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In the Cosmic Era of Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny, the nation-states of modern Earth are replaced with a number of national superblocs. Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.
Terrestrial Nations
The Earth Alliance The Earth Alliance is the group of anti-Coordinator superstates on Earth and is antagonistic to ZAFT. It is made up of four countries: the Atlantic Federation, the Eurasian Federation, the Republic of East Asia and the South African Union. The Earth Alliance also conquered the PLANT-friendly United States of South America, which are now engaged in a revolution to regain their independence. The Earth Alliance was officially founded on 7 February CE 70. The combined military forces of the Earth Alliance are called OMNI Enforcer - OMNI is an acronym for "Oppose Militancy and Neutralize Invasion," but are more frequently simply called the Earth Military (Chikyuu Gun).
The Earth Alliance and ZAFT started war on 11 February CE 70. On 14 February, the Alliance used nuclear weapons to destroy the PLANT colony at Junius Seven, in what became known as the Bloody Valentine Incident.
Unlike the Earth Federation of the Universal Century era which was a relatively unified body, the Earth Alliance is more of a loose confederation of entities that are often working at cross purposes to each other. It is not uncommon for each of the factions to not reveal the key workings of their weapon and armor technologies with their erstwile allies - when the Atlantic Federation battleship Archangel docked at the Eurasian military base Artemis, the commander attempted to acquire by force both the ship and its mobile suit contingent in order to acquire the secret behind their design. Later, when the Alliance headquaters, JOSH-A in Alaska, controlled by the Atlantic Federation, was mostly abandoned as a trap for ZAFT's invasion force, the token defense force left behind as "bait" (completely unaware of the trap) consisted almost entirely of Eurasian troops.
The Alliance developed several important military innovations during the war: the second-generation Mobile Operating System, Phase Shift armor, light wave shielding, beam weaponry and the Mirage Colloid stealth system.
In the wake of the Junius Seven colony drop disaster in CE 73, the Earth Alliance declared war again on ZAFT, on the grounds that the drop represented the true intentions of the Coordinators toward Naturals, intending to wipe out the PLANTs and with them all Coordinators. However, the initial attempt to destroy the PLANTs with nuclear missiles resulted in a disasterous defeat when ZAFT's Neutron Stampeder destroyed an entire Alliance fleet with a single shot.
Atlantic Federation The Atlantic Federation is the largest and most powerful member of the Earth Alliance. Although allied against ZAFT, the Atlantic and Eurasian Federations have long been rivals, and a strong undercurrent of mistrust remains between them. The Atlantic Federation is a future version of the United States of America, its capital is Washington DC and its president still lives and works at the White House. In an extra-textual sense, the Atlantic Federation serves as a device for the series' directors and writers to criticize the present-day political culture and policy framework of the United States.
The Atlantic Federation provides the largest segment of the Earth Alliance's military, and pioneered the efforts to develop advanced mobile suits to counter those of ZAFT. The Atlantic Federation also has broader and deeper anti-Coordinator sentiment than the rest of the Alliance, and has been more thoroughly infiltrated by Blue Cosmos. While the Atlantic Federation solidified its position as the dominant force in the Earth Alliance with its large mobile suit force which tried to hold the Alliance together, the heavy losses it suffered in the final months of the war could provide the Eurasian Federation the opportunity it's been waiting for the supersede them as the leaders of the Alliance.
The Atlantic Federation attacked and annexed the United States of South America in the pretense of fighting ZAFT during CE 70. After the cease-fire at Jachin Due, however, the United States of South America rebelled against the Atlantic Federation. The most prominent member of this rebellion was former Earth Alliance ace Edward Harrelson, also known as "Ed the Ripper".
Eurasian Federation The Eurasian Federation is a member of the Earth Alliance, second only to the Atlantic Federation in power and influence. The Eurasian Federation is a fusion of the European Union with the Russian Federation. Although allied against ZAFT, the Eurasian and Atlantic Federations have long been rivals, and a strong undercurrent of mistrust remains between them.
The Eurasian Federation resents its inferior position to the Atlantic Federation, which has been exacerbated by the Atlantic Federation's successful development of mobile suits. Eventually, the Eurasian Federation produces newer, even more advance mobile suits of its own. And with the heavy losses the Atlantic Federation suffered in the last months of the war, the Eurasian Federation's influence in the Earth Alliance seemed poised to grow.
During the colony drop of Junius Seven, the Eurasian Federation suffered heavily, with severe damage to many historical cities including Rome, London and Athens. Rome and Athens were especially hard hit; the Basilica of St. Peter and the Acropolis were both destroyed by debris hits.
At the beginning of the subsequent second EA-PLANT war, many factions within the Eurasian Federation sought to withdraw from the Earth Alliance, which resulted in Atlantic Federation forces being deployed against the technologically superior but drastically outnumbered forces of Eurasia.
Kingdom of Scandinavia The largest independent and neutral nation, Scandinavia composes the old Earth nations of Sweden, Norway and Finland (but not Denmark, which is traditionally considered a Scandinavian nation).
Equatorial Union A union of weak Equatorial nations in South Asia, led by India and Viet Nam. The Equatorial Union is largely neutral because its military is not worth incorporating into the Earth Alliance, with no space forces and no mobile weapons.
African Community A loosely-affiliated group of nations and tribes. The African Community is one of only two nations on Earth openly allied with PLANT, though there are resistance movements, including Desert Dawn.
South African Union Although a member of the Earth Alliance, the SAU is virtually powerless other than its possession of the Victoria massdriver. The SAU is a puppet of the Atlantic Federation.
Orb Union The Orb Union (also known as the United Emirate of Orb) is a small Pacific island nation which is neutral in the war between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT. Orb's government consists of both an elected legislature and an aristocracy of five noble families (most notably the Athha, Sahaku, and Seiran families), and has a mixed population of both Naturals and Coordinators. Though small, Orb is both wealthy and militarily powerful, and the local Morgenroete, Inc. is one of the world's top producers of advanced weaponry. Orb also has, unusually for its small size, a considerable presence in space, including the space colony Heliopolis and at least two powerful Izumo class battleships. At the start of Bloody Valentine War, the chief representative of Orb's government was Uzumi Nara Athha, who declared the nation's neutrality in the conflict.
Unfortunately, the Earth Alliance did not respect that neutrality, and conquered Orb in CE 71, resulting in the death of Representative Athha. Orb's remaining forces, including the Izumo class battleship Kusanagi and the defecting Earth Alliance assault ship Archangel, escaped to space under the command of his daughter Cagalli Yula Athha, and joined forces with the stolen ZAFT warship Eternal to form what would become known as the Tri Ships Alliance, and would play a critical role in the end of the war.
In the second Earth-PLANT war, the Seiran noble family manages to usurp the Parliament and violate Orb's neutrality with predictions of a repeat of the Atlantic Federation attack on the Union. However, some Orb soldiers remain loyal to the Athha family, including Captain Todaka of the 2nd Defense Fleet.
Oceania Union A nation composed primarily of Australia and New Zealand. The Oceania Union is allied with ZAFT, and one of ZAFT's two primary military bases on Earth, Carpentaria, is there (the other is at Gibraltar).
Space Nations
Clyne Faction (Triple Ships Alliance) The Clyne Faction, formally known as the Triple Ships Alliance, is the joint forces of Orb's Izumo class battleship Kusanagi, the defected Earth Alliance Archangel class assault ship Archangel, and the ZAFT support ship Eternal (Run by supporters of Lacus Clyne) headquartered on the abandoned colony Mendel. Their purpose is to put an end to the war before it gets out of hand after finding that both the Earth Alliance (Now under the Control of Blue Cosmos) and ZAFT (Under the command of Patrick Zala and the radical extremists) are now willing to commit genocide to the other group. This small fleet succeeds saving the PLANTs from the Blue Cosmos-dominated Alliance fleet armed with nuclear weapons and Earth from ZAFTs superweapon GENESIS. This contributed to the end of the Bloody Valentine War in November, Cosmic Era 71.
Mobile Weapons of the TSA
- Archangel
- Kusanagi
- Eternal
see also ja:三隻同盟
L5
PLANT Supreme Council ZAFT ZAFT is a political, economic, and military alliance of PLANTs, colonies which house Coordinators controlled and governed by the PLANT Supreme Council. Specifically, ZAFT (for Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty) usually refers to the military side of ZAFT. ZAFT is well-equipped with Nazca-class and Laurasia-class warships in space, Lesseps-class and Petrie-class vessels on land, and Vosgulov-class submarines at sea. Its primary mobile suit for most of the war is the ZGMF-1017 GINN, which is not replaced until the final few weeks of the war with the ZGMF-600 GuAIZ (pronounced "Gates").
Postwar, ZAFT's chaotic mix of mobile suits are replaced with the new ZGMF-1000 ZAKU Warrior and ZGMF-1001 ZAKU Phantom series. However, many of the older mobile suits are still in service, as production of the ZAKU series is not yet sufficient to replace them all.
ZAFT fights the Earth Alliance to a standstill in the Bloody Valentine War of Cosmic Era 70-71. During the late weeks of the war, ZAFT's "moderate faction" of leaders is wiped out in a bloody purge by radical extremist military leader Patrick Zala, who blames all Naturals for the death of his wife in the Bloody Valentine Incident. Zala plans to wipe out all human life on Earth, eliminating, he believes, Naturals who are the cause of all warfare and establish Coordinators as the master race, a "new humanity".
ZAFT's military is organized as a militia rather than the Earth Alliance's OMNI Enforcer military force, using positional titles as ranks rather than more traditional ones. In addition, command is assigned based on personal connections as skill - it is made clear at several points that a large part of why Athrun Zala is given command of the Le Creuset team on Earth is because of his father's position.
A ZAFT soldier's position can be told by his or her color coded uniform:
Green: Common Soldier/MS pilot
Olive: Terrestrial soldier
Red: Elite soldier/MS pilot, these "elites" are presumably graduates with top marks from ZAFT's training academy.
Black: Junior Officer
White: Command-level Officer
Purple: General/Member of the PLANT Supreme Council
Following the Junius Seven colony drop disaster, the Earth Alliance demands that ZAFT demilitarize and its government disperse; the obvious refusal results in the second war between ZAFT and Earth in four years.
ZAFT has consistently proven itself to be on the cutting edge of nuclear technology, producing the Neutron Jammer, the Neutron Jammer Canceller, and the Neutron Stampeder. In addition, they developed the Deuterion Beam Energy Transfer System, which allows a battleship to recharge its mobile suits' batteries without them having to return to the ship.
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
Junk Guild The Junk Guild is an NGO devoted to the upkeep, maintenance, and salvage of the technology forming the infrastructure of Cosmic Era society. Thanks to the work of Reverend Malchio, the Junk Guild has non-aggression treaties with all three major factions (Earth Alliance, ZAFT, and Orb) - any person or vessel that bears the emblem of the Junk Guild cannot be denied entry to any treaty signatory, as long as they obey the laws within. The Junk Guild is rather decentralized - while there is an overseeing body that governs the Guild as a whole, most of the work is done by small teams of technicians who act independantly.
Most Junk Guild teams spend their days either going through battlefields salvaging usable equipment or working under contract. Contracts can vary from salvage operations to repair to recovery of equipment. Large contracts may necessitate multiple Guild teams - it is not uncommon to see a large contingent of Guild techs working on major projects, such as the Giga-Float mobile mass driver. The Guild espouses non-violence - Guild techs will only fight to defend themselves, and even then will refrain from killing unless there is no other option.
Unlike the nations of the world, who prefer to standardize their equipment, Junk Guild equipment is an eclectic mix of whatever they can afford/repair/salvage. It is not uncommon to see a Guild team using an assortment of repair pods and salvaged ZAFT mobile suits for work in space. Teams tend to stick with lightly armored and armed vessels as bases of operation in space, as they place a premium on cargo space as opposed to combat ability. On Earth, retrofitted military transports are often used - the Lesseps-class transport is popular with the Guild, thanks to its large cargo bay and ease of retrofitting for repair duties - the turrets on the top deck can easily be replaced with manipulator arms.
The Guild acquires new recruits from all walks of life, Natural and Coordinator alike. New recruits undergo basic training and indoctrination, then are sent to a team for on the job training. After a probationary period, the Guild then accepts the recruit as a Guild tech, and they are assigned to a team.
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