It was founded in 2161 in the wake of the Earth-Romulan wars by five races - Terrans, Alpha Centaurians, Vulcans, Tellarites, and Andorians - for their mutual benefit and protection. Individual rights and civil liberties are guaranteed by the Constitution of the United Federation of Planets, signed in 2161. The Federation has expanded rapidly since, and today is composed of some 150 planets, bound together in a voluntary union for trade, exploration, diplomacy, and mutual protection.

The Federation is governed by the Federation Council, which is made up of representatives from each member planet. It is headquartered at San Francisco, Terra. Presiding over the Federation Council is an elected Federation Council President, who makes his office at Paris, Terra. Each member world is entitled to retain its own form of government, its own military, and its own intelligence agencies. The planet Vulcan, for example, is governed by a the Vulcan Council and a group of titled ministers, possesses a small interstellar navy, and has an internal intelligence agency known as the V'Shar.

Law within in the Federation is regulated by the Uniform Code of Justice. The main military power of the Federation as a whole is Starfleet, which is described in more detail later. The Federation uses a non-monetary economic system of "credits" to govern trade. Interstellar trade is largely free and unregulated, apart from certain contraband things such as slaves, drugs, and weapons of mass destruction. Because of its freedom and diversity, the Federation is wealthy and prosperous.

Within the interstellar borders of the Federation there are _many_ non-member worlds. Most of these are less-developed worlds, declared off-limits by the tenants of the Prime Directive. These planets are being left to develop as they will under the protection of a Federation whose existence they are unaware of. When a world has reached the appropriate phase of cultural development, it is contacted and strongly encouraged to join the Federation.

Other non-member worlds are neutral or are allied to the Federation. An example of the latter is Kaferia, a highly advanced non-Federation world located well within Federation space, which nevertheless has maintained strong ties with the Federation for centuries.

The Federation is an enlightened entity, an oasis in a sea of autocracies. It is peaceful, but expansionistic.