Systems Alliance

The Systems Alliance was the representative body of Earth and all human colonies in Citadel space, backed by the planet's most powerful nations and serving as humanity's military, exploratory, and economic arm. Although the Alliance was a relative newcomer to the galactic community, it rose with remarkable speed, securing humanity an embassy on the Presidium and, in time, a seat on the Citadel Council. The Alliance was governed by a parliament based at Arcturus Station, which also served as its capital, and it produced both humanity's first Spectre, Commander Shepard, and the stealth frigate Normandy SR-1.

Foundation#

In 2148, a mining team on Mars unearthed the subterranean ruins of an ancient alien research station, revealing incontrovertible proof that humanity was not alone in the universe. The discovery dominated human culture and, where it fractured religions, it unified politics: rather than warring among themselves, the nations of Earth began laying the foundations of a united front. Within a year, Earth's eighteen largest nations drafted and ratified the Systems Alliance charter, establishing a representative political body to expand and defend human territory, and pooled their military resources into the Systems Alliance military. In 2149 the Alliance discovered the Sol system's mass relay orbiting Pluto, the so-called Charon Relay, which propelled humanity into rapid interstellar expansion.

The First Contact War#

The Alliance pursued an aggressive policy of activating dormant mass relays to seek new colonies and resources. In 2157 a human scout fleet attempting to activate one such relay encountered a turian patrol; unaware that the Council had banned activating uncharted relays since the Rachni Wars, the humans were fired upon. The resulting Relay 314 Incident, known to humanity as the First Contact War, saw the turians besiege and briefly occupy the colony of Shanxi before the Alliance's Second Fleet evicted them. The conflict lasted only three months and cost 623 human lives before the Citadel Council intervened and negotiated peace, ordering the turians to pay reparations. The war thrust humanity onto the galactic stage and gave the Alliance the political credibility to establish its own Parliament and speak for humanity as a whole.

Government and economy#

The Alliance was a supranational, parliamentary government based at Arcturus Station, responsible for governing and defending many extrasolar human colonies. Its member nations retained their individual sovereignty on Earth, and among the Citadel races the Alliance was treated as a sovereign nation over which no other species held oversight. The government was headed by a Prime Minister, a post held by Amul Shastri as of 2186. The Alliance economy grew quickly into a key player in the galactic market, becoming a major trade partner of the Turian Hierarchy despite lingering animosity, though it never approached the size of the asari economy. It maintained generally good relations with the Asari Republics and the Salarian Union, a cold but functional relationship with the turians, and outright rivalry with the Batarian Hegemony over colonization of the Skyllian Verge and Attican Traverse.

Military doctrine#

The Alliance military was respected among the Citadel races for novel tactics and technology. With only around three percent of humans volunteering for service, the Alliance was regarded as a "sleeping giant" that compensated for low numbers with sophisticated VIs, drones, artillery, electronic warfare, and an emphasis on mobility and individual initiative. Rather than absorbing heavy blows like the turians or krogan, Alliance forces bypassed enemy strongpoints and struck deep into the rear to sever supply lines and destroy command units. On defense the Alliance placed only token scouting garrisons on its colonies while stationing powerful fleets at mass relay nexuses to respond with overwhelming force. As a signatory of the Treaty of Farixen, it was restricted to fewer dreadnoughts than the turians, a limit it circumvented by deploying carriers, whose primary armament was fighters rather than ship-length cannons. Its elite operators were drawn from the N7 program, and its soldiers received gene therapy for improved strength and stamina.

Rise to the Council#

The Alliance gained a Citadel embassy in 2165, electing Anita Goyle as humanity's first ambassador, and openly sought a Council seat to protect its colonies and secure recognition as a senior race. In 2183 the Alliance cooperated with the turians to build the stealth frigate Normandy under Captain David Anderson, and produced humanity's first Spectre when Commander Shepard was inducted to pursue the rogue agent Saren Arterius. When Saren attacked the Citadel alongside the Reaper Sovereign and a geth fleet, the Alliance's Fifth Fleet was drawn into the battle. Whether the fleet diverted to save the Council aboard the Destiny Ascension or focused on destroying Sovereign depended on the choices made during the crisis, but in either outcome humanity was judged worthy and was granted a Council seat, with the galaxy looking to it for leadership against the growing Reaper threat.

The Reaper War#

When the Reapers invaded in 2186, the Alliance had become aware of the incursion but its preparations proved too little, too late. The Reapers plowed through Alliance defenses, destroyed Arcturus Station along with much of the Alliance leadership, and conquered Earth within hours, forcing a withdrawal from the homeworld. Under Admiral Steven Hackett, the Alliance rallied a coalition of the galaxy's races and returned for an all-or-nothing assault on Earth, deploying joint strike teams across the galaxy to counter the Reapers wherever they appeared. The aim was to bring the Crucible superweapon to bear, a struggle in which the Alliance and its allies fought the climactic battle for Earth. The Alliance survived the war in varying degrees depending on its outcome, and in every scenario its forces went on to aid the rebuilding of the galaxy.