Galactic Federation



The Galactic Federation (銀河連邦 Ginga Renpō) 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 Cosmic Calendar 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, 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 Pirates 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, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Metroid: Other M, the humans do seem to be a very large part of the military, as well as make up most of the Federation government. 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 Federation is Daiban, though it has been speculated by some fans to be Earth because the latter planet was described as such in the instruction manual of the NES Metroid. If this is the case, Daiban's position as capital planet is questionable. 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 an "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.

However, not all things are well with their governing system, as there is evidence of sentient races throughout the galaxy being, for their own reasons, resentful of the Federation (as depicted in the manga). It is also known that the organization has had one rebellion in the past.

Signs of corruption
Although early in the series the Galactic Federation is portrayed as a wholly altruistic organization, later games cast it in a considerably darker role.

In the Metroid Manga, a Space Pirate prisoner designated P-1 claims that the Federation discriminates against species it considers "primitive", such as Mauk's race, or races it considers responsible for previous conflicts, such as that of Kreatz. Although P-1's testimony is of dubious accuracy, it should be noted that his stories seem to resonate with the experiences of members of both species.

In Metroid Prime: Hunters it is revealed that the Federation had developed prototypes of items mimicking Samus' Power Suit and Morph Ball, as well as an illegal weapons system known as the Shock Coil. Sylux later stole these items from their place of construction, presumably killing the scientists and soldiers there. Fans have speculated that Sylux could have been one of these scientists, and that the Federation could have betrayed or mistreated Sylux in some way; it apparently had no difficulty wielding the suit and weaponry soon after acquiring them. Another theory is that Sylux simply became aware of the items and sought to acquire their power for itself. In either case, it is safe to assume that Sylux believed them too dangerous to be kept in Federation hands.

Conversations between fleet troopers in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption hint that at least one group had rebelled against the Federation in the past and was subsequently dispatched through military force. In the same game, two Space Pirate Data logs (Taking Valhalla and Bryyo Falls) reveal that factions within the Federation are secretly bribed by the Pirates, or are working as spies answering directly to the marauding race. How these infiltrations occurred is unknown.

Metroid: Other M reveals the existence of a massive conspiracy within the Federation military to create a special-forces unit consisting of captured bioforms from different planets, (though most of them are in fact Zebes wildlife), Metroids, cybernetically-enhanced Zebesians, and a Mother Brain codename MB for unknown purposes on-board a derelict space colony known as the Bottle Ship: while the true scope of this conspiracy is unknown, the extraordinary amount of resources apparently invested in restoring the Bottle Ship indicates that the plotters must have been well-connected within the Federation government. It was stated that the scientists intentionally tried to use the clones as bioweapons, which is strictly forbidden under federation law.

When MB turned the station's bioweapons against their creators, the conspirators sent an assassin known as "the Deleter" to eliminate all witnesses and destroy the facility, disguised as a member of the unwitting Galactic Federation 07th Platoon. However, Samus Aran was able to obstruct the Deleter's mission and escape with two other witnesses (Madeline Bergman and Anthony Higgs) before destroying the Bottle Ship and its research facilities. It would appear that the Chairman of the Federation was actively involved in investigating the conspiracy, having dispatched the 07th Platoon to the ship and specifically instructing them to search for survivors and witnesses.

Interestingly, before its annihilation, the Bottle Ship began traveling to the capital of the Federation: although Samus assumes that this is a spontaneous decision by MB to attack the Federation, it is also possible that the original conspirators had planned from the start to use the Bottle Ship and its bioweapons as part of some form of coup. Much later, Samus discovered the existence of a research-and-development program very similar to the Bottle Ship's on-board another research station, the Biologic Space Laboratories research station, during the events of Metroid Fusion. However, this program seemed to be focused primarily on reviving and breeding Metroids, and was apparently being carried out with some measure of legality. Though Adam states that the Metroid program was for peaceful purposes only and begs for Samus to try to understand; whether this is true or not remains to be seen. A number of Bottle Ship bioweapons including Nightmare, Ridley's clone, and possibly Funes and Namihe were also held on board the station, although it was unknown whether they were part of a continuation of the bioweapons program or merely being kept for legitimate scientific study. Again, the true extent of the conspiracy is never revealed, nor whether it was at all connected to those responsible for the Bottle Ship.

Later, the Federation took heavy interest of the X Parasites on board seeing their "limitless" potential, possibly using them as bioweapons or some other purpose. Samus heavily objected, knowing how extremely dangerous the parasites are, and how they could have brought about the end of the entire universe. Thus, it led her to destroy the BSL before the Federation could board and invade to only get annihilated by the X. The fact the Federation even considered capturing the X is unnerving to say the least.

The Federation's perception of Samus after these events is still unknown. She may now be a wanted criminal for destroying valuable scientific research and specimens, and the Federation's corruption may become a plot device in any future games taking place after Fusion.

Trivia

 * Many Federation and Pirate machines are named after characters, locations, and creatures from various mythologies. (Norse, Egyptian, Greek, etc.)
 * Other M heavily implies that humans make up most of, if not the entire Galactic Federation. Madeline Bergman says at some point that MB wants to punish the humans, and plans on doing so by attacking the Federation capital. She does not mention any alien race or species in the Federation other than humans.
 * The only in-game appearances or direct mentions of sentient alien races being part of the Federation are featured in the Metroid Prime series. Such examples are the bounty hunters Rundas and Gandrayda, the Luminoth that were seemingly integrated into the organization after Prime 2 's events, and the Elysians described in lore.
 * All signs and labels seen in Galactic Federation facilities in Metroid Fusion, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and Metroid: Other M are written in English, never in any other terrestrial or alien language. However, this could merely be because the Federation's primary language is English.
 * To this end, it is possible that the small group within the Federation, that Adam mentions towards the end of Other M, only consists of humans. This could explain why Madeline mentions humans specifically, and why other races were not present during her flashbacks about MB.


 * 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."


 * In the F-Zero series, another franchise by Nintendo, there is an organization named the Galactic Space Federation. Additionally, a woman named Jody Summer, whose appearance resembles that of Samus in the original Metroid, works for them.