# The Federation

Interstellar power

An Earth-origin power offering protection, infrastructure, markets, and law in exchange for sovereignty.

The Federation grew outward from Earth. Its offer to other worlds combines protection, infrastructure, access to markets, and a system of law. The price is a loss of sovereignty: the authority of a world over its own affairs becomes part of a larger political order.

## An interstellar order

The Federation’s power has material as well as military foundations. Protection and trade answer real needs. Infrastructure makes those benefits possible while also creating points through which access can be administered or withheld.

This combination is part of the setting’s central political tension. A promise of reliable institutions can be valuable to people living with insecurity, even as the terms of that promise give another power authority over them.

## Opposition and independence

Worlds that reject Federation authority may stand alone or align with the [Confederacy](https://emissary.mdscur.com/encyclopedia/confederacy/). The conflict between these powers has lasted decades by the opening of *Geometry of Grace*.

The Confederacy’s opposition does not make it a mirror of the Federation. It is a looser alignment of independent worlds, united in opposition to what they regard as Federation aggression.

FOLLOW THE CONNECTIONS

## Related articles

- [Opposing alignment The Confederacy](https://emissary.mdscur.com/encyclopedia/confederacy/)

- [An occupied world Clonmel](https://emissary.mdscur.com/encyclopedia/clonmel/)

- [Infrastructure and local interests New Thessalia](https://emissary.mdscur.com/encyclopedia/new-thessalia/)

- [A related interpretation Personhood and possession](https://emissary.mdscur.com/encyclopedia/personhood-and-possession/)

### Also connected from

[Karain ↗](https://emissary.mdscur.com/encyclopedia/karain/)[Karaini culture ↗](https://emissary.mdscur.com/encyclopedia/karain-culture/)[Working life on New Thessalia ↗](https://emissary.mdscur.com/encyclopedia/new-thessalia-culture/)[Veyra ↗](https://emissary.mdscur.com/encyclopedia/veyra/)

## Reading references

- Geometry of Grace — Reader orientation
- Geometry of Grace — Chapters 1 and 9

Introduction view omits plot outcomes. Interpretive articles are readings of the fiction.