The Umbrian Republic

The Umbrian Republic is the central government of the Umbrian people, the organizational force which serves as the foundation of their society. Centered on their home world of Umbria, the Republic represents over one hundred and fifty billion people, spread across 80 habitable worlds and hundreds of lesser outposts.

Four centuries ago, following decades of strife and civil unrest, the people of Umbria came together to found their first unified planetary government. Drawing from their past, this new body would take the form of a representative republic, with legislative responsibility falling to an elected Senate, a judiciary to uphold the law, and the executive composed of a group of three elected Triumvirs to run the affairs of state.

The founders of the Republic believed that the executive would be more susceptible to abuse of power than the legislature, reasoning that corrupting four hundred individuals would be harder than corrupting three. As such, the Republic invested much more responsibility into the larger body, giving it the mandate to safeguard their citizens' rights.

The peace brought about by the foundation of the Republic would lead to a period of prolonged prosperity, culminating with the Umbrians' first forays beyond the edges of their home solar system. These first journeys were long and perilous, but their initial expansion would soon pay off.

The Umbrians stumbled across a habitable world, if only barely, called Arezzo, which while colder and less forgiving than Umbria itself, could support life. Within a half century, the number of Umbrian colonies would grow to four, with a fifth expedition on its way.

This brought the Republic to a new period in its development. The citizens of the colonies naturally sought growing independence from Umbria itself, but the Republic's leadership was worried that any split between those who remained on their homeworld and those who ventured into the stars would usher in another period of instability and bloodshed.

After careful deliberation and much feedback, the Senate detailed those rights which they believed to be intrinsic to all sentient beings, codified in the Republic's Common Law, and laid out a path for each new settled world to join in its governance through a stepped process of progress towards local governance and integration into the larger polity.

The discovery of faster than light travel, approximately a hundred years after its founding, would dramatically accelerate the Republic's expansion. The number of colonies swelled, and with it the overall Umbrian population.

After decades of rapid activity, the pace of expansion would slow. Finally reaching the limits of their endurance, the Republic would pause, allowing the newer worlds to catch up to those closer to Umbria herself. This would represent the end of the first expansion phase, drawing the first two hundred years of the Republic's existence to a peaceful conclusion.

Naturally intrepid by nature, it would not take long for some Umbrians to push the boundaries separating the known and unknown once more. Further improvements in the fields of astrophysics and nano-mechanical engineering would lead to more powerful and faster vessels to explore the vast expanse of space.

Before long, the first Umbrians began to explore the area of space which would come to be known as the Frontier.

This region of space, located on the edges of the Republic closest to the galactic center, would prove to be packed full of stars. Dozens of potentially life bearing worlds were identified, and adventurers and fortune seekers would race at breakneck speeds to uncover its secrets.

While immensely proud of their achievements and the progress they'd made as a species, the people of Umbria had believed that they were not alone in the wider universe. Each new system explored would bring with it a swell of anticipation, but with every new discovery, their hopes of finally discovering intelligent life would be dashed.

As the time passed and the Republic continued to push deeper into the Frontier, the public grew less interested in news from the edges of known space. The citizens of Umbria and her colonies began to wonder if they were truly unique after all, and slowly but surely, they grew more inward looking with each passing year.

An unexpected and violent encounter would shake them from that reverie.

On the forested world of Battipaglia, the Umbrians encountered their first race of sentient aliens, the Ascomanni. Any joy such a discovery should have brought was stripped away by the brutal nature of these new people.

Umbrians pride themselves on being pragmatic; while they had hoped for the best from their first encounter with an alien species, they had also prepared for the worst. The Republic military was called up to defend the planet, and the Umbrians were confident victory would swiftly follow.

It was not to be. Within a year, the Ascomanni had driven the Umbrians off the planet, slaughtering its civilian population. More attacks would follow in quick succession, and it became clear that the conflict was spiraling beyond the Republic's ability to contain it.

Umbria's leaders sought to maintain a sense of calm amongst the populace while building up their forces. While this had the intended effect of smothering any general panic, the idea that the war was far away in a distant portion of the Republic would quickly seep into the public's collective conscious.

While the war stayed in the Frontier, the people of Umbria remain confident that the brave men and women who volunteered to defend them would keep them safe from the alien menace.