Galactic Sanctum
From FABT
  The Galactic Sanctum at its greatest extent in 2225 CE during the Terra-Rannochian War.
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Type of government: |
Supranational union |
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Head of State: |
Prime Minister Sata T'Loak (first and last) |
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Head of government: |
Prime Minister Sata T'Loak (first and last) |
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Official language: |
Kespit |
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Official religion: |
No state religion |
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| Historical information | |
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Dates: |
18 September 2221 CE - 16 August 2254 CE
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- "The lost, the new. Remaking the galaxy."
- — Sanctum motto.
The Galactic Sanctum, simply known as the Sanctum, in some circles as the Alpha Republics and as the Free Peoples of the Terminus, and sometimes as the Federation beyond the Attican, was a political, military and economic federation that encompassed multiple species of the former New Council, the Raloi Federation and the Omega Republic resting within the northeastern quadrant of the Milky Way Galaxy in what used to be the eastern half of the Terminus Systems; this area was known as Sanctum space, and represented one of three major alliances in the galaxy following the aftermath of the Post-Apocalyptic War, alongside the Galactic Dominion and Titan Covenant. The Sanctum was the youngest of the three superpowers, arriving on the galactic scene several years after the Post-Apocalyptic War was over, and rose as a result of a series of factors, most notably the fall of the Omega Republic. Established by Aria T'Loak, the Omega Republic had been the pirate queen's attempt to establish a long-standing successor to the Terminus Systems, as well as to reshape the station from the lawless slum that it had been and into a port of interstellar importance, rivalling that of the Citadel at its height. This ambition was fraught with issues from the start, and just before the outbreak of the PA war, not long after Aria's surprise alliance with the Titan Covenant, the Omega Free Army, formed from mercenaries and rebels fed up with Aria's rule, stoked an insurrection against the pirate queen. Unknown to Aria, this group was largely led by her own daughter, Sata T'Loak, who led the organization from the shadows and used her insider information to sabotage Aria. This insurrection eventually broke out into a full-scale war, which continued until 2221 CE with Sata's OFA ultimately victorious and Aria dead, leaving the Omega Republic firmly in the hands of Aria's daughter, albeit weakened and drastically reduced in size.
The building blocks for the Sanctum began in the aftermath of this victory. The OFA victory had been made possible with the timely intervention of the Raloi Federation, which had at the time just recently re-emerged from their territory after 30 years of isolation from the rest of the galaxy following the Reaper War. Sata had been in talks with the Raloi Federation after receiving reports of their re-emergence in the last year, who had advanced significantly in the decades they had gone silent. Sata convinced the raloi of her dream for the Omega Republic, forging an alliance between herself and the nascent alien civilization in the hopes of a lasting agreement, and to counter the Covenant and the Dominion. Following Aria's defeat, Sata kept her promise: immediately dissolving the Omega Republic, she established in its place the Galactic Sanctum, a federation of alliances, starting with the OFA and the Raloi Federation, that would encompass all former Omega-controlled space and that not held by the Dominion or Covenant, with the intention of remaining out of their wars, and building a prosperous future for all races, following in the footsteps of what Commander Shepard, and her mother Nyreen Kandros, had wanted. Omega was subsequently renamed "Alpha", followed by Sata's urbanization plan to heavily modernize the station and to make it a haven for all races to live. Sata's declaration to the entire galaxy attracted tens of thousands of refugees from all corners of the galaxy, mostly from former New Council worlds consisting of asari, turian, salarian, hanar, elcor and volus, although many from Dominion worlds came as well, with smatterings of humans, quarians and krogan. The Sanctum was almost entirely ignored by the Dominion and Covenant in its early days due to them focusing on each other in the Terra-Rannochian War, but as the Sanctum began to increase in size and influence, it inevitably brought itself into conflict with the other two powers, and by 2223 CE it was unofficially involved in the conflict. By 2234 CE, the Sanctum's military forces numbered in the millions, and Alpha had become the multicultural and economic hub for the entire Sanctum, even overtaking Turvess. By 2245 CE, the Sanctum was reported to have a larger GDP than the Covenant, and was quickly catching up to the Dominion. Sata T'Loak remained Prime Minister of the Sanctum for her entire life, elected again and again due to her strong leadership and the respect of her people. The Sanctum was largely considered the true successor to the New Council, with Alpha usurping the former position held by the Citadel as a beacon of all hope to the galaxy.
Despite being a powerful entity, the Sanctum never came into direct conflict with the Dominion or Covenant, although the Sanctum made it very clear they would tolerate no aggression from both. It kept a strong military as a result, with a sizable fleet and advanced army and marine forces that were kept on standby should the day come that war broke out with either or both powers. In terms of a government, Alpha was the capital, the Parliament of Alpha being housed within a large structure known as the Palace of Eden where all important political matters of the Sanctum were discussed. Every member race was given a voice, although the Raloi Federation and the Alpha Republic held the majority due to being the founding members. The Sanctum was a representative democracy, with important political officials and the Prime Minister being elected by popular vote and whose positions were maintained by public favor. Despite this, emergency legislation was in place that allowed the Prime Minister to assert full, unquestioned control in times of a crisis, mostly in times of war. This precedent existed to ensure the Sanctum's republics could not be exploited and to allow quick decisions to be made on short notice for the defense and preservation of their nations. This system served the Sanctum well, and it represented one of the few genuine democracies left in the galaxy at the time, with the Dominion being an imperial autocracy and the Covenant a unitary theocracy. Whilst both had elements of democracies within their core political principles, these were suppressed by granting greater power to individuals, whereas the Sanctum only did so in a crisis and was largely governed by true democracy.
After decades of deadlock between the Dominion and the Covenant, the Dominion Civil War finally presented the opportunity the Sanctum had been looking for to eliminate the authoritarian regimes of the galaxy once and for all. Not long after the war had started, the Sanctum declared support for the DDF, allowing their forces to move freely throughout Sanctum space and promising safety for any Dominion separatists sheltering from Dominion forces: the Sanctum however chose to hold its own forces back, not committing to an offensive until the last month or so of the war. After the Battle of Titan and a Dominion incursion into their space, the Sanctum finally joined forces with the DDF to stop the Citadel-Ark before it reached Alpha. After the civil war ended, the Sanctum was present at the signing of the Virmire Accords, where it formally acknowledged its admission into the Unified Galactic Republics, accepting it as a successor. The Sanctum subsequently dissolved, with its numerous republics and federations operating independently, now under the UGR instead. The Sanctum effectively lived on within the UGR, having eliminated authoritarianism and established a pan-galactic democracy, finally achieving the peace it had strived for. The Alpha Republic (reorganized into the Federation of Alpha) and the Raloi Federation continued to exist long after the Sanctum was dissolved, now members of the UGR.