Umoja

Umoja was a planet in the Koprulu sector and the capital world of the Umojan Protectorate, a fiercely independent terran nation. Its skies were a coppery orange, its air faintly spiced, and its fertile grasslands and plains made land a premium across a sometimes harsh climate. The Umojans considered themselves an enlightened people and were known for a small government, a lucrative economy, and highly functional, cutting-edge technology. They held themselves apart from the Terran Confederacy and later the Terran Dominion, pursuing their independence by covert means.

Settlement of the New World#

Umoja was first peopled by the survivors of two crashed colony ships. The Sarengo smashed into the planet, killing all eight thousand of its passengers and cleaving a massive canyon into the surface, while the Reagan landed safely, its passengers stripping it of essential materials to find refuge in their new surroundings. These vagabond inhabitants worked to survive in what they called the New World, making do with meager resources, and as they spread across the planet they adopted a method of fair and democratic governance that became known as the Umojan Ruling Council. Its philosophy of leaving nothing to waste kept Umoja's flora and fauna unspoiled. In a relatively short time the Umojans spread to other worlds and developed a prosperous, self-supporting economy.

Independence and the Confederacy#

A productive period of open communication and trade began when Umoja first came into contact with Tarsonis and Moria. Although Tarsonis repeatedly pushed Umoja and Moria to join a conglomerated government, the two colonies refused, unwilling to accept the likely pre-eminence of Tarsonis in such an arrangement. The Umojan Ruling Council grew wary of the rising influence of the Terran Confederacy, and the Umojans held open contempt for the sister colonies that submitted to its near-fascist yoke. During the Guild Wars, Umojan volunteers fought for the Kel-Morian Combine as unofficial combatants, many of them relishing the chance to battle the Confederacy.

The Umojan Protectorate#

The Umojan Ruling Council regarded the outcome of the Guild Wars as utterly abusive. It held an emergency sitting in 2489 and, inviting other nearby independent colonies to join, formed the Umojan Protectorate with Umoja as its capital world. During the Rebellion of Korhal, the council secretly pledged to aid Senator Angus Mengsk, to whom it had close personal ties.

Arcturus Mengsk was on Umoja making plans with separatist factions during the bombardment of Korhal, and by the time he became Emperor of the Terran Dominion in 2500 he was well known on the world. Crown Prince Valerian Mengsk spent the first seven years of his life on Umoja with Juliana Pasteur.

Strained relations with the Dominion#

The relationship suffered damage soon afterward. Dominion capital ships under General Edmund Duke were told to keep their distance from Umoja when Arcturus Mengsk paid his son a visit, and the emperor had to descend in an obsolete gun cutter. Shortly after he landed, a Confederate Resistance Forces team led by Captain Angelina Emillian attacked, outnumbering the Dominion and Umojan security forces and cutting off communication with the orbiting vessels. Arcturus, Valerian, and their war teacher Master Miyamoto held the attackers off long enough for the Dominion ships to rescue them, a feat made possible only because Duke ignored Umojan instructions to keep away. Afterward the Umojans and the Dominion had to renegotiate the movement of Dominion capital vessels.

The Terran Dominion imposed trade embargoes and made assassination attempts against dissidents seeking asylum in Protectorate territory in an effort to undermine Umojan sovereignty. Aware of the Dominion's unparalleled military might, the Umojan Ruling Council chose a more covert route to uphold its independence. Its members debated whether the Dominion would ever move more forcefully against Umoja, and unanimously agreed to continue their subversive activities and take any action necessary to preserve their freedom. Umoja mobilized in response to the zerg invasion of terran space in 2504.