The interstellar nation known as the Charter of Independent Systems, also called the Charter Federation, Charter Confederacy, the Charter Alliance, or simply the Charter, is an alliance of star systems in the Milky Way Galaxy in a region close to that of Earth. The Charter has been aware of Earth for centuries and consider it an unofficial protectorate.
Each system in the Charter has its own form of government. Some are various forms of democracies, others monarchies, feudal or constitutional, and one is said to be a military dictatorship, while another is a theocracy. Each system has to be voted in by a 2/3 majority in the Senate. Known species whose worlds are members of the Charter include (but are not limited to) the A'askvarii, Axi-Tun, Dakkamites, Entemen, Glx, Kronans, Krylorians, Kymellians, Lem, Lumina, Myndai, Nanda, Procyonites, Spartax, Xartans, Xeronians, Zenn-Lavians, and several Rigellian colony worlds (who have seceded from the Rigellian Annex; see Appendix: Other Alien Races).
At the center of this complex web is the Senate, a unicameral assembly of representatives from every system in the Charter. While each system can send as many representatives as they wish, each system counts only as one vote in the Senate. The Senate is chaired by a Chancellor, who acts as the chief-of-state for the Charter as a whole. The Chancellor appoints the heads of various Ministries – such as State, Treasury, Defense, Justice, etc. The current Chancellor is Yrik Whitemane, a Kymellian career politician.
While the Charter is the most peaceful of the major powers in the known galaxy, the Charter is by no means truly pacifistic. Each system is required to maintain its own military forces; in addition, the Charter maintains a centralized military for patrolling its borders and intervening when disputes between member systems threaten to erupt into civil war.
It is believed by the Kree and Skrull Empires that the Charter's fleet intervened in the Skrulls' earliest thwarted invasion of Earth, an invasion that cost Earth the lives of the entire First Line, an intervention publicly denied by the Charter itself. This belief stems from statements made by Chancellor Whitemane about Sol and Alpha Centauri being protectorate systems. An ambassador from the Charter attempted to make contact with Earth not long after the thwarted invasion, but while unsuccessful as a whole was a founding member of the interim team called the Shadowguard as well as managing to open relations between the Charter and Atlantis. It was later suspected though unconfirmed that Skrull spies in the American and Soviet governments prevented this ambassador from making actual first contact.
More recently, Chancellor Whitemane met with Emperor D'ken of the Shi'ar Empire, Emperor Dorrek VII of the Skrull Empire, and Prime Minister Zarek of the Kree Empire in an interstellar summit, all of whose empires have laid claim to Earth's system for various reasons. During the summit, Chancellor Whitemane reaffirmed Earth's status as a protectorate, warning that any overtly hostile invasion force by any of the Empires would be considered an act of war against the Charter. Unclassified details of the summit were later forwarded to Earth from the Chancellor's office via the
First Post-Reboot Appearance: (first mentioned) CAPTAIN MARVEL #1; (Chancellor Whitemane) FANTASTIC FOUR #
The Charter is a TL 11^ interstellar empire possessing the standard space opera superscience technologies: artificial gravity, contragravity lifters, and force screens. Thanks to their Rigellian members they have access to advanced psychcotronic tech, including but not limited to telepathic earplugs, psi-blocking earplugs, and advanced universal translator technology. The Charter also has access to advanced biology-based technology that is grown rather than manufactured.