[hider=League of Spacefaring Nations][b]Species:[/b] The LSN is made up of Rissan, a species very similar to humanity. The main difference are their ears, which are pointed and jut out from their heads instead of being more or less flush to them. Aside from that small difference, the two species are the same externally. Internally, however, they are quite different.

Rissan have a larger heart and an extra lung, likely the result of a lack of mounts to hunt from. Due to this, their endurance is much greater than that of a human. One of the oddest things about them is their blood, which is based on iridium. Thanks to the more complicated lung structure this requires, they also have only one kidney. Their skin is unanimously dark, in order to shield their blood from light. Since albinos tended to die in a few months, they see white as a color of death. Green is seen as the color of war, as blood left out tends to turn from an orange to a green.

They have a different skeletal structure in their central torso as well, since the kidney must be more protected. Their ribcage extends down to it, which is located in front of the stomach. Their liver is also smaller, and thus they have a much lower (physical) tolerance for alcohol. An amount that would cause mild problems in a human could kill a Rissan.

Rissan have more pronounced sexual dimorphism than humans, with men having significantly more upper body strength and women having more lower body strength. This is likely a result of their slower advancement, with the hunting/gathering roles going on for much longer than they did for humanity. This adds the odd quirk of most couriers being women, as it is seen as a traditional role.

[b]Description of government:[/b] The League is extremely similar to the UN of our own world, being a collection of nations that ratifies and enforces international law. The difference is that the LSN holds far more power than the UN, and can change anything from human rights laws to the global minimum wage. Another departure from the UN is that they can stage a military intervention at any time, and do so far more often than the UN.

The League Council is made up of delegates from all nations, all of whom has an amount of votes proportional to the population of the nation they represent. This leads to the sidelining of most smaller nations, though interplanetary operations are generally carried out quite well.

[b]Description of military:[/b] The LSN military is known as the "United Military Initiative", and is made up of multiple different forces donated by member nations. These donated forces are split up into four different divisions:

[b]League Peacekeeping Army:[/b] The ground forces of the LSN, this force acts as both the Marine Corps and the Army of the LSN. They are often considered the most important force during wartime, due to the long tradition of ground warfare the LSN has. Their soldiers sometimes use weapons from their home country, but most opt for the usually superior standardized weapons provided by the League. These so-called "standardized" weapons all have origins in specific countries, but are only produced for the League in order to give it an edge over the other countries.

League 9.AR(l) Rifle:
[img]http://www.mcghiever.com/JoeScale/WR_Stoner63A.jpg[/img]

League 3.SM(l) Submachine Gun:
[img]http://www.militaryfactory.com/smallarms/imgs/smith-and-wesson-sw-m76.jpg[/img]

League 1.SR(o) Sniper Rifle:
[img]http://www.militaryfactory.com/smallarms/imgs/dragunov-svd.jpg[/img]

League 21.P(f) Handgun:
[img]http://www.militaryfactory.com/smallarms/imgs/tokarev-tt33_3.jpg[/img]

League Peacekeeping Army Uniform:
[img]https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/ff/e8/eb/ffe8eb7d24f63116fb2d4a8446f559dc.jpg[/img]

League 1/4.BT(l) Battle Tank:
[img]http://www.imcdb.org/i084628.jpg[/img]

League 2.MT(k) Main Battle Tank:
[img]http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/leopard-1-main-battle-tank-3.jpg[/img]

League 3/8.LT(k) Light Tank:
[img]http://www.aviarmor.net/tww2/photo/czech/lt.38/pz38t_ausf.g_20td_1.jpg[/img]

[b]League Naval Patrol:[/b] The Naval Patrol is the oceangoing force of the LSN. In recent years, it has seen very little conflict and only has to deal with pirates. 

League 21.PT(l) Patrol Boat:
[img]http://www.militaryfactory.com/ships/imgs/pbr.jpg[/img]

Leauge 1/2.LRS (l) Missile Submarine:
[img]http://www.militaryfactory.com/ships/imgs/uss-ethan-allen-ssbn608-ssn608.jpg[/img]

League 1.NC (l) Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carrier:
[img]http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/thisdayintech/2010/09/uss_enterprise_f.jpg[/img]

League 13.DV (k) Destroyer:
[img]http://www.militaryfactory.com/ships/imgs/fgs-schleswig-holstein-d182.jpg[/img]

League 6/2.BB(l) Battleship
[img]http://www.militaryfactory.com/ships/imgs/uss-new-jersey-bb62.jpg[/img]

[b]League Air Patrol:[/b] The Air Patrol is second only to the Army, and receives extensive funding. Their extensive training and resources makes them a formidable force, even against more advanced craft.

League IF-3(l) Interceptor
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/F-16_CJ_Fighting_Falcon.jpg[/img]

League RF-2(l) Recon fighter
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/db/Lockheed_F-104A-10-LO_060928-F-1234S-011.jpg/300px-Lockheed_F-104A-10-LO_060928-F-1234S-011.jpg[/img]

League MB-12(o) Bomber
[img]https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQlDYFAlErW-AE--N3uQBFq_6iKDdQ4KYbVGD8ffXyqox6ChcaC[/img]

League SB-7(l) Strategic Bomber
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/B-52_Stratofortress_Takeoff.jpg[/img]

[b]League Scout Corps:[/b] The Scout Corps is the exploration division of the League, and have always been the first to land on and explore new planets. They have little to do now with the last expedition heading towards the Outersystem Cloud, but tend to do odd jobs around the system. Things like contracted experiments and transport jobs. They operate [i]Foundation 1[/i], the largest Rissan-made object in the system and essentially a giant city built using hollowed out asteroids, on-site mined materials, and imported luxuries such as soil. On this self-sufficient station, they also have the only officially registered negative mass generator.

[i]Катюша[/i]-Class Science Ship
[img]http://i.imgur.com/9y6TIJX.jpg[/img]

[i]Sutā Hikari[/i]-Class Nuclear Pulse Rocket
[img]http://th09.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2014/065/3/e/onorbit_by_william_black-d794jfo.jpg[/img]

[b]League Self Defense Starfleet:[/b] Finally, the laughingstock of the League: Starfleet. The only reason this division even exists is government paranoia concerning still untranslated radio transmissions from space. Starfleet vessels are generally incapable of unassisted interplanetary flight, instead relying on [i]Sutā Hikari[/i]-Class vessels as tugs. Due to the size of the tugs alone, these vessels tend to be gigantic. They tend to take the form of insanely large multi-role vessels constructed using materials mined and refined in space. No two ships are exactly the same, but they all have similar characteristics. Starfleet vessels ubiquitously use missiles, and cannons are equipped only on small skirmisher craft. The larger ships also have giant hangars, which carry torrents of fighters and bombers. For obvious reasons, this division is nothing more than a supergiant black hole for funding. The Council is even rumored to have given them a negative mass generator, for all the good it would do the simulator jockeys.

League Spaceborne Multipurpose Strike Craft
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/YF-12A.jpg[/img]

[b]Technological Overview:[/b] The technology of the LSN is extremely primitive by galactic standards, with computers in particular being in their primal stages. Civilian computers are extremely expensive and never go over a few hundred kilobytes of RAM. The military uses much more powerful computers for things such as missile launches and space operations, though even the most powerful military computers are well behind today's PCs. Handheld weapons all launch gunpowder-propelled bullets, and no enhancements (genetic engineering or cybernetic) exist.

Explosives use simple chemical reactions, with only large-scale missiles utilizing more advanced technology. Even then, it is only nuclear, with antimatter only being discovered thirty years ago and being impossible to produce and contain on any significant scale. Spacecraft use basic rockets, with only a few of the largest craft using nuclear pulse propulsion. 

Spaceborne weaponry consists of extremely finicky heavy cannons (prone to jamming due to the microgravity environment), and missiles. No antigravity technology exists, and spacecraft are either constructed using materials mined in space or launched in an expensive process. The only reason the LSN actually matters is because of its FTL technology. They discovered basic warp field geometry at a surprisingly early stage of development, and unlike us, had a "Chicago Pile" moment with negative energy. No ship using this drive has been launched, however, due to the still high costs.

[b]Cultural Overview:[/b] Rissan culture varies wildly from country to country, though the general global culture ranges from nihilistic to existentialist. The war took a great toll on their collective mindset, and they turned to space in what was practically an effort to find meaning. Aside from that shared mindset, there is no unifying culture.

[b]History:[/b] To understand the history of the LSN, one must understand the history of the Rissan, and their homeworld. There was never a point in their history in which there was a single supercontinent, nor were there any land ridges between the two major continental groups. As a result, the Rissan were confined to only half of the world until the Age of Sail. The area where they evolved happened to have no pack animals, and as such, their civilization took much longer to develop than that of humanity's.

Without pack animals to pull carts and wagons, Rickshaws became a staple of their culture. Teams of people took the place of horses, usually in a small merchant team that split the profit evenly. With the advent of intercontinental travel, pack animals were brought over from the uninhabited "Second World" as it was called, making Rickshaw-type vehicles obsolete. This also jump started their economy, with pack animals, they could do the work of five people for the price of barely half a person.

At that point, capitalism as we know it today began to emerge. Cooperative teams became one man with a horse, a whip, and orders from his employer. Colonization of the second world continued unimpeded, with no other civilizations to compete with. The Empires spread across the second world like wildfire, and all of it was controlled for nearly a hundred years.

Then came the rebellions. Be it because of taxes, cultural differences, or simply disliking the monarch, the Second World colonies rebelled. Strong cultural ties between the colonies caused them to unite in their cause, the whole of the Second World organized against their rulers. With the First World powers still fighting amongst themselves, the organized colonial revolutionaries gained their freedom.

In the aftermath of the revolts, the former colonies of the Second World created the Federal Republic of Litvan. Some of the First World powers tried to reclaim their colonies, but the combined might of Litvan pushed them back every time. They were truly independent.

Over the years, Litvan grew to rival the power of the entire First World combined. After the construction of multiple canals, Litvan found itself controlling trade to the Eastern First World nations. Combined with their immense size, they seemed invincible.

Litvan itself is an interesting case of "The enemy of my enemy is my friend". The Eastern and Western powers had both colonized the Second World, and while the two began with very different cultures, after a hundred years the barriers had been broken down quite a bit. There was a "Colonial Culture", which was a melting pot of both Western and Eastern cultures. After the revolution, the predominantly Western Litvan adopted one of the character-based Eastern languages simply because most of the colonists spoke it anyways.

With the advent of air travel, the natural mountain range between the two halves of the First World became less of an issue. Fearing that their monopoly would be dismantled, the Litvan government offered subsidies to any global air transport company. Through this, they kept their stranglehold on the world economy.

The First World nations quickly found themselves completely overtaken by the FRL. To combat them, they built the First World Transcontinental Rail Service, which connected every city in the First World by rail. It was a monumental undertaking, requiring years upon years of labor. The mountain range in the center of the First World didn't make things any easier. Still, desperate to stay competitive, the First World nations completed the railway.

The railway was the great equalizer for the First World. No only did it allow them to trade without paying fees to Litvani transport companies, it brought them closer together. The former racism between East and West faded into memory, with those lining in the mountains even commuting between the two halves of the First World. Slowly, the First World began to come closer together like Litvan.

Then the Twenty Year's War began. A minor political figure in a small and insignificant First World country was assassinated, sparking a war that would have remained insignificant if not for a chain of alliances. Karstat, one of the most powerful First World nations, took advantage of the war and invaded Gelrique (one of the other major superpowers). Oczheva and Brinios were pulled in against Karstat, and the lines were drawn. For years they fought, with neither side able to achieve victory. Litvan was perfectly fine with sitting on the sidelines and selling to both sides, waiting for the war to end.

The thing was, it never did. A decade into the war, everyone realized that the only way it could end was total genocide. The population of the First World had been decimated, the war taking the lives of far more than its apparent human analogue ever did. Finally, after yet another decade of weary fighting, Litvan reacted. Joining with Brininos, Oczheva, and Gelrique, they greatly outnumbered the opposing forces.

With the superior Litvan numbers and technology, the face of the war changed. Up until then, the focus had been on defensive weaponry to reinforce the trenches. Litvan, however, had been developing new [i]offensive[/i] weapons. They had been the only country to even consider tanks, and already had vehicles on par with those from the human Second World War. With their massive advantage, the allies rampaged across the First World, eliminating the enemy armies.

Within mere months, the war was finally over. After over two decades, peace had come to the First World. In the aftermath, Litvan forced the formation of the International League to preserve the peace. The rebuilding of the First World was a long and expensive process, but was finally completed at about the same time as the first spaceflight. Ever since that first flight, the Rissan have been Pushing out into space.

[b]Other:[/b] The League has fully colonized the moon of Futaskai (The Rissan homeworld's name in Litvani), and is currently working on a project to develop the nearest planet. A giant mining colony exists in the asteroid belt, with a population of just under eight million immigrants. The League put all of their efforts into practical and immediate projects, preventing the development of more advanced propulsion systems like those normally found at such a stage of development. However, with the Starfleet Project become more and more important as they explore, technological development has begun to exit its stasis.[/hider]