Neatly sandwiched between the Federated Suns and the Draconis Combine, the two greatest military powers in the Inner Sphere, the Outworlds Alliance maintains a precarious balance between economic solvency and military weakness. Forced to rely since its inception on strategic negotiations to survive as a realm, the Alliance has alternately prospered and declined according to the strength of its leaders.

The Outworlds Alliance is the second largest Periphery state and the weakest of the major alliances both politically and economically. It consists of 38 inhabited worlds in a volume of space about 55 parsecs in diameter, which is one-fourth its former size. Its attempts to hold onto these few remaining worlds have created serious economic and political problems.

Of all the government systems to emerge in the Periphery, the Outworlds Alliance claims the strangest collection of separatists and anti-social types. Indeed, many political commentators have referred to the Outworlds Alliance as a geographic expression of collective political chaos. Unlike the Taurian Concordat or the Magistracy of Canopus, the Outworlds Alliance was never intended to be a lasting political entity. Indeed, its existence was due to accident as much as to design.

Historians trace the inception of the outworlds Alliance to the Alpheratz colony, founded in 2413 by former Davion officer, Admiral Julius Santiago Avellar. Avellar was appalled by the ease with which the states of the Inner Sphere sought to settle their differences through increasingly destructives wars. Withdrawing to the world of Alpheratz, Avellar devoted the rest of his life to literary denunciations of the warmongers of the major Houses.

Avellar's pleas for an end to the wars found a receptive audience among many residents of the Inner Sphere, and soon thousands of immigrants began to arrive at the colony. Eventually the settlers began to spread to neighboring star systems. Faced with the growing problems of managing and caring for the well-meaning but technologically inept multitudes on his doorstep, Avellar was forced to do the one thing that he hated most: to create a government able to provide for the needs of his new found followers.

For the next 100 years, the Outworlds Alliance existed in relative peace, relying primarly on skillfull diplomacy to maintain its sovereignty. Midway through the 26^th century, however, the members of the newly formed Star League turned their attentions toward the Periphery realms. In 2571, the League forced the Outworlds Alliance to accept garrisons of Draconis and Terran Hegemony troops, ostensibly assigned to protect the Alliance worlds from pirate activity. Unable to resist this occupation, the agrarian Alliance worlds complied. Later that year, on the planet Santiago, tensions between a Draconis garrisons and local residents erupted into a riot that claimed the lives of 27 civilians. The so-called Santiago Massacre triggered hundreds of anti-Star League riots on dozens of Periphery worlds.

Such incidents, combined with territorial ambitions of Star League leaders, led to the Reunification War in the latter half of the century. The war reached the Outworlds Alliance in 2581, when Star League and Kurita forces attacked and easily captured a number of Alliance worlds, which they proceed to occupy with brutal efficiency. The Alliance government was unable to resist the invasion by military means, and so shrewdly enlisted the aid of another Star League member-state, the Federated Suns, to soften the blow of Star League occupation. Exploiting Davion suspicions of the Draconis Combine, Alliance leaders offered Davion leaders several strategic border worlds in exchange for protection against the invading Kurita and Star League forces. As a result of the secret agreement, Davion forces quickly landed on numerous Alliance worlds. Officially, the Davion troops occupied the planets as invading armies under the auspices of the Star League. In reality, the Davion forces simply garrisoned the worlds to deny Kurita and Star League invaders access to those planets. In 2585, with no decisive end in sight, the Star League terminated the war against the Alliance by negociating the Peace of Cerberus.

In the years that followed the Reunification War, the worlds of the Outworlds Alliance shared in the prosperity that emerged throughout known space. And by carefully exploiting the tensions between its two powerful neighbors, the Federated Suns and the Draconis Combine, the Alliance remained a noncombatant throughout the Succession Wars.

Since the beginning of the 31st century, the situation in the Outworlds Alliance has become particularly grim. With the general loss of technology, Alliance worlds have suffered from declining population and literacy levels. Though protected by a strong military, many of these planets are unable to feed their own people. The people feel that their government has betrayed them, and there have been many riots and demonstrations against the hereditary Avellar regime in recent years. Although no one has yet seriously challenged the right of House Avellar to rule the Outworlds, armed rebellion is likely if the deteriorating situation does not reverse itself.

Neil Avellar, who became president in 3015, ruled his people reluctanly -- and his lack of enthusiasm for the task showed. Low in self-confidence, he consulted endlessly with his advisors before making each decision. Though he proved adequate to the job, the Outworlds Alliance failed to grow economically or any other way during the early years of his reign. This lack of growth could be laid directly at the president's feet, for the Outworlds Alliance offered worthwile returns to any party willing to invest in extracting its plentiful natural resources. But because many of its earliest colonists were against technology in most of its forms, the Alliance devoted its assets to agricultural pursuits, never even attempting to take advantage of the planets' mineral reserves. By the time the nation's leaders recognized that their natural resources could be the key to economic recovery, they no longer had the assets necessary to exploit those resources.

More than two centuries of isolationism have left it with little economic and scientific vitality. Faced with an industrial decline to pre-Star League levels, the alliance has recently opened its borders to immigration from the Draconis Combine and the Federated Suns. Within the last decade, it has also begun to offer trade agreements permitting outside interests to mine Alliance worlds in exchange for technological contributions. President Neil Avellar hopes that the influx of new people and technologies may improve the economy, though many have argued that the influx of foreign concerns may threathen the Alliance's independence.

Ratified in 2417, the Alliance Charter is the basis of government within the Outworlds Alliance. Its provisions guarantee all citizens of the Alliance freedom of expression, freedom of religious belief, and the right to pursue any lifestyle or economic pursuit that does not infringe on the rights of other citizens. Alliance citizenship is granted at birth, while an immigrant may be naturalized after a ten-year residency and demonstrable proof of his productivity in society.

The Alliance Charter created the framework for a streamlined representative government. While acknowledging the right of House Avellar to hold executive power, representatives of the Alliance citizenry must agree unanimously on legislation before it can become law. Likewise, the charter allows for the establishment of planetary representative bodies (known as planetary Parliaments) and judicial courts of appeal, which protect the rights of citizens from governmental abuse. When the Alliance military was established in the mid 2800s, the Alliance Charter was amended to include a fourth government organ, the Alliance Military Review Board.

Government Structure

The government of the Outworlds Alliance can be described as democracy at its best, though not at its most efficient. To realize the highest potential of the system, each individual must participate fully in the democratic process, each taking all the responsability afforded to him. However, in the Outworlds Alliance few individuals take all the responsability that they might for conduct of state. Legislative action is a lengthy process that, though democratic, is highly inefficient compared to many systems found in the Inner Sphere.

Executive Parliament

As described by the Alliance Charter, the Executive Parliament is the chief governmental organ of the Alliance state. Overseen by the Parliamentary President (an office filled by the senior member of the Avellar family), the Parliament consists of one representative for every ten inhabited planets of the Alliance. At its largest, the Executive Parliament had 16 members, though this number has shrunk to four (not including the President). This is largely because both the Draconis Combine and the Federated Suns annexed Alliance worlds at the end of the Reunification War. Added to that have been outright planetary secessions in the last two centuries because of poor relations with the Alliance central government.

The Executive Parliament is charged with the conduct of all foreign and internal affairs, with legislation subject to a unanimous vote of all members present. This last, rather awkward requirement reflects the desires of Alliance citizens to prevent any individual from imposing a dictatorship on the majority. Such a provision makes it difficult to pass any but the most conservative policy directives.

The Executive Parliament is also responsible for military affairs within the Outworlds. Traditionally, a four-person executive subcommittee handles such matters. With the rise of a standing army, however, the Executive Parliament created the Alliance Military Review Board, which can veto this sub-committee's operational directives whenever the Board judges such directives to be contrary to the best interests of the Alliance. The President can override the Board's decision, but such action is considered politically dangerous.

Planetary Parliaments

Bodies of chosen representatives, known as Planetary Parliaments, govern every inhabited world within the Outworlds Alliance. Each Planetary Parliament consists of one representative for every ten thousand inhabitants, elected by annual popular vote. In addition, Planetary Parliaments select one representative to the Executive Parliament for a three-year term. With full authority to pass any legislation needed to govern their worlds, Planetary Parliaments are subject to the will of the Executive Parliament only in the broadest sense of the term.

Courts Of Appeal

For every five thousand people, there is a five-member Court of Appeal. The purpose of the Court of Appeal is twofold: first, to enforce local laws with powers of prosecution; and second, to review the directives handed down by the Executive Parliament. It is entirely possible that one or more Courts of Appeal may decide that an executive directive is unconstitutional, and may subsequently rule that the directive is null and void within its jurisdiction. Once every three years, representatives from each Court of Appeal meet on Alpheratz to confirm or reject nominations to the Executive Parliament and the Military Review Board for the next session.

Military Review Board:

The latest addition to the Alliance political structure is the Military Review Board. This board consists of four individuals, one selected from each Alliance provincial capital and subject to approval by the Courts of Appeals' confirmation committee. Responsible for reviewing the organization and deployment of Alliance military forces, the Review Board has the power to veto Executive Council decisions regarding any use of the military (except in a state of Alliance-wide emergency). Thus can it safeguard citizens from the threat of a military dictatorship or the misuse of funds earmarked for military appropriations.

The single greatest influence upon the culture and philosophy of the Outworlds Alliance is the Omniss creed. This doctrine laid the groundwork, however inadvertently, for the dire straits of the economy of this Periphery State, but also gave the populace the moral strenght and intestinal fortitude to persist in the face of overwhelming adversity.

Religion and Philosophy

Within the Outworlds Alliance, all religious and philosophical disciplines are tolerated. Unlike many worlds in the Inner Sphere, where different religious communities coexist in the same area, however, Outworlders of various religious persuasions tend to settle on different planets. For example, on the capital world of Alpheratz, the predominant religious faith is Islam, while on the provincial capital of Ramora, the dominant faith is Taoism. Planetary segregation keeps conflict between philosophical groups to a surprising minimum, as does the basic and widespread Outworlder dislike of religious bigotry.

Of the many philosophical doctrines in the Alliance, the Omniss creed predominates. Omniss is similar to the cultures of the Mennonite and Amish religious groups of Terra during the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Foreswearing the evils of technology in even its simplest forms, the Omniss advocate an agrarian, close-knit, and decidedly anti-militaristic lifestyle. As the vocal majority in a truly democratic society, their antitechnology stance prevented the Alliance efficiently mining and marketing its mineral resources, and their antimilitary position almost proved the Alliance's undoing in the Reunification War. Though the Omniss are less influential today, their continued opposition to military appropriations still has an effect on both government and society.

One of the newest religious groups to emerge is the Gregorians. Named after the founder of the Order of Dominant Selection, Mathias Gregory, the Gregorians advocate a lifestyle in which multiple marriages are not only the rule but a fundamental necessity. As a general decline in population threatens this state's existence, the creed has gained substantial acceptance in all levels of society. An estimated 30 percent of all Outworlders belong to, or support, the Gregorian creed.

Education

The nature of its founders--scholars and others members of the intelligentsia opposed to resolving problems by force--ensured the Outworlds Alliance a firm base on which to develop an education system. Unfortunately, the importance of higher education quickly diminished when set against the grueling labor required for the early colonists to survive from day to day without the benefit of technology. Though the settlers established schools and understood the importance of maintaining a diverse knowledge base, more specialized areas of learning eventually faded from the public conciousness. A strong oral tradition of traching, carried on by dedicated parents and community leaders all across the realm, kept the Outworlds Alliance from becoming completly illiterate.

Despite the minimal number of BattleMech troops the Alliance fielded, the Reunification War was bitterly fought in that realm, and the educational system suffered deprivations along with the economy and all other aspects of community life. During its membership in the Star League, the Outworlds Alliance rebuilt its schools, but only found the Resources and teachers to re-establish one university, which was on Alpheratz, and this institution has few disciplines devoted to the hard sciences.. Not until ComStar became a presence in the Alliance did the formal educational system once again reach all the member worlds. In recent years, however, the Alliance has experienced a shift in social norms, as technicians and scientists, once regarded as second-class citizens, have begun to win new respectability as their talents have become more in demand.

Culture

Unlike many other Periphery states, the Alliance bestows few titles of nobility. With the exception of minor appellations (largely hereditary titles reserved for members of the Avellar family), most people regard the presumption of nobility as proof of an individual's desire to gain power at the expense of his neighbors.

The average Alliance citizen is a hard-working, if superstitious, individual who values personal loyalty and has a strong work ethic. Less than 10 percent of the Alliance's population can be classified as well-to-do, and even these have very little in comparison with their Inner Sphere counterparts.

Socioeconomics

The Outworlds Alliance has the weakest economy of all the Periphery states. During the Reunification War, Star League forces leveled 90 percent of this state's industrial concerns, and what remained intact was heavily damaged. The Star League's levying of heavy tax burdens on the Alliance hampered government efforts to rebuild its broken industries. Such industry as remains in the Outworlds suffers from a lack of modern technology. Assembly lines are manual, for example, and little automation exists (even in government-sponsored concerns such as weaponry production).

Despite recent efforts to encourage foreign industry, the economy of the Alliance continues to stagnate. The situation is so bad that many worlds have reverted to the barter system to meet the needs of their populations. The establishment of a central reserve bank and a planetary stock exchange have failed, largely because such institutions are regarded as tyrannical inventions of Star League dictators. Even the introduction of ComStar C-Bills as a means of exchange has done little to reverse this process. Unless drastic reform takes place in the next decade, the Alliance could easily suffer total economic collapse.

Following is a summary of the Outworlds Alliance's relations with its interstellar neighbors.

The Federated Suns

Relations between the Federated Suns and the Alliance have improved over the last decade, largely because Neil Avellar has granted House Davion the right to exploit lucrative mining sites within the Alliance. Begun in 3020, an Educational Exchange program, bringing in numerous Davion teachers and educational specialists, has increased overall literacy among the Alliance population. Although the Federated Suns enjoys afavored-nation status with it, the Alliance has flatly refused offers of military assistance, either offensive or defensive, and forbids the presence of Davion warships or military advisors within its confines.

There can be no question that the culture and political ideals of the Outworlds Alliance are more compatible with those of the Federated Suns than with the Draconis Combine. At any point during the Succession Wars (including the present time), it would have been infinitely preferable to them for the Davions to emerge triumphant in their battles with the Kuritans. However, at no point during the Succession Wars have the Outworlders had the option of joining the Davions in any form of formal alliance, nor even of helping them covertly, as Kuritan intelligence is far too efficient for it to be worth the risk. The Coordinator's agents have made every effort to uncover even the slightest hint that the Avellar family has violated Outworlds neutrality, which evidence they could use as an excuse for an invasion. It is for this reason that ComStar believes that the Kuritans may have more agents on Alpharatz than on either Tharkad or New Avalon.

Draconis Combine

Relations between the Draconis Combine and the Alliance are cautious and reserved. Though Draconian merchants have lately been allowed limited trade with the Alliance, many Outworlders still look upon the Combine as a greedy empire that would like to snatch up the Outworlds at the first opportunity. Yet, many Alliance politicians look to the Combine as a source of revenue. They have recently concluded a treaty with the Combine, which allows the Kuritans to build several AeroSpace Fighter production facilities in Alliance space, where production costs are extremely low, while the Alliance gains a hefty bounty and a percentage of all craft produced.

Taurian Concordat

Though far removed from the Alliance, the Taurian Concordat is on excellent terms with House Avellar, and citizens have complete freedom of movement between the two states. Taurian naval elements also have the right to conduct secret maneuvers within Alliance space, and Taurian military advisors are known to be present aboard several Alliance naval craft. For their part, the Taurians receive good training from Alliance AeroSpace Fighter Pilots, several of whom serve as advisors within the Taurian military.

ComStar

Though normally suspicious of any non-Periphery peoples, the Alliance has eagerly welcomed ComStar within its borders since the late 2790s. Of all the Periphery states, the Alliance is the least resistant to the presence of ComStar facilities within its domain. In recent years, many Outworlders have joined ComStar as prospective acolytes. The Executive Parliament hopes that assistance from ComStar may help stabilize its government and economy.

The average Alliance citizen, however, seems to view ComStar as a brotherhood of magicians at best, or a grand coven of witches and warlocks at worst. Because the average Alliance farmer or shepherd lacks even rudimentary education, he often views with sincere alarm anything that smacks of ComStar.

The Alliance military is in some ways a contradiction in terms. For most of its history, there was no standing army except for the local retainers of House Avellar. With the outbreak of the Reunification War, the Alliance militia began to evolve as the state's sole defense. These ill-equipped citizen-soldiers did little to slow the hordes of the Star League. Although the Alliance government had to accept the military restrictions that the Star League imposed on them after the war, the Alliance leaders also recognized that the day would come again when they would have to fight for their freedom. Gradually, the concept of maintaining a professional military arm became accepted in the Alliance.

In the years since the beginning of the Succession Wars, the Alliance Military Corps (AMC) has been based on a citizen militia force, albeit one well-trained and well-equipped. Reflecting an attitude common to many people who are unfamiliar with the actual requirements of sustaining any type of military force, the citizens of the Alliance redily agreed to establish and support an AeroSpace presence, apparemtly under the impression that fighters cost less than BattleMechs to purchase and maintain. This misconception allowed the Alliance governement to create one of the most effective AeroSpace forces in known space. Well equipped and faultlessly trained, this arm of the Alliance Military Corps (AMC) enjoys far more mobility and greater latitude for iniative in its actions than the conventional 'Mech units, so much so that other Periphery realms regularly request permission to borrow the Corps AeroSpace instructors to improve their own military effectiveness and hire retired Alliance AeroSpace officers for their military colleges.

Though the Alliance maintains BattleMech troops, these Warriors have neither the high status nor the high wages they command in most other armies.

The Alliance military is unique in its total lack of mercenary units. The Alliance Charter specifically forbids the use of such troops within the Outworlds.

Structure of the AMC

The structure of the Alliance Military Corps allocates many of the normal functions of military divisions to Planetary Parliaments or the Alliance Military Review Board. Thus, there are only three distinct branches of the military.

Alliance AeroSpace Arm

Receiving the lion's share of annual fiscal appropriations, the AeroSpace Arm is charged with first-line defense of all Alliance homeworlds. It consists of four Fighter regiments, which in turn are composed of three wings each. A wing is composed of three combat flotillas of three air lances, which consist of two Fighters. A separate command wing brings the total number of Fighters in each regiment to 60, for a total of 240 AeroSpace Fighters of various types. Though many of these craft are the salvaged remnants of previous conflicts, some 40 percent are less than two generations old.

The Aerospace Arm also commands twelve JumpShips and two dozen DropsShips, which deploy the AMC's Mechanized Corps forces when not engaged in aerospace support.

Alliance Ground Defense Arm

The Ground Defense Arm is divided into two separate forces: the Planetary Militia and the Mechanized Corps. The Planetary Militia consists of those citizen militias designated strictly for home defense. Its function is not to contest an invasion of the world, but to tie up their resources and pin the attackers in place until reinforcements arrive. The Alliance Mechanized Corps consists of two BattleMech regiments, and a regiment of armor and motorized infantry. Two-thirds of the Alliance BattleMechs are light, Wasps and Stingers mostly, and the rest is an assortment of medium and heavy ' Mechs produced on Alpheratz.

Alliance Service Arm

The Alliance Service Arm is a polyglot corps containing all noncombatant services found in the military. Most of these services are meager, however, due to a shortage of equipment and of dedicated, long-term service personnel. The AMC Medical Corps is generally ineffective and relies on local support from civilian institutions.

Uniforms

Because the military is considered unimportant in the Alliance, uniforms are generally drab and nondistinct. Alliance militia, MechWarriors, and support forces wear the same uniform: dark brown fatigues with green piping. Only a red scarf distinguishes the the dress uniform from the standard uniform. Provision for uniforms and equipment is the responsibility of planetary parliaments, few of which care to invest large sums of money for special dress when a functional design will do. As a result, units from different planets have varying equipment, often relying on what is available. MechWarriors, in particular, use a wide variety of equipment, much of it salvaged from Kurita and Davion units of centuries past.

The exception to this rule is the AeroSpace Arm. Because Aerospace Fighter Pilots enjoy a presfige that the ground forces lack, their uniforms are of better quality. The traditional uniform consists of a white blouse with bright green piping and sky-blue trousers. In flight operations, pilots wear an all-white flight suit with a green collar and cuffs, and such personal equipment as may be available.

The Alliance navy does not exist as a separate combat arm. The few merchant DropShips in the Outworlds have been refitted to carry weapons, in keeping with their role as privateers in time of conflicts. Therefore, naval dress is generally the same as that of the Alliance merchant marine, which is at the discretion of individual ship captains.

Ranks

To downplay the importance of a standing armed force, the Alliance's rank structure is extremely sparse. Only four enlisted and officer ranks are permitted within the AMC, as described below.

Enlisted Ranks

Enlisted ranks reflect the soldiers' role as servants of the state. Enlisted personnel typically serve for a period of four years.

Defender	All recruits in the Alliance military enter service as the result of lotteries, with the respective Planetary Parliaments establishing annual quotas. Each inductee is presented with the title Defender of the State, a rank that reflects a variety of occupations. The term typically denotes enlisted personnel roughly equivalent through the rank of Corporal in Inner Sphere military systems, and the soldiers wear a bright-green circle on each collar lapel to denote this rank.
Protector	Enlisted personnel who have served a minimum of one year of active duty are granted the rank and responsibilities of Protector of the Homeland. The obligations of the rank correspond to those of Junior Sergeants in Inner Sphere systems. Two green circles on each lapel signify this rank.
Guardian	The term Guardian of the Homeland denotes enlisted personnel who have completed a minimum of two years of active service in the AMC. Responsibilities correspond to those of Staff Sergeants within the Inner Sphere. Soldiers of this rank wear a brown circle within a larger green circle on their lapels.
Preceptor	The rank of Preceptor is awarded to individuals who have served at least three years in the AMC. A Preceptor is roughly equivalent to a Senior Sergeant or Sergeant-Major in Inner Sphere armies, though the Preceptor's responsibilities are typically less because of the smaller size of the Alliance military. Their insignia is the same as that of the Guardian, except that two green circles are worn instead of just one.

Officer Ranks

Officer ranks denote administrative rather than combat duties. To become an officer in the AMC, an individual must be nominated by their local Planetary Parliament representatives and approved by the Military Review Board. An officer serves a minimum of five years.

Supervisor	A Supervisor in the Alliance military is equivalent to an Ensign or Second Lieutenant in the Inner Sphere. Most are employed as platoon or lance commanders in BattleMech or AeroSpace Fighter detachments. These officers wear a single green horizontal bar on their lapels.
Section Leader	The equivalent of a First Lieutenant or Brevet Captain within the Inner Sphere, a Section Leader typically commands two or more platoons of infantry, or two or more lances of BattleMechs or AeroSpace Fighters. They wear two horizontal green bars side by side on their lapels.
Director	A Director is a staff planner or senior commander in the field, typically commanding a company of infantry, BattleMechs, or AeroSpace fighters. Directors wear solid brown lapels and one brown stripe on both cuffs.
Chairman	Alliance Chairmen serve a dual function in the AMC. At a tactical level, they can command upwards of a battalion of infantry, 'Mechs, Fighters, or a mixture of several different types of companies. In addition, they serve as senior staff planners and specialists. Chairman-ranked officers wear two solid brown lapels and 2 brown stripes on both cuffs.