Galactic Federation
From Wikitroid, the Metroid wiki
The Galactic Federation is the primary known sovereign government in the Metroid universe. It is the one most involved with the affairs of the games, and is also the agency that hires bounty hunters such as Samus Aran. It was formed in the year 2003 of the history of the cosmos when representatives and delegates from many civilized worlds coalesced and established the intergalactic Congress known as the The Galactic Federation. A golden age of peace and prosperity followed, and trade prospered with thousands of ships ferrying goods between planets across the galaxy.
However Zebesian Space Pirates appeared and commenced raids on the spaceships. To combat this new threat, the Federation Bureau founded the "Galactic Federation Police" - an elite force which made valiant efforts against the Space Pirates. However, the Space Pirates proved too difficult to catch in the vastness of space. In response to these difficulties, the Federation Police called on the galaxy's best warriors to track down and battle the Zebesians with the offer of great rewards for captured Pirates. These warriors were called "Space Hunters", and they served as intergalactic bounty hunters - the most famous and powerful of which is Samus Aran.
Since it was developed as story background, most of the actual Federation remains a mystery. Its structure, processes, rules, policies, legislation and so on are largely unknown and, since politics play little to no role in Metroid games, are likely to remain so. We do know that a large number of planets and sectors remain unexplored, and the Federation is concerned with these. To that end, it frequently sends scientific exploration teams to these sectors. The racial breakdown of the Federation is similarly unknown, but the only picture displayed (in the original Metroid manual) suggests that humans are not a major player in the government, though as seen in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption the humans do seem to be a very large part of the military. The specifics of culture, religion, trade, currency, technology, civil rights/liberties, and so on are also unknown. Sectors are ruled by governors. The Metroid e-Manga revealed that the capital planet of the Fedaration is Daiban.
With the release of Metroid Prime 3, some of the mystery of the Galactic Federation is being pulled back. It is known that they use Aurora Units as a vast network of information for military, business and other governmental purposes.
During the events of Metroid Fusion, the Federation is implicated in the breeding and studying of Metroids (then thought to be extinct), and they take efforts to contain the deadly X parasites for later study. This has led to conflict between Samus and the Federation and has led many fans to believe that the Federation, or at least certain elements of it, is indeed corrupt and may even be presented as a villain in future Metroid titles.
Interestingly the majority of Federation spacecraft are named after gods and places in Norse and Greek mythology.
