The Galactic Cooperation

The galaxy is a huge place. While some foolhardy attempts have been made to conquer it all by one planetary empire or another, over time only one organisation has really achieved anything close to calling itself 'galactic'.
The Galactic Cooperation (sometimes known simply as the Cooperation) sprung up after the Last Interstellar War nearly 10,000 years ago¹⁾, at first focusing on technological cooperation for the recovery of society, but then developing into a coalition effort to ensure no war as disastrous ever happened again, while extending its technological expertise and protection from the Decay to all worlds.
As such, the aims of the Galactic Cooperation are:
- TECHNOLOGY - To provide technical equality and access to protection against the Decay.
- DISCOVERY - To permit expansion into the stars in a non-destructive manner.
- SECURITY - To stop would-be conquering galactic empires before they begin.

The Cooperation openly shares technological discoveries and inventions between its members, creating a technological Zeitgeist from which information can be pulled.
The longest standing civilisations of the Cooperation have access in abundance to Ship Hearts - the essential component for achieving technological leaps without succumbing to the Decay - but the Cooperation also helps younger civilisations detect and harvest their own Ship Hearts from their own planets.
Cooperation ships are generally well built and reliable, though their designs can be less innovative than inventions outside of the Cooperation's Zeitgeist.

The Cooperation actively seeks new star systems to allow burgeoning civilisations to expand and explore without damaging nascent species or needing to wage wars of conquest on other civilisations.
They actively seed “Borderland” star systems which are proven barren with rapid evolution terraforming technology which, when left for a thousand years, completely terraforms worlds ready for inhabitants.
Settlers from across the Cooperation are then invited to those worlds to expand, explore, and establish their own civilisations.
This method means that the Cooperation can assist expansion across the galaxy without imposing their own ways upon already inhabited systems - something that would violate their mandate against conquest.

The Galactic Cooperation calls upon its members to enforce the rules and regulations it has, especially those which aim to prevent attempts at creating interstellar empires.
The Cooperation itself does not maintain a fleet or army, for fear that would inspire or enable a would-be tyrant from within.
As such, while the Cooperation has over-arching regulations on the behaviour of civilisations, it does not lay down the law of each civilisation across the galaxy and does not enforce it - it is down to individual worlds and civilisations to enforce their own laws.
As a result, most worlds have their own laws, and there are relatively few interstellar law enforcement organisations. For those instances where this doesn't provide a solution:
- Spacefarers generally accept the law of the ship they are on.
- For the problem of those who consider themselves outside any law, an organisation of assassins known as The Elegy exists - a means to dispose of interstellar threats (and to train 'Spectres' in the methods to do so). The Elegy are not strictly sanctioned by the Cooperation but are tolerated so long as they serve this useful purpose.

The Galactic Cooperation welcomes any world with a stable culture that doesn't reject its principles.
The oldest civilisations in the Cooperation are those that were present at the end of the Last Interstellar War.
The newer civilisations in the Cooperation are either:
- Completely new civilisations which which have been recently seeded with settlers by the Cooperation, new civilisations just beginning to work out what they stand for
- Remote civilisations which may have existed for much longer, struggling without access to advanced technology due to the Decay until they were contacted by the Cooperation more recently, and who are now getting to grips with the technological marvels available to them
The Galactic Cooperation monitors the progress of settled or new civilisations, and can grant full membership to the Cooperation (with associated trade rights and other privileges) to any world which it feels has reached societal stability and which embraces the Cooperation's principles.
- An important step on the way to this full membership is the granting of Enhanced Societal Status (ESS), an award which the planet Mytene has recently tried and failed to obtain.

Interpersonal relationships within the Galactic Cooperation are varied and permissive, and can be formalised in many ways.
Some cultures put more stock into family relationships, some put more into friendships. Ultimately, all are considered equally valid by the Cooperation.
In particular, blood relation is not considered any more important than any other kind of relationship as regards e.g. inheritance.

All planets have local naming conventions, which differ widely. However, as the Cooperation has expanded and cultures have traded and mixed, a naming convention based on words in the galactic common language (a language developed such that all species can speak and interpret it comfortably) has emerged: a personal name being an adjective, and a family name as a noun.
Many planets have therefore adopted a convention in the style [TITLE] [ADJECTIVE] [NOUN]. For instance, a Shipwright from the Shining Spires of Cerulean IV might name themselves X. Glimmering Circuit (and could be referred to formally as X. Glimmer, or Circuit among friends).
- Some cultures adopt a preference for family name first, in particular Ace's World in the Keter Borderlands where noun-name always comes first.
- Titles are optional, and more common on some planets than others.
A child - anyone who has not been declared an adult by any cultural standard - is given or takes a simple name (such as “Bolt” or “Petal”) until they are declared an adult, usually in the form of a single name without a title. Upon reaching adulthood, the adult will select their adult name, title and pronouns moving forward.
Names that do not follow this convention are occasionally used, but they are rare among the Cooperation and adopting an unconventional name often signifies discontent with the Cooperation itself.