Systems Commonwealth
Encyclopedia
The All Systems Commonwealth or simply the Systems Commonwealth is a fictional intergalactic government from Gene Roddenberry
's science fiction
TV series
Andromeda
. It was born out of the Vedran Empire. The Vedrans, originating from Tarn-Vedra, which was their homeworld
and the capital of their empire, were the first known race to discover the Slipstream
, the only known way to travel faster-than-light
. They built their empire by traveling to the different star systems and conquering the inhabited and colonizing the uninhabited worlds. The Commonwealth was a democratic
federation of planets, drifts (space station
s or orbit
al habitats), and systems. Depending on where you look, the Commonwealth (and its preceding Empire) was spread across Three Galaxies
(referred in the fourth season of the show simply as "Tri-Galaxies") or Six Galaxies. It lasted for about 5500 years, starting with a time of political reform and ending with a violent civil war started by the Nietzscheans and subsequent invasion by the terrifying Magog.
s founded their Empire as they travelled from system to system subjugating other worlds. The Vedran government was an absolute hereditary monarchy, with the empress as the head of state and government. As the Vedrans continued expanding throughout the Andromeda Galaxy
—the galaxy in which they originated—and the nearby Triangulum Galaxy
, and Milky Way
Galaxy, they eventually encountered the Kalderans in the Greater Magellanic Cloud. The Kalderans managed to somehow capture Vedran Slipstream technology and reverse-engineered
it for their own use; it was not long before the Kalderan Alliance formed to offset Vedran incursions into their system. This was one of few active attempts at resisting Vedran imperialism and eventually escalated into a brutal war between the Kalderans and Vedrans for control of the Magellanic Cloud territories. The conflict ended with the Vedran bombardment of the Kalderan capital, Kalderash, and the forced integration of the Kalderan Alliance into the Vedran Empire.
Despite four thousand years of successful conquest, the monolithic Vedran Empire could not last. The Vedrans themselves had become a minority within their own Empire, relative to the numbers of other races which included the Kalderans, Makra, and Perseids
, amongst others. Eventually, even their military, the High Guard
; previously the exclusive preserve of the Vedrans themselves; became too small to maintain control of the many planets within Vedran borders. The Vedrans were forced to allow non-Vedrans into their ranks. However, dissatisfaction with Vedran domination continued among the Empire's non-Vedran citizens. This culminated in the Perseid Insurrection, which was a failed but very significant attempt at secession by the Empire's Perseid worlds. The High Guard crushed the uprising violently and thus preserved the Empress' authority, but at the same time a series of events and reforms were set in motion that would eventually undermine absolute imperial authority and set the stage for democracy.
. Election
s were held in CY 4205
for the Conclave, the first parliament
for the Empire. Over the following decades, the Conclave would exceed its intended purpose as a powerless facade and pass reforms and legislation. This progressivism
soon evolved into republic
anism, and factions formed calling for the abolishment of the Imperial Throne and establishment of a Systems Republic. The Empress and her loyalists protested and only a compromise brokered by Sani nax Rifati prevented a civil war
—the Vedran Empire became the Systems Commonwealth, and instead of being an absolute hereditary monarchy, it became a parliamentary monarchy, with the Empress as a ceremonial head of state
to symbolize the bond of Vedran monarchy to popular democracy
.
Even this federation of professors and librarians, however, would grow its own ambitions and split into factions in the future. After the Fall, these Collectors would go into hiding and operate clandestinely to gather and preserve knowledge from before the Long Night. Some remained true to the original ideals of the ASU - to preserve knowledge for the sake of it; others deviated and used the knowledge to gain power in the chaos and manipulated the knowledge for personal gain.
Soon, genetic engineering
became all the rage within human society, granting many groups of humans new capabilities such as the ability to breathe underwater (the race of the Castalians), live on heavy-gravity worlds (the race of the "heavy-worlders"), see in almost total darkness (the race of the Inari), or even all of the above. Genetic Scientist Paul Musevini encouraged his devoted human followers at Ayn Rand
Station, orbiting the planet Fountainhead, to lead a life of constant physical, mental, and emotional betterment, using the stern philosophies of Friedrich Nietzsche
as a guide. His son, Drago Musevini, became the First True Nietzschean, due to genetic engineering, and thus was called the Progenitor of the large group of genetically engineered superhumans known as the Nietzschean Race. Drago Musevini became the leader of this first colony of Nietzscheans and by the time of his death, he was revered as nearly a god among these genetically enhanced people. He split his followers into multiple different clans, which would later evolve into the famous Nietzschean Prides. He was the first leader of the Drago-Kazov, the most powerful of all Nietzschean Prides. Though they lived primarily as warriors, the Nietzscheans were, like their human cousins, major contributors to every aspect of Systems Commonwealth government, culture, science, art, entertainment, military, and society.
-like planets) always seemed uneasy and tentative at best. By CY 9760
, a pacifist movement managed to call a referendum
for disbandment of the High Guard. Though the referendum was in favor of High Guard, it is by a very slim margin and thus the pacifists vowed to revisit the issue.
Only 6 years after the referendum, a brutal and vicious species mercilessly attacked Brandenburg-Tor, a frontier colony. Few of the 3 billion inhabitants managed to live to tell the tale of the bloody attack. For 15 more years, this new enemy, called the Magog, attacked numerous other settlement worlds, and numerous battles were fought between High Guard and Magog.
The Andromeda Ascendant
The Andromeda Ascendant
, under command of Perseid Captain Perrim, was sent on a highly classified secret mission to locate the source of the Magog invasion. What the Andromeda found was beyond belief...A structure of 20 hollow worlds joined together, manipulated and powered by an artificial sun at its center: the Magog World Ship, with huge armadas of Swarm Ships, in another galaxy filled with dust and black holes, working its way toward the Known Worlds while sending advance fleets to clear the area for the World Ship. The Andromeda was overwhelmed by Swarm Ships, her entire crew slaughtered. She managed to escape into Slipstream, but since AIs cannot navigate it on their own, she wandered the tangled webs alone, lost, and blind. By the time she emerged in the Triangulum Galaxy, she was halfway to having gone rampant from loneliness, and almost attacked a Than ship. When she limped back to the nearest Commonwealth outpost, the Vedrans got the information and report from the mission and erased her memory of the mission, and commissioned her back into service with no recollection of the suicidal mission into the heart of the Magog, this time under the command of a half-genetically engineered human officer from the planet Tarn-Vedra, Dylan Hunt.
Zone. Since many Nietzschean frontier worlds were attacked, the Nietzscheans, among others, launched vigorous protests and called for complete extermination of the Magog. Several Nietzschean worlds, under the leadership of the Drago-Kazov Pride, threatened to leave the Commonwealth but remained because of increased security assurance from High Guard Command.
provided the Nietzschean Alliance with a trap to lure High Guard ships into the system to be ambushed and destroyed by waiting ships. One-by-one, the Nietzscheans managed to pick off High Guard starships until they got the attention of the Andromeda and Dylan Hunt. The Andromedas captain realized it was a trap too late, and by the time the shock set in, the Andromeda was too far from a Slip-point to be able to escape the system alive. Dylan Hunt ordered his crew to abandon ship and, with his then pilot, the insectoid hermaphrodite
Refractions of Dawn, sent the ship directly into the singularity
, hoping for a slingshot
effect to thrust the ship toward the nearest Slip-point. The Nietzscheans followed the grand prize into the black hole but also went for the escape pods, but many of the crew managed to escape and warn the High Guard. Because of sabotage by the Nietzschean XO
, Gaheris Rhade, the Andromeda was unable to pull back and slingshot away and was frozen in time, teetering at the edge of the event horizon.
Meanwhile, throughout the rest of the Known Worlds, sleeper cells attacked once word reached them that the Andromedas crew warned the Commonwealth. Half the High Guard fleet was destroyed while still in the shipyards and the dockyards.
summoned forth the fires of hell" and destroyed the Nietzschean fleet, "their glorious victory turned to ashes". When the High Guard arrived, the 500 survivor ships were off-balance and confused.
The Angel of Death was in fact the Andromeda Ascendant
, which Slipstreamed back in time just before the battle to set history right again and with an Anti-Proton (AP) Fusion Catalyst, sent the nebula into flames, incinerating two-thirds of the Nietzschean fleet.
Months after the Battle of Witchhead, the aggressive race of the Magog invaded once again, this time in much greater numbers, and wiped away the last remaining struts of the Commonwealth. They even annihilated nearly all of planet Earth's human population.
With the chaos that spread throughout the Known Worlds, a remaining Commonwealth officer, Admiral Constanza Stark, formed an organization named the Knights Templar, a group dedicated to stopping the aggressive Nietzscheans from conquering the entire universe. Unfortunately, the Knights Templar soon split into two groups, one of them would later be known as the infamous Genites.
, the crew learned that the Magog Worldship wasn't actually destroyed, but merely crippled. The remaining Commonwealth fleets were faring badly in the four standard days the crew was gone. A huge Nietzschean fleet from the Drago-Kazov and Sabra-Jaguar Prides was on its way to the planet Tarazed, a member world of the Restored Systems Commonwealth, populated by humans and loyalist Nietzschean Prides. The starship Andromeda was the only line of defense. Dylan Hunt learned that the Methus sun wasn't only built for the Seefra system to survive, but also to destroy the Spirit of the Abyss. The Avatar of the Sun destroyed the Spirit of the Abyss in the Route of Ages, creating a slipstream portal reuniting the planet Tarn-Vedra with the Known Worlds and restoring the Vedrans to the galaxies. Andromeda captain Dylan Hunt could finally rest after five years of fighting.
, though with little real power. In lieu of one Premier
or Chancellor
, the Systems Commonwealth had three heads of government
: the Triumvirs, to prevent one person from taking too much power and keep things fair and balanced. The Conclave parliament was tricameral: the Voice of the Sectors represented Sectors (or groups of star systems); the Voice of the Planets represented each member world individually; and a directly-popularly-elected Voice of the People.
With the end of the centralized Vedran Empire and introduction of a democratic Commonwealth, there also came political flexibility and thus decentralization
. Essentially, the Empire turned from a firm union into a federation
of different sectorial governments.
Gene Roddenberry
Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry was an American television screenwriter, producer and futurist, best known for creating the American science fiction series Star Trek. Born in El Paso, Texas, Roddenberry grew up in Los Angeles, California where his father worked as a police officer...
's science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
TV series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
Andromeda
Andromeda (TV series)
Andromeda is a Canadian-American science fiction television series, based on unused material by the late Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, developed by Robert Hewitt Wolfe, and produced by Roddenberry's widow, Majel Barrett Roddenberry. It starred Kevin Sorbo as High Guard Captain Dylan Hunt...
. It was born out of the Vedran Empire. The Vedrans, originating from Tarn-Vedra, which was their homeworld
Homeworld
Homeworld is a real-time strategy computer game released on September 28, 1999, developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sierra Entertainment. It was the first fully three-dimensional RTS. In 2003, Relic released the source code for Homeworld...
and the capital of their empire, were the first known race to discover the Slipstream
Slipstream (science fiction)
"Slipstream" is a science fiction term for a fictional method of faster-than-light space travel, similar to hyperspace travel, warp drive, or "transfer points" from David Brin's Uplift series.-Usage in Star Trek:...
, the only known way to travel faster-than-light
Faster-than-light
Faster-than-light communications and travel refer to the propagation of information or matter faster than the speed of light....
. They built their empire by traveling to the different star systems and conquering the inhabited and colonizing the uninhabited worlds. The Commonwealth was a democratic
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
federation of planets, drifts (space station
Space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a crew which is designed to remain in space for an extended period of time, and to which other spacecraft can dock. A space station is distinguished from other spacecraft used for human spaceflight by its lack of major propulsion or landing...
s or orbit
Orbit
In physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved path of an object around a point in space, for example the orbit of a planet around the center of a star system, such as the Solar System...
al habitats), and systems. Depending on where you look, the Commonwealth (and its preceding Empire) was spread across Three Galaxies
Galaxy
A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias , literally "milky", a...
(referred in the fourth season of the show simply as "Tri-Galaxies") or Six Galaxies. It lasted for about 5500 years, starting with a time of political reform and ending with a violent civil war started by the Nietzscheans and subsequent invasion by the terrifying Magog.
Vedran Empire
After discovering the Slipstream, the VedranVedran
Vedran is a Slavic masculine given name of Croatian origin. Vedran means clear or cheerful.Vedran may refer also to* A member of the race originated in Tarn-Vedra, a fictional planet in the Andromeda , see List of Andromeda star systems...
s founded their Empire as they travelled from system to system subjugating other worlds. The Vedran government was an absolute hereditary monarchy, with the empress as the head of state and government. As the Vedrans continued expanding throughout the Andromeda Galaxy
Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Andromeda. It is also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224, and is often referred to as the Great Andromeda Nebula in older texts. Andromeda is the nearest spiral galaxy to the...
—the galaxy in which they originated—and the nearby Triangulum Galaxy
Triangulum Galaxy
The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 3 million light years from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. It is catalogued as Messier 33 or NGC 598, and is sometimes informally referred to as the Pinwheel Galaxy, a nickname it shares with Messier 101...
, and Milky Way
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky...
Galaxy, they eventually encountered the Kalderans in the Greater Magellanic Cloud. The Kalderans managed to somehow capture Vedran Slipstream technology and reverse-engineered
Reverse engineering
Reverse engineering is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device, object, or system through analysis of its structure, function, and operation...
it for their own use; it was not long before the Kalderan Alliance formed to offset Vedran incursions into their system. This was one of few active attempts at resisting Vedran imperialism and eventually escalated into a brutal war between the Kalderans and Vedrans for control of the Magellanic Cloud territories. The conflict ended with the Vedran bombardment of the Kalderan capital, Kalderash, and the forced integration of the Kalderan Alliance into the Vedran Empire.
Despite four thousand years of successful conquest, the monolithic Vedran Empire could not last. The Vedrans themselves had become a minority within their own Empire, relative to the numbers of other races which included the Kalderans, Makra, and Perseids
Perseids
The Perseids are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle. The Perseids are so-called because the point from which they appear to come, called the radiant, lies in the constellation Perseus. The name derives in part from the word Perseides , a term found in Greek mythology...
, amongst others. Eventually, even their military, the High Guard
High Guard
The High Guard is a fictional military organization in the TV series Andromeda.-History:Its origins can be traced back to a legendary Vedran male warrior, General Huascar Nax Yoweri, whose campaign of conquest across the three Galaxies produced the Vedran Empire...
; previously the exclusive preserve of the Vedrans themselves; became too small to maintain control of the many planets within Vedran borders. The Vedrans were forced to allow non-Vedrans into their ranks. However, dissatisfaction with Vedran domination continued among the Empire's non-Vedran citizens. This culminated in the Perseid Insurrection, which was a failed but very significant attempt at secession by the Empire's Perseid worlds. The High Guard crushed the uprising violently and thus preserved the Empress' authority, but at the same time a series of events and reforms were set in motion that would eventually undermine absolute imperial authority and set the stage for democracy.
Empire to Commonwealth
The popular reaction to the devastation of the Perseid Insurrection forced the Vedrans to appease their subjects lest they face a more widespread revolutionRevolution
A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...
. Election
Election
An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
s were held in CY 4205
720s BC
-Events and trends:*728 BC—Piye invades Egypt, conquering Memphis, and receives the submission of the rulers of the Nile Delta. He founds the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt.*727 BC—Babylonia makes itself independent of Assyria, upon the death of Tiglath-Pileser III....
for the Conclave, the first parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
for the Empire. Over the following decades, the Conclave would exceed its intended purpose as a powerless facade and pass reforms and legislation. This progressivism
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
soon evolved into republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
anism, and factions formed calling for the abolishment of the Imperial Throne and establishment of a Systems Republic. The Empress and her loyalists protested and only a compromise brokered by Sani nax Rifati prevented a civil war
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
—the Vedran Empire became the Systems Commonwealth, and instead of being an absolute hereditary monarchy, it became a parliamentary monarchy, with the Empress as a ceremonial head of state
Head of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
to symbolize the bond of Vedran monarchy to popular democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
.
The All-Systems University
Soon after the Empire morphed into the Systems Commonwealth, the All-Systems University was born to collect and preserve knowledge from the Known Worlds. One of its most prominent components was the Special Collections Division, which would grow into the main field research and preservation division.Even this federation of professors and librarians, however, would grow its own ambitions and split into factions in the future. After the Fall, these Collectors would go into hiding and operate clandestinely to gather and preserve knowledge from before the Long Night. Some remained true to the original ideals of the ASU - to preserve knowledge for the sake of it; others deviated and used the knowledge to gain power in the chaos and manipulated the knowledge for personal gain.
Humanity's Impact
When the planet Earth joined the Systems Commonwealth, humanity almost immediately assimilated to the new technologies presented by the Commonwealth and traveled outside Earth. Humanity thus contributed greatly to Commonwealth culture, politics, and military.Soon, genetic engineering
Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...
became all the rage within human society, granting many groups of humans new capabilities such as the ability to breathe underwater (the race of the Castalians), live on heavy-gravity worlds (the race of the "heavy-worlders"), see in almost total darkness (the race of the Inari), or even all of the above. Genetic Scientist Paul Musevini encouraged his devoted human followers at Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
Station, orbiting the planet Fountainhead, to lead a life of constant physical, mental, and emotional betterment, using the stern philosophies of Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
as a guide. His son, Drago Musevini, became the First True Nietzschean, due to genetic engineering, and thus was called the Progenitor of the large group of genetically engineered superhumans known as the Nietzschean Race. Drago Musevini became the leader of this first colony of Nietzscheans and by the time of his death, he was revered as nearly a god among these genetically enhanced people. He split his followers into multiple different clans, which would later evolve into the famous Nietzschean Prides. He was the first leader of the Drago-Kazov, the most powerful of all Nietzschean Prides. Though they lived primarily as warriors, the Nietzscheans were, like their human cousins, major contributors to every aspect of Systems Commonwealth government, culture, science, art, entertainment, military, and society.
Illusions of Peace
The Commonwealth celebrated an era that came to be known as the "Twelve Centuries of Peace" in which it continued to grow and prosper, even though peace with the rival Pyrian Empire (the Pyrians lived on hot inner VenusVenus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
-like planets) always seemed uneasy and tentative at best. By CY 9760
5th millennium
The fifth millennium is a period of time that will begin on January 1, 4001, and will end on December 31, 5000.-Astronomical events:* 4285 : Venus occults Regulus.* 4296 : Venus occults Antares....
, a pacifist movement managed to call a referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
for disbandment of the High Guard. Though the referendum was in favor of High Guard, it is by a very slim margin and thus the pacifists vowed to revisit the issue.
Only 6 years after the referendum, a brutal and vicious species mercilessly attacked Brandenburg-Tor, a frontier colony. Few of the 3 billion inhabitants managed to live to tell the tale of the bloody attack. For 15 more years, this new enemy, called the Magog, attacked numerous other settlement worlds, and numerous battles were fought between High Guard and Magog.
The Andromeda Ascendant's mission
The Andromeda AscendantAndromeda Ascendant
The Andromeda Ascendant is a fictional starship in the television series Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda.In the series, the ship is said to have begun her life in the Newport News Orbital Shipyards above Earth, where her keel was laid in CY 9768...
, under command of Perseid Captain Perrim, was sent on a highly classified secret mission to locate the source of the Magog invasion. What the Andromeda found was beyond belief...A structure of 20 hollow worlds joined together, manipulated and powered by an artificial sun at its center: the Magog World Ship, with huge armadas of Swarm Ships, in another galaxy filled with dust and black holes, working its way toward the Known Worlds while sending advance fleets to clear the area for the World Ship. The Andromeda was overwhelmed by Swarm Ships, her entire crew slaughtered. She managed to escape into Slipstream, but since AIs cannot navigate it on their own, she wandered the tangled webs alone, lost, and blind. By the time she emerged in the Triangulum Galaxy, she was halfway to having gone rampant from loneliness, and almost attacked a Than ship. When she limped back to the nearest Commonwealth outpost, the Vedrans got the information and report from the mission and erased her memory of the mission, and commissioned her back into service with no recollection of the suicidal mission into the heart of the Magog, this time under the command of a half-genetically engineered human officer from the planet Tarn-Vedra, Dylan Hunt.
The Treaty of Antares
The Treaty of Antares ended the war between the Magog and the Systems Commonwealth, establishing a border between the alien invaders and the member races of the Systems Commonwealth, with the Magog keeping control over sectors that were already devastated by their initial attacks known as the QuarantineQuarantine
Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....
Zone. Since many Nietzschean frontier worlds were attacked, the Nietzscheans, among others, launched vigorous protests and called for complete extermination of the Magog. Several Nietzschean worlds, under the leadership of the Drago-Kazov Pride, threatened to leave the Commonwealth but remained because of increased security assurance from High Guard Command.
Conspiracy
The Treaty of Antares still resting uneasily in Nietzschean minds, several of the Prides, under the leadership of the Drago-Kazov, the most powerful of all Nietzschean Prides, conspired to replace the Commonwealth, which they perceive as weak, with a Nietzschean Empire. Though most Nietzscheans still remained loyal to the Commonwealth, the worlds that did support the Dragans began spending sprees and retrofitted passenger liners into fighters and cruisers, and this Nietzschean Alliance amassed a huge fleet.Surprise Attack
The Insurrection essentially began at the Nietzschean-populated Hephaistos System, where a convenient rogue black holeBlack hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
provided the Nietzschean Alliance with a trap to lure High Guard ships into the system to be ambushed and destroyed by waiting ships. One-by-one, the Nietzscheans managed to pick off High Guard starships until they got the attention of the Andromeda and Dylan Hunt. The Andromedas captain realized it was a trap too late, and by the time the shock set in, the Andromeda was too far from a Slip-point to be able to escape the system alive. Dylan Hunt ordered his crew to abandon ship and, with his then pilot, the insectoid hermaphrodite
Hermaphrodite
In biology, a hermaphrodite is an organism that has reproductive organs normally associated with both male and female sexes.Many taxonomic groups of animals do not have separate sexes. In these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which both...
Refractions of Dawn, sent the ship directly into the singularity
Gravitational singularity
A gravitational singularity or spacetime singularity is a location where the quantities that are used to measure the gravitational field become infinite in a way that does not depend on the coordinate system...
, hoping for a slingshot
Slingshot
A slingshot, shanghai, flip, bean shooter or catapult is a small hand-powered projectile weapon. The classic form consists of a Y-shaped frame held in the off hand, with two rubber strips attached to the uprights. The other ends of the strips lead back to a pocket which holds the projectile...
effect to thrust the ship toward the nearest Slip-point. The Nietzscheans followed the grand prize into the black hole but also went for the escape pods, but many of the crew managed to escape and warn the High Guard. Because of sabotage by the Nietzschean XO
Executive officer
An executive officer is generally a person responsible for running an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization.-Administrative law:...
, Gaheris Rhade, the Andromeda was unable to pull back and slingshot away and was frozen in time, teetering at the edge of the event horizon.
Meanwhile, throughout the rest of the Known Worlds, sleeper cells attacked once word reached them that the Andromedas crew warned the Commonwealth. Half the High Guard fleet was destroyed while still in the shipyards and the dockyards.
Nietzschean Success
Though the human and alien loyalists had more numbers than the Nietzschean insurrectionists, the High Guard had not fought an organized war in more than twelve centuries, and so it was easy for the Nietzschean Alliance to deal mortal blows to the Systems Commonwealth. The planet Earth itself was bombarded, and the only major failure of the Nietzscheans in the first year of the war was the battle for San-Ska-Re, the Than homeworld. The Empress was killed in a Nietzschean attack as well. Success continued well into the second year - CY 9785 - when the Nietzschean Alliance seized the vital Acheron Delta system, preventing a key High Guard offensive.Tarn-Vedra
During the second year of the Insurrection/Civil War, Commonwealth morale was damaged even further with the disappearance of the Vedrans and Tarn-Vedra. The High Guard and remnants of the Systems Commonwealth were left behind to fend for themselves as Nietzschean military successes continued.The Battle of Witchhead
The Battle of Witchhead, at the Witchhead Nebula, was the final and climactic battle in the Civil War. 100 High Guard ships were supposed to gather there to launch an attack on Fountainhead, the Nietzschean homeworld, hoping to plunge rebel morale. However, 500 Nietzschean capital ships were also at Witchhead, and instead of the High Guard remnant coordinating a strike on Fountainhead, the two fleets battled bitterly until they destroyed each other. This battle shattered the Nietzschean Alliance as Jaguar Pride and its allies betrayed the weakened Drago-Kazov Pride and no Nietzschean Empire ever materialized.The Angel of Death
According to Nietzschean historical records, the Nietzscheans arrived at the Nebula with 1500 ships: a guaranteed victory. However, at the critical hour, "the Angel of DeathDeath (personification)
The concept of death as a sentient entity has existed in many societies since the beginning of history. In English, Death is often given the name Grim Reaper and, from the 15th century onwards, came to be shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe and clothed in a black cloak with a hood...
summoned forth the fires of hell" and destroyed the Nietzschean fleet, "their glorious victory turned to ashes". When the High Guard arrived, the 500 survivor ships were off-balance and confused.
The Angel of Death was in fact the Andromeda Ascendant
Andromeda Ascendant
The Andromeda Ascendant is a fictional starship in the television series Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda.In the series, the ship is said to have begun her life in the Newport News Orbital Shipyards above Earth, where her keel was laid in CY 9768...
, which Slipstreamed back in time just before the battle to set history right again and with an Anti-Proton (AP) Fusion Catalyst, sent the nebula into flames, incinerating two-thirds of the Nietzschean fleet.
The Long Night
After millennia of prosperity, the Systems Commonwealth had fallen in ashes. Instead of a Nietzschean Empire, chaos reigned, the leading Nietzschean Prides turned on each other, reducing most of the Nietzschean Prides to a shadow of their former glory.Months after the Battle of Witchhead, the aggressive race of the Magog invaded once again, this time in much greater numbers, and wiped away the last remaining struts of the Commonwealth. They even annihilated nearly all of planet Earth's human population.
With the chaos that spread throughout the Known Worlds, a remaining Commonwealth officer, Admiral Constanza Stark, formed an organization named the Knights Templar, a group dedicated to stopping the aggressive Nietzscheans from conquering the entire universe. Unfortunately, the Knights Templar soon split into two groups, one of them would later be known as the infamous Genites.
The Restored Systems Commonwealth
Three hundred years after the Fall, Dylan Hunt and a ragtag team of human, alien and Nietzschean misfits began to restore peace and order, or try to. Once the threat from the Magog became known, a unified front became even more urgent. Approximately 50 worlds were joined together to reform it. Mainly, ordinary humans (every gene type), a few loyalist Nietzschean prides from the planet Tarazed, a few member worlds of the Than Hegemony, the Kalderans and others.Problems
Some would say the Commonwealth lasted for millennia because of the Vedrans...Others would say the Commonwealth lasted so long despite them...The Restored Systems Commonwealth immediately faced problems. It was a confederation of disparate, sometimes rival, planets, systems, and political entities, and opportunism was everywhere. Various member species and worlds were at odds with each other. The humans, Nietzscheans and various alien species were rivals who often fought one another for domination of known space. The new Commonwealth was at a fraction of its old glory. The Collectors were a particularly powerful political entity vying for control.The Pyrian Conflict
One of the new Commonwealth's main problems, were the orb-like race known as the Pyrians, who" pyroform" other planets to suit their needs. One of the planets they were attempting to take was called Samsarra. The Commonwealth had to deploy nearly its entire fleet to deal with this. Despite the fact they had the Pyrians cornered, a new fleet of Pyrian Torch ships ambushed the former, forcing them to retreat. This forces Dylan to have the fleet destroy Samsarra, convincing the Pyrians to open negotiations.Nietzschean Secession
Once again, the Nietzscheans betrayed the Systems Commonwealth...This time, because the infamous Tyr Anasazi, a Nietzschean former member of Captain Dylan Hunt's own crew, tricked them into believing him to be the Nietzschean Messiah — a genetic reincarnation of legendary Nietzschean Progenitor Drago Musevini. All of the Systems Commonwealth's enemies joined together against both the powerful Nietzscheans of the Drago-Kazov Pride and the High Guard Fleet that refused to retreat. The Secession took a heavy toll on the Restored Systems Commonwealth: at least one entire system destroyed; the Perseid planet Sinti occupied by the enemy ; many of the new High Guard's prize possessions also destroyed...and a power vacuum that brought to light the true powers behind the Restored Systems Commonwealth - powers that controlled it and perhaps directed its demise. Later, it is also discovered that the most powerful Nietzschean Prides were working with the cosmic entity known as the 'Spirit of the Abyss'.The Battle of Arkology
The Andromeda had fought against the Magog World Ship in a final attempt to save the three galaxies at the station Arkology. However, the inhabitants, mostly humans and a few Nietzscheans, were pacifists and wished for peace with the Magog. The entire crew (apparently) gave their lives to defeat this danger to the galaxies. They couldn't prevent the massacre of the inhabitants at the hands of the Magog. The Magog Worldship was apparently destroyed in this battle by Trance Gemini, but was just badly crippled.The Battle of Tarazed
When the Andromeda arrived back from the Seefra system through the Route of AgesRoute of Ages
The Route of Ages is a fictional portal in spacetime, in the fictional universe of the science fiction television show Andromeda, sought by many of the show's characters throughout season four .-Description:...
, the crew learned that the Magog Worldship wasn't actually destroyed, but merely crippled. The remaining Commonwealth fleets were faring badly in the four standard days the crew was gone. A huge Nietzschean fleet from the Drago-Kazov and Sabra-Jaguar Prides was on its way to the planet Tarazed, a member world of the Restored Systems Commonwealth, populated by humans and loyalist Nietzschean Prides. The starship Andromeda was the only line of defense. Dylan Hunt learned that the Methus sun wasn't only built for the Seefra system to survive, but also to destroy the Spirit of the Abyss. The Avatar of the Sun destroyed the Spirit of the Abyss in the Route of Ages, creating a slipstream portal reuniting the planet Tarn-Vedra with the Known Worlds and restoring the Vedrans to the galaxies. Andromeda captain Dylan Hunt could finally rest after five years of fighting.
The First Commonwealth
The political system of the Commonwealth was a classic parliamentary democracy. The Empress remained as head of stateHead of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
, though with little real power. In lieu of one Premier
Premier
Premier is a title for the head of government in some countries and states.-Examples by country:In many nations, "premier" is used interchangeably with "prime minister"...
or Chancellor
Chancellor
Chancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...
, the Systems Commonwealth had three heads of government
Head of government
Head of government is the chief officer of the executive branch of a government, often presiding over a cabinet. In a parliamentary system, the head of government is often styled prime minister, chief minister, premier, etc...
: the Triumvirs, to prevent one person from taking too much power and keep things fair and balanced. The Conclave parliament was tricameral: the Voice of the Sectors represented Sectors (or groups of star systems); the Voice of the Planets represented each member world individually; and a directly-popularly-elected Voice of the People.
With the end of the centralized Vedran Empire and introduction of a democratic Commonwealth, there also came political flexibility and thus decentralization
Decentralization
__FORCETOC__Decentralization or decentralisation is the process of dispersing decision-making governance closer to the people and/or citizens. It includes the dispersal of administration or governance in sectors or areas like engineering, management science, political science, political economy,...
. Essentially, the Empire turned from a firm union into a federation
Federation
A federation , also known as a federal state, is a type of sovereign state characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government...
of different sectorial governments.
Triumvirate
The new Commonwealth was run by the Triumvirate. Hunt was proposed for the Triumvir position, but refused. Though the Triumvirate was elected soon, corruption was clear...Tri-Spring River Flowing
Being a Vedran, her homeworld is the missing world known as Tarn Vedra, the source of moral authority for the High Guard and founders of the original Systems Commonwealth. The last Vedran to serve the original Systems Commonwealth Triumvirate as First Triumvir, she was technically never killed by any Nietzschean strike team as the other original Triumvirate members were, she was simply missing and pronounced dead. Unofficially, she survived the Long Night and the chaos that replaced the fall of the Commonwealth. She found refuge on San-Ska-Re, the former Commonwealth Provisional Capital and homeworld of the Than-Thre-Kull, there she remained hidden and waiting for democracy to replace the chaos in the Known Worlds. She eventually was found by High Guard Captains Dylan Hunt and Sara Anders. She again continues her role as Triumvir of the Restored Systems Commonwealth.Tri-Jema
Tri-Jema's homeworld is unknown. But she was a friend to anyone when she needed their help... not so much when they needed hers... As was the case with Hunt, whom she had put on trial for treason because of a power struggle between idealists and corrupt Collectors. Believing the Collectors to be the winning side, Tri-Jema joined them. But her drive for greed was lethal for her as she perished trying to retrieve a vital star map.Tri-Ortiz and Tri-Camille
Though Tri-Ortiz (formerly Isabella Ortiz) was idealistic, the Collectors unseated her and put her more complacent sister Tri-Camille in her place. Little is known (from the show) about her.Tri-Lorn
Grew up on Tarazed idolizing Captain Dylan Hunt, and indeed turned out to be the one Triumvir true to the Systems Commonwealth's ideals. After the Collectors' mock trial of Hunt, Tri-Lorn helped the Andromeda flee the Collector fleet at Tarazed, and a civil war began between the idealistic and Collector factions. Tri-Lorn has not been seen on the show since.Member Races of the Commonwealth
- The Castalians (humans genetically altered to breathe underwater)
- The Chichins
- The Humans (Homo sapiens sapiens)
- The Inari ( humans genetically altered to live in almost total darkness)
- The Kalderans (war-like race once conquered by the Vedrans)
- The Nietzscheans (Homo Sapiens Invictus)
- The Nightsiders (a race of shrewd and ruthless entrepreneurs)
- The Perseids (a race of scientists and bureaucrats)
- The Than-Thre-Kull (a technologically advanced insectoid race)
- The Umbrites ( alien race dwelling in worlds of perpetual darkness)
- The Vedrans (the first race to discover Slipstream)