The Terra Firma Protectorate is the name given to Earth's military by the Systems Alliance, the representative body of Earth and all Terran colonies within Terran space. As such, it opposes the Dominion as a whole but has not as of yet come into open conflict with it.
The Terra Firma Protectorate's faction color is a verdant green.
Overview[]
Backed by Earth's most powerful nations, the Terra Firma Protectorate has become humanity's military, exploratory, and economic spearhead. While the Terra Firma Protectorate is relatively new to the Koprulu Sector, it has already made a name for itself, gaining Terrans an embassy with the other races of the galaxy. The Terra Firma Protectorate is governed by a parliament based on Earth, which also serves as the System Alliance's capital.
Government[]
The Systems Alliance is responsible for the governance and defense of nearly all extra-solar Terran colonies, and represents humanity on the galactic stage. It is a supranational government, and is based on a parliamentary system, with the Alliance Parliament based on Earth. Representation is based on the population of member nations on Earth and the colonies.
The Alliance government is headed by a Prime Minister that is an elected member of Parliament. While the Alliance is a supranational government, the member nations retain their individual sovereignty back on Earth. The Alliance considers itself a sovereign nation and believes that no other species has right of oversight into Alliance affairs.
Military Doctrine[]
The Terra Firma Protectorate's strength lies in fire support, flexibility, and speed. They make up for low numbers with sophisticated technical support (VIs, drones, artillery, electronic warfare) and emphasis on mobility and individual initiative. Their military doctrine is not based on absorbing and dishing out heavy shocks like most Protoss or Zerg armies. Rather, they bypass enemy strong points and launch deep into their rear, cutting supply lines and logistics, destroying headquarters and support units, leaving enemies to 'wither on the vine'.
On defense, the Terra Firma Protectorate lives by Sun Tzu's maxim, "He who tries to defend everything defends nothing." Only token garrisons are placed on their colonies. These are intended for scouting rather than combat, avoiding engagement to observe and report on invaders using drones. However, the Protectorate stations powerful fleets at research centers so that in the event of an attack they respond with overwhelming force.
The Hahne-Kedar company and Aldrin Labs are key suppliers of the Protectorate. All soldiers receive gene therapy for improved strength and stamina. The Protectorate also recruits 'biotics', who are trained in using psionic techniques. The new L3 biotic implants are considered a significant step forward in biotic amplification.
The Terra Firma Protectorate maintains an impressive navy consisting of over 200 vessels ranging from small hundred meter frigates to imposing kilometer long dreadnoughts and carriers. It is one of the greater forces in Terran space and a serious rival to that of the Dominion. The Protectorate's navy has made up for this with the innovative design and deployment of carriers, which are as large as dreadnoughts but are not restrained by the Treaty of Farixen. The fleet is headquartered at Conatix Station, a strategically invaluable installation whose system contains several primary mass relays leading to Terran territory in addition to the secondary mass relay to Earth, and as such it is heavily defended by sizable naval forces.
History[]
Fall of the UPL[]
Following the decline of Western civilization, the United Powers League took control of Earth. The UPL banned religions in favor of an ideology based around the "divinity of mankind" and opposed physical "impurities" within the human species. To this end, it pursued an aggressive policy of cultural rationalization through the destruction of religions and languages. "Project Purification", a campaign to ensure mankind's purity as a species, was instituted; it was a campaign of mass genocide in which over 400 million people, mainly mutants, cyborgs, and declared criminals, were eradicated. Doran Routhe, a brilliant scientist, used many of these prisoners in a colonization experiment. The prison ships were lost, eventually disgorging their passengers in a habitable star system in the Koprulu Sector.
Although the Terran settlers of the Koprulu Sector were unaware of it, they were monitored by those who had exiled them. At first the UPL were disinterested observers. They had little interest or incentive in involving themselves with the backwater colonials.
This state of affairs changed when the Koprulu Sector was invaded by the Protoss and the Zerg. The UPL had never encountered intelligent extraterrestrial life before. When the existence of the aliens was revealed it caused widespread panic.
Formation of the UED[]
While what was going on between Terrans of the Koprulu Sector was an issue the United Powers League showed little interest in, the UPL could not afford the possibility of an alien invasion of Earth. This occasion brought the nations that had stayed out of UPL's domain into it, expanding its power. As a result of these changes the United Powers League was reformed and named as the United Earth Directorate.
Adopting a more proactive, militaristic policy in regards of alien affairs, the UED used considerable resources in studying the Protoss and Zerg. The UED, after having conducted research on the alien races for months, believed that they were capable of countering the aliens and decided to end the conflict in the Koprulu Sector by any means necessary.
An expeditionary force led by brilliant and talented military leader, Admiral Gerard DuGalle, was assembled. Admiral DuGalle was given three main objectives when he would arrive in Koprulu Sector: First, conquer all of the "rogue" Terran colonies, and capture Arcturus Mengsk, the Emperor of the newly formed Terran Dominion, second, take control of the entire Zerg Swarm by capturing the new Overmind with psychics and powerful drugs, and last, Use the captured Zerg Swarm to pacify all Protoss activity within the sector.
The UED justified these acts as a means of assuring the survival and prosperity of humanity throughout the galaxy.
The Brood War[]
The fleet journeyed to the Koprulu Sector with its cargo of troops in cold sleep, and arrived without incident. Early on a colony was sacrificed to the Zerg so that the UED could observe live Zerg in action. The invaders met with early successes with the routing of the Terran Dominion and augmented themselves by conscripting local forces. The forces of the second Overmind too were enslaved, but only after the Psi Disrupter was secured through the sacrifice of Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov. This left the majority of the Zerg under the control of the UED.
The UED occupation provoked resentment and mistrust from the sector's traditional occupants, and it was only a matter of time before the initial shock wore off and the displaced banded together to resist the newcomers. Under Infested Kerrigan's direction (along with her "allies" Fenix, Jim Raynor and Arcturus Mengsk), the UED's hold on the sector was critically weakened by the destruction of the Psi Disrupter, which enabled Kerrigan to control her Swarms, followed by the destruction of the UED forces on Korhal. Striking another "alliance" with the Dark Templar, Kerrigan destroyed the second Overmind at Char, severely weakening the UED fleet. A final attempt by DuGalle to retrieve the situation at Char failed and the remnants of the UED fleet were forced to flee the sector. None of the fleeing fleet managed to elude their Zerg pursuers and return to the UED, though a few remnants remain in the sector in hiding.
The Systems Alliance Charter[]
The failure of the offensive and the loss of the expeditionary force was only a temporary setback for the United Earth Directorate, the expeditionary force being but only a small fraction of the UED's total strength. The United Earth Directorate remained active in its base of operation on Earth, but lost its interest in the Koprulu Sector for years, choosing instead to focus on internal affairs.
This proved to be a good move for the UED, and by the year 2546, the UED had healed the broken planet and a new era of peace was ushered in, allowing the government to focus its attentions elsewhere. In the years that followed, a mining team on Mars made perhaps humanity's greatest discovery. After investigating the "Bermuda Triangle-like" reputation of the southern pole, the team unearthed the subterranean ruins of an ancient Xel'Naga research station, reminding them once again of the existence of alien life.
News of the discovery quickly spread, and within a year of the discovery, Earth's eighteen largest nations had drafted and ratified the Systems Alliance charter, establishing a representative political body to expand and defend human territory. Shortly thereafter, the various nations of Earth pooled their military resources to reform the UED's military into the Terra Firma Protectorate, the new military arm of the Systems Alliance.
The same year, 2549, the Alliance discovered another Xel'Naga artifact on Pluto's moon, Charon. Through reverse engineering the technology on Charon, the Alliance were able to outfit their ship with far more advanced warp drives. This technology recovered from the Xel'Naga effectively propelled them into space and the reach of humanity grew quickly.
Technology[]
The UED Expeditionary Fleet used nearly identical technology and munitions as the Koprulu Sector Terrans. Notable exceptions included infantry small arms.
The Terrans of the Koprulu Sector developed technology based on ATLAS' databanks after the Long Sleep. As the computer originated on Earth, the two cultures have a common technological base with similar characteristics.
The Terra Firma Protectorate gained access to more advanced technology after the Brood War due to the discoveries of Xel'Naga tech on Mars and Charon, which were then reverse engineered by Kal Wardin to give them access to shielding technology as well as plasma weaponry.