Humans

For a hundred years, humanity has enjoyed a golden age of peace, trade and prosperity, moving freely to colonise new worlds, many already with earth like environments out among the stars.

One of the newest species on the Galactic scene, Humanity, like the League, have turned away from earlier dreams of transhumanism and the creation of new life forms, biological or mechanical, that might become superior competitors. Instead, humanity turned its considerable creativity to certainties of scientific improvement, to creating better machines, materials and medicines to take them into the future.

Earth, let alone the whole of humanity, has not unified under a single government, but is rather divided into a series of large regional blocks. These include the European Union, the USA and its Allies, China, India, Mercosur, and The Pacific Combine (which includes Japan, Korea, Australia and the old ASEAN states). Each of these groups, together with various non-aligned nations, has sent out colony ships, which enjoy varying degrees of independence from earth.

There are clouds on the horizon, however: Humanity is increasingly encroaching on the borders of alien species, not to mention the boundaries that various Earth-based and colonial groups have drawn for themselves. Conflicts between human and alien, and human and human, are becoming more and more frequent – and more and more violent.

Aside from territorial conflicts, the international laws that forbid research into illegal areas such as genetic engineering are violated with greater regularity, and the Interpol forces charged with enforcing them are overstretched. Some say that they approach the end of human history. Others say that humanity will soon become something far greater.

History

While many hail the twenty-second century as a new Golden Age, it was not without problems to interested historians. At its beginning, humanity was embroiled in a multi-sided cold war marked by espionage, clashes around the periphery, and even relatively small conflicts between regular troops along regional boarders. This war continued even as the solar system was colonised in the asteroid belt and various other planets; these settlements were patrolled by the first space warships and strike craft.

It was two events which ushered in the new era of international cooperation: the Martian/Jovian rebellion and the discovery of FTL drive.

Clouded Beginnings: 2110-2122

The first human colonies on Mars and the moons of Jupiter where founded in the 2070s, mostly as expansions of scientific stations to provide liberty ports for the burgeoning asteroid mining industry. Far from earth - several months flight time for the first half century of their existence - the colonies became increasingly independent, and began to gain far more connection to their fellow colonists than their states or regions back home. The fact that neither Martian nor Jovian colonies where seen as priorities by Earth-based governments, save for the relative trickle of resources they received, only increased cooperation (and discontent) as various settlement cooperated to survive and extend themselves. Mars and Jupiter also became home to growing transhumanist movements, as enhancements made it far easier to survive the harsh conditions there.

By 2110, both Martian and Jovian colonies had become less and less content with earth-based government, which was often incompetent or at best uncaring. Mars and Jupiter had become something of a dumping ground for dissidents and other unwanted Earth-natives; in the 2110s, this backfired spectacularly. Mars and Jupiter rose in rebellion, joined by several military units stationed there. Colonial militias took control of several large asteroids which they threatened to use against Earth, but the threat of a massed response from Earth's considerable nuclear arsenals served to prevent this. Instead, the first few years of the war where marked by stellar skirmishes as Earth's blocs rebuilt their space forces to oppose the much more experienced colonial fleets, and coped with the resource shortages bought on by lack of access to the main belt.

The war also spurred a massive increase in research into new drive systems, leading almost accidentally to the discovery of faster-than-light drive by the European Space Agency's Stuttgart Group. The invention of FTL drive tipped the war in Earth's favour, as it allowed reinforcements to rapidly move to the main belt, Mars and Jupiter, quickly knocking out the Colonists’ asteroid deterrent and destroying most of their navies.

The ground invasion proved quiet bloody, with Earth's armies resorting to tactical nuclear strikes on several colonialist positions, but ultimately resistance folded and Mars and Jupiter where bought back into Earth's grasp. In the wake of the war, colonial control and restrictions on transhumanism and other banned sciences where strengthened heavily, with the new international regimes remaining in place to this day.

The FTL drive, and the (fairly brief) era of complete global cooperation that followed the war kick-started a new era of colonisation, one which would take humanity farther than anyone had ever dreamed.

The Great Age of Colonisation

Despite initial hopes of a truly global order and colonisation regulated by international agreement, the UN colonisation management regime quickly collapsed, and regional blocks and non-aligned states began to colonise wherever they could. Often several states would colonise parts of the same planets, forming distinct ethnic groups which would later mature into separate states, and lead to far less homogenous colonies.

Despite the breakdown of the UN colonisation regime, the forty years after the Martian Rebellion where an era of peace without external military dangers, as the major powers were concentrating most of their efforts on colonisation. While some insecurity continued it never approached the scale of the new cold war of the twenty first century, and the one major military engagement was not the product of human on human conflict, rather it was the result of first contact with aliens.

First Contact

Humanity's first contact was almost surprisingly unchallenging to their perception of their place in the universe. The Malkar where confined to a single star system and had technology far less advanced than Humanity’s; equal at best to Earth at the end of the twentieth century. While there were initial policies to avoid interfering with a far less advanced planet, the Malkar world government's awful treatment of their own population - a full two thirds of which was kept in virtual slavery by a brutal system of castes, inherited debts and feudalism – stirred imperialist ideals to action.

Given the Malkar's helplessness before human technology and tactics, it proved easy for the various Earth regional blocs and major colonies to overthrow their world government and take over with only minimal and largely ineffective resistance. Most malkar prospered from the invasion, which ended feudalism, ancestor debts and much of the caste system’s brutal aspects, and bought in much advanced human technology. In time, the aliens began to grow dissatisfied with their status as second class citizens on many human worlds. That was in the future however, as humanity continued to roll further into space.

The Twenty Years Crisis

The 2160s proved to be a deeply troubled decade, with tensions on earth flaring once more. The great powers and their more established colonies slowly began to receive diminished returns from their continuing colonisation programs, and turned inwards. There were several eruptions on earth and in the colonies, especially between non-aligned states who the great powers attempted to use as their proxies. Often rather than gain them an advantage, this merely drew major regional blocks into local squabbles, and allowed less advanced countries to obtain more and more advanced weapons.

At the same time, numerous bloc-controlled colonies were seeking independence, which caused several bloody wars between locals and troops from earth. Matters came to a head in 2170, when the Laos/Myanmar war went nuclear and almost obliterated both states before Chinese and Pacific League Peace Keeping forces could arrive.

Following the nuclear exchange, things escalated rapidly, with full scale war erupting on several of the colonies between loyal and secessionist forces. By the end of the decade the Malkar had also rebelled, and interspecies violence was becoming more and more prevalent on various of the colonies.

By the 2180s, things moved to crisis resolution, numerous colonies where granted independence (in name at least) from terrestrial authority, while bloc forces moved to stamp out the worst rebellions. On earth, new anti-proliferation regimes where created to prevent a repeat of the Nuclear Exchange, with few powers being allowed to retain their warheads, and violators subject to military action.

Things quieted down by the end of the 2180s, just in time for humanity's second, much more significant contact with alien life.

Second Contact: the League

First contact between humanity and the League came in 2191, when an exploration vessel from the independent Sumatran States colony entered the Galileo-192 system and found an explorer from the League Exploration Service, also surveying. While the Sumatran government initially tried to keep contact a secret, leaks and the arrival of more League vessels quickly let the cat out of the bag. Diplomatic contact was established with various League powers, followed by trade links. The human blocs where excited by the opportunities presented, but wary of power of the alien alliance they now faced; the colonies saw both a possible direct threat and a chance to further escape ties to earth.

Despite this, the forty years since contact have been relatively quiet, as both sides took the measure of one another, and nobody pursued rash action. Climatic effects caused by the Nuclear Exchange are still being dealt with on earth, and most of the independent colonies where still dealing with setting up new governments after throwing off their old governments. There was little time for foreign policy, until now.

Today

Despite the various clamp-downs and crisis-resolution methods of the 2180s, the twenty-years crisis wasn't really been resolved; it has merely been shelved and tamped down once the pressure had been released. Earth's blocs continued to interfere in the colonies’ internal and external affairs, and pursued unfair trade practices towards them. At the same time, many terrestrial populations felt the colonies where too isolated and lacked concern for the plight of the still massive populations remaining on Earth (which is now beginning to face another crisis over resources). This coming disaster will only intensify competition between Earth's power blocks.

Contact with the League offers its own dangers and opportunities, but will the humans be fitted into the League's system? Or will this alien organization become just another piece in the great game of human politics?

Politics and Factions

Over the twenty-first century, humanity more and more divided into a series of regional entities. The European Union was first, growing east to include Russia, but it was followed by others, some based around nation states, others truly supranational entities like Mercosur which now controls almost the entirety of South America.

Independent nations do exist however, especially in the colonies, where a new crop of post colonial regimes is now growing to maturity.

African Union

The youngest of the blocs on earth, the African Union's economy is still developing, but doing so at a rapid rate, the African Union has much of planet earth's untapped terrestrial resources and a large amount of human capital, though they have limited off world holdings which they are extremely keen to hold onto, they are also willing to ally with independent colonies... providing their own are not threatened.

China

China is perhaps the Earth's largest power, with a population of over one billion people on earth alone, and a highly developed space fleet and infrastructure are second to none. For over a century China has been the dominant actor in Earth's affairs, even if it's dominance has never approached that of the United States in the late twentieth century, it was certainly the world's superpower in that it was the state that all others must consider when acting.

China's relative power has diminished slightly in recent times, with the emerging economies of the colonies and African Union making it slightly less rich, however China's grand fleet remains human space's primary peace keeper.

European Union

The grand old lady of Earth's politics, The Europe Union extends from the Atlantic to the Urals and continues to enjoy the world's highest standard of living. Europe also remains China's main rival on land, and disputes along the border between Russia and China have escalated into armed clashes in the past. With the resent ramping up of tensions, The European Union has begun a major drive to increase its space navy, and heavy diplomacy to court potential new allies, be they human or alien.

India

India is earth's rising power, and tipped by many to be the next China, however until recently, China has been successful in neutralising much of India's power through deals with various powers around it such as Afghanistan and Bangladesh, and some areas have experienced serious negative effects from the aftermath of the Nuclear Exchange.

Having still not achieved the great power status that it had hoped for in the twenty first century, India is extremely dissatisfied with its global position, and has begun courting the European Union as an ally against the Chinese.

Mercosur

Controlling much of South America, Mercosur is one of the best entrenched regional blocks on Earth, and controls a large number of colonies. Mercosur is firm allies with the Pacific Association, a relationship stretching back to the days of the old ASEAN regional association that predated the Alliance, and enjoys good relations with most other regional blocks, seeing its self as something of a balancer in world affairs.

Mercosur's only real security threat is the United States, which it has experienced one dispute after another with throughout the last two centuries, and now faces off with across central America.

Pacific Asociation

The Pacific Alliance is in some ways the least secure of Earth's Alliances, faced as it is with the possibility of conflict with China, Earth's biggest military power. Consisting of Australia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Thailand, Japan and Korea, the Pacific Alliance has been relatively successful in fending off pressure from other blocks such as China, India and the USA, and building up its own colonial holdings. The Pacific Alliance maintains some of the best relations with non-aligned nations, and has successfully set up an off world base of power to counter the relative weakness of its position on earth.

The Association has also had successful dealings with aliens, and controls several of the colonies which serve as gateways to the League. This has in some ways moved the Alliance's centres of influence off earth especially given the damage done to areas of Vietnam by the Nuclear Exchange, and there is even talk of relocating its capital to the colonies, making the League the closest thing to a truly interstellar bloc.

The North American Alliance

The United States is no longer a superpower, certainly no longer the superpower, but with its allies in Canada and Mexico, it remains one of Earth's major regional blocs, and remains secure on its continent, if no longer in the entire western hemisphere. The United State's position has declined sharply relative to other blocks however, and many policy makers in the United States, Mexico and Canada feel that the old glories of the past have slipped away and need to be recaptured.

The North American Alliance is the smallest of the bloc's in terms of population, though it remains rich, with a standard of living behind only to Europe and the Pacific Association.

Non-aligned Powers

Despite the growth of regional blocs, there are still non-aligned powers on earth. South Africa, Iran, Greater Syria and Egypt are all significant members of the non-aligned movement with their own space colonies, while states like Arabia, Kazakhstan and Bangladesh being second tier members, seeking their own colony projects.

The Non-aligned movement suffered a great deal of international backlash after the Nuclear Exchange, in which two non-aligned states (Laos and Myanmar) destroyed one another, with many blocs believing that independent sovereign states are a dangerous anachronism, even if they do find them useful in their competition with one another.

Independent Colonies

The further you go from earth, the more the number of sovereign entities increases. There are numerous independent states in the colonies, some claiming entire planets, others more rational geographic boundaries. The Independent colonies tend to have fiercely independent post colonial regimes, though many are somewhat disorganised even years after independence.

While Independent colonies are definitely self governing their sovereignty is not at the level of a 20th century state, as they are constrained by a host of international laws, including bans on research into certain types of technology, and various trade and human rights regimes. Independent Colonies are often still faced with economic dependence on the Earth, especially Earth corporations, and the discontent this causes is likely to boil over before too long.

Technology

For most of the last two hundred years humanity has had an ambivalent relationship with its technology. During the early 21st century, cybernetics, genetic engineering and the like seemed hugely open to abuse, and, indeed, was heavily abused on several occasions. By the end of the so called "cyberpunk" era heavy regulation of AI, cybernetics and genetic research had been put in place. Every attempt to research such technology since then has been similarly stamped out by the international community. Very limited cybernetics are allowed for military and prosthetic applications.

This doesn't mean to say humanity isn't very advanced however. Space travel, energy generation and the like are all vastly ahead of what they were at the beginning of the 21st century. Humans now ride between the stars in gleaming star ships which can go faster than the speed of light, protected by thick composite armour and force shields against a hostile universe.

Earlier predictions about space combat have been proved wrong, as various ECM and baffling devices have allowed for both blinding of enemy sensors and stealth ships. Now, human warcraft launch waves of Exocraft, small single person space craft capable of attacking independently of their mother ship. These come in a variety of shapes, from aerodynes to giant humanoids, and have become a staple of human warfare.

The other major different in the 23rd century is the deployment of fully formed virtual worlds, often used in conjunction with the real world to augment, or sometimes replace reality. These worlds are used for amusement, business and various other applications, and have extensive consumer applications. Most human craft have virtual reality interfaces which allows their crews a degree of control unheard of in previous centuries.

While technology is perhaps not what it could be, or as refined as that of the League it is certainly powerful, with who knows what innovation just over the horizon.