UEG (United Earth Government):
The UEG is a military dictatorship espousing a fascist and human centric ideology. The two most powerful elements within the Government is the Office of the Prime Minister, a nigh hereditary position currently held by Anton Leonard II, and the GMP (Global Military Police), the infamous secret police and intelligence arm of the UEG.
Internally the UEG either does right by the population or is wildly oppressive, depending on your species. Humans are treated well albeit under constant over-watch by the GMP and the State. Non Humans are third class citizens that suffer harassment and discrimination. If it wasn’t for the fact that the UEG’s trade partners are vehemently anti-slave then the non humans within the Sol System would be nothing but. While not slaves in name, in many cases they might as well be, due to the economic, property, and segregation restrictions placed upon them.
Like all oppressive regimes the maintenance of power requires an outside force to focus the population’s ire outward rather than inward. To this end the ‘undesirable’ third class citizens serve as visible close to home example, while extra solar polities with either a diverse mix of humans and non-humans, or solely non-human make for a viable outside threat. Both are used to justify and promulgate the UEG’s ideological polices and military expansion. This is not to say that the all the policies of the UEG are failed, they aren’t; however while civically sound the UEG is nevertheless economically strained due in part to the stinging defeats from the Battle of Aquila and the Fantoma campaigns as well as the high operations tempo in and around reclaimed and newly formed colonies. Due to this, the military budget strips funds that could, and should, be spent elsewhere.
The UEG’s policy of expansion, leading to the reclamation of Earth's lost colonies, hit a devastating snag over the world of Aquilae. Already anticipating a tough fight against one of the only colonies that had a strong defense force, the bolstered and prepared UEG fleet nevertheless was held at bay long enough for an allied coalition fleet to arrive and relieve the beleaguered world. Sandwiched between this fleet and the planet the UEG fleet was crushed, incurring losses from which it would not soon recover.
Despite this loss, the UEG’s expansion plans continued; with a few colonies barely worth the distinction being snapped up before the UEG shifted its focus. Instead of conquering old colonies, new colonies would be seeded and territory claimed. Most of these colonies are situated within a 100ly radius of Earth with a few outposts as far afield as 450ly. The UEG also maintains a few far flung listening posts in the Fantoma Sector, mainly around the fringes of the Eastern Expanse where they do their best to monitor the comings and goings from the Settlers Gate.
While a cold war state still exists between the UEG and pretty much everyone else but for their own colonies due to their specie-ist views and sentient rights violations, pragmatism dictates that at least some commerce and communications are conducted. To that end the UEG maintains an embassy on Tiresia and both polities engage in regulated trade of items such as food, commercial goods, and raw materials of a non-military nature.
Aquilaen Protectorate:
A polity of six worlds, of which three feature settlements. Aquilae, the capitol world, was one of the first Earth colonies settled in accordance with the Gloval Plan of 2014. Technologically advanced and economically sound this colony was spared the horrors of the Second and Third Robotech Wars. In fact, those two conflicts are what enabled Aquilae to become self sufficient and independent from Earth. Soldiers from Aquilae did participate in the ill fated liberation effort alongside the 10th Mars Division, and provided food stuffs and other military supplies to support the efforts of the 21st Mars Division. Subsequent military cooperation for the 101st Mars Divisions assault were undertaken separate the main body and, following the Pershing Directive, under Aquilaen commanders, the lessons of the past having been taken to heart.
Politically a meritocracy under military rule Aquilae is an open and free society of strong souls and core values. It is this system of government and societal outlook that explains the close relationship with the Ōkami Shogunate; with Aquilae thus far the only polity the Shogunate has sallied forth from her own domain to assist militarily.
Aquilae has a thriving tech sector and exports military wares to allied trade partners alongside consumer goods and foodstuffs. Imports are largely the same, with products from the Khel Sector of immense popularity.
Aquila maintains open ties and a cordial relationship with the Sentinels Confederation and the other nations of the Fantoma Sector and is a full fledged ally of the Shogunate complete with mutual defense treaty. Relations with the UEG have been cold and guarded ever since the UEG’s attempt to annex Aquilae in 2058, and very few opportunities to tweak the noses of the UEG go unmissed.
Sentinels Confederation:
The Sentinels Confederation, as an umbrella entity acts much like the EU (European Union) of old Earth. As such, the various nations within the Confederation have their own internal strengths and weaknesses. Overall the Sentinels Confederation has managed to do a well enough job administering the day to day minutia of economic and political diplomacy between its member states. However, despite the best efforts of several members to curtail bureaucratic bloat, over the decades the Confederation's administration has grown far larger than it really needs to be. This has caused tensions and may become an issue down the line, but for now, the situation is stable enough and things more or less get done in a timely manner.
Tirolian Republic:
The polity is, as the name suggests, based on Tirol and is made of up the Tirolian survivors of the Third and Fourth Robotech War as well as the Humans of the UEEF that had sailed to their rescue a century ago. Espousing egalitarian views the Republic has managed to carve out a sizable empire of sorts. Originally consisting of 75 worlds, most of them colonies of the old Tirolian Mercantile Republic, this has been pared back to 47 as colonies reached self sufficiency and petitioned for and received independence, or, were deemed so far gone that but for outposts and small settlements were delisted and are now considered frontier worlds for private individuals to tame on their own dime and their own time.
Of all the nations in the Sentinels Confederation, the Republic is the one that has amassed the largest bureaucracy, it seems that not even with the lessons of the past and a century of time could the Tirolians and Humans escape their love affair with overstaffed government; although, to be fair, the Republic does have the largest collection of worlds to administer. Part and parcel with governmental bloat comes corruption, graft and conflicting political ideologies.
The Republic also plays host to the largest military in the Fantoma Sector and as such her ships and troops are called upon to deal with most of the issues facing the Republic and Confederation. The lion’s share of issues requiring military intervention is the occasional flare ups between independent worlds and the off incursion by a rogue Zentraedi or Meltrandi fleet. Her troops are well trained and equipped yet have not fought a large scale set piece battle in over 50 years.
In the realm of foreign affairs the Republic, within the framework of the Confederation, maintains close ties with her sister states. Outside of that framework she maintains trade relationships with worlds within the Khel Sector as well as a trade legation aboard the Nanban Terminus within the Ōkami Sector. Relations with Earth and the Sol Sector are minimal, and, despite growing trade, the fact that the Republic is home to non-humans and given their cozy relations with the governments on Ōkami and Aquila, even these minimal relations are strained.
Karberran Hegemony:
With their capitol on Karberra the Hegemony has, over the last century, done much to rebuild their ravaged territory, and even to this day some areas still bear the scars of the Third and Fourth Robotech War. Staunch supporters of the Confederation, the Hegemony is the next most powerful and influential polity within it. With two core worlds and nine colonies within their sphere of influence the Hegemony boasts a robust population and industry.
Militarily powerful, it is the Fleets of the Hegemony that rival the Republic Expiditionary Forces (REF), and her ships and soldiers have stood beam to beam and shoulder to shoulder with the REF in almost all the military actions undertaken by the Republic, either independently or in the Confederation’s name.
With the dearth of Protoculture within the Fantoma Sector, Karberran refineries pump out vast quantities of Sekettin and Monopole Ore to compensate. As a result the Hegemony is economically solvent. The downside to this prosperity is that the various Karberran mining guilds wield extraordinary power, which, in a few outlier cases has resulted in violence. The guild’s jealously guard any known and perceived Sekettin or Monopole Ore deposit within the Hegemony and exact a steep operating tithe from any non-Karberran entity that wishes to mine them.
Garudan Freehold:
The Garudan Freehold is a small nation of three colony worlds. Utterly subjugated by the Invid their world was turned into a massive plantation. This makes Garuda, despite its toxic atmosphere, one of the few place where one can grow the Flower of Life. This crop, alongside a robust textile and lumber industry, is what provides the Freehold with the lions share of it's income. These industries are buttressed by a growing vehicle and ship building capacity; which specializes in high speed courier and scout vessels and survey and scout vehicles for use on newly (re)discovered worlds. Despite this the economy of the Freehold suffers from a severe lack of capital.
A devout and curious people the Garudans are the Sentinel Confederation's premier scouts and survey experts, but because of their psychic abilities are held at arm’s length most of the time. This has made them, as a people, slightly resentful. The fact that mainstream Garudan’s require separate life support facilities to live off of Garuda only exacerbates the issue.
Almost a century ago a political and social crisis was provoked by the mass emigration of a subset of the Garudan people that had either through interbreeding, cybernetic alteration or painful acclimation, eliminated their dependency on their home-worlds toxic atmosphere to live. These ‘Unmasked’ would have been the Garudan’s easy ticket to colonization, commerce and normalized relations with other races but for Garudan hardliners that believed that to reject the toxic atmosphere was an affront to their entire culture. It was also convenient to blame many of the problems faced on Garuda on the Unmasked who, having superior access to other races had grown rich and influential because of it.
With the mass emigration of the Unmasked (roughly 5% of the Freehold's total population) to the welcoming embrace of the Ōkami Shogunate, the remaining Garudan’s were forced to reevaluate their world view and reform not only their belief structure but their socio-economic/political models as well. Failure to do so would have condemned Garuda to being nothing more than a rustic backwater that’s sole source of income would be nothing but the selling of curios.
While painful and beset with violence and strife, the Garudan Reformation, as Garudan’s can now admit with the clarity of time, was the best thing to happen to them, although, hardliner elements still cling to their resentment and ideology.
Praxian League:
The Praxians have taken to their new place in the sector well, and are close allies to the Tirolian Republic. Far from a rubber stamp however, they have their own agenda and voice. Like Garuda, the Flower of Life can be farmed on Praxis and to a limited extent, is. However the Praxians, never a species that relied on the fuel, remember well the problems it caused. Most, 90%, of the plant is grown for export, with the remaining 10% used to power their military.
The major industries for Praxis are the aforementioned Protoculture plantations, and a thriving tourist trade. Their clothing styles have recently become all the rage among beachgoers and those living in ‘Mediterranean’ climates. Among those that practice the martial arts, weapons made of Praxian steel are highly prized for their durability.
While formidable, the Praxian Defense Forces are just that, a defense force. While the PDF is relatively short legged when compared to larger navies, this does not mean Praxian ships are unable, or unwilling, to depart the space around the duo of worlds they call their own. It only means that when they do, it is for reasons that serves their needs, or to assist an ally. Due to their proximity to the Coreward fringe of Republic territory, they scout the periphery for new worlds and old foes.
Pyrtonian States:
A quartet of worlds makes up the territory claimed by the enigmatic and ancient Pyrtonians. Pyrteon, the capitol, is a unique world, both modern and mystical. While her colonies were ravaged by the Invid, Pyrteon, due to her quasi-mystical nature was, apart from a few seeding attempts, more or less left alone by the Regent’s Invid Host. She therefore had an intact infrastructure and modern cities standing in good condition at the end of the 3rd Robotech War and the Haydonites largely ignored the States during the 4th.
Political isolationists the Pyrtonians maintain open relations and trade, but keep out of Sector Politics in general, although their representatives to the Confederation have been known to take stands on policy within the Appella in accordance to their own agenda. Like the Garudans, due to their innate powers the rest of the sector keeps them at a distance, a state of affairs that suits the Pyrtonians desires nicely.
Trade and sale of their vaunted Anti Gravity systems, that do not require Protoculture to fuel or function, serves to maintain their position as a valuable, if aloof, trading partner to the Confederation with other commercial industries catering to the Confederations appetites for local consumer goods.