Fiction:French Empire

"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"

- Motto

The French Empire (French: Empire français) is a Gigaquadrantic hyperpower composed of the French Republic and its dependent states, territories, and sphere of influence with reach in the vast majority of the First Gigaquadrant's galaxies. Officially proclaimed in 2806 during the final stages of the Great Xonexian Schism which saw the reunification of the French nation, the Empire went on to assume an expansive role at the heart of intergalactic affairs, especially within the Xonexi Cluster. Its leadership in such institutions as the Alcanti Triad, the Grand Commonwealth of Sovereign States, the Pan-Andromedan Ecumene, GITO, the Covenant of Mirus, among many others, was critical to the restoration of peace, normalcy, and prosperity in the wake of terrible conflict.

The French Empire's structure is descended from that of the wartime Colonial Empire of 2803-2806, inheriting its defining institutions, relationships, leadership, and foreign policy. The Constitution of 2806 formalized many elements of the Empire's government and did away with a number of others. The resulting structure is a broad economic, military, political, and social alliance between the French Republic––the seat of the Empire––and its many colonial states, territories, and dependencies. All components of the Empire adhere to the central authority of the bicameral Parliament of the Empire modeled off of the French Republic's system, and that of the Emperor of the French, a hereditary title with few defined powers.

Under the steady leadership of Alexandre I, France emerged from the Great Xonexian Schism stronger than any Frenchman ever could have dreamed. The Peace of Halcyon granted the Empire a sphere of influence in half of the Milky Way enshrined in galactic law, and a fundamental role in the building of the post-war order. However, despite huge wartime political, economic, military, and diplomatic gains, each of Alexandre's accomplishments threatened to unravel in the Empire's turbulent return to normalcy. After a contentious election in 2807, the Valérist platform triumphed as the Emperor won the title of President of the French Republic, sparking widespread concern of his increasingly authoritarian power. Liberal fears and opposition would hound him as he set out to reform the Empire on many fronts, leading to its quasi-stabilization as an impressive power with a mission to defend the status quo.

Early history

 * Further reading: Early History

France finds its origins on Earth in a Germanic tribe which called itself the Franks. They rose in the wake of the collapse of the Roman Empire and set out to found a kingdom which would stand for centuries. France, in its many incarnations, was a strong nation surrounded by competitors, and often enemies, like the Spanish to the south, the English and British to the north, the Germans to the east, and the Austrians to the southeast. Its long history is riddled with conflict between it and these powers over the fate of Europe, France's armies and generals proving their competence again and again around the globe.

In times of peace, France was known as a beacon of the arts, culture, and philosophy, fielding such minds as Montesquieu, René Descartes, Jean de LaFontaine, Molière, among others. Though its power had faded by the turn of the twenty-first century after disheartening defeats during the Second World War and subsequent colonial wars, France remained as great nation, boasting the world's fifth largest economy and a strong political position within the European Union.

21st Century
The start of the century was marked by the September 11, 2001 attacks on America, which sparked a global war on terrorism into which France was drawn on multiple occasions. By the end of the century, the Earth had suffered terribly due to human abuses of the environment. A particular point of contention among nations was the scarcity of fossil fuels. As tensions threatened to boil over, Europe came together and began the formation of the European Republic. France was expected to join in, though it surprisingly did not comment on the motion as tensions rose within it between those that supported a united Europe and those that supported a united France. Eventually, France backed out of the European Union, which became the European Republic a few days later.

France largely stayed out of the war between the European Republic and the Scandinavian countries, though it faced great inner turmoil. Unrest threatened to boil over into full scale civil war between those who would have France support the Scandinavians, those who would want her to side with the Europeans, and those who wanted it to remain independent. Finally, as riots and counter-riots broke out in Paris, Parliament was torched and the French cabinet forced to flee the country.

Martial law was called in and the entire country put on lockdown until the end of the war. Armed resistance persisted especially through terrorist organizations like the France Libre, a splinter group from the Front National, and La Resistance. After the The Convention of 2099 (La Convention de 2099), The French Sixth Republic was instated on November 26, 2099.

22nd Century
France stood upon a shaky foundation entering the 22nd century. Its infrastructure was slow to recover from the turmoils of the Scandinavian War, and fossil fuels were becoming increasingly scarce globally. Though France got most of its energy from nuclear power plants and other sustainable power sources, they were hooked up to the European power grid which serviced European states which had not made as heavy an investment in sustainability.

Tensions between France and the European Republic arose when France threatened to withdraw from the power grid to keep up with energy demand. Though that never came to pass, an agreement was reached that rationed the energy France contributed to the grid, allowing it to make up the shortfall with a few adjustments.

In the mid 22nd century, World War III broke out and France became embroiled in the Balkans War alongside the European Republic. The French fleet participated in a number of engagements in the Pacific and Atlantic theaters.

23rd Century
By the mid-2200's, France was a small interstellar colonial power at first, settling several planets around Earth including the resource-rich siberian planet Persephonie in 2199, which became a source of conflict when the South American superstate, Roreinia, colonized it in 2210. As wars broke out between human powers over colonial possessions in the 2250's, France endeavored to remain uninvolved, though tensions on Persephonie between Roreinian and French colonists boiled over. The Roreinian colony on Persephonie was seized by French militia forces in 2260, precipitating the Franco-Roreinian Colonial War. Roreinia responded by seizing French Guiana back on Earth, an act which might have led to full scale terran war between the two countries had the international community not pressured France into backing off. Intent on reclaiming their colony, the Roreinian fleet set out towards the planet and were intercepted by the French Starfleet.
 * Human Colonial Wars

In the Battle of Persephonie, the Roreinian fleet decisively defeated the French with help from American reinforcements. Shortly after, the POTATO-Roreinian force was destroyed in orbit of Persephonie when they were caught in the explosion of three nuclear warheads fired by the French supercarrier Minerve. With the loss of its entire stellar fleet, Roreinia was forced to surrender and handed over a good portion of its interstellar colonies, doubling the size of the French colonial empire.

After two decades of war, humanity convened in Brussels to sign the Colonial Wars treaty in 2270. It divided the space around Earth among the human nations, guaranteeing their access to it in order to avoid territorial disputes like the ones which pervaded the colonial wars. France gave up a significant portion of its gains during the Colonial Wars, but was awarded a large section of space containing Ottoman, Roreinian, and European colonies. Most notably, the Ottoman deep space Siranian Province became an autonomous state within France.

To enforce these territorial changes and to provide a common voice for humanity, the floundering United Nations was disbanded and replaced with the empowered Orion League that same year.

In 2281, the French made first contact with the Vulcans, a rigidly logical people with whom they quickly grew close despite their differences. To the frustration of the French, the technologically advanced Vulcans treated them as children and repeatedly chastised humanity for being so fractured. Regardless, the French swallowed their pride and endeavored to build strong ties with them. Soon after, first contact was made with the cautious Andorians who wanted little to do with France due to its relationship with the Vulcans. Relations between Andoria and Vulcan had recently broken down, and the two were about to enter into a long period of cold war, an France was caught in the middle.
 * New Acquaintances

In 2299, the Andorians began to accept French overtures and assurances that they wanted no part in the conflict. Rapprochement with the Andorians led to worse relations with the Vulcans, though many officials within France had had enough of Vulcan contempt and believed that a relationship with Andoria would be more fruitful. As a friend to both races, France attempted to mediate increasingly hostile disputes between the two with very limited success and could barely keep itself from choosing sides. While the government followed a strict policy of neutrality when it came to the Andorian-Vulcan Cold War, there were many on Earth who were pressuring it to sway towards one side or the other.

Vulcan-Andorian War
In 2304, tensions between the Andorians and Vulcans finally boiled over as the Andorian imperial commandos stormed the Vulcan sanctuary of P'Jem which was located right on the edge of Andorian space, believing it to be a listening post designed to spy on them. What they found confirmed their suspicions, and after having given the monks time to evacuate, they leveled the monastery with an orbital bombardment.

What followed was a rapid breakdown in relations between Vulcan and Andoria. Having had enough, the Vulcan High Command carried out a pre-emptive strike against known staging points of the Andorian Imperial Guard. Under the cover of the ensuing chaos, an attack against Andoria was attempted in order to put an end to the war quickly, though it failed due to the timely intervention of an Andorian fleet.

As the fighting continued, France was approached by both the Vulcans and the Andorians who were trying to get it to join the war on their side. President Jean-Réne Caillaud teetered as the public fought over what course of action should be taken: Should France remain neutral, or should she pick a side? If so, which? Finally, Caillaud declared in an address to the National Assembly that, under his direction, France would remain strictly neutral in the Vulcan-Andorian conflict with no bias towards either side. To that end, he called on Parliament to repeal agreements and pieces of legislation which favored trade with one belligerent or the other until fighting had ceased. He then went on to propose a plan by which an end could be put to decades of conflict between Vulcan and Andoria through territorial changes, agreements of trust on both sides, and an alliance that would bind France, Andoria, and Vulcan together.

Through multiple rounds of talks with the leaders of Vulcan and Andoria, an armistice was agreed upon and a delegation from these two species were dragged to a table at the French Élysée Palace on Earth. Negotiations began well as the delegations went through Caillaud's proposal point by point, though there was a heavy air of mistrust between the two sides. By the third day, the talks had devolved into a battlefield of accusations and threats which spiraled out of control. Both sides stormed out of the room and the armistice was soon broken by an aggressive move made by a Vulcan fleet.

While the Vulcan and Andorian fleets fought themselves into a stalemate, an inactive Grox probe drifted into the space around Sol. It was discovered by an Andorian scout vessel and brought back to Andorian space, whereupon it was accidentally activated by the Andorian scientists who were examining it. It escaped and went on a rampage, destroying Andorian colonies left and right, utterly overpowering any attempt by the Andorian Imperial Guard to stop it. At first, the Vulcans took advantage of the disarray to press their advantage militarily, but then the probe crossed over into Vulcan space.
 * Grox Threat

Mediated again by the French, both sides accepted a ceasefire and combined forces to deal with the probe. Joined by the French Starfleet, they confronted it over a series of costly engagements until, finally, they managed to destroy it. This joint operation became the cornerstone for peace as negotiations began anew and agreements were reached to finally put an end to the fighting. With the help of the French, the wartorn sides began to rebuild. Two years later, France, Vulcan, and Andoria founded a three-way alliance which today remains one of the strongest France has ever forged.

Rise as a colonial power
The 2700's saw France's meteoric rise as a galactic superpower and the beginnings of its colonial empire. Its first extragalactic territories were an experiment in exploration and colonization as disparate social and economic groups left France in the 2730's to found unique colonies in Segmentum Draco of Andromeda, giving rise to the diverse and often contradictory cultures of French Andromeda.

France survived through such crises such as the War of Ages and the New Grox Wars, though its involvement as a member of the Orion League remain widely unrecognized by rest of the Gigaquadrant. Thanks to the enormous leaps in medical and genetic technology in the past centuries, the death rate in metropolitan French city-planets had fallen to nearly nothing. French humans had become immortal. This resulted in massive overpopulation and the size of the French territory increased at a speed which alarmed many of its neighbors.

In 2768, the French were attacked by extremists from the Kraal Province of the Greater Hal'Sk Empire, an event which triggered the short Kraal War in which France fought alongside the Hal'Sk monarchy to pacify the rebellious province. Though some tension existed on both sides, the French and Hal'Sk quickly grew close and formed an alliance which lasts to this day. After two decades of relative peace, the entirety of the Orion League rose to fight the Dominatus War in 2792. After participating in several campaigns in the Milky Way, the Orion League arrived in the Mirus Galaxy and fought alongside such powers as the Delpha Coalition of Planets, Draconid Imperium, and Tybusen Intergalactic Allied Federation in the brutal engagements that characterized the Mirus campaign. French commanders such as Jean-Baptiste Teindas and Lucian Chartier earned a reputation for competence and integrity among the anti-Dominatus coalition.
 * Dominatus War

When the fighting finally ceased in 2795, the French found themselves with a vast territory in the Godric Arm under their control. They consolidated these territories into the French Mirus Colonies and slowly repurposed the Tyranny's factories to produce French starships. French Mirus––isolated from the rest of the Gigaquadrant––soon eclipsed the Milky Way territories in terms of industrial power, becoming Paris' primary manufactory and the training ground of the French Starfleet.

France had made friends during the Dominatus War, and she intended to use them under the leadership of Laurene Maxime's administration. 2795 saw the signing of the Franco-Tybusen Accords, a treaty which granted the French access to the hyperspatial network of the Tybusen Intergalactic Allied Federation, allowing rapid travel between galaxies they would not have thought of visiting before. This led to renewed contact with French Andromeda and the foundation French Quadrantia in 2797 and French Bunsen in 2799.
 * Extragalactic colonization

Linked together by a network of foreign wormholes, trade routes, and treaties, this new French colonial empire grew in size and influence every year until France could speak on near-equal footing with other Gigaquadrantic powers.

Great Xonexian Schism
Yet, France's meteoric rise was not without problems. Paris' growing influence brought it into geopolitical conflict with the Milky Way's resident hyperpower, the Delpha Coalition of Planets, at a time when the DCP's policies were growing increasingly imperialistic. In 2799, the French Quadrantia Trade Route Crisis began the long downward spiral in relations that would eventually result in France's participation in the Alcanti Triad Agreement in 2800, a three-way alliance between it, the Draconid Imperium, and the TIAF against the DCP.
 * Antebellum

With the sudden signing of the Mou'Cyran Accords in 2801 and the sudden introduction of the threat such a large geopolitical entity posed, Paris began numerous diplomatic initiatives of its own. President Maxime began by hiring the self-styled master diplomat, the "Prince of Ballatay", who would very quickly become the mastermind behind France's extroverted intergalactic foreign policy. 2801 saw the forging of numerous successful alliances with such nations as the Mardvaeli Republic, the Katar Sector Alliance, and Eldarisia. At roughly the same time, France's participation in repelling the Neiraida Invasion of the Milky Way facilitated the creation of a non-binding alliance between it and the Allied Terran Republic. Perhaps the most impressive diplomatic victory was the signing of the Treaty of Galactica, a non-aggression pact with the Mou'Cyran Accords which ensured permanent peace between the emerging anti-DCP coalition and Mou'Cyran.

If peace in the Cyrandia Cluster was achieved, the same could not be said in the Xonexi. Repeated incidents between Triad-aligned nations and the DCP served to heighten tensions, especially a land-grab conflict in Mirus which only barely failed to escalate into a war. During that conflict, France managed to acquire large portions of the Drakdodominatus Tyranny's former territory, giving them access to more industrial output than the entire French Colonial Empire combined. Yet, such a threatening move had upset numerous local Mirusian powers which slowly put aside their differences built their own coalition in reaction to Xonexi influence.

The year 2802 would see a continued escalation of tensions in the Milky Way, resulting in fervent anti-DCP sentiment in many of Orion's Spur's human states. Fear of encirclement, foreign plots, and DCP authoritarianism are often blamed for causing the Orion War, where a French-led alliance of human states overpowered the pro-DCP government of the Kindred Coalition. Further escalation led to war with the Delpha Coalition of Planets.

In a proclamation that shook the Milky Way, Emperor Wormulus II unilaterally denounced the nations of the Orion League as rogue states and ordained their annexation. The Gigaquadrant held its breath to see if the humans would submit to the might of one of the Gigaquadrant's leading hyperpowers, but what followed would awe and dismay many observers. Rather than putting a definite end to the Orion War with one swift stroke, Wormulus' proclamation set into motion Xonexi Allies's vast diplomatic machine, triggering the secret Alcanti Triad treaty along with many, many others. Leaders from twenty-three different nations met on Paris to issue the Parisian Declaration in April of 2802, in which they unanimously declared war on the DCP, denouncing its acts as tyrannic, destabilizing, and incompatible with a civilized galaxy.
 * Battle for the Milky Way

The war would begin with a number of allied victories, including the successful capture of the DCP's territories in Mirus, rebukes of DCP offensives in the Scutum-Crux Arm, and the beginning of an allied offensive against the DCP's Orion Territories. However, as the war turned into a stalemate, the Allies found themselves severely outmatched on the DCP's own turf and were expelled from the galaxy by mid June. The Allies' catastrophic military failure in the Milky Way was coupled with a violent parliamentary in the French capital, sparked by widespread fear of a DCP occupation and placing the blame on President Laurene Maxime for bringing about the ruin of the nation. Maxime herself was killed by Parliamentarians during the coup. Many prominent members of her administration, including Prime Minister Valery, were forced into exile.

On June 22, President of the Senate Casimir Gérard ascended to the Presidency as next in line and immediately opened peace talks with the DCP. With few bargaining chips to play, Gérard placed the survival of the nation above all else and surrendered unconditionally to the DCP, agreeing to stand down its armed forces and to consider itself an occupied satellite state. France was placed under the authority of the Human Superstate, a DCP client state led by those human nations which had abstained from the war. Keeping the nation together during this time would prove to be one of the Gérard administration's greatest challenges. Initially, most of the French people were supportive of the Human Superstate and eager for the war to be over.
 * Surrender

Yet, even though there was popular and legislative consensus behind him, Gérard was unable to muster the administrative stability, infrastructure, and power to effectively administer the territory. This was especially true in the colonies, where pro-Xonexi elements dominated and continued to supply the allies with much needed materiel, volunteers, and refused to disarm. No ordinance from the President, Parliament, or the Human Superstate Unification Council was able to stop them, and all of these bodies lacked the projection power to enforce their will.

Politics and government
The French Empire is a complex imperial structure composed of many institutions, bringing under a single umbrella of sovereignty a multiplicity of territories, interests, cultures, and species. The Empire is strongly influenced by its history and past incarnations, inheriting a great deal from the French Colonial Empire. The most evident of these is its general structure, including a legislature and independent hereditary head of state (the Emperor), and a multi-tiered system of sovereignty for different territories in the Empire.

Head of State
Broadly speaking, the Empire is led by the Emperor of the French, the Empire's head of state and cultural leader with few constitutional powers. In line with the philosophy of Valérism, power is voted over to the Emperor depending on the situation, the level of trust that exists between the Emperor and the French nation, and the personal qualities of the Emperor. The position of Emperor is hereditary, and the legal powers currently vested in Alexandre I will return to the state once his son, Alexandre-Bonaparte de Valéry, ascends to the throne.

Legislature
The body that possesses constitutional authority over the Empire and its territories is the bicameral Imperial Parliament, modeled after that of the French Republics. This elected body is composed of two bodies, the National Assembly whose representatives are allocated by universal suffrage to the people of each territory based on population, and the Senate, whose representatives are equally distributed and indirectly chosen by colonial governments. While the Imperial Parliament is empowered by the 2806 Constitution to intervene in inter-Imperial affairs, to conduct foreign affairs, to facilitate trade, and so on, significant formal and informal obstacles exist to keep it from infringing upon the sovereignty of its territories.

Judiciary
Finally, an Imperial Judiciary was created by the Constitution of 2806 which serves as the highest court of the nation. Citizens of any French territory may appeal to higher courts in the Empire, whose judges are appointed by different means depending on the court. In every case, a complex web of appointments and offices attempts to maintain the balance of power within the Imperial Judiciary in order to keep any one member state of the French Empire from gaining dominance over French legal canon on the imperial level. The Empire's judiciary is the site of constant and unrelenting battles over the codification of French law over all of the Empire's territories as lawyers and judges attempt to reconcile the customs, traditions, and laws of each territory in a single workable legal tradition which is always in flux.

Territory
As a result of the empire's complex history, astrography, and diversity, territorial entities have very different relationships with the imperial administration. Some, like the Commonwealth of French Andromeda, are endowed with sweeping sovereignty and act more like independent states than colonies. Others, like the administrations of various territories in French Mirus, are appointed and regulated by the Imperial Parliament. The constitution of the French Empire makes further distinctions between territories to which the Constitution and the principles of French law applies, and to those that are exempted from it. From these differences, four categories of territories emerge: States, Extragalactic territories, Free Cities, and Charter territories.

Trivia

 * This page is still under construction.
 * The current year in Charles' fiction is 2811.