Some folks down at VTAK say they’ve found a flaw in Gunderson’s proof of the commutivity of the Trallis-5 function, so I think we’re going to hold off on firebombing Gzaznik Five until the peer-review’s done.
–Departmental Memo, Parliamentary Risk Assessment Committee

The development of the Social Calculus, first introduced in its modern form in 3254 s.y.v.p., was the first true revolution in interstellar governance. It had long been an axiom that a unified galactic government was not only undesirable, it was effectively impossible. Centralized power cannot be attentive to the needs of more than 20 or 30 worlds, and decentralization begets factionalism and ultimately breakdown. Thus the Parliament of Worlds, it its original configuration, was more designed to create a central forum where its member states could debate and interact in harmony rather than a true federation of disparate worlds and species.

The Calculus was first perfected by the Zeirath Itannius, as a means for his species to maintain unity and cohesiveness as they expanded into the universe in pursuit of what he considered their manifest destiny. While it failed to gain traction among the Vermailians, neighboring empires saw the potential of a rigorous symbolic representation of social change, and from there, parliamentary adoption, and thus the opening of the door to large-scale interstellar government, was inevitable.

—Heichner Kzolknov