Living in the tradition of Al Capone and Hamas, the IRA and the Red Martials, the OPA was beloved by the people it helped and feared by the ones who got in its way. Part social movement, part wannabe nation, and part terrorist network, it totally lacked an institutional conscience.

The Outer Planets Alliance (OPA) is a massive political confederation that first started as a loosely affiliated network borrowing or associating under a core common ideology of Belter independence.

The OPA's history began as a variety of Belter collectives formed from labor unions and activist groups fighting for the interests of the inhabitants of the Belt, but as time went on even pirate factions, crime syndicates, and insurgent cells flocked under its banner. Many criminal and pirate elements, such as the Loca Greiga and Golden Bough Society that adopted the OPA name, did so not necessarily out of solidarity with the Belter cause but mostly out of convenience to use as cover for their illicit enterprises, extortion rackets, and other illegal activities. When under a decentralized structure, OPA factions differ in their methods. While some OPA factions like Anderson Dawes's OPA faction and Tycho Station OPA believe in legitimizing Belter independence through peace and diplomacy, others like Black Sky and Inaros OPA believe that change could only be enacted through violence, leading some factions of the OPA to be labeled as terrorist organizations. As such, many of its members had a history of direct conflict with the Earth-Mars Coalition and their respective governments. Its logo is a split circle and distinct factions have cells based at every station in the Belt including two major sites Tycho Station and Ceres Station. The OPA was described as either a sociopolitical movement, according to people sympathizing with Belters, or a terrorist network, according to many from Earth and Mars. Because of its decentralized structure and the range of activities by groups claiming affiliation before their official independence, both descriptions have more than a little basis in fact. The statement that the OPA is decentralized negates the assertion that it has a headquarters. leaders of different types of OPA factions often came together to discuss decisions and strategy following major events in the system, enabling a level of organization and consensus to emerge among Belters.

History

The Belt was colonized by humans roughly in the 2200s after the invention of the Epstein Drive by the Martian engineer Solomon Epstein. In exchange for their independence, Mars thereafter shared the Epstein-technology with Earth, leading to the exploitation of resources and later to the colonization of asteroids and moons in the belt and the outer system by the two superpowers. People born on the colonized asteroids are called Belters.

While the OPA consists of various cells and associated movements, such as the student group Far Horizons Foundation, Fred Johnson has attempted to organize those he holds influence with into a provisional government and retain the chief administrative position.

When Earth withdrew from Ceres a month after the destruction of the Canterbury, the Outer Planets Alliance announced the inclusion of Ceres among official OPA-held real estate. A group of about one hundred soldiers under the command of Fred Johnson, with the help of the crew of the Rocinante and Miller, are able to take over Thoth Station, the managing station for the Eros Project.

Later, in an attempt to give Miller more time to convince the protomolecule-infected Julie Mao to drive Eros into Venus, Jim Holden has Fred reroute the UN nuclear missiles headed for Eros, and then store them after the crises is over. After the events of the Eros incident, Fred Johnson, representing the OPA gave a speech at the peace conference on Ceres.