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In the '' Firefly '' television series, the Alliance is a powerful government and law-enforcement organization that controls a large sector of colonized "core planets." A few years prior to the show's timeframe, the Alliance fought the Civil War to bring all colonized worlds under its control, against The Independent Faction (the Browncoats) who wanted the outer worlds to remain autonomous. The war raged for a long time, causing heavy casualties on both sides. In the end, the Alliance won, and an armistice was signed, thus ending the war and securing Alliance control over the entirety of the system. THE UNION OF ALLIED PLANETS Name The scripts for the Pilot Episode , " Serenity ", and the first-aired episode, " The Train Job ", refer to an "AngloSino" flag on the IAV ''Dortmunder'' and on the stolen boxes. However, the term AngloSino Alliance was never used in an actual episode or film; the phrase '''Union of Allied Planets''' is explicitly mentioned in on-air dialogue in the episode " Ariel ", so it can be assumed to be the formal name of the Alliance. History After Earth 's natural resources were used up generations ago, mankind abandoned the planet (which now exists in myth and legend as "Earth-That-Was"), and moved out into the stars. But, mankind held onto the tenets of culture and civilization in the exodus, carrying with it those things both material and spiritual that make us human. Relatively little is known of the early history of the Alliance (such as the exact date of the exodus from Earth, and the reasons why China and the USA allied themselves with each other). The Alliance flag, seen in the original pilot episode, is a blending of the United States and People's Republic Of China flags (two versions of this flag, one with 13 stripes and one with five stripes, appear in the series). At the '' Battle Of Serenity Valley '' (the last major battle in the civil war, based on the Battle Of Gettysburg ), both the Alliance and the Browncoats suffered heavy casualties, particularly amongst officers. Survivors from both sides were stranded on the battlefield until the Alliance was able to send a fleet of medical transports to rescue them. The day that the civil war ended is known as "Unification Day" (often abbreviated to "U-Day") and is celebrated as a holiday throughout the Alliance. Alliance military officers like to drink a toast to Unification Day and enthusiastically encourage others to join in the festivities. Universe The two worlds that make up the "core planets" (the first worlds to be Terraformed ) are Sihnon , a mostly East Asia -themed planet, and ''' Londinium ''', a world with mostly American and Western Europe influences. The alliance of the two worlds leads to up a multi- Racial , multi- Ethnic , and multi- Religious universe. The Alliance seems to have some elements of a Monarchy . In " Serenity ", Malcolm Reynolds (''Serenity'' It appears that this Alliance was a melding of the People's Republic Of China and the United States Of America . Generally, the Alliance is rather authoritarian, although Joss Whedon , the series' creator, has said this is at least partly due to the fact that the show is seen from the viewpoint of those hostile to the Alliance. Whedon himself admits that sometimes, the Alliance is like the USA in World War II : doing very good things, helping people, spreading democracy. At other times the Alliance can tend towards black ops and power-grabbing, although rarely more so than any other real-world democracy (there is little evidence that the Alliance in general would engage in openly and blatantly evil acts). It is also possible that the Alliance operates the way it does, partly out of necessity - having evolved to deal with the often violent goings-on that can arise in any "frontier" situation, it would take a strong central government like the Alliance to keep any semblance of order, lest the settlers fall back on each other and descend into barbarism. In any case, the Alliance is far from the traditional totalitarian government such as the Galactic Empire ('' Star Wars '') and the Federation from '' Blake's 7 ''. The Alliance is also similar in concept to Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium , that a democratic and communist superpowers would form an alliance. It is a Government run by Bureaucratic rules. Corporate influence is high, the prime example of "Blue Sun", a powerful corporate conglomerate Whedon has compared to " Coca-Cola or Microsoft " and which owns "at least half the government". A lesser example is the Weyland-Yutani corporation of '' Alien '' fame, whose logo can be seen on certain Alliance weapons. In Serenity, the Alliance also relies on local security companies to serve as the Alliance presence. Due to the melding of American and Chinese influences in the Alliance, most people in the ''Firefly'' universe are equally adept in speaking both English and Chinese ; some characters on the show speak Chinese at times (usually when using obscenities, so Joss wouldn't have to bleep anything out and ruin the suspension of disbelief), and the spaceship ''Serenity'' has some signs in Chinese. The Alliance Military The Alliance operates a massive fleet of Starship s literally resembling huge floating cities. Alliance ships have the registry prefix IAV (Interstellar Alliance Vessel). Examples include the IAV ''Dortmunder'' and IAV ''Magellan''. In the episode " Bushwhacked ", we learn that Alliance ships have nurseries. In the film '' Serenity '', we see a fleet of sleeker, more streamlined warships, suggesting that the Alliance has a wide variety of space vessels for various purposes. (The large "city-ships" may be the equivalent of Aircraft Carrier s, or perhaps older vessels relegated to patrol and customs duties. It is also possible that, with the presence of nurseries implying the presence of families aboard the city-ships, the massive vessels may be designed for much longer tours of duty with extensive time operating independently in space.) Alliance ground troops are nicknamed "purple bellies" (in contrast to the Independent " Browncoat s"). They wear armor similar to that worn by the Mobile Infantry in the movie '' Starship Troopers '' (the makers of ''Firefly'' used leftover costumes from that movie). Crewmembers on Alliance starships wear gray uniforms resembling those worn by Confederates from the American Civil War ; officers and enlisted crew are identically dressed (except for headgear: officers wear hats, enlisted crew wear berets). In Serenity, Alliance crew members wear blue uniforms. Quotes ''Firefly'' (TV series)
''Serenity'' (film)
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