Haldean Compact

The Haldean Compact, formerly the Wealthian Coalition, is a sovereign human-exclusive polity located in the Cygnus-Sagittarius Quadrant. It is named after the Haldean Fissure, an anomalous region in slipspace and subspace that forms the core of its territory.

Strengths

 * 1) Humanity First: The Haldean Compact is not one to shy away from a pro-human stance, even if it costs them good relations with alien races. Their population is united in all attempts to curtail alien interference within their area of influence. Furthermore, they have pardoned rebel fighters and activists that are otherwise persecuted in other human polities.
 * 2) Natural Barriers: Most of the Compact's infrastructure and territory is located within difficult-to-navigate sections of space, and their starships have the unique adaptations needed to traverse these areas. At the same time, their holdings in the Haldean Fissure are obscured from outside observation, allowing them to develop and position their fleets without alerting detection beacons established beyond the veil.
 * 3) Powerful Navy: The Haldean naval arm, though not quite as numerous as the larger human powers, is still a disproportionate threat because of its possession of large and powerful warships.
 * 4) Parasitic Immigration: Although they are generally not all that active in UNSC space, they have benefited immensely from the refugee crisis. The population of their planets are quickly growing in size, and these immigrants have used their expertise to improve fields that the Compact has previously struggled in.
 * 5) Technological Focus: The relatively-young age of their settlements, as well as the acknowledgement that they cannot match the fleet sizes of their rivals, means that the Haldean Compact has invested heavily in getting advanced technologies into every-day use. Their military can call upon exotic countermeasures and weapons to defeat their enemies, while their civilian population enjoys many luxuries that are still limited to the elite in other polities.
 * 6) Self-Sufficient: As their government takes a slightly more active role in directing the Compact's development, they do not need to rely on trade to keep their people fed and fusion reactors fired.
 * 7) Rebel Patronage: While they parade themselves as a sovereign entity, in secret, the Compact sponsors rebel elements and terror groups within the UNSC. This does have some advantages, as their advisors can help train up their military personnel, and may pass on information and assets they capture during raids. The Compact can also influence targets that they attack, keeping their enemies off-balanced.
 * 8) Generous Membership: The constitution for the Haldean Compact is fairly generous, permitting its member planets full autonomy in almost all areas concerning legislation, foreign affairs, and planetary defense. All worlds also have an equal voice in deciding actions taken by the federation, making them one of the better powers to align with in their region of space.

Weaknesses

 * 1) Xenophobia: The Haldean Compact has made no attempts to shake off the racist tendencies of its predecessor state, the Wealthian Coalition. Aliens are treated as second-class citizens or worse, and those that do not depart quickly may find themselves being hunted down. This extends to their unwillingness to open diplomatic channels with Covenant successor-states, often outright ignoring any territorial claims in Joint Occupation Zones. This has cost them the support of groups that have openly agreed to work with aliens, such as the Via Casilina Community.
 * 2) Developing Infrastructure: Because they are such a relatively-new polity that has established itself in one of the least-densely populated regions of the Human Sphere, they must build all-new infrastructure to service their needs. This means that every ship, every aircraft, and every ton of produce is irreplaceable, at least until the facilities can be built up to sustain it.
 * 3) Conquest Fever: Also thanks to their developing infrastructure, they have proven extremely eager to capture any facility - mining stations, factories, and hydroponics habitats - that is in reach of their military. As a result, many of their neighbors are suspicious of their actions, and this has driven many into the arms of their enemies.
 * 4) Obsolete Combat Theory: Although some of their officers did at one point enlist into the UNSC, for the most part their combat theory is still heavily inspired by techniques used during the Insurrection. While this does make them well-qualified at guerrilla warfare, the Compact is learning the formations and maneuvers necessary to fight in prolonged engagements, along with the logistics requirements to support it.
 * 5) AI Scarcity: The Compact have very few facilities that are capable of building AIs. Any that are available are less-capable than their UNSC or even some Covenant equivalents, and are rarely allowed to influence doctrine evolution and planning.
 * 6) Internal Bullying: Although the constitution forbids the Compact from interfering with their members, a number of major colonies have the economic and diplomatic pull to coerce smaller worlds to their will. The Compact is taking steps to address this, but until then this will stifle development and may undercut loyalty due to political posturing.
 * 7) Repeating Problems: As a young polity paired with planetary governments that have existed for an even shorter period than the Compact has, their leaders are forced to address many of the problems that have plagued other states such as the United Earth Government. In particular, they have demonstrated a worrying tendency to prioritize bills and projects that are backed by its capital of Wealth. Until these are truly resolved, tensions will continue to arise between various worlds.
 * 8) Multicultural Population: While they might not deal with aliens, many of its people exhibit an extremely wide array of cultures, ideals, and religions. This may be celebrated and offset by their universal dislike of aliens, but it has also led to strain and pressure between competing groups. Communications difficulties will also remain a problem until most of the population can learn Wealthian Creole, the denoted trade language.

History
With the superiority of the Covenant's military might apparent to all during the Human-Covenant War, there were many human factions who openly doubted the UNSC's ability to achieve a ceasefire with the alien hegemony, let alone their ability to win the war. While the UNSC privately acknowledged this, and so laid down plans for the OUROBOROS Directive, the general concerns of the public - and especially insurgents so often caught in invasion corridors - led to the formation of the Outriders. While much of their efforts were concerned with acquiring ships to make the long exodus away from the Human Sphere, it was critical to identify both a secure evacuation route - and the establishment of some kind of base to act as a staging area.

It was for this reason that their found the Haldean Fissure so attracting. A historical barrier to human expansion efforts since its discovery in the mid-25th century, the Fissure's bizarre features and dangers with navigation meant that nobody knew its true extent, and survey missions were almost doomed to fail. In 2536 the Outriders began using their ships and contacts within the like-minded Dormant Corporation to covertly probe and research the anomaly. A new science station in the abandoned Valia system was established and volunteer helmsmen and skilled navigators carefully moved their ships around the peripheries of the Haldean's strange boundaries - with many being lost once they strayed into it. It was only due to increasing desperation as the Covenant made their attacks on the Inner Colonies that stopped the Outriders from trying.

The breakthrough finally came in 2542. While approaching the anomaly, the freighter Seven Seas of Rye captained by Lilia Fyodorov was experiencing troubles with its slipspace drive, which only held together with the equivalent of computer-generated duct tape by the ship's dumb AI navigator and careful physical tuning by technician Rurik Nikolaev. Presumed lost, to everyone's surprise the ship returned several weeks later - and was armed with the first survey data that revealed the first looks into the interior of the Haldean Fissure, among which was a survey of the Alkonost system that identified a promising ocean-world. As it turned out, the modifications made to the Seven Seas of Rye - crucial of which was a slight error to its slipspace field calculations that made it possible to enter it at all.

What followed was an explosion of activity into the Fissure. Over the course of the rest of the decade, the Outriders began moving more and more equipment into the region, and established a large makeshift dockyard needed for retrofitting makeshift freighters for the long trip ahead.

Military
Although a military alliance, the Haldean Compact is unique among all other major human polities in that it lacks a unified planetary army force. The Compact does have a limited marine branch, but its purpose is to provide security, special forces, and occupy stations when absolutely needed, rather than act as an expeditionary army like most of its contemporaries do. Instead, this responsibility falls on its member worlds, each of whom have the freedom to choose every aspect about how it's equipped, organized, and trained. The Nyoo Oktaaviya Maarshal Gaard, for example, has developed itself around walkers and mechanized infantry, while the various Wealthian armies have strong maritime and aviation arms and a tradition for fighting in deep space and oceans. Should the Compact commit itself to a land invasion, it must be granted express permission from its members, in which case the forces adopt special Haldean ranks and organization to ensure smooth operation. Regardless, the Haldean Compact are distinctly reluctant to engage in ground offensives.

Instead, the strength of the Compact lies in the "Kosmar'Tar Flot", the fearsome Haldean Navy. Disproportionately powerful for a polity of its size, though for most of its history it was nowhere near as powerful as other regional powers, it is divided between into three main fleets: the Rasshchelina or Cleft Armada, charged with expeditionary operations into the Human Sphere; the Interʹyer or Interior Armada, charged with protecting the Haldean member worlds and core systems; and the Granʹ or Edge Armada, responsible for charting unknown space and keeping a vigilant watch for potential Covenant incursions. Overall, their doctrine is to punch above their weight as much of possible rather than match any competitors pound-for-pound. The most obvious way they do this is through the acquisition of larger, more powerful spacecraft. With the exception of their Voin-class frigates that are their own offshoots of SinoViet standard frigates, all their domestic warship classes are larger than their contemporary UNSC equivalents and generally attempt to maximize firepower as much as possible. They have also invested heavily in the construction of capital ships of considerable size, made possible by their continuous investment into naval yards and their supporting infrastructure. Their culminating achievement is their sole dreadnought, the HVK Hammer of Wealth completed in the late 2560s after more than twenty years of construction.

Although a human polity, the Haldeans have already made an effort to divert from the widespread technological progression taken by the rest of the Human Sphere in order to follow their own path. Largely this is to offset their numbers disadvantage. Major developments such as the miniaturization of electromagnetic coils, form-fitting energy shielding, wavespace communications, and especially those made in the field of AI-programming are notoriously lacking in their fleet. Instead, unique devices such as shield turrets (which project an energy shield barrier to protect a ship from a specific direction), well-matured lasers, and slipspace-equipped communication probes are prolific across their fleet. Even their marines can enjoy mild exoskeletons that allow them to simply carry more equipment per soldier, chemical injections to temporarily fight more effectively despite possible long-term side effects, and more tastier, fresher rations.

There is a secretive fourth fleet that is operated by the Haldean Compact, the Oblako or Cloud Flotilla. Although its purpose appears to be as a command for any ships operating from territory owned by its allies, ONI has uncovered evidence that it is actually supposed to support and arm insurgencies.