History
The Charter Federation was established approximately one million Earth-years ago with the aim of peaceful coexistence and the preservation of sentient life throughout the cosmos. Warlike races such as the Kree and Skrulls are not members of this organization, which over time has expanded to include over 10,000 worlds[1] and 800 member-races.[2] These include the Rigellians, Pheragots, Nanda, Lumina, Myndai, M'Ndavians, Primal Ones, and Lem.
According to the rules of the Charter, Federation starships were required to respond to any calls for aid made by Charter members. Those same rules required that, in certain circumstances, Charter members provide complete and unquestioning assistance to other Charter members. These rules also authorized interference in a non-Charter planet's sovereign affairs if any Charter race felt that that planet's inhabitants were violent and were about to attain the spaceflight capability that would pose a direct threat to other worlds.[3]
By the early 21st century, the Charter had become the largest peacekeeping institution in the Local Group of galaxies, with its own peacekeeping militia, the Cosmic Commandos.[1] The militia was at the tactical level made up of squadrons known as Cosmic Commando Units, which answered to Special Tactical Command.[2][4]
Although the races of the Charter Federation had known of Earth for millennia, it was only in recent years that there was any official Charter activity in Earth's solar system. This was initiated by Lord Maur-Kon, a Myndai leader who had been trapped in suspended animation on the planet for millennia. Having failed to kill his long-time enemies, the Followers of the Light, Maur-Kon used an ancient communications link to transmit a Charter summons for aid. Knowing that his race had been banished from the Charter, Maur-Kon hid his identity by using his technology to create a convincing duplicate of a Primal One to serve as his remote-controlled avatar. When a starship crewed by a mechanoid race arrived in response, Maur-Kon used an energy-spell to enslave them to his will, as expressed through the false Primal One.[5] Using these unwilling allies as his Drones, Maur-Kon was able to finally kill the Followers of the Light[6] but twice failed to destroy the Shogun Warrior robots that the Followers had entrusted to the three humans they had chosen to be their Agents of the Light.[7] Seeking more help, Maur-Kon's Primal One called upon direct aid from the federation in the form of the Charter Federation's single most powerful ship, the Starcruiser Nightwind. Taking control of the Nightwind's internal symbiote, the planet-destroyer known as Gigantauron, the false Primal One attempted to destroy both the Shogun Warrior Combatra and the Fantastic Four in New York City but was thwarted and forced to abandon Gigantauron.[8] Travelling in Combatra, the Agents of the Light and the Fantastic Four followed him back to the starship of the mechanoids where, during the resulting battle, the Invisible Girl discovered Maur-Kon's hidden control room, revealed his presence and deactivated the Primal One, freeing the mechanoids from their enslavement. Exposed and deprived of his Drones, Maur-Kon was easily taken into custody by the Nightwind's crew and finally removed from Earth.[5]
Not long afterwards, Lord Votan, the ruler of the Axi-Tun race, initiated a covert plan to eliminate all species that his race considered to be inferior. As part of this plan, Axi-Tun who secretly shared his genocidal views managed to attain leadership roles in the Charter's peacekeeping militia, the Cosmic Commandos. At the same time, Votan had his scientists develop a hybrid cosmic plague that could mutate to become fatal to any race once enough members of those races had been exposed to it.[9]
By the time that the Axi-Tun had secretly sacrificed enough beings to make their hybrid plague fatal to all (or most) Charter races, the Charter had decided to invite the people of Earth to join them. In order to make this offer, their mobile headquarters, known as The Hub, travelled to Earth's star system and projected a giant "WE COME IN PEACE" message that appeared to every observer on Earth in a language that they could understand. When this message caused some humans to panic, Quasar, the Earth-born Protector of the Universe, was summoned home to investigate. Upon visiting The Hub, Quasar confirmed the Charter's peaceful intentions and accepted an offer to rest before further discussions. Unfortunately, while Quasar was sleeping, the Axi-Tun covertly released their cosmic plague on The Hub and caused the deaths of the three million ambassadors and technicians who were stationed there. Axi-Tun agents then used Quasar's image and samples of his voice to create a false message in which "Quasar" claimed responsibility for the deaths on behalf of the people of Earth. When that message was broadcast across the tri-galaxy area, the Silver Surfer and Beta Ray Bill came to investigate. Meanwhile, Quasar, who had surrendered to Cosmic Commando Unit One in order to help with their investigation, broke free and escaped from The Hub after learning of the broadcast that he had supposedly made. Soon encountering both the Silver Surfer and Beta Ray Bill, Quasar was able to convince them of his innocence just before the Surfer sensed that a planetoid had suddenly materialized in the solar system and was on course to strike Earth.[1]
Despite being attacked by the Cosmic Commandos, the three heroes were able to prevent the planetoid from striking Earth. Later, Captain Morfex, who had been thrown out of his own ship's airlock for trying to help destroy the meteor, and his loyal subordinate Xenith defected from the Commandos to join with the other three to form the Star Masters.[2]
When this newly-formed team returned to The Hub to look for clues about the mass murder, they were ambushed and captured by some Axi-Tun warriors who had previously captured a team of investigators led by Tana Nile.[4] Although the Axi-Tun attempted to destroy the Star Masters, they secretly survived, rescued Nile and the other captives, and returned to The Hub where the group realized that the Axi-Tun's genocidal plan was to use the bodies of the dead ambassadors to transport the cosmic plague to their home planets where it would erupt from the bodies and swiftly kill every sentient being there. The Star Masters were too late to prevent that fate from befalling the inhabitants of the planet M'Ndavi but the Surfer was able to destroy the infection within the remaining corpses without damaging them. The Star Masters were then able to catch up to the Axi-Tun starship carrying the source of the plague, and the Surfer, Beta Ray Bill and Quasar combined their energies to completely destroy all traces of the plague. Proof discovered by the Star Masters exonerated Quasar and the Charter members voted to expel the Axi-Tun for their heinous crimes against the galaxy.[9]
The Charter later requested that the Star Masters accompany Tana Nile to Tun to take Lord Votan into custody to stand trial for his crimes against the galaxy. Despite some unexpected resistance from Votan, who secretly possessed the ability to control the wills of others, the mission was successfully completed.[10]Paraphernalia
Weapons
- Energy weapons
- Giant robots
- The planet-destroyer Gigantauron
Transportation
Warp-capable starships
- The Starcruiser Nightwind
Notes
- Although the Followers of the Light (aka the Lumina) who were later revealed to be members of the Charter first appeared in Shogun Warriors #1, the fact that the Charter Federation existed was not even mentioned until Shogun Warriors #19
See Also
- 7 appearance(s) of Charter Federation (Earth-616)
- 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Charter Federation (Earth-616)
- 4 item(s) used/owned by Charter Federation (Earth-616)