Editing The Galaxy (section)

=The United Federation of Planets=
Founded in 2161 after the Earth-Romulan war and was conceived as a coalition of planets dedicated to the common good. The individual planets govern themselves but act together on topics of common foreign policy and defence. Prominent members included the Humans, Vulcans, Andorians and Tellarites. Minor races include the Bolian, Denobulan, Caitan & Betazed. Two years ago a Romulan named Nero attacked the UFP and began the Vulcan Crisis. Though Starfleet, the military arm of the UFP eventually stopped Nero it was not before he destroyed the planet Vulcan, killing billions and bringing the future of the federation itself into question. 
• The lack of Vulcan colonies meant as few as 10,000 Vulcans escaped the destruction of their homeworld. The survivors have withdrawn to the world of New Vulcan in order to attempt to rebuild their civilisation
• The Andoria have always retained a seperate navy for defensive purposes but in response to the Vulcan crisis and increased activity along the Neutral Zone the Andorians have begun expanding their fleet. Many see this build up as a sign that the Andorians are planning on withdrawing from the Federation.
• The Betazoids are the most recent planet to fully join the United Federation of Planets. Their relative proximity to the ongoing Cardassian-Talaran War has sparked a marked increase in piracy in the region, something the Betazoids want Starfleet to deal with.
• The Bolian people only achieved first contact with the federation less than a decade ago. Caught between warring neighbours (the Iren and the Uzor) the Bolian gladly accepted federation help in preventing their world from becoming a battlefield in the Iren-Uzor conflict. The Bolian are currently provisional members of the Federation contingent on them unifying their various nation states into one world government. The Iren and Uzor have not gone away however and both continue to scheme to bring Bolians under their influence.