Created by Captain Michael Turlogh Kane on Aug 16, 2016 @ 12:00am

THE NEO-ESSENTIALIST MOVEMENT

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The NEO-ESSENTIALIST movement can trace its origins back to 2372 (almost 60 years ago), when the bombing of the Antwerp Conference on Earth by a Dominion Changeling led to an attempt by Starfleet Admiral Leyton to take over the Federation. Although that effort was thwarted, many of the ideas promulgated by Leyton - that the peoples of the Federation would be safer if civilian government was replaced by Starfleet - were embraced by militarists across the Federation, and a new political movement was born. These so-called "Essentialists" saw the Federation as having become decadent, that too many different species had joined its ranks, and that most of the work to preserve it was being carried out by only a few. They saw a large spike in public support when the Breen attacked Earth three years later, but the great victory in the First Dominion War effectively stymied their expansion.

In 2389, the height of the Alliance War caused the Essentialist movement to reorganise itself. Heartened by the success of Starfleet's defensive strategy, public opinion in the Federation began to shift in favour of the war. People who were of centrist politics now drifted into the right wing, and attitudes towards non-Federation species began to harden. These Neo-Essentialists embraced the groundswell of change, and their message - that the same few species (those of the Founding Worlds and some others) were doing all the work in Starfleet, while other species enjoyed the Federation's protection in return for contributing nothing - began to take hold. A growing tide of public opinion and debate began to consider what the Federation was, and what member worlds should be contributing to it. Led by a Starfleet Admiral named Edmund Dupree, these Neo-Essentialists committed themselves to the overthrow of the Federation's civilian government. As they saw it, civilian governance only held back Starfleet from ensuring the true safety of the Federation. The movement began to slowly spread throughout Starfleet.

By 2421, Edmund Dupree had been outed as the leader of the Neo-Essentialists. Anxious to save himself, he stole the USS Century from Starbase 56 and fled into the deadworlds of the Beta Quadrant. In that year, with their numbers dwindling, Richard Edgerton murdered Edmund Dupree and took control of the organisation.

Edgerton's plan for power was markedly different than from his predecessor. As his career in Starfleet waxed, leading to his eventual promotion to Chief of Staff, he began to place fellow Neo-Essentialists in positions of power throughout the fleet. When the time was right, the Neo-Essentialists would be able to control Starfleet, and then the Federation, from within. By 2429, Edgerton was finally in a position to make his power play.

Following their defeat at the Battle of Earth on stardate 2.161112, the Neo-Essentialist movement was broken up. All its Starfleet members were court-martialed and the organisation proscribed, sealing its final defeat.