||Excerpt from the UK1 Historical Database:

"UK1" as often nicknamed formed from Great Britain and associated states during the Resource Wars with the Construction of [[HMSS Ark Royal]] - The entire Country's economy poured Into construction of a single massive space station capable of processing millions of tons of ore per day.

In the centuries since; the Nation as a whole has drifted the stars, settling eventually several million light years from earth, one entire Galactic Arm over from Sol after incidents where the [[Crimson Barrier]] was shown not to be a sufficient protection from other forces any longer.

UK's ethos is fairly welcoming, a very Liberal state thanks to overwhelming resource abundancy, thanks in part to creations such as the [[Phased Disassembler Array]] which has allowed nearly limitless resources to be processed, given enough time for production

Maikor artefacts have also rapidly propelled their spare faring tech, meaning UK was the first spare faring nation to master Reactionless Drives, and still holds the fastest available FTL method with the [[Interstitial Drive]] "Standing Gate" mode of operation, a tool that has been utilised extensively throughout UK Space to allow rapid transit between their Core systems.

UK Governance is wholly in AI control, with some human oversight in given areas. the AI in question [[Peacekeeper]] has Hubs on every major planet, system, and super-capital class vessel under UK Control, making it possibly the most computationally powerful AI, even with the likes of [[Touchstone]] and [[Antaeus]] taken into account. (Research still ongoing as to capabilities of other Human Nation Artificial Intelligences)

[[Peacekeeper]] has no known bias over its openly stated goals to prevent conflict and ensure that overall quality of life is the best it reasonably can be, although allegations have been made about subconscious conditioning, targeted advertisement and a million other small things are down to the AI steering individuals and groups away from Violent Conflict. These allegations have, thus far, failed to turn up any proof...

UK's military force is mostly space-based. As the majority of their combat circumstances are space/Station based: Ground military vehicles are few and far between. While air/space combat vessels exist, they're often superseded by Space Only alternatives, due to lesser compromises for their use case.

UK Combat officers are, by and large, augmented humanoids. All UK Citizens have some level of gene modification, whether active or hereditary, to help survive the rigors of Space, with fluctuating gravity and much higher radiation doses being the norm. Military officers take this one over, often with enhanced bone and muscle mass alongside Cybernetic Enhancements.

Clad in powered armour and armed with weapons such as the [[L3108A2]] A squad of Marines in any scenario is definitely a cause for concern.
Whie lesser used, there is also the [[L2906]] and [[L3103]] weapons system available.

||UK1;
The name was applied more as a joke. Officially everyone is still under the "United Kingdom" (Although arguments still abound about "United Monarchy" instead - Even though they're a Figurehead more than a Leader)

Ultimately; The majority of UK1 people are still descendants, albeit very distantly, from that island in the Ocean back on Terra.

UK1 herself is something else entirely. Originally constructed as a Massive Mining Station during the fossil wars, built in low Lunar Orbit and capable of processing close to a million tons of rock per day; she Catapulted the United Kingdom into the forefront of political matters, as they suddenly had a near monopoly on resources available in orbit - Other factions were exploring off-world, but none ot the extent that the United Kingdom had, burning their entire economy into this one craft; It was the Lynchpin of the nation.

During the years that followed; UK1 remained in Solar Orbit, acting as a massive orbital refinery and raw materials foundry, processing materials from the Moon, captured asteroids and further afield.

Steady the station was expanded, living quarters branched out, schools established, soon it became a Floating City more than just a resource processing station as things took a turn.

The UK1 insurrection nearly toppled all of that, and instead resulted in a backlash in the other direction, with the looming strife throughout the Pan-European states, the choice was placed; Stay on earth, and potentially be taken over involuntarily by another nation, or move wholesale to space.

The ultimate decision, influenced or not (History files are hazy on this subject for some reason) was that Uk1 was expanded, nearly doubling in size to accommodate the ever increasing numbers of refugees from Earth. Some chose to remain behind, but in total; The massive station, visible clearly from earth against the Moon's surface, was housing well over 30 million people, all in a mostly self-sufficient station.

It was a miracle of engineering, and one that other nations didn't take kindly to.

Around the point that other nations were looking to leave; Project Shift was announced. UK1 is transitioned from "Space Station" to "Colony Ship" - Although Ship is a loose term, her maximum acceleration at that point was fractions of a G, but she could Move.

This also meant she became all the more valuable, resulting in a lot of weaponry being grafted onto an already overloaded superstructure. Numerous issues plagued her; she wasn't designed for this load, but it was make-do-and-mend, as there was no time left to prevent it otherwise.

The coming years saw UK1 settle into Jupiter's orbit, devouring the rich asteroid belt around the planet into raw materials, using this as a bargaining chip for remaining independent, but still receiving needed supplies from Earth while research continued on how to move further afield.

The breakthrough by the UTN on Subspace drives proved the key - Careful negotiation, subterfuge and reverse engineering saw a version of the drive big enough to carry UK1 herself constructed before Earth realised what was happening - and UK1 Jumped for the first time, leaving SOL forever.