Earth Alliance (Jupiter's Dawn)

The Earth Alliance (EA) is a major faction in the Jupiter's Dawn timeline; a variant on the Cosmic Era timeline developed by Juubi-K.

The EA is a military and political alliance created in the aftermath of the Tragedy of Copernicus in CE 70; in which a terrorist attack on the lunar city of Copernicus wiped out the United Nations leadership. It professes to maintain the principles of democracy and subsidiarity upon which the Cosmic Era was built, but in practice it has become a military junta built around the OMNI supreme command headquarters, with support from major business interests and extremist political organisations such as Blue Cosmos.

Regardless, it remains the single most powerful faction in the Earth Sphere, and arguably the entire Solar System.

Territory
The EA was founded as a hasty military alliance of the Atlantic Federation, the Eurasian Federation, the East Asian Federation, and the South African Union; and as such contains all their territories as in canon. The United States of South America was forced to join in February of C.E. 70., only to secede in November of C.E. 71 at the cost of the Central American cantons. The Equatorial Union and Kingdom of Scandinavia also joined in late C.E. 71, only to leave after the signing of the Treaty of Junius in C.E. 72.

Between its various members, the EA also possesses substantial colonial holdings, including effective control of the Moon, and the Lagrange Points L1, L2, and several colonies in L3.

Cantons
The political organisation is based on that of the pre-Copernicus UN. Under this system, the Earth was divided into self-governing Cantons, with populations ranging from 5 to 10 million. The purpose of this system was to enforce meaningful self-government at the local level, as well as to address the percieved 'democratic deficit' of supranational organisations such as the UN. Conveniently, the population limit for a Canton is around the same as that of a large O'Neill cylinder, meaning that each of these colonies is able to function as a canton in its own right.

Cantons are required to elect their own legislatures, and each sends a representative to the UN General Assembly; which functions as a Legislature. Cantons have a number of sovereign rights, including tax collection, lawmaking, and defence. Larger organisations, such as economic unions or nation states, may exist so long as the constituent cantons consent to remain; in which case the aforementioned sovereign rights are pooled. In practice, all cantons on Earth are part of a multi-canton body of one sort of another, though some colonies remain independent.

General Assembly
The General Assembly acts as the representative body for the cantons; and as such numbers in the many thousands. It has the power to override the State Assembly and the Office of the General Secretary by a two-thirds vote, and generally functions in a manner comparable to a lower house of a democratic legislature. During the Tragedy of Copernicus its membership was wiped out, and the Earth Alliance did not reconstitute it, allowing the State Assembly to rule without meaningful democratic oversight; citing a state of emergency.

State Assembly
The State Assembly acts as the upper house of the legislature, and represents multi-canton institutions. Before Copernicus, these were the Atlantic Federation, the Eurasian Federation, the East Asian Federation, the Equatorial Union, the United States of South America, the African Community, the Oceania Union, the Kingdom of Scandinavia, and the Orb Union. After Copernicus, the Earth Alliance powers reconstituted the State Assembly as its governing body, with the other powers walking out in protest; both at its policies, its overt anti-Coordinator and anti-Spacenoid ethos, and its refusal to reconstitute the General Assembly.

The State Assembly is made up of representatives appointed by its member institutions, as well as representatives of the various special committees, and civilian or military 'advisors' brought in on an informal basis. Thus Muruta Azrael sat on the State Assembly post-Copernicus, ostensibly as head of the National Defency Industry Association, but also as the leader of Blue Cosmos.

World Court
The World Court acts as the Judicial branch of the UN government. Its responsibilities include overseeing state and canton judiciaries, and handling international and intergovernmental judicial and legal matters. It is constitutional equal to the State Assembly, but in practice the EA has tended to dominate and control it for its own purposes; including installing pro-EA and pro-Blue Cosmos magistrates, enforcing decisions beneficial to the latter, and forcing those considered political unreliable to resign. By C.E. 71, the World Court was widely regarded as a political puppet of the EA.

OMNI Enforcer
Oppose-Militancy-and-Neutralize-Invasion (OMNI) began as the military wing of the UN, and the Earth's first real world army. Its original role was to act as a peacekeeping force under UN control, with a mandate to maintain peace and prevent illegal behaviour by governments. Over time it grew into a truly massive force, and the idealism of its youth became tainted by ambition and organisational empire-building.

OMNI is controlled by the Supreme Command Headquarters, with a civilian oversight commitee jointly appointed by the State Assembly and the World Court. Following Copernicus, the oversight committee was disbanded and SCHQ chiefs sat on the State Assembly. Over time, ambitious OMNI chiefs were able to turn the State Assembly into a military junta, with Blue Cosmos and other extremist organisations providing the civilian political clout.

Society and Culture
The EA is a truly vast organisation covering much of the Earth and many of its space assets. Countless cultures and subcultures thus reside under its aegis, enjoying varying levels of social and legal acceptance.

A notable feature of Earth Sphere society is the increasingly aristocratic character of its political and social elites.

Perhaps the biggest social issue of the age is that of Genetic Identity. The vast majority of the Earth's population are Naturals, though the extent to which their genomes remain 'untainted' is a movable feast at best. Genetic engineering first became an issue in the decades running up to the Reconstruction Wars, though the changes involved were relatively minor compared to what would come later. This continued throughout the Reconstruction Wars and on into the Cosmic Era, culiminating in the so-called 'Glenn Method' by which Coordinators were created.

Demihumans
Demihumans are living reminders of an older, pre-Glenn age of genetic engineering. As this technology became increasingly accessible in the runup to the Reconstruction Wars, it was increasingly used by private individuals to genetically modify themselves and their children in accordance with their own tastes; some of them quite unusual. Some alterations, such as additional thumbs or elongated 'elf' ears, were relatively minor. Others, such as non-natural hair colours, were so widespread as to barely attract comment in later decades.

Demihumans, as they came to be known, were the most extreme example of this tendency. These were genetically engineered to possess non-human features, such as tails, digitigrade legs, fur, and nonhuman ears. Those involved regarded this as a form of self-expression and an exercise of parental right, and dismissed any criticism as bigotry. But demihumans were often the targets of prejudice and violent mistreatment, with many perpetrators attempting to escape punishment with the 'Uncanny Valley' defence. The final straw was the birth of Chiron Deuros, the world's first and thus far only known centaur, in C.E. 30. The creation of demihumans was banned almost immediately, though the legislation was not able to prevent the Coordinator Boom.

The Demihuman community remains relatively small, numbering less than a million individuals. They endure widespread prejudice and violent bigotry, and as such tend to reside in sparsely-inhabited regions. They are often targeted by Blue Cosmos - though less so than Coordinators - and widely dismissed as freaks unworthy of consideration. Ironically, even Coordinators tend to be less than sympathetic, regarding them as an embarrassment. George Glenn, to his credit, campaigned against the mistreatment of demihumans throughout his life.

Coordinators
If Demihumans are generally dismissed as a joke, Coordinators are the true bete noire of Earth Sphere society. Created by the 'Glenn Method' of genetic engineering, Coordinators are true superhumans; their physical and mental abilities enhanced as far as the practical limitations of their biology will allow.