Federation Civil War

[John Raynor]

Re. "One Race, one Vote"

This issue is only going to get worse as a
larger percentage of the inhabitants of the
Federation live on planets established after
the foundation of the Federation itself (in
my opinion, such planets would be much more
likely to have "mixed" populations), and as
the Federation's inhabitants take advantage
of the absence of significant internal
boundaries, and shuffle around. The growth
of colonial populations (and economic
strength!) is only going to make things
worse.

How long did it take the European colonies
in the New World to reach their present
sizes? Just a couple of hundred years. So,
picture a multi-racial colony, with a
population of several hundred million, and
an economy every bit as robust as those of
Earth, Andor, and so forth... Such a world
*doesn't* fit neatly into the "Federation
scheme," and would be a very plausible
"flash-point" for a hypothetical "Federation
civil war."

[Phoenix]

One of the things you seem to be forgetting, well established colonies can (and Have) apply for full Federation membership, there-by gaining that ever elusive vote on the council floor.

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"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."
-Napoleon

[Antonio Cabañas]

Re: "one race, one vote"
I thought that was "one full member, one vote". And I think that if a colony of a Federation member want the independence and apply for separate membership of the Federation, or no, has all the rights to do that.
The REAL cause for a Federation Civil War could be ,IMHO , other race's resent by the Earth domination of Starfleet and the Federation (just a scary thought, What's if some "Mirror Universe" humans supplanted their counterparts and rise high on Starfleet or the Federation while secretly plotting to re-create the Terran Empire?)

[qerlin]

Yup...hell with one world, one vote; where's the individual's say in things?

[Ciarn]

I think the seeds are there for more of a Civil War between just Starfleet in General, what with those Captains calling for a more aggressive stance for the Federation so Nothing like the Dominion War will happen again, and those who wish to stick with the current way of things. Radicals and Conservatives. A classic confrontation. Suppose the Aggressives became a Majority but some sort of act from the actual government said no Way no how, or the majority of Admirals being conservative (not all that uncommon throughout history) while the lower Echelons are mainly Liberal. then say a misguided, but Charismatic leader of one faction decides they've had enough (most likely after Cracking mentally) and launches some sort of strike, Paranoia Wracks starfleet as members of the offending faction are all blamed. This turns into a war. This is a good way to keep there from being any definative boundaries. It could actually become a sort of Free For All as no one is quite sure who is what faction, especially from a distance. Each planet would most likely be split, granted there would be those planets more likely to have a majority against or for one side. (Andorians would be more likely in the Radicals, and Vulcans the Conservatives). In the midst of all this you could throw some worlds breaking away from the federation in General, alliances with other powers and the likes. Have the Vulcan Seperation movement make its move. Perhaps even having Vulcan Join the Romulan Empire in hopes of Changing bringing them back into the Fold of Logic or whatnot, since there are seeds there already as well. Pirates would make a resurgance, personell Empires of some more Charismatic leaders might arise, all out Anarchy Insues! Now that sounds fun. Lots of Possiblities. Most Likely the Federation will eventually be restored, and come out of it in a stronger position technologically and in a much more solid unity. Of course it may take a while and there may be many drastic Changes.

[Steele1701]

I am also setting up a civil war in my setting as well. But the civil war in mine will be started when an genetically enhanced Admiral takes over Starfleet. I have been dropping clues so that the PC's will hopefully catch on and react when the time is right. It of course comes from B5 but this time from the perspective of a starship versus a station.
The crew is made up of a Klingon, Vulcan and a Benzite. This should prove intresting.

[Fortunae]

As to the One Race/One Vote issue, I think maybe there is a misunderstanding here, but it could be on my part.

I believe that rule is: Colonies of one World/Species share the vote of the homeworld, thus the Human Ambassador to the Federation Council is actually from Mars.

Federation Colonies, colonies founded by the Federation and likely containing multiple species have to pass a probationary period. At the end of the period if they have demonstrated an ability to support themselves they are then an Independent colony with thier own governor not one appointed to them by the Federation. After that, if they can reach the standards for admittance into the Federation, they can apply and then gain equal membership and representation.

So, while some old colonies like Cimera III of the Andorians or Mars of the Humans might like to be recognized as independent members, they aren't allowed to so that the new member species or less rapidly reproductive species aren't drowned out by the voting blocs of particular species.

On the other hand, a colony established by the Federation instead of a member world, comprised of several different species, with a viable independent economy, a large population, an acceptable form of planetary government, at peace could apply for membership as an independent body -- this still subject to voted approval by the Federation Council.

I'd also like to point out that some species, like the Centaurans, consider all their members residing on their colonies to be citizens of the homeworld -- this is why the situation with many of them wanting retire back on the homeworld and the Alpha Centauri planetary government considering applying a No-return-Immigration policy to protect the planetary ecology and economy is an issue.

Honestly, I believe fully that if our world colonies decided to declare complete independence and seperation from the UFP, and they had passed the probationary period, they would be allowed to do so peacefully -- if they decided to get in bed with a Foreign Hostile Government, the same "sanctions" that are applied to independents within "Federation Space" would be applied most likely.

I do *not* believe that the Federation would plunge into complete civil war, even over the withdrawel of a "core member". Regardless of any pettiness of individuals, I honestly believe the nobler aspects drilled into most Starfleet personnel would cause them to balk at anything that atrocious. I realize that such things are the plots of the some episodes and movies, but those are supposed to be extreme cases and the heroes are duly shocked. In the DS9 corebook, they even go through the trouble of explaining the game/TV show reason to have NPC/Walk On officers do something twinky: So the Heroes can guide them back to the right path or regretfully stop them with the minimal required force.

After the near coup on Earth by Admiral Leyton, where Starfleet vessels ended up exchanging fire, I believe that many policy makers and Starfleet officers would be working hard to ensure that sort of thing never happened again. Though the Axanari Revolt is ancient history now, it's still a critical element taught at the Academy, something to avoid, a lesson to learn from.

All of this said, you can do what you want in your own game, but I personally feel running a full blown civil war in the Federation isn't "Star Trek". A few rogue elements with the majority containing them and then finding a peaceful resolution would be Star Trek, but not a full war. I honestly think, if you want to deal with a civil war there are 4 excellent ways to do so already available in the setting.

1) Klingon Civil war as Noble Houses fearing the changes the commoner orgined Martok might make decide to take active steps to protect their interests (and capitalize on the weakened state of the Empire to expand their own holdings), good time to roll yet another Duras subplot.

2) Cardassian Civil war, completely destroyed central command; rival Orders with their own ideas, Obsidian order seeking to reclaim supremacy, religious movements, democratic movements, pro and anti Federation movements, expansionist Klingons with reparations in mind...you could do this straight Cardassian, or throw your Starfleet characters into the mix trying to preserve peace and help the Cardassians pull their act together. The novel "Stitch In Time" would be a great read to set up for this sort of thing, co-written by the actor who played Garak from DS9.

3) Romulan civil war, with or without the building issues depicted in the Romulan Box set and Fragile Peace campaign book (how I cry that the second installment was never published), between the loses in the Dominion War and plain personal ambition, the Star Empire is ripe for an outbreak of civil unrest. "Client" colonies rebelling as Romulan losses in the war reduce garrison sizes; that plague still running rampent in that one sector; sentators scheming to make use of the Federation alliance pro or con to move their power base up a notch...perhaps the Praetor was going to meet a Federation Diplomatic team on Cheron after the Dominion War to more formalize the post-war state of the alliance and his ship vanishes. Fingers pointed, inside and outside the Star Empire, House fleets battle with Praetorean fleets hedging their bets and waiting to back which side appears to be winning...once again a great and Star Trek civil war that you could play with or without Starfleet action.

4) The Dominion, losing a war for the first time ever in its thousands of years history, perhaps some "loyal members of the dominion" decide now is their chance to break away..particularly ones close to the Wormhole. Sure, they have no real chance, but the Founders are indisposed Linking and take a long look at their future. Various Vorta decide to take action on what they think the founders would think best, and not all agree, eventually Jem'Hadar battle Jem'Hadar under different Vorta...and the original rebels, they petition for help from the Alpha Quadrent Alliance.

Civil Insurrection and War are part of the Star Trek mileu, I just don't think having it occur *in* the Federation is a good way to go, and I'm certain the Gene Rodenberry would not approve, but, it's your game.

Peace.

[Steele1701]

I see your point about the Federation not going into civil war. But what if someone outside the Federation or say from Earth's past were pulling the strings. The idea I had was for descendants of the genetic supermen to work there way into Starfleet and move into positions of power. With them in place they could control most of Starfleet. But with the size of the Federation some of the ships, planets, and outpost would be far enough out to see what was happening and do something about it. Evenually the crew of most of the ships will rebel but only when they know that the have a chance of winning. My crew are soon going to be fighting for there lives against some of the elements. I plan for them to win, but not easily.

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If you love, love with all your heart. If you fight, fight to win. If you die, die with honor.

[Standing Wolf]

I'm going to pipe in by throwing out what the organization I'm with is doing. Keep in mind that we realized that not everyone in our shared universe is going to want to follow a full-fledged civil war plot so we have break-away states effecting some regions while others are status as normal.

Keep in mind that we *are RPing the fact that this has severely limited resources and so even though about 40 years have passed since DS9, we are finding ways to conserve such as now refitting the older EXCELSIOR class and CONSTITUTION class starships, bringing them up to modern standards while also introducing stronger but smaller designs.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">General Background

The year is 2413, and it is still the first quarter of the 25th century. The deeds of Captain Picard and the Enterprise or Captain Sisko and Deep Space 9 of forty years ago are remembered with honor and serve as examples to us all.

The Federation continues to exist, living in relative peace with the Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, and even the Dominion. Does this mean it is a peace without periods of anxiety?...No...There are still those moments when tensions run high, and a face off in force is brought to a head in some star system or another. After all, isn't that the way of the unverse?

Even though peace exists with some, war is the name of the game with others.

For example...the Horvaukan Empire was beaten back in the Neffen Sector in the year 2411 during the 1st Battle of Centerpoint, begining a long period of unrest with that government. That same empire completely pushed the Federation from the sector during the 2nd Battle of Centerpoint in the beginnings of 2413 along with the other members of the Harbour Defense Force (aka. HDF).

(The HDF is a joint force operation between the Federation, Klingons, and Romulans, established originally to administer a region of the neutral zone, meet the Horvaukan threat, and recently administer a gateway into the Ansolon Galaxy.)

What of the Federation's strength and glory?

Although the Federation continues to be somewhat strong, it recently has been struck to the heart as civil discord and rebellion has affected whole sectors of its space.

There are those that feel the stinch of death is upon the Federation and that its days are numbered. Those same individuals feel that a change in stance is called for and that the Federation itself needs to rethink some of its principles to define a slightly harder edge.

In certain cases, this discord has even spread to certain members of star fleet as reports indicate that some captains and crews have commandeered their ships and gone over to 'the other side.' Although diplimatic channels are being used in an attempt to mend the wounds, tensions are known to flair, pitting Federation forces against Federation.

On other fronts, life continues as it always has within the Federation..... even if resources are now more taxed. Exploration continues as do first contact efforts. Despite war and rebellion...the Federation continues as it always has, looking to expand and to grow.</font>

Note that we have had a major conflict with an enemy called the Horvauk that really left us with a bloody nose. The breakaway states actually occurred following a major battle in which we were not prepared and lost an entire region of space to the enemy.

In addition, we have introduced a new terrorist group that is like fuel to the fire. They originate in another galaxy which we now have access to via a stargate.

Here is the info on that organization...

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Te Zecharri (aka. The Seperatists)
Combat Status: War
Diplomatic Status: Hostile

"Te Zecharrias Na Rie" = "The Seperation of All"

Originally native only to the Ansolon Galaxy, this band of terrorists have expanded operations to include Federation Space in our own galaxy.

They resemble the former Palestinian Liberation Organization from Earth history in setup and methods.

They are divided into independent terrorists cells that can each one survive without the others. Members of this group are not of one specific race but a mixture of individials linked through their common goals.

They are willing to die for the cause and can think of no higher honor. Attacks may range from hostiage situations to bombings to outright mass destruction and death.

This group was responsible for the recent destruction of the USS SEAWARD and the death of the population of Zelphan IV - former Celestial Colony.

This group believes in smaller government with the power stemming from the planetary level and not above the system level. They do not support governments larger than such.</font>

Not sure if it will help you but you never know.

More information is available via the links in my signature.


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Respectfully,

CAPT Ross MacLachlin
CO, USS PEARL HARBOR
Harbour Defense Force

aka. --Mike Tripp

Ansolon Expeditionary Force
Star Trek: Frontiers
USS PEARL HARBOR

[This message has been edited by Standing Wolf (edited 07-21-2001).]

[AslanC]

Just a quick reminder, when the people rise up against the government it is a Civil War or a Revolution, when the military rises up against the Government or the People, it is called a Coup

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Aslan Collas
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RPG_Trek; http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rpg-trek
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Ferengi Rule Of Acquisition #76: Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.