Fiction:Grand Commonwealth of Sovereign States

The Grand Commonwealth of Sovereign States is the galactic government of the Milky Way Galaxy. Founded by the Treaty of Halcyon which put an end to the Great Xonexian Schism and ushered in a lasting peace between the galaxy's major players, the Grand Commonwealth is a democratic international organization with firm legal, military, and jurisdictional powers over the galaxy, though with strict limits to protect the sovereignty of its members.

The Grand Commonwealth's legislative authority is vested in the Galactic Parliament, located on and composed of representatives from all of its member states. Representatives are allocated equally, and each member nation may determine the manner in which they are appointed, elected, or chosen. Juridical authority lies in the Seat of Law located on. The Seat of Law is Commonwealth's highest court within which galactic law is interpreted by the galaxy's most revered legal minds. Finally, the ability to enforce the law rests in the hands of the Protectors of the Milky Way, a council of galactic leaders tasked with extraordinary responsibilities in the maintenance of the galactic order, and in a set of regional agreements with local powers. Currently, the Protectors of the Milky Way are Wormulus of the Delpha Coalition of Planets and Alexandre I of France.

While the Grand Commonwealth of Sovereign States is recognized as the highest authority within the Milky Way Galaxy and draws inspiration from organizations such as the Andromedan Galactic Commonwealth and the Civilisation, the GCSS is unique in that it derives its legitimacy from its ability to govern the "spaces between" states, as opposed to the states themselves. Its representative, juridical, and executive organs create, interpret, and enforce galactic law which governs transnational relationships such as diplomacy, commerce, territorial integrity, and the use of force between state and non-state actors.

Origins
While there were attempts at galactic governance throughout the Milky Way's history – whether through military hegemony or through attempts to create a common set of galactic laws, norms, and restraints – the first widely successful and recognized "government" of the Milky Way took the form of the Civilisation founded in 2732. Also referred to as the Milky Way Cooperative, it emerged as an overarching meta-civilisation composed of technological, infrastructural, and diplomatic agreements between its members, which included nation-states, artificial intelligences, and other alien entities. Reflecting the ideological inclinations of its founders, the Delpha Coalition of Planets and the Allied Terran Republic, the Milky Way Cooperative initially made little claim to governing territorial space, and instead sought to promote dialogue between disparate (and previously incompatible) elements of galactic society.

In an uncrowded galaxy with few conflicting claims or conflicts between its inhabitants, the early incarnations of the Milky Way Cooperative acted as facilitators and enablers, and imposed very few restrictions on the inhabitants of the galaxy. By the 2740's, the Cooperative was used to facilitate the use and distribution of technology and infrastructure to species which voluntarily upheld a loose definition of the galactic peace. After the Annihilation, the remanants of the old Civilisation shifted to repair, recolonization, and aid in the 2760's, helping to restore the galaxy's teetering empires.

From 2732 to 2803, galactic peace within the Milky Way was maintained through a symbiotic relationship between the Civilisation's many positive initiatives and the military initiatives of the Delpha Coalition of Planets and associated powers. While the Civilisation enabled the creation of a galactic society founded on a post-scarcity model of free association, technological exchange, and order, the society was defended against antagonistic elements at the periphery by Delphan military campaigns. At a time when there were few overlapping claims between its members due to the relative cultural and physical distance between them, demons composed the only real challengers to the galactic society. It was to combat the threat of beings which could not be reasoned with that the mechanisms of galactic defense were created, and composed the only threat the galaxy knew how to address.

As a result of the hyperspatial revolution, the galaxy became increasingly crowded and power became more diffuse among a greater number of actors in the 2780's and 2790's. The Civilisation's old mechanisms of defense and cooperation were no longer enough to maintain galactic peace and stability. In particular, the human microstates in the periphery – an area influenced but never completely absorbed by the Delphan galactic society – aspired to create their own rules, their own empires, and their own model for a galactic order centered around capitalist modes of production.