Alliance (Firefly)
From Freepedia
Image:Alliance Emblem(Firefly).gif Image:Alliance Emblem(Firefly).png In the Firefly television series, the Alliance is a powerful government and law-enforcement organization that controls a large sector of colonized "core planets." A few years prior to the show's timeframe, the Alliance fought a civil war against the independent worlds that wanted to break away from Alliance jurisdiction. The Independent Faction were also known as the Browncoats. The war raged for a long time, causing heavy casualties on both sides. In the end, the Alliance won, and an armistice was signed, thus ending the war.
The Alliance operates a massive fleet of starships literally resembling huge floating cities. Alliance ships have the registry prefix IAV (Interstellar Alliance Vessel). Examples include the IAV Dortmunder and IAV Magellan. In the episode "Bushwhacked", we learn that Alliance ships have nurseries.
Alliance ground troops are nicknamed "purple bellies" (in contrast to the Independent "browncoats"). They wear armor similar to that worn by the Mobile Infantry in the movie Starship Troopers (the makers of Firefly used leftover costumes from that movie). Crewmembers on Alliance starships wear gray uniforms resembling Confederate uniforms from the American Civil War; officers and enlisted crew wear identical uniforms (except for headgear: officers wear hats, enlisted crew wear berets).
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The Union of Allied Planets
Name
The scripts for the pilot episode, "Serenity", and the first-aired episode, "The Train Job", refer to an "AngloSino" flag on the IAV Dortmunder and on the stolen boxes. However, the term AngloSino Alliance was never used in an actual episode or film; the phrase Union of Allied Planets is explicitly mentioned in on-air dialogue in the episode "Ariel", so it can be assumed to be the 'actual' full name of the Alliance.
History
After Earth's natural resources were used up generations ago, mankind abandoned the planet (which now exists in myth and legend as "Earth-That-Was"), and moved out into the stars. But, mankind held onto the tenets of culture and civilization in the exodus, carrying with it those things both material and spiritual that make us human.
Relatively little is known of the early history of the Alliance (such as the exact date of the exodus from Earth, and the reasons why China and the USA allied themselves with each other). The Alliance flag, seen in the original pilot episode, is a blending of the United States and People's Republic of China flags (two versions of this flag, one with 13 stripes and one with five stripes, appear in the series).
At the Battle of Serenity Valley (the last major battle in the civil war, based on the Battle of Gettysburg), both the Alliance and the Browncoats suffered heavy casualties. Survivors from both sides were stranded on the battlefield until the Alliance was able to send a fleet of medical transports to rescue them.
The day that the civil war ended is known as "Unification Day" (often abbreviated to "U-Day") and is celebrated as a holiday throughout the Alliance. Alliance military officers like to drink a toast to Unification Day and enthusiastically encourage others to join in the festivities.
Universe
The two worlds that make up the "core planets" (the first worlds to be terraformed) are Sihnon, a mostly East Asia-themed planet, and Londinium, a world with mostly American and Western Europe influences. The alliance of the two worlds leads to up a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, and multi-religious universe.
The Alliance seems to have some elements of a monarchy; in "Serenity", Malcolm Reynolds (Serenity''s captain) said "I'd like to be king of all Londinium" and many of Inara Serra's customers are Lords. "King of all Londinium" may just be a catchphrase (ie, "I'd like to be king of England" in modern usage) and Lord could merely be a positional title (such as modern judges in Britain). In Serenity, the movie set in the Firefly universe it is revealed that the Alliance is run by a branch of the government called the Parliament.
It appears that this Alliance was a melding of the dictatorship of the People's Republic of China and the democracy of the United States. Generally, the Alliance is rather authoritarian, although Joss Whedon, the series' creator, has said this is at least partly due to the fact that the show is seen from the viewpoint of those hostile to the Alliance. Whedon himself admits that some times, the Alliance is like the USA in World War II: doing very good things, helping people, spreading democracy. At other times the Alliance can resemble US activities in Vietnam, i.e. shady black ops and power-grabbing. In any case, the Alliance is far from the traditional totalitarian government such as the Galactic Empire (Star Wars) and the Federation from Blake's 7. The Alliance is also similar in concept to Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium, that a democratic and communist superpowers would form an alliance.
It is a government run by bureaucratic rules. Corporate influence is high, the prime example of "Blue Sun", a powerful corporate conglomerate Whedon has compared to "Coca-Cola or Microsoft" and which owns "at least half the government". A lesser example is the Weyland-Yutani corporation of Alien fame, whose logo can be seen on certain Alliance weapons.
Due to the melding of American and Chinese influences in the Alliance, most people in the Firefly universe are equally adept in speaking both English and Chinese (some characters on the show speak Chinese at times, and the spaceship Serenity has some signs in Chinese).
Quotes
Opening narration; first lines spoken in series
Book: After the Earth was used up, we found a new solar system and hundreds of new Earths were terraformed and colonized. The central planets formed the Alliance and decided all the planets had to join under their rule. There was some disagreement on that point. After the War, many of the Independents who had fought and lost drifted to the edges of the system, far from Alliance control. Out here, people struggled to get by with the most basic technologies; a ship would bring you work, a gun would help you keep it. A captain's goal was simple: find a crew, find a job, keep flying.
Mal: Here's how it is: Earth got used up, so we terraformed a whole new galaxy of Earths, some rich and flush with new technologies, some not so much. Central Planets, them was formed the Alliance, waged war to bring everyone under their rule; a few idiots tried to fight it, among them myself. I'm Malcolm Reynolds, captain of the Serenity. Got a good crew: fighters, pilot, mechanic. We even picked up a preacher, and a bona fide companion. There's a doctor, too, his genius sister from some Alliance camp, so they're keeping a low profile. You got a job, we can do it, don't much care what it is.
- Shepherd Book: "A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned."
- Inara Serra: "The Alliance has no quarrel with me. I supported unification." ("Out of Gas")
- "Alliance Rewards Those Who Reward Themselves" (banner depicted in "Dead or Alive", an unaired script)
- Declan Everton: "We're fighting the just cause. Independent thought, independent dreams, independent lives. It's a thing worth dying for."
- Mal: (to Declan) "It isn't war when they're not shooting at you. Then it's just plain murder." ("Dead or Alive" unaired script)
