Modern Era of the Gallente Federation

Lore

The Modern Era of the Gallente Federation (or the Modern Federate Era) covers the time from a few years after the departure of the Caldari from their homeworld in 23156AD to just before the beginning of the capsuleer era in YC105. This era is noted for first contact with the Jin-Mei and Amarr Empire, the further expansion of the Federation and continuation of what would become the Gallente-Caldari War, to the founding of CONCORD and the century of peace that followed.

###Second Frontier Age Despite the war with the Caldari occurring, the massive size and population of the Gallente Federation meant that it could continue to expand peacefully far from the conflict, as it had done before. It would continue to regard itself as the sole representative of human civilization, perceiving the Caldari as a mere rebel league to be reeled back in, either with force or diplomacy.

####Diyichu (Jin-Mei First Contact) #####Contact In Federal Calendar 49 (23170AD), a Mannar exploratory expedition ‘discovered’ the system of Mei-ha (today Lirsautton), home of the Jin-Mei nation. The expedition was investigating magnetometric signatures that were originating from Lirsautton, having recovered an early Jin-Mei probe in a nearby system. Upon entering Lirsautton, the Mannar scouts entered a standoff with Jin-Mei warships. However, the equal combat capabilities of the Gallente-designed civilian scout vessels and the Jin-Mei military cruisers meant that the situation was rapidly defused.

The ruling Sang Do council (the spacefaring authority of the Jin-Mei) allowed the scout expedition to explore the system in its entirety. Not only was it discovered that the Jin-Mei were a spacefaring civilization (albeit limited to a single system), but they had managed to fully inhabit two temperate worlds, with colonies in space and on various other planets. There were also several inoperable stargates at the very edges of the system, which would be later activated with Federation technology once the main diplomatic delegation would arrive from Mannar.

Faster Than Light Communication was established in Lirsautton, and soon the rest of the Federal populace were able to learn about the nature of the Jin-Mei nation. What many found curious was how Lirsautton was relatively close to the ethnic Gallente home system of Luminaire, and several wondered why they were not encountered earlier. Although it was the Mannar government that took it upon themselves to bring the technology and space infrastructure of Lirsautton in line with the rest of the Federation (a light feat considering the already-advanced technology of the system), it would be the Luminaire governments that would eventually become the dominant force amongst the Jin-Mei, due to the proximity of their two home systems.

#####Trading The Jin-Mei were a fascinating society to the Gallente, especially that they had to been able to maintain what was considered a primitive political system into their Space Age. The Jin-Mei nation was organized into castes, with the Sang Do overlords at the apex, the Saan Go administrative class in the middle, and the Jing Ko worker class at the bottom. The homogeneity of their society and government was explained by the fact that the Jin-Mei had eradicated all other ethnicities and nations on their homeworld. In the interests of good relations, however, this politically unfashionable element of Jin-Mei history was widely overlooked and downplayed.

The Gallente were widely surprised by the Jin-Mei’s eagerness to trade with the Federation. Though historically unfamiliar with a capitalist free market system, the Jin-Mei realized that, as they were still an independent nation, they would be able to export their goods to Gallente space without having to comply by Federal interstellar trading laws, which would technically disallow non-democratic planets or systems from trading with one another. Their highly regimented and organized caste system meant their economic output could be measured as high as any of the Federation’s home systems.

Over the next four years, the homeworlds of Lirsautton underwent a massive economic boom. The Gallente concept of mass media was introduced to the Jin-Mei, something the latter took very eagerly to, unlike other races before them. The Jin-Mei were able to export various cultural products, such as the Adakul faith and stylized serials, to the rest of the Federation, and even portions of their language (called Ji). Ji exclamations and honorifics (particularly name suffixes) would eventually become a part of the primary interstellar Gallente dialect.

#####Ascension In FC53 (23174AD), the ruling Sang Do council made a formal request to become a signatory of the Federal Charter. Not only did they request membership, but the Jin-Mei also requested that constellation their home system resided in was to be counted as their sovereign territory. Considered an audacious request, dissenting voices were worn down and convinced that the addition of the only other spacefaring civilization encountered thus far would be of tremendous benefit. One condition was that the Jin-Mei must eliminate their caste system to abide by Federal Law. A time limit of fifty years was granted to them, with penalties if they failed.

Ultimately, reforms to the Jin-Mei caste system were not enforced due to its cultural implications. The Gallente had learnt from the mistakes of the Caldari secession (and the Mannar instabilities before that), and were not willing to repeat the error of pushing out a major member again. Instead, the Jin-Mei nation acquired the power of opt-out, and simply opted-out of all articles of the Federation law that compromised the existence of their caste system. Though the caste system is not permitted to operate outside of the borders of their nation, it would nonetheless manifest itself within social and economic relations amongst the Jin-Mei, as well as in elections within other territories they inhabit.

####Amarr Revelation In FC59 (23180AD), a scouting vessel of the Amarr Empire’s Imperial Navy stumbled across a fully inhabited world in the Tolle solar system. Remarkable to the crew was the fact that initial scans showed this planet to possess a complete array of orbital infrastructure, such as defense satellites and space elevators. The local navy had detected the foreign vessel, but did not intercept it, sending a scout vessel to tail it from a long distance. Eventually, the Amarr starship would encounter the Gallente starship, with the former taking a cautious posture. The Gallente ship attempted communication, but the Amarr ship rebuffed all attempts. The language barrier between the two sides was vast, preventing any true diplomacy.

Not knowing the combat capabilities of the foreign vessel, the Amarr ship eventually called back for reinforcements and opened a cynosural field. The Amarr jumped in a dreadnought. The Gallente, faced with the sudden appearance of a new ship utilizing technology unknown to them broke off and retreated, using its own warp drive, a technology beyond the Amarr.

Faced with an entity of unknown strength that possessed at least some technological superiority to them, the Amarr immediately put out the call to its ships to take a diplomatic approach to further contact. The Federation sent an official delegation to the Tolle system, meeting the Amarr Empire’s best orators and linguists. It was hoped for both sides to open contact with one another, but it took several years before the two sides were able to truly engage in full discussions.

Rumors of another interstellar human civilization amongst the stars slowly spread across the Federation, but initially, the Gallente populace were not aware of the Amarr Empire’s superior size and population. The Federation government kept strict control of information regarding the Amarr, fearing that the revelation of the Federation not being the sole and collective representative of human civilization would undermine the entire union’s purpose. The highest levels of the Federation slowly became aware of the Amarr’s practice of slavery, something that would be considered unforgivable by the population.

#####Opening of trade relations The Amarr began to realize that the Federation was large and more than a technological match for themselves, and were hardened by the war with the Caldari for several decades. In turn, the Gallente became aware that the Imperial military was more geared towards crushing underequipped and undermanned Minmatar rebels, rather than combating the Federation’s advanced interstellar military. Even the most hawkish amongst the Federation leadership knew that a war on two fronts would be very unwise, as the Imperial Navy was still a large force to be reckoned with. Thus, the two superpowers began to fear one another, but were not unwise enough to escalate into open hostilities.

The two sides thus reluctantly began negotiating treaties with each other. The first and most important of these was the Gallente-Amarr Free Trade Agreement. Signed in FC89 (23210AD), the agreement laid out the basis for limited trade between the two empires. Despite its name, the agreement placed numerous limitations on imports and exports by both sides. The Amarr notably agreed to refrain from selling goods produced via slave labor within Federation borders, while the Gallente promised to only deal with a number of authorized Holders and agents of the Empire instead of selling directly to commoners. Additional limits, such as the Amarr refusing to import genetically modified organisms or other items deemed “heretical”, served to curtail major trade between the two sides.

Regardless of the negotiated restrictions, the agreement did serve as the foundation for a shaky peace between the two sides. It established a neutral border between the two sides which ships were allowed to enter unrestricted. While the two empires have never been friendly, they have also never entered into open warfare. With the first treaty signed, the Gallente appointed an official ambassador to the Empire, Yanou Latuere. The Empire sent several dignitaries of its own to the Federation, including a sizable missionary group to attempt a peaceful reclaiming.

The Federation also exported FTL communications technology to the Amarr Empire, with many Holders willing to contract out Gallente companies for the construction of FTL relays on their behalf. Eventually, the Amarr would offer jump drive technology in exchange for the Gallente’s warp drive. The Federation agreed, hoping to use the jump drive as a force multiplier against the Caldari rebels.

#####Culture shock In the years since Amarr first contact in FC59 (23180AD) to beyond the opening of formal trade relations in FC89 (23210AD), the Federation begun to suffer an existential crisis in terms of its original purpose. Having encountered the only other interstellar civilization that was comparable to the size and scope of the Federation, many citizens across countless worlds realized that the union they had signed membership of was no longer the sole representative of humanity. There were several cases of instability, which included protests and short-lived attempts at further secessions (something the Caldari tried and failed to exploit).

It became very clear amongst higher-ranking Gallente politicians that the Federation must undergo key reforms in order to present itself as a more contiguous entity towards the Amarr Empire. Nothing more than a loose colonial alliance of planets based on free trade and human rights, the dated concepts (to the Gallente) of nationhood must be revived across the entire union in order to remain wholesome before the Amarr. The pragmatists within the government acknowledged that the Federation was no longer the only interstellar human nation within known space, no matter how much extreme nationalists refused to acknowledge the Amarr Empire as one.

One of the more infamous laws to this end was introducing a system of general taxation for all Federation citizens. Previously, an average citizen would only expect to interact with the Federation itself for voting, which was purely optional. Having to submit personal wealth to a far-off body was seen as abhorrent, resulting in many protests. When it was clear the Federation government was not backing down, the protests subsided. As member state funding was effectively abolished, the smaller governments could reduce their local taxes, meaning citizens would pay no more than they usually would. In addition, an interstellar civilian gendarmerie known as the Federal Police was created, taking the best of the best from local planetary and system law enforcement agencies. FedPol (or the more colloquial ‘Gallente Police Department’, or GPD) would be charged with enforcing Federal space law across the union, and was designed to emulate how planetary nations also have civilian police agencies. Neither development would change the Federation from appearing as anything but a 'nation of nations'.

There would also be a cultural renaissance, particularly amongst the ethnic Gallente, as the result of first contact with the Amarr. To many, the Amarr Empire was perceived to resemble one of their planetside feudal kingdoms from ancient times, that had managed to retain its pre-industrial culture into space and across the stars. Although this oversimplified the complex nuances of a similarly interstellar empire, these Gallente found the Amarr fascinating, despite the disagreements about slavery. The fact that the Amarr were still institutionally religious and conducted themselves in a way that was seen as anachronistic of the spacefaring era was a point that several Federal citizens took to eagerly.

As a result, many cultures in the Federation looked back to their ancient roots in a form of cultural revival. This was particularly true of the ethnic Gallente who still retained ties to Luminaire, where they begun to revive the practices and cultures of the Rouvenor dynasty and the Garoun Empire. Anything from theater plays to music and fashion were brought back to life, though unlike the Amarr, many Gallente updated these practices with modern technology. The encounter with the Amarr Empire and cultural revival that followed would set the trend for many portions of Federation cultures to have a neo-classical flavor to it, fusing and reviving practices from days gone by with the Gallente’s love for futuristic technology.

###Middle Civil War Period Despite the encounter of the much more powerful Amarr Empire by the Federation, the hasty detente established between the two entities meant the Gallente could refocus their full efforts on bringing the Caldari back into the union. The Federation’s primary strengths were in manpower and the backing of a supremely well-funded military-industrial complex, whereas the Caldari had tactical and technological ingenuity combined with rigorous training. Morale within the State was high, as their border raids with single-man fighters into Federation fringe space within Sinq Laison would face little challenge from the ill-equipped Gallente warships. However, these successful raids would be unable overcome the might of the Federation as a whole, meaning victory for both sides was soon becoming a pipe dream.

####Harner Doctrine The administration of President Josefia Harner would eventually learn that the Caldari were willing to sign peace if the Federation would agree to hand over control of their homeworld to the State. Given that no major victories had occurred for some time, the Senate felt that a resolution to the ensuing stalemate was preferable to the continued loss of life for both sides.

However, the Harner administration was reluctant to do so. Handing over control of Caldari Prime to the State meant uprooting the population, which was now primarily ethnic Gallente with small minorities of other Federation ethnicities. Secondly, acknowledging the Caldari as a sovereign state would potentially be perceived as a sign of weakness by the Amarr Empire, who were slowly emerging as the Federation’s main rival.

Thirdly, the Federation was still recovering from the existential shocks of encountering the Amarr. If the Caldari were no longer regarded as a rebel force, and that secession from the union could be a potentially successful endeavor, then the whole Federation may lose its integrity altogether.

This was known as the Harner Doctrine. The Gallente would bring the rebellion back into the fold, in order to maintain the strength of the union. That way, the Federation could protect all of its citizens, including the Caldari, from possible enslavement by the Amarr Empire. The Federation would not use the term ‘Caldari State’ in any official capacity, as it would be considered to imply they were a foreign nation and not just a league of rebel systems.

However, without an answer to the deadly single-man fighters of the Caldari Navy, the Harner Doctrine could not amount to much. The Federation Navy would deploy its own solo-fighters that would quickly be superseded by the Caldari’s latest model. Mines and sentry guns could only protect space facilities for so long, and if the Caldari demands were not met, then Federation space could be overrun sooner or later. The solution would come sooner than many expected, but not before a calamity that would reinvigorate support for the war.

####Doa dea Kabar (Destruction of Mannar) In FC91 (23212AD), a species of airborne insect fundamental to the ecosystem of Mannar VIII suddenly underwent a mass extinction over a period of several months. The reasons for which were unknown; during the mass panic, thousands of scientists worked tirelessly to prevent the extinction and cure the plague that was infecting the insect species. As cloning technology was nowhere near as advanced as it is in the present day, they were ultimately unsuccessful.

The failure to prevent the mass extinction of the insect species saw the collapse of the entire ecosystem of the Mannar homeworld, reducing it to a barren wasteland incapable of supporting human life. Preparations were undertaken for this; the bulk of the population either migrated off-world or were shifted into domed surface or subterranean arcologies. A handful of groups refused to move, and were killed by the ecosystem's collapse. Some Mannar natives would migrate to the uncolonized Leremblompes II, which was to be named Mannar Seginde.

Investigations and inquiries were launched as to what exactly caused the mass extinction. There was significant turmoil and shock across the wider Federation as a result of the disaster. Foul play was suspected. The non-Mannar nations on the homeworld accused the main Mannar state of orchestrating the events in order to establish itself as a permanent hegemon, having little rationale to this belief outside of trauma and centuries worth of disagreements. Indeed, the main Mannar nation took control of disaster prevention operations, effectively undermining all of its neighbors' authority.

The majority of the Mannar populace, however, channeled their hatred against the Caldari, seeing them as the most likely perpetrators. Those of the Mannar ethnicities signed up to the Federation military in droves, eager to enact justice. So much of Federal military positions were filled by the Mannar, that they would earn their contemporary hawkish reputation, along with the Jin-Mei who were sympathetic to their cause. Over time, Mannar admirals and captains would be a common sight amongst the Federation Navy.

No conclusive evidence ever emerged on whether or not the extinction was foul play or bad luck. Political conflicts and civil war amongst the Mannar would prevent restoration of the homeworld from taking place. Unrest would continue for over seventy years, until a joint Federation-CONCORD effort ended the civil war and finally commenced rejuvenation operations, which is expected to take a century.

####Operation Forward March Despite the reinvigoration of support for the war, the Federation military found itself suffering from chronic personnel shortages. Eager recruits from Mannar were not enough to fill the spaces. The average citizens in the core territories were reluctant to commit, seeing the war as a thunder raging far from their safe worlds. The lesser-developed colonies were constantly on the frontlines, but the fiercely-spirited militia there could not hold back Caldari marauders on their own.

A solution came from the massive advances taking place in robotics and automation, all in response to wanting to avoid a future disaster that had taken place in Mannar. The invention of new military drones evolved from the use of stationary mines. The first drones were little more than mines with proximity detonators and some limited moving capabilities, but soon they had advanced to the level that a single drone almost rivaled a solo-fighter’s capabilities. The fact that drones were many times cheaper to build than fighters and didn’t require a highly-trained pilot meant that the days of the solo-fighters were numbered.

The Federation government declared Operation Forward March, and began a systematic campaign to use these drones to eradicate the Caldari raiders from Gallente space. The tide of the war turned, and the Federation began to score several victories and territorial gains. For the price of one Caldari solo-fighter, the Federation could construct tens of drones, leaving the State forces with no chance. The best Caldari scientists scrambled to find a solution, but for now, it was the Federation who were winning.

Support for Operation Forward March was high. The fact that no human lives could be risked by using drones was looking upon favorably by the typically peace-oriented Gallente, while actually being able to gain territory using these methods would further vindicate the use of drones. The Federation Navy would deploy an armada of drones to a system, empty each and every local sector of enemy forces, before deploying human-crewed warships to begin planetary operations. The vastness of space, however, would mean this process would not take days, or even weeks. The conquest of a system would take at the very least a month on average.

Nonetheless, the Federation set itself on the road to New Caldari Prime, hoping to end the rebellion for good.

###Minmatar Rebellion ####Cold war tensions Since first contact with the Amarr, the Federation citizenry began to learn about the plight of the Minmatar, the largest civilization that had managed to resist losing its identity to enslavement. A small but growing Minmatar minority was forming across territories that shared a border with the Amarr Empire, composed of former (including escaped) slaves or elevated commoners who decided to migrate.

Knowledge of the Minmatar’s plight would spread across the Federation’s datanets, and soon anti-slavery protests and pro-Minmatar demonstrations took place across many Gallente worlds. Ruthless practical jokes were conducted against visiting Amarr dignitaries by Gallente activists, and the Imperial government was hounded by hundreds of thousands of letters demanding justice for the people of Matar. The momentum of Operation Forward March and the victories taking place thanks to drones led many citizens to believe that opening up a second front to declare a war of liberation on the Amarr Empire would be more than possible.

####Freedom’s Guile Even if the Federation was high on victory against the State, military leaders knew that opening a second full-scale war against the Amarr Empire would be fatal. Nonetheless, for a long time, the Federation government observed and studied the Minmatar, realizing that they could be used to weaken the Amarr Empire. However, they realized that open action would force hostilities with the Empire, so they were only able to covertly supply the Minmatar rebels with supplies and materiel.

In FC95 (23216AD), that opportunity came following the disastrous Battle of Vak'Atioth of the short-lived Amarr-Jove War. When news of the Amarr defeat reached the rest of the Empire, Minmatar slaves rose up in a coordinated rebellion, spurred on by the Imperial defeats and rumors of a coalition forming between the Federation and Minmatar.

A sympathetic faction within the Federation government saw its chance to both pacify the popular cries to free the Minmatar, and the perceived need to weaken the Amarr Empire. More overt supplies of weapons were made, while the Federation worked together with the Jove to provide additional resources. Rumors of the Federation sending special forces units with cross-cultural expertise to blend in with and lead rebelling slave elements were never confirmed, as well as similar reports of Gallente naval experts assisting the rebels in starship operation. The initiative on Federal documents was called "Freedom’s Guile."

After months of fighting and millions dead (particularly on the Amarr side), the Minmatar had assumed control of several regions of space that were once occupied by the Empire. The Federation was quick to acknowledge the sovereignty of the Minmatar, and a cadre of experts from Gallente Prime were sent to assist them in building a government. Though the Federation’s intervention in the Rebellion itself would remain unconfirmed until the secrecy of the government documents would expire in thirty years, rumors of Gallente involvement in the liberation was a subject of much speculation among the Minmatar populace.

####Forming of the Republic Both the Federation and the Minmatar realized that a lot of work was cut out in turning the latter from a motley assortment of ex-slaves and hardened rebels to a working interstellar society. When the ceasefire with the Amarr Empire was eventually called, several humanitarian fleets from the Federation were sent into Minmatar space, assisting in the reconstruction of the worlds devastated by both the occupation and rebellion.

Only four tribes of the Minmatar resided in the liberated space, the rest either extinct or absent. There was extensive dialogue between the Federation and tribal leaders regarding the possibility of the Minmatar joining the union as the newest signatories. This would increase the size of the Federation exponentially, by both population and territory, and thus give the Gallente a greater chance of finishing the job with the Caldari.

However, many factors stopped this from becoming a reality. Minmatar space was in ruins, and if it was to become Federation territory, many resources would have to drained from elsewhere in the reconstruction. The largest factor was that the addition of the Minmatar to the Federation would no doubt antagonize the Amarr Empire significantly. Even if bruised by the defeats at the hands of the Jove, the Gallente felt that the Amarr would no doubt attack them if the Minmatar signed the Federal Charter.

Instead, it was decided for the Minmatar to become an independent space nation, though it would effectively be a client state for many decades into the future. The Minmatar created a constitution and installed a government modeled off of the Gallente Prime nation of Rei-Tsaro, which involved the amalgamation of a federal democracy with traditional tribal law. Rather than being administratively broken down into districts and nations as in the Federation, this new Minmatar Republic would be subdivided into tribes and clans.

Much of the Republic’s official institutions were modeled off of the Gallente style. Though tribal aesthetics and practices would permeate each body, their organization was fundamentally Gallente. The Republic Fleet, freshly created from the surviving rebel fleet, would have a rank and command structure as per its Federation counterpart, while Minmatar military uniforms would combine Gallente aesthetic with traditional tribal styles. The majority of future military personnel would be Gallente-trained through the new Republic Military School, with the exception of units such as the Valklears. The education system would also be modeled off of Gallente styles, with the most notable product of this being the Republic University.

Though no official alliance was signed, both nations would grow to become close allies for the future.

####First wave of Minmatar immigration Despite the promise of the Minmatar Republic, many of its new citizens had doubts. To the average Minmatar, the Federation was a land of milk and honey, a promised place where freedom and happiness reigned. When the common inhabitant of Matar looked around, however, they saw poverty, malnourishment, and social dissolution. It would take many years, if not decades, for Matar to be restored to what it once was.

As early as the first months after the Republic’s founding, millions of Minmatar would use their newly-found freedom to migrate to the Federation. The Gallente did not know how to react to this initially. This was the first time so many individuals from beyond the frontiers of Federation space began settling on their own worlds. There were no laws that would stipulate the rights of those who were not born on Federation member worlds.

Tensions were drummed up at first, particularly by Gallente who thought that the mass immigration of Minmatar to the Federation would anger the Amarr Empire. But when both groups of cultures learnt about one another, especially the fact that the two civilizations were in the same ideological corner, the tensions would die down quickly. Moreso would the situation stabilize when the Senate passed laws that would clarify the issue, specifically identifying the Minmatar Republic as a foreign nation and all the cross-border protocols that would apply, similar to such stipulations between two planetside countries.

Though the influx of immigrants dwindled slowly over the years, it would never stop (with a relatively similar-sized spike not long after the dawn of the capsuleer era). The massive bloc of freed slaves who decided to take up residence in the Federation rather than the Republic would result in the former ending up with almost one-third of their population as ethnic Minmatar. The combined Minmatar population on Gallente worlds would come to rival the entire population within the Republic.

Continues here.

###See Also