 August 30, 2015 - 10:36pm | For those who don't know, a confederation is a "union of political units for common action in relation to other units. Usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution, confederations tend to be established for dealing with critical issues (such as defense, foreign affairs, or a common currency), with the central government being required to provide support for all members." — (from Wikipedia) While the the United Planetary Federation is: "the extra-national organization that protects the Frontier Sector from outside aggression, and functions as a forum for resolving altercations between its member planets." — (from the Star Frontiers Wiki) ...or more conically: "As the danger increased, the Humans, Dralasites, Vrusk and Yazirians formed the United Planetary Federation (UPF) to defend their worlds." — (from the Alpha Dawn rules) As the UPF was established to to deal with an external threat, after the First Sathar War, should the organization be rightfully be called the United Planetary Confederation, aka, the UPC? |
 August 31, 2015 - 6:27am | Well fed vs Confederate is immaterial nations have used words in their names before that did not reflect the reality of the actual governance, like democratic. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
August 31, 2015 - 6:59am | You have 4 sapient species involved so the agreed upon name might reflect a bias in one species I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 September 1, 2015 - 7:17am | The term may have been selected for the planned purpose then political compromise rose and the actual powers of the central administration did not match up. But once you start using a term (and print 2 billion documents with that heading) it is hard to stop. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
September 1, 2015 - 10:13am | The term may have been selected for the planned purpose then political compromise rose and the actual powers of the central administration did not match up. But once you start using a term (and print 2 billion documents with that heading) it is hard to stop.
I like that explanation 2 I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 September 2, 2015 - 4:17pm | The people's republic of China and also and maybe more so the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.... both are good examples of the names not fitting reality. ----------------------------------------------- |
 September 3, 2015 - 12:01pm | Considering the politically correct movement these days, it's probably best to leave the word "Confederate" out lest we offend some sensitive fans of the game that choose to blindly misinterpret both history and symbols. Perhaps "Rainbow Bunny Group" would be a fitting term.  |
September 3, 2015 - 4:47pm | Perhaps "Rainbow Bunny Group" would be a fitting term. That sounds like a fun cadre to plague the PCs with. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
September 3, 2015 - 6:03pm | The Egg Shell Treaders Coalition for Political Correctness Headquarters: Section 8 District of Port Wussmonger, Evergleem (Triad, Cassidine) Cadre Leaders: Vr'Rck Hsn'V'Ma (mV) Hooray Icanread (nD), & Duncey Pulosee (fY) Formed after numerous members of the UPF non-human races grew tired of being called "bugs", "blobs", and "monkeys"; the ESTCPC was quickly formed as an effort to stop such derogatory terminology. Shortly afterwards they succeeded in convincing a majority of UPF citizens that the Sathar were not the enemies of the UPF, rather the CoW should bow to them and thus earned No Bull Prizes for their efforts. Admiral Morgaine was later made out to be a racist leader who influenced the Sather to attack the Frontier --- eventually revisionist history said Morgaine attacked the Sathar first --- and all UPF flags were removed from capital cities across the Frontier afterwards. They privately fund the Sathar effort in order to further their agenda against the UPF Constitution. |
September 3, 2015 - 8:24pm | I was looking through Drag mags today for StarQuestions articles for the SF Wiki, and I found I an article called From Anarchy to Empire, by David Cook (issue #94). I see were they were going with the use of "federation":Political federation: Each member planet rules itself; however, all planets belong to one loose governmental body, and all must follow certain standards of conduct. The United States of America and the UPF are political federations. Although I have no issue with "federation," I do find it somewhat unoriginal in comparison to the Star Trek Federation, especially the logo on the KH Tactical Handbook... and the ion engines on those freighters. All they are missing is some sort of matter-teleport... err... nevermind. =P Well, at least the aliens in SF don't look like normal people who had a bad encounter with a rubber mallet.  |
September 4, 2015 - 7:56am | A lot of things were clearly inspired by sci fi of the time like the Malthar and so on so I dont have a problem with federation but if you dont like it change if for you home games or play by post. For the most part UPF will remain the SF lingua franca by which we communicate and exchange ideas. If you begin using UPC it will be like shadow's references to the Dominion authority- most long time and active fans will recognize it as your thing. I'm cool with that, especially if it leads to magazine material. "The Case for Confederation" or a setting write up of your "The United Planetary Confed" I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 September 12, 2015 - 6:45am | YOU MEAN IT'S NOT A CONFEDERATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
 March 13, 2016 - 9:37am | United Planets Alliance Organization or United Planetary Security Pact would be more " accurate" if you are going with what is described in AD. It is explicitly classified as not being an interstellar government there. Instead, it's a defensive alliance like NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The Star Law Rangers are a paramilitary force. I don't think a full on UPF space fleet is actually mentioned until KH comes out. My impression is: Early UPF is a security pact, not a state. Apart from the Star Law Rangers, it may not even have its own forces. Rangers only have powers on a given planet through cooperation of the sovereign planetary gov't. No such thing as a UPF citizen, anymore than NATO citizens exist today. By the Second Sathar War, UPF has begun to evolve into an interstellar government, in part because now it has a unified military force. Still loose, with a great degree of autonomy for member planets. By the Zeb's Guide era (a century later? ) it actually is a federated state with a federal gov't, bureaucracy, citizenship that is trans world, etc. YMMV |
