Fourth Celestial Alignment

Description

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4CA Flag, designed by Trixie

Name: TBA https://wiki.dopplershift13.com/wiki/Fourth_Celestial_Alignment Industry: TBA

Founder: TBA

The Fourth Celestial Alignment, informally referred to as the 'Federation,' is a multi-cultural, multi-racial governmental entity based in Proxima Centauri and extending across a sizable area of Known Space.

The 4CA is a commonwealth-coalition that has undergone three major revisions since its original inception as a trade union and scientific association between major spacefaring players at the time; the OCA (Original Celestial Alignment). The 2CA was formed for making allies in alien life after a series of successful contact missions, the 3CA coming together for the purpose of charting space of all members. The 4CA's goal as of current is creating a post-scarcity, almost utopian society for all participating members.

Leadership

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The Alignment is headed by an elected President, with requirements kept intentionally 'simple' to cast a wide net of candidates. The Secondary Cabinet (NAME TO BE MADE COOLER) underneath the President vote on major decisions such as foreign policy, resource distribution, economic decisions, and other major issues affecting all parties involved. The President holds five votes.

Ministries

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The 4CA is organized into different Ministries, which can be boiled down to broad concepts; the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Transportation, Ministry of Disaster, Ministry of Labor, Special Circumstances, and the Ministry of Transport are only a few. Rather than organizing the Federation with central formation as the inherent focus, the different Ministries being essentially smaller organizations in larger coats. For example, the Ministry of Research is a special interest group comprised of Mercurial roboticists, Marsian geneworkers, think tanks from the Ordoht, and several other subgroups.

The different Ministries of the 4CA are comprised of different groups of members from all over it's territories, all collecting into singular organizations to accomplish wider tasks and assemble as bodies in the Cabinet-- each sending out a single Commissioner as their representative. Nominally, each Ministry serves a mostly passive role in policymaking and coordination, but active response will typically form for issues that planetary or system governments cannot handle themselves. Due to their broad scopes and far reach, different Ministries trend towards varying levels of petty squabble as each attempts to be proud of how they coordinated a single incident-- often sidelining the others. This, or simply arguing about what falls under who, leading to a certain 4CA reputation of being skilled at solving large issues, but somewhat sluggish at resolving petty ones.

The Ministry of Health

In terms of 'background work,' the 4CA's Ministry of Health is predominantly concerned with public health; working to set intragalactic standards of health, providing technical assistance with social health measures, and evaluating situations. However, the organization is equally known for active assistance in aid and relief, even for other factions entirely. Before, during, and after emergencies, different members of the Ministry of Health are very easy to find.

The Ministry of Transport

Predominantly concerning everything to do with faster-than-light travel, the Ministry of Transport is nominally responsible for public transportation measures within 4CA space, aiming to create accessible networks of liner vessels for mass transport of people and non-FTL vessels.

While they're known to collaborate with the Ministry of Research in charting stars and ensuring signal clocks are fully synchronized, the Ministry of Transport runs into regular scuffles with the Ministry of Trade.

Special Circumstances

Intelligence is the name of SC's game. While surveillance of Celestians remains blessedly low within the Federation, the unblinking eye of Special Circumstances is always turned outwards. Signal intelligence and counterintelligence are their bread and butter, and a number of different instances of '4CA Meddling' have directly been the result of SC.

The Ministry of Disaster

Arguably one of the most highly-regarded among the Cabinet, the Ministry of Disaster are also one of the most well-connected with any group they consider useful, inside or out. Public safety, response to mass catastrophe, and training of various Celestians are some of the things under their purview-- all in the name of response, aid, and prevention of disasters and emergencies.

The Ministry of Peace

Concerning the security of every citizen of the 4CA, the Ministry of Peace is tasked with the administration of justice, and the public security of the interior of the Alignment; counter-terrorism, response to mass criminal incidents, customs, and a division for cyberspace as well. Legal prosecution and conflict resolution exists under their purview, but is typically only brought up if a case is too grand-scale for local governments.

The Ministry of Peace has seen friction with others-- with the Ministry of Disaster for who calls the shots in certain mass catastrophes, with the Ministry of Contact for who gets to handle immigration and intragalactic cases, and with the Ministry of Trade for specifics on certain dangerous imports.

The Ministry of Ecology

Concerning the management of Aligned planets and their natural resources, they are most-known for their works in terraforming. However, the Ministry of Ecology has also been tasked with assuring food safety and security, working to end hunger within Celestian space. Parks, zoos, and the reengineering of extinct fauna have been other historical projects of the Ministry, some of the first reintroduced dinosaurs coming from their facilities during the Third Celestial Alignment.

While they enjoy a relatively productive relationship in the restaurant industry with House Verikami of the Shattered Empire, they have been under extreme scrutiny and controversy from the Akulan Hegemony and other groups for classing carp-related organisms as invasive species, and for their work with the Ministries of Peace and Disaster for killing Space Dragons.

The Ministry of Trade

Concerning commerce and mercantile activity, the Ministry of Trade has some of the highest membership counts, commonly traders wishing for a more secure platform to operate from. Sharing the burden of customs with the Ministry of Peace, the main goal of the Ministry of Trade is to create jobs and ensure economic stability for everyone involved the Alignment. With the start of the Fourth Alignment, their focus has been shifting to being the backbone of the creation of a post-scarcity society-- so that all people can easily have their basic survival needs met, along with other requests for goods and services.

Even dating back to the 2CA, the Ministry of Trade has a somewhat shady reputation amongst more 'by the book' branches of the Cabinet, often performing summits with groups unvetted by the Ministry of Contact. Furthermore, they have leaped ahead to establish trade routes without the input of the Ministry of Transport, rumors abound of Libre being moved under various tables.

Military

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The 4CA's military forces are traditionally divided between three groups. The Void Corps, dealing with confrontations in space. The Atmosphere Corps, dealing with confrontations in the air and land. Lastly, the Liquid Corps, dealing with confrontations underwater, and recently pairing with the Ministry of Research to explore bluespace. Local defense forces are primarily called upon when national defense forces haven't been mobilized.

History

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379: A Celestial Alignment occurs, a trade union and scientific association between the Ordoht, [the Greys,] and [the snails.]

1449: A number of races are folded into what would later be referred to as the First Celestial Alignment, occupying an area of influence a handful of ly in diameter. A rudimentary system of communication is devised by [the snails,] running on some of the most primitive interstellar bluespace networks.

1495: Earth is visited by a number of Celestian races, the first vessels landing in a wide variety of spots across the world; first in search of both liquid water for signs of life, and plasma for signs of wealth.

1501: A coordinated greeting is extended to the humans of Earth, a number of extraterrestrial delegates appearing through means of teleportation before a throng of different culture's leaders and figureheads.

Archived recording of Two Rabbits, of the Northeast, October 7th, 1502.

"On the second lunar cycle since the acorns have begun to fall, I take some of my free time to speak my thoughts about the people that come from the world above. I was named Two Rabbits, sister to one we call Full Moon; on account of his big face, of course. We were both born to the Turtle Clan, near a place we call Oniatarí:i, a vast lake I am made fun of for referring to as a sea. Our people, the Five Nations, and our people, the Great Hill People, have been visited by unusual people saying they come from above the stars. I can only describe them so. They've been here since the deer began to fatten, not too long after the Thunder Ceremony. They do not look like anyone in my town, or from any town I have seen. They are rotund and soft, colorful things, like a sort of walking jelly-- I am told their eyes are on sticks from their heads, and they wear a great big stone on their backs that not even several of my friends can pull off. They're slow-moving and drenched in a slime, but we have found great amusement that they can stay under the water as long as they like. My group of friends have made great work, with the help of Laughing Boy of the Beaver Clan, at teaching them ball games such as bumping hips; but they're mooostly good as obstacles for the other team. Those older than me are unsure of their claims to not quite be man, but not quite be woman. Some have adapted to this, taking some of the visitors to fish and trap beaver, taking some of them to farm and harvest. However, we're most confused by their frivolous nature. The tube in my hand, I'm told, is able to take what I say and speak it again without my mouth. I'm even able to twist it and speak to my brother's. It's a thing that we're all delighted, if not scared by, but the Great Spirit knows this to be true: they only wanted us to teach them the taste of our strawberries and play games with them. They wander around and trade items we have never seen before, even a sort of sash belt allowing one to float through the air, for simple things that interest them such as porcupine combs and buckskin dress. They have fluids capable of curing terrible ailments, and we are told they ride not only across the sky, but to the moon and beyond that. Many of them have been spending a great deal of time with the Clan Mother, telling her things that she is eager to learn more of. They tell us that there are two other types of these star-people, my brother laughing and clapping that they must be the Three Sisters come to see us. I suppose the ones we have met are Squash."

Translated account of Zhao Yunhao, retainer of the Hongzhi Emperor, 1503

"Some time about the Hongzhi Era, in the reign of the Emperor Xiaozong of Ming, a number of unnamable creatures have visited our court. They appeared as if out of nowhere, as if the very air conjured them-- stepping forth from behind nothing at all. From this crack in the world, what seemed to us as some sort of shrunken yaoguai appeared. Upon close interrogation, the creatures would not speak; they communicated to us through spiritual means. Their size was the first thing which attracted attention. They were diminutive and child-sized, their proportions ominous in every regard; bean-shaped eyes larger than our hands, as if black pools of lamp oil, not a dot of white to be seen. Their heads were as an adult's, their face two slits passing for a nose and a rarely-opened mouth. We are unsure of how they heard our speech from their lack of any ear. They came dressed in a sort of shellac clothing that was tight on their bodies. What they said when they did speak aloud was utterly incomprehensible, their voices like the sounds of haunted birds. One and all rushed to see them, crowding the palace in an utter lack of sense or restraint. We were all in agreement that one was somehow capable of speaking to many at a time. The creatures offered us many things. Items capable of projecting imagery from the holder's imagination, items capable of allowing one to speak to someone from one room over. They showed us strange boats capable of gliding over the water without even making a sound, they showed us clothing that allows the wearer to surpass any blade. They even tell us that they originate from above the sky, and that yet more of them exist in even stranger shapes..."

1549: The humans of Earth are made fully aware of the presence of extraterrestrial lifeforms. World leaders are worked with in varying degrees of openness, rapidly becoming appraised of humanity not being anywhere near alone in the galaxy.

1700: The shape of Earth's future to come becomes more apparent. The visitors, in celebration of two centuries of contact, grant humans a powerful gift-- a system of large apertures placed in populated areas, set to display the Celestial Alignment's visual programming; all sorts of archival footage and recreational shows and even product commercials are available.

1731: Earth's nations have largely been divided into three. Ambivalence, optimism, and resistance.

Archived journal of Anika Beaumont, Crusader. Last page. 1750

"My name is Anika Beaumont. I write this- yes, I write this, rather than allow what has stricken the world to take my soul along with my words. I write this to the future, in hopes that it will be humankind that remember me. I have seen what God has likely never intended us to. At this time, I am a standard bearer of the Tenth Crusade. I am currently aboard a road locomotive, our travel at what I am told is eighty kilometers an hour, every hour. Our convoy attempts to obey a host of confusing orders, but I know most of us are only satisfying our contempt. We only realized yesterday a battle has started when we heard the roar of foreign sirens. Electric fields split the earth into fortress-like spheres, rebuking our every attempt to use our rotary gun. Today, piling into our oil-supped convoys, we begin our attack on another of ~/their/~ cities. I never wanted to be in this seat. I nearly wish to vomit out the window as our battalion laments about what used to be. We are in a place that was once called Rotjeknor. Humans called it that. The people of our planet called it that. It is no longer Nederland. They call this place the 'Norwest Corridor.' They call this whole thing we used to have the 'Eastern Mainland,' 'to be adjusted to our liking.' They tell us without saying-- it is their right to play with our future. On account of our 'primitive' technology and 'primitive' views, they call us black knights. They call us rebels. They think us stupid. But in the land of the blind, perhaps the one-eyed men are king. So we took this and wore it as armor, told it as a warning to those that have betrayed us. The flag I hold says as much. The flag of the Blackguard, a soot-dark suit of our traditional plate on a background of blood-red paint. Someone rolled up beside us. Another road locomotive of our cavalcade; my training's useful here to tell you who this is. White script on a green background, from the land of the Saracens. The Exalted Caliphate were here with us, and their standard bearer smiles at me from an open window. We exchange words, though neither of us understand what the other says. We never needed a device that tells us what the meaning is, we know that we ride together as sisters. I laugh as two hundred years of cultural 'development' may be wiped out by those they've so readily discarded, as our navigator tells us we've come upon the shining wheels of the adversary. I hope to write more when we return victorious."

Video recording of Zara’el Kharim and Xel'atar-Kaaz, 1800.

"The first recording flickers to life as light enters the room. A masculine voice fills the air, the accented tones of the Meridional people. He turns the camera to himself; a soft and pretty face of equatorial complexion, holding the vaguely orb-shaped device in a prosthetic hand. He wears what is referred to as 'electric clothing,' a very low-cut top with luminescent accents that change color with a set of cufflinks. "It is seventeen ninety nine. Can you believe this? Nearly a new year. Nearly a new set of a hundred. The last time it was like this, we didn't even have the cooking channels." He laughs, turning the camera to the other in the room. His partner. One of many in the First Celestial Alignment, of blue skin with glowing white marks, accessorized in gold jewelry and a mask with five eyeslits. They let out a low-toned giggle, extending a many-fingered hand to hold his free one. The camera rushes over to the window, the city alight with impending celebration. "Three, two, one..." More than ten thousand lights of all different colors hang in the air in graceful lines, ten thousand souls celebrating in the streets to loud music. The camera swivels. A mask is hastily lifted as the two seal the year 1800, the Century of Realignment, with a kiss. The second recording begins with a cold open. A borehole of raw destruction has been ripped through what used to be four consecutive blocks. What used to be where prominent humans would mingle with prominent aliens. What used to be the esteemed halls of city center, Nueva Esperanza. Construction material still faintly glows purple in the night, the recognizable singe of an excavation beam not nearly designed by the human race. Nearly every street the pair wander breathlessly through is littered with holographic warning signs, displaying black plate armor on a red background, offering rewards for information on the hijackers. Partially intact human and alien remains sit motionless in the tunnel the beam left behind. All the lights in the sky are no longer for the turn of the century; they're saucer-shaped Grey vessels preparing to leave the Earth and her children. The camera turns for one last time to the Meridional man and his partner. They stare through the lens, but not at it-- eyes as empty as the spaces between the stars. Two mortal beings watching a world that may just disappear."

1800: The Centennial celebrations in Telluria, Meridion, Sorrahn, Uluruva, and certain regions of Bharata are beset by further attacks by a banner group calling themselves the Long-Forgotten, chief among them Anne's Blackguard- renamed after the name of a deceased Crusader among their ranks.

1801: Delegates of the First Celestial Alignment assure the people of Terra that the isolated incidents triggered by an unwanted shock group are not representative of human society as a whole, and an adequate response will be formed as a partner project.

1803: The layfolk of Valdaura are visited by humanoid figures, cloaked in shrouds resembling 'the heat coming off some pavement,' each of them teaching locals in the use of weapons. Crates full of unusual devices are distributed to the most capable, skilled workers being led into roughly pill-shaped vehicles for 'further training.'

1808: A strike on a fission plant in Mbaliwa is thwarted by Blackguard leader Medina Beaumont being reportedly 'folded in half' by a 'shaft of light' coming from an Mbaliwese worker holding what appeared to be a roughly rectangular apparatus, signs pointing to Ordoht manufacture.

1812: Groups of the Long-Forgotten such as Anne's Blackguard begin to wane, withering under proactive use of alien weaponry among the Terrafolk to defend themselves.

1820: Peace comes to Terra, for the first time in awhile. With outright terror shriveling into small conservative bastions, a new line of dialogue is established between those from the land and those from the stars.

1823: A volunteer group of twenty former polar explorers from Kitchi Gami, Quinametzin, Makoche, Meridion, and Valdaura are assembled for a special diplomatic mission to the moons of Innethea III, homeworlds of [the snails.] Federation programming explodes with reactions to their first sightings of this newly unveiled race's spacefaring efforts-- fascinated by documentaries on human culture, giggling at seeing some of the women dressed in Grey-styled wear. Speakers describe Terran life in vivid and thrilling detail; their children, their food, their weapons and medicine, their books and their houses.

1829: Six years later, eleven of the group are returned to Terra; expressing a slight homesickness, but great enthusiasm for bringing their families back with them. The remaining nine appear on Federation programming explaining their thrillseeking natures getting the better of them, wishing to stay on the moons of Innethea and urging the First Celestial Alignment's leaders to bring the rest of mankind up with them.

1832: Spaceport construction begins all around the globe as infrequent voyages are arranged to the World Above. Some of the first humans to ever personally see new cosmic phenomena such as black holes, pulsars, and the inhabitants of the new Ordoht homeworlds collaborate on museum and documentary projects for those at home.

1840: Following the first few successful launches from the Guangzhou Elevator, mankind's first major spaceport, an explorative fever hits the children of Man like never before, accessible spaceflight soon possible within their lifetimes.

1854: The Age of Sail is considered to have begun with this year, with wide varieties of human-alien voyages across the stars being sent out.

1855: The first humans land on the Moon with intent to colonize; three settlers from urban Tawantinsuyu, five from the southmost continent of Te Huka Nui, and a further twenty from other corners of the world. Landing in the Sea of Tranquility, regular cargo transport was established to continue operations.

1856: A series of satellites are contructed around Terran orbit to begin the process of two-way linkage to the 1CA's internet.

1900: While humans continue to slowly creep out of the Sol system, a referendum is passed to officially begin a new age-- the Second Celestial Alignment, coindicing with a rough century of timeframe for other uplifting projects to 'reach maturity.'