Modern Era of the Gallente Federation, part 2

Lore

Continued from part 1.

###Late Civil War Period The Federation continued its advances towards core Caldari systems, and it looked as if victory was at hand. However, even if the Jove had assisted the Federation in the liberation of the Minmatar, they would then turn to assist the Caldari, adding in a force multiplier that would stem the tide once again.

####Capsule Counterattacks The Caldari Navy’s first response to the Federation’s drones was the replacement of solo-fighters with frigates in the same year as the Minmatar Rebellion of FC95 (23216AD). This was enough to place the war firmly back in the realm of stalemate, even considering the additional crew requirements of the frigate.

In FC103 (23224AD), Federation forces began encountering Caldari frigates that were far faster and maneuverable than anything encountered prior. It did not take long for Federal intelligence to discover that the Jove had given the Caldari a technology known as the hydrostatic capsule. It was able to remove the crew requirements on frigates, and give the pilot increased maneuvering options. Faced the enemy’s renewed vigor, the Gallente focused on increasing the speed and damage of their own drones. While this was never enough to completely counter the benefits of the capsule, it did eventually allow the Gallente to prevent the Caldari from making significant territorial gains against them.

Victories would be scored by both sides, making them confident of their newfound strategies.

####Battle of Iyen-Oursta Located on the fringes of Federation space and close to the Caldari core was an industrious planetbound civilization on the planet of Iyen-Oursta VII. Neither a client of the Caldari or a member of the Federation, the system of Iyen-Oursta was mostly ignored, even if both sides saw it as a potential entrypoint into one another’s territories.

Considering the industrial value and strategic location of Iyen-Oursta, both the Federation and the Caldari considered moving into the system in FC105 (23226AD). Each side claimed they would be protecting the local civilization from invasion by the other, but the truth of the matter was that both sides wanted control of the system to boost their own war effort. The Caldari knew that if the Federation claimed Iyen-Oursta, the Gallente would have a straight shot at New Caldari only a few lightyears away. The State would thus move to prevent this conquest from occurring.

Both sides were confident of victory, each with their own unique weapon to bring to the field. The Federation and State threw everything they had at the system, knowing very well that this would be the battle that would decide the fate of the war. Clashing in orbit of Iyen-Oursta’s planets the result was the second-largest space battle in New Eden, second only to the Battle of Vak’Atioth of the Amarr-Jove War. The battle raged for a whole day, and though each side claimed they were protecting Iyen-Oursta VII from the other, no planetside battle ever took place.

During a lapse in the action after almost fifteen hours of constant fighting, Caldari Navy forces began to withdraw, leaving the battlefield to the Federation. The Federation claimed victory for achieving their primary objective of assuming control of the system, but the Caldari also claimed victory for they had inflicted considerably more losses on the enemy than they received themselves. The State knew that the level of casualties inflicted on the Federation meant that they could no longer continue their advance as the Gallente had originally intended, thus the Caldari felt they had achieved their own primary objective.

####Distant thunder As the Caldari had expected, support for the Federation’s war effort after the Battle of Iyen-Oursta was low. The newer generations were no longer interested in enacting justice for the crimes committed against one another over the course of the war, despite the best efforts of militant factions on both sides. Neither side were quite willing to sue for peace yet, as the Gallente were still fearful of the Amarr, and the Caldari felt that ending the war would be a shameful act. Eventually, however, the war would fade into nothing but small-scale border skirmishes and raids.

####Foundation of CONCORD From the new generation, a faction was growing within the Federation that sought to end not only the Gallente-Caldari War, but end tensions and hostilities across the entire cluster. This faction came to be led by Senator Aidonis Elabon in FC106 (23227AD), a young politician with an extensive background in humanitarian development. Senator Elabon and other members of the Federation leadership envisioned an organization that would act as an interstellar mediator, where all five of the major nations in New Eden could come together to air grievances and resolve disputes without resorting to violence.

Senator Elabon was aware that the Gallente Federation was itself founded for similar purposes originally, however, and that a second attempt at such a body should not have the cultural and political partiality that characterized the early Federation. Knowing the Caldari would never accept the founding of such an organization immediately, Senator Elabon approached the Jove Empire first. The Jove quickly agreed to advance the cause of peace. With their technological prowess, they began to covertly influence the proceedings, pointing Elabon next to the Amarr Empire. The Jove and Senator Elabon hoped to demonstrate to the Caldari that, by inviting the Federation’s largest rival to join, this organization couldn’t possibly be a Gallente proxy.

Heir politics in the Amarr Empire stifled the first few years of discussions, but eventually the Amarr agreed to enter negotiations so long as the Minmatar were barred from the table. Senator Elabon agreed, knowing that the Minmatar had already agreed to the organization's foundation in principle and believing he could eventually wear down the Empire into allowing them to join.

By FC109 (23230AD), the Amarr relented and allowed the Republic’s representatives to join the table, which meant the Empire regarded Minmatar space as an independent nation rather than a rebellious territory. The Caldari, noting Amarr receptiveness and having signed a non-aggression pact with them a few years earlier, sent representatives from their Chief Executive Panel to engage in the discussions as well. There were factions and elements across all four of these nations who despised these talks, but those in power cared little for it.

In FC112 (23233AD), the Consolidated Cooperation and Relations Command, or CONCORD, was founded by all five empires. Its headquarters were to be located in the independent constellation of Sanctum, bordering Federation and Amarr space. The Federation’s first representative to CONCORD was Senator Aidonis Elabon himself, many feeling him to be the perfect man for the job.

CONCORD’s first action was to monitor the border with the Minmatar Republic and the Amarr Empire (including the Ammatar Mandate), to ensure that border skirmishes and guerrilla activities were minimized.

####Yoiul Conference In FC115 (23236AD), the five empires, under the umbrella of CONCORD, met onboard the Jove cruiser Yoiul in an effort to lay the groundwork for further peace. One of the most important decisions to be made was the establishment of a universal time-keeping system that would ease interstellar trade and communication. The Empire initially pushed for the other nations to adopt its calendar, arguing both that the Empire remained the largest nation in New Eden and the Minmatar were familiar with the calendar from their time in slavery.

The Minmatar rejected that notion vehemently, while both the Caldari and Gallente were resistant as well. Though the Federal Calendar was a 365-day calendar like the Amarr’s proposal, the Federation used a different system for individual weeks and days, and they were reluctant to uproot their established working week even for the sake of international cooperation.

Eventually, three groups arose in the conference; the 25ers, the Traditionalists, and the Arithmetics. The Empire aligned itself most closely with the Traditionalists, who desired to use an old “common calendar” favored by early post-collapse settlers. The Empire possessed old records, some believed to date back even before the collapse of the EVE Gate, which recorded significant, if rather cryptic, details of this calendar.

The Traditionalists eventually won out and utilized Amarr assistance in reconstructing the calendar, establishing the year of the conference as YC0. Many places in the Federation would continue to use FC, a local timekeeping system, or even the old Age of Rouvenor calendar. As far as interacting with and within space went, however, the new Yoiul system was the interstellar standard.

####Presidency of Aidonis Elabon In YC1 (FC116), Aidonis Elabon was elected to become President of the Gallente Federation, his rivals offering almost no competition whatsoever. He promised to end the war and set the Federation back on its original mission (or at least Elabon’s interpretation of it) of establishing itself as the champion of peace and justice, demonstrating the founding of CONCORD as an achievement to his end.

President Elabon switched the Federation Navy to a defensive posture. Gallente military forces would only engage in combat if a Caldari vessel entered what CONCORD had now defined as Federation space. Despite the militant factions working against him, the President also withdrew all Gallente forces currently occupying State worlds and colonies, and did a clean sweep of Federation space to remove any Caldari forces.

Only a minority of corporations on the Chief Executive Panel continued hostilities, who would launch the occasional border raid into Federation space. Thanks to a small but influential segment of the Senate, President Elabon was prevented from approaching the Caldari State to sue for peace, the latter not being one to do so themselves, despite the fatigue shared by both sides.

Instead, the Elabon administration focused on internal affairs within the Federation. As outward territorial expansion of the major empires effectively halted since the founding of CONCORD, the Federation looked to developing large tracts of its space that had been ignored up until this point. Eventually, the groundwork for a welfare program would be laid out, where the Federation government would start handing out financial aid to planetary governments or individuals to assist in local development or alleviate poverty.

President Elabon’s presidency ended after its five year term in YC6 (FC121). He would die a year later from a previously unknown auto-immune disease contracted from a planetary visit. Though peace was a closer realization than ever before, it would still take a few more years before it would come about officially. The former President’s will called for a foundation to be set up in his name, one responsible for rewarding those persons that most upheld Elabon’s vision for peace and prosperity in the world of New Eden.

###Cooperative Century ####Peace In YC12 (FC127), CONCORD finally decided to intervene in the waning Gallente-Caldari War. The relatively young organization was only bold enough to do so since it assumed whatever animosity existed between the two sides was on the way out, given the near-negligible level of fighting by this point.

The Federation leadership were taken aback by CONCORD’s intervention. Many factions were more than happy to comply, thankful that they would have the support of an organization with a growing base of respect. A much smaller group of factions were more reluctant to do go along with CONCORD’s missive. The Caldari State, realizing the commercial benefits of peace and not wanting to base its entire existence on war, agreed as well.

After a mere six months of bilateral talks facilitated by CONCORD, a peace accord was signed in the marginal Gallente-Caldari system of Tierijev. All senior members of the Chief Executive Panel and a large delegation of the Federation leadership met in orbit of the previously wartorn planet there, and signed the Treaty of Tierijev.

The Gallente Federation would agree to recognize the sovereignty of the Caldari State, and both sides would retain their original outposts and settlements as per the CONCORD-designated borders. The exception was Caldari Prime. Though a point of contention in the negotiations, the majority of the CEP eventually decided pushing for the return of the planet would be far too costly and made the controversial decision to sign it away. It would remain under Federation control, which would be a source of lasting resentment within more militant Caldari factions.

With the war over, peace parades took place across Gallente space. The Federation began to focus its efforts on interstellar trade with its three neighbors, sharing a border with all of them. It also accelerated its domestic aid and development programs, which resulted in so-called ‘boom worlds’ cropping up across the Federation. With increased relations across the cluster, funding for the Gallente military was slowly but surely reduced. No more did the planets of the Federation have to live in the shadows of war.

####Nation-Empires War The forming of Sansha's Nation starting in YC5 (FC120) by arms mogul Sansha Kuvakei was treated with a mix of awe and suspicion by the Federation government. The hailing of Nation as a perfect utopian state would see the young state as a major rival to the Federation, which also saw itself as striving to become a technological utopia. As Sansha’s Nation did not have the centuries' worth of complex political, social and economic baggage to hold it back, the title of the Promised Land was briefly passed on from the Federation.

Over the decades since YC5, millions of citizens (especially many future-minded Gallente) would flock to Sansha’s banner, falling for Kuvakei’s popular message. The Federal Intelligence Office sent many of its spies and special forces with them, and would attempt to uncover anything that the Federation could exploit to muster a popular campaign to take the small rival state down.

Ultimately, in YC37 (FC152) it would be the Amarr’s Ministry of Internal Order who would be the first to discover the depravities of Sansha Kuvakei. The FIO’s agents in the Empire corroborated the reports with their spies in Sansha space, and then again with intelligence acquired by the Republic Security Services and the Caldari State.

The populations of the Gallente, Minmatar, and Caldari were horrified by the revealing of Nation’s true nature. Their governments demanded that Sansha Kuvakei be brought before a CONCORD tribunal and tried for his crimes. While the Amarr initially attempted to defend Kuvakei, they eventually came to understand they would be ostracized if they attempted to stand alone. They joined the others in demanding Sansha surrender himself, but Kuvakei remained defiant.

Kuvakei declared the inalienable sovereignty of his Nation and revealed the massive power of his True Slave fleet, which was enough to rival any one of the empire’s navies. With diplomacy out of the question, the empires decided they had no choice but to band together to destroy Sansha's Nation. While the Gallente Federation lead the charge in space, the Empire, by virtue of its nearness to Sansha's space, attacked the heavily fortified stations and planets belonging to the Nation. They wreaked havoc across Sansha's territory, particularly within Esoteria, reducing much of the Nation to rubble.

####Hero of Ouperia In YC11 (FC126), a stargate construction ship had set out to the uninhabited system of Ouperia from the Federal capital of Villore. Following an asteroid collision, contact was lost soon after, and the project to colonize the system was shelved when it was assumed the vessel was destroyed.

It wasn’t until YC60 (FC175) that it was revealed to the Federation that the expedition had not failed at all. Stargate controllers in the Villore solar system were completely surprised when the original construction vessel jumped into the system, patched up and limping from its damage decades earlier. The lone surviving crewmember was the ship’s drone operator, by the name of Ceul Darieux. Now an old, gaunt man, he had managed to survive only due to his technical ingenuity. More remarkable was the fact he was successfully able to construct an entire stargate targeted at Villore by devising and building innovative drones and robot factories.

Decorated as a hero by the Federation President and a triumphant example of the human spirit, Darieux revelled in the limelight of his newfound celebrity status. It didn’t very long at all for him to found CreoDron that year, centered on the blueprints he created during his voyage that lasted half a century. Darieux himself, in a frail body with failing internal organs, would die a few years later.

Nonetheless, the legacy remained. Ouperia was renamed Old Man Star in his honor, CreoDron would emerge as New Eden’s largest drone manufacturer, driven by the innovations of its founder. His tale of using drones to survive captivated millions of Gallente citizens. Influenced by his story, the use of drones in the household multiplied tenfold, with many city authorities beginning to utilize drones in their municipal services. Through CreoDron, drones would became permeated across the Federation’s societies.

####Rise of organized piracy The Federation had always dealt with pirates in its history, mostly those who raid trading vessels for profit, or undefended colonies for prisoners. However, since the slowdown of empire expansion and the rise of independent factions following the founding of CONCORD, organized pirate groups with military-esque training and structure began cropping up along the outer regions.

#####Angel Cartel The first pirate faction that emerged was the Angel Cartel in YC4 (FC119), but at first they would remain nothing more than a muscle-for-hire beyond the fringes of empire space. Over time, they began to harass the Minmatar Republic following the Cartel’s migration to the Curse region. In response, the Federation military would often work alongside its Minmatar counterpart in dealing with incursions along the Republic border.

#####Serpentis Corporation Organized piracy would come closer to home within the Federation in YC75 (FC190), when Salvador Sarpati, adopted son of competent Gallente scientist Igil Sarpati purchased a system in the outer Gallente region of Fountain, naming it Serpentis. There, he headquartered his Serpentis Corporation. The Serpentis corporation was the hi-tech R&D successor of his father’s research company (called Sarpati), which was run into the ground after boosters were declared illegal by the Federation.

Serpentis began opening up numerous research installations in remote pockets of Gallente space and elsewhere. These research stations ended up growing into notorious pirate havens. The Serpentis would sell its latest weapon and starship technologies to smaller pirate syndicates, who would go on to harass the Gallente in space and on the ground. This soured relations with the Federation, who declared the Serpentis an illegal corporation. In response, the Serpentis cut a deal with the Guardian Angels of the Angel Cartel to provide protection for all corporate installations.

Eventually, the Serpentis would train its own professional military fleet, conducting its illegal operations alongside the Angel Cartel across the Federation and beyond. It would emerge as the largest criminal syndicate in Gallente space, having interests in numerous grey and black markets. The corporation has been implicated in funding terrorist or rebel groups in addition to ordinary pirates, but the deep penetration of Serpentis corporate interests across the wide Federation means the war to dislodge them has gone for decades with no end in sight.

Economic interdependency with the Minmatar has resulted in the Serpentis corporation being able to muster into Republic space as well, and the two nations very frequently cooperate against them.

#####Guristas Former Caldari Navy captains Jirai Laitanen ('Fatal') and Korako Kosakami ('the Rabbit') became famous for deserting the State in YC86 (FC201), forming their own pirate cartel which came to known as the Guristas a few months later. Initially, this pirate clan kept to the Caldari State, engaging in traditional pirate activities such as theft, kidnapping, ransoming and sabotage of military installations.

It wasn’t until a year later that the Federation became involved with the Guristas. Luecin Rileau, Federal ambassador to the Caldari State and son of the diamond baron Darouen Rileau, was kidnapped by Fatal and the Rabbit while sating his gambling addiction at the Grand Tiegjon Casino at the Echelon Entertainment station in Vellaine, Lonetrek. Gallente special forces were unable to rescue the high-ranking Federal officer, failing to realize that the pair of traditional pirates had military training themselves. In the end, the ambassador’s family had to pay a huge ransom of uncut diamonds to the Guristas.

The embarrassment inflicted on the Federation government moved them to seek cooperation with the Caldari State for joint military operations against the now-famous Guristas pirates, to which the Caldari responded with very limited agreement. Their rise to the fore saw hundreds of recruits move to join the Guristas, who then began launching operations within Caldari and occasionally Gallente space. Though fighting the Guristas became one of the few matters the Federation and State could agree on, the expansion of the Guristas was merely slowed down due to lack of coordination and cooperation.

####Operation Spectrum Breach In YC88 (FC203), the Federation government funded a research project intended to create openings into regions of unexplored space and facilitate the colonization of new worlds. This initative was undertaken due to the pressures of dealing with peacetime population booms and immigration without the addition of any new territory, other than the ascension of Solitude in YC13 (FC128). If successful, it was hoped to be hailed to be the greatest colonization project in Federation history, hoping to lay claim to as many as eight regions.

Vast drone fleets were sent into the remote area of space. Stargates were constructed, and probes were sent out revealing mineral-rich systems ripe for colonization. However, four months after the first stargate was commissioned, the worker drones at the main outpost went berserk, killing hundreds. Reports of Rogue Drones attacks from within all eight regions surfaced concurrently and an evacuation of the new systems was ordered, facilitated by the Federation Navy. The Federal government, assisted by an unknown corporation (suspected to be CreoDron) quickly locked the access gates to the new regions.

All of these events were unknown to CONCORD, as the opening of new stargates without consent of all empires violated the Yulai Conventions. Nonetheless, the Federation government approached CONCORD for assistance with the matter of fully securing the access gates militarily. During a closed session of the Assembly, the Federal delegation were pressed for details on what had transpired beyond the sealed gates, but the Gallente diplomats refused to release details. CONCORD was able to bring the security of the sealed gates under its jurisdiction by a unanimous vote in the Assembly session.

By a majority vote, the decision was made to maintain a public blackout regarding the locations of the deactivated gates. The Federation government made record that an accident of some unclear nature had halted the expansion program indefinitely. Although Spectrum Breach would remain hidden from the public, the upper echelons of the other empires considered it a black mark on the Federation government.

####Girani-Fa Incident In YC95 (FC210), both the Empire and the Federation laid claim to the mineral-rich system of Girani-Fa. Both sides wished to exploit its riches. While the system had nominally been claimed by the Empire for decades, it had not been touched by the Amarr. It was only after a Federation surveying team assayed the system and discovered mineral riches that the Empire became interested in it.

The Federation claimed the Empire had effectively abandoned the system, while the Empire countered that it included the system on official maps of the Empire. The two sides attempted to negotiate a settlement, but each was intractable. Eventually, the Empire stepped away from the negotiating table, believing the Federation was no longer acting in good faith.

Both sides appeared poised to go to war in the system, when the Quafe Company stepped in and offered to negotiate with the Empire. The Empire, believing that Quafe had a vested interest in both sides, agreed and a few weeks later came to an agreement was reached that prevented warfare. The system would remain under Amarr sovereignty, while Gallente mining companies would be free to mine there as long as they sold a portion of the minerals to the Empire at cost.

###See Also