The Galactic Liberation Front and Affiliates
Reports vary as to the exact origins of the Galactic Liberation Front, but most people agree that the organization and its charismatic leader rose from the ashes of a similar group formed on a frozen forge world near the center of the Inner Ring. In any event, over the course of roughly 20 years they have become the largest and most successful group fighting the Protectorate. Comprising several dozen major systems strung across the galactic northeastern border of known space, spreading ever farther into Protectorate territory from their base of operations near the middle of the Scutum-Crux Arm, GLF territory is one of the few places outside the Free Systems that is free of Protectorate control. Whether that is an improvement is up for debate, however, as the GLF has begun to rely on increasingly extreme measures and tactics to maintain their war with the Protectorate. The GLF has developed a reputation for extremism and ideological fanaticism which is offputting to say the least, but their position as the only group truly capable of waging war with the Protectorate with any degree of efficacy has caused many to consider them the lesser of two evils.
The main body of GLF forces are centralized and relatively cohesive, organized under a solid command structure and united by their ideology and the charisma of their leader. GLF troops come from every world and every species, and their level of training and general competence is just as varied as they are. What they lack in uniformity, they make up for in dedication and numbers. GLF soldiers are typically assimilated from local resistance cells and gangs on whatever world the GLF happens to be attacking, generally keeping their original command structure intact, and supplementing them with regular troops from already conquered worlds. These units are organized into taskforces, which are effectively cells on a massive scale, designated by whatever world they happen to be attacking. This centralized structure and clear chain of command allows the GLF to be very flexible and responsive, combined with the use of local troops who already know the lay of the land. While the Protectorate typically has superior numbers and technology, their extremely fragmented forces and command structure allow the GLF to drive wedges between them and pick the various PMCs apart piece by piece.
The Union of Free Systems
Organized along the northwestern border of the Protectorate, the UFS is a rag-tag group of independant star systems which separated from the Protectorate shortly before the rise of the GLF. These systems had always been border worlds, far from Protectorate control or interest, and several of them had managed to develop something close to a system of planetary government. Rather than possessing planetary governors like the Inner Ring and Core worlds, they were collectively under the authority of a single sector governor, and this lack of present Protectorate authority allowed them to become increasingly divorced from the organization. Eventually, 13 of the more populous systems demanded that they be allowed to form formal governments. This was denied, and SEPE subcontractors were sent to arrest the agitators and pacify the region. The original 13, as well as many of their neighboring systems, fought back, igniting a large war. Initially, they were very successful, seizing a large amount of territory as the Protectorate scrambled to mobilize and marshal its troops. By the time the Protectorate was ready for a large-scale invasion, the GLF had risen, and fighting had erupted across the eastern half of the Milky Way. Rather than fight an extremely costly war on two fronts, the Protectorate agreed to an armistice, allowing the UFS to exist provided it did not enter the war on behalf of the GLF. The UFS has remained true to its word, and stayed neutral throughout the conflict.
The Union of Free Systems is something of a mixed bag: while they have planetary government, a far higher degree of corporate oversight and constitutionally guaranteed rights for individuals, their government is weak and divided, and much of the institutionalized racism and xenophobia carried over from the Protectorate still exists in the Free Systems. The Free Systems are a confederal system, with no central government and responsibility divided between the various planetary governments. There is a constitution, but the day-to-day lawmaking process is handled exclusively by the individual worlds. While united in their opposition to the Protectorate, they are divided on almost every other issue. While some planets support xenosapient rights, most do not, and the Union constitution still denies aliens the right to vote. Their military is also decentralized, spread out amongst the various planetary militias, but lacks the size of the Protectorate that allows them to be effective despite this handicap. Despite this, countless people attempt to flee Protectorate space for the relative freedom promised by the Free Systems, braving the demilitarized zone that divides them, and the Protectorate patrols waiting to stop them.
Other Rebel Groups
The success of the GLF has encouraged many other groups to rise up against the Protectorate as well. Extremely varied, and separated primarily by distance or ideology, these groups run the gamut from GLF sympathizers who are effectively fifth columnists, too other groups who differentiate themselves from the GLF because they consider it either too extreme, or not extreme enough. They are typically rather small organizations, which would have easily been crushed before, but have managed to survive due to the GLF diverting the majority of Protectorate resources and attention.
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by Screwface Romeo on Sat Sep 27, 2014 12:08 am 
