ZOCU: Upsetting the Applecart

ZOCU Flag

Overview

The Zodiac Outworld Colonies Union is a political and military alliance established in the wake of the closure of Colonisation Era wormholes. Unlike the great powers of the homeworld, ZOCU exists entirely in the Expanse.

Zodiac Combined Militia

The Zodiac Combined Militia is a joint military force of ZOCU sometimes seen on both sides as the counterpart to the UN ARROWs. Firstly the Combined Militia exists to provide the alliance with a group of soldiers and associated administrative structure that will be available for tasks deemed important to the Union as a whole. Secondly, it exists to provide a place for ZOCU crews and officers to work together at all levels in order to propagate best practices and keep Union solidarity. Unlike ARROWs however, they do not have their own units; all personnel and equipment are ultimately assigned from the various national militaries.

Member States

Londenium

Londenium is a lush and consequently relatively well populated world which drew people primarily from the Anglosphere of Earth. With a strong and multifaced economic base, Londenium was the clear alpha world of ZOCU until fairly recently and remains the de facto capital where much of the Union's bureaucracy resides. Its industrial power was a vital pillar of ZOCU's strength in space as well as the cradle of the mobile suit, the most important weapon of its conflicts with the Core. Although several other worlds within ZOCU have achieved similar levels of development in the last decade or two, Londenium retains great prestige on the alliance's political stage and its program of outward expansion has found many supporters.

Primary population origin: English-speaking world; both Commonwealth and USA.

Political stance: Put It Behind Us

Kanon

Will need editing.

Primary population origin: Japan and Europe

Political stance: Guiding Star

Hampshire

Hampshire shares with many worlds in the Expanse, the celebreated heritage of America and is considered the leading voice of democracy in an alliance where multiparty tradition is a minority. Their stealth vessels were key during the war, making enemy logistics along the PACT arm an expensive proposition. Presently, the world is doing rather well, with a massive high tech economy, powerful finances sure to propel it to a prominent position in the post-war years.

Primary population origin: USA

Political stance: Put It Behind Us

Haraway

Radical, feminist, and just a little bit odd, Haraway is the oldest colony of ZOCU and among the oldest anywhere in the Sphere. The population shares a bloody history with the EU and Haraway's World was also the site of the final battle that ended the ZOCU War. Most Harawayans believe the armistice to be a brief intermission only. Fledgling peace movement aside, Haraway may well be considered the leader of ZOCU's hawk faction.

Primary population origin: Nonspecific

Political stance: House Of War

Ithaca

OPian weirdness!

Primary population origin: ?

Political stance: Put It Behind Us?

New Mercia

New Mercia is a polity of ZOCU which shares its world through partition with Albion, a member of the EU. This was the planet where the ZOCU War began, and where it continued for months after it officially ended. Aside from a catastrophic failure of state on Heaven's Shore, New Mercia is considered the most dangerous flashpoint within ZOCU territory.

Primary population origin: Commonwealth

Political stance: Never Forget

Transbaal

Transbaal was originally settled by predominantly white Africans who made the choice to depart a continent damaged by both natural and man-made catastrophes, trading insecurity for the frontier. Far from Earth, they embraced the genetic modification technology that had matured in the decades since the infamous 'Mad Augment' tragedies. The defining period came in the late 2130s, when a small brushfire conflict between several settler groups forced the deployment of UN peacekeepers and the creation of a more substantial local military, one of the first in the Expanse. Isolated far from any catapult during the Breakdown and sharing a general heritage with Londenium, Transbaal was an early member of ZOCU.

Situated comfortably behind the front lines, Transbaal's genetic expertise made it a center for fundamental research. Most of the ZOCU mobile armor designs were designed here and a preponderance of ZOCU's heavily-augmented aces including the #2 scorer Y.G. Kruger called Transbaal home. Unfortunately the crash demilitarization at the end of the war damaged Transbaal's economy and its scandal-ridden government has struggled to reposition the world as a center for civilian learning and high-tech industry.

Primary population origin: Sub-Saharan Africa

Political stance: Internal Collapse

Nidaros

One of the more distant EU outposts before the Breakdown, Nidaros was and remains thinly populated, and those that inhabit this frigid icebox are survivors of high order. Far from the front lines, the pains of war remained distant but the post-war economic depression was all too close to home. Many of Nidaros believe that ZOCU could have fought on for even better terms and are anxious for the chance. Among the hardest of hardliners and a spawning bed for radicalism.

Primary population origin: Northern Europe

Political stance: House Of War

Choson

Choson began its history as a possession of Hyundai Heavy Industries. Although long since independent, its Korean inhabitants never quite left the corporate roots behind and continue to operate their world as a massive industrial venture. Site of an enormous and damaging ground campaign spearheaded by those they still thought of as brothers and many still nursing the reunification in cultural memory, the people of Choson ended the war as a highly bitter lot, with the Clyne Movement a tiny droplet of light amongst the youngest generation.

Primary population origin: Korea

Political stance: House Of War

Ophen

Ophen is another American colony - one that has a troubled relationship with its own mother country over the planet's dust deposits. Repeated interference and violent crackdowns on labor and civil rights and blatant interference in democracy during the colony's early years resulted in full scale rebellion almost as soon as the Breakdown struck. For all the political mistrust however, Ophen considers itself very American (and very Southern) in a way that defies political boundaries.

Primary population origin: Southern USA

Political stance: Never Forget

Atlantis

Like Heaven's Shore, Atlantis was a UN sponsored colony with the dream of being an inclusive, multi-state venture encompassing various members of the UN, often those in the near-developed world that lacked the populations and financial resources to create their own colonial ventures. Unlike its sibling however, Atlantis has been a success story, the various states and ethnicities managing to put aside their differences and stand together through times both good and bad. Decades onward, the nations of Atlantis have joined into the United States of Atlantis and have been able to find remarkable prosperity after the war.

Primary population origin: UN Patchwork, emphasis on small states

Political stance: Put It Behind Us

Heaven's Shore

Heaven's Shore was another UN sponsored colony with an emphasis on stateless minorities. Unlike Atlantis, its disparate populations never found the spirit of brotherhood and continue to squabble endlessly with itself. The ZOCU War did the economy no favors and the unity it brought proved ephemeral. The present regime is a junta run by a superbly heavily equipped military, making up a dangerous flashpoint and weak link in the alliance.

Primary population origin: UN Patchwork, emphasis on stateless minorities

Political stance: Internal Collapse

Affiliated Worlds

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