The Phoenix Alliance was formed from the ashes of an earlier alliance of worlds that had been effectively shattered by the interference of a race known as the Crae. The Crae are a secretive, manipulative race who consider themselves superior in both intelligence and evolutionary terms. They seem to exist in at least one dimension we "meat minds" are unable to perceive, and this allows them to read minds, and to control our "primitive" thoughts and emotions, even our actions!
A new alliance was formed, embracing many species, for the purposes of mutual benefit, particularly as a united show of strength should the Crae change their minds and return.
Over the intervening five hundred years, the Crae have been dismissed as a threat, they are all but forgotten by most, and their most enduring legacy is an almost universal fear of telepaths.
Today, the Phoenix Alliance represents over one hundred unique worlds, representatives of whom serve in the House of Worlds in the representational merit-based democratic government. There are also many other worlds, colonies, under the Phoenix Alliance banner, enjoying the infrastructure, education, trade, and technology fostered by an interstellar community.
~ The President Elect dines at Dominic's with his friend.
The Rishniak Polity has had an uneasy truce with the Phoenix Alliance
for over seventy years. The Polity considers the Alliance to be both
barbarian and decadent, while the Alliance views the Polity as
dictatorial and martial. As a well-known mediator, Opalen met Bre'ant
while mediating a dispute on the Alliance-Polity border, though of
course borders in three dimensional space are quite nebulous.