In the year 2148, explorers on Mars discovered the remains of an ancient spacefaring civilization.
In the decades that followed, these mysterious artifacts revealed startling new technologies,
enabling travel to the furthest stars.
Faced with the realities of establishing an interstellar dominion and all the opportunities
and dangers that presented, Earth’s 18 most powerful nations established a political body
to represent and defend humanity.
When mankind finally encountered alien civilizations and was welcomed into the galactic community,
they marched forward into this new era united under the Systems Alliance.
The Alliance’s primary responsibility is to represent all of humanity on the galactic
stage as well as the governance and defense of its extrasolar colonies.
A supranational institution, the Systems Alliance has been granted this authority by the various
individual nations of Earth who maintain some degree of autonomy on the planet itself.
However, the Alliance’s multitude of successes have ensured that the organization remains
Earth’s primary diplomatic, economic, military and exploratory agency.
As the Alliance has expanded its presence across the galaxy and more colonies and outposts
are established, it has slowly begun transitioning into something resembling a more traditional
government.
Since 2156, the political and military headquarters of the Alliance has been Arcturus Station.
This massive facility houses both the Executive Office of the Prime Minister and the Alliance
Parliament.
The Parliament is made up of elected representatives of Earth’s nations and its colonies and
several seats are reserved for the growing population of citizens who reside entirely
in space.
In addition to those on Arcturus, the Alliance also maintains various diplomatic and governmental
facilities across Alliance Space and beyond.
These include a growing network of embassies and consulates on many different alien worlds
as well as on the Citadel itself.
It is the Alliance Military that is perhaps the most well known aspect of the organization
however, having achieved numerous victories in various conflicts and peacekeeping operations
in its short history.
The Alliance Navy is the primary branch of service and operates several thousand warships
divided between various fleets which are themselves comprised of numerous flotillas and squadrons.
As a signatory to the Treaty of Farixen, the Systems Alliance is limited to the number
of dreadnoughts it can bring into service.
The Navy nonetheless has been able to largely circumvent this restriction by instead building
similarly sized fleet carriers, a distinctly human innovation.
Accordingly, the Alliance possess one of the largest and best equipped military forces
in the galaxy.
Alliance fleets are supported by distinct component services, the largest of which are
the Alliance Marines who fulfill the need to conduct prolonged planetary operations.
Marines routinely receive gene therapy treatments to improve their strength and stamina and
the Alliance has also shown great interest in the recruitment of biotics - individuals
who can generate small mass effect fields at will.
Marine divisions are typically assigned to serve as garrison forces on human colonies
while smaller units might be embedded aboard navy warships or deployed to distant outposts.
These forces are not expected to defeat any potential invasion on their own, but rather
to provide intelligence and reconnaissance on enemy movements in preparation for an overwhelming
counter-attack by Alliance battlegroups situated at strategic Mass Relays.
This strategy is indicative of the Alliance’s overall doctrine which emphasises mobility
and individual initiative in support of coordinated manoeuvre warfare.
This greatly contrasts with the prevailing attrition-based military strategies employed
by the Turians and Krogans who often rely on brute force.
On the offensive, Alliance units will instead bypass enemy strongpoints in favor of disrupting
supply lines and logistics and destroying headquarters and support units in an effort
to keep the opposing force perpetually off balance.
When pursuing especially challenging objectives, the Systems Alliance makes use of dedicated
Special Forces teams.
Members of these elite units take part in the extraordinarily intense Interplanetary
Combatives Training program which includes specialized training in zero-g combat, jetpack
flight, combat diving and frontline trauma care for human and alien biology.
Soldiers that have achieved the highest level of proficiency in this regimen are awarded
the highly coveted vocational code N7.
The uniquely human approach to warfare has afforded the Systems Alliance a great deal
of respect across the galaxy and the Citadel Council in particular is eager to utilize
their immense peacekeeping potential.
Council analysts regard the Systems Alliance as something of a sleeping giant due to the
comparatively small number of Alliance citizens who volunteer for military service.
In their stead, virtual Intelligences, drones, electronic warfare and fire support are used
to offset this manpower gap.
The military has been the spearhead of the Systems Alliance for almost all of its history
and is in many ways responsible for its predominant position in human affairs.
Even in the earliest days of interstellar exploration, the Systems Alliance operated
numerous warships, for the discoveries on Mars had instilled a deep wariness across
humanity over the potential of encountering an advanced alien race.
This concern was seemingly warranted.
In 2157 the Systems Alliance was in the midst of its first great expansion program and had
established dozens of new colonies and began harvesting a wealth of fresh resources.
Every Mass Relay discovered was activated and the systems it brought within reach were
explored and charted.
Unbeknownst to humanity however, the activation of Mass Relays without first knowing where
they led was considered reckless by the Citadel Council and illegal within their space.
When a Turian patrol fleet encountered a Systems Alliance scout flotilla, the Turians opened
fire.
While the nations of Earth were paralyzed with indecision, the Systems Alliance delivered
an immediate counterattack.
Despite being overextended due to the ongoing colonization efforts, the Alliance put up
a valiant defense.
The situation came to head on the Alliance colony of Shanxi.
Besieged by Turian forces in orbit, the colony’s garrison surrendered and Shanxi was occupied.
Believing the majority of the Alliance forces to have been routed, the Turians were caught
unprepared when a powerful retaliatory fleet entered the planet’s orbit and reclaimed
the colony.
As the Systems Alliance and Turian Hierarchy prepared for a full scale war, the Citadel
Council intervened and brokered a truce.
The First Contact War was relatively brief and bloodless, with less than a thousand casualties
on each side, but it served to introduce humanity to the greater galactic community and set
the standard by which they would be judged.
Having previously found no equals in war since the Krogan Rebellions centuries earlier, the
Systems Alliance earned the begrudging respect of the Turians and drew the interest of the
Citadel Council.
On Earth, the Alliance had gained the necessary political clout to represent humanity and
establish its own governmental institutions.
Humanity and the Systems Alliance swiftly integrated into Citadel society and the galactic
economy.
Human corporations became key players in the various markets and humans were commonplace
on the both the Citadel and across numerous alien worlds.
In 2165, the Alliance was granted an embassy on the Citadel itself, seen by many as the
prelude to an eventual seat on the Council.
Humanity clearly had great potential, which the Asari, Salarians and Turians were keen
to make use of, but the Alliance’s unprecedented expansion and rise to political power drew
the ire and concern of many other species who began to accuse the Council of giving
the Alliance preferential treatment.
When the Council refused to grant the Batarian Hegemony the exclusive colonization rights
to the disputed territories of the Skyllian Verge, the Batarians severed all diplomatic
and economic relations . Assisted by Batarian financiers, a coalition of pirates, slavers
and warlords launched an attack on the human colony of Elysium.
In what would become known as the Skyllian Blitz, the Alliance won a terrific victory,
further cementing their place in the galaxy.
These conflicts shattered an era of relative peace that had lasted for nearly a millennium
and fairly or unfairly, humanity was sometimes portrayed as arrogant, aggressive and disruptive
in non-human media.
In 2183, in an effort to mend this reputation, the Systems Alliance began working closely
with the Turian Hierarchy, jointly developing a prototype deep scout frigate.
The ship was then placed under the command of the first human Specter, Commander Shepard.
During the course of an investigation into the death of a Turian Specter, the Systems
Alliance slowly became aware of a growing extra-galactic threat known as the Reapers.
Soon after, one of these Reapers, revealed to be a massive sentient starship known as
Sovereign, attacked the Citadel alongside a fleet of Geth warships.
The Alliance Navy successfully intervened, eliminating Sovereign and then leading a coalition
force to root out the remaining pockets of Geth resistance.
By 2185 the Alliance had risen to a higher standing in galactic politics, a position
to which it had some difficulty adjusting.
After the entire population of several human colonies were abducted, human supremacy organizations,
most notably Cerberus and Terra Firma, began advocating the complete removal of humanity
from galactic society.
A year later, in 2186, despite every preparation, the Reapers finally arrived in the Milky Way
and began a coordinated invasion of staggering scope.
Aware of humanity’s role in resisting their earlier incursions into the galaxy, the Reapers
destroyed the Capital of Arcturus Station and decapitated the Alliance leadership within
the opening few hours.
Reaper landings took place on Earth itself and faced with a staggering death toll, all
remaining Alliance forces evacuated the Solar System, regrouping with allied fleets and
armies under the leadership of Commander Shepard and the surviving admiralty.
As resistance groups on Earth fought a desperate battle to delay the Reapers for as long as
possible, an enormous counter-offensive began mobilizing.
In a last bid attempt to save all organic life in the galaxy, the System’s Alliance
spearheaded what was perhaps the largest military operation in galactic history.
In orbit of Earth, Alliance Navy vessels together with the Turian Hierarchy, Salarian Union,
Asari Republics and dozens of other alien forces, engaged the Reapers in a ferocious
battle while hundreds of thousands of ground forces were deployed to the battlegrounds
below.
The ultimate fate of the Earth and the human Specter named Shepard who tried to save it
might never be known, and in the eras since, conflicting accounts have been uncovered.
But whatever the case may be, the rise of humanity with the Systems Alliance and the
great effort it undertook to fight for the galaxy will never be forgotten.
The Templin Institute investigates nations, organizations, and factions from alternate
worlds and realities.
If you’ve enjoyed this video, please consider liking, sharing, and subscribing.
Do you have a suggestion for a future episode?
Let us know by leaving a comment.