Outer colonies (Earth-8573)

The outer colonies are human-colonized planets within UEG space, being the farthest from the inner colonies and the Sol system. Majority of the outer colonies were underdeveloped and enveloped in poverty, but were the biggest producers of goods for the inner colonies. By 2536, most of them were destroyed by the Covenant war machine, and the few who didn't started to seek independence under the rule of police forces or corporations.

Origins
The outer colonies were founded by the Unified Earth Government from the 23rd to the 24th century, after the initial extrasolar voyages and colonization efforts from 2212 and 2280 that birthed the inner colonies. However, unlike the inner colonies and its inhabitants, which were widely known as humanity's "best and brightest", the outer colonies didn't had the same luxury. Because of the multiple contractors behind the colonization processes, being more in resources rather than habitation, many colonists were selected to live on them based on crimes or either illegally immigrated. Some others even went to them in order to escape the control of Earth.

The colonists' dissatisfaction towards the UEG were expressed either through civil unrest such as tax avoidance, or, in extreme cases, terrorism. Another common practice was the colonists' refusal to register birth and death dates to the Colonial Administration Authority, which made determining the size of the outer colonies' inhabitants impossible. Vaccination programs were held across the colonies, which was secretly used to catalog children's DNA which were to drawn possible recruits for the SPARTAN-II and SPARTAN-III programs. They resented the UNSC, but had a fresher spot for the Colonial Marshal Bureau.

Secession
"Maybe the UNSC keeps overreacting and causing the outer colonies to not want any part of all this. A million casualties now, caught in the crossfire, since TREBUCHET started. No one's going to ignore that. The civilians will keep cheering the rebels on."

- - Felicia Anderson As the UEG became more dependent on the outer colonies with each passing day in order to supply Earth and the Inner colonies, tensions only grew as soon as the CAA started to increase taxes and trade restrictions, and Earth lost its logistical ability to control distant colonies. By 2490, the number of outer colonies surpassed the numbers of the inner colonies, leading to many inhabitants of Earth and inner colonists to feel threatened in a way with the increasing hostilities of the outer colonies. While some though that a peaceful solution would resolve the problem, others were more pessimistic. The final straw was when the UNSC increased its presence in the outer colonies to stop any rebellion or riot, which only served to finally break various attacks that began the Insurrection.

The Insurrection, run by many different Insurrectionist cells - mainly the Sovereign Colonies - happened through most of the UEG's space. In response to this, the CAA and the Office of Naval Intelligence resurrected the ORION Project on January 29th, 2491, hoping to put a swift and quick end to the rebellion. Firstly deployed on Eridanus II, the ORIONs, in conjunction with the UNSC Navy, attacked the Insurrectionists, who fled to the Eridanus system's asteroid belt and established a base. The SPARTAN-II Program was later activated by ONI to quell the Insurrection. Following the increase of the Insurrectionists and the Sovereign Colonies' founding of their own military, the UNSC launched the decisive Operation TREBUCHET in 2513. Across the inner and outer colonies, the UNSC finished the Sovereign Colonies Armed Forces, annihilating the last of their forces. The result was the end of the biggest separatist faction, but also the deaths of billions of innocents and military men and women alike, leading to mass panic and Dr. Elias Carver's thesis, the Carver Findings.

First Contact War
"Many of you may have come from outer colonies. Colonies that fell to the Covenant while the UNSC took their time to enact methods of dealing with the alien fuckers. Colonies that you know were not as well protected as they could have been, because the UNSC's loyalties are to Earth first, the inner colonies next, and the outer colonies last."

- - Anonymous Rubble resident While most of the Insurrectionists were quelled during Operation TREBUCHET, including the total dismantling of the Sovereign Colonies Armed Forces, most of the outer colonies would perish at the hands of the Covenant during the First Contact War. The outer colony Shanxi was the first planet invaded and glassed by the Covenant, in 2525, and the hegemony continued to advance through human territory, invading and destroying all planets, moons and bases they could find. Admiral Preston Cole was able to build a defense force in the outer colonies to stop the Covenant from further attack other planets, but despite his tactical ingenuity and prowess, the Covenant proved to be much superior and easily passed through them. With the glassing of Jericho VII, majority of the outer colonies were destroyed by the Covenant. After the attack, Cole and the UNSC High Command established the Cole Protocol, which dictated that no human vessel should retreat to a human-controlled system if it was encountered by the Covenant, in an attempt to prevent the alien invaders from locating other colonies.

In the middle of the war, the unner colonies found themselves hopeless, and resorting to extract their own resources, once supplied by the outer colonies. Forests on inner colonies such as Chi Ro were forced to convert into farm lands in order to produce food supplies. The Covenant would briefly pause their onslaught on the outer colonies in 2543, only to resume their operations while attacking the Inner Colonies at the same time. By 2552, most of the outer colonies were glassed by the Covenant, and the number of colonies under the control of the UEG were insignificant, with its inhabitants in constant fear of being attacked by the Covenant.

Economy
The outer colonies made the selling of resources to the Inner Colonies their living, as they depended of the core worlds' military, industrial and technological products to survive. Some of the planets were colonized mainly for their multiple resources, with the intent of producing food for an ever-increasing famine population. Most outer colonies were attacked and glassed by the Covenant during the First Contact War, thus forcing the inner colonies to develop their own goods' resources.