Galactic Federation

From Wikitroid, the Metroid wiki

"A united Federation is a peaceful Federation."

The Galactic Federation is the primary known sovereign government in the Metroid universe. The actual leadership of the Federation is unknown, but it is speculated to be the Supreme Council. 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 2000 (2003 in Zero Mission) 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 2002 manga revealed that the capital planet of the Fedaration is Daiban, though previously it had been speculated by some fans to be Earth.

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. A reference to a "old man" who is preparing the Federation fleet for invasion of the Pirate Homeworld is also mentioned by several Fleet Troopers on the GFS Olympus. This person may or may not be the Chairman of the Federation, or at least the head of the military. It is implied by context to be Admiral Dane. The story of the Federation's creation is depicted in a story with Chairman Keaton in the 2002 manga.

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, with Samus ultimately choosing to defy them. It is also known that they have had one rebellion in the past. This 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.

[edit] Trivia

• Many Federation and Pirate machines are named after characters, locations, and creatures from various mythologies. (Norse, Biblical, Greek, etc.)
• Metroid Prime's US website states:

"Welcome to the GFB Inter-Stellar Network. This state-of-the-art network links to 98% of the Galactic Federation's 140,328 Permanent-Member Systems. From Zebes to Corella 5, you'll have full access to the Federation's entire database."