The world of IKAREE · 2387

The Planetary Union and the species of IKAREE

The year is 2387, stardate 64218, 184 years after the founding of the Planetary Union. The Union is no utopia. It is a fragile coalition in which every member signed the Charter for a different reason, and most missions begin in exactly that tension.

Planetary Union

A federation of five member species, about forty colonies and nine protectorates, spread across a sphere some 400 light years wide in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way, 26,000 light years from the galactic centre. At warp six a ship covers about one light year every four to five hours: the next star is a day away, the edge of the Union is weeks.

A deep-blue circular shield crossed by a tilted silver orbit and a golden course needle pointing forward. Five four-pointed stars ride the orbit, one for each member. The fifth, for the Hallowed, sits slightly out of rhythm. Officially because of the date they joined. Unofficially it is a joke the Hallowed hate.

Founded: 2203, Charter of Tycho
Motto: Many Lights, One Course
Members: Humans, Vaelori, Oruun, Khurgani, The Hallowed

Members of the Union

Beyond the Union

Four sectors

Schematic, not to scale. Up is toward the centre of the galaxy. The whole Union, about 400 light years across, is smaller than a dot on a map of the Milky Way.

Core WorldsWithin 50 light years of the Sun. Safe, rich, political.
Rubicon Reach50 to 340 light years along the Orion Arm. Colonies, trade, the Hallowed and the Tavari.
AshlineToward the galactic centre. The border with the Sarrakh Hegemony at 160 light years. Military tension.
Quiet MarchesToward the outer edge of the arm, 150 to 400 light years. Unexplored, nebulae, the Custodians.

How the Union is governed

Assembly of Worlds: The parliament in Tycho City on the Moon. 212 seats: 20 for each home world, colonies by population. It passes laws and the fleet budget.
Council of Five: One representative per member species. War, admitting a new member and changing the Charter all need unanimity. The most powerful and most criticised body in the Union.
Chancellor: Elected by the Assembly for seven years. Currently Imren Tal-Sevar of the Vaelori, in the third year of the term, known for never raising his voice.
Union Fleet: Headquartered at the Ares Yards in Mars orbit, in four branches: the Exploration Corps (where the IKAREE serves), Defense Command, the Engineering Corps and the Medical Corps.
Contact Office: Enforces the Silence Clause and has the power to relieve a captain of command.
Diplomatic Service: Ambassadors and negotiators. The IKAREE carries a permanent attaché.
Science Directorate: Civilian science. It owns half the research stations and argues with the fleet about priorities.
Fleet Academy: Olympus Campus on Mars. Four years of training, cadets of all five species.

Laws of the Charter

Silence Clause: No interference in the development of civilisations without warp drive. Breaking it means a court martial and loss of command.
Right of Faith: Won by the Hallowed: religious practice is protected even aboard fleet ships.
Blood Clause: On Khurgan worlds, Khurgan courts apply, duels included. In the Core Worlds it is a scandal.
Free Mind Act: Conscious artificial minds have the rights of persons. The Hallowed refuse to recognise it.

A short history

2079The generation ship Seraphim leaves Earth with 8,000 colonists and vanishes in an anomaly near the Oort cloud.
2131Humans reach warp. Six years later, first contact with the Vaelori.
2158–2161The Debt War with the Khurgani, ended by a truce at Gliese 581.
2203The Charter of Tycho: Earth, the Vaelori and the Oruun found the Planetary Union.
2241The Khurgani join the Union after the blood debt is repaid.
2266The lost Seraphim is found. Its descendants, the Hallowed, live 340 light years away.
2302The Hallowed join the Union, after the most contested vote in the Council's history.
2330–2334Cold war with the Sarrakh Hegemony. The demilitarised Ashline is drawn.
2379The first Custodian probe appears at the edge of Union space.
2387Now. The IKAREE leaves Ares Yards.

Stations and places the IKAREE returns to

Place	Where	What it is
Ares Yards	Mars orbit, Sol	Fleet headquarters and shipyards, the IKAREE's home port.
Tycho City	The Moon, Sol	Seat of the Assembly of Worlds and the Council of Five.
Iron Accord	Durgh orbit, Gliese 581	Built where peace was made in 2161. A forward defence depot of the Khurgani and the Union.
Deepwell	A ring around a gas giant, Tau Ceti	The Union's largest hospital, run by the Oruun and the Medical Corps, flooded with water.
Bastion Seven	The Ashline, 160 ly	The only official meeting point with the Sarrakh, with its Glass Hall for negotiations.
Waypoint Harbor	Rubicon Reach, 120 ly	A free port where everyone meets. The Skeyr Roost anchors here every year.
Sanctus Gate	Ora orbit, 340 ly	Cathedral station of the Hallowed and the Union's only embassy on Ora. Whoever docks receives a blessing.
Lantern Station	Edge of the Morrow Nebula, 290 ly	The Science Directorate's laboratory for contact with the Lumen.
Tavar Watch	High orbit of Tavar IV, 230 ly	A hidden observation post of the Contact Office.
Threshold	Quiet Marches, 380 ly	The farthest outpost: a sensor net watching for Custodian probes, crewed by fourteen people.

The worlds of the Union sit at real stars: Epsilon Eridani, Tau Ceti and Gliese 581 are real, and you can fly to them in the game. Write your own mission in this universe.

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