'Firefly' what if...?

[Sidewinder]

I had an idea for a 'Firefly' fanfic in which the Independent Planets (Browncoats) triumph over the Alliance, due to a third party's intervention- in short, if the Alliance was Ukraine, the Browncoats were Donbas, kept "independent" thanks to support from a third party that is the Russia equivalent.

The third party is Earth and its colonies on nearby stars. This requires a change in backstory, i.e., the idea "Earth-That-Was" was made inhabitable and eventually abandoned, being falsehood and propaganda the Alliance spread to prevent its citizens from leaving it, the way North Korea demonized South Korea. Earth allowed the Alliance's future founders to leave, the Earth government feeling it was more trouble than it was worth to maintain control over those who didn't want to be controlled; knowledge of the Alliance's existence was limited to private businessmen who provided critical resources the Border Planets needed and luxury goods the Central Planets wanted, not due to the Earth government's censorship, but due to the people's apathy (yes, that means both sides have reliable and relatively cheap faster-than-light transportation, though the Alliance restricts its use to maintain control over its populace). Earth remains neutral until the Alliance repeats the Imperial German government's mistake and attacks a neutral party (Earth-flagged ships), making Earth support the Browncoats.

The Independent Planets become "independent" from the Alliance, but dependent upon Earth, to which it is a buffer state; the many former Browncoats who are unhappy with this, form the "True Independents" (I intend to nickname them "Blackcoats") to attack all sides (the Alliance, Earth and its "lapdogs" in the Independent Planets government, civilians caught in the middle) and are attacked, in turn, from all sides.

Mal and Zoe are honorably discharged from the Independent Planets Army, pooling their pension to buy the ship they named "Serenity" after the Browncoats' victory there. As the Alliance has imposed a trade embargo upon Earth, the Serenity serves a smuggler vessel, providing goods the Central Planets secretly want. Simon presents his attempt to smuggle River out of Alliance space, as an effort to get her medical treatment available only on planets under the Earth government, winning a modicum of sympathy from the former Browncoats; this backfires when Mal's former brothers-in-arms attempt to seize River for the Blackcoats.

Other differences: As the Alliance LOST, Miranda's existence is no secret, though the Reavers are passed off as the result of mutations due to radiation released when a nuclear reactor exploded (in truth, released when an Earth warship subjected the planet to nuclear bombardment). The Earth government supports the Alliance's attempt to hide the truth, as it's concerned if the Alliance government collapses, the resulting civil war will harm Earth's interests. There are ongoing efforts to eliminate the Reavers (which I may make the result of an Alliance attempt to create supersoldiers).

Plausibility of these ideas?

[Solauren]

I like it, and very plausible.

Post series re-write, you could even have the Serenity end up exploring into other parts of the nearby galaxy under Earth (or other break-off factions control), to bring back that knowledge to the Alliance citizenry, in hopes it inspires them to rise up.

[Sidewinder]

Idea: During the Unification War, the Alliance threatened to blacklist the Companion's Guild, in an attempt to make companions spy on "people of interest." The then guildmaster publicized the Alliance's demands, to win public support for her efforts to maintain the guild's neutrality; when she died during the war, a conspiracy theorists suspected this was at an Alliance operative's hands, making the guildmaster a martyr to the Browncoats.

After the war, the Alliance changed its ways and simply bribed the new Companion's Guild guildmaster to pass operatives through guild training, so the operatives could pose as companions; the head of the Alliance intelligence service (its CIA equivalent) justified this by telling his operatives, "After the Companion's Guild publicly humiliated us, it will be insane for us to work with it, right? That means no one will suspect we ARE working with it." The Companion's Guild presents itself as a Red Cross-like organization, officially forbidding its members from involving themselves in the Cold War-like conflict between the Alliance and the Independent Planets, so companions can cross the border with relative ease; to support this stance, the guildmaster also allows the Independent Planets intelligence service (its FBI equivalent) to do the same. Any "companions" caught spying for either side, are publicly expelled; of course, the Alliance and Independent Planets alike screen their own their operatives to ensure these operatives are too smart to get caught.

Mal is initially suspicious of Inara, wondering if she's an Alliance spy, an Independent Planets spy, a double agent, a freelance spy... Inara counters by emphasizing the value of the guild's "neutrality," which provides her with contacts on both sides. To test this, Mal has her find a source of Earth-brewed wine and whiskey, which are literally worth their weight in platinum in Alliance space; Inara passes the test.

FYI, the Companion's Guild has little influence on planets under the Earth government, which are effectively "right-to-work worlds" to their own companion equivalents.

I like it, and very plausible.

Thank you.

Post series re-write, you could even have the Serenity end up exploring into other parts of the nearby galaxy under Earth (or other break-off factions control), to bring back that knowledge to the Alliance citizenry, in hopes it inspires them to rise up.

This MIGHT be viable. I'm uncertain if this will be allowed, due to Mal's reluctance to get involved in other people's problems (remember, the Browncoats WON in this AU); the Independent Planets' concern over the costs of securing its own borders (conscription, rationing, raised taxes, sacrificing welfare and other social programs in favor of a military buildup), much less maintaining order on planets that broke away from the Alliance; and the Earth government remembering what happened to Iraq after Saddam Hussein was overthrown, to Libya after Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown, to Russia after the Soviet Union collapsed...

[Bedlam]

So what did the Independents actually gain in this situation?

My rough understanding of the cannon setting is that the Alliance is a single monolithic government ruling over all, it's presence is strongest in the 'core' worlds and weaker in the newer less populated worlds. The Independents are the smaller governments of those other worlds who didn't want the Alliance telling them what to do.

So by winning have the Independents just shrugged off the Alliance control or did they 'free' the alliance controlled planets? Did they get any sort of reparations from the Alliance or permanently weaken them in any way? Have the Independents remained unified after the war and act like a single government or all they more of a federation or Union where each planet or ever faction within a planet gets to do things differently? They're tied to Earth in your setting has this forced some sort of central set of rules on them or can they do more or less what they want?

I might certainly be interesting to have a wide range of cultures around and to possibly show the friction between those. Maybe the alliance could be trying to fracture the Independents or there may be some alliance citizens who ended up on the wrong side of the borders when the peace treaties were signed and want to be ruled by it again.

[Sidewinder]

So by winning have the Independents just shrugged off the Alliance control or did they 'free' the alliance controlled planets? Did they get any sort of reparations from the Alliance or permanently weaken them in any way?

The Alliance permanently lost half the Border Planets (those Earth was able and willing to support); the other half is still under the Central Planets' rule. After the war, there were mass migrations, with anti-Alliance people moving to the Independent Planets, and pro-Alliance people moving out of there.

The Alliance did to the remaining Border Planets what the UK did to Canada, supporting further development and granting planetary governments greater autonomy, to maintain the Border Planets' loyalty; the Alliance Parliament raised taxes on the Central Planets to fund the Border Planets' development, causing tensions within the Central Planets' upper classes.

Have the Independents remained unified after the war and act like a single government or all they more of a federation or Union where each planet or ever faction within a planet gets to do things differently?

I'd say the Independent Planets initially had a weak central government, but the central government is giving itself more power to meet its citizens' demands and to face the threat the Alliance still poses- in short, transforming from a confederation to a federal republic.

They're tied to Earth in your setting has this forced some sort of central set of rules on them or can they do more or less what they want?

My idea is Earth's influence is mostly "soft," i.e., cultural and economic, emphasizing trade instead of military power. There are military advisors providing technical and tactical training for the Browncoats, but their numbers are nowhere near enough to conquer a planet, much less the Independent Planets; as each Independent Planets Army and Navy unit stands up, these military advisors return to Earth and its colonies, unless they choose to resign from Earth's military and emigrate to the Independent Planets.

If there's a conflict between the Earth and Independent Planets governments, Earth's plans are to spread propaganda on the Independent Planets, and convince the latter's citizens to vote their leaders out of office; Earth currently sees an assassination campaign against Independent Planets government leaders, as more trouble than it's worth, due to concerns the resulting government instability may harm the lucrative trade between the two. The Blackcoats still resent this limited influence, and spread anti-Earth propaganda; they also threaten Independent Planets government leaders they see as "traitors to the cause," and are blind to how such behavior actually drives the Independent Planets government closer to Earth.

I might certainly be interesting to have a wide range of cultures around and to possibly show the friction between those. Maybe the alliance could be trying to fracture the Independents...

I'm sure Alliance intelligence services hope to do so, but their current priority is to prevent the Alliance itself from fracturing, due to the tensions I previously described.

[lordroel]

I had an idea for a 'Firefly' fanfic in which the Independent Planets (Browncoats) triumph over the Alliance, due to a third party's intervention- in short, if the Alliance was Ukraine, the Browncoats were Donbas, kept "independent" thanks to support from a third party that is the Russia equivalent.

The third party is Earth and its colonies on nearby stars. This requires a change in backstory, i.e., the idea "Earth-That-Was" was made inhabitable and eventually abandoned, being falsehood and propaganda the Alliance spread to prevent its citizens from leaving it, the way North Korea demonized South Korea. Earth allowed the Alliance's future founders to leave, the Earth government feeling it was more trouble than it was worth to maintain control over those who didn't want to be controlled; knowledge of the Alliance's existence was limited to private businessmen who provided critical resources the Border Planets needed and luxury goods the Central Planets wanted, not due to the Earth government's censorship, but due to the people's apathy (yes, that means both sides have reliable and relatively cheap faster-than-light transportation, though the Alliance restricts its use to maintain control over its populace). Earth remains neutral until the Alliance repeats the Imperial German government's mistake and attacks a neutral party (Earth-flagged ships), making Earth support the Browncoats.

The Independent Planets become "independent" from the Alliance, but dependent upon Earth, to which it is a buffer state; the many former Browncoats who are unhappy with this, form the "True Independents" (I intend to nickname them "Blackcoats") to attack all sides (the Alliance, Earth and its "lapdogs" in the Independent Planets government, civilians caught in the middle) and are attacked, in turn, from all sides.

Mal and Zoe are honorably discharged from the Independent Planets Army, pooling their pension to buy the ship they named "Serenity" after the Browncoats' victory there. As the Alliance has imposed a trade embargo upon Earth, the Serenity serves a smuggler vessel, providing goods the Central Planets secretly want. Simon presents his attempt to smuggle River out of Alliance space, as an effort to get her medical treatment available only on planets under the Earth government, winning a modicum of sympathy from the former Browncoats; this backfires when Mal's former brothers-in-arms attempt to seize River for the Blackcoats.

Other differences: As the Alliance LOST, Miranda's existence is no secret, though the Reavers are passed off as the result of mutations due to radiation released when a nuclear reactor exploded (in truth, released when an Earth warship subjected the planet to nuclear bombardment). The Earth government supports the Alliance's attempt to hide the truth, as it's concerned if the Alliance government collapses, the resulting civil war will harm Earth's interests. There are ongoing efforts to eliminate the Reavers (which I may make the result of an Alliance attempt to create supersoldiers).

Plausibility of these ideas?

Is Earth still a thing in the future, toughed it was abandoned as far as i have read.

[Sidewinder]

Is Earth still a thing in the future, toughed it was abandoned as far as i have read.

As I stated, the idea requires a change in backstory. Earth was made uninhabitable and abandoned in the Firefly canon; in this, Earth was NOT, though the Alliance spread propaganda that Earth was made uninhabitable, to discourage its citizens from abandoning it the way East Germans and North Koreans abandoned their nations in search of better lives in West Germany and South Korea.

[Zaune]

As I stated, the idea requires a change in backstory. Earth was made uninhabitable and abandoned in the Firefly canon; in this, Earth was NOT, though the Alliance spread propaganda that Earth was made uninhabitable, to discourage its citizens from abandoning it the way East Germans and North Koreans abandoned their nations in search of better lives in West Germany and South Korea.

Not necessarily. We know that the unidentified star system where Firefly takes place was settled by sleeper ships and/or generation ships fleeing Earth after climate change and resource depletion reached the point where it looked like the world wouldn't be viable much longer, but it's quite likely that other refugee flotillas (flotillae?) aimed for other nearby stars and were able to establish themselves there, and it's virtually certain that a significant majority of the population were left behind on Earth. That they died out is purely supposition, albeit probably a reasonable one, and completely unverifiable unless they're close enough to Sol for a radio telescope to have a chance of picking up decipherable emissions.

If they did survive, maybe at some point they'll get an Alcubierre Drive working and go see how the diaspora are getting along.

[Sidewinder]

We know that the unidentified star system where Firefly takes place was settled by sleeper ships and/or generation ships fleeing Earth after climate change and resource depletion reached the point where it looked like the world wouldn't be viable much longer, but it's quite likely that other refugee flotillas (flotillae?) aimed for other nearby stars and were able to establish themselves there, and it's virtually certain that a significant majority of the population were left behind on Earth. That they died out is purely supposition, albeit probably a reasonable one, and completely unverifiable unless they're close enough to Sol for a radio telescope to have a chance of picking up decipherable emissions.

Among the changes I'm making to the background, for the fanfic's sake, is reliable and relatively cheap faster-than-light sensors and communications systems. That will allow people in the Alliance to contact the still heavily populated Earth, if the Alliance government relaxes the restrictions it placed upon such communications. (Fat chance- the Alliance government is understandably afraid of foreign influence upon its worlds, as are the "True Independents" acting like the Islamic State in their attempts to "Free [the Independent Planets] from the tyranny of Earth-That-Was!"

If they did survive, maybe at some point they'll get an Alcubierre Drive working and go see how the diaspora are getting along.

As noted in the OP, there is healthy trade between Earth and the Independent Planets, and widespread smuggling between Earth and the Alliance. Most inhabitants of planets under the Earth government, simply don't care about such trade, unless it impacts them directly, e.g., they're businessmen and "businessmen" (smugglers) engaged in trade, or they have friends and family members who were robbed and killed due to the Alliance's actions (what made Earth side with the Independent Planets during the Unification War, making the Alliance lose).

By the way, should I set further limitations to faster-than-light communications to explain why there aren't many between the Alliance and Earth, e.g., say ships cannot simultaneously use faster-than-light communications and sensors due to technobabble?