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The "Senior Service," the ICN was chartered on December 10th, 2400—predating the official founding of the Interstellar Compact itself one year later. The ICN carried forth many of the traditions of its predecessor organizations, particularly the Free Worlds Navy and the Terran Defense Fleet, with the former's history stretching back to the days of Rance Wolfe and the early wars with the Kyrans, and the latter boasting a lineage as ancient as the blue water Allied navies of Earth's Third World War. With such a long and storied past, the weight of tradition has always laid heavy on the ICN, both for good and for ill.
Since its founding, the navy has added numerous battle honors and great campaigns of its own to those of its ancestors. After the humiliating defeats in the early years of the Great War (2476 - 2485), the ICN recovered its prestige through courage, ingenuity, and sacrifice in the enormous campaigns which ultimately defeated the Kyran clans and secured an armistice with the Ciphers.
In the years of peace—and budget reductions—since the war ended, the ICN remains by far the largest and best funded of the branches of the ICDF. The navy is both the first line of defense for the worlds and people of the Compact, and the primary offensive arm for taking the fight to its enemies in times of war.
The ICN is under the overall command of a Chief Admiral, who sits on the Interstellar General Staff (IGS), and usually serves as the chair of that body. The Chief Admiral sets overall strategy and institutional priorities, while their massive staff apparatus carries out their directives.
Beneath the Chief Admiral, the navy is split into large command groups called theaters. Each theater comprises one or more star systems of varying scope, depending on the resources required to defend them, and the priorities set by the IGS. Each theater is commanded by a Fleet Admiral, and may have one or more numbered fleets assigned to it. As of 2507, the main theaters and assigned fleets are:
In the current climate, despite its vast roster of thousands of ships and millions of personnel, the navy is stretched thin. Given the outbreak of the Pyrian Civil War and growing insurgencies in the years that followed, many critics have argued that Executor Sapkowski's then-popular 2499 "drawdown" plan proved to be premature. Budget cuts have left all branches of the ICDF struggling to respond to new threats and challenges, and Parliament has so far been sluggish to address these shortcomings.
Nonetheless, the navy will continue to fulfill its mission of defending the Compact, and will seek always to live up to its motto: Vigilant, Swift, Unbound.
