Andorian Empire
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The Andorian Empire is the government of the Andorians, and was a founding member of the United Federation of Planets in 2161. The capital world of the Andorian Empire is Andoria.
The Empire is a parliamentary democracy, lead by a chancellor. The Andorian chancellor maintains diplomatic relations with the Aenar race, following their contact in the early-22nd century.
The Andorian government was a constitutional monarchy that was established in the 19th century with the unification of the planet from warring clans by Thalisar the Last, who deliberately died childless and created the parliamentary democracy that has governed Andoria ever since her death. The position of head of state is thus deliberately left empty, and is represented by the Empty Throne of the Andorian Empire, found in the Parliament Andoria Complex. The head of government is the Chancellor, whose seat is determined by the political party that has a majority in the legislature, the Parliament Andoria. The majority party also determines Andoria's Federation Councillor.
Planetery Settlements and Territories
- Andor
- Andoria
- Epsilon Indi IV
- Almadixarian
- Thonolan IV
- Weytahn
Military
Interspecies Relations
Andorians encountered the Orions and Rigellians first, then the Vulcans and Tellarites, then Humanity. Relations with the Orions have always been love-hate, while relations with the Tellarites are usually a hot-tempered loving rivalry similar to a younger and older sibling. Vulcans, of course, are never really understood, but some Andorians claim that Vulcan passion is simply harder to ignite, but flares hotter when finally put to the torch.
With the advent of space travel, Andorians began to think seriously of themselves as a species rather than a collection of clans. The discovery of semi-intelligent life on the fifth planet of their Epsilon Indi system compelled Andorians to consider the existence of other intelligent species and the possibility of interplanetary warfare. This led, by analogy, to the concept of all Andorians as members of one super-clan, faced off against other such super-clans. The immediate result of such thinking was that a planetary government consisting of a council of elders, one from each major clan, became feasible. Thus did Andoria jump from a fragmented, clan-based society to a fairly unified, planetary society - without going through the stage of nationalism. This unique case of rapid social evolution proved remarkably successful for the Andorians, although it did cause some problems with early contacts between the Andorian Empire and the other Federation co-founders (Earth, Alpha Centauri, Vulcan, Tellar).
One may say that successful relations between Andoria and Earth were the result of the famous Andorian practicality. Despite those lamentable early misunderstandings, the Andorians soon realised that membership in a multi-stellar community held great advantages for them - particularly in technological gains, such as faster-than-light space drive, and warp drive especially, with its concomitant possibility of interstellar colonisation. This may have proven to be the greatest scientific advance in Andorian history. This fact alone would explain the presence of so many Andorians flooding Star Fleet Academy and, indeed, all Federation space lines, with applications in a desperate attempt to get out into deep space.
Vulcan
Contact with Vulcan came before Earth, during the early 20th century. According to the Vulcans, their first contact with Andorians "seemed promising," "despite their heightened emotions." However, it was soon discovered that "they were duplicitous," wishing to only honor "agreements that didn't conflict with their interests."
A border dispute, dating back to the 1950s and lasting 200 years, begins between the two powers, due to their neighboring home systems and the Vulcan's suspiciousness towards the territorial and militaristic nature of the Andorians. The Andorians felt that the only thing that kept [Vulcan (Planet)|Vulcan]] from invading Andoria was "the threat of massive retaliation."
After further years of mutual rapprochement, the Vulcan-Andorian conflict eventually came to an end with the founding of the United Federation of Planets in 2161, of which Earth, Vulcan, Andoria and Tellar were the founding members. After the founding of the Federation, many Andorians served in Star Fleet.
