The System Alliance Seal
The Systems Alliance is the representative body of Earth and all human colonies in Citadel space. Backed by Earth's most powerful nations, the Alliance has become humanity's military, exploratory and economic spearhead. While the Alliance is relatively new to the galactic community, it has already made a name for itself, gaining humans an embassy on the Presidium. The Alliance is governed by a parliament based at Arcturus Station; the station also serves as the Alliance's capital.
History
An Alliance naval officer
In 2148, a mining team on Mars made perhaps humanity's greatest discovery. After investigating the 'Bermuda Triangle'-like reputation of the southern pole, the team unearthed the subterranean ruins of an ancient alien research station, revealing incontrovertible proof of the existence of alien life. Humanity was no longer alone in the universe.
The impact was profound in all areas of human culture, but nowhere more so than religion. New beliefs sprang up overnight such as the Interventionary Evolutionists, who zealously proclaimed the discovery as proof that all human history had been directed and controlled by alien forces. Even established religions struggled to explain extraterrestrial life. Some tried to incorporate this newfound knowledge into their dogma, while a few tried to stubbornly deny the evidence found on Mars.
The news of the discovery dominated the media and raised questions not only about the existence and purpose of man, but questions about the aliens themselves. Foremost, were they still out there? While these questions had served to fracture most religions they had a unifying effect in politics. Rather than nations fighting each other over their differences, it was now 'us vs. them' and the foundations of a united human front were laid.
Within a year of the discovery, Earth's eighteen largest nations had drafted and ratified the Systems Alliance charter, establishing a representative political body to expand and defend human territory. Shortly thereafter, the various nations of Earth pooled their military resources to create the Systems Alliance Military. The same year, 2156, the Alliance discovered the Sol system's mass relay orbiting Pluto, previously thought to be a moon, Charon. The Charon Relay propelled them into space and the reach of humanity grew quickly.
The Alliance began a rapid campaign of expansion, establishing numerous colonies and constructing a large military fleet, even though it had yet to encounter another species. Maintaining this expansion policy, the Alliance activated all the mass relays it could find. Eight years later, humanity made first contact. A scout fleet consisting of three frigates and two cargo vessels, trying to activate a mass relay, encountered a turian patrol fleet. Only one of the human ships made it back to Shanxi. The resulting First Contact War was relatively short and bloodless, lasting only months and costing 623 human lives (with a slightly higher number of turian casualties). The Citadel Council intervened and negotiated a peace. With the discovery of the Citadel and the greater community, humanity leapt onto the galactic stage.
Since then, the Alliance has continued its expansion, coming into conflict with the batarians as both species rushed to settle the Skyllian Verge, and maintaining a careful truce with the turians. The Alliance has also been granted an Embassy on the Citadel. It has been speculated that, given humanity's remarkably fast rise in terms of military, political, and economic power, that the Systems Alliance may soon be invited to join the Citadel Council. This has been a source of some concern to several other species.
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“This mission just got a lot more complicated.” — Spoilers for Mass Effect follow. |
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In one possible ending of Mass Effect, the Systems Alliance is judged to have shown itself worthy and receives a Council seat. However, in one of the Renegade endings, the destruction of most of the Citadel Fleet during the attack on the Citadel puts the Systems Alliance in a position of unexpected military superiority, giving them leverage over the other Citadel species.
Humans on the Galactic Stage
Humans have expanded rapidly from Earth in a very short period of time, becoming swiftly integrated into Citadel society and the galactic economy (see below). They have become less ethnically diverse in the twenty-second century, due to a more multicultural society and greater unity between nations. Improved medical advances and gene therapy have led to longer, healthier lifespans; the average citizen can now expect to live to around 130. Most humans retain their native tongue, but learn alien languages or trade pidgin for the sake of convenience or as a gesture of unity.
One of the lasting consequences of the First Contact War was the interruption of a 1,200-year galactic peace. Fairly or unfairly, humans are often thought of as aggressors, and are sometimes portrayed as a disruptive influence by non-human media. At the same time, other races recognise humans as an adaptable, intelligent and militarily capable race.
Timeline
- 2149 CE - The Systems Alliance charter is signed.
- 2157 CE - The First Contact War begins - a peace is soon negotiated by the Citadel Council.
- 2160 CE - Systems Alliance Parliament formed. Humans are trained in biotics, via the BAaT programme, for the first time.
- 2163 CE - C-Sec accepts its first Alliance officers.
- 2165 CE - The Alliance is granted an embassy on the Citadel. Anita Goyle is elected as ambassador. Later this year, the Alliance is censured for conducting illegal AI research at Sidon.
- 2178 CE - A decisive victory over the batarians at Torfan frees the Alliance to expand in the Skyllian Verge.
- 2183 CE - As a gesture of reconciliation, the Alliance and the turians co-operate to build a prototype frigate, the SSV Normandy. Commander Shepard becomes the first human Spectre.
Military
Ships of System Alliance (Arcturus fleet)
The Alliance military is respected by the Citadel races for its novel tactics and technology (and not least for the fact the First Contact War had more turian than human casualties). Their strength lies in fire support, flexibility, and speed. The Council regards the Alliance as a "sleeping giant" as only 3% of humans volunteer for military service. They make up for low numbers with sophisticated technical support (VIs, drones, artillery, electronic warfare) and emphasis on mobility and individual initiative. Their military doctrine is not based on absorbing and dishing out heavy shocks like the turians and krogan. Rather, they bypass enemy strong points and launch deep into their rear, cutting supply lines and logistics, destroying headquarters and support units, leaving enemies to 'wither on the vine'.
On defense, the Alliance military lives by Sun Tzu's maxim, "He who tries to defend everything defends nothing." Only token garrisons are placed on their colonies. These are intended for scouting rather than combat, avoiding engagement to observe and report on invaders using drones. However the Alliance stations powerful fleets at mass relay nexuses so that in the event of an attack they respond with overwhelming force.
The Hahne-Kedar company and Aldrin Labs are key suppliers of the military. All soldiers receive gene therapy for improved strength and stamina. The Alliance also recruits biotics, who are trained using techniques developed at BAaT (originally run by Conatix Industries). The new L3 biotic implants are considered a significant step forward in biotic amplification.
The Alliance maintains an impressive navy, though it is only entitled to a small number of dreadnoughts, partly due to the Treaty of Farixen limiting their construction, compared to the turians or the asari. Arcturus Station, as a key installation with several mass relays leading to human territory, is heavily defended.
Three Alliance soldiers: Alenko, Williams, and Navigator Pressly
Military Ranks
- Main article: Systems Alliance Military Ranks
The Systems Alliance uses a modified version of the ranking system that has been used for hundreds of years. Soldiers are classified into rank-and-file enlisted personnel, experienced non-commissioned officers (NCOs), and specially trained officers.
The divide between naval personnel and ground forces (‘marines’) is small. Ground forces are a specialized branch of the fleet, just as fighter squadrons are. This unity of command is imposed by the futility of fighting without control of orbit; without the navy, any army is pointless. The marines, as a matter of pride, maintain some of their traditional rank titles; for example, marines have Privates and Corporals instead of Servicemen.
See also: Notable Alliance personnel.
Relations
The Citadel Council
Overall, the Systems Alliance enjoys good relations with the Asari Republics and the Salarian Union, and it maintains a cold, yet relatively friendly, relationship with the Turian Hierarchy, though animosity over the First Contact War and the occupation of Shanxi remains. The fractured krogan rarely associate with the Alliance, and there is little, if no dialogue with the quarians and their Flotilla, though they are not on bad terms. Because of Earth's colonization of the Traverse, humans remain the natural rivals of the batarians. In 2165 the Alliance was granted an embassy on the Citadel, electing Anita Goyle as the first human ambassador. In 2183 the Alliance got its first human Spectre, Commander Shepard. Despite Earth's good diplomatic record - aside from a small AI research scandal - the Alliance is still feared by many aliens because they hold the opinion that the Alliance is expanding too fast.
However, the Alliance draws some distrust from humans as well. It was not taken seriously until the First Contact War proved how much humanity needed the Alliance; as Doctor Chakwas points out, the Alliance is now essential to human colonisation and expansion in the Attican Traverse. Currently, the Alliance's most notable human dissenters are supporters of Terra Firma, a political party who opposes humanity's growing integration into the galactic community. Terra Firma believes humanity needs to stand alone if they are to remain strong. The party has been getting much negative attention from both humans and aliens. The Alliance is also sometimes criticised by colonists for its defensive tactics (see above). The fact colonial garrisons are meant for scouting rather than defence means that, in the event of trouble, the cavalry often only arrive once the damage has been done.
Some biotics, particularly L2s with severe health problems, oppose the Alliance, believing it is responsible for their suffering because of the failures in initial Alliance-sponsored biotic research. The issue of L2 reparations has created further anger and distrust.
Economy
The Alliance has quickly become a key player in the galactic economy, with several large corporations taking their market share:
- Aldrin Labs - a Luna-based manufacturer of basic armor, omni-tools, bio-amps to the Alliance military
- Ariake Technologies - an electronics developer best known for their high grade omni-tools
- Binary Helix - a leader in the fields of genetic engineering and biotechnology
- ExoGeni Corporation - specialists in adapting and redeveloping alien technologies (often founding colonies like Feros, on the condition that the colonists then 'treasure-hunt' for artifacts)
- Hahne-Kedar - key supplier of armor and weapons to the Alliance military
- Heyuan Genomics - currently involved in preserving the genetic diversity of Ontarom
- Kassa Fabrication - known for making excellent but expensive body armor
- MarsGene - genetic engineering firm which supplies the Alliance military with genetic enhancements
- Rosenkov Materials - one of the premier armor manufacturers in Citadel space
- Sirta Foundation - humanitarian inventors of medi-gel who also found cures for many human genetic diseases
Alliance designers were responsible for many of the Normandy's innovations, including her impressive Tantalus Drive Core. The Alliance is now also a trade partner of the turians. Although humans have claimed many systems in the Attican Traverse and the Skyllian Verge, many of them contain rich resources which have not been fully surveyed, so the Alliance Geological Service (AGeS) offers bounties to those willing to explore these frontiers. The Alliance's various national treasuries are linked to the Citadel's credit network.
Known member worlds and installations
Exploring a new world
- Akuze - known for an infamous massacre where the colonists and fifty marines were killed by thresher maws
- Amaterasu - an Alliance world named after the Japanese sun goddess (and home of Ashley Williams' family)
- Arcturus Station - the massive and well-defended space station at the convergence of three mass relays, serving as the capital of the Systems Alliance
- Chasca - tidally locked world with a habitable band near the terminator
- Cuervo - the nearest human colony to the Migrant Fleet during the events of Mass Effect: Ascension (late 2183)
- Demeter - the first extra-solar colony
- Earth - the human home planet
- The entire Sol System
- Eden Prime - the Alliance's most successful colony
- Elysium - the largest Alliance colony in the Skyllian Verge
- The Jon Grissom Academy, in orbit over Elysium
- Feros - a new colony founded on a ruined Prothean metropolis by ExoGeni Corporation
- Gagarin Station - also known as Jump Zero, a remote research facility
- Mindoir - an agricultural colony in the Attican Traverse
- Proteus - ocean world with an underwater colony
- Shanxi - a colony near turian space and the Shanxi-Theta mass relay
- Sidon - Alliance research world in the Skyllian Verge
- Terra Nova - a successful industrial planet and the Alliance's second major colony
- Therum - industrial world in the Artemis Tau Cluster
- Trebin - an arid world ExoGeni Corporation is attempting to terraform
- Tyr - a planet with extensive teleoperated mining, refining, and manufacturing facilities, belonging to nearly a hundred corporations (human and alien)
- Yandoa - accidentally irradiated with element zero in 2170, resulting in widespread birth defects and several biotics
- Zion - a hydrogen-helium gas giant that supports a small helium-3 mining industry supplying Eden Prime.
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