Interstellar Collective

Humankind's Collective of Systems - often referred to by its shorthand name, the Interstellar Collective - is a human supremacist and pro-authoritarian paramilitary organization that was most recently led by Jessica Sampson - a vocal proponent of human nationalism - until her death in 2817 CE at the hands of Captain Eric Crossman and other crew members from the S.G.A. Washington.

The group as a whole advocates for an ethnostate that supports systemic human dominance, forced relocation of nonhuman individuals out of former U.R.E. (United Republic of Earth) territories, the dissolution of the Galactic Abyssal Federation as a political entity, and ending human involvement in foreign geopolitics.

It is also capable and willing to carry out small-scale military and terror operations in the pursuit of those goals; naturally, this has landed it squarely at the top of the list of entities that the G.A.F. government considers terrorist organizations.

Origins:

Though for most of its history it was a fringe group with practically no substantial political clout, the collective actually is one of the oldest human supremacist organizations in the Galactic Abyss, dating all the way back to roughly the 2660s, where under the disastrous presidency of Jonas Deutcher - an aspiring authoritarian - it and other, similar hate groups were allowed to thrive for a brief time before he was ousted and democratic norms were restored.

It wouldn't be until the era roughly between the Southern Galactic (2767-2775) and Western Galactic (2811-2816) Wars that it would gain a significant following, and thus the capability to carry out organized terror attacks against G.A.F. worlds and institutions.

Fears related to a rapidly evolving geopolitical situation due to large, imperialist polities such as the Starkonian Empire and Holy Union of Sarnakus having their eyes looking in the direction of Abyssalite civilization led many people with isolationist or xenophobic views to falsely believe that nonhumans are responsible for dragging Earth and its colonies into repeated foreign wars against their will, with humans facing disproportionate death rates.

Main Story Importance:

• The Interstellar collective is one of the driving forces behind the central plot of the first season, and the crux of Eric Crossman's personal arc; it was Sampson and her organization that killed his parents, and both remain a continuous foil in his journey all the way up until the final battle aboard the Temporal Engine, at which point the villainous hate group leader is finally killed.

• Though nothing outright bars them from making a return in later seasons, it is unknown if the Interstellar Collective will remain active after Sampson's death; by the time of her demise, it has at the very least been significantly weakened, with its main headquarters destroyed, and its forces scattered across the southern galaxy, now leaderless no less. Ultimately, its fate as an actor in the central plot of the setting is ambiguous; only time will tell if it fades into obscurity or re-emerges.