List of Universal Century nations and factions
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This is a list of fictional nations and factions of the Universal Century (UC) timeline of the fictional Gundam anime metaseries.
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[edit] Earth Federation
The Federation is loosely based on the United Nations, with a Security Council and General Assembly, but is not a successor to that organization. It is a global government that was formed by a 'rich men's club' of wealthy nations. In Gundam, only a few nations are mentioned in passing, but none continue to exist. Places are mentioned by what landmass or region they are in, such as New York City (or New Yark, according to on-screen text) and Odessa are mentioned to be located in North America and Central Asia, not the United States or Ukraine. While Japan, Australia, and Ireland are mentioned, these names refer to the landmasses and not the former countries. The only exception to this is the language and nationality of characters, which could be more based off their predecessors' former homeland before emigrating to the space colonies.
[edit] Titans
The Titans were an elite counter-insurgency group formed by the Earth government in response to the disastrous events from the Operation Stardust, where the Federation lost the large part of its fleet during its naval review to a tactical nuclear attack perpetrated by radical Zeon loyalists. Earth decided to form an elite special operation unit whose sole purpose would be to hunt down renegade Zeon supporters and anti-Federation insurgents.
The Titans were founded by Jamitov Hymem, who used the events of Operation Stardust to argue that the safety of Earth is paramount over the civil rights of its citizens. In creating the Titans, he essentially created a military force that had the ability to act outside the limit of Federation's supervision. As time passed, more people lined up to join the Titans, inspired by the group's "elite" status and their success in repelling anti-Federation movements.
The citizens of the Federation started to resent the Titans, and on July 31, U.C.0085, a massive protest was held in Side 1's 30 Bunch (the 30th colony in the area) against the actions of the Titans, but the protest soon turned into chaos, with riots breaking out throughout the colony. After repeated failed attempts by Federation colonial forces to calm the riots, the Titans were dispatched to put it to an end. The Titans shut off the colony's air supply, and proceeded to pump the whole colony cylinder (about 20 miles long and 4 miles wide) with lethal G3 nerve gas, killing everyone inside.
Due to the Titans' effective political censorship, most Federation council members were uninformed of what happened at 30 Bunch, and even the Federation military knew little about the incident apart from Side 1 being a "cursed sector". Any reference to the incident became a taboo topic, even within the Titans (many new recruits, such as Emma Sheen, had no knowledge about it at all). Despite the extreme scarcity of witnesses, the incident did become known to some well-informed individuals who resented the Titans, such as Commodore Blex Forer of the EFSF. Dissident Federation citizens and soldiers both on earth and in space formed the Karaba and AEUG resistance movements.
As the AEUG and Karaba started to pose a serious threat to the Titans, Jamitov Hymem managed to convince the Federation council that the Titans needed more power to deal with these "terrorist" insurgencies. The Earth Federation eventually gave the Titans the resources they needed, even the authority over some regular Federation military. Instead of resolving the issue, this only widened the conflict, and an all-out civil war broke out.
The Titans' repressive policies were eventually exposed to the public by the AEUG, when Karaba seized the Federation's Congress Building in Dakar and televised to the world Titan units fighting above the city with no regards to civilian lives.
The Titans fleet was crippled at the end of the Gryps Conflict by the AEUG fleet, using the very Gryps Colony Laser that Titans themselves constructed. Some remnants of the Titans regrouped into a rebel group called New Desides, and was eventually annihilated by Earth Federation's Alpha Taskforce in late U.C.0087, as narrated in Gundam Sentinel.
The Titans seem to have been based somewhat on the Schutzstaffel. Most notable are their black uniforms, elite recruiting procedures, and their horrible callousness towards human lives — very ironic when one considers the subtle Nazi undertones in the Principality of Zeon in Mobile Suit Gundam. Also ironic for an anti-spacenoid organization, the Titans seem to be very influenced by the late Principality, from basing their mobile suits on Zeon technology (namely the RMS-106 HiZack, which is a directly influenced from Zeon's trademark Zakus) to practicing many of their forms of genocide, such as gassing colonies and the use of colony lasers. Even the Titans uniform possesses similarities to its Zeon counterpart, namely the ornate golden lining. Higher-ranking officer uniforms have a purple texture that looks suspiciously similar to a Zeon officer's cape.
But in spite of the characteristics similar to the SS and Zeon, the group seems to be mostly centered on the real life North Atlantic Treaty Organization, having been formed to fight Zeon remnants and any opposition to the Earth, similar to NATO's role to preventing the growth of the Soviet Union and communism in general to the west. Also, the Titans' policy and practice could be considered a futuristic, and by far, more brutal form of McCarthyism.
[edit] Londo Bell
Londo Bell became the Earth Federation's special forces unit in U.C.0090s. The unit was commanded by Bright Noa, with its combat squads led by Amuro Ray, and were designed as an elite unit to be dispatched in the event of a major insurgency. Londo Bell's personnel was composed of ex-AEUG and ex-Karaba members who have served under Bright Noa previously. Because so many of these people fought the Titans, they did their best to carry out their missions in a humane and civilized manner. Until the rise of the Second Neo-Zeon War the task force spent most of its time inspecting colonies for remnant Zeon supporters. Unfortunately, they failed to pick up on the new Neo-Zeon threat because the taskforce was badly understaffed.
This changed abruptly in U.C.0093, when Char Aznable returned to the Earth Sphere. After occupying the refugee colony Sweetwater without firing a single shot, Char publicly declared that he was now in command of his own Neo-Zeon movement. As a countermeasure, the Federation rapidly increased the size of Londo Bell in anticipation of a new war, which began in March U.C.0093.
During the Second Neo-Zeon War, the Londo Bell was made up of three Clop-class cruisers, the Ra Zyme, Ra Kiem and Ra Chutter, along with the flagship battleship Ra Cailum. Its mobile suit combat forces consisted 18 RGM-89 Jegans, one RGZ-91 Re-GZ and one RX-93 Nu Gundam. Londo Bell was the only group that saw action against Char Aznable in the events of Char's Counterattack, although Federation reinforcements were dispatched to assist.
In U.C.0096 (Gundam Unicorn), the Londo Bell taskforce re-commissioned the AEUG's Nahel Argama-class battleship, re-used and enhanced the same AEUG-ship from the First Neo-Zeon War. The Nahal Argama is equipped with 8 new ReZEL mobile suits, and 5 Jegans. The task force's fleet size, however, is currently unknown, though it is likely to be increased since the Second Neo-Zeon War.
The Londo Bell would see some actions against the Crossbone Vanguard during the U.C.0120s. While the specifics are unknown, the Londo Bell had two Neo Gundams, who would both go on to be destroyed in a fight against the Crossbone Vanguard while serving aboard the Bladewood. The Londo Bell task force's size is unknown at this time, and is never mentioned again after the Cosmo Babylonia Wars, as such the taskforce's ultimate fate is unknown.
In the Super Robot Wars video game series, the name Londo Bell would be given to the combined Federation unit comprising of the UC Gundam lead characters and other special giant robot pilots from other series (namely, the main characters and their robots) dedicated to fighting dangerous (and arguably, evil) factions in the games' different universes such as the Titans, Neo-Zeon, the Reptile Empire, and malicious groups from other series. It is still headed by Bright Noa. The Londo Bell name was used in the first few games of the long SRW lineup (the "Original Timeline"), in the first game of the "Alpha Timeline" (although it would continue to exist in its Gundam-canon "mobile-suit-only" form during the sequels), and in some of the handheld SRW games (Compact 1 and Advance).
[edit] League Militaire
A rogue organization poised to defend the Earth from being invaded by the Zanscare Empire. Their main force consist of the mass-produced Victory Gundam (and variants such as V-Hexa, V-Dash, and V-Dash Hexa), Gun-EZ, Gunblastor, and its flagship mobile suit, the V2 Gundam; all of which are stored on either Reinforce or Reinforce Jr., and White Ark. Its main group is made up of protagonist Uso Evin, intended V Gundam pilot Marbet Fingerhat, and the two Shrike Teams.
Like the AEUG before it, the Militaire is sponsored by Anaheim Electronics and is generally of the same rag-tag structure; the LM is not above using captured enemy ships and mobile suits or even decades old weapons like the Alexandria-class cruiser. Its primary mission is to help (or in some cases, simply fight in place of) the Earth Federation (such as the Mubarak fleet) against the Zanscare Empire. Also like the AEUG, much of its membership consists of ex-Federals or active Federation pilots.
[edit] Anti-Earth Federation movements
[edit] Anti-Earth Union Group
The Anti-Earth Union Group, or Anti-Earth Union Government as labelled on the Gunpla, AEUG for short, was a resistance movement formed to fight the Titans in space. The term "anti-Earth" is actually a misnomer, as the AEUG is a political faction within the Earth Federation, and is more "anti-Earth elitist" (a.k.a. the Titans) than anti-Earth Federation government. Throughout the Gryps Conflict, the AEUG had been attempting to wrestle the Federation government's support away from the Titans.
The AEUG was originally a political movement which aimed to reform the corrupt Earth Federation government, but after the "30 Bunch Incident" on Side 1 in the hand of the Titans, the AEUG took up arms against the Titans. The AEUG was made up of Federation officers that felt that the Titans must come to an end, although it also contained several ex-Zeon veterans posing as Federation officers. One Year War veterans Bright Noa, Henken Bekkener and Quattro Bajeena (an alias used by Char Aznable to infiltrate Federation ranks) were notable members of the AEUG, as well as civilian recruit Kamille Bidan, who is considered one of the best mobile suit pilots and Newtypes in UC history.
In U.C.0087 the AEUG raided a Titan's military facility in their colony base at Green Noa 2 (Gryps Two) and stealing the new-concept RX-178 Gundam Mk-II prototypes. Naturally, this enraged the Titans, and after a chain of events following the heist, a full-scale civil war (known as the Gryps Conflict) for control of the space colonies erupted between the Titans and the AEUG.
The AEUG utilized several units during the war, among them a Gundam Mk-II stolen from Titans (the other two were turned over to Anaheim Electronics for analysis and reverse-engineering), the prototype transformer MSA-005 Methuss, Federation-influenced MSA-003 Nemo and MSN-00100 Hyaku Shiki, as well as Zeon-influenced RMS-099 Rick Dias mobile suits. AEUG's main fleet were made up of several Salamis-class cruisers, at least five Irish-class battleships, and the assault cruiser Argama. However, the most powerful weapon in the AEUG's arsenal is undoubtedly the transformable MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam, which became the AEUG's symbol of defiance in similar manner to the Federation RX-78-2 Gundam during the One Year War. During the next year of fighting, the AEUG managed to seize the upper hand and ultimately used one of the Titans' superweapon Gryps colony laser against them, destroying/disabling nearly every remaining ship in the Titan's fleet.
Unlike other military organizations within the Gundam universe, the AEUG is generally a rag-tag group consisting of renegades and some otherwise civilian fighters. Their main military force is made primarily of defected ships, and for a considerable time, GM II mobile suits from the Federal forces (with merely a different color scheme), and whatever they could steal from the Titans (such as the Gundam Mk-II). Uniform code and military procedure is especially lax, with the AEUG uniform simply being the Federation tunic minus the sleeves and with a V-neck; some members continue to wear the Federal Forces uniform or simply civilian casual clothes. There also appears to be no general recruitment standard other than being physically fit and able to fight. This could all be considered an anti-thesis to the highly elitist and organized standards of the Titans.
As well, Titans activities placed numerous restrictions on trade and commerce. As a result, AEUG and Karaba activities were funded to a large extent by individuals and companies in the private sector (notably the lunar organizations financing Anaheim Electronics, and the Earth-bound Luio Company in Hong Kong). Unfortunately, this had the side-effect of putting many non-military officials into leadership positions; although Blex Forer, Henken Bekkener, Quattro Bajeena and Bright Noa can all be considered the group's official leaders, there is no doubt that the AEUG's main influence comes from Anaheim Electronics and other sponsors. The ineptness and indecisiveness of the AEUG's leadership has led to more than one blunder, namely the botched assault on the Earth's Jaburo basin and attempted negotiations with the Zeon remnants of Axis.
When out on the field, the AEUG's sponsors will usually send a representative to a ship to oversee strategic movements and overall command. During the events of Zeta Gundam, one such representative, Anaheim Electronics's Wong Lee, spent a large amount of his time aboard Argama. Bossy and argumentative, Wong Lee frequently clashed with Argama officers and crew over everything from tactical procedures to the somewhat informal atmosphere aboard the warship.
While two factions were busy fighting each other in the civil war, the real threat to the peace of Earth Sphere — Axis Zeon led by Haman Karn — emerged as the eventual winner. In Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam the mission of the AEUG shifted to fighting the Axis Zeon/Neo-Zeon movement. However, the bulk of the AEUG was still recuperating from the Gryps War, thus only the Argama and her skeleton crew initially saw action.
After the First Neo-Zeon War, the AEUG was officially disbanded, with most of its membership going on to form the Federation's Londo Bell taskforce.
[edit] Karaba
Karaba was the Earth-based resistance movement against the Titans. Although not as well-known as AEUG — their space counterparts – Karaba were nonetheless extremely important in the struggle against the Titans. Karaba's most important members were the legendary ace pilot Amuro Ray and the group's leader, Director Hayato Kobayashi; both fought together on the White Base during the One Year War. Karaba operated from the Audhumla, a giant cargo aircraft (larger than many battleships) stolen from the Federation during the AEUG attack to Jaburo, which became the resistance's mobile headquarters and flagship.
Since their main benefactors were in space, the Karaba was initially even more rag-tag and under-equipped than the AEUG; besides the Audhumla, their main force consisted of ex-AEUG mobile suits left over from the Jaburo campaign, which included several Nemos and at least one Rick Dias. Later on when the Titans influence in space began to wane, the Karaba managed to build up its forces to a formidable level, even fielding their own mobile suit designs, such as the MSK-008 Dijeh (made famous by being Amuro's mobile suit during Karaba's siege on Titan's base in Mount Kilimanjaro), and MSZ-006 Zeta Plus.
Karaba's most significant operations were an all-out attack on the Titans headquarters in Kilimanjaro, and temporarily seizing control of the Federation Congress building in Dakar to allow Char Aznable to make a globally televised speech. After the Titans were shunned by the Federation as a result of Char's Dakar speech, the battlefield shifted to space, with Karaba mopping up the Earth.
In ZZ Gundam the mission of the Karaba shifted from fighting the Titans to fighting the Axis/Neo-Zeon movement. By this point though, many of its leaders (Amuro Ray for instance) and pilots had gone to space in order to resupplement the devastated AEUG, thus the Karaba could do little to prevent Neo-Zeon's warpath. Despite that, they were the backbone of the resistance against Haman's conquest in Earth Sphere, and braved great sacrifices in the evacuation of Dublin.
[edit] Mafty
An anti-Earth Federation terrorist group led by Bright Noa's rebellious son Hathaway Noa, motivated by the death of Quess Paraya. Mafty captured the Xi Gundam and attempted to attack a small Federation cabin in Australia. The attack failed and Mafty was disbanded, with Hathaway was captured and sentenced to death. His father Bright Noa carried out the execution without knowing it was his son, due to the fact that Hathaway was masked during the execution.
[edit] Principality of Zeon
The Republic of Zeon was initially founded by Zeon Zum Deikun, who declared it independent from the Earth Federation in U.C.0058.
Deikun's deputy Degwin Sodo Zabi assumed power after Zeon Deikun's death and renamed the republic Principality of Zeon. Under the leadership of Degwin's son Gihren, the Principality eventually declared war on the Earth Federation on January 3rd, U.C.0079. The ensuing conflict became known as the One Year War, and it lasted until the Principality of Zeon (now renamed back to "Republic of Zeon") surrendered with the Treaty of Granada on January 1, U.C.0080.
Three years later (U.C.0083), a remnant Zeon fleet, under Aiguille Delaz, sought to resurrect the Principality of Zeon with Operation Stardust. The resulting colony drop destroyed much of the North American farmland. The Delaz fleet was soon defeated, but the war led to the Earth Federation's creation of an elite taskforce, the Titans, to prevent future insurrection.
After several rebellions and wars failed to take control of the Earth Sphere, in U.C.0100 The Republic of Zeon officially rejoined the Earth Federation. Though it like all other Sides would regain its independence permanetly during the Age of the Warring Space States Era.
[edit] Crossbone Vanguard
The original Crossbone Vanguard was a private army of the aristocratic Ronah family. Financed by Meitzer Ronah's powerful business empire Buch Concern, the Crossbone Vanguard was created and commanded by Meitzer's son-in-law, Carrozo "Iron Mask" Ronah, who conceals his face under a helm-like mask since his wife Nadia, Meitzer's daughter, ditched him. The Crossbone Vanguard's main purpose is to establish an aristocracy in the new Frontier Side colonies, called Cosmo Babylonia.
The pilots of the Crossbone Vanguard use advanced mobile suits designed by Buch Aerodynamics (a subdivision of Buch Concern), such as the XM-01 Den'an Zon and the XM-05 Berga Giros, and are secretly and intensely trained for many years. They are therefore far superior in skill to those of the Earth Federation.
In U.C.0123, the attack had begun. Without any warning, the Crossbone Vanguard invaded the Frontier IV colony, completely overwhelmed the unprepared and obsolete Federation colonial defence forces. At the same time, Carozzo's troops found his daughter Berah, who has been living a normal civilian life under the name Cecily Fairchild, and brought her back to serve as a political figurehead in order to achieve popular public support for the Crossbone Vanguard. This plan of Carrozo's was thwarted by Berah herself, who defected with her new XM-07 Vigna Ghina, in order to reunite with her love interest Seabook Arno, the pilot of the new F91 Gundam. Carozzo is killed when Seabook destroyed his mobile armor XMA-01 Rafflesia. The ongoing war with the Earth Federation continues even after Carozzo's death, though the circumstances surrounding it are unknown.
The Crossbone Vanguard would continue to hold control over Frontier Side, now named Cosmo Babylonia until the return of Berah Ronah in U.C. 0125, when she denounced Meitzer Ronah, resulting in a civil war between the Ronahs and their respective supporters. Due to the in-fighting Cosmo Babylonia collapses in U.C.0128, with the Crossbone Vanguard's ultimate fate being unknown.
A new Crossbone Vanguard surfaces 10 years later in U.C.0133, this time in the form of space pirates. After having faked their own deaths in U.C.0128, Berah Ronah (Cecily Fairchild) and Kincado Nau (Seabook Arno) resurrected the Crossbone Vanguard in a secret battle against the power-hungry Jupiter Empire, led by a madman called Crux Dogatie.
Berah Ronah led the group from the sleek and galleon-like warship Mother Vanguard. In reality, this new group is simply a resistance group under the guise of pirates; it is no way comparable to the original Crossbone Vanguard besides possessing a general "pirate" theme (the Crossbone flag) and mobile suits made by the Buch Concern. The name Crossbone Vanguard was simply used to rally popular support to the group, much like the name Berah Ronah.
The Crossbone Vanguard's pilots are now led by Kincado Nau in the XM-X1 Crossbone Gundam X-1, which was ironically made by the Federation's Strategic Naval Research Institute, developers of Seabook's original F91 Gundam. The nearly-identical Crossbone Gundam Unit Two (XM-X2) is piloted by ace pilot Zabine Chareux, an ace pilot and commander of the elite Black Vanguard Squadron from the original Crossbone Vanguard. Young newtype Tobia Arronax also joins the Crossbone Vanguard as the pilot of Crossbone Gundam Unit Three (XM-X3), which is different and somewhat more powerful than the other two.
After the plans of the Jupiter Empire were thwarted, Cecily and Seabook retired from war to live a peaceful married life. The leadership of the Crossbone Vanguard was left to the hands of Tobia Arronax, who led with the Crossbone Gundam X-1 Kai Kai (the infamous "Skull Heart") and defeated the Jupiter Empire remnants.
[edit] Jupiter Empire
The Jupiter Empire was a self-proclaimed political entity comprised mostly of Jovian residents from the Jupiter Energy Fleet, a vast fleet of Jupitris-class long-range deep-space transport ships. Under the leadership of Crux Dougachi, the Empire spent decades conspiring to invade and conquer Earth Sphere, but the new Crossbone Vanguard movement thwarted their attempts.
[edit] Zanscare Empire
The Zanscare Empire starts in U.C.0153, when the Side 2 (L4) proclaims itself as the Zanscare Empire, and begins its own Earth-bound invasion with its military, the Ballistic Equipment & Space Patrol Armory (BESPA). Their opponents were the Earth Federation Forces and League Militaire resistance group. Their de jure leader is Queen Maria Pia Armonia, but the de facto leader is Fonse Kagatie. Some of the ace pilots included Cronicle Asher, Arbeo Pippinden, and League-Militaire defector Katejina Loos.
Zanscare forces had European-inspired uniforms and ceremonies; the Empire also had a very nationalistic and militaristic atmosphere, as evidenced by the young age of some of the soldiers in the Zanscare's home colony, Amelia. (It is unknown if the Zanscare enforced a draft or if they were all-volunteer like the Crossbone Vanguard.) Due to its strong military policy and extremely brutal methods, the Zanscare Empire could be considered the ultimate form of evil within the Universal Century, even surpassing the Principality of Zeon and the Titans.
The Zanscare is known for their tendency to use execution as a method of punishment, most notably, the guillotine. Another method of execution was the release of the condemned into the vacuums of space, causing the person to die through starvation, asphyxia or simply exposure. It is also notable that Zanscare's own soldiers are not exempt from execution, and that failure on the battlefield can result in condemnation. This is most likely used to motivate other officers in Zanscare through fear and generally to keep them in line.
