United Commonwealth

This page details the United Commonwealth, the Space Map Game's GM-controlled hyperpower. If the players are sensible, they will stay off its radar...

History
The United Commonwealth was officially formed on Terra on January 1st 2500 AD, though it had taken many years to lay the groundwork and the spread of liberal democracy across Terra and the rest of the Solar System first. Several years before, top secret research had resulted in the development of the hyperdrive, and many were determined that humanity should head into space as a united species. Large numbers of hyperdrives were prepared, so that when the United Commonwealth was proclaimed in January, it almost immediately followed this up with the announcement of FTL travel and a massive program of expansion into the galaxy.

Early in the United Commonwealth's history, several things became obvious. The first was that the area of the galaxy that Sol was in was unusually empty of spacefaring civilisations. The second was that humans were unusual. When the technologically sophisticated Bray attacked human colonies in "overwhelming" force, it was they, and not the humans, who were soundly beaten (indeed, they would soon join the United Commonwealth). Following enormously successful wars with the Johraa and, in 2750, the vast Alien Confederacy, it became clear that no other species in the galaxy possessed humanity's warfighting potential.

Over the following two millennia, the United Commonwealth would come to dominate the entirety of the Galactic East, despite its small population (it has roughly 2.6% of the entire galactic population, and 12.5% of the galactic economy, but the largest and most powerful military). Following the Conglomerate War from 4430 AD to 4456 AD, it would emerge as the galaxy's hyperpower, without any true rivals.

Economy
The United Commonwealth economy is dominated primarily by manufacturing, shipping, software design and finance. Always a major force in these four sectors, the Conglomerate War allowed it to penetrate many new markets, as the damage done to the industrial heartlands of the rest of the galaxy meant the other nations had few options but to turn to Commonwealth companies.

Despite the laissez-faire attitude to most things, the government maintains strict control over military shipyards and the defence industry, to the point where the private or commercial defence industry is essentially an export-only business - although some businesses do manage to make money selling to the government, it's very much a niche market.

There are also very few monopolistic companies in the United Commonwealth - or rather, there are few that last any great length of time, as inefficiencies set in and once-mighty industrial giants collapse and new firms take over their market share. Perhaps the biggest exception is Starship Industries, a firm older than the Commonwealth itself and the galaxy's number one ship- and world- building company.

Government
The United Commonwealth is a constitutional monarchy deliberately modelled on the British system. However, it also has a formal written constitution which is notoriously hard to change (but easy to undo changes to), and a federal structure based on 616 vast cubes called sectors. Most sector governments have little power however, as most individual colonies prefer to administer themselves rather than surrender power up to the sector governments.

Politics in the Commonwealth's Parliament is dominated by the Liberal and Democratic Parties, though most would be forgiven for thinking they are the same. The Liberals tend to support low taxes and a big military, whilst the Democratics are the reverse, though it's a case of "right vs centre-right" rather than "right vs left". Much of this is arguably down to the Civil Service, the leadership of which is very much on board with the Liberals' position and powerful enough to effectively kill any plans it doesn't much like.

The government is also extremely small compared to the present day: there is no welfare state, only a tiny number of regulations, and no police force. However, the ubiquity of forcefields and the high-powered computers that control them mean that many of these tasks can be undertaken, essentially for free, by the population at large. If someone tries to steal an item from a shop, the hundreds (if not thousands) of forcefield generators around will be able to prevent that crime and cart the person off to a (computer-run) prison until their day in court. When you go to sleep, your house's systems will monitor you for diseases and the like and destroy said disease. Coupled with a limitless supply of practically-free energy to power all this, and you can see why the government can be so small.

Foreign Policy
Most of the rest of the galaxy regards the United Commonwealth as a bull in a china shop - always blundering in, breaking stuff, utterly focused on its own self-interest and uncaring as to the damage it causes or the social conventions it breaks. This is only half-true however: the Commonwealth certainly can and does act like this, but more often than not this is a useful cover for more subtle manoeuvers. Certainly its Department of Intelligence is a phenomenally successful espionage agency.

At the present time, the United Commonwealth is committed to preserving the status quo in the galaxy. It is continuing its slow, grinding conquest of the Core Empire, fending off the Allider Swarm in the Galactic South, and slapping down the communistic Union for attempting a land grab in Wilderness Space. In addition to this, it is continuing its policy of policing much of the rest of Wilderness Space, and ensuring the reconstruction of the rest of galactic civilisation following the devastating Conglomerate War proceeds apace.

Armed Forces
A little over half the United Commonwealth's population is human, and this fraction is slowly increasing, simply thanks to higher birth rates amongst humans. Almost 1% of the entire human population is in its armed forces, and roughly three quarters of those in uniform arre men.

The United Commonwealth's armed forces are the most technologically advanced in the galaxy. The Commonwealth Guard, its army, is quite small, although the separate Solar Guard (each colony's local defence force) is naturally much larger (though usually ignored when discussing military forces as it almost never sees action). The Commonwealth Marines is the rapid response force - always mounted on starships and ready to deploy yesterday. The Commonwealth Navy is the largest navy in the galaxy, both in terms of number of ships and tonnage, as Commonwealth warships outmass almost any other ship of the same nominal class.

Minoa Station
Eleven kilometres from top to bottom and built more like a battlestation than a commercial one, Minoa Station sits in the middle of the so-called Crisis Zone, an area of Wilderness Space that is the home of far too many international flashpoints. It is commanded by Admiral Catherine Meadows, a human hailing from the fortress world of Tau Ceti II. Classified by the United Commonwealth as a Deep Space Trade Station, it instead hangs out in deep space, well beyond any nearby star.

Commercially, Minoa Station acts as a vital free port in the area, and the space around it is always full of warehouses, freighters, repair ships and the like. A Praekon Hyperspace Gate sits nearby as well, permitting starships to travel from all across the galaxy to Minoa Station through ancient Praekon hyperspace wormhole science.

Defensively, Minoa Station boasts shields almost as good as those on a Commonwealth Navy superdreadnought, over a hundred battleship-grade pulse cannons, thousands of smaller guns and point defence turrets, a handful of sub-capital ships, and both space superiority and starship-killing fighters. It is a regular port of call for many naval patrols in the region, whether they are Commonwealth Navy ones or from other nations.

Perhaps Minoa Station's biggest defence though is the reputation of the United Commonwealth - because nobody wants to tangle with them, and everybody knows that they will hunt you down and destroy you, no matter what...