Laplace's Box

Laplace's Box(ラプラスの箱) is an object that is prominently featured in Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn. Although it is currently in the custody of the Vist Foundation, the box is highly coveted by both the Earth Federation and Neo Zeon since the box is rumored to be capable of destroying the Earth Federation. But despite its power, the box's existence is known only to the highest echelons of the Federation and Neo Zeon's leadership, and only a select few individuals actually know its true contents.

Description & Characteristics
The contents of Laplace's Box contains the original charter for the Universal Century, which was drafted in U.C. 0001 by the first Federation government. The charter itself contained Clause 9 within the Earth Federation constitution, and grants people who live in space more freedom from the influence of Earth. Clause 9 itself was solid proof that the original constitution was signed by UN leaders and therefore legal. It was lost during the destruction of the Laplace Space Station but was found by Syam Vist, who used the box to establish the Vist Foundation in order to guard and maintain the well-being of the box.

The box's existence presents a major problem for the Earth Federation, since they had decided to rule over those living in space, causing some of the "spacenoids" to have a negative view of the Federation. Furthermore, the Laplace Incident caused the Federation to consolidate its grip over space under the pretense of terrorism prevention, and revealing the box might break its hold over the spacenoids. Since Newtypes who are considered "the next stage of human evolution" are mostly people who did not earn power or were not democratically elected, granting them power in the Federation government without earning it would cost the Earth Federation politicians their earned positions thus it would undermine the ideals of democracy. Also, because the original UC charter actually mentions the rise of "beings capable of perfectly understanding one another without misconceptions" - the exact definition of Newtypes - Laplace's Box essentially validates Zeon Zum Deikun's Newtype theory and proves that the Federation had been denying the spacenoids their rights all along. Because of these reasons, the box is perfectly capable of completely overthrowing the Earth Federation by irrefutably proving that the current government is an illegitimate one, thereby fundamentally undermining its political authority and philosophy. By threatening to reveal the box's contents to the world, the Vist Foundation was able to gain much political influence within the Federation government while amassing a large fortune and carving a place in the Federation aristocracy for itself.

By U.C. 0096, fear of the box had become a tradition within the highest levels of the Federation government and although most of the individuals directly involved with the box are dead, what remains is the delicate power balance the box has established and its relationship with the Vist Foundation. But with the Federation beginning to take steps towards consolidating its relationship with Zeon into an antagonistic one, the Vist Foundation made the decision to transfer control of the box to Neo Zeon so that the flaws of the Universal Century could be fixed. As Zeon forces in all their incarnations had waged multiple wars for its own independence against the Federation, the Vist Foundation realized that if they simply handed the box to Neo Zeon, then they would use it as an excuse to justify ruling over both Earth and space. The meteoric rise of the man known as Full Frontal also became a strong concern over whether the box's power would be used wisely. Thus, the foundation crafted a key to test the hearts of those who sought the box. This key became the La+ Program, installed on the U.C. Project's RX-0 Unicorn Gundam.

Apart from Neo Zeon, who wanted to use the box to overthrow the Federation, the Federation itself desired to either destroy or gain control of the box in order to preserve their stranglehold in the Earth Sphere. Similarly, Martha Vist Carbine of Anaheim Electronics wanted to take the box for herself to gain control of both the Vist Foundation and the Federation.