An oppressive dictatorial regime with varying control over an unspecified portion of the colonised galaxy. Fan lore often refers to the events in the series taking place in "the third century of the Second Calendar", but there is no canonical support for this. In Pressure Point Blake referred to the Federation starting to expand 200 years before his attack on Control. In the same episode he told Gan of the Federation destroying all churches at the start of the New Calendar. Reference to an "Old Calendar" was made in Countdown. It is tempting to place the Federation's origins with the early years of the New Calendar, but there is no conclusive evidence to support this, and the two probably do not coincide - the date before which Blake allegedly molested Carl Deca, Renor Leesal and Payter Fen is shown in The Way Back as 52.6.8, suggesting that the New Calendar year is probably either 152 or 252. If the New Calendar was introduced by the Federation after its expansion from Earth, it is 52 or 152, if before then 252 (or even 352, 452 etc). This of course assumes that the dates given in The Way Back are conventional ones and not in some notation peculiar to Blake's era.
Generally referred to simply as "the Federation", but called the "Terran Federation" on a number of occasions: in The Way Back Blake's trial was held by the authority of the Terran Federation; in Duel Travis described himself to Sinofar and Giroc as a representative of the Earth Federation; and in Voice from the Past Ven Glynd claimed he had enough information to convict the Terran Federation and Space Command. Servalan referred to herself as "President and Supreme Commander of the Terran Federation in Powerplay, The Harvest of Kairos and Moloch.
The population on Earth was shown to be dosed with suppressants, but such measures were not seen again until Commissioner Sleer initiated her Pacification Programme in the 4th Season. Various sanctioned atrocities were referred to: Hal Mellanby's supporters were wiped out after their surrender, half the population of Saurian Major was butchered, and the same fate may well have befallen the people of Agrava if a series of accidental explosions had not occurred. The dissidents at Bran Foster's meeting in The Way Back were massacred despite offering no resistance to the security forces, and dissidents from Blake's earlier revolutionary period were executed. Slavery was referred to a number of times, with Rashel being a "bond-slave", mention made of Maryatt's family becoming slaves after his "desertion" and Servalan's threat to send Travis to "the slave pits of Ursa Prime". Non-Terran peoples were used as slave labour on UP-Project Avalon and Horizon. Annexation of new colonies was shown to be by dubious means in Blake's description of the Lindor Strategy. Once annexed, planets could be retained by outright terrorism, as with the solium radiation device on Albian. Corruption within the judicial system ran to the highest level, as witnessed in Blake's second trial, supposedly for indecently assaulting children (although Arbiter General Ven Glynd later hinted he was planning his defection at or before this time). The President himself supervised the production and distribution of the fatally addictive drug shadow.
This should not be confused with the actions of individuals: Travis was responsible for at least one massacre of unarmed civilians, but this was a recognised war crime for which he eventually came to be sentenced to death, albeit for Servalan's convenience. Many of Servalan's actions were more those of an ambitious power-seeker rather than an instrument of a ruthless establishment.
The few references to law and punishment indicated a harsh attitude. Churches were destroyed at the start of the New Calendar, strongly implying but not explicitly stating an ongoing suppression of all religious practice. Going outside the dome city on Earth was a Category-4 crime (the Arbiter at Blake's trial described his offences as Category-9 and "most grave"), and contact with "outsiders" was illegal. Failure to register a change of address resulted in a fine, if only a small one, as noted by Servalan in Aftermath. Vila mentioned the banning of leisure transport in Stardrive - this may have been at the same time as the banning of space choppers "a couple of centuries back". The prisoners deported to Cygnus Alpha were convicted of child molesting (Blake, falsely), embezzlement (Avon), murder (Gan), smuggling (Jenna) and irremediable compulsive stealing (Vila).
The extent of the Federation is hard to gauge. Many planets were neutral, as were larger systems (such as Teal and Vandor), but no major power blocks on a par with the Federation in size were ever referred to. Servalan observed that the destruction of Star One left "half the civilised worlds" to their fate, a possible indication of the Federation's pre-war size. The President was, amongst other things, "Lord of the Inner and Outer Worlds", but little elaboration was given to these titles.
Rule was by a President and High Council, though a senate apparently also played some part in the Federation's power structure. Before the Intergalactic War an uneasy balance of power appeared to lay between the Administration and Space Command, the military wing. In theory the former controlled the latter, but Par asserted that "Space Command runs the Federation". Servalan was several times seen to be pressured by civilian political figures, particularly Secretary Rontane and Councillor Bercol in Seek-Locate-Destroy and Councillor Joban in Hostage - such instances call Par's claim into question.
Immediately prior to the War, Servalan seized control in what appeared to be a relatively effortless coup and became President and Supreme Commander of the Terran Federation. Practor later referred to her as "the Supreme Empress": this may have been facetiousness on his part, but Practor did not come across as a facetious person. If, as one of the stranded troopers on Sarran said, 80% of the Federation's space fleet had been destroyed, then Servalan's power must have been tenuous in the beginning, and as late as Moloch Grose said her reconstituted Federation wasn't "worth a light". In Rumours of Death Chesku talked of "Earth and the Inner Planets" being reunited, but there is no indication as to how much of the pre-War Federation this represented.
In the early aftermath of the War the Federation may have effectively ceased to exist. "There isn't a Federation anymore" said Tarrant in The Harvest of Kairos, and as late as Children of Auron Servalan could still point to "general disunity and anarchy". In Traitor, Practor mentioned "a great deal of confusion when the High Council was restored to power", adding that most of "the old guard" stayed loyal to Servalan to the end. This is almost certainly a reference to the time when she was deposed from the Presidency, probably during her absence on Terminal. Over time, however, the Federation clearly recovered and regained much if not all of its lost territory, most notably through Commissioner Sleer's Pacification Programme. Avon noted as late as Warlord that the Federation still lacked the military strength for conventional armed conquest.
Kasabi said that "the Federation is degenerate, run by creatures like her [Servalan]", and there was no indication of things improving in this respect after the War.
The Federation's slogan appeared to be "From Strength to Unity", since Servalan signed off from her conversation with LeGrand with these words.
See also ADMINISTRATION, HIGH COUNCIL, PRESIDENT, SPACE COMMAND.
An institution which Tynus threatened to report Dr. Bellfriar to, over the latter's failure to deal with the epidemic-causing alien virus on Fosforon. The title and threat suggest that the institution is similar to the United Kingdom's General Medical Council.
The latter licences doctors to practice medicine in the UK, and is given four main powers by law. First, to keep up to date registers of qualified doctors; second, to foster good medical practice; third, to promote high standards of medical education; and fourth, to deal with doctors whose fitness to practice is in doubt. Presumably, the Federation Medical Council had similar powers regarding doctors in the Terran Federation as Tynus threatened to invoke its investigative and disciplinary power.
In Ultraworld, the Ultra noted that Tarrant was a graduate of the Federation Space Academy.
In Moloch, Servalan told Grose and Lector that a graduate of the "Space Academy" needed five years before he (sic) could "even begin to acquire the basic skills and experience necessary to pilot an advanced star cruiser."
An energy-focussing crystal, its action analogous to a burning glass, but "infinitely" more efficient. Exactly how feldon worked, however, was (perhaps wisely) not entered into at length. The "hardest known substance in the universe", it was extremely rare, Orac mentioning traces in the asteroid belt (presumably of the Solar System) and "a few insignificant planets". The Federation was prepared to start major mining operations on planets previously considered uninhabitable to get it. Mining operations had been in progress on Mecron II for twelve years, but this apparently began before the Federation appreciated the true potential of feldon: a series of uncontrolled accidental explosions on Agrava, killing thousands of people, prompted full-scale investment. On Mecron II at least, extraction of feldon was by electromagnetic crusher: everything but the feldon was reduced to a fine dust, leaving the crystals readily removable.
Feldon was of course not only rare and useful but valuable as well, and the consignment Belkov had supposedly stored away over his twelve years on Mecron II had an estimated value of between 900 million and a billion credits. The Mecronian priests considered feldon to be a symbol of power, and one priest died whilst wearing a necklace of crystals during a lightning storm. Belkov exploited this incident to prove he had been sent by the gods to mine the crystals. His ship Orbiter was fitted with feldon panels, which could harness the energy of distant stars to control its movements.
See also JEWELS
| One of the Clonemasters, and herself a clone. She created at least two clones of Blake for Servalan. | |
| Along with Carl Deca and Renor Leesal, one of three children treated to believe he (or possibly she) had been assaulted by Blake. Fen's date of birth was given as 43.2.1, a patient of Dr Wen Caen, and s/he attended school ZL 3 Level 417. |  |
Sarkoff played a (very scratchy) recording of her Blow the Wind Southerly in his residence. Blake destroyed it to persuade Sarkoff to leave the planet with him.
Born in 1912, Kathleen Ferrier first established her reputation as a contralto in the Second World War, singing for factories and the forces. She remained popular after the war, until illness forced her early retirement in 1953, in which year she later died.
Fibre optics were mentioned just once: when Dr Plaxton offered to install her Mark II photonic drive in Scorpio, she checked with Tarrant that the current plasma drive was linked to the ship's controls by standard fibre-optic connections.
Phenomenon twice mentioned by Jenna and apparently related to gravitational influences on a space craft. In The Web the gravitational attraction of UP-The Web on the Liberator had a "field strength" of 3.5, which Jenna said was too big for field drag. In Mission to Destiny she stated that field drag whilst passing through a meteor storm was forcing her to use more power to maintain speed.