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Planetary Alliance Datapacket 229, Priority Ver. To be carried on all Alliance starships in the event of peaceful alien contact. Omission or editing of details is permitted at the discretion of the highest ranking nearby officer (so long as it adheres to sections 89-95 of the Historical and Political Codex). Any such changes should be reported to the Legislative Council to ensure no misunderstandings occur should a delegation visit Alliance space.
The Tougpasa are a bipedal species, likely of slightly shorter stature than other such species due to the high gravity of their homeworld of Wusdafu. It is tidally locked to its sun, a red dwarf star dubbed Shav'nefo (which translates to "sun"), and as a result only has a thin strip of land that is a rainforest, bordered by savanna and steppes. At it's Solward and Antisol poles it is completely uninhabitable, and winds constantly blow from one side of the world to the other. The Shav'nefo system itself is approximately 20 kilo-lightyears from the galactic core.
Ironically, the hells on either side of the world give way to a near paradise at the Solar equator in the middle. A lush rainforest covers the landscape, with most plants having massive leaves to soak up as much of the rare sunlight as possible. The constant, planetary-scale hurricane caused by the nature of the planet gives rise to an almost constant rain within the so-called twilight rainforest. The impact of this environment upon Tougpasa evolution is obvious.
First of all, it is seen in their most prominent feature that sets them apart. The Tougpasa have large, pointed, furry, feline-like ears on the top of their head. They have impressive control over said ears, with countless muscles being dedicated to rotating and turning them to track a sound. Furthermore, their ears have the most nerve endings out of any place on their bodies. This gives them an uncanny ability to hear in their generally rather soundproof native habitat. They also function as heat radiators for Solward inhabitants (the Tougpasa developed better heat dissipation techniques since the Antisol side of the planet is devoid of conventional plant life, and thus only very sparsely populated). It is worth noting that there is a Tougpasa race with smaller, furrier ears that originated on the Antisol side of the planet. The large ears of the majority of the Tougpasa, after all, would have been a liability in an environment which demands maximum heat retention.
Second is their eyesight, which has evolved similar to that of other Wusdafan felines. Their eyes contain a tapetum lucidum-a reflective layer that allows them to see easily at night and in dark areas, with the side effect of making their eyes seem to glow in the dark. This is an adaptation to the heavily wooded rainforests of Wusdafu, as most trees have gigantic leaves in order to soak up as much sunlight as possible, making the ground extremely dark closer to the Antisol side (since less sunlight can reach it). This combined with their hearing has made the Tougpasa excellent hunters, and later on excellent warriors. Also complementing their fighting ability are tails, which allow them to better maintain balance and prevent falling (which is dangerous in Wusdafu's high gravity).
Within their body, they have a variety of different adaptations to their homeworld that aren't immediately noticeable. First of all are their bones, which are notably larger and more robust than those of the fauna on neighboring worlds due to the high gravity of Wusdafu. Their muscles, too, are of a higher density but not physically larger (which tends to make the Tougpasa seem to be impossibly strong on lower gravity planets). Their lungs are also fairly large, as is their heart, in order to allow their bodies to more effectively circulate air and blood in high gravity.
The Tougpasa have no inherent need for sleep. The lack of a day/night cycle on Wusdafu does not lend itself well to lying on the ground unable to respond to any threats for eight hours every day, so like almost all other animal species on Wusdafu they are capable of living their whole lives without sleeping. "Capable" and "Normally", however, are two very different things. Sleep greatly increases Tougpasa lifespans and heightens brain function, and for this purpose most Tougpasa sleep up to five hours a day. It should be noted that, to a species that requires sleep due to a day/night cycle on their homeworld, a Tougpasa may appear to have impeccable memory.
Finally, Tougpasa reproduction is somewhat strange compared to that of other species. An only child for a Touspasa is almost unheard of, and the gestation period is short at approximately 1/5th of a Wusdafan year. The tradeoffs, however, are obvious. A pregnant female flat out cannot fend for themselves, and as hunter-gatherers the Tougpasa would stop in the same general area for the entirety of mating season (and then some) to ensure that all children would be born healthy. The body of a Tougpasa female will always favor itself over her child during gestation, and a shortage of nutrients would harm the growth of the baby in favor of keeping the mother alive. As a result, miscarriages were extremely common. To combat this, the Tougpasa actually have two separate mating seasons every (long) year. If there is a famine in one, then the second may have better conditions.
The Tougpasa Planetary Alliance is a supranational organization that has jurisdiction over all colonial operations, and acts as a governing body for Wusdafu itself. Its operations are voted on my all of its member states, but a small group of five representatives known as the Legislative Council (colloquially, the "Council of Five", or in a derogatory connotation "The Order of Five" or "Round Table") is elected every two years. This council is placed in control of all Alliance military operations (both in the colonies and at home).
Under the council's purview are a number of separate organizations, such as the International Bank and Fund, the Science and Technology Administration, the Colonial and Solward Development Committee, the International Court, and the Alliance Emergency Management Agency. The actions of all these organizations can be controlled directly by the Legislative Council, and the decisions of other national representatives related to these organizations can be vetoes by the Legislative Council.
The Planetary Alliance is the foremost force for good among Tougpasa society. It represents the collection values of the species, and has raised countless millions out of poverty through the Colonial and Solward Development Committee and International Bank and Fund. Though there exist those that fear the Alliance's far-reaching power and influence, their fears are unfounded. The Alliance represents all that is good about the Tougpasa.
Though it would be impossible to fully explain the full extent of Tougpasa culture, some broad generalization can be drawn regarding the current cultural climate.
Power on Wusdafu (and, indeed, all of Alliance space) is focused in the central rainforest strip of the planet. Through a strong cultural zeitgeist of individuality and a strong work ethic, the nations of this are have become the most prominent and populous in the world. They are massively economically prosperous, and using the technologies developed in them they share this prosperity with the solward and antisol regions of the world. Should you be reading this datapacket, it is likely that the one who sent it was born here.
Towards the sun there lie the lands of the savanna and desert, which are rich with natural resources. The large concentrations of negative mass liquid beneath the ground there have driven planetbound politics for centuries, and led to the ancient lands being regrettably colonies by the nations of the central strip. Following the Long War, however, these culturally rich lands have been accepted into the fold of Tougpasa culture as equals. They are the "Solward" part of the Colonial and Solward Development Committee, and are a major focus of economic development efforts. Through the construction of new factories and housing by the Development Committee, the central strip nations are repaying their debt.
Finally, on the antisol side of the world there are the old troublemakers of Wusdafu. It is here that the Tougpasa Union made its final stand against the Planetary Alliance, attempting to wrest control of the entire species and place them under their iron heel of tyranny. It was their defeat that ended the Long War. The people of this land have been hardened by both their harsh environment and the decades of brutal rule they were made to endure, and have proved to be an excellent addition to the Planetary Alliance.
To all captains: Take the utmost care to ensure that no interstellar incidents occur during alien contact. Omit any and all information you feel might jeopardize peaceful relations.
Tougpasa history begins in the rainforests of Wusdafu, where they lived as hunter gatherers. The first evidence of Tougpasa society and technology can be found in the massive trees of the rainforest, some of which were hollowed out by early Tougpasa to be used as dwellings. Primitive tools can also be found, which give insight as to how these societies lived. Long, hooked poles were used to pick the abundant fruits of the same trees. Interestingly, this also seems to be the first example of Tougpasa agriculture, as large leather sacks suggest that they actively watered the same trees during droughts.
Later on, there is evidence of early inhabitation of the savanna area closer to the sun. At around the same time, the Tougpasa began to actively plant and raise domesticated plants. In the rainforest, they would chop off the leaves of the larger trees to plant ones of the same species for their fruit, but intentionally keep them small so as to manage them easier. In the savanna, Tougpasa settlers domesticated various grasses in the area. One of which closely resembles the various species of Terran rice, and in modern times has become a staple of the Tougpasa diet.
The savanna was the first place in which the Tougpasa constructed buildings themselves, and an ancient civilization arose along one of the major rivers in the region. At some point, for unknown reasons, its influence exploded across Wusdafu. Coinage from it has been found at both the Solward and Antisolar poles of the planet, which suggests that they were significantly milder at some point in Wusdafu's history. Ruins from that civilization, dubbed the Shaslag Efol (first ones) can be found all across the planet. The few remaining cities show clearly that they were highly advanced for their time, with roads being laid out in grids, made wide enough for carts, and being built mostly only on sturdy ground.
At some point during the reign of the Shaslag Efol, however, a catastrophe befell Wusdafu. A truly massive hail of asteroids (speculated to have been made up of upwards of a thousand individual objects) slammed into the planet at almost exactly the same time. This caused a mass extinction event, during which all of Tougpasa civilization was wiped out alongside numerous other species. Immediately after the impact, radiation levels were found to spike across the planet. It is thought that this is the result of said asteroid hail being rich in exotic matter, as relasol concentrations in the savanna and solward desert rose sharply and evidence of the first widespread use of relasol is found shortly afterwards. Though relasol was already abundant on the planet (and indeed affected the evolution of various species), this event made it easily accessible for all Tougpasa populations.
The population numbers of the Tougpasa gradually recovered, and another civilization rose up in the rainforest in tandem with one in the tundra. These two civilizations, the Sidore and the Miji respectively, formed the cultural basis from which all current Tougpasa society evolved. The Miji were a highly advanced culture, and were very nearly the first to industrialize at numerous points in history. This was always prevented, however, by internal or external strife.
The Sidore, on the other hand, were a largely stagnant empire that spanned countless different cultures which were crushed beneath the monolith that was the Empire. It was only well after it had fallen that the "South ring" rainforest cultures industrialized. The main drive to do so lay within the largely unexplored continent of Hassa, which was surrounded by a ring of ocean. The constant cross-planetary wind made it night impossible to cross in any reasonable time from one side, and on the other a constant storm caused by the anomalous weather patterns surrounding Hassa made it too dangerous to sail through. With the advent of steam power, however, nations from both sides were able to send expeditions.
The coasts of Hassa were raped and plundered by the industrial empires, the native populations were almost entirely eliminated by disease and firearm. In the ruins of their societies rose colonial towns, cities, and trade hubs. After the independence of these colonies was won, they chose to band together in a confederacy rather than fight each other and turned their eyes inward. The different regions of the continent-created by its unique position-were all conquered. Desert, plains, two of the few mountain ranges found on the entire planet, all were made the domain of the descendants of Sidore.
As time went on, Tougpasa technology advanced further and further as their politics became more and more charged. Liberal regimes replaced monarchies as the power of steam and later oil made its way out from the rainforest towards and away from the sun. The population of the planet exploded without restraint, it had become clear that no natural force could possibly stop the Tougpasa. Their rapid reproduction and new technology turned villages into towns and towns into metropolises. Countless wars were fought, but none could compare to the one that would come to define the very calendar of the Planetary Alliance.
"The Long War", as it was called, officially began in 93 YBT with the Miji Revolution. The last of the Miji dynasties was toppled, the entire royal family being slaughtered in the name of the revolutionary Mahn Ne. He had initially vocally opposed the industrialization of Miji, but as it became more and more entrenched he had no choice but to accept it and, in his words, "minimize the impact on the everyman". By ridding the nation of nobles and capitalists, he argued, they could prevent industrialization from harming them and instead turn it into a force for good.
It came as no surprise that Mahn Ne's radical ideology led to a reaction from the more solward powers, and in 87 YBT a small coalition of rainforest nations attempted an invasion of Miji. Not only were they easily held off by Miji, they found themselves occupied and turned into puppets. Fearful that they would be next, the majority of the powerful rainforest empires banded together and declared war on the Miji on the pretext of liberating their brothers. Their charges were met with entrenched machine gun fire, and thus began the hell that was the Long War.
For the next seventy years, the two juggernaut alliances slammed into each other. The war had an unimaginable effect on the societies of both, as the supreme weapon of war changed again and again throughout the decades. First it had been the machine gun, then the "Coalition Powers" as the rainforest nations chose to call themselves suffocated a section of the Miji lines with poison gas. The airplane turned from a fragile reconnaissance mount into a platform for dealing death behind the lines. The mounted charges of old were replaced by hulking metal beasts that lumbered across trenches, which soon became vehicles far faster than a man.
The social norms of old broke down as more and more men were cut down in battle, and it wasn't long before the same was asked of women. An entire generation of rainforesters were raised by their governments, as they were either born on the front or their parents had died on it. Every single aspect of society adapted to service the war effort. The stalemate only showed signs of breaking by 18 YBT, when the Hassa Confederacy officially entered. Even so, the Miji showed no signs of surrender.
Finally, in 3 YBT, a small Confederate airship force broke through to the Miji capital and carried out the first atomic bombing of the war. Dozens more would follow, with the Confederacy looking upon the Miji homeland as nothing more than a testing ground. The Miji were finally forced to surrender, and with that surrender the Tougpasa Planetary Alliance was created.
Initially dubbed simply the Wusdafu Alliance, it was formed mainly to manage the now-occupied territories on the Miji side of the conflict. As space exploration truly came into its own following the war (where it had been used solely to deliver the last few nuclear strikes), it was the Planetary Alliance that stepped in to act as overseers for each nation's space program. It was only after the first colony on Kusfala (the third planet of the Shav'nefo system and closest other planet to Wusdafu) that the Alliance became the "Planetary Alliance" so as to include the new denizens of Kusfala.
As time went on, the Planetary Alliance became more than a simple occupation force and transitioned to become a true species-wide government. Cultural and economic globalization led to the downfall of individual national governmental power, which led to the rise of the Planetary Alliance as the dominant political force in Tougpasa space. War between developed nations became a thing of the past as their economies (and cultures) gradually merged into one, and the job of the Planetary Alliance military soon became to ensure that the grip of the developed nations on their colonies and the Solward nations remained tight.
The Tougpasa are, in comparison to most other spacefaring species, rather primitive. Their technological development was strange from the beginning, as their homeworld of Wusdafu has streams of negative mass flowing underground. Though it is unknown if these streams somehow occurred naturally, or are the result of previous inhabitation by an advanced species, their presence caused the Tougpasa to develop along an unexpected path. Indeed, artifacts from ancient times show that tribal hunters would wear backpacks filled with the liquid negative mass to allow them to leap through the trees of the rainforest to catch their prey.
As a result, the Tougpasa make widespread usage of negative mass in their technology. Since the invention of the sail they have launched airships kept aloft by it, and today they use it to lift massive aerial battleships as well as spacecraft. It has also found domestic uses (such as in most cars) as well as more military uses in the creation of antigravity harnesses for soldiers based upon those same ancient "lifting packs".
Aside from the fairly advanced nature of their negative mass-based technology, the Tougpasa are behind the times in most other areas. This is easily visible in their spacecraft, which contain obvious large habitation wheels, general structures reminiscent of early human spacecraft, and often nuclear pulse drives. Their infantry still make heavy use of firearms, and only anti-material weapons (or the newest heavy anti-infantry ones) use electromagnetism (though both lasers and railguns are commonplace on spacecraft and naval vessels). They have no passive shielding technology whatsoever, relying on active defenses such as the Shockwave Dissipation System and Plasma Arc Projectors to prevent damage.
The field in with the Tougpasa is least advanced (or perhaps the field which evolved the strangest, depending on who you ask) is electronics. Most households have computers on par with those seen in the human 1990's, but they are not self-contained units. Instead, they are simply terminals connected to a central computer in the regional capital that is housed in a gigantic skyscraper. This is largely because Tougpasa computer development halted in 10 YBT, with all available resources being poured towards the "practical war effort" rather than code making and breaking. As a result, the Tougpasa equivalent of a personal computer is a hot, whirring mess of cables the size of an entire city apartment. The vast majority of citizens understandably choose to just use a terminal connection, but some eccentrics still use self-contained units.
The main method of FTL for the Tougpasa lies in their affinity for the use of negative mass (Relasol, as they call it). Using it, they are capable of folding space around a spacecraft and enabling it to appear to travel faster than the speed of light. Most combat vessels are designed to be able to travel at immense speeds, or even tear a direct semi-stable wormhole should the need arise, but protocol (not to mention safety regulations and common sense) limits them to under 15c in normal circumstances.
The Planetary Alliance maintains a unified military force, drawing its personnel and equipment from all of its member nations. It is divided into three branches, the Army, Navy, Vinkasa, and Starfleet.
Army
A Planetary Alliance special operative (note his clipped ears) takes cover behind a wall during Operation Unified Protector in the Solward nation of Ash'tahkhal. Alliance forces deposed a potential dictator and installed a friendly regime that properly protected the rights of the nation's citizens. Operation Unified Protector was just one of countless similar operations that stabilized the war-torn Solward nations and returned peace and prosperity to the region.
The Alliance Army is by far the least standardized of all the Planetary Alliance Military forces, oftentimes simply demanding to be given a specified number of divisions by any given member nation. Supply lines are, unsurprisingly, a bit of a nightmare given the large variety of equipment and ammunition required by deployed forces. As a result, most major contributing nations tend to design their equipment and vehicles to be as reliable as possible so as to make breakdowns rare.
The Alliance holds the power to draft any individual necessary from a member nation into the Alliance Army in order to ensure the security of the Alliance, any one of its member nations, the citizens of a foreign power, or the Tougpasa species.
Navy
An Alliance battleship deployed in the oceans surrounding Hassa launches the first missile of a salvo, targeting terrorists in the failed state of Maani. Maani was torn apart by ethnic conflicts following the collapse of the nation's dictatorial and totalitarian regime, which was replaced with numerous benevolent and democratic states created by the Alliance. Alliance interventions began with a bombing campaign of the former capital, targeting military installations. No civilians were harmed in the bombing, or in subsequent strikes.
The Alliance Navy, though operating on the same model as the Army, is significantly more standardized in terms of equipment simply due to the fact that only one member state actually provides vessels for it. The Hassa Confederacy supplies all Alliance warships, and indeed its own navy is considered a direct part of the Alliance Navy. It has long maintained the largest navy on Wusdafu by virtue of its seabound position. It still maintains a large number of battleships and aircraft carriers, the majority of which are nuclear-powered.
The Navy truly shines in its ability to bombard land targets. A great deal of research and development goes to inventing newer and more efficient ways to deal death as far inland as possible. This is no surprise, as the navy has not needed to face an equal opponent on the open seas since the end of the war. Their main purpose is to support land forces against insurgent activities and provide a more precise alternative to carpet or nuclear bombing of densely populated targets.
Vinpasa
An Alliance fleet approaches Var'khun during the Second Ishkh War, in which the populace of Var'khun and surrounding provinces of Ishkh began a nationalist rebellion against their colonial government. Ultimately, the nation fell to the rebels and a totalitarian regime was installed. Recent trade deals have helped democratize the nation and open it up to the rest of the world, which has welcomed it with open arms.
The Vinkasa (a word which directly translates to "Sky warriors", though perhaps more properly means "Air Force") has a long history with the Tougpasa. With effective antigravity technology being available since early in their history thanks to the existence of negative mass (Relasol) on their homeworld, airships came into use at the same time as their naval counterparts. Sail airships are still in use above the rainforest canopy in less developed areas, where there are in fact entire towns built above the canopy.
The Vinkasa is the least organized of all the Alliance military forces, and generally the Vinkasa will simply draw forces from a member nation for one specific operation before disbanding the fleet and sending it back home. This was seen in the collapse of Maani, where the Alliance put together a few fleets from donated ships for the bombing campaigns and disbanded them once the job was done.
Starfleet
An Alliance vessel opens fire on a pirate ship prowling interplanetary trade routes. Though the Starfleet is best known for its ringed, behemoth interstellar warships, the majority of vessels fielded by it are incapable of FTL flight.
The Alliance Starfleet has under its purview all interstellar operations, both military and civilian. All Alliance supply vessels and colony ships sail under a military flag to ensure that no anti-Alliance group manages to create a base of power outside the home system. All colonies-in system and out of system-are garrisoned by Starfleet marines and protected by Starfleet patrol boats. The vast majority of Starfleet vessels are in-system, and range from small destroyers to battleships and dreadnoughts.
More iconic, however, are its interstellar warships. They are almost always large-scale vessels, the smallest common classes are considered pocket battleships. A few one-off destroyer and light cruiser types exist (mainly for responding to incidents in interstellar space and emergency relief for exosolar colonies), but the majority of interstellar vessels are capital ships. A common feature of any Alliance interstellar task force is a carrier, which will carry fighters and larger screening craft into the battle rather than necessitate other FTL capable screening ships. All Tougpasa interstellar craft are equipped with two large, fat rings for the purpose of directing relasol in the proper way so as to warp space and allow for seemingly FTL travel.
Tougpasa
The Tougpasa are a bipedal species, likely of slightly shorter stature than other such species due to the high gravity of their homeworld of Wusdafu. It is tidally locked to its sun, a red dwarf star dubbed Shav'nefo (which translates to "sun"), and as a result only has a thin strip of land that is a rainforest, bordered by savanna and steppes. At it's Solward and Antisol poles it is completely uninhabitable, and winds constantly blow from one side of the world to the other. The Shav'nefo system itself is approximately 20 kilo-lightyears from the galactic core.
Ironically, the hells on either side of the world give way to a near paradise at the Solar equator in the middle. A lush rainforest covers the landscape, with most plants having massive leaves to soak up as much of the rare sunlight as possible. The constant, planetary-scale hurricane caused by the nature of the planet gives rise to an almost constant rain within the so-called twilight rainforest. The impact of this environment upon Tougpasa evolution is obvious.
First of all, it is seen in their most prominent feature that sets them apart. The Tougpasa have large, pointed, furry, feline-like ears on the top of their head. They have impressive control over said ears, with countless muscles being dedicated to rotating and turning them to track a sound. Furthermore, their ears have the most nerve endings out of any place on their bodies. This gives them an uncanny ability to hear in their generally rather soundproof native habitat. They also function as heat radiators for Solward inhabitants (the Tougpasa developed better heat dissipation techniques since the Antisol side of the planet is devoid of conventional plant life, and thus only very sparsely populated). It is worth noting that there is a Tougpasa race with smaller, furrier ears that originated on the Antisol side of the planet. The large ears of the majority of the Tougpasa, after all, would have been a liability in an environment which demands maximum heat retention.
Second is their eyesight, which has evolved similar to that of other Wusdafan felines. Their eyes contain a tapetum lucidum-a reflective layer that allows them to see easily at night and in dark areas, with the side effect of making their eyes seem to glow in the dark. This is an adaptation to the heavily wooded rainforests of Wusdafu, as most trees have gigantic leaves in order to soak up as much sunlight as possible, making the ground extremely dark closer to the Antisol side (since less sunlight can reach it). This combined with their hearing has made the Tougpasa excellent hunters, and later on excellent warriors. Also complementing their fighting ability are tails, which allow them to better maintain balance and prevent falling (which is dangerous in Wusdafu's high gravity).
Within their body, they have a variety of different adaptations to their homeworld that aren't immediately noticeable. First of all are their bones, which are notably larger and more robust than those of the fauna on neighboring worlds due to the high gravity of Wusdafu. Their muscles, too, are of a higher density but not physically larger (which tends to make the Tougpasa seem to be impossibly strong on lower gravity planets). Their lungs are also fairly large, as is their heart, in order to allow their bodies to more effectively circulate air and blood in high gravity.
The Tougpasa have no inherent need for sleep. The lack of a day/night cycle on Wusdafu does not lend itself well to lying on the ground unable to respond to any threats for eight hours every day, so like almost all other animal species on Wusdafu they are capable of living their whole lives without sleeping. "Capable" and "Normally", however, are two very different things. Sleep greatly increases Tougpasa lifespans and heightens brain function, and for this purpose most Tougpasa sleep up to five hours a day. It should be noted that, to a species that requires sleep due to a day/night cycle on their homeworld, a Tougpasa may appear to have impeccable memory.
Finally, Tougpasa reproduction is somewhat strange compared to that of other species. An only child for a Touspasa is almost unheard of, and the gestation period is short at approximately 1/5th of a Wusdafan year. The tradeoffs, however, are obvious. A pregnant female flat out cannot fend for themselves, and as hunter-gatherers the Tougpasa would stop in the same general area for the entirety of mating season (and then some) to ensure that all children would be born healthy. The body of a Tougpasa female will always favor itself over her child during gestation, and a shortage of nutrients would harm the growth of the baby in favor of keeping the mother alive. As a result, miscarriages were extremely common. To combat this, the Tougpasa actually have two separate mating seasons every (long) year. If there is a famine in one, then the second may have better conditions.
The Tougpasa Planetary Alliance
The Tougpasa Planetary Alliance is a supranational organization that has jurisdiction over all colonial operations, and acts as a governing body for Wusdafu itself. Its operations are voted on my all of its member states, but a small group of five representatives known as the Legislative Council (colloquially, the "Council of Five", or in a derogatory connotation "The Order of Five" or "Round Table") is elected every two years. This council is placed in control of all Alliance military operations (both in the colonies and at home).
Under the council's purview are a number of separate organizations, such as the International Bank and Fund, the Science and Technology Administration, the Colonial and Solward Development Committee, the International Court, and the Alliance Emergency Management Agency. The actions of all these organizations can be controlled directly by the Legislative Council, and the decisions of other national representatives related to these organizations can be vetoes by the Legislative Council.
The Planetary Alliance is the foremost force for good among Tougpasa society. It represents the collection values of the species, and has raised countless millions out of poverty through the Colonial and Solward Development Committee and International Bank and Fund. Though there exist those that fear the Alliance's far-reaching power and influence, their fears are unfounded. The Alliance represents all that is good about the Tougpasa.
Culture
Though it would be impossible to fully explain the full extent of Tougpasa culture, some broad generalization can be drawn regarding the current cultural climate.
Power on Wusdafu (and, indeed, all of Alliance space) is focused in the central rainforest strip of the planet. Through a strong cultural zeitgeist of individuality and a strong work ethic, the nations of this are have become the most prominent and populous in the world. They are massively economically prosperous, and using the technologies developed in them they share this prosperity with the solward and antisol regions of the world. Should you be reading this datapacket, it is likely that the one who sent it was born here.
Towards the sun there lie the lands of the savanna and desert, which are rich with natural resources. The large concentrations of negative mass liquid beneath the ground there have driven planetbound politics for centuries, and led to the ancient lands being regrettably colonies by the nations of the central strip. Following the Long War, however, these culturally rich lands have been accepted into the fold of Tougpasa culture as equals. They are the "Solward" part of the Colonial and Solward Development Committee, and are a major focus of economic development efforts. Through the construction of new factories and housing by the Development Committee, the central strip nations are repaying their debt.
Finally, on the antisol side of the world there are the old troublemakers of Wusdafu. It is here that the Tougpasa Union made its final stand against the Planetary Alliance, attempting to wrest control of the entire species and place them under their iron heel of tyranny. It was their defeat that ended the Long War. The people of this land have been hardened by both their harsh environment and the decades of brutal rule they were made to endure, and have proved to be an excellent addition to the Planetary Alliance.
To all captains: Take the utmost care to ensure that no interstellar incidents occur during alien contact. Omit any and all information you feel might jeopardize peaceful relations.
History
Tougpasa history begins in the rainforests of Wusdafu, where they lived as hunter gatherers. The first evidence of Tougpasa society and technology can be found in the massive trees of the rainforest, some of which were hollowed out by early Tougpasa to be used as dwellings. Primitive tools can also be found, which give insight as to how these societies lived. Long, hooked poles were used to pick the abundant fruits of the same trees. Interestingly, this also seems to be the first example of Tougpasa agriculture, as large leather sacks suggest that they actively watered the same trees during droughts.
Later on, there is evidence of early inhabitation of the savanna area closer to the sun. At around the same time, the Tougpasa began to actively plant and raise domesticated plants. In the rainforest, they would chop off the leaves of the larger trees to plant ones of the same species for their fruit, but intentionally keep them small so as to manage them easier. In the savanna, Tougpasa settlers domesticated various grasses in the area. One of which closely resembles the various species of Terran rice, and in modern times has become a staple of the Tougpasa diet.
The savanna was the first place in which the Tougpasa constructed buildings themselves, and an ancient civilization arose along one of the major rivers in the region. At some point, for unknown reasons, its influence exploded across Wusdafu. Coinage from it has been found at both the Solward and Antisolar poles of the planet, which suggests that they were significantly milder at some point in Wusdafu's history. Ruins from that civilization, dubbed the Shaslag Efol (first ones) can be found all across the planet. The few remaining cities show clearly that they were highly advanced for their time, with roads being laid out in grids, made wide enough for carts, and being built mostly only on sturdy ground.
At some point during the reign of the Shaslag Efol, however, a catastrophe befell Wusdafu. A truly massive hail of asteroids (speculated to have been made up of upwards of a thousand individual objects) slammed into the planet at almost exactly the same time. This caused a mass extinction event, during which all of Tougpasa civilization was wiped out alongside numerous other species. Immediately after the impact, radiation levels were found to spike across the planet. It is thought that this is the result of said asteroid hail being rich in exotic matter, as relasol concentrations in the savanna and solward desert rose sharply and evidence of the first widespread use of relasol is found shortly afterwards. Though relasol was already abundant on the planet (and indeed affected the evolution of various species), this event made it easily accessible for all Tougpasa populations.
The population numbers of the Tougpasa gradually recovered, and another civilization rose up in the rainforest in tandem with one in the tundra. These two civilizations, the Sidore and the Miji respectively, formed the cultural basis from which all current Tougpasa society evolved. The Miji were a highly advanced culture, and were very nearly the first to industrialize at numerous points in history. This was always prevented, however, by internal or external strife.
The Sidore, on the other hand, were a largely stagnant empire that spanned countless different cultures which were crushed beneath the monolith that was the Empire. It was only well after it had fallen that the "South ring" rainforest cultures industrialized. The main drive to do so lay within the largely unexplored continent of Hassa, which was surrounded by a ring of ocean. The constant cross-planetary wind made it night impossible to cross in any reasonable time from one side, and on the other a constant storm caused by the anomalous weather patterns surrounding Hassa made it too dangerous to sail through. With the advent of steam power, however, nations from both sides were able to send expeditions.
The coasts of Hassa were raped and plundered by the industrial empires, the native populations were almost entirely eliminated by disease and firearm. In the ruins of their societies rose colonial towns, cities, and trade hubs. After the independence of these colonies was won, they chose to band together in a confederacy rather than fight each other and turned their eyes inward. The different regions of the continent-created by its unique position-were all conquered. Desert, plains, two of the few mountain ranges found on the entire planet, all were made the domain of the descendants of Sidore.
As time went on, Tougpasa technology advanced further and further as their politics became more and more charged. Liberal regimes replaced monarchies as the power of steam and later oil made its way out from the rainforest towards and away from the sun. The population of the planet exploded without restraint, it had become clear that no natural force could possibly stop the Tougpasa. Their rapid reproduction and new technology turned villages into towns and towns into metropolises. Countless wars were fought, but none could compare to the one that would come to define the very calendar of the Planetary Alliance.
"The Long War", as it was called, officially began in 93 YBT with the Miji Revolution. The last of the Miji dynasties was toppled, the entire royal family being slaughtered in the name of the revolutionary Mahn Ne. He had initially vocally opposed the industrialization of Miji, but as it became more and more entrenched he had no choice but to accept it and, in his words, "minimize the impact on the everyman". By ridding the nation of nobles and capitalists, he argued, they could prevent industrialization from harming them and instead turn it into a force for good.
It came as no surprise that Mahn Ne's radical ideology led to a reaction from the more solward powers, and in 87 YBT a small coalition of rainforest nations attempted an invasion of Miji. Not only were they easily held off by Miji, they found themselves occupied and turned into puppets. Fearful that they would be next, the majority of the powerful rainforest empires banded together and declared war on the Miji on the pretext of liberating their brothers. Their charges were met with entrenched machine gun fire, and thus began the hell that was the Long War.
For the next seventy years, the two juggernaut alliances slammed into each other. The war had an unimaginable effect on the societies of both, as the supreme weapon of war changed again and again throughout the decades. First it had been the machine gun, then the "Coalition Powers" as the rainforest nations chose to call themselves suffocated a section of the Miji lines with poison gas. The airplane turned from a fragile reconnaissance mount into a platform for dealing death behind the lines. The mounted charges of old were replaced by hulking metal beasts that lumbered across trenches, which soon became vehicles far faster than a man.
The social norms of old broke down as more and more men were cut down in battle, and it wasn't long before the same was asked of women. An entire generation of rainforesters were raised by their governments, as they were either born on the front or their parents had died on it. Every single aspect of society adapted to service the war effort. The stalemate only showed signs of breaking by 18 YBT, when the Hassa Confederacy officially entered. Even so, the Miji showed no signs of surrender.
Finally, in 3 YBT, a small Confederate airship force broke through to the Miji capital and carried out the first atomic bombing of the war. Dozens more would follow, with the Confederacy looking upon the Miji homeland as nothing more than a testing ground. The Miji were finally forced to surrender, and with that surrender the Tougpasa Planetary Alliance was created.
Initially dubbed simply the Wusdafu Alliance, it was formed mainly to manage the now-occupied territories on the Miji side of the conflict. As space exploration truly came into its own following the war (where it had been used solely to deliver the last few nuclear strikes), it was the Planetary Alliance that stepped in to act as overseers for each nation's space program. It was only after the first colony on Kusfala (the third planet of the Shav'nefo system and closest other planet to Wusdafu) that the Alliance became the "Planetary Alliance" so as to include the new denizens of Kusfala.
As time went on, the Planetary Alliance became more than a simple occupation force and transitioned to become a true species-wide government. Cultural and economic globalization led to the downfall of individual national governmental power, which led to the rise of the Planetary Alliance as the dominant political force in Tougpasa space. War between developed nations became a thing of the past as their economies (and cultures) gradually merged into one, and the job of the Planetary Alliance military soon became to ensure that the grip of the developed nations on their colonies and the Solward nations remained tight.
Technology
The Tougpasa are, in comparison to most other spacefaring species, rather primitive. Their technological development was strange from the beginning, as their homeworld of Wusdafu has streams of negative mass flowing underground. Though it is unknown if these streams somehow occurred naturally, or are the result of previous inhabitation by an advanced species, their presence caused the Tougpasa to develop along an unexpected path. Indeed, artifacts from ancient times show that tribal hunters would wear backpacks filled with the liquid negative mass to allow them to leap through the trees of the rainforest to catch their prey.
As a result, the Tougpasa make widespread usage of negative mass in their technology. Since the invention of the sail they have launched airships kept aloft by it, and today they use it to lift massive aerial battleships as well as spacecraft. It has also found domestic uses (such as in most cars) as well as more military uses in the creation of antigravity harnesses for soldiers based upon those same ancient "lifting packs".
Aside from the fairly advanced nature of their negative mass-based technology, the Tougpasa are behind the times in most other areas. This is easily visible in their spacecraft, which contain obvious large habitation wheels, general structures reminiscent of early human spacecraft, and often nuclear pulse drives. Their infantry still make heavy use of firearms, and only anti-material weapons (or the newest heavy anti-infantry ones) use electromagnetism (though both lasers and railguns are commonplace on spacecraft and naval vessels). They have no passive shielding technology whatsoever, relying on active defenses such as the Shockwave Dissipation System and Plasma Arc Projectors to prevent damage.
The field in with the Tougpasa is least advanced (or perhaps the field which evolved the strangest, depending on who you ask) is electronics. Most households have computers on par with those seen in the human 1990's, but they are not self-contained units. Instead, they are simply terminals connected to a central computer in the regional capital that is housed in a gigantic skyscraper. This is largely because Tougpasa computer development halted in 10 YBT, with all available resources being poured towards the "practical war effort" rather than code making and breaking. As a result, the Tougpasa equivalent of a personal computer is a hot, whirring mess of cables the size of an entire city apartment. The vast majority of citizens understandably choose to just use a terminal connection, but some eccentrics still use self-contained units.
The main method of FTL for the Tougpasa lies in their affinity for the use of negative mass (Relasol, as they call it). Using it, they are capable of folding space around a spacecraft and enabling it to appear to travel faster than the speed of light. Most combat vessels are designed to be able to travel at immense speeds, or even tear a direct semi-stable wormhole should the need arise, but protocol (not to mention safety regulations and common sense) limits them to under 15c in normal circumstances.
Military
The Planetary Alliance maintains a unified military force, drawing its personnel and equipment from all of its member nations. It is divided into three branches, the Army, Navy, Vinkasa, and Starfleet.
Army
A Planetary Alliance special operative (note his clipped ears) takes cover behind a wall during Operation Unified Protector in the Solward nation of Ash'tahkhal. Alliance forces deposed a potential dictator and installed a friendly regime that properly protected the rights of the nation's citizens. Operation Unified Protector was just one of countless similar operations that stabilized the war-torn Solward nations and returned peace and prosperity to the region.
The Alliance Army is by far the least standardized of all the Planetary Alliance Military forces, oftentimes simply demanding to be given a specified number of divisions by any given member nation. Supply lines are, unsurprisingly, a bit of a nightmare given the large variety of equipment and ammunition required by deployed forces. As a result, most major contributing nations tend to design their equipment and vehicles to be as reliable as possible so as to make breakdowns rare.
The Alliance holds the power to draft any individual necessary from a member nation into the Alliance Army in order to ensure the security of the Alliance, any one of its member nations, the citizens of a foreign power, or the Tougpasa species.
Navy
An Alliance battleship deployed in the oceans surrounding Hassa launches the first missile of a salvo, targeting terrorists in the failed state of Maani. Maani was torn apart by ethnic conflicts following the collapse of the nation's dictatorial and totalitarian regime, which was replaced with numerous benevolent and democratic states created by the Alliance. Alliance interventions began with a bombing campaign of the former capital, targeting military installations. No civilians were harmed in the bombing, or in subsequent strikes.
The Alliance Navy, though operating on the same model as the Army, is significantly more standardized in terms of equipment simply due to the fact that only one member state actually provides vessels for it. The Hassa Confederacy supplies all Alliance warships, and indeed its own navy is considered a direct part of the Alliance Navy. It has long maintained the largest navy on Wusdafu by virtue of its seabound position. It still maintains a large number of battleships and aircraft carriers, the majority of which are nuclear-powered.
The Navy truly shines in its ability to bombard land targets. A great deal of research and development goes to inventing newer and more efficient ways to deal death as far inland as possible. This is no surprise, as the navy has not needed to face an equal opponent on the open seas since the end of the war. Their main purpose is to support land forces against insurgent activities and provide a more precise alternative to carpet or nuclear bombing of densely populated targets.
Vinpasa
An Alliance fleet approaches Var'khun during the Second Ishkh War, in which the populace of Var'khun and surrounding provinces of Ishkh began a nationalist rebellion against their colonial government. Ultimately, the nation fell to the rebels and a totalitarian regime was installed. Recent trade deals have helped democratize the nation and open it up to the rest of the world, which has welcomed it with open arms.
The Vinkasa (a word which directly translates to "Sky warriors", though perhaps more properly means "Air Force") has a long history with the Tougpasa. With effective antigravity technology being available since early in their history thanks to the existence of negative mass (Relasol) on their homeworld, airships came into use at the same time as their naval counterparts. Sail airships are still in use above the rainforest canopy in less developed areas, where there are in fact entire towns built above the canopy.
The Vinkasa is the least organized of all the Alliance military forces, and generally the Vinkasa will simply draw forces from a member nation for one specific operation before disbanding the fleet and sending it back home. This was seen in the collapse of Maani, where the Alliance put together a few fleets from donated ships for the bombing campaigns and disbanded them once the job was done.
Starfleet
An Alliance vessel opens fire on a pirate ship prowling interplanetary trade routes. Though the Starfleet is best known for its ringed, behemoth interstellar warships, the majority of vessels fielded by it are incapable of FTL flight.
The Alliance Starfleet has under its purview all interstellar operations, both military and civilian. All Alliance supply vessels and colony ships sail under a military flag to ensure that no anti-Alliance group manages to create a base of power outside the home system. All colonies-in system and out of system-are garrisoned by Starfleet marines and protected by Starfleet patrol boats. The vast majority of Starfleet vessels are in-system, and range from small destroyers to battleships and dreadnoughts.
More iconic, however, are its interstellar warships. They are almost always large-scale vessels, the smallest common classes are considered pocket battleships. A few one-off destroyer and light cruiser types exist (mainly for responding to incidents in interstellar space and emergency relief for exosolar colonies), but the majority of interstellar vessels are capital ships. A common feature of any Alliance interstellar task force is a carrier, which will carry fighters and larger screening craft into the battle rather than necessitate other FTL capable screening ships. All Tougpasa interstellar craft are equipped with two large, fat rings for the purpose of directing relasol in the proper way so as to warp space and allow for seemingly FTL travel.