History: [spoiler][i]From the ashes of the Empire, rose the Federation, and with it, order. [/i] The Galactic Federation grew from humble beginnings, starting on the then-backwater world of Capri-9. It started out as a group of beings, humans and aliens alike, who wished to fight back against their oppressive planetary government, and eventually spread their ideas across the system. Though weak in comparison to other rising factions, the Federation provided protection and order, and it quickly expanded its borders. This Era of Expansion is known as the First Age. Quickly, however, the Federation left the clusters of friendly systems, and ventured into deep space... Space that had been controlled by Ignus, Volgus, Dread, the R'Tok, Phazon, and even the Imperial Remnants, all of which posed insurmountable threats to the fledgling government. In order to fight the battles that they could not win, the Federation recruited Fireteam Cyprus, the legendary team of mercenaries and freedom fighters that had been prevalent throughout the Galaxy for the past several years. Tales of their exploits spread, and oftentimes their mere reputation caused systems to surrender to the Federation. However, on the brink of total victory against their opposition, tragedy struck. Most of Cyprus, and the leaders of the Imperial Remnant, died on Calypse in front of billions. This Era of Strife is known as the Second Age, or the Golden Age. However, much of the Galaxy witnessed the death of Cyprus, these beings formerly hailed as immortal, and many systems began to rise up against the benevolent Federation. Realizing that many of these systems had materials vital to the entire Federation's survival, the leaders of the Federation devised of more harsh methods for dissuading rebellion, including orbital bombardment. If they didn't, their entire empire would fall apart, and hundreds of billions would die. Not everyone was pleased with the Federation's increasingly harsh punishments. Secession first began in the beleaguered Outer Colonies, who were hit hardest by the harshly enforced laws, and slowly began to rise. It started as a coalition of bandits and mercenaries just wanting to make a living, but over time, even regular citizens took up arms to defend their home. Their heroic actions were so righteous in the eyes of onlookers that they drew the attention of the Alliance: an extragalactic alliance of alien races who occasionally resides in the Milky Way. The two united against the Federation, which was slowly pushed back. The Galactic Civil War hit its peak in its final days: at the conflicts of Terminus and Bastion respectively. The former represented one of the most essential Core Worlds in the Federation, and the latter, a wealth of Imperial knowledge and weaponry. However, it was all a setup by the terrorist known as Phaedrus: he detonated antimatter bomb on Bastion that decimated all present fleets, and eventually issued a peace treaty between the three political entities into a joint government that was soon called the Triumvirate. [/spoiler] WIP