Editing Alliance of Regulus

{{Infobox alliance
| above = Horizon Federation
| image1 = Ineviter.png
| caption1 = The Inevita was the unofficial symbol of the Horizon Federation
| abbreviation = HF
| membership = {{flag|Arimfea Flag.png|Arimfea}}<br>{{flag|Nova Flag.png|Imperial Nova}}<br>[[Amcar]]<br>{{flag|Anduria Flag.png|Andurian Federation}}
| discord = [https://discord.gg/C62WWXVnz9 C62WWXVnz9]
| formation = 19 July 2023
| dissolution 6 October 2023
| preceded_by = [[Allied Sovereign States]]
}}
The '''Horizon Federation''' was a coalition of nations on Horizon's End, formed for the express purpose of combating [[RentDueYesterday]] in the [[Horizon Federation-RentDueYesterday War]]. The alliance consisted of almost all active [[colonist]] nations on the server at the time (with the notable exception of the [[Republic of Carthage]]), and is broadly considered to be the largest alliance ever in [[Horizon's End]] or [[Star Legacy]] history.

= History =
{{Main|Horizon Federation-RentDueYesterday War}}
The Horizon Federation was formed hastily on the evening of October 6, 2023, in response to [[Vega]] allying with the new pirate nation of [[RentDueYesterday]] and attacking [[Imperial Nova|Novan]] forces, thereby broadening both the scope and scale of the lower-level piracy conflict then existing between Imperial Nova, [[Orovika]], and RentDueYesterday. The coalition was initially predicated on the pre-existing anti-piracy alliance between Imperial Nova and Orovika, as well as the former [[Alliance of Regulus]], a then-defunct alliance between Imperial Nova and [[Arimfea]] which had previously [[Alliance of Regulus-Vega War|existed to fight Vega]], and had sworn to return if Vega presented itself as a threat again.

The coalition initially consisted of Orovika, Imperial Nova, and Arimfea. [[Cortesia Del Mar]] inherited membership in the alliance upon its split from Orovika on 29 December 2023. Several smaller nations ([[Amcar]], [[Shadow]], [[United Federation of Planets]], and [[Sanctuary]]) were admitted to the alliance when RentDueYesterday's (and Vega's) broadly-distributed attacks eventually implicated them, and they sought protection therefrom.

On 6 December 2023, an incident occurred wherein [[Vortexion]], then representing Arimfea in the coalition, posted a poll to coalition membership, proposing the delivery of the following ultimatum:
 Ultimatum vote:
 Either staff enforces a clean ceasefire with no terms on either side, and ends this war, or the HF and its members quit HE for a healthy while. Yes/No?
While the poll received 90% votes against, and the ultimatum was never delivered, it is strongly hypothesized that this incident prompted unofficial intervention from the Horizon's End [[Staff]] in the war. Moderator [[ItsAlreadyGold]] said,
 As a mod, I'd like to make it clear that the mod team and Gutin are already in support of fixing things to make it fun for everyone again, instead of just a handful of players (For those of you who are not in the staff discord). You don't need to convince us of what we already believe.
The following day (7 December), Vega announced that it was exiting the conflict, offering white peace to all nations in the Horizon Federation. The remaining month of the war would be fought exclusively against the forces of RentDueYesterday.

The war for which the Horizon Federation was formed ended on 8 January 2024, with RentDueYesterday being transformed into the [[Andurian Federation]] under the leadership of [[pqio]]; the Horizon Federation formally acknowledged this development as the end of the war the following day. After no further incident occurred, the Horizon Federation was formally dissolved four weeks later, on 5 February 2024.

= Legacy =
The Horizon Federation has a generally poor reputation among the server's veterans, including both those who were and were not members when it existed. 
<br>Former members of the coalition (especially those who would later go on to form the [[Ilios Alliance]]) commonly cite the Horizon Federation's lack of formal leadership or military command structure, or coherent military strategy, as well as its open-door membership policy, as weak points of the coalition. Former members also frequently lament the Horizon Federation's foundation as an outgrowth of a war, citing that this predicament inherently limited the coalition's flexibility. 
<br>Non-members of the Horizon Federation commonly disliked the coalition in its time, due to the way that it 'froze' Horizon's End server politics (by scooping up nearly every political actor into a single entity), though some acknowledge the coalition as an unfortunate necessity brought on by the actions of RentDueYesterday and Vega. The coalition's relative military impotence, especially compared with its numerical superiority, is also a common indictment of the Horizon Federation.

The Horizon Federation was perhaps most notable for popularizing the so-called "lagfleet" strategy, wherein the coalition would leverage its extreme numerical superiority to field warfleets with a very large number of ships (typically 8+) in order to stalemate and deter opponents (such as to take a [[siege station]], or to prevent piracy), rather than seeking a decisive victory in combat. The strategy was named due to the fact that, at the time, combat involving such numbers of ships would typically lag the server severely, rendering [[SvS]] nearly impossible, and usually forcing all combatants to go home.

[[Category: Politics]]
[[Category: Player-Created]]