Difference between revisions of "Imperial Union"

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(An accurate account of what really happened with the IU.)
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| Holosite = [http://www.imperial-union.com Imperial Union]
 
| Holosite = [http://www.imperial-union.com Imperial Union]
 
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'''The Imperial Union''' was an official alignment of great powers in the ongoing [[Second Galactic Civil War]] against the [[Galactic Alliance]]. The alignment formally began circa [[Year 7|Year 7 Day 334 - 336]] with a defensive military pact between the [[Galactic Empire]] and the [[Hapes Consortium]], although its origins could be informally traced to a non-aggression pact signed on [[Year 4|Year 4 Day 334]] between [[Greyson Uebles|Emperor Uebles]] and [[Jessy James|King James I]]. At its zenith, the Imperial Union consisted of the [[Galactic Empire]],<ref name="Founding Members"/> [[Hapes Consortium]],<ref name="Founding Members"/> [[Mandalore]],<ref name="Mandalore"/> [[Trade Federation]],<ref name="Trade Federation"/> [[Tion Hegemony]],<ref name="Tion Hegemony"/> and [[Aurodium Legion]],<ref name="Aurodium Legion"/> as well as their respective satellites.
+
'''The Imperial Union''' is an official alignment of great powers in the ongoing [[Second Galactic Civil War]] against the [[Galactic Alliance]]. The alignment formally began circa [[Year 7|Year 7 Day 334 - 336]] with a defensive military pact between the [[Galactic Empire]] and the [[Hapes Consortium]], although its origins could be informally traced to a non-aggression pact signed on [[Year 4|Year 4 Day 334]] between [[Greyson Uebles|Emperor Uebles]] and [[Jessy James|King James I]]. For much of its life, the Imperial Union consisted of the [[Galactic Empire]],<ref name="Founding Members"/> [[Hapes Consortium]],<ref name="Founding Members"/> [[Mandalore]],<ref name="Mandalore"/> [[Trade Federation]],<ref name="Trade Federation"/> [[Tion Hegemony]],<ref name="Tion Hegemony"/> and [[Aurodium Legion]],<ref name="Aurodium Legion"/> as well as their respective satellites.
  
Circa [[Year 13]], internal disagreements arose between Union members regarding the further evolution of the alliance. While there was an aversion to disbanding the Imperial Union completely, some governments were unable to commit to the military levels of participation necessary to maintain a potent coalition. As such, the Union dissolved on [[Year 13|Year 13 Day 300]] with its members pledging to pursue bilateral treaties with former signatories.<ref name="Dissolution">[http://www.swcombine.com/community/news/display.php?postID=32305 GNS: "Alia Tendanda Via Est" - Year 13 Day 300]</ref>
+
Circa [[Year 13]], internal disagreements arose between Union members regarding the further evolution of the alliance. While there was an aversion to disbanding the Imperial Union completely, some governments were unable to agree to either commit to a full alliance within the Imperial Union, or reduce their accumulated powers of veto if they wanted to remain neutral in the Galactic Civil War. Some governments took the stance that they would not agree to sign a new charter without having unlimited access to the Galactic Empire's technology; something the Empire was unwilling to do. Unable to come to a resolution agreeable to all parties, the majority of the Union resigned from the Charter on [[Year 13|Year 13 Day 300]], with all parties pledging to pursue bilateral treaties with former signatories.<ref name="Dissolution">[http://www.swcombine.com/community/news/display.php?postID=32305 GNS: "Alia Tendanda Via Est" - Year 13 Day 300]</ref>
  
 
==History==
 
==History==
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===Structure===
 
===Structure===
The Union is directed by the Leaders' Council. This council is composed of the heads of each Union government and a chairman, elected by those heads of government. The Leaders' Council formulates and directs all major pan-Union policy, including the admission of new members, united declarations of war, and the formulation of joint projects.
+
The Imperial Union is structured in three tiers of membership; Executive, Parliamentary, and Provisional. These varying levels of membership provide flexibility for its members, and allows a choice as to the level of commitment that each member will invest within The Union, to be determined through their own means of internal governance. All members of the Imperial Union make up what is known as the Union Council and is the body that governs the Imperial Union, and is mandated with determining the collective actions of The Union, voting on matters brought before it and within the scope of the Council’s authority, and directing the priorities and focus of any committees.
  
The Union Economic Council encompasses the nationalized subsidiaries of the Union governments, along with independent conglomerates that have chosen to align themselves with Union policy. The Economic Council negotiates common pricing, resource sharing, and large-scale production projects of benefit to all Union members. The Council is headed by the leaders of each nationalized subsidiary and conglomerate.
+
The Union Council is composed of two sub-groups; the first being the Grand Parliament where the majority of the undertakings of the Imperial Union are determined, and using a voting system. The Grand Parliament consists of one representative from each Member of the Imperial Union, with each member designating one Representative to serve on the Grand Parliament, using whatever selection procedures they see fit. The second group being the Executive Council, a grouping of large and influential governments that have formed an alliance within the IU Charter, and oversee the ongoing activities of the Imperial Union. The Grand Parliament and the Executive Council are chaired by the Head of Parliament, and the Speaker of the Union Council respectively.
  
===Dissolution===
+
In addition to the Grand Parliament, the Imperial Union maintains several committees for the purposes of providing specialized attention, expertise, and discussion on specific areas of interest. The Grand Parliament may create and disband committees as they see fit, however there are three standing committees that may not be abolished; these are The Economic Committee, The Defence Committee, and the Intelligence Committee.
In early Year 13, the Galactic Empire began drafting a new charter for the Imperial Union under the auspices of Lord [[Seele]]. Detractors cited Seele's lack of tact as a key obstacle in negotiations and claimed he belittled the other heads of state throughout the lengthy and arduous diplomatic process. Several delegates of the Imperial Union signatories grew weary of Seele's abrasiveness and, as a result, the majority refused to support the key planks of the new charter. Furthermore, there were concerns the Empire wished to transform the Union into a purely military alliance, but the existing signatories refused to do so without guaranteed access to advanced Imperial technology. Thus, on [[Year 13|Year 13 Day 300]], the Imperial Union was dissolved.<ref name="Dissolution"/>
+
 
 +
The Union was previously directed by the Leaders' Council. This council was composed of the heads of each Union government and a chairman, elected by those heads of government. The Leaders' Council formulated and directed all major pan-Union policy, including the admission of new members, united declarations of war, and the formulation of joint projects. Certain members of the Leaders' Council were granted a veto power, to which they could use without override, and contrary to the will of the majority of the Union. This power, combined with no clear guidelines under which the veto power was to be given to members of the IU, was a further source of contention for the attempted rework of the IU Charter in Year 13.
 +
 
 +
===A New Charter===
 +
Throughout Year 12, discussion amongst the Imperial Union members revealed a common set of concerns regarding the purpose, structure, and management of the Imperial Union. After considerable discussion amongst individual members of the Union, the Galactic Empire began drafting a new charter for the Imperial Union in early Year 13, under the auspices of Lord [[Seele]]. This new Charter was developed to provide clear goals for the Imperial Union, establish a framework that encouraged members to seek continual improvement of their factions, remove the limitation of only governments being able to join, allow more flexible external relationships for each member, and provide a clearly documented set of expectations of its members. In addition to this, there were two documents that accompanied the Charter which were foundations of the new way in which the Imperial Union would operate; these were the Imperial Union Technology Trade Agreement, and the Imperial Union Member Development Guidelines.
 +
 
 +
The floating of the new Charter received an icy reception from the majority of the members, with many uncomfortable with Article VI of the new charter that established a formalized alliance between members of the Executive tier. Members such as the Hapes Consortium, Trade Federation, and Mandalore were fearful of entering a formal alliance with the Galactic Empire for fear of becoming targets of the New Republic led Galactic Alliance. Refusing to accept only parliamentary status within the Imperial Union, where they could have maintained any Non-Aggression Pacts or trade agreements with the Galactic Alliance, these three members pushed for unlimited access to Imperial technology with the reasoning that it would enable them to fight the Galactic Alliance.
 +
 
 +
The Galactic Empire was unwilling to provide unlimited access to Imperial Technology, and instead opted for the IU Technology Trade Agreement document, wherein access to Imperial technology was guaranteed to the various membership levels, as well as the accumulation of Imperial Union Points on a monthly basis which they could spend on technology. It was made clear that the IU Technology Agreement formed only the baseline of access to Imperial Technology, and that all members of the IU would be free to seek individual trade agreements with the Empire for further technology (which was the only method of obtaining technology in the IU at the time).
 +
 
 +
Unfortunately, the other members of the IU felt that this wasn't enough, and continued to demand greater access to Imperial technology before they would sign a new charter; the Empire remained steadfast and refused to provide any further technology to any members of the IU whilst the new charter remained on the discussion table. Unable to come to a consensus on this major point where neither side would budge, charter discussions stalled.
 +
 
 +
Further to this there were mislead concerns the Empire wished to transform the Union into a purely military alliance, but the existing signatories refused to do so without guaranteed access to advanced Imperial technology. This misconception was based around the concept within the new charter that IU members would have options regarding how involved they were with the IU, but advancement to the Executive Council required complete commitment to the IU; many were unwilling to entertain what they felt was a "lesser status" of Parliamentary member and maintain their current suit of political arrangements with those at war with other IU members.
 +
 
 +
Detractors cited Seele's lack of tact as a key obstacle in negotiations and claimed he belittled the other heads of state throughout the lengthy and arduous diplomatic process, however, leaders such as Dorn Zeke of the newly accepted and small government of the Aurodium Legion, had their diplomatic status revoked by the Empire for consistent attacks on Seele and the Empire. Despite Seele's voluntary removal from the charter discussions after only a month, several delegates of the Imperial Union signatories continued to cite Seele's abrasiveness from months earlier as reasons to refuse support for the key planks of the new charter.  
 +
 
 +
Faced with absolute refusal of key IU members to discuss the charter without what the Empire considered to be absurd arguments, the Emperor ordered the Empire to direct all contact and dealings with the IU through either The Throne, or the Vizier for Diplomacy. In unison with this, the Empire's delegation to the Imperial Union withdrew from the negotiation table and all IU functions. Typhon Corbin, leader of the Tion Hegemony raised the idea of writing a new charter with the detractors of the proposed charter, so that it would address all of their concerns, and then present this charter to the GE. The Emperor agreed that the Empire would take no further action and make no further comments on the proposed charter for a period of two months to allow others to develop a counter-proposal.
 +
 
 +
Despite Corbin's eagerness to write a counter-proposal, he gained little support for other IU members and ultimately was unable to produce a counter-proposal that might have held the IU together. With negotiations stalled and the counter-proposal dead in the water, it was agreed by IU leaders that the Hapes Consortium, Trade Federation, Mandalore, Aurodium Legion, and Tion Hegemon would all leave the IU. This would leave the Empire as remaining member to implement their proposed charter and seek out new members to rebuild the Imperial Union. This was announced on [[Year 13|Year 13 Day 300]].
  
 
== Chronology ==
 
== Chronology ==
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* '''Year 12 Day 327:''' The [[Aurodium Legion]] is admitted to the Imperial Union.<ref name="Aurodium Legion">[http://www.swcombine.com/community/news/gnsarchive.php?display=2&postID=30276&category=20 GNS: "Union Stronger Than Ever" - Year 12 Day 327]</ref>
 
* '''Year 12 Day 327:''' The [[Aurodium Legion]] is admitted to the Imperial Union.<ref name="Aurodium Legion">[http://www.swcombine.com/community/news/gnsarchive.php?display=2&postID=30276&category=20 GNS: "Union Stronger Than Ever" - Year 12 Day 327]</ref>
 
*'''Year 13 Day 158:''' The [[Galactic Empire]] and the [[Tresario Star Kingdom]] sign a mutual defense pact.<ref>[http://www.swcombine.com/community/news/display.php?postID=31304&category=20 GNS: "Clara Pacta, Boni Amici" - Year 13 Day 158]</ref>
 
*'''Year 13 Day 158:''' The [[Galactic Empire]] and the [[Tresario Star Kingdom]] sign a mutual defense pact.<ref>[http://www.swcombine.com/community/news/display.php?postID=31304&category=20 GNS: "Clara Pacta, Boni Amici" - Year 13 Day 158]</ref>
*'''Year 13 Day 300:''' Due to internal squabbles, the Imperial Union is formally dissolved.<ref name="Dissolution"/>
+
*'''Year 13 Day 300:''' Due to internal disagreements without resolution, the majority of the Imperial Union resigns from the charter.<ref name="Dissolution"/>
  
 
==References==
 
==References==

Revision as of 21:33, 2 October 2012

Imperial Union
ImperialUnion Logo.png
General Information
Status {{{status}}}
Leader {{{leader}}}
Members {{{members}}}
Historical Information
Founded {{{founded}}}
Political Information
Type {{{type}}}

The Imperial Union is an official alignment of great powers in the ongoing Second Galactic Civil War against the Galactic Alliance. The alignment formally began circa Year 7 Day 334 - 336 with a defensive military pact between the Galactic Empire and the Hapes Consortium, although its origins could be informally traced to a non-aggression pact signed on Year 4 Day 334 between Emperor Uebles and King James I. For much of its life, the Imperial Union consisted of the Galactic Empire,[1] Hapes Consortium,[1] Mandalore,[2] Trade Federation,[3] Tion Hegemony,[4] and Aurodium Legion,[5] as well as their respective satellites.

Circa Year 13, internal disagreements arose between Union members regarding the further evolution of the alliance. While there was an aversion to disbanding the Imperial Union completely, some governments were unable to agree to either commit to a full alliance within the Imperial Union, or reduce their accumulated powers of veto if they wanted to remain neutral in the Galactic Civil War. Some governments took the stance that they would not agree to sign a new charter without having unlimited access to the Galactic Empire's technology; something the Empire was unwilling to do. Unable to come to a resolution agreeable to all parties, the majority of the Union resigned from the Charter on Year 13 Day 300, with all parties pledging to pursue bilateral treaties with former signatories.[6]

History

Origins

The Galactic Empire and Hapes Consortium first established diplomatic relations in Year 1 when Charon was assigned as the Imperial liaison to the Hapan regime. During the reigns of Emperors Trey Connel, Mccarthur and later Emperor Charon himself, diplomatic contact was sporadic, and the Consortium's established ties to the Rebel Alliance were eventually discarded by Year 3. In part thanks to King James prior service in the Imperial Navy, the Consortium established friendly ties with the leadership of the Imperial Core, and consequently the Dark Empire.

Following the re-unification of the Galactic Empire and the Dark Empire, the diplomatic process became more formalized with the Galactic Empire under Emperor Uebles recognizing the Hapes Consortium. A non-aggression pact between the two governments was announced over the GNS on Year 4 Day 334 causing an uproar in the Rebel Alliance and Jedi Praxium.

In the years that followed, the Galactic Empire continued to expand its sphere of influence in the form of client states and satellites under the Imperial City-State Agreement, which included the New Anzat Order and 12 Colonies. While the Hapes Consortium was invited to join, the offer was rejected by the Hapan Royal Council, who did not wish to become subordinate of any other government. Consequently, Emperor Bonias and King James began planning a formalized alliance where each government retained equal standing and representation. The Imperial Union was declared circa Year 7 Day 334 - 336 with the Galactic Empire and Hapes Consortium as its founding members.[1]

Extent of the Imperial Union's territory in blue, with the Galactic Alliance in red.

The offer of the Imperial City-State Agreement was also extended by the Imperial regime to the Trade Federation under Viceroy Corbin Esco, who declined. A conflict ensued between the Galactic Empire and the Trade Federation, continuing through the reign of Viceroy Bren Morgarr, and in to the initial period of Viceroy Jacob Jansen's leadership. Ultimately the Trade Federation sued for peace and was eventually invited to join the Imperial Union, which it did on Year 9 Day 295.[3]

Structure

The Imperial Union is structured in three tiers of membership; Executive, Parliamentary, and Provisional. These varying levels of membership provide flexibility for its members, and allows a choice as to the level of commitment that each member will invest within The Union, to be determined through their own means of internal governance. All members of the Imperial Union make up what is known as the Union Council and is the body that governs the Imperial Union, and is mandated with determining the collective actions of The Union, voting on matters brought before it and within the scope of the Council’s authority, and directing the priorities and focus of any committees.

The Union Council is composed of two sub-groups; the first being the Grand Parliament where the majority of the undertakings of the Imperial Union are determined, and using a voting system. The Grand Parliament consists of one representative from each Member of the Imperial Union, with each member designating one Representative to serve on the Grand Parliament, using whatever selection procedures they see fit. The second group being the Executive Council, a grouping of large and influential governments that have formed an alliance within the IU Charter, and oversee the ongoing activities of the Imperial Union. The Grand Parliament and the Executive Council are chaired by the Head of Parliament, and the Speaker of the Union Council respectively.

In addition to the Grand Parliament, the Imperial Union maintains several committees for the purposes of providing specialized attention, expertise, and discussion on specific areas of interest. The Grand Parliament may create and disband committees as they see fit, however there are three standing committees that may not be abolished; these are The Economic Committee, The Defence Committee, and the Intelligence Committee.

The Union was previously directed by the Leaders' Council. This council was composed of the heads of each Union government and a chairman, elected by those heads of government. The Leaders' Council formulated and directed all major pan-Union policy, including the admission of new members, united declarations of war, and the formulation of joint projects. Certain members of the Leaders' Council were granted a veto power, to which they could use without override, and contrary to the will of the majority of the Union. This power, combined with no clear guidelines under which the veto power was to be given to members of the IU, was a further source of contention for the attempted rework of the IU Charter in Year 13.

A New Charter

Throughout Year 12, discussion amongst the Imperial Union members revealed a common set of concerns regarding the purpose, structure, and management of the Imperial Union. After considerable discussion amongst individual members of the Union, the Galactic Empire began drafting a new charter for the Imperial Union in early Year 13, under the auspices of Lord Seele. This new Charter was developed to provide clear goals for the Imperial Union, establish a framework that encouraged members to seek continual improvement of their factions, remove the limitation of only governments being able to join, allow more flexible external relationships for each member, and provide a clearly documented set of expectations of its members. In addition to this, there were two documents that accompanied the Charter which were foundations of the new way in which the Imperial Union would operate; these were the Imperial Union Technology Trade Agreement, and the Imperial Union Member Development Guidelines.

The floating of the new Charter received an icy reception from the majority of the members, with many uncomfortable with Article VI of the new charter that established a formalized alliance between members of the Executive tier. Members such as the Hapes Consortium, Trade Federation, and Mandalore were fearful of entering a formal alliance with the Galactic Empire for fear of becoming targets of the New Republic led Galactic Alliance. Refusing to accept only parliamentary status within the Imperial Union, where they could have maintained any Non-Aggression Pacts or trade agreements with the Galactic Alliance, these three members pushed for unlimited access to Imperial technology with the reasoning that it would enable them to fight the Galactic Alliance.

The Galactic Empire was unwilling to provide unlimited access to Imperial Technology, and instead opted for the IU Technology Trade Agreement document, wherein access to Imperial technology was guaranteed to the various membership levels, as well as the accumulation of Imperial Union Points on a monthly basis which they could spend on technology. It was made clear that the IU Technology Agreement formed only the baseline of access to Imperial Technology, and that all members of the IU would be free to seek individual trade agreements with the Empire for further technology (which was the only method of obtaining technology in the IU at the time).

Unfortunately, the other members of the IU felt that this wasn't enough, and continued to demand greater access to Imperial technology before they would sign a new charter; the Empire remained steadfast and refused to provide any further technology to any members of the IU whilst the new charter remained on the discussion table. Unable to come to a consensus on this major point where neither side would budge, charter discussions stalled.

Further to this there were mislead concerns the Empire wished to transform the Union into a purely military alliance, but the existing signatories refused to do so without guaranteed access to advanced Imperial technology. This misconception was based around the concept within the new charter that IU members would have options regarding how involved they were with the IU, but advancement to the Executive Council required complete commitment to the IU; many were unwilling to entertain what they felt was a "lesser status" of Parliamentary member and maintain their current suit of political arrangements with those at war with other IU members.

Detractors cited Seele's lack of tact as a key obstacle in negotiations and claimed he belittled the other heads of state throughout the lengthy and arduous diplomatic process, however, leaders such as Dorn Zeke of the newly accepted and small government of the Aurodium Legion, had their diplomatic status revoked by the Empire for consistent attacks on Seele and the Empire. Despite Seele's voluntary removal from the charter discussions after only a month, several delegates of the Imperial Union signatories continued to cite Seele's abrasiveness from months earlier as reasons to refuse support for the key planks of the new charter.

Faced with absolute refusal of key IU members to discuss the charter without what the Empire considered to be absurd arguments, the Emperor ordered the Empire to direct all contact and dealings with the IU through either The Throne, or the Vizier for Diplomacy. In unison with this, the Empire's delegation to the Imperial Union withdrew from the negotiation table and all IU functions. Typhon Corbin, leader of the Tion Hegemony raised the idea of writing a new charter with the detractors of the proposed charter, so that it would address all of their concerns, and then present this charter to the GE. The Emperor agreed that the Empire would take no further action and make no further comments on the proposed charter for a period of two months to allow others to develop a counter-proposal.

Despite Corbin's eagerness to write a counter-proposal, he gained little support for other IU members and ultimately was unable to produce a counter-proposal that might have held the IU together. With negotiations stalled and the counter-proposal dead in the water, it was agreed by IU leaders that the Hapes Consortium, Trade Federation, Mandalore, Aurodium Legion, and Tion Hegemon would all leave the IU. This would leave the Empire as remaining member to implement their proposed charter and seek out new members to rebuild the Imperial Union. This was announced on Year 13 Day 300.

Chronology

On Year 13 Day 300, Union officials announced the formal dissolution of their military alliance.[6]
Main article: Timeline

References


Second Galactic Civil War
Belligerents
Rebel Alliance

Rebel Alliance

Other Anti-Imperial

Blue Star Dominion · The Antarian Rangers and Galactic Alliance-ARK- · The Invid Order · Jedi Order · The Resistance · TIEFE · Rogue Squadron · Triumvirate Coalition)

Imperial Union

Black Sun · Galactic Empire · The Faerytail Family · Tresario Star Kingdom

Imperial Union-aligned

CorSec

Galactic Concordiate

Aurodium Legion · Mandalore · Tion Hegemony

Galactic Concordiate-aligned

The Wraiths

Shadow Dominion

Zann Consortium · Biotech

Battles and Conflicts
Major Conflicts

Adlentar · Alderaan · Bacta Wars · Berchest · Beta · Churnis · Corellia · Dellalt · Dostra · Dressel · Hosnian · Kashyyyk · 2nd Krmar II · Meridian · N'zoth · Sacorria · 1st Tatooine · 2nd Tatooine · Trellen

Major Hostile Takeovers

Takeover of The Antarian Rangers (Y9 D221 - Y10 D341) · Corporate Sector Authority Nationalisation (Y5 D139 - Y10 D102) · Takeover of the New Republic

Wars of the Galaxy

Black Sun Crisis (Y3 D53 - Y3 D293) · Cron Conflict (Y11 D64 - D297) · First Imperial Civil War (Y-2 - Y0) · Second Imperial Civil War (Y1 D307 - Y3 D290) · Third Imperial Civil War (Y6 D318 - Y10 D160) · Fourth Imperial Civil War (Y11 D291)

Related Wars

Outer Rim War (Y7 - Present Day) · Mandalorian Civil War (Y16 D35 - Present Day)