Chapter 444: Ch
And for his plan to bear fruit, this alliance—or rather, this Federation—had to be formed, with him at the helm of it.
"The conditions can be discussed in detail later, once we’re at the table after dinner," Kallus said. "But seeing how curious all of you are, I’ll at least explain this much."
"My intention is that if territories are conquered with the support provided by the Federation—which includes technologies, warships, weapons, and other resources that it will supply to its member states at a cost, though nothing like what was once provided to the Azura Imperium or the other Tier 3 states involved with the Celestial Void Empire, and instead of a somewhat inferior version—then those territories will belong to the state that conquered them."
"But that doesn’t mean the superior technologies aren’t available. In fact, they are. They can all be found within the Technology and Exchange Hall. However, they require Federal Merit to exchange for them."
"As for how those merits are earned," Kallus said with a faint smile, "that will be discussed later."
"The Public Territories are areas that would be directly governed by the Universal Stellar Federation itself. Whether it is infrastructure, the defense of the newly acquired territories, their development, or anything else, all of it would be borne by the Federation. In other words, these areas would be jointly governed by the forces represented by the Universal Stellar Federation—that is, all the member states that ultimately choose to join it."
"As for the Faction Territories, they are exactly what their name suggests. These territories would belong to a faction, such as Empress Valoria’s empire, or any one of your own powers. Of course, this would come at a cost to the Federation."
"The Private Territories are easier to understand."
The private territories are also further divided into two forms."
"The first is where an individual can completely purchase a territory and possess absolute autonomy over it."
Hearing this, Duke Elder Grove’s eyes lit up with interest. As for why he was interested, or what exactly was going through his mind, no one knew. Kallus certainly didn’t, nor did he care enough to pay attention. Seeing the gleam in many people’s eyes, he simply continued.
"The second form is where one can spend a certain amount of money to purchase, let’s say, a star system. You may then choose to develop it yourself, use it as your faction’s base, or even turn it into your personal territory."
"However, any taxes generated from that territory must be partially submitted to the Federation. You may also establish your own army and other armed forces there, and you may even refuse to station the Federal Army within your territory, just like any other member state."
"Of course," Kallus added, "there would still be a few restrictions, though not many."
Kallus said this because he expected that not every—perhaps not even a single—power would rush toward war, certainly not in the condition most of them were currently in.
Saying they were barely standing was no exaggeration. Not only were they constantly being kept in check by enemy powers, but their internal affairs were in no better condition. The internal state of each of their nations and factions was extremely chaotic, with pirates running rampant throughout their territories. Their own Space Navies, and even their Star System and Planetary Defense Forces, were unable to do much, with crime occurring everywhere.
Only their main worlds, capital planets, and core star systems were comparatively safer than the rest of their territories, and even then, chaos still existed to some extent.
So if they couldn’t even stabilize the territories they already possessed, who could realistically expect them to raise their arms and start attacking other powers simply to gain more territory?
When they couldn’t even control what they already had? Certainly, for most of them, the answer was no.
And therefore, by default, it would be the Universal Stellar Federation that would have to do the heavy lifting to create the Federal Territories, where each member state’s territory was linked together as one continuous region rather than remaining separated by vast distances.
That meant that any and all territories gained directly by the Federation would become Federal Territories. Would everyone then have to purchase land from the Federation? No.
That was precisely why this classification system existed.
Many might wonder why he was even forming a Federation in the first place. Didn’t he already have one called the Void Star Earth Alliance? Then why create another one? His empire was already overwhelmingly powerful, so why would he need a Federation at all when he could simply stand alone?
And if he truly intended to create a Federation, why not establish a Human Federation instead? Humanity throughout the galaxy was oppressed by countless races, treated as little more than slaves and playthings. Why not rescue them all? Wouldn’t that greatly strengthen the Celestial Void Empire?
After all, one of the greatest shortcomings of the Celestial Void Empire wasn’t resources or territory—it was population. Wouldn’t such a move cause its population to surge dramatically?
If Kallus were to hear such questions, he would certainly let out a deep sigh and explain that it wasn’t because he didn’t want to establish a Universal Human Federation. Rather, at this stage, he simply couldn’t.
Doing so would immediately attract the attention of powers from outside the galaxy. While he himself might not fear them with the Obliterator as his ultimate weapon, his empire and its people had not yet reached a stage where they could stand on equal footing with, or even possess the strength to resist, super-galactic powers—civilizations whose influence extended across more than a single galaxy.
After all, the destruction of the Cosmic Human Federation hadn’t happened simply because someone wanted to claim another galaxy as territory. If that had truly been the only reason, then the Milky Way Galaxy would never have remained under the rule of mere Tier 3 and quasi-Tier 4 powers. It would have long since produced Tier 5, or perhaps even Tier 6 civilizations—powers respected throughout much of the known universe.
But that wasn’t what had happened.
Instead, the strength of the galaxy had remained stagnant throughout millions upon millions of years, advancing only marginally despite the passage of countless ages.
So, to avoid attracting too much unwanted attention, Kallus had no choice but to establish a Universal Federation with the presence of multiple races within it. It was something he intended to change in the future, eventually adopting a management system similar to that of the former Cosmic Human Federation.
But for now, that idea would have to be forgotten. It simply wasn’t worth the risk, nor would it function the way he wanted at this stage.
Kallus’ main motive behind forming this Federation was not only to gather the resources that would fuel the growth of his empire and his people, becoming a tremendous boost to their development, but also to act as a diversion for the galactic powers. He didn’t want the Celestial Void Empire to appear like an unusually brilliant star shining brightly across the galaxy, but rather as just another ordinary star among countless others.
At least, that was his hope for the time being.
Through this Federation, he also intended to gradually gather the fragmented human factions scattered throughout the galaxy. Instead of directly integrating every one of them into the Celestial Void Empire, he planned to establish another framework—much like this Federation itself—where they could retain their own states, kingdoms, factions, and governments while remaining under a unified structure.
Only those individuals, organizations, or territories that truly possessed exceptional value would be directly integrated into the Celestial Void Empire, while the rest could continue to govern themselves under his broader framework.
But that was for the future and wasn’t his current priority.
What was, however, was this Universal Stellar Federation that he was presenting to everyone in the room at this solemn moment.
And he could clearly see excitement, acceptance, and many other emotions on the faces of everyone present. Yes, even the representatives of the twelve Tier 3 states were visibly interested.
After all, who wouldn’t be?
Forget about everything else for a moment and focus solely on the rights to territories. They all understood that, from now on, they could wage wars to acquire new territories with the backing of a working behemoth that would eventually become the Federation once it took shape, making their future campaigns far more manageable.
In return for those services, they only had to surrender a small portion of the taxes generated or simply buy out the Federation’s stake to gain sole ownership and complete control over those territories.
And even if they weren’t fighting themselves, they could still acquire territories by paying the required price—something that simply wasn’t available throughout the galaxy. And even where similar opportunities existed, they certainly weren’t accessible to powers like them.
That alone was enough to excite them.
Territorial expansion was something everyone desired, even in this age.
