)

The Human Systems Alliance, colloquially known as the  Systems Alliance  or more informally as simply the Alliance, is the representative body of Earth and all human and quarian colonies in Alliance-administered space. Backed by Earth's most powerful nations, the Alliance has become humanity's military, exploratory, and economic spearhead. The Alliance unites all humans, quarians, and synthetics within its colonies and while the Alliance is relatively new to the galactic community, it has already made a name for itself, defeating the Turian Hierarchy in the bloody Second Contact War and taking in the Quarians as a client race. The Alliance is governed by a parliament based at Arcturus Station, which also serves as the Alliance's capital.

Establishment
In early-2128, a United Nations mining team on Mars made the greatest discovery of mankind. After investigating the southern pole of Mars, the team unearthed the subterranean ruins of an ancient alien civilization, revealing incontrovertible proof of the existence of alien life. Nothing of value could be gathered from the ruins; the entire subterranean complex was stripped clean of all technology and consisted of only crumbling stone and rusted metal. The archives contained nothing but a message. Inscribed in simple pictograms, the ancient alien civilization claimed they watched and studied humanity as they evolved, but "they" came and "they" wiped their civilization from the stars. The message indicated that the aliens on Mars were the only survivors of their race and that "they" could trace their technology, so the survivors are leaving in order to keep the Humans safe. The message ended with a warning not to trust "the Gates" nor "the Keep" and to grow strong and avenge the fallen civilization. It was signed with the head of an alien, though no name of the civilization could be found.

The impact on humanity was huge; it was proven that they were not alone in the universe. For all they knew, they were the last surviving species in the galaxy that faces a civilization-destroying threat. The new discovery dominated the media and raised questions about these aliens. What happened to the "Fallen Civilization"? Is whatever destroyed them still out there? These questions had a unifying effect on politics; every nation on Earth now realized that they were a small part of an incredibly vast universe. Six months after the discovery on Mars and endless debates within the United Nations about the possibility of intergalactic war, the Systems Alliance Charter was drafted and ratified by the G20.

Shortly thereafter, nearly all the nations in the world joined in backing the Systems Alliance, and pooled their resources into creating the Systems Alliance Defense Force. In 2129, the Alliance discovered the Sol system's mass relay, which the Alliance dubbed the tuning gate, orbiting Pluto at the precise location that Pluto's moon, Charon, was thought to have been. Remembering the message, the gate was not activated, but instead reverse-engineered to help advance humanity's technology. The groundwork for a united Human front was laid and humanity began preparing themselves to reach beyond the stars.

Expansion and First Contact
Humanity's technology continued to advance, but so did its population; however, the message left by the fallen civilization made the Alliance weary of expanding beyond the solar system. But in 2156, the Alliance finally scouted out nearby systems using Warp Drive technology and discovered Eden, beginning mass-colonization efforts immediately. Another close-by planet named Roof was discovered as well, but that was colonized much slower, for humans were just now getting used to colonizing Eden. By the turn of the 23rd century, the population of roof had barely cracked the one million mark, the vast majority of whom lived in the capital (and only major city) of Manassas.

Humanity's first contact with alien life came on July 24, 2201, when a small naval detachment of the Alliance encountered a quarian scout flotilla above Valhalla, an unofficial Alliance planet that housed a research station dedicated to exploring human settlement options. This was the newest planet explored through the tuning gate. Communication, at least on the onset, was peaceful and the two sides communicated with videos, pictures and animations detailing their mutual interest in a benevolent friendship. The two met on Valhalla's surface, with each side bringing only six soldiers as per the Alliance's request. The Alliance was represented by the Minister of Extraterrestrial Affairs Ivan Chan, and Admiral Rael'Zorah nar Rayya vas Belari represented the Admiralty Board. Conversation was difficult due to the linguistic and cultural barrier, but thanks to body language, drawings and video presentations, both sides returned to their respective ships after an hour with a strong indication that peace and cooperation were the goals of both races.

The second confrontation was problematic, as the appearance of the Alliance AI made the quarians rather uneasy and the quarian marines initiated a standoff that while diffused by Minister Chan, raised tensions with the quarians to a point where they refused a third visit. A video presentation was sent to the quarians detailing humanity's research and relationship with artificial intelligence, emphasizing the agreement made between humans and AI that allowed for their integration into human society that propelled them into a golden age.

Contact and initial engagements
For six months the refugees and Humans of Eden co-existed peacefully. From them, the Humans learned about the galaxy and the Citadel Council, finding out that there are a myriad of other galactic civilizations. They learned that the Fallen Civilization was actually an empire of aliens known as the Protheans who ruled the known galaxy. The Pantorans, in turn, learned how humanity evolved without the aid of Prothean technology and integrated themselves into Alliance society, all the while the Turian Hierarchy was hunting the outcasts.

Above Roof, the Alliance navy, both Human and a few Pantoran ships, was contacted by an attack force from the Pantoran homeland. The outcasts tried to prevent them from attacking by warning of their intrusion into Alliance space, but the Pantoran homelanders called their bluff and engaged the fleet. The Alliance navy responded, and although they were outnumbered, the Alliance was winning due to their different weaponry and ship construction. However, the Pantoran homelanders contacted the Turians with their position, and suddenly two fleets from the Turian Hierarchy's navy appeared above Roof.

The Alliance had no choice but to retreat, unfortunately leaving the colonists behind. The Turians and Pantorans landed ground troops on Roof, swiftly taking the few military targets. Although the small planet was occupied, the occupying forces were surprised with a rebellion by the colonists, degrading Roof's surface into a bitter guerrilla war. With the Alliance navy routed from Roof, the Turians chased them to Earth, naively thinking that was their main force and that they would swiftly crush the Pantoran outcasts and their Human allies. When the Turian fleets arrived in Earth's space, they were met with the Alliance's Summer Fleet; the combined might of all of the Alliance's warships.

Government and politics
The Alliance is a parliamentary federation that is responsible for the governance and defense of Earth and its many extra-solar human colonies, and represents humanity on the galactic stage. It is a supranational government, and contains within it many different countries and colonies. Its primary function is being the vehicle by which humanity conducts extraterrestrial affairs, and their authority over the member-states' domestic policies is constitutionally limited to a significant degree.

The head of state and head of government of the Alliance is the President-General of the Directorate, which is a position elected by the Parliament for a term of eight years, undeterred by any term limits. Prior to 2248, the President-General could only hold two terms of six years each. The President-General appoints the Directorate, a council of people who head the Alliance's several departments and serve as the advisory board to the President-General.

Despite the member-states of the Alliance being mostly democratic, the Alliance itself is not a fully democratic institution. The President-General is not directly elected, but is elected by the MPs of the Alliance Parliament. Representatives in the Alliance Parliament are selected in a variety of ways; either they are elected by the member-state's legislature (such as the European Union or the Union of North America), directly elected by the citizenry (as is the case on the colonies of Eden Prime and Benning), or appointed (in the case of Oliveira). There are a few seats in Parliament reserved for 'Spacers', or those who spend a significant amount of time in space (legally defined as six months or longer) and don't remain on any planet or colony for very long. The representatives for these Spacers are directly elected by Spacer Corporations, a voluntary association of Spacers that are tied to a specific seat of Parliament.

Membership
The Systems Alliance was chartered by 18 independent nations in 2129, with the rest of the United Nations becoming a part of it by 2130. When Eden was settled and given its own governing body, it was the first new incorporation into the Systems Alliance. Roof then became the second not long before First Contact with the quarians.

By 2262, membership of the Systems Alliance had grown exponentially and the makeup of the organization was similarly diverse. The homeworld's major regions, Eden's three provinces, the various human colonies and Spacer Corporations are all represented in the Alliance Parliament.

Colonies
Colonies are all collectively smaller in size than the homeworld of Earth, but form a powerful

Independent human governments
Despite being the main representatives for humanity and its lands, not every human colony is a member of the Alliance. These come in many forms; mainly, private corporations have

Military
The Alliance military is known as the Alliance Defence Force (ADF), and consists of the Alliance Navy, Alliance Army, and the SIGMA Corps. The commander-in-chief is the Head of State of the Systems Alliance; he appoints its leaders and the Minister of Defence.

The ADF is both respected and feared in equal measure across the galaxy since the conclusion of the Second Contact War and the annihilation of much of the Turian fleet. The Humans are known to be fast, flexible and incredibly unorthodox by normal galactic standards. They employ sophisticated technical support and emphasize mobility and individual initiative. The rest of the galaxy regards the Alliance as a "sleeping giant" as only 3% of Humans volunteer for military service, which scares the galaxy to think what the Alliance could do when that number is doubled, never mind when the entirety of humanity contributes to the war effort.