Alliance

The Alliance is a blanket term for the inter-dimensional government created during the Second Chaotic Period of the Mage Wars. As a functional body, the Alliance can be split into two terms:

The Old Alliance

Because of the unstable periods of the Golden Age, the Alliance cannot be described as a single, unbroken entity. The Old Alliance often reffers to the one created by Uther that ended the Mage Wars. The Old Alliance was stricly military in nature, and can be thought of as having existed from about 6 B.G.A. to roughly A.Y. 298, a little over 300 years.

Intermediate Steps from Old to New

• The Ruling Council: A.Y. 124-127
• The Ministry of Earth: A.Y. 132-136
• The Earth Sphere Unified Nations: A.Y. 158-1298

Between A.Y. 1298 and 1899 the Earth Sphere Unified Nations continued to exist in name only, with a long and slow collapse. In the years between the functional collapce of the Earth Sphere and the ninety-nine-years war, there was no centralized administration. The Slayer Dragons had no political or millitary authority, though they did have jurisdiction anywhere they went.

The New Alliance

While the alliance created by Uther continued to exist in name and in spirit, it took around 700 years to transition into the New Alliance. Between A.Y. 298 and A.Y. 899, the Alliance existed only in the theoretical sence, as a spirit of cooperation. This spirited ended with the ninety-nine-years war that threatened to reignite the Mage Wars.

Pendragon Scott Sagen, who was annointed in A.Y. 1974, began the long work of rebuilding the Old Alliance, finally forming what can be called the New Alliance in A.Y. 1998. The New Alliance is better known as the Unity Earth Sphere Alliance.

The Unity Earth Sphere Alliance

The Alliance is the second largest power in the Verse. It was founded by Uther, first Pendragon of Slayer Dragons.

The Unity Earth Sphere Alliance is the coalition of nations founded in the last year of the Golden Age. Not a single government so much as an alliance of nations that acts similarly to the United States government, in that the Alliance has as much power over the nation states as the Federal government has over the individual states.

Alliance Space Commission

The Alliance Space Comission was created early in the Second Age is a department of the Alliance headed primarily by chairmen from Alliance Member Worlds, though representatives from MK'Hara and the Gudersnipe Foundation also sat. It's primary function is to govern interstellar space, a region which by it's nature belongs to no one. Interstellar space, even within the established borders of a multi-world nation state roughly equates to international watters on a multi-government world. In the hands of no one but still administered by someone.

While the juristiction of the Alliance Space Commission does not extend over the whole of the Known Worlds, it does cover the entire Alliance and Joint Space, as well as much of MK'haren Space and some GS only territories open to interstellar traffic.

The idea for a space commision was first put forward by the Runarin Confederation in the early years of the Golden Age, though it took the establishment of the "new" Alliance to finally create it.

At the same time the commission was established, the Merchant Marine was also created.

Registration Laws

The Alliance Space Commission established a law early on stating that all spacecraft had to be registered with and tracked by the commission, including an Alliance-manufactured sub-space transponder. This law was to apply to all ships traveling through Alliance-controlled and joint space, and the MK'Haren's agreed to maintain a registry of their own and transmit the appropriate information whenever one of their ships entered the commission's jurisdiction.

Registration laws specified that any "man-made object traveling through space" was subject to registration.

The law was quickly re-written to specify all FTL-capable ships, as numerous disposable space-barges, drop carries, and other vehicles were covered by it that should not have required such measures. In addition, the strictest interpretation of the law would include artificial satellites, many of which were too small to carry the required transponders.

Notable Exclusions

Following the establishment of the Space Commission and the registry laws, the [[Gudersnipe Foundation formally applied for and was granted the right to exclude all "jolly" craft from registration. This applied to any vehicle designed to be carried inside a larger spacecraft, such as fighters, drop-ships, and the like. The exclusion was granted even though many such smaller spacecraft were FTL-capable.

An exception to the exclusion was made for the Corvette-class of ship, which used special carriers for service and support, and should the Foundation argued, be exempt. However, since corvettes routinely flew through FTL in fleet-formation alongside other ships and were rarely carried aboard larger craft, the exclusion was not granted and corvettes were forced to register.

===Foundation