History Main / OneFederationLimit

* ''Franchise/MassEffect''. The main factions are the Asari Republics, the Systems Alliance, the Turian Hierarchy, the Batarian Hegemony, the Vol Protectorate, the Salarian Union, and the Illuminated Primacy. On closer examination, this is likely averted because of the turian foreign policy: There are stated to be more 'client races' besides the volus. So, more than one Protectorate.
* From what we know so far, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' only has one Republic (Bastok), one Kingdom (San d'Oria), one Federation (Windurst), and one Duchy (Jeuno). There are other Empires than Aht Urhgan, but it's the only one players can get to.
* ''VideoGame/EveOnline'' has the Gallente Federation, Minmatar Republic, Caldari State, Amarr Empire, Khanid Kingdom, and Ammatar Mandate.
** Minor factions with designs of being nation-states include the Intaki Syndicate, the Thukker Tribe, and Sansha's Nation.
*** The players themselves keep to this trope. When some players decided to roleplay as Intaki separatists, they named their alliance the Intaki Union.
** Partially averted with the Jovians. The official name of the Jovian nation, according to the map, is the Jovian Empire. However, the Jovians are isolationist, and they don't feature much in politics.
* The WorldBuilding web game ''VideoGame/NationStates'' averted this at the beginning, by giving you a list of about twenty possible state types to choose from. Once you reached a high enough level, though, you could make up your own. Unsurprisingly, aiming to be as unique as possible was a popular consideration.

* The [[VideoGame/{{X}} X-Universe]] has the Argon Federation, [[OneNationUnderCopyright Teladi Space Company]], Kingdom/Queendom of Boron, Great Patriarchy of the Split / Split Dynasty, Godrealm of the Paranid (or Paranid Empire for short), Earth State (which includes the [[EliteArmy AGI Task Force]] and United Space Command), Free State of Solara,[[note]]a.k.a. the Aldrin cluster[[/note]] Xenon Network, and Kha'ak Hive. The ''[[AllThereInTheManual X-Encyclopedia]]'' adds the Hatikvah Free League and Convention of the Herd.[[note]]the government of the planetbound Wenendra, a Boron protectorate[[/note]] ''Videogame/XRebirth'' includes the [[OneNationUnderCopyright Plutarch Corporation]], the [[LostColony Republic of Cantera]], and the [[LaResistance Heart of Albion]]

* The SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/CivilizationBeyondEarth'', the 8 colonies are named after their sponsor, not all of which have a qualifier. For example, Brasilia, Franco-Iberia, and Polystralia don't have a qualifier, although the diplomacy screens for the leaders of the first and third list their allegiance is "Organization of South American States" and "Commonwealth of the Pacific". The other 5 colonies have appropriate (and unique) qualifiers: American Reclamation Corporation, Kavithan Protectorate, Pan-Asian Cooperative, People's African Union, and Slavic Federation. In the ''Rising Tide'' DLC, of the 4 new colonies, only one has a qualifier (North Sea Alliance), the other three (Al Falah, INTEGR, Chungsu) don't, although INTEGR technically stands for "Initiative für Nachhaltige Technologien, Effizienz, Gerechtigkeit und Rechtschaffenheit" - "Initiative for sustainable technologies, efficiency, justice, and righteousness", so its qualifier might be "Initiative".
* The other SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/PandoraFirstContact'' has the Imperium, Divine Ascension, Togra University, Noxium Corporation, Terra Salvum, Solar Dynasty, and Ambassadors.

* While averted in the first two games in ''VideoGame/MasterOfOrion'' franchise (every power was called an empire, regardless of the race or the form of government), it's played straight in the reboot, where each race has both a unique faction name as well as a ruler title. This even applies to the two human powers: the Human Republic (President) and the Terran Khanate (Khan). Only two ruler titles are similar (the Bulrathi Emperor and the Mrrshan Empress), but their governments have different names (the Bulrathi Empire and the Mrrshan Pride). Many of these government names are pretty unique, such as the Psilon Quanta (Controller), the Silicoid Crag (Keystone), and the Trilarian Shoal (Stinger). Minor races also have government names, all of which come from RealLife types of rule (e.g. Degonite Kritarchy, Thersonian Timocracy, Zarkonian Chiefdom).
* ''VideoGame/StarDrive 2'' gives us the United Federation (humans), Chukk Affiliation, Cordrazine Collective, Draylok Council, Kulrathi Shogunate, Opteris Hive, Pollop Symbiosis, Ralyeh Theocracy, and Vulfar Imperium.
* In the ''VideoGame/{{X}}'' series, the named governments are the Argon Federation, the Boron Kingdom, the Paranid Empire, the Split Dynasty, and the Teladi Company.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'': Fódlan's three polities are the Adrestian Empire, the Holy Kingdom of Fearghus, and the Leicester Alliance.
** And in the AlternateTimeline game ''VideoGame/FireEmblemWarriorsThreeHopes'', the Alliance [[spoiler: becomes the Leicester Federation in the Golden Wildfire route]].

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' - None of the factions besides the Clans share any naming conventions - [[TheFederation Free Worlds League]], [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld Draconis Combine]], [[YellowPeril Capellan Confederation]], [[ProudMerchantRace Lyran Commonwealth]], Federated Suns, [[NorseByNorsewest Free Rasalhague Republic]], the 20 versions of [[ProudWarriorRace Clan Adjective Whatever]], Republic of the Sphere, [[RagTagBunchOfMisfits Outworlds Alliance]], [[TheEmpire Rim Worlds Republic]], Taurian Concordant, [[LadyLand Magistracy of Canopus]], [[SpaceRomans Marian Hegemony]], and dozens of minor kingdoms out in the Periphery. Interestingly, there are no "Empires" - there was one major canonical self-proclaimed emperor in the setting's history -- Stefan Amaris the Usurper, whose treachery started a war that killed billions of people and led to the end of the [[GoldenAge Star League]]. After that wonderfulness, calling yourself "Emperor" in that setting would probably be equivalent to calling yourself [[GodwinsLaw "Führer"]] in postwar Europe.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'', where various empires can call themselves Empire, Commonwealth, Republic, League, Assembly and more, as their government forms and the RNG dictate.

*** '''From TV''' United Federation of Planets, Klingon Empire, Romulan Star Empire, Cardassian Union, Breen Confederacy, Ferengi Alliance, Sheliak Corporate, Republic of Bajor, Kazon Collective, Borg Collective, Vidiian Sodality, Haakonian Order, the Dominion.
*** '''From Expanded Universe and Novels''': United Planets of Tellar, United Rigel Colonies, United Earth, First Federation, Andorian Empire, Danteri Empire, Deltan Union, Confederacy of Vulcan, Regnancy of the Carnelian Throne, Gorn Hegemony, Tholian Assembly, Tzenkethi Coalition, Nyberrite Alliance, Metron Consortium, Talarian Republic, People's Republic of Coridan, Magisterial Cheka Kingdom, Plutocracy of Ardana, Ubarrak Primacy, Devore Imperium, Krenim Imperium, Karemma Foundation, B'omar Sovereignty, Hierarchial Order of Voth, Hermat Directorate, New Thallonian Protectorate, the Hierarchy, the Imperial Romulan State (a breakaway of the Empire).

** Behind the scenes, the Earth Sphere Federation of Season 2 was originally just the "Earth Federation". Probably to prevent confusion over the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam UC]] [[NamesTheSame nation of the same name]], the "Sphere" was inserted.

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' - None of the factions besides the Clans share any naming conventions - [[TheFederation Free Worlds League]], [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld Draconis Combine]], [[YellowPeril Capellan Confederation]], [[ProudMerchantRace Lyran Commonwealth]], Federated Suns, [[NorseByNorsewest Free Rasalhague Republic]], the 20 versions of [[ProudWarriorRace Clan Adjective Whatever]], [[MarySueTopia Republic of the Sphere]], [[RagTagBunchOfMisfits Outworlds Alliance]], [[TheEmpire Rim Worlds Republic]], Taurian Concordant, [[LadyLand Magistracy of Canopus]], [[SpaceRomans Marian Hegemony]], and dozens of minor kingdoms out in the Periphery. Interestingly, there are no "Empires" - there was one major canonical self-proclaimed emperor in the setting's history -- Stefan Amaris the Usurper, whose treachery started a war that killed billions of people and led to the end of the [[GoldenAge Star League]]. After that wonderfulness, calling yourself "Emperor" in that setting would probably be equivalent to calling yourself [[GodwinsLaw "Führer"]] in postwar Europe.

* Defied in ''Literature/{{Reds}}''. In the post-[=WW2=] world, the three superpowers are the Franco-British Union, the Union of American Socialist Republics, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. And that's just the three top dogs.

** ZAFT is also an alliance, just like the rival Earth Alliance; the name is an acronym. While little attention is paid to that fact within the show itself, the twelve colony clusters are akin to nations within ZAFT. Orb and the other other independent nation of any note (a unified Scandinavia) are both kingdoms.

** And as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpKmG7mDaDM explained here]] there's another reason for having the Holy Roman Empire identify only as "TheEmpire" in many documents as it was an essential part of Western Christian theology that can only be one empire in the world, a Universal and Christian empire that could only be one due to the teological concept of ''translatio imperii'' from the Roman Empire.

* Discussed thoughtfully and in fairly great detail in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYiMurIw-MA this video]] by the Templin Institute.

** In the original "Mirror, Mirror" episode that introduced the concept of the Mirror Universe the Empire was nameless and was just called "The Empire". Which caused much speculation on the actual name in the ExpandedUniverse with comics and books referring to it as the Human Empire, Human-Vulcan Empire and the United Empire of Planets. It wasn't until the Deep Space Nine episode "In a Mirror, Darkly" that the name "Terran" Empire was officially added and after that the issue was set, to the point of been retroactively added in the two prequels Enterprise and Discovery.

** Despite the varying names, there's actually two federations in there. And [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp back in the day]], the Russian Federation was represented by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which splits the difference between the United States and the French Republic, in name if not in politics. And of course, this only applies [[TranslationConvention in English]], three of the five countries of course have entirely different names due to being in Mandarin Chinese, French, and Russian.

** Fire Nation propaganda claims that the Air Nomads were the Air Nation.

** In Spanish and Portuguese there are still two places named America; the country better known as United States and the continent of America (North and South America are considered one single continent in the Latin world), whilst this is not the case in English and other languages were North America and South America are two different continents thus America can only be applied to the country. This causes a lot of controversy as many Spanish and Portuguese-speaking peoples find offensive the use of America in reference to the United States and their citizens. The term American (''Americano'') is another source of controversy as in Spanish and Portuguese is the demonym for the natives of the continent and even the Spanish Royal Academy which oversees the use of the Spanish language recommends its use for the continent's naturals and for the citizen of the US recommends instead using ''Estadounidense'' (roughly translated as ''United Statean''). American in English it's also the demonym for the native of The Americas (as in Organization of American States) but rarely use in that context.
* In RealLife no country can legally have the same name as an already existing country, as several international treaties prevent it and also will have a problem entering the UN. Similar names can be accepted though (example the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo) but polemics over two states using the same name exist in the international community as for example the cases of Korea and China. The Republic of China (Taiwan) for example uses China-Taipei in several international situations (like the Olympics) and the pro-independence faction was planning to enter the UN using the name Taiwan. Another complex example of two countries fighting over a name is the polemic over Macedonia, which was settled after Macedonia agreed to change it official name to Northern Macedonia easing relationships with a wiry Greece who claims ownership over the region of the historical Macedonia (which is not Northern Macedonia, or that is what the Greeks claim). This may allow Northern Macedonia to enter the UE and other organizations without worrying for Greece's veto.

** And as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpKmG7mDaDM explained here]] there's another reason for having the Holy Roman Empire identify only as "TheEmpire" in many documents as it was an essential part of Western Christian teology that can only be one empire in the world, a Universal and Christian empire that could only be one due to the teological concept of ''translatio imperii'' from the Roman Empire.

* ''StarWars'' has only one centralized government in the first two movie trilogies (TheRepublic and TheEmpire) fighting against one group of separatists/rebels (The Confederacy and TheAlliance). The new trilogy thus far changed that with two governments: The New Republic and The First Order, the first order also have their rebels, LaResistance.

* The SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/CivilizationBeyondEarth'', the 8 colonies are named after their sponsor, not all of which have a qualifier. For example, Brasilia, Franco-Iberia, and Polystralia don't have a qualifier. The other 5 colonies have appropriate (and unique) qualifiers: American Reclamation Corporation, Kavithan Protectorate, Pan-Asian Cooperative, People's African Union, and Slavic Federation. In the ''Rising Tide'' DLC, of the 4 new colonies, only one has a qualifier (North Sea Alliance), the other three (Al Falah, INTEGR, Chungru) don't, although INTEGR technically stands for "Initiative für Nachhaltige Technologien, Effizienz, Gerechtigkeit und Rechtschaffenheit" - "Initiative for sustainable technologies, efficiency, justice, and righteousness", so its qualifier might be "Initiative".

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' - None of the factions besides the Clans share any naming conventions - [[TheFederation Free Worlds League]], [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld Draconis Combine]], [[YellowPeril Capellan Confederation]], [[ProudMerchantRace Lyran Commonwealth]], Federated Suns, [[NorseByNorsewest Free Rasalhague Republic]], the 20 versions of [[ProudWarriorRace Clan Adjective Whatever]], [[MarySueTopia Republic of the Sphere]] [[RagTagBunchOfMisfits Outworlds Alliance]], [[TheEmpire Rim Worlds Republic]], Taurian Concordant, [[LadyLand Magistracy of Canopus]], [[SpaceRomans Marian Hegemony]], and dozens of minor kingdoms out in the Periphery. Interestingly, there are no "Empires" - there was one major canonical self-proclaimed emperor in the setting's history -- Stefan Amaris the Usurper, whose treachery started a war that killed billions of people and led to the end of the [[GoldenAge Star League]]. After that wonderfulness, calling yourself "Emperor" in that setting would probably be equivalent to calling yourself [[GodwinsLaw "Führer"]] in postwar Europe.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'', which gave us ''the'' [[TheFederation Federation]], uses the "more empires for bad guys" exception. The Romulans, Klingons, Kelvans ("By Any Other Name") and one planet in star system 892 ("Bread and Circuses") had empires, and that's just from ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. The Terran Empire (instead of the United Federation of Planets) of the Mirror Universe doesn't really count because it's in an AlternateUniverse.

Definitely not TruthInTelevision.

In most fiction there is [[OneSteveLimit only one guy named Steve]] to avoid confusion. Similar to that, each state type seems to be unique in some works of fiction. There is only one [[TheFederation federation]], one [[TheRepublic republic]], etc.

* In ''Anime/CodeGeass'', the world is divided into three main superpowers; the Euro Universe, the Holy Empire of Britannia and the Chinese Federation. There used to be a Middle-Eastern Federation, but it was conquered by Britannia in season one.

* The latest developments in the Franchise/StargateVerse put this trope into play in the Milky Way. We have the Tau'ri (Earth military forces under the UN Security Council, spearheaded by the United States), the Lucian Alliance, and the Free Jaffa Nation. The Goa'uld Empire would fit the list if it still existed. Some planetary nation-states includes names without qualifiers (Kelowna) and names with them (Tirania Confederacy, Rand Protectorate, Caledonian Federation).

* With enough expansions, ''TabletopGame/TwilightImperium'' can have an Empire, Barony, Federation, Emirates, Universities, Mindnet, Kingdom, Coalition, Collective, Tribes, Clan, and Brotherhood - although not all of these will be in play in single game.

* ''Franchise/MassEffect''. The main factions are the Asari Republics, the Systems Alliance, the Turian Hierarchy, the Batarian Hegemony, the Vol Protectorate, the Salarian Union and the Illuminated Primacy. On closer examination, this is likely averted because of the turian foreign policy: There are stated to be more 'client races' besides the volus. So, more than one Protectorate.

* The seven Factions of ''VideoGame/{{Celestus}}'' are the Thelios Federation, the Adrean Corporatist Republic, the Ducal Domains, the Zetran Dominion, the Amaranth Empire, the Leanth Circle and the Melrehns.

* ''VideoGame/GalacticCivilizations'': the Terran Alliance, Torian Confederacy, Korath Clan, Krynn Consulate, Iconian Refuge, Yor Collective, Drath Legion, Altarian Republic, and Korx Consortium are the only races with those titles. There are, however, three empires -- Thalan, Drengin and Arcean -- but even on the Galciv website only the Thalans are listed under that title, with the others simply being referred to as "the Arceans" and "the Drengin".

* Discussed thoughtfullly and in fairly great detail in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYiMurIw-MA this video]] by the Templin Institute.

** Despite the varying names there's actually two federations in there. And [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp back in the day]], the Russian Federation was represented by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which splits the difference between the United States and the French Republic, in name if not in politics. And of course, this only applies [[TranslationConvention in English]], three of the five countries of course have entirely different names due to being in Mandarin Chinese, French, and Russian.

** In Spanish and Portuguese there are still two places named America; the country better known as United States and the continent of America (North and South America are considered one single continent in the Latin world), whilst this is not the case in English and other languages were North America and South America are two different continents thus America can only be apply to the country. This causes a lot of controversy as many Spanish and Portuguese speaking peoples find offensive the use of America in reference to the United States and their citizens. The term American (''Americano'') is another source of controversy as in Spanish and Portuguese is the demonym for the natives of the continent and even the Spanish Royal Academy which oversees the use of the Spanish language recommends its use for the continent's naturals and for the citizen of the US recommends instead using ''Estadounidense'' (roughly translated as ''United Statean''). American in English it's also the demonym for the native of The Americas (as in Organization of American States) but rarely use in that context.
* In RealLife no country can legally have the same name as an already existing country, as several international treaties prevent it and also will have a problem entering the UN. Similar names can be accepted though (example the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo) but polemics over two states using the same name exist in the international comunity as for example the cases of Korea and China. The Republic of China (Taiwan) for example uses China-Taipei in several international situations (like the Olympics) and the pro-independence faction was planning to enter the UN using the name Taiwan. Another complex example of two countries fighting over a name is the polemic over Macedonia, which was settled after Macedonia agreed to change it official name to Northern Macedonia easing relationships with a wiry Greece who claims ownership over the region of the historical Macedonia (which is not Northern Macedonia, or that is what the Greeks claim). This may allow Northern Macedonia to enter the UE and other organizations without worrying for Greece's veto.

* While averted in the first two games in ''VideoGame/MasterOfOrion'' franchise (every power was called an empire, regardless of the race or the form of government), it's played straight in the reboot, where each race has both a unique faction name as well as a ruler title. This even applies to the two human powers: the Human Republic (President) and the Terran Khanate (Khan). Only two ruler titles are similar (the Bulrathi Emperor and the Mrrshan Empress), but their governments have different names (the Bulrathi Empire and the Mrrshan Pride). Many of these government names are pretty unique, such as the Psilon Quanta, the Silicoid Crag, and the Trilarian Shoal. Minor races also have government names, all of which come from RealLife types of rule (e.g. Degonite Kritarchy, Thersonian Timocracy, Zarkonian Chiefdom).

* While averted in the first two games in ''VideoGame/MasterOfOrion'' franchise (every power was called an empire, regardless of the race or the form of government), it's played straight in the reboot, where each race has both a unique faction name as well as a ruler title. This even applies to the two human powers: the Human Republic (President) and the Terran Khanate (Khan). Only two ruler titles are similar (the Bulrathi Emperor and the Mrrshan Empress), but their governments have different names (the Bulrathi Empire and the Mrrshan Pride).

* The latest developments in the Franchise/StargateVerse put this trope into play in the Milky Way. We have the Tau'ri (Earth military forces under the UN Security Council, spearheaded by the United States), the Lucian Alliance, and the Free Jaffa Nation. The Goa'uld Empire would fit the list if it still existed.

** Between all the series and the Franchise/StarTrekNovelVerse, there are a few duplicates, but also a ''lot'' of variety. Here goes:

*** The Franchise/StarTrekNovelVerse has also brought us the Typhon Pact, a coalition of the "main" Romulan Empire, the Gorn, the Tholians, the Breen, the Tzenkethi, and the Kinshaya. They banded together for mutual protection, just like the Federation, making them a different kind of adversary than the UFP usually faces.