ISAF

The following information strictly refers to Strygon's First Contact War Universe and is therefore not canon to the FreeSpace Universe, nor is it related. Also, it may contain spoilers regarding First Contact War campaigns.

The Independent Stellar Alliance Fleet (ISAF) is an extranational group dedicated towards the preservation of humanity, the collecting of rare data and the mapping of the entire galaxy. Despite being a de-facto national government in of itself, it holds no territory and the population and its governing body strictly reside on the gigantic "Ark" ships built by ISAF. Their whole objective is also commonly referred to as the "Gaia Project". Their focus rests on research and recording the strongest.

The group was founded in secret in the year 2255, silently siphoning resources for the Ark I-class vessel a group of expert engineers designed. The group was formed under the shared sentiment of worry that one day, humanity would be wiped out by orbital attacks like it happened to Mars during the Solar Splintering. The reasoning was that a massively armed fleet would be harder to bombard than a planet. Eventually, this preservation objective was extended to traces of other civilizations far off in deep space.

Government

ISAF is led by a 6-person ruling council. Each council member is a democratically voted representative from their ark. This council decides on the important matters of the arks, such as food allocation, security policies or research goals. Directly underneath are the departmental officers. "Officer of Military" "Officer of Education" "Officer of Research" "Officer of Justice" "Officer of Economy" "Officer of General Affairs"

These officers govern over their respective governments with the limits and guides given by the ruling council.

Territory

The ISAF does not possess territory in any traditional way. The population lives on the Ark V-class Arcology Ships, commonly misclassified as Generation Ships, which is a major misconception. The Ark V is remarkably fast for its size and carries a special type of Bluespace Drive. Its capabilities are not quite known yet, but it is speculated that this drive may be capable of acting as a temporary node in of itself for smaller vessels. An immediately visible feature of the Ark V is the masssive biodome built on the topside of the ship, within which multiple biomes and living spaces are constructed. During emergencies, the hyper-reinforced glass dome can shutter itself for added protection against breaking open. Enclosed within the ship are many more apartment blocks and commercial districts, letting each Ark form its own internal economy, sometimes even between other arks.

The Arks travel independently from eachother within uncharted space, only supported by their own escort fleet.

A total of 6 of these vessels are currently in operation by ISAF, named "Feoh", "Ur", "Thorn", "Ansur", "Laguz" and "Ken".

Military

The Arks are formidably well armed, even equipped with a dedicated carrier module for fighter operations. But no Ark flies alone, as maximum security has to be ensured for the population onboard these ships. Therefore, ISAF also employs many of their own designs in their fleets, often using technology recovered and reverse-engineered during their travels. This gives the ships a strongly distinctive and more "elegant" appearance, making them also significantly more powerful than a USDF or GCSF vessel.

The ground units of ISAF are strongly divergent from those of the USDF, preferring an overwhelming use of energy weapons and a mixture of melee combat techniques taught by the resident Denebim. The policy on unrestricted genetic modification also allows for each soldier to be in absolute top form, or as described by several USDF soldiers, "borderline superhuman". However, the low population of ISAF means the general standing army is rather low numerically and conscription may have to be an option.

Instead of standard issue Durasteel like the GCSF and USDF use, the ISAF uses a new crystalline reflective material also known as "Half-Crystallicate". It deflects energy weapons formidably well but offers not as much protection against kinetic weapons.

Biological Divergence

Unlike the USDF which has banned genetic modification beyond minor adjustments or healing of genetic defects, ISAF has explicitly revoked any and all restrictions on gene editing. Initially these changes were subsurface and did not show up on the human body, but after a few decades of editing and letting these genes mix in the population, ISAF's Solarians may look different from USDF's. Oddities such as glowing irises, sharp horns protruding from foreheads and abnormally young looking elderly have been reported and confirmed (one unconfirmed yet popular report mentions sharp edged, slightly elongeated ears. These have however, not been confirmed and should only be regarded as hearsay.) The general trend shows incredibly high muscle density, better blood oxygenation, immunities to several virulent diseases and a high resistance against radiation.

The Archive of Gaia

On the "Ansur", the ISAF's main archival vault is reported to be held in the bridge of that ark. It is presumed that all the recorded data of each ship is stored here, along with a massively expanded system map of the galaxy. Despite vehement efforts to trade for even a fragment of this knowledge and some maps, ISAF has refused any and all access to this vault.