The Alliance, formally known as the Union of Allied Planets, is a powerful fictional corporate supergovernment and law-enforcement organization in the Firefly franchise that controls the majority of territory within the known universe. It consists of Sihnon, a mostly East and Southeast Asian–themed planet led by the People's Republic of China (PRC), and Londinium, a world with mostly Northern American and Western European influences led by the United States of America (USA). It retains a mixture of both Western and Eastern cultures. English and Mandarin Chinese are commonly used languages, with most of the inhabitants under the Alliance being bilingual. Originally composed solely of a number of "core worlds," several years prior to the show's time frame the Alliance fought the Unification War to bring all colonized worlds under its control. The Independent Faction or "Browncoats" wanted the outer worlds to remain autonomous and attempted to resist Alliance control. The war raged for several years, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides, until the Alliance emerged victorious. An armistice was signed between the Alliance and the Independent Faction, thus ending the war and securing Alliance control over the entirety of the system. Name The scripts for the pilot, "Serenity," and the first broadcast episode, "The Train Job," refer to an "AngloSino" flag on the IAV spaceship Dortmunder and on the stolen boxes. The Alliance flag shown in the pilot is a blending of the American and Chinese flags, having the blue field and the red and white stripes of the United States flag and the red field and yellow stars of the Chinese flag. Two versions of this flag, one with 13 stripes and one with five stripes, appear in the series. The alliance is formally described as the Union of Allied Planets in the episode "Ariel." Corporations The Blue Sun corporation is a powerful conglomerate with much influence within the Alliance. Joss Whedon compared it with "Coca-Cola or Microsoft" and said that "practically half the government was Blue Sun." Their agents are "Hands of Blue." The Weyland-Yutani corporation from Alien is also alluded to; its logo appears on Alliance weapons. In the movie Serenity, the Alliance also hires local security companies. Universe The two worlds that make up the "core planets" (the first worlds to be terraformed) are Sihnon, a mostly East and Southeast Asian–themed planet, and Londinium, a world with mostly American and Western European influences. The alliance