Solar Union
The Solar Union largely rules the Sol system directly, with nominal rulership of roughly one-third to one-half of other human-occupied systems. Most of humanity's largest population centers lie in Union-controlled space. By many measures, the current Union government is more of a long-term occupational force rather than a government of the people, but few within their space have proven to resist.
History
Unification Era
Colonization boom
First Contact and the Contact War
Coup of 2236
Government
The Solar Union is an authoritarian junta, thoroughly blurring the lines between the military and civilian sectors of the government. The highest office in the Union is that of President, currently held by Fleet Admiral Nikolas Fuentes.Political Divisions
Foreign Relations
State Agencies
Internal Security
Internal Security is the civilian police force of the Union, following the dissolution of the Bureau of Law Enforcement. Internal Security operates on a more overt basis than its predecessor; rather than the plainclothes patrols and casual stops of the Bureau, Internal Security actively suppresses risks to the populace or, especially, the structure of society. The traditional law enforcement blue still marks these agents of the state. The exact nature of Internal Security policing varies by the habitat, but a typical patrol is three-man, either by patrol car (on Terra, Mars, and other planetary habitats) or on foot (in permanent space habitats). Internal Security agents operate relatively lightly equipped, similar to late 20th century police officers but updated for the modern day. Agents often supplement their protection with hard-shelled ballistic vests and additional plates as needed. Most of the variance lies in their updated handguns and in their Iris-based equipment, condensing the information that once required multiple computers and a dispatcher into a simple heads-up display with automatic identification and tagging. For more significant threats that handguns and vests alone cannot handle, Internal Security relies on the Army to supply its tactical response teams, as police armories are heavily restricted. Violations of the law are typically met with proportionate and- for the most part- fair sentencing, and the presumption of innocence is still intact in the Union. However, Union social and legal platforms contain an additional field, found in no other systems in human space, to mark "dissidents". Any convictions or otherwise proven crimes- even minor- activate this system, marking the perpetrator on all Iris platforms and on any physical identification they may receive. Once a criminal's sentence of service or prison has ended, their real sentence remains; the dissident's mark disavows the criminal of their rights to the Union legal system, and the vast majority of the population take it as a sufficient black mark to close doors as well. Legal recompense for crimes perpetrated against a former criminal is essentially impossible, as any Iris-based complaints are automatically filtered and officers disregard the complaints of the marked. If they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, the marked can easily be pulled in as suspects, detained indefinitely, and given a sentence of the judge's choosing if no real culprit presents itself. Private organizations often refuse to deal with the marked for the sake of their own safety, leaving little in the way of charity as well. Short of murder, anything goes against the marked. In Union habitats, the marked often form lurker groups, existing on the fringe of the law and the habitat itself among their own kind. The Union also operates a handful of centralized prisons for high-level criminals; most infamous is the Castle, located on Charon and reputed to be the best-protected facility in human space. These centralized prisons often form small cities of their own, considered dangerous even by UPC standards and themselves rife with gangs and illegal habits. The Office of Strategic Intelligence's involvement in law enforcement is a semi-open secret. Revenant operatives have been deployed against high-value targets within and outside of Union space; though many of these targets simply disappear without a trace, the occasional shootout with dozens of casualties makes front-page news in much of Brinker space. The OSI is also the guiding force behind Union black operations, including those targeted domestically. Though the Revenants, and the OSI's involvement, remain secret, those with enough connections to gain access to Brinker press realize the extent of the “secret police”'s involvement.Armed Forces
Union Army Corps
Union Naval Corps
Office of Strategic Intelligence
Economy
The Solar Union is a planned economy, under the direction of the Department of Industry. Most of the Solar Union's various industries have been nationalized since the current government took power, though service industries have been left largely to corporations and small businesses. Dedicated artificial intelligences located in the Department of Industry's Lunar facility organize the production and distribution of goods throughout Sol; extrasolar colonies are a secondary concern, evaluated as requests arrive but otherwise left to “expected needs”. The pre-coup Solar Union had a bustling consumer goods industry and supported the service industries to a much greater degree than the modern Union. Today, especially on the extrasolar colonies, many people lead relatively spartan lives; within the Sol system, and especially on Earth and Luna themselves, citizens have wider but still-limited access. Independent corporations and small businesses have attempted to bridge the gap, but the Department of Industry is notoriously unwilling to compromise their calculated model. Corporations acting on the edge of Union space, however, prove far more successful. Many worlds in the outer zone of the Union are effectively in the hands of one or more corporations, forming “company towns” on a mass scale. These worlds typically have slightly better protection against piracy than those only holding allegiance to the Union, as the largest megacorporations can fund their own private navies to patrol trade lanes and jump points.Currency and Banking
The Solar Union's primary currency is the “Common Trade Credit”, typically shortened to “Credits” in everyday use. The Credit is a digital currency typically managed and transferred via Iris, although it can be carried physically with credit sticks- an easier solution for worlds with less infrastructure. Certain corporations and planets issue their own currencies; these can typically be exchanged for Credits at spaceports or other points of entry. Other organizations hold specialty roles under the law. For example, the Union Naval Corps Border Patrol screens inbound ships on the Union's fringe, as well as those entering or departing from the Sol system and other important star systems.Infrastructure
Science and Technology
Culture
Type
Geopolitical, Empire
Subsidiary Organizations
Organization Vehicles
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