A Frame for All Seasons story fluff

[montypython]

Originally I was planning on posting a story on SB.com, but too much bs in the creative writing area turned me off on that idea, so I'll be compiling stuff here instead. This thread deals with the story fluff and background info for the story (eventually comprising two volumes), which I'll be posting separately later. The story is an I-War, B5, Gundam and Freespace fusion (in that order), so the stuff here will elaborate on story elements. Any advice and comments are more than welcome.


The Factions: Earth Commonwealth

The Earth Commonwealth is the government of Earth and its colonies, spanning over 35 star systems. Founded in 2073, the Commonwealth began expanding across multiple systems using capsule drives, meeting many new species including the Centauri who introduced more sophisticated Hyperdrives to the Commonwealth. After assisting the League of Non-aligned Worlds (LONAW) in their conflict with the Dilgar in 2234, the position of the Commonwealth had never been stronger. However, growing tensions with the colonies over representation in government was a serious cause of concern. A peace conference between colonial delegates led by Heero Yuy and Commonwealth negotiators met on Luna in 2245 to negotiate a compromise, but the assassination of the delegates by a thermonuclear device undermined the effort, as both sides accused the other of treachery. This led to the outbreak of full Civil War a few months later.

The Commonwealth government is organized into 3 branches, the legislature (Senate), executive (Presidency), and the judiciary. Military forces are organized under the aegis of the Earth Commonwealth Forces (or EarthForces), branches being the Ground Forces (nicknamed 'gropos'), the Navy and the Marines, with starfighter units distributed among the different branches but trained under a combined flight Corps. The EarthForces also have an intelligence group called EFI.

Earth Commonwealth states:

# Asian Grouping
# North Atlantic Federation
# Central African Bloc
# South African Union
# Equatorial Consortium
# Pacific Consortium
# Russian Consortium
# Latin American Grouping
# United Islamic Nations
# Western Eurasian Bloc
# Kingdom of Scandinavia
# Emirate of Orb

Known government setup as of July 23, 2263:

President: Harrison King
Vice-President: George Alster
Minister of Defence: Muruta Azrael
Chair of Senate Armed Services Committee: Morgan Clark
Head of Psicorps: Alfred Bester
National Security Advisor: Admiral Brett

Joint Chiefs of Staff:
Chairman of JCS: General William Hague
Chief of Fleet Operations: Admiral Hanson
Earth Defence Zone Commander: General Robert Lefcourt

Bureau 13 is a special operations unit within EFI, often operating in conjunction with Nightwatch and Psicorps. In fact, B13 and Psicorps joint-operate a paramilitary unit known as OMNI (Oppose Militancy and Neutralize Insurgency) Enforcer, comprised of Earth Commonwealth Forces volunteers, gendarmeries, military police, Black Omega members, and 'specials', along with attached Nightwatch auxiliaries to deal with colonial rebels.

Known OMNI Enforcer units:

12th Independent Mobile Regiment ('The Titans')
81st Independent Mobile Regiment ('Phantom Pain')
1st Special Service Mobile Regiment ('Strike Specials')

[montypython]

The Factions (continued): Independent Colonial Alliance of Freedom Treaty (ICAFT)

The Independent Colonial Alliance of Freedom Treaty (aka Indies) is the umbrella grouping for the colonial revolutionaries fighting the Commonwealth Government. Several groups comprise the organization:

# White Fang (Earth L-point colonies, destroyed)
# Martian revolutionaries (Mars, destroyed)
# Belt Alliance (Orion System, destroyed)
# Zodiac Alliance (Proxima Centauri, second-largest indie grouping remaining)
# Independent Outer Colonies (the 'Core' indie grouping)

ICAFT is organized around an Executive Council, with each grouping possessing a delegate and led by a Chairman, who is also CinC of all Indie forces. Each grouping tends to be organized along the same lines as the administrative core. Military forces are led by a Military Council, which serves as a combination military staff/ministry of Defence. The Chief of Staff is the professional head of military forces, with an adjutant and a quartermaster to assist in operational planning (the quartermaster also controls logistics for the Indie forces).


Known Indie leaders as of 2263:

Colin Macduff (ICAFT Quartermaster)

Patrick Zala (Present Chairman of the Zodiac Alliance)
Raul Le Creuset (Mobile Suit Division Leader)


ICAFT forces, unlike their Commonwealth counterparts, are less hierarchical and more decentralized due to their origins as colonial militia and defence forces, as well as having anti-corporatists, privateers, rogues and scoundrels amongst their personnel. Equipment is also more hodgepodge as a result, although a higher level of proficiency in space operations and combat veterans help alleviate a number of shortcomings in hardware.