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The Galactic Co-Operative of Worlds

GalCop exists as a centralised administration for trade, commerce and security of the spacelanes.  It has four main responsibilities in the areas of space that it controls: commerce, diplomacy, law enforcement and military.

GalCop’s roots reach back to the turn of the twenty-sixth century, when the intent of the Federation to wipe out indigenous alien life forms on the colony world of Diso led a group of colonised worlds called the Old Worlds to secede from the rule of the Galactic Federation and become self-governing, restyling themselves as the Far Colonies in the process.  This handful of worlds opened their arms to other colonies and even other alien worlds, and became the fastest growing organisation seen thus far.  The main reason for this was the easygoing policy of the Far Colonies administration – an agreement with the Far Colonies meant only formalised interstellar trade formats, sharing of resources and the presence of a policing force to prevent piracy in the world’s orbitspace.  This was preferable to the strict governance of the Federation and Empire, and as a result, many worlds chose membership in the new organisation.

The influx of members led the Far Colonies to restructure the organisation and formalise the loose policies and codes of conduct.  In 2696, the Galactic Co-Operative of Worlds charter was drawn up and signed by representatives of all the member worlds of the time.  The charter remained largely unchanged for nearly half a millennium.

The creation of GalCop instilled a sense of fear in both the Federation and the Empire, as this upstart alliance had stolen member worlds from both organisations.  It was decreed that GalCop member worlds and their inhabitants would be forbidden entry into any Federal or Imperial space.  Ships would be shot on sight, and all GalCop ship ID signals would be programmed into ID computers as pirates or criminals.  Any GalCop diplomatic staff found on a Federal or Imperial world would be either arrested and extradited or executed.  As a result of this, all vessels’ navigation systems were redesigned to only show the worlds of GalCop – travel to unlisted systems or worlds was disabled.

This ostracising shaped the political entity of GalCop for the next four hundred years.  Expansion was permitted only through non-aligned or independent colonies or through alien worlds.  As such, it was slower than expected, but still grew at a fairly even rate.  The GalCop administration felt that a clear-cut defence policy was important in case of incursion by any of the other organisations, thus a cunning and effective naval reserve policy was drafted, in which any qualified space pilot was enlisted as a reserve naval officer to be activated in case of enemy incursion.  This policy remained in effect until GalCop’s dissolution in 3147.

Internally, GalCop’s stability was rock-solid.  Member worlds were granted the benefits of a standardised and fair trading system (as of 2715), a local diplomatic liaison office, military and police forces available in the world’s orbital space and a guaranteed directive of non-interference with planetary government.  In return, the ruling party of the world was obliged to make available a pre-agreed range of items for trade to other worlds, in addition to providing resources for the support of troubled or needy worlds if requested.  Also, if there was a change in the planetary government, a simple yes or no question would be asked: do you agree to the terms and conditions of membership within GalCop as agreed to by your predecessor?  If the answer was yes, the world remained in the Co-operative; if the answer was no, or if other conditions were demanded, then membership was revoked.  No new government ever disagreed…

GalCop’s Ruling Council

GalCop’s internal structure was simplistic but effective.  The council hierarchy was as follows:

President
|
Chiefs of Staff
(1 member each from Military, Commerce, Judicial, Health, Diplomatic, Science and Governance Divisions)
|
Worlds Council
(1 member from each member world)

The Worlds Council was comprised of one elected official from each member world, each of whom appointed a deputy who would retain their office on their homeworld (usually doing the council member’s job when the council member was off-world on GCW business).  The council members did not usually live in residence, but there were facilities in Ashoria (the capital of Lave) for them to be accommodated if necessary.

Chiefs of staff were usually elected from the senior members of each division by an election of their peers, although on some occasions the Chiefs of Staff were elected by the Worlds Council.

Every three standard years, a uniform election was held, during which World Council members and Chiefs of Staff could stand down from the post (proposing a successor in the process) or stand for re-election.  The leading organisations of every planet in GalCop would become involved in this, and once the council positions for the next term had been settled, the election of the next President began.

There was nothing preventing a current president from standing for re-election.  However, in order to be eligible for election as president, a candidate must have served at least three consecutive terms as a council member or Chief of Staff.  The only exception to this was the last president, although his method of achieving the presidency was unorthodox at best.

Lave – GalCop’s Capital

The planet Lave was GalCop’s administrative capital, and home to the famed pilot training academy.

For more information on Lave, see the dedicated page.

GalCop’s headquarters, known as Holdstock Plaza, are located in the south-east of the planet’s capital Ashoria.  The HQ is a collection of three buildings located in a landscaped garden environment complete with a small copse of trees, a pond and flower garden.  The western side is a memorial garden dedicated to those pilots who have died in service to GalCop.

The three buildings are, from east to west, the training academy, the administrative building and the commercial building.  From these three buildings, GalCop provides all the services that the member worlds utilise.

Training Academy

Here, pilots and crew receive the essential training in order to pursue their career in the stars.  The facility provides pilot training, combat training, diplomatic education and commerce training to name but a few, and help educate the prospective spacer in whatever aspect of space travel is required.  The most numerous applicants are those who wish to become space traders, receiving the full package of courses taken over a year.

The building houses lecture halls, conference rooms and simulation suites, along with facilities and amenities for all races and phenotypes.

Note that students are not housed on this site.  The academy has arrangements with Ashoria CityGov to provide accommodation for those studying within the academy.

Administrative Building

This building is where GalCop is actually run, and contains the offices of the President and Chiefs of Staff.  The day-to day running of the affairs of the GCW are centred here, but the majority of the actual staff are in residence on Lave Coriolis One.

Even with this in mind, the GCW Admin building is still one of the largest, with 4 storeys above ground and nine below.  The largest room is by far the main conference hall, which has seating for over 2500 people and is three storeys high.  This is the room that the ruling council occupy when in session,

There are smaller conference halls in the building, along with the offices of the Chiefs, which also have adjacent offices for their executive staff.

Sub-floor 5 contains a commissary and ‘mess hall’, complete with entertainment centre and a suite of SynPleasure RelaxaPads for the use of the executive staff.

Commercial Building

This is the commercial and entertainment centre for those who frequent the other two buildings.  The administration building has an underground linking tunnel to this facility, but those who use the academy must make their way through the gardens.  In this way, students of the academy will frequently mingle and talk with the administrative staff.

The Commercial building has many open air sections, such as a market place and theatre, along with a complete shopping complex and full suite of entertainment and relaxation facilities.  It also has full leisure and fitness centres, including gyms, athletic holosuites and swimming pools.

The Galactic Navy

The GalCop navy was a most effective fighting unit, and were the galaxy's first line of defence against the Thargoid threat.

Although GalCop had always maintained a small naval force due to the threat of incursions from Federal or Imperial forces, it had always been a small affair.  GalCop's security mainly relied on the more organised police force and the GalCop tradeships and scout vessels plying the space lanes.

When the Thargoids made themselves known as an enemy in 2851, the Galactic Naval Charter was created, and the Navy was officially ratified and given a substantial budget.  In a remarkably short time, the new force was kitted out and staffed, and the pilots were recruited from the body of existing GalCop pilots, including a large amount of Elite combateers and retired pilots.

Whilst the main body of the fighting force were engaged in deep space with the Thargoids, there were still some divisions available for home defence.  Separate agencies were set up, including a research department and an administrative body, taking the majority of the dog work from the main GalCop administration.

Several bases were set up on various worlds, with one example being the research base on Ribilebi.  This base concentrated on alien technology and are currently researching the Thargon remote craft to see if it can be backwards engineered to create a remote craft for GalNav forces.

Federation and Empire

During this period, the political structure of Federation and Empire remained as it had been since the signing of the treaty between the two powers.  A state of cold war existed between them, with espionage and counter-espionage being the order of the day.  Small skirmishes occasionally erupted but no major actions blew up.

Both organisations had the same opinion regarding the Galactic Co-operative, as outlined in that organisation’s section above – wary tolerance.

The Alliance

The Alliance at this point did not exist, although there were some factions in the Alioth system who were very outspoken about their opinions of the Federation and the way that Alioth and some other systems had been treated.

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