United Empire of Earth

Overview
Organization: United Empire of Earth

The politics of the UEE which is infested with bureaucratic ignorance and often dangerous self-serving politicians.

But it does represent the bulk of humanity, which is to be defended against alien threats, such as the Vanduul.

The Government Structure
Here’s a quick guide to the organization of the UEE

Counseled by the High-Secretary and High-Advocate, the Imperator is the figurehead of the government, now bound to a single ten-year term limit.

The Advocacy

UEE Military

Legislative Branch

Political Parties
Source: Writer's Guide: Part Two

Due to the massive size of the UEE, there are dozens, even hundreds of political parties but there are three that dominate the political landscape.

Universal Party - Institution-focused ideology. Government and systems will guide the people. Seen by some as a blue-blood, wealth-based ideology.

Centralist Party - Traditional even somewhat libertarian-styled political ideology. It’s about sustaining and maintaining the status quo, and excelling through the values of humanity. Embrace the past, be proud of where you came from, etc. Needless to say, they support keeping Earth as the capital.

Transitionalists (Transits) - Relatively recent “People’s Party” formed around promoting a progressive human agenda. Most of their rhetoric is aimed towards “the future.” They obviously support Terra as the center of the UEE.

Diplomacy
Banu Protectorate: Our first Contact. The Banu are generally pretty disorganized, each of their planets is an independent world with its own specific type of government which makes mass interaction a little difficult but probably saved us from antagonizing the whole species during the Messer Era (they just kept out of it). We have occasional border disputes with the Banu, mainly because our criminal element flees across the border and the Banu won’t look, much less try to catch them for extradition.

The Banu’s primary business is trade. It saturates their society. Everything comes at a price, everything can be bought.

Xi’An Empire: Formerly hostile but friendlier now. The UEE has made great strides to try and reconnect with the Xi’An after the tension of the Messer Era (comparable to the United States’ Cold War with the Soviet Union (they were the boogeymen)). As such, the UEE endorses healthy trade across the borders. But old habits die hard, while the UEE is diplomatically friendly, the Xi’An are a heavily armed and organized civilization with long lifespans, we aren’t going to abandon our defenses.

Vanduul: We don’t. Humanity’s entire relationship with the Vanduul has been mired in blood. They have never attempted to contact the UEE in any capacity. The Vanduul themselves are nomadic with fierce infighting between the various enclaves so there isn’t a consolidated government to make peace or war with.

Every so often, a Senator or Diplomat will attempt to “reach out” to the Vanduul. If they’re lucky they can’t find any.

Most politicians just regard the entire Vanduul species as a violent act of nature. They’re just a certainty, like death and taxes. An ugly reality of space.

Kr’Thak: Their existence was only discovered recently. The closest Kr’Thak controlled system lies on the other side of Xi’An Empire. We know very little about them, the Xi’An weren’t keen to share as the two civilizations have unresolved tension, spawning from a multi-century conflict called the Spirit Wars.

The government has not made formal contact with the Kr’Thak as they are afraid it will unsettle relations with the Xi’An. That being said, there are undoubtedly plans of a more covert nature being tossed around but nothing has been attempted as the Xi’An guard their borders with the Kr’Thak with ruthless efficiency.

Government as a Character
When thinking of how the current UEE administration would react to a problem, it’s better to think of it as a single entity and a political spectrum with bureaucracy and autocracy.

The early UPE was mired deep in the bureaucracy side, capitalizing on that public disgust with political stagnation was how Ivar Messer was able to consolidate power. Under the Messer Era, the UEE then swung too far in the opposite direction, becoming the stereotypical ruthless fascist government that seized land, power, and might.

When the Messer Era collapsed the UEE swung back and by the game start has ultimately settled in the middle. The government became fixated on making amends for the awfulness it committed for hundreds of years. The UEE now is a mixture of everything. There are good people doing good things, bad people doing bad things and every combination in between. There are seasoned politicos, idealist do-gooders, the palm-greasers, and crusaders.

So, to use an acting term, the UEE’s motivation is to make amends. Most of its behavior (from the Ark to the Synthworld) are simply extensions of that need. It’s trying (too hard according to some) to appear progressive and totally not evil any more. Seriously, we’re really sorry about that and we’re better, trust us. Joking aside, the UEE is not insincere about this sentiment. It just might be going a little overboard.

Due to the financial strain on the UEE, the unofficial motto for government & military operations has become “do more with less,” which creates an environment for corruption to flourish.

It’s also important to reiterate that diversity is good. This is not a simple black-or-white government (i.e. Empire = evil, Rebel Alliance = good). There are all types operating in every facet and on every level of the SC Universe. So, odds are, there’s a place for whatever kind of character you’re creating.

Local Government
Source: Writer's Guide: Part Three

Life throughout the UEE is a wide spectrum of experiences. Imagine the variety that we encounter on modern-day Earth (the various ethnicities, backgrounds and belief systems) and multiply that by a hundred (plus potential expansion updates!) — now we’re getting into the possibilities of the social and political landscape of the UEE territory.

The various ethnicities we know today have blended; now it’s planetary identification. The various languages and roots of names have endured, but you’ll often find them mixed together (“Ivan Suzuki”).

So, we’ve established that planets need to lobby to be included/represented in the Senate. In an effort to keep this manageable, we’ll break local government structures into two categories; unrepresented and represented.

Represented
Planets accepted into the UEE, named and then given representation in the UEE Senate.

This category can include everything from Terra down to smaller population centers like Magnus.

Governers Council
Source: Writer's Guide: Part Three

What we would call nations are now called States, each of which is ruled by a Governor. Sparsely populated worlds can have councils of two Governors while densely populated ones can have dozens. These council meetings are convened to settle disputes and create planet-wide laws by Council vote.

Governer
Source: Writer's Guide: Part Three

A Governor is an elected position with a six-year term (two-term limit), which can be filled by a Citizen or even a Civilian (the highest political rank a Civilian can achieve). Some Governors attempt to run for Senator after their term is up.

Under the Governor there are a hundred elected Representatives. The number of constituents for each Representative varies based on the population size in the State but there are always a hundred in office — for example, a Representative on Terra represents a million people while a Rep in the smaller States of Davien might represent no more than a thousand. The Representatives are divided and assigned to various committees and departments that oversee and regulate the infrastructure.

Law Enforcement
Source: Writer's Guide: Part Three

Law enforcement is broken down into local and federal police forces. Local Police have their assigned jurisdictions, while the Federal police handle crimes across State lines and report to the Governors’ Council.

Depending on the planet’s location and status, they may be able to call upon UEE military forces for protection/intervention or support in cases of natural disaster.

Unrepresented
Source: Writer's Guide: Part Three

Life away from the population hubs can be tough. Once UEE Inspectors certify a planet as safe for habitation, usually the first settlers are members of the Terraforming Teams. Smaller ’Forming Corps will often entice workers with land payouts. After that the surveyors start showing up, looking for anything that might establish this planet as a potential population center (looking for rare or unique minerals, a confluence of jump points, etc.) The gamble is whether this world will ‘grow to be something.’  They’re hoping that they’re getting in on the ground floor of the next Terra. These surveyors will snatch up land while they look; if they don’t find anything of interest, they’ll flip the land and move on. All the while, the poor will have been slowly trickling onto the planet, looking for opportunity, a chance to start fresh. Usually their passage is paid with an indentured commitment of some sort.

These planets are also far from the watchful eye and protection of the UEE military forces. While this can be an exciting proposition for traders who want to avoid federal tariffs, it also means that pirates and bandits can lurk around any corner. And that’s not even mentioning the possibility of Vanduul attacks.

Governments on the fringe act on a town-by-town basis, usually headed by a governor or mayor (depending on local preference). It’s not unusual to see towns effectively declare war on each other.

These settlements will usually have some kind of police/militia in place. At best, they’ll have a sheriff or marshal in charge. At worst, the local townspeople band together for protection when a situation arises.

This is frontier life in the future.

As the population on these unrepresented planets begins to grow, the UEE will dispatch political advisors to counsel the planets in the construction of their planetary government, emulating the Governor/Representative structure of the represented worlds. In the early phases of planetary development, there is very little difference between Citizens and Civilians (everybody has to pull their own weight). As the population grows, that distinction begins to come into play. Civilians and Citizens both vote to elect local politicians.

The Governors Council applies to the UEE for recognition. If accepted, Citizens are the only ones able to vote in Senatorial elections.

Imperial Law vs Local Law
Source: Writer's Guide: Part Three

As part of the UEE, in theory even the smallest settlements have access to and are subject to the full breadth of UEE laws. Enforcement of these laws is tricky, especially when you get to smaller settlements. In short, they basically go unenforced until someone decides to start enforcing them.

Local governments are allowed to establish their own laws as long as they don’t contradict UEE laws.

Writing for Local Government
Source: Writer's Guide: Part Three

It's all about diversity.

Local governments are made up of all types of personalities. Some small-town mayors rule their settlements with a dictatorial thirst for power, some are thoroughly corrupt, some are crusaders, some are puritanical. So use your personal judgment when conceiving of a small settlement’s political structure, but understand that it’s unlikely that someone could be exceptionally crazy and be able to get away with it. Even though the nature of communication means that it takes time for information to spread, there are still people with spaceships so it’s unlikely that a local corrupt mayor could get away with eating his populace (for example) without word eventually getting to the authorities.

As mentioned earlier, the larger and more organized a planet becomes, the more it starts to adhere to the Governors/Representative structure. So if you’re looking to create a more unconventional type of government or political figure for a story, keep in mind that it would have to exist on a smaller size planet.