Cosmic Era Nations and Factions

This article is about fictional nations and factions from the Cosmic Era timeline of the anime Gundam metaseries.

In the future Cosmic Era, nation and states of today's Earth have evolved into a number of political superblocs. There are also numerous political factions. [1]

The Earth Alliance

The Earth Alliance is the group of anti-ZAFT superstates on Earth. It is made up of four political entities: the Atlantic Federation, the Eurasian Federation, the Republic of East Asia and the South African Union. The Earth Alliance also conquered the PLANT-friendly United States of South America, with its member states now engaged in a revolution to regain their independence. The Earth Alliance was officially founded as a result of the Alaska Declaration on 7 February CE 70. The combined military forces of the Earth Alliance are called OMNI Enforcer, but are more frequently simply called the Earth Military (Chikyuu Gun). The Alliance is headed by a moderate Secretary-General, but the real rulers of the Alliance are Blue Cosmos and its LOGOS benefactors.

The Earth Alliance and ZAFT started war on 11 February CE 70 after the EA's predecessor, the United Nations was wiped out by a terrorist attack in the Tragedy of Copernicus on 5 February. On 14 February, the Alliance used nuclear weapons to destroy the PLANT colony at Junius Seven, in what became known as the Bloody Valentine Incident.

Unlike the Earth Federation of the Universal Century era which was a relatively unified body, the Earth Alliance is more of a loose international military confederation of entities that are often working at cross purposes to each other. It is not uncommon for each of the factions to not reveal the key workings of their weapon and armor technologies with their erstwhile allies - when the Atlantic Federation battleship Archangel docked at the Eurasian military base Artemis, the commander attempted to acquire by force both the ship and its GAT-X105 Strike mobile suit contingent in order to acquire the secret behind their designs. Later, when the Alliance headquarters, JOSH-A in Alaska, controlled by the Atlantic Federation, was mostly abandoned as a trap for ZAFT's invasion forces, the token defense force left behind as "bait" (completely unaware of the trap) consisted almost entirely of Eurasian troops.

The Alliance developed several important military innovations during the war: the second-generation Mobile Operating System, Phase Shift armor, Lightwave Barrier, beam weaponry and the Mirage Colloid stealth system.

In the wake of the Junius Seven colony drop disaster (Operation: Break The World by the Coordinator terrorists) in CE 73, the Earth Alliance declared war again on ZAFT, on the grounds that the drop represented the true intentions of the Coordinators toward Naturals, and the EA intends to wipe out the PLANTs and with them the Coordinators once and for all. However, the initial attempt to destroy the PLANTs with nuclear missiles resulted in a disastrous defeat when ZAFT's Neutron Stampeder destroyed an entire Alliance fleet with a single shot.

Popular support for the Alliance was weakened after PLANT Chairman Gilbert Durandal exposed the LOGOS, the organization behind the Alliance's Blue Cosmos rulers and vowed that ZAFT will destroy LOGOS and Blue Cosmos once and for all.

After the destruction of LOGOS and Blue Cosmos, the Earth Alliance along with some ZAFT forces defect to the Three Ships Alliance to end the Second Bloody Valentine War.

Atlantic Federation

The Atlantic Federation is the largest and most powerful member of the Earth Alliance. Although allied against ZAFT, the Atlantic and Eurasian Federations have long been rivals, and a strong undercurrent of mistrust remains between them. The Atlantic Federation is a superstate successor of the United States of America, and the Organization of American States which are comprised of what once were Canada and Mexico (plus Great Britain and Ireland), its capital is Washington DC and its President still lives and works at the White House.

The Atlantic Federation provides the largest segment of the Earth Alliance's military, and pioneered the efforts to develop advanced mobile suits to counter those of ZAFT. The Atlantic Federation also has broader and deeper anti-Coordinator sentiment than the rest of the Alliance, and has been more thoroughly infiltrated by Blue Cosmos. While the Atlantic Federation solidified its position as the dominant force in the Earth Alliance with its large mobile suits force which tried to hold the Alliance together, the heavy losses it suffered in the final months of the war could provide the Eurasian Federation the opportunity it has been waiting for to supersede them as the leaders of the Alliance.

The Atlantic Federation attacked and annexed the United States of South America in the pretense of fighting ZAFT during CE 70. After the cease-fire at Jachin Due, however, the United States of South America rebelled against the Atlantic Federation. The most prominent member of this rebellion was former Earth Alliance ace Edward Harrelson, also known as "Ed the Ripper".

Eurasian Federation

The Eurasian Federation is a member of the Earth Alliance, second only to the Atlantic Federation in power and influence. The Eurasian Federation is a fusion of the European Union (minus Great Britain and Ireland) with other members of the Warsaw Pact, and the Middle East. Although allied against ZAFT, the Eurasian and Atlantic Federations have long been rivals, and a strong undercurrent of mistrust remains between them.

Compare to the Atlantic Federation, the Eurasians are not strongly controlled by Blue Cosmos and are more tolerant of Coordinators in their own ranks. When the Archangel was docked in Eurasian Federation base Artemis, base commander Garcia made an offer to Kira Yamato that the Eurasians would protect him from his own people (Coordinators) if he would help them, something a Blue Cosmos member would never do. Another example is Special Operative Canard Pars, who was allowed to work for the Eurasians in exchange for his life. While the Atlantic Federation and with them Blue Cosmos also used Coordinators, their so called Combat Coordinators were mentally controlled by the Atlantic Federation. Canard Pars was not controlled mentally, though was placed in handcuffs because of his abilities and short temper. Garcia has also said that he hates Coordinators like Canard, but not Coordinators as a whole. Further examples include the hiring of Serpent Tail Mercenary, Gai Murakumo, who is also a Coordinator, into the ranks of the Eurasian Federation military. As a result, an assumption can be made that Eurasian Federation does not care if a person is a Coordinator or a Natural - all the matters is that the person is on their side.

The Eurasian Federation resents its inferior position to the Atlantic Federation, which has been exacerbated by the Atlantic Federation's successful development of mobile suits. Eventually, the Eurasian Federation produces newer, even more advanced mobile suits of its own, such as the CAT1-X Hyperion series. The two rivals were evenly matched as a result; while Atlantic Federation completely outnumbered the Eurasian Federation, they technologically superior weapons. With the heavy losses the Atlantic Federation suffered in the last months of the war, the Eurasian Federation's influence in the Earth Alliance seemed poised to grow. After the first war they lost large amounts of territory to the Equatorial Union and ZAFT controlled African Community.

During the colony drop of Junius Seven, the Eurasian Federation suffered heavily, with severe damage to many historical cities including Rome, London, Prague and Athens. Rome and Athens were hit especially hard; the Basilica of St. Peter and the Acropolis were both destroyed by debris hits.

At the beginning of the subsequent second EA-PLANT war, many factions within the Eurasian Federation sought to withdraw from the Earth Alliance, which resulted in Atlantic Federation forces being deployed against those states. They did not have the support of the Eurasian main forces and thus were quickly defeated. It is also unknown that how many or which Eurasian states were against the war. The Atlantic Federation, at the command of Blue Cosmos/LOGOS, used the GFAS-X1 Destroy to maintain control of Eurasia, which led to even stronger anti-Atlantic and anti-Alliance sentiment in Eurasia due to the near destruction of Berlin and other smaller cities by the Destroy.

The Eurasian Federation is lead by a federal council representing the various nations in Eurasia

Because of the lack of information the exact political or military situations of Eurasia through the whole series is largely unknown, which raises a lot of questions under fans. The plausiblity of ZAFT being able to take over a big city like Berlin in a strong state like Germany seems questionable. A possible explanation could be that the Eurasian Federation is dominated by Russian forces and the other states are simply conquered secondary members.

Note: The rivalry between the Atlantic and Eurasian Federations is a possible reference to the Cold War, as the Atlantic Federation capital is in present-day US, while the Eurasian Federation is predominantly Russian.

Republic of East Asia

A Federation consisting of the present-day nations of China, Japan,possibly Mongolia the Korean peninsula (North and South) with Taiwan and the third largest power of the Earth Alliance. Its spaceport at Kaoshiung, Taiwan was captured by ZAFT forces during the Bloody Valentine War. During this war it joins the Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation in the Earth Alliance against the forces of ZAFT. At the end of the first war, Kaoshiung was returned to East Asia.

After the Chairman of PLANT Supreme Council Gilbert Durandal revealed the existence of LOGOS, in the later part of the second PLANT/Earth war, a big Naval fleet of East Asia separated from their Nations and allied themselves with ZAFT. When the Minerva returned to Gibraltar a large part of this fleet can be seen.

However most of the fleet was destroyed later in the first wave against LOGOS stronghold Heaven's Base in Iceland. Judging from their positions in that attack it seems likely that ZAFT used them as shields to test the enemies attack power.

South African Union

Although a member of the Earth Alliance, the SAU is virtually powerless other than its possession of the Victoria massdriver. At the end of the first war the SAU controls most of Africa. The SAU is a puppet of the Atlantic Federation.

United States of South America

A nation which formerly controlled much of Central and South America, and collaborated with the Atlantic Federation in the construction of the Porta Panama mass driver. Before the outbreak of war, the United States of South America had aligned itself with the PLANTs and made arrangements to covertly exchange shipments of food and manufactured goods, and it refused to join the Earth Alliance once open hostilities began. On February 19, C.E. 70, Alliance forces launched an armed invasion of this nation, and its territory was annexed by the Atlantic Federation.

After the First Bloody Valentine War ended, the USSA sought for independence, resulting in the South American War of Independence. The most prominent figure of this war was Edward Harrelson, an Earth Alliance defector, who was critically wounded in his last battle against Earth Alliance ace pilot Rena Imelia. When the Junius Seven Treaty was negotiated, the USSA became independent again but it does not have Central America in it's land area anymore. However when the second war started the USSA again allied itself with the Earth Alliance.

The Earth Alliance military force, OMNI Enforcer

OMNI Enforcer

OMNI Enforcer (Oppose Militancy and Neutralize Invasion) is the military force of the Earth Alliance. Unlike ZAFT, the military of OMNI Enforcer is tightly organized on a traditional model. Many top officers of OMNI Enforcer, mostly those from the Atlantic Federation (which dominates the Alliance after the disastrous Battle of JOSH-A) are also members of the Blue Cosmos anti-Coordinator group.

OMNI Enforcer's space fleet is large and well-equipped, though their warships are slightly outdated compared to ZAFT's powerful fleet. Their mobile weapons until the Battle of Porta Panama are primarily limited to the Moebius mobile armor, a distinctly outdated design. Five Moebius MAs are required, on average, to engage a single ZGMF-1017 GINN with any significant chance of victory. At and after Porta Panama, the Alliance quickly replaces the Moebius with the GAT-01 Strike Dagger and related mobile suit models, redressing the balance and turning the tide against ZAFT.

Known OMNI Enforcer space fleets are the 8th Fleet (decimated during the Battle of Orbit) and the 7th Fleet (decimated during the Second Battle of Jachin Due).

OMNI Enforcer Ranks

Rank Structure
OMNI Enforcer uses a Japanese style rank system, officer ranks being shown by colored bands on a member's uniform (taking the form of yellow bands with no, one or two blue tabs at the bottom). Enlisted ranks appear not to be designated, NCO ranks are designated with square devices. Civilian auxiliary members do not wear rank tabs. Some rank insignia in the officer chart are conjectural, based on other rank insignia in a common pattern. Nine officer, three NCO and three enlisted ranks are known; it is not known if other enlisted or NCO ranks exist or if any warrant officer ranks exist in OMNI Enforcer. In addition, the term "Kanchou" applies to the officer in charge of a ship, and can roughly be translated as captain, not to be confused with the military rank of Captain. Murrue Ramius is often referred to as "Ramius-kanchou" rather than "Ramius-taii" as her rank would suggest. There also seems to be slight color differences between the OMNI Enforcer uniforms of the Alantic Federation and the Eurasian Federation. While the officers of the Atlantic Federation wear white, Eurasian Federation officers seem to have a bluish tint to their uniforms.
Officer Taisho (General/Admiral): Broad yellow band, two blue tabs (conjectural) Chujo (Lieutenant General/Vice Admiral): Broad yellow band, one blue tab (conjectural) Shousho (Major General/Rear Admiral): Broad yellow band Lewis Halberton, Gerard Garcia Taisa (Colonel/Captain): Two narrow yellow bands, two blue tabs some William Sutherland, Neo Lorrnoke Chusa (Lt. Colonel/Commander): Two narrow yellow bands, one blue tab some Artemis officers Shousa (Major/Lt. Commander): Two narrow yellow bands Natarle Badgiruel (after 2nd promotion), Mu La Flaga (after promotion), Murrue Ramius (after promotion), Ian Lee Tai-i (Captain/Lieutenant): One narrow yellow band, two blue tabs Murrue Ramius (before promotion), Edward Harrelson Chu-i (First Lieutenant/Lieutenant J.G.): One narrow yellow band, one blue tab Natarle Badgiruel (after 1st promotion) Shou-i (Second Lieutenant/Ensign): One narrow yellow band Natarle Badgiruel, several Artemis and JOSH-A officers; Kira Yamato holds this rank after Archangel rendezvouses with the 8th fleet but never wears the rank insignia	NCO Chief Petty Officer: unknown CPO Murdoch Petty Officer 1st Class: Two yellow and two blue squares several enlisted Archangel crewmen Petty Officer 2nd Class: One white square, one yellow square, two blue squares several enlisted Archangel crewmen Enlisted Ittohei (Crewman 1st Class) Nitohei (Crewman 2nd Class) Heliopolis students Crewman Recruit

Blue Cosmos/LOGOS

"青き清浄なる世界のために (Aoki seijō naru sekai no tame ni!) (for a blue and pure world!)" - Motto of Blue Cosmos

"Even now, hiding in the shadows of this war, without a doubt the LOGOS are there." - PLANT Supreme Council Chairman Gilbert Durandal

Blue Cosmos is the most radical of the anti-Coordinator activist groups formed by resentful Naturals and is the ruling force behind the Earth Alliance. According to the Blue Cosmos ideology, genetic modification is a violation of the natural order, and all Coordinators must be exterminated "for the preservation of our blue and pure world."

Though the political opinions of the Earth Alliance senior leadership generally varied, the Atlantic Federation leadership was primarily dominated by Blue Cosmos members, and after the elimination of most of the Eurasian military at the Battle of JOSH-A, Blue Cosmos controlled Alliance OMNI Enforcer by default. After this point, the Alliance's war effort changed from one of conquest to one of extermination, a change that a Patrick Zala-led ZAFT was only too happy to emulate.

Blue Cosmos was originally an environmental pressure group, but after George Glenn revealed his secret in CE 15, they changed their emphasis to terrorizing and killing Coordinators. Many of the top echelon of Blue Cosmos, including its leader Muruta Azrael, were killed during the closing battles at Jachin Due.

Unfortunately, this did not affect Blue Cosmos in any meaningful way - Cagalli Yula Athha's visit to ZAFT at the start of Gundam Seed Destiny is due in large part to pressure on the Orb Union from the Atlantic Federation, which is still partially controlled by Blue Cosmos, under the control of its new leader, Lord Djbril. In addition, there are growing evidences that Blue Cosmos may be nothing more than a catspaw for a shadowy military-industrial organization known only as LOGOS.

However one LOGOS member, Matias Aducarf, betrayed his comrades and submitted information on LOGOS to Gilbert Durandal. With this information, PLANT Chairman Gilbert Durandal held a speech in which he revealed the existence of LOGOS to the entire world and afterwards, he declared that he planned to completely destroy this organization. Afterwards, ZAFT launched a campaign to destroy LOGOS and Blue Cosmos once and for all. Many people on Earth also started to attack the homes of LOGOS members and many of them were either murdered or forced to flee. They made their unsuccessful last stand against ZAFT/Alliance forces attacking Heaven's Base, their headquarters in Iceland. After the battle, Lord Djibril (the last remaining known member) fled to the Orb Union and afterwards to the Daedalus lunar base. From there he attacked PLANT with the superweapon Requiem in order to destroy the PLANT Supreme Council, however when the Minerva attacked, he was forced to flee on the Girty Lue. But before he could escape the ship was shot down by Rey Za Burrel, which also killed Djibril and thus the last remaining LOGOS member.

see also: ブルーコスモス

Phantom Pain

The Phantom Pain is a private army organized by the Blue Cosmos that operates under Logos, Blue Cosmos' supreme governing organization. Their official name is the 81st Independent Mobile Battalion of the Earth Alliance and specializes in black operations as well as missions that would run and turn out much better for the Alliance if there weren't any signs of its involvement anywhere.

Phantom Pain was started to provide the Blue Cosmos with organized military strength, and it is mainly comprised of Alliance personnel and equipment. When goods and personnel are requested by Phantom Pain, the Alliance is expected to respond and accommodate for the request without delay. With this assistance, Phantom Pain is able to obtain all the provisions and furnishings they need and request for wherever they go, even though they fall only under the command of Logos and their representatives, and no others. However, even with this arrangement, the Phantom Pain remains shrouded in mystery even among many Alliance leaders.

As a nonofficial paramilitary organization, the Phantom Pain is not bound by the Treaty of Junius and thus they have access to and utilize illegal technology like Mirage Colloid. And since they are funded behind the scenes by the Blue Cosmos, the equipment they get is radical but extravagant.

PLANT

In the Cosmic Era, the present-day United Nations funded the idea of constructing new space colonies originally as manufacturing and research facilities. Known as PLANTs (Productive Location Ally on Nexus Technology) these hourglass shaped colonies were primarily manned by Coordinators. Over time, they became a haven and eventually the permanent home of the vast majority of the Coordinator population, fleeing persecution and when the war begin, they became an independent nation. The PLANTs are divided into 12 groups known as "Cities," each one named for a month of the Roman Calendar (i.e. Aprilius, Junius).

It should be noted that apparently, in CE 73, the signification of the acronym PLANT has been changed to People Liberation Acting Nation of Technology.

The government of the PLANT cities is the PLANT Supreme Council on Aprilius One which was originally formed to deal with the UN directorate of PLANT-sponsored nations, and their military is Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty or ZAFT for short. The PLANTs are described as one nation by some characters, but they are in fact several different nations (each PLANT city can be considered an independent nation) united in their common heritage and the need for protection. The word "PLANT" is actually sometimes used to referred to all the PLANTs as a whole (again as if they were a single nation), and the term ZAFT is also used to (incorrectly) describe the PLANTs.

Each City originally incorporated ten hourglass-shaped PLANTs, for a total of 120. But on February 14th, CE 70, the spacefleet of the Earth Alliance fired a nuclear warhead at the Junius Seven PLANT, destroying it and killing 243,721 innocent civilians, in what later became known as the Bloody Valentine Incident. From that point, and until CE 74 there are PLANTs located at L5. As of late Cosmic Era 73, there is at least one PLANT located at L4, Armory One, a ZAFT military base.

In CE 74 Lord Djibril attacks PLANT with the superweapon Requiem in an attempt to destroy Aprilius One. However, because of the intervention of the Joule Squad, the beam misses its target and instead directly hit Januarius 1-4 and caused December 7 and 8 to collapse, leading to the death of hundreds of thousands of Coordinators.

PLANT Supreme Council

The PLANT Supreme Council is an executive committee of twelve elected members, each representing a sector (or "city") of the groupings of the PLANTs. Each member is also assigned to one of five committees (Judicial, Administrative, Legislative, Diplomatic, and National Defense), each with its own chair. The committees are governed overall by the Supreme Council Chair.

The make up of the PLANT Supreme Council as of the beginning of the Bloody Valentine War of C.E. 71 is as follows on the chart below, with a roughly evenly split political division of the Moderate Faction (led by Siegel Clyne and Eileen Canaver) and the Radical Faction (led by Patrick Zala and Ezalia Joule). Siegel Clyne is later replaced by Patrick Zala as Supreme Council Chair.

During this time, Siegel Clyne, frustrated by the extremist actions of his successor, secretly allowed his daughter, Lacus Clyne to entrust Kira Yamato with the ZGMF-X10A Freedom. The Clyne family was forced into hiding with the act of treason drawn against them; Eileen Canaver was left in charge of the Moderate Faction and Patrick Zala quickly ordered the arrest of the members of the Moderate Faction and those associated with the Clyne family, triggering an underground civil war in the PLANTs between the radicals and the moderates.

Following the conclusion of the First Blood Valentine War, Eileen Canaver leads the arrest of Ezalia Joule and the members of the Radical Faction and becomes the acting head of the PLANT Provisionary Council, consisting of the members of the Moderate Faction.

Many members of the PLANT Supreme Council are also parents of elite mobile suit pilots in ZAFT, such as Tad Elsman, Ezalia Joule, Yuri Amalfi, and Patrick Zala, whose children are under the command of Rau Le Creuset onboard the newly constructed Nazca-class ship Vesalius during the First Bloody Valentine War.

Council Member	Representing	Committee Assignment	Political Faction	Academic Specialty
Ali Kasim	Januarius City	Legislative Committee Chair	Moderate	Microengineering
Tad Elsman	Februarius City	Administrative Committee Member	Neutral/Moderate	Biochemistry
Ezalia Joule	Martius City	National Defense Committee Member	Radical	Aero-space engineering
Siegal Clyne	Aprilius City	Supreme Council Chair	Moderate	Space Life Sciences
Yuri Amalfi	Maius City	National Defense Committee Member	Moderate	Mechanical Engineering
Louise Leitner	Junius City	Judicial Committee Chair	Radical	Agricultural Engineering
Jeremy Maxwell	Quintilis City	Legislative Committee Member	Radical	Chemistry
Orson White	Sextilis City	Administrative Committee Chair	Neutral/Radical	Microengineering
Eileen Canaver	September City	Diplomatic Committee Chair	Moderate	Information Science
Herman Gould	October City	National Defense Committee Member	Radical	Political Science
Parnel Jesek	November City	Judicial Committee Member	Neutral/Moderate	Industrial Engineering
Patrick Zala	December City	National Defence Committee Chair	Radical	Historical Structures

As of C.E. 73, Eileen Canaver retired from her position as PLANT Supreme Chair and an almost entirely new PLANT Supreme Council has been elected. Gilbert Durandal is the new PLANT Supreme Chair along with other newly elected representatives: Alan Clarzec, Ricardo Orff, Eduardo Lee, George Adaman, Crister Oberge, Neu Kazaefsky, and Takao Schreiber. Returning members consist of Ali Kasim of Januarius City, Louise Leitner of Junius City, Orson White of Sextilis City, and Parnell Jesek of November City.

ZAFT

ZAFT, Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty

ZAFT (Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty) is a political, economic, and military alliance of PLANT colonies. Specifically, ZAFT usually refers to the military side of organization. It was originally formed as the political alliance known as the Zodiac Alliance to peacefully fight for the rights and independence of Coordinators. This follows in the rather curious Gundam tradition of naming the space-colony military with a 'Z' (Zeon, from early Universal Century, and the Zanscare Empire of Victory Gundam) or 'Zodiac' within its acronym (such as Gundam Wing's OZ/Order of Zodiac).

ZAFT is well-equipped with Nazca-class and Laurasia-class warships in space, Lesseps-class and Petrie-class vessels on land, and Vosgulov-class submarines at sea.

ZAFT fights the Earth Alliance to a standstill in the Bloody Valentine War of Cosmic Era 70-71. During mid CE 71 Patrick Zala, who blames all Naturals for the death of his wife in the Bloody Valentine Incident, becomes leader of not only ZAFT but also of PLANT and effectivly removes the moderate faction of the PLANT Supreme Council. Zala plans to wipe out all human life on Earth, eliminating, he believes, Naturals who are the cause of all warfare and establish Coordinators as the master race, a "new humanity".

Following the Junius Seven colony drop disaster, the Earth Alliance demands that ZAFT demilitarize and its government disperse; the obvious refusal results in the second war between ZAFT and Earth in four years. Earth support for ZAFT greatly increased after PLANT Chairman Gilbert Durandal's famous anti-Logos/Blue Cosmos speech that was broadcast throughout the PLANTS and Earth. Even though ZAFT and the Three Ship Alliance joined forces and fought together against Earth Alliance forces, they still remain enemies.

ZAFT has consistently proven itself to be on the cutting edge of nuclear technology, producing the Neutron Jammer, the Neutron Jammer Canceller, the Neutron Stampeder, and the GENESIS cannon. In addition, they developed the Deuterion Beam Energy Transfer System, which allows a battleship to recharge its mobile suits' batteries without them having to return to the ship.

Ranks

ZAFT's military is organized as a militia rather than the Earth Alliance's OMNI Enforcer military force, using positional titles as ranks rather than more traditional ones. In addition, command is assigned based on personal connections as skill - it is made clear at several points that a large part of why Athrun Zala is given field command of the four elite pilots of Le Creuset team on Earth is because of his father's position. Some of the common descriptive terms used are:

Kanchō: Captain, the officer in charge of a particular military vessel, such as a battleship, a land carrier, or a submarine.

Taichō: Commander, given charge of one of ZAFT's teams, which are frequently formed, dissolved, and rearranged. The team is identified by the name of its leader, hence "Le Creuset-team", "Zala-team", and "Joule-team". A commander will usually be given control of one or more vessels, whether space, land, or sea-based, and/or a number of mobile suits. He or she will be responsible for developing the appropriate strategies to use those resources to carry out the tasks assigned to him or her by the Gichō, or chairperson.

Uniforms

Uniforms are also color coded, based on an individual's military achievements to date.

Green: Worn by common soldiers, technicians, or mobilesuit pilots.
Olive: Worn by soldiers in ground combat situations.
Bright Green: Worn by mechanics only.
Red: Worn by elite soldiers or mobile suit pilots, typically the top graduates from ZAFT's academy. Although they are respected, soldiers who wear red do not necessarily have higher positions than their green-clad comrades. In many respects though, Reds fill the same function as noncommissioned officers in a traditional military.
Black: Worn by the vast majority of officers, including most "kanchō", or ship captains. This is also the color worn by ZAFT's military bureaucracy.
White: Worn only by those who have distinguished themselves with considerable military achievements, and often those who have earned the Nebula Medal, ZAFT's highest military decoration. Officers who wear this uniform are almost always "taichō", or team commanders. This is a distinction similar to how Generals have different star ratings, but is in its own way unique.
Purple: General/Member of the PLANT Supreme Council, or space navy task force commanders, or officers otherwise above black-garbed ship captains and garrison commanders. In a traditional military, as a rule of thumb, these would be Lieutenant Colonel or above.
Magenta: Worn by the elite FAITH members, they are chosen by the chairman himself and are awarded with a feather-shaped badge. They have authoroty over any and all ZAFT officers and possibly even generals. They only answer to the chairman and are owners of several medals.
Custom Color Uniforms: Anyone in the ZAFT army that proves him or herself in combat are allowed to have a custom color pilot uniform. These pilots have no distinct rank but are usually better than their counter-parts. For example, Rey wore a white pilot suit, however he was not above the command of Talia and still had to follow commands like regular green uniform soldiers. Another example is Andrew "Andy" Waltfeld. He was known as the Desert Tiger, and wore a special tiger-stripped Orange pilot suit. While fellow submarine commander Marco wore the regular green uniform. Andy was above the command of most other commanders and generals at the time. Usually, the custom uniforms also came with a custom suit. Heine had an orange coloured ZAKU Phantom and GOUF Ignited to match his pilot suit, Lunamaria remained with her Red uniform and had her ZAKU repainted in the same color and hue. Andy had a special BuCUE armed with fangs and claws made to match his "Tiger" outfit and an orange colored LaGOWE, complete with Beam "Fangs" and claws. Both Yzak and Rey had a Purple-ish white pilot suit and a identically colored GOUF and ZAKU Phantom respectively. Nearly all FAITH members have their own custom colored suits (both Pilot and Mobile Suit).

FAITH

File:FAITHemblemPKproFinal.jpg

FAITH

FAITH (Fast Acting Intergrate Tactical Headquarters) is an elite subset of ZAFT personnel that have remarkable war records and certain character traits. They are appointed by the PLANT council or the Chairman, to whom they are solely answerable. Their authority is above those of Squadron Commanders, and can presumably give strategic orders on the spot or override any orders given to them by anyone other than the Council.

FAITH members wear badges resembling a white wing emerging from a golden elliptical orb.

Known members of FAITH include: Henri Eugenie, Heine Westenfluss, Athrun Zala, Talia Gladys, Shinn Asuka, and Rey Za Burrel.

Terrestrial Nations allied to ZAFT

Oceania Union

A nation composed primarily of Australia and New Zealand. The Oceania Union is allied with ZAFT, and one of ZAFT's two primary military bases on Earth, Carpentaria, is located there. At the end of the first war ZAFT is forced to give up its captured territories, as per the Junius Treaty. One of these area is New Zealand, as it would seem not all of Oceania wished to align with PLANT, and had to be suppressed by ZAFT. When the second Earth-PLANT war begins, the Australian half of the nation remians at PLANT's side, however New Zealand aligns with the Alliance, leaving the nation split in two.

African Community

A loosely-affiliated group of nations and tribesin the northern sections of Africa, the African Community is one of only two nations on Earth openly allied with PLANT, though there are resistance movements, including Desert Dawn. Supposedly its territory includes Gibraltar, where the second ZAFT's main military base is located. At the end of the first war ZAFT was forced to retreat from the many areas of the African Community that had been forcebly suppressed, as per the Junius Treaty. At the start of the second Earth-PLANT war these newly independent regions of the African Community aligned themselves with OMNI.

Neutral entities

Orb Union

Orb Union

The Orb Union (also known as the United Emirates of Orb) is a small Pacific island nation, located to the east of New Guinea which has a tradition of neutrality and thus is neutral in the war between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT. [2] Orb's government consists of both an elected legislature and an aristocracy of five noble families (most notably the Athha, Sahaku, and Saran families), and has a mixed population of both Naturals and Coordinators which has enriched its talent pool over time. Though small, Orb is both wealthy and militarily powerful, and the local arms maker Morgenroete, Inc. is one of the world's top producers of advanced weaponry. Orb also has, unusual for its small size, a considerable presence in space, including the space colony Heliopolis, the space fortress Ame-no-Mihashira ("Pillar of Heaven"), and at least four powerful Izumo-class battleships. At the start of the Bloody Valentine War, the chief representative of Orb's government was Uzumi Nara Athha, who declared the nation's neutrality in the conflict. Despite this, the Sahaku family would sponsor Morgenoete's efforts to assist the Atlantic Federation in the development of their mobile suit prototypes behind the back of Representative Athha and other representatives.

Unfortunately, the Earth Alliance did not respect that neutrality as the war progressed, and conquered Orb in CE 71, resulting in the death of Representative Athha and many high ranked politicians. Orb's remaining forces, including the Izumo-class battleship Kusanagi and the defecting Earth Alliance assault ship Archangel, escaped to space under the command of his daughter Cagalli Yula Athha, and joined forces with the stolen ZAFT warship Eternal to form what would become known as the Three Ship Alliance, which would play a critical role during the end of the war.

In the Second Bloody Valentine War, the Saran noble family manages to usurp the Parliament and violate Orb's neutrality with predictions of a repeat of the Atlantic Federation's attack on Orb. As a result, Orb joins the Earth Alliance. However, a vast majority of the military remains loyal to the Athha family and dislike the actions of the Saran family, including Captain Todaka of the 2nd Defense Fleet. Because of this low opinion for the new rulers of Orb, the military's motivation, morale and fighting ability was weakened to the point that certain officers were deliberately failing to accomplish their objectives unbeknownst to the Sarans. Despite his personal sentiment, Todaka was promoted to Colonel and chosen to lead the Orb expeditionary fleet in the nation's first active support of the Alliance. This effort ended in a disaster at Crete, when the flagship Takemikazuchi and most of the other ships present were sunk. Colonel Todaka ordered the Takemikazuchi abandoned and remained behind to go down with his ship. After the Battle of Crete, many of the surviving members of the Orb expidetionary fleet joined the crew of the Archangel, including Todaka's second in command Lieutenant Amagi, who became the Archangel's new executive officer.

After Durandal's speech about LOGOS and the attack on Heaven's Base, Lord Djibril fled to Orb where he met with the Sarans. Because of this ZAFT attacked the country but thanks to the Archangel's intervention, Djibril escaped and ZAFT was defeated by Orb. ZAFT forces decided to withdraw, as there was no longer any reason to attack Orb. During the battle, the Sarans and many Orb politicians were killed, giving Cagalli the chance to regain her position as the leader of the Orb Union. Afterwards Orb, together with the Kingdom of Scandinavia, resists Durandal's Destiny Plan and thus becomes the target of the now ZAFT-controlled Requiem. However, after the Requiem is destroyed and Durandal killed, Orb makes peace with PLANT.

In the novelisation of the Gundam Seed series, the title of the third volume "Country of Peace" (平和 の国 Heiwa no Kuni) refers to ORB. Also, ORB is given this nickname (the land of peace) in the title of the 25th episode of the anime.

Orb Military Ranks and Uniforms

Orb's military ranks are structured similar in hierarchy as the OMNI Enforcer.
Note: The US release of Gundam SEED Destiny uses Naval Ranks when it comes to military in space ships.

Commissioned Officers

• General
• Brigadier General
• Colonel
• Lieutenant Colonel
• Major
• Captain
• First Lieutenant
• Second Lieutenant

Noncommissioned Officers

• Sergeant Major
• Master Sergeant/Sergeant 1st Class/Sergeant
• Leading Private
• Private 1st Class/Private/Recruit

Note: It should be noted that US releases tend to use Naval Ranks when it comes to military space ships.

Kingdom of Scandinavia

The largest of the neutral nations, Scandinavia composes the old Earth nations of Sweden, Norway and Finland (but not Denmark, which is traditionally considered a Scandinavian nation as the name of the Kingdom refers to the Scandinavian Peninsula). The Kingdom of Scandinavia is the birth place of Former PLANT Supreme Council Chairman Siegel Clyne. The kingdome of Scandinavia was one of the first nations to offer aid in the rebuilding of ORB after the attack from the earth alliance in CE 71.

At the beginning of the Second Bloody Valentine War the Archangel hides underwater at the coast of Scandinavia. The king of Scandinavia and a selected few in the Scandinavian government are the only ones aware of this and keeps it secret. After Durandal's announcement of his Destiny Plan, the Kingdom of Scandinavia, together with the Orb Union, rejects the plan.

Equatorial Union

A union of weak Equatorial nations in Southeast Asia such as the Indian Subcontinent and the ASEAN. The Equatorial Union is largely neutral because its military is not worth incorporating into the Earth Alliance, with no space forces and no mobile weapons. After the first war they had gained land from Eurasia and at the beginning of the second war they joined OMNI probably to prevent a war with Eurasia, however, they may have seceded from the Alliance during the strife and instability within Eurasia.

DSSD

DSSD (Deep Space Survey and Development Organization) is a neutral organization established for the purpose of "advancing the frontier" from survey and development of regions beyond the orbit of Mars. The Earth Alliance, PLANT and the other Neutral Nations all participated in its establishment. There are bases within both EA and PLANT. F.e. their Technology Development Center is located on the outskirts of Fortaleza, South America. They aim for the advancement of nations, religions and races. They are the creators of the GSX-401FW Stargazer, a mobile suit intended for space exploration.

Independent Factions

Clyne Faction

The Clyne Faction started as the collection PLANT politicians loyal to the ideals of Siegel Clyne, leader of the PLANT moderate faction. However, as the political situation in the PLANTs took a dark turn, the group switched to being an underground rebellion faction of ZAFT soldiers, spawned as a result of Patrick Zala's extremist genocidal politics towards the Naturals. The Clyne Faction was commanded by Lacus Clyne, daughter of Siegel. Another prominent figure was Andrew Waltfeld, a pluridecorated ZAFT commander.

Their first major actions were the theft of the ZGMF-X10A Freedom and soon after the hijacking of the newest ZAFT capital ship, Eternal, which was coincidentally assigned under the command of Waltfield by ZAFT.

Three Ship Alliance

The Three Ship Alliance was formed near the end of the first Bloody Valentine War by the Archangel, Eternal and the Kusanagi to stop the Earth Alliance and PLANT from destroying one another.

Terminal

After the Bloody Valentine War, independent parties, composed of the Clyne Faction, moderate and sympathetic members of the Earth Alliance and Orb Military, was organized into a covert moderate military and political organization called Terminal. Terminal's membership number gradually increased over time due in part to defecting OMNI Enforcer and ZAFT officers. Among them were several key scientists who brought with them new technological advances including ordnance designs that Terminal has fully intergrated and utilized. Terminal appears to have also thoroughly infiltrated the military command structure of every major faction. It is also implied that Terminal has very well-placed intelligence sources as information about current events such as the Minerva's departure time and the Destroy's rampage across Western Eurasia were received and sent to the proper people within a very short amount of time. And thanks to backing from the Orb Union in the later stages of the second war, Terminal became one of the world's main political and military organizations, although its influence can be called discreet, even subversive. Spawned for the same reasons as the Three-Ship-Alliance, to achieve and maintain peace and stability between Coordinators and Naturals. Terminal has two leaders and is essentially divided into two divisions: political and military. Lacus Clyne handles political matters while Kira Yamato is in command of the military.

Despite considerable military expansion by ZAFT and the Atlantic Federation (the strongest member of the Earth Alliance), Terminal too developed advanced military weaponry. Terminal operated a secret underwater base and as well as mobile suit factory & base hidden in an asteroid. The ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom, ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice, and ZGMF-XX09T DOM Trooper, all of which were made by Terminal from technology originally developed by ZAFT, are generally on-par or even superior to their ZAFT and Earth Alliance counterparts. Towards the end of the Second Bloody Valentine War, Terminal and Terminal-allied forces consisted of one Archangel Class, one Eternal Class, three Izumo Class, two to three Agamemmnon Class, at least four Nelson Class, at least two Drake Class, at least two Nazca Class and at least two Laurasia Class warships. Their mobile suit forces were spearheaded by the Strike Freedom, Infinite Justice, Gaia, Akatsuki, and three DOM Troopers. The main body of their mobile suits comprised of dozens of Murasame and Dagger-L mobile suits.

History

C.E. 71

Shortly thereafter the formation of the Clyne Faction, they were joined by the remaining space forces of Orb, in the Izumo-class battleship Kusanagi, and the defected Earth Alliance assault ship Archangel. Both the newest ZAFT mobile suit units, the stolen Freedom and ZGMF-X09A Justice, had already joined the Archangel, but were soon transferred to the Eternal, which was equipped with the METEOR System, specifically built for those two units. However, thanks to the assistance of Reverend Malchio, the Three Ship Alliance was able to make contact with several peace-seeking groups in Orb and the EA, and the rest of the Clyne Faction headquartered in the PLANTs. Also, the group received a tender ship, the ReHOME, complements of Reverend Malchio and the Junk Guild.

The new rogue faction became known as the Three Ship Alliance and secretly headquartered on the abandoned Mendel colony. Their purpose was to put an end to the war before it got out of hand, as both the Earth Alliance (Now under the control of Blue Cosmos) and ZAFT (Under the command of Patrick Zala and his radical extremist faction) were willing to commit genocide to achieve victory.

This small fleet succeeded in saving the PLANTs from the nuclear missiles fired by the Blue Cosmos-dominated Alliance fleet, and Earth from the ZAFT's superweapon GENESIS. The Bloody Valentine War came to an end with the help of the Three Ship Alliance, which managed to counteract the threats on the civilian population and put an end to the war, in September, Cosmic Era 71.

C.E. 73

After the war, the TSA went again underground, their ships were hidden. Most of the crews moved to Orb, under pseudonyms. When the Second Bloody Valentine War began, these individuals took the Archangel and Freedom and fled Orb, which had joined the Earth Alliance and became involved in the conflict. While the Eternal has had a quiet role in the war to date, the Archangel has actively tried to intervene to reduce the amount of bloodshed and destruction caused in various battles but failed. Their interventionist policies have created tension between both the Earth Alliance and ZAFT, and they have undoubtedly caused chaos on the battlefield.

At a later stage in the war, the Archangel and ZAFT's battleship Minerva joined forces and fought together against the Earth Alliance's prototype mobile fortress, the GFAS-X1 Destroy. However, ZAFT's command structure declared them to be an enemy of ZAFT. The Minerva later participated in Operation "Angel Down", with the objective of destroying the Archangel. During this conflict, Minerva fired its positron cannon on the fleeing Archangel, and Impulse was able to defeat Freedom with the clever tactics of its pilot Shinn Asuka using Kira Yamato's unwillingness to kill, as the Freedom's pilot. However the Archangel managed to survive despite being badly damaged while the Freedom was destroyed. Kira Yamato, was saved by Cagalli in the MBF-02 Strike Rouge and the Archangel then continues en route to Orb. The Archangel finally arrives at Orb, where it is repaired in a secret base by Morgenroete.

It also appears that the Clyne Faction (Now known as Terminal, oweing to the fact the Clyne Faction was effectively no more once the Clynes ceased having a presence in PLANT politics) was secretly working on new mobile suits on the Eternal if there would be a new war. These suits are the ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice, ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom and three units of the mass production model ZGMF-XX09T DOM Trooper. These units later, together with the Archangel, defended Orb when ZAFT attacked the country. After Cagalli regained control over Orb, the crew of the Archangel were formally included into the Orb military. After Durandal exposes his Destiny Plan, ships from both ZAFT and the Earth Alliance, along with the Kusanagi's sister ships, join the original vessels of the Three Ships Alliance, (Archangel, Kusanagi, and Eternal).

The group once again had the distinction of helping to end the war, when the ORB-01 Akatsuki and ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice destroyed the Requiem tactical cannon, and the ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom destroyed the Messiah mobile space fortress.

see also ja:三隻同盟 In Japanese

Non-governmental organizations

Junk Guild

The Junk Guild is an NGO devoted to the upkeep, maintenance, and salvage of the technology forming the infrastructure of Cosmic Era society. Thanks to the work of Reverend Malchio, the Junk Guild has non-aggression treaties with all three major factions (Earth Alliance, ZAFT, and Orb) - any person or vessel that bears the emblem of the Junk Guild cannot be denied entry to any treaty signatory, as long as they obey the laws within (though they may be restricted as to where they may go - ZAFT, for example, does not allow Junk Guild members onto the PLANTs unless they are granted special permission.) The Junk Guild is rather decentralized - while there is an overseeing body that governs the Guild as a whole, most of the work is done by small teams of technicians who act independently.

Most Junk Guild teams spend their days either going through battlefields salvaging usable equipment or working under contract. Contracts can vary from salvage operations to repair to recovery of equipment. Large contracts may necessitate multiple Guild teams - it is not uncommon to see a large contingent of Guild techs working on major projects, such as the Giga-Float mobile mass driver. The Guild espouses non-violence - Guild techs will only fight to defend themselves, and even then will refrain from killing unless there is no other option.

Unlike the nations of the world, who prefer to standardize their equipment, Junk Guild equipment is an eclectic mix of whatever they can afford/repair/salvage. It is not uncommon to see a Guild team using an assortment of repair pods and salvaged ZAFT mobile suits for work in space. Teams tend to stick with lightly armored and armed vessels as bases of operation in space, as they place a premium on cargo space as opposed to combat ability. On Earth, retrofitted military transports are often used - the Lesseps-class transport is popular with the Guild, thanks to its large cargo bay and ease of retrofitting for repair duties - the turrets on the top deck can easily be replaced with manipulator arms.

The Guild acquires new recruits from all walks of life, Natural and Coordinator alike. New recruits undergo basic training and indoctrination, then are sent to a team for on the job training. After a probationary period, the Guild then accepts the recruit as a Guild tech, and they are assigned to a team. Because Junk Techs tend to trust each other (lacking a reason to do otherwise), it is occasionally possible to infiltrate the Junk Guild, as Juri Wu Nien did in an attempt to steal the Red Frame. During the Bloody Valentine War, the Junk Guild team led by "The Professor" discovered the Astray project and recovered the MBF-P02 Astray Red Frame. It was later revealed that the discovery was in fact a result of the Professor's long-time friend Erica Simmons informing her of the Astrays and asking her to recover them. The Professor's team was not informed of this until months later, when they entered Orb territorial waters and met with Dr. Simmons. Near the end of the war, Reverend Malchio made arrangements for the Junk Guild to aid Three Ship Alliance in a non-combat capacity. The Junk Guild space vessel ReHOME served as a tender ship for the Three Ship Alliance until the end of the war.

Serpent Tail

Serpent Tail

The Serpent Tail is a mercenary group that uses Earth Alliance and ZAFT equipment to get the job done. They have always taken on a job by the highest bidder, and have almost always gotten the job done. Their leader is a Combat Coordinator named Gai Murakumo, who escaped from the Earth Alliance and broke free of his mental conditioning. Gai pilots one of the three Orb Astray prototypes, the rebuilt MBF-P03 Astray Blue Frame Second L, and is considered by many to be the deadliest warrior in the Earth Sphere. This mercenary company has no government whatsoever, and is split up into teams. Gai's team operates from either a captured Laurasia-class frigate or an unmarked civilian freighter, and his subordinates consist of fellow pilot and wingman Elijah Kiel, the ship's captain and intelligence operative Reed Wheeler, explosives expert and tactician Loretta Aja, and client liaison Kazahana Aja.

Morgenroete

Morgenroete Incorporated (its name is German for "dawn") is a semi-nationalized military contractor based in the Orb Union, with facilities in both the Orb Union proper and at the Orb-owned space colony of Heliopolis. Though part of the neutral nation of Orb, Morgenroete has been secretly collaborating with the Atlantic Federation in its work on new prototype mobile weapons called Gundams under the sponsorship of the Sahaku noble family. During construction, Morgenroete did get intelligence on the prototypes which was used in their own Astray program, but it cost Orb its space colony of Heliopolis when a ZAFT commando team entered and escaped with four of the five Gundams built.

Beam weapons, second-generation Mobile Suit Operating Systems, the Lohengrin positron blaster gun (later adapted by ZAFT as the Tannhäuser installed in the bow of the experimental assault ship Minerva), Phase Shift armor and the Mirage Colloid cloaking device were all developed at Morgenroete either entirely or in part during the war or immediately after, partly under the aegis of chief designer Erica Simmons. More esoteric technologies were also developed at Morgenroete under the aegis of the Sahaku twins, including energy-draining weaponry.

See also

• 地球連合軍|地球連合軍 - 地球联合
• プラント (機動戦士ガンダムSEED)|プラント - P.L.A.N.T
• ザフト|ザフト - ZAFT
• オーブ連合首長国|オーブ連合首長国
• 三隻同盟|三隻同盟
• ブルーコスモス|ブルーコスモス

External links

• Map of Earth nations showing alliances and factions
• Map of Earth military bases
• Map showing location of Orb
• Map location of space colonies with respect to Earth's orbit