Located to spinward and slightly "north" of Terran space, the Conjoined Civilizations Republic is a multi-species democracy dominated by the insec toid Se'ecra. Imperial propaganda paints the CCR as nothing but an empire controlled by the Se'ecra, and most Terrans tend to use "the Se'ecra" to refer to the entire republic. As of Marissa III's reign, the CCR includes 128 inhabited systems with a total population of some 568 billion (18% Seecra, 82% from 29 other species).
Membership in the Conjoined Civilizations is voluntary, and member worlds can vote to leave. To join, a world or species must apply for membership, then undergo a review process during which the CCR evaluates the applicant's fitness for membership and compatibility with existing members.
A three-tiered legislature governs the CCR. The lower house (the Assembly) has 822 members, each elected from a district of 250 million beings (some districts span multiple planets, but where possible the CCR tries to avoid this). The middle house (the Council) has 180 members, six from each member civilization/species. The upper house (the Cabinet) has 39 members, elected at large by the citizens of the Republic from among the membership of the Assembly. Cabinet members also administer the Republic's government bureaux. The system gives the Council the most power, but a combined vote of the Assembly and Cabinet can overrule it.
The CCR puts its method of government forth as a model for others to follow, but while it has many benefits, the lack of a single chief executive makes it difficult for the CCR to respond quickly and decisively to problems requiring an immediate response. Furthermore, the endless legislative wrangling within and among the various houses causes the machinery of government to creak along with maddening slowness.
Exploration is a primary goal of the CCR, yet the Conjoined Civilizations has no analogue to the Terran Exploration Service or the Kairensha. Instead, an Exploration Board acts as a clearinghouse and funding agency for hundreds of private expeditions each year. Many merchant ships have a scientific party aboard, and nearly every military mission beyond the Republic's borders includes researchers. The CCR seems to have a boundless curiosity, and enjoys funding pure research just to find out the results. Many scientists from all over the Galaxy have immigrated to CCR space due to the generous grants available.
Although dedicated to peaceful coexistence both internally and externally, the CCR (primarily the Seecra) cannot resist the urge to meddle in the affairs of other species. Sometimes they do so directly, as when Republic teams provide training and technical assistance to low-tech civilizations, or when the Guards overthrow a tyrannical regime. At other times, the CCR meddles more subtly: Se'ecra merchants offer discount prices on goods to cultures they approve of Sholarron bio-technicians only give life-extension drugs to alien leaders who support Republic ideals. Since too much of this sort of thing would quickly make enemies of every neighboring civilization, the Council has a subcommittee called the Uplift Board to oversee all overt and covert efforts to improve alien societies. The Board works with the Republic's diplomatic, military, and intelligence services, and numbers among its advisors many leading experts on psychosocial manipulation, xenology, and memetics. Any CCR citizen engaging in "uplift" activities without the Board's approval risks severe legal consequences.
The Conjoined Civilizations' chief concern on the galactopolitical front is the Varanyi Empire, whose "southern" borders creep ever closer to CCR space as the years pass. The Republic stations the bulk of its military forces along its "northern" border, just to be safe. Diplomatic relations with the Varanyi remain polite, but suspicious, and the CCR has taken steps to strengthen its ties with the Velarian Confederation.
The CCR maintains good diplomatic and trade relations with its nearest neighbor, the Perseid Empire; it also trades extensively with Terran space. It has relatively little contact with the far-away Thorgon, Ackalian, and Mon'dabi regimes, but Se'ecra traders filled with wanderlust find their way into just about any viable market.
The Conjoined Civilizations organizes its military forces, the Guards, according to where they operate. The Planet Guards fights on planetary surfaces and orbital space; it has land, sea, air, and space units, as well as its own interstellar transports. Against a foe without starships, the Planet Guards need no help from its rival, the Star Guards. The Star Guards, the Republic's interstellar space navy, fights in deep space; it has starships, support craft, and spaceborne troops. Its ships, all ATRI 12, are more than a match for comparable Terran Empire ships. The two services have a long history of rivalry, and prefer to operate independently when possible.
The CCR has an extensive espionage and covert operations network, reflecting the Se'ecra desire for knowledge and urge to meddle. Intelligence Com mand oversees these efforts plus internal counterespionage, all under the supervision of the legislature's Espionage Board. As with the TIC, the bulk of RCI's information comes from electronic eavesdropping, analysis of public sources, and peaceful observation. However, it does make use of well-trained "live assets" who have a high degree of loyalty because they're typically motivated by a sincere belief in the Republic's ideals. On the other hand, agents sometimes question or refuse orders they believe violate the Republic's ideals, which can cause problems in the chain of command.
The CCR includes a wide diversity of species, attitudes, and planets, all united by a common interest in peaceful coexistence among themselves and with other civilizations. Some of the more interesting or important worlds include:
A large, Earthlike world with 1.3 G gravity, Ach'arjhath has a small mixed colony of various CCR species. It's the home of the Republic Academy, a uni versity for training members of the Guards and the CCRs diplomatic corps. An intense three-way rivalry exists among Planet Guards cadets, Star Guards cadets, and diplomats-in-training. Each year the three groups keep track of their members' achievements, noting them with red tokens placed on a large board in the Academy cafeteria; at year's end, the group with the most "reds" gets two days off from class and bragging rights.
Ixendria is a planetopolis, its gigantic towers and glittering buildings known throughout the Galaxy as the epitome of urban quality and sophistication. The world-city engulfs even the seas via sturdy "platform neighborhoods." Elaborate planetological monitoring and control systems prevent weather, unusual tidal phenomena, quakes, or the like from wreaking too much damage to the planetary infrastructure.
The most advanced species in the Conjoined Civilizations, the humanoid Ixendar have ATRI 12 technology, with some research projects beginning to verge into ATRI 13. However, they guard their technology jealously, believing each species must make its own breakthroughs (an attitude that often puts them at odds with the Seecra on uplift issues).
A world once wracked by clandestine warfare in which city-states sent squads of ta'hrevk assassinsaboteurs to inflict casualties upon enemy cities, Lregh centuries ago rejected warfare in favor of peaceful prosperity. Lord Esagai, the reformer who persuaded his people to renounce killing and destruction, is today a divine figure so revered that the planet's inhabitants refer to themselves as Esagites.
Although they scorn conflict, the Esagites aren't pacifists. They realize not everyone shares their ideals, so they prepare for war while avoiding it if at all pos sible. Rather than maintain a standing planetary military, they kept the tradition of the ta'hrevk alive, relying upon a small group of assassin-saboteurs to protect their society. Ta'hrevk also serve in the Guards as an elite force. Other soldiers, not to mention the CCR's enemies, look on their skill and discipline with awe.
One of the oldest Seecra colony worlds, Varesha IV boasts a population of over three billion and an intriguing culture that blends the best of traditional Seecra cultural forms with new ones developed by the early colonists. Vareshan botanart, sculpture-like objects incorporating beautiful native flowers, decorates homes and offices throughout the Republic. The Vareshans breed some of the best racing nygasi (a domestic mammal roughly analogous to a horse) in Republic space; many of the most skilled nygas jockeys come from Varesha IV as well.