[RFC] The United Federation of Planets

[M Fnord]

Okay goons, so I herd you like Trekkies? Here's a framework, start hanging stuff off it. If I'm the only one who has Ideas about this I shall be very cross indeed.

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The United Federation of Planets (abbreviated UFP, also known informally as the Trekkies) is the largest and best-established of the Fen factions, encompassing roughly ? the systemwide population and {n}% of the Convention’s annual GDP. Founded in 2008 as an amalgamation of worldwide Star Trek fan clubs, the Federation established the first permanent settlement on Mars, the first permanent installation in another solar system and the first orbital spacecraft construction facility in Fenspace.
History

[size=larger]Politics[/size]
The Federation is a representative republic, with an elected president as both head of state and head of government. The presidential election is held every four years and a president may serve unlimited terms. Administrative and legislative power is held in the Federation Council, which is composed of every member world or state. Individual Councilors are elected or appointed according to their constituencies’ desires, though as of 2022 this generally involves direct election.

{blah blah political parties in the Fed: The Blue party favors pacific expansion, the Orange party favors stronger integration with the Free Mars movement, the Green party favors stronger defense, the Purple party tries to walk the line between Blue and Green. In 2022 the Greens are on an upswing, with Purple and Orange forming the loyal opposition.}

The Federation Council meets in the Palais de la Concorde in Utopia Planitia.

Starfleet
{it's Starfleet? Hell man I don't know...}

Relations with other factions
As the 800 pound gorilla of Fenspace, most other factions treat the Federation with a certain amount of respect. But only a certain amount; most fen when asked will consider the average Trekkie aloof, self-righteous and a little nosy. This attitude frequently causes friction between the Federation and the other top-tier factions, particularly the more freewheeling Galactic Republic and the Coalition of Independent Moons.

Future plans

[size=larger]Administrative divisions[/size]
The Federation is - on paper - divided into multiple member states, each one representing the concerns of Federation citizens to the Council. As of 2022 there are 9 member states: Venus, Terra, Luna, Utopia, Jupiter, Pandora, Chiron, Vulcan and the Sozvezdie Soviet. Due to the highly diffuse nature of Fenspace only Utopia, the Soviet and the extrasolar colonies have any distinct legislative authority or autonomy. Outside of these areas, the majority of Federation citizens live in the larger non-aligned communities or aboard one of the numerous Starfleet vessels.

[size=larger]Economy[/size]
{um... something?}

Utopia Planitia Shipyard
The largest ship construction facility in Fenspace, {blargle}

[size=larger]Demographics[/size]
The Federation’s population estimate in 2022 was 2,752,191. The largest city in the Federation was Utopia Planitia, with a total population of 200,000.

Language
The United Federation of Planets has no official language. The majority of the original settlers and most recent migrants speak English natively, and most government documents are written in English. Recent migration (and continued recruitment) from Francophone Africa has added French as a major language, and bilingual education is now available in most Federation enclaves. The conlanguages Klingon and Vulcan are also widely spoken, particularly in the exosolar colonies.

[size=larger]Culture[/size]
{oh god I don’t know what to put here I AM VERY BAD AT THIS}

Religion
Officially, the Federation practices state atheism. Religious belief and practice is not officially prohibited due to Federation membership in the Convention, but it is mildly discouraged with a bit of a patronizing attitude. The official state position on religion doesn’t seem to have had much effect, however. In a 2020 survey only 14% of Federation citizens professed as atheist, though another 30% consider themselves generally non-religious. The rest of the population tend to follow the same beliefs they did on Earth: Christianity and Islam make up the majority, followed by Buddhism, Judaism and Vodun. Several attempts to codify Klingon religion have been attempted, but so far none have been successful.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[robkelk]

I'd be tempted to say 1/4 of the population are Trekkies, not 1/3. (We've established that 2/5 of the population are Generalists, Neutrals, and Fendanes, after all, and there are a lot of Minor Factions listed in the FenWiki.)

We've put notes about Starfleet's early difficulty in mass-producing anything larger than a Shuttlecraft into the descriptions of the Gagarin, Starclipper, and Archer class ships - those should be reflected and expanded upon here. Somewhere.

Relations with other factions:

For the first few years of the Convention, the UFP put their most inflexible and dogmatic civil servants into their diplomatic corps. While this was true-to-canon (at least for the original series), it did cause a few issues when they attempted to negotiate with other factions' representatives - the Tomed Incident being the worst and most-publicized. This state of affairs was corrected before the Boskone War, but the stereotype of the "aloof, self-righteous, idiot Federation ambassador" remains strong in certain circles even into the early-2020s.

Economy:

"We don't need money!"
"Then you don't need mine."
- Jake Sisko and Nog, Deep Space Nine (anybody remember the episode title? It's the one where Jake wanted to buy an antique for his father)

The majority of the UFP are attempting to implement a socialist society without currency of any sort. A subfaction (mostly original-series Fen who remember how many credits a tribble cost) reject this and continue to use the Solar Credit when doing business with the rest of the Convention.

Edit: After a night's sleep, my brain is working better... It's the Terra member-state that's rejecting the socialist economy, since they still need to deal directly with the 'Danelaw (and, to a lesser extent, stations Clarke County, Genaros, Meetpoint, and Stellvia).

---

(Not much of a contribution to start with, but I have to log off now...)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Dartz]

Section 31
The Federation Council categorically states that there is no such agency. Stop Asking.

-----

Comment on Federation relations from an unfinished story.
"“Be careful,” she warned. “Starfleet might not like that.”

“Starfleet might not like it? What’ll they do? Send us an angry letters telling us they don’t like it? Just think of the reputation we’ll get for finding the wreck of a bloody stargate and going public with it"

There was a mad’s gleam in his eyes.

“Just remember. There must be a reason they’re keeping it quiet.”

-Anika Daini and Mackie Jaguar on discovering the Iconian Gate.


You can call the Feddies soft, and they'll agree with you with a smile on their face. But they're soft the same way water is soft.... and ask the Captain of the Titanic just how soft water can be when it wants to be."
- Because ripping the Culture quote wholesale is just too far.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[HRogge]

About trading with the Federation (in this case with Jenga):

"But you trade with the Federation on a regular base... I don't even want to know how much you get for the Exocomp license!"

"Yes... but we have a nice deal. If we buy goods from the Federation instead of taking the money in Solar credits, we get a nice discount. In fact, I cannot remember that we have taken the money even once."

[M Fnord]

JSYK guys, random quotes about how your snowflakes deal with the Federation is not helpful.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[HRogge]

JSYK guys, random quotes about how your snowflakes deal with the Federation is not helpful.

My thought was, could this be a common kind of behavior of the Federation when trading with smaller Fen groups?

Instead of paying them in money, pay them in credits they can only trade in inside the Federation... which will help to strengthen the market of the Federation itself.

[Dartz]

Naive people tend to see the Federation as 'soft', a perception born out by the pacifistic nature of the faction and their non-confrontational nature. Naive people forget that the Federation is one of the largest stores of soft power in-system, and that earning the ire of the Federation council means earning the suspicion of members of the Federation who are, quite literally, everywhere outside of Mimas, and if the rumours about Section 31 are to be believed, even there.

More than a few have ignored Federation suggestions.... and found contacts quietly drying up across the system.

(Come to think of it, Picard's quote about Gowron having 'Our Gratitude' may be more apt, showing exactly how the Federation makes its presence known. I only chose Mackie because he's naive and foolish and it seemed a nice to say the same thing as the above. While the other line is cribbed from the Culture and modified so it isn't anymore.)

Meanwhile

Federation Special Security Force... 'Redshirts'

As the name suggests, these are the individuals who escort and provide security for Federation VIP's, such as the President and members of the cabinet . They've taken the 'Redshirt' epithet as a badge of pride,incorporating the red tunic into their duty uniform. A memorial wall in their headquarters lists the names of Redshirts who have perished in the line of duty

Culturally.

To be brutely honest, I never liked certain aspects of the Federation's culture in Star Trek..... There was a certain Borgish whiff of them, only the Borg threatened you with assimilation, while the Federation made you think it was the greatest thing ever.



Anyway.

The Federation are cautious explorers, and is always careful to check and double check its footing before taking a step forward. While progress may seem slow compared to the fen norm, it is steady and it is certain. It creeps forward with the cold-calculating inevitability of a glacier rather than the chaotic rush of a flood. Not even mountains can hold back a glacier.

Culturally, individual citizens are inclusive, pacifistic and try to live up to the ideals of integrity, honesty and acceptance of each other. The first duty of every federation Citizen is, after all' to the truth, be that personal truth, academic truth, or scientific truth.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[robkelk]

Starfleet

What most outsiders think of as the most visible arm of the UFP, Starfleet is actually a collection of the various fleets built, maintained, and operated by the Federation's member states. This allows for the faction to fly a wide variety of "iconic" Trek ships while maintaining consistencyOr not maintain consistency, in the case of the Venus fleet within each fleet. Only the Fleet Admiral has authority to issue orders to any ship (or wing) in Starfleet, and this is done rarely. More often, the Admirals of the member states will coordinate with each other so that there is little duplication of effort between the member states.

There is a consistency in ranks across the fleets, made necessary by the needs of Operation Great Justice - the rank structure can be found [[Great Justice#Operation Great Justice Grade Scale|here].

The fleets have somewhat different philosophies toward shipbuilding:

• The Terra fleet started off building one-of-a-kind ships and facilities (including Starbase 1), and their "handicraft" mentality allowed then to build many of the franchise's more recognizable ships... once. Thus, the Terran fleet boasts one Antares-class surveyor/freighter (USS Yorkshire), one Miranda-class science vessel (USS Miranda), one Nebula-class explorer (USS Farragut), one Saladin-class destroyer (USS Tamerlane), and so on. There is still a cachet within the Terra fleet associated with service aboard a unique ship, but Utopia's mass-produced ships now outnumber the home-built craft.
  
• The Luna fleet is small, but only in tonnage. They have more Shuttlecraft and Runabouts in service than any two other member states' fleets, but these craft are not attached to larger ships.
  
• The Utopia fleet decided to work toward mass-production from the very beginning, and ran into problems creating working engines for anything larger than a Type-7 Shuttlecraft. It wasn't until the then-Soviet Air Force approached them with the designs for their Gagarin-class ship that Utopia was able to successfully mass-produce Archer-class ships. Technological advances provided by the Soviets and the Whole Fenspace Catalog have given the Utopia shipwrights the capability to produce most canon Federation ships (and supply ships to the other member states), with their two-dozen Constitution-class ships being the most popular to serve aboard.
  
• The Soviet fleet is a mixed bag - having been a minor faction in their own right before joining the Federation, they have a variety of ship designs that they created themselves. The Gagarin-class and the Shuttle-class are their iconic designs.
  
• The Venus fleet, inspired by their Crystal Millennium neighbours, are the most willing to build shipsOr, rather, have ships built for them at the Bristol shipyards from any of the races shown in any variation of Star Trek. Their fleet includes three Klingon Warbirds, two Romulan Birds of Prey, and a Cardassian Bok'Nor freighter, alongside their four Federation Intrepid-class workhorses. (During the Boskone War, they also flew a Vulcan D'Kyr "combat cruiser" and two Jem'Hadar fighters, but these were mothballed when the PEPPER limitations came into effect.)
  
• The Jupiter fleet has only one ship - but it's the largest ship in Starfleet: the Galaxy-class USS Yamato.
  

Pandora, Chiron, and Vulcan purchase their ships from Utopia, and will continue to do so for the near future until their own shipyards are operational.

The USS Enterprise does not belong to any of the member states' fleets. It is operated directly by the Federation Council, and serves as the Fleet Admiral's flagship. (When it requires maintenance, its needs are handled by the Soviets).

---

There - that should explain why they Trekkies both could and couldn't build decent ships before the end of OGJ...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[M Fnord]

Federation Special Security Force... 'Redshirts'
As the name suggests, these are the individuals who escort and provide security for Federation VIP's, such as the President and members of the cabinet . They've taken the 'Redshirt' epithet as a badge of pride,incorporating the red tunic into their duty uniform. A memorial wall in their headquarters lists the names of Redshirts who have perished in the line of duty

(maybe not as secret service, but Redshirts are definitely going in the final mix)

There - that should explain why they Trekkies both could and couldn't build decent ships before the end of OGJ...

I was thinking more along the lines that they could build decent ships, they just couldn't build big ships. Lack of experience, excessive quirkiness, etc. kept them from getting anything larger than an Archer (or Bird of Prey) off the ground in any useable manner until they finally figured it out working on the Gagarins.

The idea on the member fleets is kinda interesting; might use that with a little remixing.

Anyway, new content in re: the Constitution class starship.

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Constitution-class controversy
Since the founding of the Federation, the iconic form of the USS Enterprise has been missing from the fleet. Early efforts to build an appropriate Enterprise fell short of the mark due to lack of resources, or simply proved too quirky to be functional. Starfleet purchased OV-201 USS Enterprise in 2014 just to have a functional Enterprise; the shuttle Enterprise went on to a successful career as a science vessel. Despite this, in 2020 the Federation Council in a rare moment of directly butting into the affairs of Starfleet ordered the Admiralty to draw up plans and begin requisitioning the necessary materials, lab time, etc. to build a functional Constitution class starship (expected to be either NCC-1700 USS Constitution or NCC-1701 USS Enterprise) with a launch date of no later than Spetember 8th, 2030.Ideally, the Council hoped Starfleet would get their act together and have an Enterprise ready to launch on September 8th, 2026, the 60th anniversary of Star Trek: TOS. This may have been overly optimistic.

As of 2022 the Admiralty hasn’t decided which Constitution class vessel will be implemented by the Council’s 2030 deadline. The original Matt Jefferies design is the favorite of the Corps of Engineers,Mostly thanks to the exhaustive Franz Joseph deckplans, which give the engineers a base to develop from. with a strong minority favoring the Andrew Probert redesign and smaller groups agitating for the Ryan Church reboot design or just skipping the Constitution class altogether and going for the Excelsior or even the Galaxy class.Enterprise, who will core transfer to NCC-1701 once one’s built, has remained neutral through this somewhat ridiculous debate.

---

Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[robkelk]

There - that should explain why they Trekkies both could and couldn't build decent ships before the end of OGJ...

I was thinking more along the lines that they could build decent ships, they just couldn't build big ships. Lack of experience, excessive quirkiness, etc. kept them from getting anything larger than an Archer (or Bird of Prey) off the ground in any useable manner until they finally figured it out working on the Gagarins.

The idea on the member fleets is kinda interesting; might use that with a little remixing.

I was thinking of what we've seen in Trek canon when I wrote that - Vulcan ships have a different design philosophy than Terran ships, which have a different design sense from Andorian ships, and so on. Why not let each member state do its own thing?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[LynnInDenver]

Economy:

"We don't need money!"

"Then you don't need mine."

- Jake Sisko and Nog, Deep Space Nine (anybody remember the episode title? It's the one where Jake wanted to buy an antique for his father)

The majority of the UFP are attempting to implement a socialist society without currency of any sort. A subfaction (mostly original-series Fen who remember how many credits a tribble cost) reject this and continue to use the Solar Credit when doing business with the rest of the Convention.

Edit: After a night's sleep, my brain is working better... It's the Terra member-state that's rejecting the socialist economy, since they still need to deal directly with the 'Danelaw (and, to a lesser extent, stations Clarke County, Genaros, Meetpoint, and Stellvia).

---

(Not much of a contribution to start with, but I have to log off now...)

Many Trekkies are consistently frustrated by the simple fact that the rest of the Fen have an economy that has to be, if not respected, at least dealt with. This has not stopped them from implementing UFP Socialism within their dedicated facilities and settlements, but it does mean that they do have to actually handle currency. This is, of course, made all the worse by the fact that they also have to deal with the 'danelaw for certain supplies. This is a major stick in their craw overall, except interestingly those who are in the Terran member-state, since they're the ones that get to see how entrenched the situation is on a daily basis.
This doesn't stop them from trying to (very slowly) convert the rest of the solar system to their ideals. Thankfully, few of those with stridently held beliefs regarding economics have managed to get into places to further "sully" the reputation of the diplomatic arm.

A few others have been working for years to try to create the Replicator as a device, where they can feed anything in and get anything else out, in order to attack the economics problem from the other side. So far, they haven't proven to be successful, as the results wind up so heavily quirked when they do work at all that they don't do most people a lot of good.
--

"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor

[M Fnord]

Well, mainly because they're Starfleet, and Starfleet implies a certain amount of conformity. You'll notice that in canon once the various members join the Federation that different design philosophy goes out the window in favor of a uniform design. Member states can get away with nontrad stuff when it's not in Starfleet, private transports or inactive reserves or cultural enclaves or what have you.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[HRogge]

Terra/Venus part of the Federation??? Even with a Fleet?

[robkelk]

A small fleet. Trekkies are everywhere (just like Warsies are everywhere, and Potterites/Twilight-Fen are everywhere, and Gearheads are almost everywhere); they just aren't the dominant force outside of Mars/Utopia and Alpha Centauri.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[robkelk]

Well, mainly because they're Starfleet, and Starfleet implies a certain amount of conformity. You'll notice that in canon once the various members join the Federation that different design philosophy goes out the window in favor of a uniform design. Member states can get away with nontrad stuff when it's not in Starfleet, private transports or inactive reserves or cultural enclaves or what have you.

I'm thinking of the original series, where almost all of Starfleet was human with the notable exception of one Constitution-class ship crewed by Vulcans (and that fact was noted as being unusual). All we've really seen on-screen is the Terran part of Starfleet.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[M Fnord]

I'm thinking of the original series, where almost all of Starfleet was human with the notable exception of one Constitution-class ship crewed by Vulcans (and that fact was noted as being unusual). All we've really seen on-screen is the Terran part of Starfleet.

I think that's splitting hairs way more finely than even the hardest of the hardcore Trekkies would, tbh.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[HRogge]

A small fleet. Trekkies are everywhere (just like Warsies are everywhere, and Potterites/Twilight-Fen are everywhere, and Gearheads are almost everywhere); they just aren't the dominant force outside of Mars/Utopia and Alpha Centauri.

Star Fleet Earth... based in Australia?

[M Fnord]

okay, new round. Added some contributions from the thread, plus some sketchy bits where I had ideas but not the pretty words to make 'em pop. Other stuff is being thought up as we speak. Also added heading ranks so you can see how & where things are organized.

Also, the Google Docs spellchecker recognizes "Bajoran" but the Chrome spellchecker does not. WTF.

---

The United Federation of Planets (abbreviated UFP, also known informally as the Trekkies) is the largest and best-established of the Fen factions, encompassing roughly ¼ the systemwide population and {n}% of the Convention’s annual GDP. Founded in 2008 as an amalgamation of worldwide Star Trek fan clubs, the Federation established the first permanent settlement on Mars, the first permanent installation in another solar system and the first orbital spacecraft construction facility in Fenspace.

==History==
{okay, this part needs a lot of work.

Basics: first organized faction upstairs, created out of various official ST fanclubs, built the original Starbase 1 out of scraps (may or may not have done so in a cave) and organized the first large-scale Mars expedition in mid/late 2007. First Person on Mars might’ve been a Trekkie? Discuss. Anyway, are part of the getting-stuff-together scene as early as ‘08, first ones to travel outsystem, first ones to start interfactional riot (Tomed), first (so far only) faction to have 100% backing from their IP overlords. Were a major part of the infrastructure during the Boskone War, shipping things all over the system and escorting shippers through the belt. Post-war has settled into the role of designated 800 lb gorilla.

Or something like that. You people figure it out, but don’t get too wordy.}

==Politics==
The Federation is a representative republic, with an elected president as both head of state and head of government. The presidential election is held every four years and a president may serve unlimited terms. Administrative and legislative power is held in the Federation Council, which is composed of every member world or state. Individual Councilors are elected or appointed according to their constituencies’ desires, though as of 2022 this generally involves direct election.

{blah blah political parties in the Fed: The Blue party favors pacific expansion, the Orange party favors stronger integration with the Free Mars movement, the Green party favors stronger defense, the Purple party tries to walk the line between Blue and Green. In 2022 the Greens are on an upswing, with Purple and Orange forming the loyal opposition.}

The Federation Council meets in the Palais de la Concorde in Utopia Planitia.

===Starfleet===
{ZA MILITARY! Starfleet is the combined armed forces of the Federation; there many others but this one is theirs. The fleet is made up of $n different fleets, which makes official Starfleet documents almost indecipherable after too many repetitions of the word ‘fleet’ but anyway. So the fleets, numbered 1 through $n, operate out of Starbases or Deep Space Stations scattered around the solar system & nearer interstellar space. Their job is exploration (lots of things still to discover in the solar system, to say nothing of beyond!) system defense, protect the helpless, rescue space kittens that get stuck in space trees (AND NO GODDAMMIT THAT WAS NOT A CATGIRL REFERENCE I WILL KILL THE FIRST PERSON WHO MAKES THAT JOKE DO YOU HEAR ME?) the usual boy scout drill. The combined fleets are run out of Starbase 1, attached to the orbital bits of Utopia yards.

Blah blah Starfleet’s almost 100% navy with not much in the way of infantry. Most of what they have are the Starfleet Marine Corps - sometimes called MACOs by Enterprise fans, but who care about them? The Marines are also known as “Redshirts” for the distinctive crimson color of their duty uniforms and, well, yeah. They decided to own the implied insult & since the War have become a reasonably elite fighting force.

Starfleet’s the #1 void navy in the system, and #2 overall in terms of military spending (if you adjust for armies-without-a-country factions like the Roughriders, they’re probably closer to #6, but hey). }

====Constitution-class controversy====
Since the founding of the Federation, the iconic form of the USS Enterprise has been missing from the fleet. Early efforts to build an appropriate Enterprise fell short of the mark due to lack of resources, or simply proved too quirky to be functional. Starfleet purchased OV-201 USS Enterprise in 2014 just to have a functional Enterprise; the shuttle Enterprise went on to a successful career as a science vessel. Despite this, in 2020 the Federation Council in a rare moment of directly butting into the affairs of Starfleet ordered the Admiralty to draw up plans and begin requisitioning the necessary materials, lab time, etc. to build a functional Constitution class starship (expected to be either NCC-1700 USS Constitution or NCC-1701 USS Enterprise) with a launch date of no later than September 8th, 2030.Ideally, the Council hoped Starfleet would get their act together and have an Enterprise ready to launch on September 8th, 2026, the 60th anniversary of Star Trek: TOS. This may have been overly optimistic.

As of 2022 the Admiralty hasn’t decided which Constitution class vessel will be implemented by the Council’s 2030 deadline. The original Matt Jefferies design is the favorite of the Corps of Engineers,Mostly thanks to the exhaustive Franz Joseph deckplans, which give the engineers a base to develop from. with a strong minority favoring the Andrew Probert redesign and smaller groups agitating for the Ryan Church reboot design or just skipping the Constitution class altogether and going for the Excelsior or even the Galaxy class.Enterprise, who will core transfer to NCC-1701 once one’s built, has remained neutral through this somewhat ridiculous debate.

===Relations with other factions===

As the 800 pound gorilla of Fenspace, most other factions treat the Federation with a certain amount of respect. But only a certain amount; most fen when asked will consider the average Trekkie aloof, self-righteous and a little nosy. This attitude frequently causes friction between the Federation and the other top-tier factions, particularly the more freewheeling Galactic Republic and the Coalition of Independent Moons.

===Future plans===

==Administrative divisions==
The Federation is - on paper - divided into multiple member states, each one representing the concerns of Federation citizens to the Council. As of 2022 there are 9 member states: Venus, Terra, Luna, Utopia, Jupiter, Pandora, Chiron, Vulcan and the Sozvezdie Soviet. Due to the highly diffuse nature of Fenspace only Utopia, the Soviet and the extrasolar colonies have any distinct legislative authority or autonomy. Outside of these areas, the majority of Federation citizens live in the larger non-aligned communities or aboard one of the numerous Starfleet vessels.

===Venus===

===Terra===

===Luna===

===Utopia Planitia===
see main article: Utopia Planitia

{speaking of which, do any of our city guys want to take a swing at Utopia?}

The first city on Mars, Utopia Planitia was founded in 2007 near the site of the Viking 2 landing.

Utopia Planitia faces significant problems in the future, as the continuation of the terraforming of Mars threatens to inundate the city; project planners estimate the area Utopia Planitia sits on will be under several dozen meters of water by 2050, with the level gradually increasing as terraforming progresses.

===Jupiter===

===Pandora===
Pandora (Alpha Centauri A II.12) was the first life-bearing world discovered outside the solar system. Originally charted in 2008, the Federation established Starbase 2 in orbit to support exobiological research on the moon. Pandora’s surface is generally hostile to human life due to excessive oxygen content, though the Federation opened the Hallelujah Plateau (at an average altitude of 9,000m above sea level, the highest altiplano in known space and the only inhabitable region of Pandora) to limited settlement in 2019.

===Chiron===
Chiron (Alpha Centauri B III) is an Earthlike world surveyed by the Federation in the original 2008-09 exploration of the Alpha Centauri system. The planet is somewhat colder and significantly drier than Earth, but is still more hospitable to Earth based life than any other place in the Alpha Centauri system. Settlement was officially opened in 2014 with the conclusion of the Boskone War.

The largest settlement on Chiron is the town of Saganville, with an estimated population of 12,500.

===Vulcan===
Vulcan (Keid A II-1) was first surveyed in 2018 by the Federation. The inital survey squadron was hoping to find a high gravity desert world, and instead found a standard gravity world covered in shallow oceans with only a few tectonic rafts, islands and atolls poking above the water. They named the planet Vulcan anyway, which goes to show that Trekkies do have measurable sense of humor, or at least irony. The planet was officially opened for settlement in 2021.

The largest settlement on Vulcan is the Shir’Kar settlement evaluation outpost, which has an estimated population of 7,500.

===Sozvezdie Soviet===
see main article: Sozvezdie Soviet

The Sozvezdie Soviet was the first non-Trekkie group to join the Federation, in 2022. Their primary population base is on Luna, with small outlying colonies in the Main Belt and the Tau Ceti system.

==Economy==
{The Federation likes to present itself as a post-scarcity socialist economy. And if my grandmother had wheels, she’d be a wagon. As it works out, so far the Trekkies operate on a mixed economy similar to the Scandinavian countries, the big difference being that at least one major industry - ship construction - is owned by the state outright. Trekkies use the solar credit as the currency du jour - it was their idea in the first place in fact.

For the moment, the economy is focused on shipping and construction. Fenspace is expanding, both in population and in volume, and the Feds are right at the forefront. Utopia is the biggest and busiest shipyard in the system, focused on both Starfleet construction and more general commercial stuff like freighters. The hope is to build a mighty merchant marine that can move entire colonies out to nearby planets.}

===Utopia Planitia Shipyard===
The largest ship construction facility in Fenspace, {blargle}

==Demographics==
The Federation’s population estimate in 2022 was 2,752,191. The largest city in the Federation was Utopia Planitia, with a total population of 200,000.

===Ethnic groups===
{tba: Primarily anglophone white nerds to begin with, the Federation’s seen a remarkable increase in operational diversity in the decade-plus since foundation. While anglophone white nerds still hold onto ~51% of the population, their majority is on a decline in favor of migrants from Asia (countries tbd, thinking Korea, Vietnam & Taiwan), (hispanophone & lusophone) South America and (francophone) Africa. Star Trek is universal, after all.}

====Biomods====
{tba: roughly 1.3% of the population (‘bout 36,000 people) are biomodded. Roughly divided between Klingon and Vulcan(oid) mods, handful of Andorian, Bajoran, Cardassian mods, no reports of any other races.}

==Language==
The United Federation of Planets has no official language. The majority of Federation dealings and official documents are written in English, with copies in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean and Klingon. Multiple designs for universal translators have been proposed and implemented, but so far none have been truly ‘universal’ in nature. The Corps of Engineers is still working on it, though.

==Culture==
{oh god I don’t know what to put here I AM VERY BAD AT THIS}

===Psychology and stereotypes===
Some people in Fenspace view the Federation as weak, a common stereotype originating from the faction’s overall pacifist and non-confrontational nature. One thing forgotten in this stereotype is the Federation’s large store of indirect power in Fenspace, and that earning the ire of the Council or Starfleet means earning the suspicion of Federation citizens who are quite literally everywhere in the solar system and make up a majority of extrasolar colonists outside Achird.

===Religion===
Officially, the Federation practices state atheism. Religious belief and practice is not officially prohibited due to Federation membership in the Convention, but it is mildly discouraged with a bit of a patronizing attitude. The official state position on religion doesn’t seem to have had much effect, however. In a 2020 survey only 14% of Federation citizens professed as atheist, though another 30% consider themselves generally non-religious. The rest of the population tend to follow the same beliefs they did on Earth: Christianity and Islam make up the majority, followed by Buddhism, Judaism and Vodun. Several attempts to codify Klingon religion have been attempted, but so far none have been successful.

==Notes==
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[M Fnord]

... new content, this time sketching out the Federation's future plans:

---

===Future plans===

{the same thing we do every night Pinky, try and take over the world!

Okay, not really. The Federation’s long-term plans are all about increasing exosolar migration from Earth. They aren’t planning on abandoning Sol per se, but they’re taking a longer view than some of the other factions; eventually there will be mass migration from Earth into space, and whoever’s got the infrastructure down first wins. Greenwood’s already working on that with their settlement of the Achird A system; if they can do it, then Starfleet can do it better. Or so the theory goes. Annexing the Soviet was a double bonus, in that it provided them with (mostly) unrestricted access to Communist Weird Science(tm) as well as the Soviet’s territorial claims in Tau Ceti, Epsilon Indi, Delta Pavonis and Zeta 1 Reticuli; the last two are especially important thanks to the two stargates.

Federation diplomats - the non-douchey kind - have been in quiet talks with other factions regarding the possibility of following in the Soviets’ footsteps. As of 2022 nobody’s biting yet, though the Lagrange unificationists at Central Station are intrigued by the possibility.

And then there’s the Federation separatist movement. The neo-Klingons feel a little stifled by life in the Fed - and they do kind of have a point - and feel that their destiny may lead away from the rest of the Trekkie hive mind. To that end a nascent “Klingon Empire” is setting up shop in the Neptune system, quietly squirreling away materials necessary to build their own starfleet - which is incidentally a PEPPER violation since they’re still Federation citizens until they make the declaration - and sending out scouts to find a proper Qo'noS. (My evil thought of the day: the Klingons pick Zeta Tucanae as their new homeworld.)
}

---

Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[ECSNorway]

Okay, not really. The Federation’s long-term plans are all about increasing exosolar migration from Earth. They aren’t planning on abandoning Sol per se, but they’re taking a longer view than some of the other factions; eventually there will be mass migration from Earth into space, and whoever’s got the infrastructure down first wins. Greenwood’s already working on that with their settlement of the Achird A system; if they can do it, then Starfleet can do it better. Or so the theory goes. 

Yeah. Marsden's a big believer in the Global Plan and the Human Diaspora. Every Greenwood ship carries a complete copy of the Black Archive in digital storage, and the bigger ships carry hardcopies of a lot, too, just in case -- mostly cultural and historical records and a big book of "how to build industrial infrastructure from the ground up, after you've crashed your colony ship and lost everything but this book" (It's noted that the plan for -that- particular contingency is expected to take over a century to begin mass-producing 21st-century technology, so it's kind of a last resort, but still, it's -there-.)

The big colony ships also carry complete seed archives and gene/zygote banks of every species they can get their hands on, from aardvarks to zebras. 
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[robkelk]

... And then there’s the Federation separatist movement. The neo-Klingons feel a little stifled by life in the Fed - and they do kind of have a point - and feel that their destiny may lead away from the rest of the Trekkie hive mind. To that end a nascent “Klingon Empire” is setting up shop in the Neptune system, quietly squirreling away materials necessary to build their own starfleet - which is incidentally a PEPPER violation since they’re still Federation citizens until they make the declaration - and sending out scouts to find a proper Qo'noS. (My evil thought of the day: the Klingons pick Zeta Tucanae as their new homeworld.)

Thule? Why in the worlds would they want that iceball? All it's good for is orbiting a station around.

If this is going to be the "Klingon homeworld," then they want something habitable. Might I suggest Yggdrasil, over in the Delta Pavonis system?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[HRogge]

Thule? Why in the worlds would they want that iceball? All it's good for is orbiting a station around.

Maybe they want to start with Rura Penthe...

[robkelk]

====Biomods====
{tba: roughly 1.3% of the population (‘bout 36,000 people) are biomodded. Roughly divided between Klingon and Vulcan(oid) mods, handful of Andorian, Bajoran, Cardassian mods, no reports of any other races.}

Catgirls map to animated-series Caitians... and Federation Ambassador M'Ryiah has been on Odyssey since it was launched. (Edit: Oops - mixed up the timeline again. Fixed.)

Although this may be a "courtesy grouping" of Trekkie victims of the Catgirling Machine, rather than a deliberate attempt at a Trek-style race.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[HRogge]

====Biomods====
{tba: roughly 1.3% of the population (‘bout 36,000 people) are biomodded. Roughly divided between Klingon and Vulcan(oid) mods, handful of Andorian, Bajoran, Cardassian mods, no reports of any other races.}

Catgirls map to animated-series Caitians... and Federation Ambassador M'Ryiah has been on Odyssey since just after the events of "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall." Although this may be a "courtesy grouping" of Trekkie victims of the Catgirling Machine, rather than a deliberate attempt at a Trek-style race.

CI/Liberatrix will happily take any Catgirls frustrated about a "you are not really Star Trek material" attitude *G*

[M Fnord]

===Starfleet===

Starfleet is the Federation’s main military force. It is composed of the eponymous Starfleet as well as the Starfleet Marine Corps. According to the Starfleet Charter, the organization’s primary purpose is the peaceful exploration of space: some 65% of all Starfleet ships are classified as science vessels, while the remaining 35% all have some scientific instrumentation onboard. Regardless, Starfleet is the largest void navy in the Fenspace Convention, and the Federation ranks second in overall military spending in Fenspace, behind the Galactic Republic.Among factions with functional governments. Counting armies-without-a-country factions like the Roughriders the Federation ranks sixth.

Starfleet is administered by the Board of Admiralty, which is composed of the senior ranking officers of the fleets as well as the commanders of non-fleet divisions like the Marines or the Corps of Engineers. The Board answers directly to the Federation Council, which has final veto on Admiralty appointments and decisions.

Starfleet is organized into 5 separate fleet task groups, each with a specific operational sphere and home base. The First Fleet is based out of Starbase 1, Mars orbit and is tasked with defense and coastal patrol duties in the Mars system out to the nearer Main Belt asteroids. Fifth Fleet is the first Starfleet task group to be based outside of the solar system: the fleet operates from Deep Space Four orbiting Chiron, and is tasked with supporting the colonization and surveys of the Alpha Centauri trisystem.

The Starfleet Marine CorpsSometimes referred to as MACOs by the small number of Enterprise fans. are best known as the “Redshirts” for their distinctive crimson duty tunics, as well as their source material’s penchant for dying in droves. The Redshirts took the implied insult and turned it into a badge of pride, serving with distinction during the Boskone War and in countless small-unit police actions since.

The Federation was a signatory to the 2014 Space Arms Limitation Treaty (PEPPER) and the 2020 PEPPER II treaty. Fleet units are rotated through Great Justice service on a biannual basis: most of Starfleet’s operational combat craft either have served or are serving with Great Justice at any given time.

====Constitution-class controversy====

Since the founding of the Federation, the iconic form of the USS Enterprise has been missing from the fleet. Early efforts to build an appropriate Enterprise fell short of the mark due to lack of resources, or simply proved too quirky to be functional. Starfleet purchased OV-201 USS Enterprise in 2014 just to have a functional Enterprise; the shuttle Enterprise went on to a successful career as a science vessel. Despite this, in 2020 the Federation Council in a rare moment of directly butting into the affairs of Starfleet ordered the Admiralty to draw up plans and begin requisitioning the necessary materials, lab time, etc. to build a functional Constitution class starship (expected to be either NCC-1700 USS Constitution or NCC-1701 USS Enterprise) with a launch date of no later than September 8th, 2030.Ideally, the Council hoped Starfleet would get their act together and have an Enterprise ready to launch on September 8th, 2026, the 60th anniversary of Star Trek: TOS. This may have been overly optimistic.

As of 2022 the Admiralty hasn’t decided which Constitution class vessel will be implemented by the Council’s 2030 deadline. The original Matt Jefferies design is the favorite of the Corps of Engineers,Mostly thanks to the exhaustive Franz Joseph deckplans, which give the engineers a base to develop from. with a strong minority favoring the Andrew Probert redesign and smaller groups agitating for the Ryan Church reboot design or just skipping the Constitution class altogether and going for the Excelsior or even the Galaxy class.Enterprise, who will core transfer to NCC-1701 once one’s built, has remained neutral through this somewhat ridiculous debate.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"