History

The first Vignoli

The Imperial Federation was officially created in 1938, but it's actually intrinsically tied to the much longer history of the Vignoli dynasty, which starts on June 7 1066.

On that day, Duchess Matilde di Canossa died childless after a sudden fever, however she had informally adopted a young girl named Anastasia dei Vignoli (1048-1104), the daughter of two courtiers who died when she was only 4. Over the years, Anastasia bonded with her liege as only two years separated them and Anastasia became Matilda's closest advisor. So much that, when Matilda died at the age of 20, as her dynasty was already almost extinct, she decided to pass everything to Anastasia, who had become famous for her towering intellect, an indomitable energy and was celebrated by many poets for her beauty.

Since both Matilda and Anastasia were ardent supporters of the Papacy and recognized as virtuous Catholic women, Pope Alexander II supported her ascension, helping her solidify her seat. Anastasia married a Normand prince, Guy, thus allying and supporting William the Conqueror in his conquest of England, establishing the first ties with the island which will play a huge role down the line.

In 38 years of reign, Anastasia would manage to impose her power over all of Northern Italy, to the point where Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV appointed her as vice-queen of Italy, also because of her continuous effort to reconcile the Empire and the Papacy in the hope that they would finally unify all of Europe. She heavily funded the First Crusade and would become a Saint after her death.

It seems ironic, thus, that her only surviving son, Federico I (1072-1116), would grow to be dissatisfied with both the Papacy and the fact that, as King of Italy, would not be allowed to become an Elector in the HRE. Able to read and write in Latin, Federico had grown up reading about the Roman Empire, wishing to replicate some aspects of it, even restoring the ancient religion, founding the Neo-Hellenism with the support of the nobles and the cities of Italy, who mostly wanted to free themselves from the invasive authority of both the Empire and the Church.

Neo-Hellenism would play a huge role in the history of the Dynasty, as from that point on, Italy would be surrounded by realms who wished nothing but to destroy them for their beliefs. In reality, Neo-Hellenism professed a complete religious freedom. The Church was allowed to continue operating inside the Kingdom, though they had to swear loyalty to the King and obey the law. The new religion would mostly remain a belief of the elite but would slowly spread to the masses in time.

A huge social change brought by the religion, however, was the establishment of total gender equality: Federico, as new Pontifex Maximus, decreed that, since there are both relevant gods and goddesses in the Pantheon, it is blasphemy to support any idea that a gender is inferior to another. Though it was mostly a tenet of convenience, as Federico needed to mobilize the entire population for the war of independence from the Empire, the conquest of Rome and of Southern Italy, this would permeate the future politics of the dynasty when conquering new lands all around the globe.

By the end of his life, Federico had proclaimed the Empire of Italia, and he also codified many laws, among which the fact that his successor would be chosen among his children and by merit, not birth order, which was a way to reinstate the succession of the first period of the Roman Empire.

When he died, his first child was a girl, Lucia (1094-1158), who was only 10 years old. Despite that, Federico had managed to put up an efficient web of loyal nobles, ensuring that Lucia would grow up to become Empress and would even marry the contemporary King of England, William II, despite the different religions.

The Anglo-Italic Union

The XII century would see even the Neo-Hellenism enter a phase of military expansion: after repelling a crusade called by the Pope to regain Rome, the Capitoline Concordat decided that they had to strike back and proclaimed the birth of the Great Holy Wars.

Though most of them actually triumphed over Christians and Muslims alike, the one that would have a lasting effect would be the Fourth GHW: led by Federico IV, the Italian armies would go on and conquer England after relations between the Normand and Vignoli dynasty had deteriorated. Federico won, but also showed great mercy by simply installing one of his sisters as a figurehead Queen and giving great liberties to the English and Welsh nobles, who from then on would become loyal subjects.

Eventually, the two crowns would be united in 1374 when Benedetta I ascended to the throne. By that time, the new Anglo-Italic Union controlled a vast empire even in the Mediterranean, controlling Gibraltar, the Attic Peninsula, Dalmatia, part of Austria and was slowly conquering France through the Hundred Years War.

Though eventually France will manage to push back the Union and chase it out from its territory by 1431, also thanks to a rare cooperation on behalf of the other christian powers of Europe.

From that point on, the Union would progressively lose territory to the Ottomans and also Austria would regain its territory in the Alps.

It was, however, the dawn of the Exploration Age, which would spearheaded by the Union under Guglielmo IV, which would colonize North America, part of the Caribbeans and part of Central America in the following centuries, contending the area with Spain, Portugal, France and the Netherlands.

In Europe. the Union would basically stick to defending Italy and integrating all of Britannia, intervening in European conflicts only to hinder its rivals and favor the ascension of new powers like the Netherlands and Prussia. The only exception would be under Lorenzo III, who waged war against the Ottomans and established a semi-independent Greek state and Albania in 1717.

The global expansion, however, would suffer a major blow when the United States of America broke free through their War of Independence in 1783, leaving the Union with only Canada and the Mesoamerica colonies. The colonial expansion thus turned to Africa and India. The Union had been the first European state to abolish slavery in 1735 under Alexander I, granting full citizenship to every person in the colonies, no matter the culture, color skin, religion or gender, who would be integrated to every level of the military and administration.

The cohesion of the Union would be put to the test at the dawn of XIX century, when Napoleon rampaged through the continent and conquered all of Northern Italy, reaching the gates of Rome but never conquering. Nevertheless, Emperor George I (nicknamed 'the English') transferred his court to London, consolidating a primary role for Britannia, which would act with even greater autonomy from that point on, but would still recognize the Emperor as the Head of State and always cooperating with Italy economically and diplomatically.

After Napoleon's defeat, thanks in no small part to the Union Army, who had learned and adapted to fight the great General, the Union would regain all of its territories in the Vienna Congress of 1816 and resume its global expansion, which would be greatly extended with the Industrial Revolution.

The XIX century would see the Union reach the peak of its expansion outside of Europe, culminating under the reign of Benedetta III, who saw the creation of the first Constitution, where the monarch ceded most of her power and retained only three main roles: Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Head of the Foreign Office and Guardian of the Constitution, with the duty of making sure that the Parliament would remain a democratic institution.

This period would also mark the strange duality of Italy and Britannia: while the political class of the former was much more keen to intervene in Europe, as seen during the Crimean War against Russia, the latter was focused on colonial expansion. As long as Benedetta reigned, she would manage to support both policies, and even directing the economic boom to improve the living and working conditions of the working masses, to the point that she is still considered on Earth the epitome of the benevolent ruler. After her death in 1866, the Union would become increasingly indifferent toward the other European nations, focusing instead on annexing Egypt through an economic takeover from the Ottomans.

At the beginning of the XX century, under the energetic Federico XVII, the Union knew an increasing role on the global stage. Federico instituted the Imperial Conference, to be held every two years between the Dominions of Canada, Ivoria, Nigeria, South Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand, Mesoamerica and the two main components of the Union. Federico also put an end to the centuries-long dispute with the Catholic Church by inviting the Pope back to Rome and gifting him the Vatican State. In 1909, during the First Balkan War, the Union allied with Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania, helping them chase out the Ottomans from Europe. In this war, the troops of the Union reached Constantinople and annexed it, exploiting the relative weakness of the other Great Powers at that moment.

The Imperial Federation

The Union would come out of the First World War battered, but still very strong. Federico would manage to repel the threat of the nascent Italian Fascism of Benito Mussolini, whose ideas inspired other right-wing movements in the rest of Europe, especially in Germany, where the Nazi Party would win the elections of 1933 and transform the country in a totalitarian regime.

Even France, endemically unstable, saw the rise of far-right movements, exacerbated by the Great Depression. In 1937, the Mouvement Franciste had seized power under Jacques Doriot, who aligned with Germany and formed the Berlin-Paris Axis, with clear designs of creating a new order on the continent.

By now, Federico XVII had been succeeded by his son Federico XVIII, who saw the aggressive rhetoric of the fascist powers and, with the Union being basically the only democracy in Europe strong enough to face them, convened the Imperial Conference of 1938, where the Dominions accepted to evolve the Union into the Imperial Federation, a centralized super-state with a federal system that still guaranteed large autonomy to the communities inside the Empire and solidifying its place as the global superpower.

The Second World War, however, would put a huge strain on the newborn state. The German Blitzkrieg caught the Imperial Army by storm in Italy in 1939, threatening to encircle and destroy most of it, but Federico ordered the complete evacuation in time, so that the Army could flee to the rest of the Empire and keep up the fight. In an act of self-sacrifice that would galvanize the population of the entire Federation for the rest of the conflict, Federico mounted a last stand in Rome with the armed population, dying in battle and passing the crown to his brother Guglielmo VII. Guglielmo, who had made a brilliant career in the Navy, received the full support of the new Government, led by Winston Churchill, and exploited the sacrifice of his brother to bolster the ranks of the Armed Forces. His strategic acumen allowed the Federation to completely cancel the French colonial empire by 1941, just in time for the United States to enter the war after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.

It would be Guglielmo who suggested the creation of the United Nations at the Yalta Conference, and he would be at the head of his troops when they would conquer Berlin in May 1945. Unfortunately, Guglielmo would be mortally wounded right outside the Reichstag, leaving the throne to Federico XIX, who was still only a child.

The Federation came out of the war by annexing France and Germany up to the Oder, and even the Benelux countries petitioned to become part of the Federation. But the sudden expansion and the economic burden needed to rebuild Europe would make the Federation dependent on the help of the US, who would exploit the young age of the new Emperor to influence the Parliament. Federico would also grow to become quite a passive Emperor, content to be mostly a figurehead. Already at the end of the 1950s, many countries in Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Mesoamerica, Pakistan and Bangladesh would demand independence under the influence of either the US or the Soviet Union. Federico, despite his modest behavior, made sure that the independence process would come without bloodshed.

During the Cold War he would also push for the Federation to be a guardian of peace, despite having an alliance with the United States. The Federation would be involved in several conflicts, though only in defense of its allies, such as the African Horn War, where Eritrea was attacked by Ethiopia and the Federation came to its defense. In contrast, the Federation would condemn the Vietnam War waged by the USA, and would even help the economic recover of communist Vietnam when the Communist Party of the Federation won the 1970 elections and Italian deputy Enrico Berlinguer became Prime Minister, always remaining loyal to the Emperor and stepping down when the following elections demanded it.

Generally, all the way to the 1990s, the Federation saw a long period of peace and economic development in all of her territories. Egypt had remained part of it and the control of the Suez Canal gave the Federation a lot of trade power all around the globe.

Things would evolve again in the 1990s. The Federation participated in the First Gulf War, but its main concerns came with the dissolution of Yugoslavia. The federal governments managed to prevent an armed conflict in Croatia and Slovenia, countries that petitioned for an association status, but not in Bosnia, where tensions between Serbs, Bosnians and Croats erupted in a civil war and the brutal siege of Sarajevo.

Federico had died in 1995 and was succeeded by his son Marco V, who, much like his father, was not interested in politics and he had been actually chosen under pressure of the parliamentary class. While the Galsarri and Ernestson governments managed to get authorization from the UN to intervene in the Balkans and invaded Serbia, annexing Bosnia and Montenegro, Marco spent most of his time at the Imperial Citadel in formal ceremonies.

Federico XX.

In 1997 Marco had his first son: Federico. However, not wanting him to become another puppet, Marco concocted a plan that seemed incredibly unusual for him: he decided that Federico would become part of the upcoming 'Project Legionnaire', a federal secret initiative to create genetically enhanced super-soldiers. Marco entrusted his first son to two of his guards, who would raise him and put him into the Project when he became 6. Federico was soon notified of his real identity, but for now he lived as Attilio Lente, and he took up the military life with an enthusiasm that stunned everybody around him.

Always eager to learn and volunteering many times to receive the enhancements, Attilio Lente became the star of the project. In 2012 he was sent in Afghanistan for a test period in command of a squad of other promising Legionnaires, among which was his future wife. Federico would go well-beyond his simple test run and would manage to destroy the Taliban movement, helping the country stabilizing at last. At the end of this, Marco decided to publicly announce the real identity of 'Attilio Lente' and Federico would finally be introduced to the Imperial Citadel and to his little siblings: two sisters and a brother.

Even though he started to study at a public school, Federico immediately dived into federal politics. He approached the Monarchists, who saw in him the possibility of restoring the authority of the Emperor and threw their support behind him whenever Federico denounced how corrupt and far from the public the political class of Rome had become in the last decades.

In 2014 the Second Korean War blew out when the North invaded the South once again. Federico would use the opportunity to have the Legion become more autonomous when he led an army of his brothers-in-arms to victory in just four months, unifying Korea once and for all. Not just that: he persuaded both Korea and Japan of the benefits of becoming part of the Federation. Also, in this war some Legionnaires, including the Prince, started to manifest the psionic powers after being exposed to extremely stressful situations.

On July 12 2015, the day of his 18th birthday, Federico was met with an unexpected gift: at the party held at the palace, in front of many politicians but also the common people who were allowed to enter the gardens, Marco announced his abdication, citing that his cancer didn't make him fit enough to rule, but in reality he simply knew that his son was ready to take the reins.

And indeed, Federico didn't lose any time to put all his energies into his dream: unify mankind. In order to do that, he decided to throw his diplomatic support to the United Nations, urging them to reform the Security Council and declaring that the Legionnaires would be put under the authority of the organization as peace enforcers.

Thanks to his popularity, the Monarchist Party would win an absolute majority at the elections of 2016, giving Federico the chance to enact huge reforms with the help of his Advisors. Thanks to them, the economy of the Federation started to grow again at a fast pace, education was prioritized, investing in renewable energies and environmentalist policies. Federico also fought bitterly against foreign influence and started Operation African Progress, a massive plan to develop Africa.

While the Operation was a huge success, basically making the entire continent associate with the Federation, Federico would have to deal with the challenge of his life.

The Covenant War

In 2025, probably drawn by the recently awakened psionic potential of the Humans, a race of space-faring beings who called themselves 'the Elders', arrived over Earth with a fleet of subjugated alien species and invaded pretty much instantly. Federico, however, had had a vision of this event, together with many powerful psionics of the Ordo Quaeris, and had prepared the Legion and the Federal Armed Forces for the imminent invasion a few weeks before. In the beginning, the aliens hadn't expected such a strong resistance and simply tried to raid vital infrastructures, focusing on the poorer areas of the planet, where the local countries didn't have the military strength to resist.

Federico convinced the USA, Russia and China to pool together resources to support the Legion with their armies, and the super-soldiers proved their worth by winning every engagement they found themselves in.

The alien force, nicknamed 'Covenant' because the Elders proclaimed themselves as gods, established a base in Iceland, which was scarcely populated. The Legion nonetheless destroyed it, with Federico fighting on the frontline and gaining increasing popularity all around the globe.

By analyzing the corpses of the Elders killed in this assault, the reason of the invasion was found: the Elders, though having long lifespans, suffered of a genetic disease that was slowly killing them. They believed they had found in the Human DNA, so attuned with the Flux, a chance to heal, but since this required to capture human beings and literally melt their bodies to extract the genetic material, the Elders hadn't wasted time in negotiations, also because they believed themselves to be gods and that every minor species owed to bow down and die for them, if they demanded it.

In 2026, the Covenant, despite having limited forces, decided to mount a full-scale invasion in Siberia, routing the few Russian units near the city of Surgut and spreading around. However, the terrible Winter blocked even the advanced alien forces on their tracks at the beginning of 2027, allowing the four powers and the Legion to plan the counteroffensive. Armed with new vehicles and weapons adapted to fight the aliens, the human offensive crushed the invaders and the few survivors left the Solar System entirely.

Federico knew that the Elders would be back. In the meantime, after seeing him in action, the world had become convinced that humanity needed to stick together, and Federico was the right man at the right time. In 2027, after due negotiations, all countries of the world accepted to become part of the Imperial Federation. The Emperor and his family immediately got to work to make sure that Earth would be prepared for the next, which came in 2030.

This time, though, Humanity would also find unexpected allies: while the Covenants were bombing the energy shields over the major cities on Earth, a Turian frigate tasked with investigating the movements of the Covenant was shot down and landed near Constantinople. After establishing the first communications, the Turians were presented to the Emperor, who was thus informed of the existence of the Citadel and the Galactic Community, which the Elders refused to be a part of. Federico ordered to repair the frigate and in turn, the Turians would go back to the Citadel and convince the Council to intervene.

On February 7 2031, the combined forced of the Council and Humanity defeated the Covenants in a battle in and over Malta. The Elders leading the invasion preferred to kill themselves, and their armies of slave Sectoids and Mutons were obliterated.

The Start of the Space Age

With Earth finally secure, the Imperial Federation entered the Galactic Community, also earning the respect and friendship of the Turian, who admired their valiant military effort against a superior enemy. Under Federico's watchful eye, Humanity entered a Golden Age. The discovery of Prothean ruins on Mars accelerated the acquisition of space travel technology and the Council showed them where the Mass Relay over Pluto, which the Covenant had used to attack the Sol System.

Federico would reign until his death in 2142, probably because of his deep tie to the Flux. He was so old that his successor would not be one of his children, but his great-grandson Lorenzo.

In all his decades of reign, Federico would have to face another Covenant War, which would end up in the extinction of the stubborn Elders and their slave races regressing to primitive status; the creation of the Systems Alliance, formed by republican Humans who weren't satisfied with having a monarch, though Federico supported and sponsored the creation of this state and managed to keep them as allies in the Attican Traverse.

The Federation would also have to face the expansionism of the Batarians, who caused the Skyllian conflict. This time, however, Federico left the war to Lorenzo, who proved himself as a great leader and earned the trust of the imperial establishment as the designated heir. The victory in this conflict, however, would force the Batarians to isolate themselves and feed a ferocious revanchism against Humans. A rift that would last all the way to the Reaper War.

The Reign of Lorenzo V

Lorenzo thus ascended to the throne at the age of 39. But on his deathbed, Federico had had another vision that announced a terrible crisis in around 40 years and passed it to Lorenzo, who was also a proficient psionic.

Lorenzo had one big issue, though: he was still childless. In 2154 his wife finally gave birth to a daughter, Benedetta, but then he stopped trying having children, rousing many fears, as all the previous monarchs always made sure to have more than one option in case the firstborn turned out to be unfit to rule.

Luckily for Lorenzo, Benedetta grew up to be a strong and responsible girl, who at the age of 18 decided to enlist in the Armed Forces, training with both her psionic and biotic powers and completing the N7 program. All the while, Lorenzo shared the vision with his daughter in order to prepare her for the titanic task ahead of them.

While the galaxy enjoyed an overall peace, Lorenzo had instituted Task Force Aurora to investigate what could be the threat announced by his great-grandfather. Under the leadership of Doctor Garret Bryson, the Task Force did find some possible clues linked to the sudden extinction of the Protheans, which turned out to be the work of some other species, who then vanished too.

As the years passed, Lorenzo had also to make sure that the Council wouldn't notice the fact that he was building mega shipyards in secret systems to reinforce the imperial fleet, and in order to do that, the Emperor wanted to gain more influence in the Citadel politics by having a Human Spectre. The chance would arrive in 2183 with Commander John Shepard, an N7 soldier born on Earth, who had recently become part of the Imperial Guard. He also had a daughter, Jane, who was welcomed into the Palace, ensuring John's loyalty to Lorenzo.

Shepard was then assigned to the INS Normandy, an experimental stealth frigate built in a joint effort between the Turian Hierarchy, the Imperial Federation and the Systems Alliance. The Normandy was heading toward Eden Prime, officially for her maiden voyage, but in reality to recover a recently unearthed Prothean beacon.

The mission revealed the existence of the rogue Spectre Saren Arterius and of the Reaper known as Sovereign. Shepard did manage to access the beacon before it was destroyed and received a vision that then he allowed the Emperor to see.

Lorenzo knew that the Reapers were the threat against which he had been put on guard. The events of the following three years would see Shepard being promoted to Spectre and save the Citadel by the end of 2183. Be killed by the Collectors and brought back to life thanks to a secret cooperation between the MI6 and Cerberus in 2185 and the destruction of the Collectors.

The Reaper War and the new Galactic Golden Age

In 2186, despite all the efforts of Shepard and Lorenzo, the Reapers managed to open a dormant Mass Relay and access the galaxy from Batarian space. After rapidly destroying the Hegemony, the Reapers rushed toward Earth, knowing that the Humans were the greatest threat, but they found the super-dreadnought INS Sentinel and the Imperial fleet armed with new energy weapons tested against the remnants of the Sovereign to greet them. The initial assault was repelled and the Reapers thus decided to simply go around and attack the other species while keeping the pressure on Earth.

Along the whole year, Lorenzo stayed on Earth to lead the defense while sending Benedetta aboard the new Normandy and with Shepard to have the other species join the war effort and find some projects uncovered on Mars. The war would see the interference of Cerberus, seeking to make sure that only humanity would prevail in the war. Shepard and Benedetta, however, found the projects for the Crucible and eventually led the entire galaxy in a final battle over Earth, where it would be up to Lorenzo to use the Crucible to destroy his body but fuse his mind with the device in order to take control of the Reapers.

With the advanced machines now turned from relentless exterminators to peaceful builders, much like the Custodians, the Citadel and the Mass Relays were rebuilt. Benedetta ascended to the throne with the name Benedetta IV and she married a young serviceman of the Normandy, while the ship and her crew were celebrated as heroes and granted a life-long pension for their service. Shepard became Admiral before retiring in 2218, when his daughter graduated from the N7 program.

Now that the Federation was the only nation that still had the strength to be considered a superpower, Benedetta put all her efforts into bringing the species of the Citadel together, ensuring peace and prosperity to the point that the current period is known as the Galactic Golden Age. The Federation also keeps close ties with the Quarian and the Geth of the Rannoch Concordat. The new age ushered in new explorations and contact with new space-faring species, among which the T'au Empire has been the most eventful.

The current crisis of the wormhole with Andromeda has brought many to question whether the Golden Age is over, as the galaxy is now in a state of war economy, even though the quality of life hasn't dropped and the arrival of new goods from the new galaxy and the exchange included universal food that wasn't available in the Milky Way. For now, the Federation has succeeded in weakening the Galactic Empire and the New Republic of Andromeda is gaining strength, which could allow the Federation to partially disengage from that front.