///From the author: this is a good bit of lore to back up an in-progress project called Infinitum, which entails a band of outer system miscreants and vagabonds, many of them refugees of the Kuiper War, who are contracted for a supposedly simple passenger ferrying mission which spirals into a race against time to prevent all-out chaos...
The Setting:
(Map of major polities in the Kuiper Belt at the opening of Infinitum)
The new astropolitical order that emerged after the Frontier Wars ended in the late 2390s, with Earth and Mars funding the rebuilding of the outer solar system, could only last so long. As the people of the former Alliance of Free Worlds rose to a new height of power in the Solar Unions which rose from the aftermath of the Frontier Wars, Mars endured a long, slow decline in stature due to excessive spending on the reconstruction of its former enemies, a fact which radicalized its ever more nationalist military leaders.
This culminated in the 2517 Crimson Revolution when a cabal of hardliners led by Colonel Sanjay Galvani formed the Martian Federation. In 2525, the Federation and the remaining powers of the Solar Union embarked on a bitter struggle to control the vast resources of the Kuiper Belt and the Centauri system. This conflict only ended when the Martians agreed to peace talks in 2550.
Following the Treaty of Triton in 2552, the outer solar system settled into a period of tense peace, with the two superpowers resigned to consolidate their holdings and the neutral Outer System Patrol tasked with keeping the peace across the KuiperBelt. By 2564, however, many people fear that one side or the other–most likely the Martians–will do something stupid like instigating a return to open war out of a desire to further enlarge their empire. When the fast cargo hauler the Fool’s Errand crew picks up two passengers on an urgent mission to Titan Central, they may find themselves stepping right into Mars’ crosshairs.
The story of Infinitum opens in 2564, roughly a hundred years after the Second Frontier Crisis ended. Most of the original characters of that era are dead and gone, and a major theme of the plot of this second sequel series is whether or not their legacies have stood the test of time. For example, Matt’s tenure as President of the Union of Titan, Lex’s stint as IDC Fleet Marshall, Sam’s time wandering Solar Space as leader of the Journeymen, and Daniya’s status as Emissary of the Zharan Collective have made a profound impact on the social order of the 26th century, as have the unforeseen consequences of their actions.
An example is the Martian Federation, an outgrowth of political squabbles that hit a flashpoint after Matt Cavanaugh (d. 2493), Alex Fujikawa (d. 2498), and Sam Taskaro (d. 2501) passed away. Following the Kuiper Insurgency (2492-2511), which saw inner system superpowers fighting pirates and revolutionaries across the vast outer solar system, a rogue MARSCOM Colonel named Sanyar Galvani led the Crimson Revolution and seized power in 2517, turning Mars into an imperialist military dictatorship; following this, elder statesman Jade Cavanaugh, second granddaughter of Matt Cavanaugh, stepped in to mediate a return to order but disappeared in 2519, leading some to speculate that Galvani's followers had her removed as an obstacle to his consolidation of power and to Mars leaving the Union the following year.
The Federation then tightened its hold on space once held by the ICA and fought bush wars with any neighbors who opposed their expansion, as well as resistance cells believed by Galvani and his inner circle to be funded by the Union of Titan. This period of conflict ratcheted up tensions in Solar Space, especially as the Union organized its peacekeeping forces into a defensive posture and deployed them to the outer solar system to safeguard their allies there. Ultimately, this tension catalyzed the Kuiper War (2525-2552), which raged across the Kuiper Belt and Centauri Cluster for almost three decades, and originated as a dispute between the Martians and the Union of Titan over access to outer system trade routes and resources.
By the late 2540s, though, even Chancellor Galvani could see that his dreams of a Martian Empire were beyond reach. In 2552, he accepted the Union of Titan’s proposed cease-fire, bringing about a return to Status Quo Antebellum - each side would return to its pre-war borders, and would pitch in on the establishment of a mutual defensive zone between their territories: the demilitarized zone (DMZ). More than a decade after these negotiations came to a conclusion, this tense peace is still maintained at the cost of a few hundred peacekeeper’s lives per year, especially as disagreements over interstellar trade routes crossing the Demilitarized Zone in the Kuiper Belt continue to stir ire between both superpowers. Now, after twelve years of peace, the only question on most people's lips, is which side will blink first, and plunge the Kuiper Belt back into turmoil...
(A view of the Fool's Errand crusing past Luna on its way to Titan)
The Story:
The main character is a Martian expatriate named Jason (usually referred to as “Jay”), who captains a merchant vessel called the Fool’s Errand. His crew is a motley assortment of spacers drawn in by the promise of easy paydays and no questions asked about their murky pasts. He hides his own from all but his closest associates, and gives his trusted crew members the benefit of the doubt about theirs, as his own history contains a seven-year stint as a special operator in the Martian Command (MARSCOM) and combat action during the Kuiper-Centauri War. He keeps what happened back then to himself, especially the reason why he deserted and went on the run when news of the war’s end came in 2552, from anyone who asks.
Jay’s crew consists of First Officer “Servo”, a vintage zharan spacer; pilot/navigator Kalena, an expat from a reclusive Kuiper Belt commune who left because of her outgoing nature, and who sometimes gets the crew in trouble with her gambling debts; Remez, a Plutonian ex-mercenary who now serves as chief of security & cargo operations; and Cleo, a peculiar cloned being from the long-dead (but recently revived) alien race called the T'Larai, who communicates with hand signs and telepathy and fills the role of ship’s engineer. Together, this group of vagabonds, misfits, and outcasts chart a haphazard course through the Kuiper Belt in search of odd jobs to keep their ship fueled up long enough to make it to the next port.
The main plot initiates when the Fool’s Errand and crew arrive at a refueling outpost at the edge of a particularly volatile section of the DMZ (as free nation merchants, they have rights to cross the border when needed with minimal risk). As Jay discusses Kalena’s winnings (she bet a sizable portion of their fuel to try and get a bigger return on investment) with Servo, they are approached by an odd stranger: another zharan, who is also a member of the enigmatic Journeyman sect of vagabond warrior-sages. This stranger introduces them to the client under his protection, who turns out to be none other than Tamara Hawkins.
“Hawk”, as she is known, is a descendant of the roughly six thousand people sent out in 2269 as part of Project Wayfarer, which aimed to establish a permanent human presence in the Alpha Centauri system. Raised to be a diplomat, she ventured to the Sol System as part of a peace envoy in 2528 and became an instant celebrity as the “woman from another star,” feted around Sol in the years following the War. In 2561, however, she fell off the radar, and is rumored to have gotten involved with the rebel cause in the outer rim of the solar system. She now comes to Jay and his crew with a special mission: to take her and her across Solar Space to Titan, the seat of the Union of Titan, to deliver a message she hopes will prevent the return of all-out war.
This message involves the discovery by Martian scientists of a method to break the light barrier, by manipulating the power of transference and other precursor-derived tech. The ramifications of this are grave: in short, the Martians would be able to go anywhere they wanted, spreading their would-be empire far and wide and affecting causality violations along the way, thereby throwing the timespace continuum into chaos as a result of their ambitions. Hawkins hopes to bring news of this to the Union of Titan in time to circumvent Mars’ commencement of a war which she believes Galvani will incite to cement Mars’ place as the sole human superpower in the galaxy. To this end, she charts the Fool’s Errand as a makeshift passenger ship through hostile space, with Martian agents and bandits on their tail right the way along...
The Major Factions:
The Martian Federation
Population: 3.1 billion (approx. 1.7 billion live on Mars)
Capital: Federation Central - Galvani City, Mars (metro population - 71.3 million)
Government: one-party parliamentary federation (Supreme Chancellor - Sanjay Galvani)
Affiliation: itself (officially split from the Solar Union in 2520 after three years of tension)
Notes: arising from the Crimson Revolution of 2517, the Federation is notable in that it took the already simmering militarism and expansionist tendencies of the United Nations of Mars and followed them to their logical conclusion. The eventually eventually escalated into the Kuiper War (2525-2552), which saw the Martians fighting to wrest total control of the outer system from the Solar Union
The Solar Union
Population: 8.1 billion (inc. approx. 3.3 billion in Jupiter & Saturn sectors)
Capital: Solar Presidium - Samarkand, Titan (population - 57.5 million)
Government: constitutional federation (Prime Minister - Danyelle Hakusembe)
Affiliation: itself (official successor to the defunct Interplanetary Cooperative Administration)
Notes: the Union of Titan was the chief organizing power for much of Solar Space by the end of the 25th century, a paradigm shift which presaged the rise of resentful and militant nationalism on Mars. This led to the ascent of Chancellor Sanjay Galvani and the birth of the Martian Federation, which then became the primary opponent of the Union for control of the Kuiper Belt and beyond
The Smaller Players:
The Jovian Assembly
Population: 1.93 billion (inc. 626 million on Callisto)
Capital: Syrené, Callisto (metro population - 48.3 million)
Government: constitutional federation (Prime Minister - Ganado Solara)
Affiliation: Solar Union (one of two main components of the Union)
Notes: after the Frontier Wars ended, Callisto and Ganymede, both former strongholds of the Alliance, grew in power until they were nearly equal to Mars and Titan. In the decades which followed the Outer System Insurrections, the revitalized Galilean Union became a major player in the new power structure of Solar Space, and by the time of the Crimson Revolution, it was a superpower in its own right
The United Republic of Titan
Population: 765 million
Capital: Samarkand (population - 57.5 million)
Government: constitutional federation (Prime Minister - Regina Vidal)
Affiliation: Solar Union (one of two main components of the Union)
Notes: Titan was one of the main superpowers in Solar Space by the end of the 25th century, a paradigm shift which presaged the rise of a deeply resentful and militant nationalism on Mars. This led to the ascent of Chancellor Sanjay Galvani and the birth of the Martian Federation, which then became the primary opponent of the Solar Union for control of the Kuiper Belt and beyond
The Commonwealth of Uranus
Population: 483 million (73 percent of these live on the moons Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon)
Capital: Taurus City, Oberon (population - 23.8 million)
Government: federal parliamentary republic (Prime Minister - Grace Neumeier)
Affiliation: mixed (backs the Solar Union, but welcomes Martian business)
Notes: inspired by the needs of the Mars-Titan War (2294-2299), Uranus was sought after for its vast supplies of hydrogen and helium. It was a major source of these and other resources during the Frontier Wars, and became rich enough through its alliance with the ICA that it was a major power in the outer system by the time tensions raised again between Mars and Titan in the early 26th century
The Federation of Neptune and Triton
Population: 230 million (109 million of them on Triton)
Capital: Unkulunkulu, Republic of Uhlanga (population - 21.7 million)
Government: federal presidential republic (President - Ralen Monteca)
Affiliation: officially neutral (backed the Kuiper Liberation Front during the War)
Notes: despite being relatively small players in the era of the Frontier Wars, the Protectorate of Neptune and the Federal Republic of Triton acted as a major stepping stone for refugees seeking shelter in the Kuiper Belt. By the era of the Kuiper War, the combined Federation of Neptune & Triton had emerged as the official gateway to the Kuiper Belt, with the Treaty of Triton bringing the war to an end in 2552
The Republic of Acheron
Population: 14 million (highest in the Kuiper Belt - majority live in the "bridge city" of Acheron)
Capital: Port Acheron, Pluto (population - 4.6 million)
Government: unitary constitutional presidential republic (President - Yuta Cantacheros)
Affiliation: none (maintains neutrality as the Kuiper Belt's original "free state")
Notes: despite only emerging in the mid-23rd century, the Republic of Acheron had grown into a powerhouse of outer system politics by the time of the Frontier Wars (2371-2398). When the outer system erupted in the Kuiper-Centauri War in 2525, it was the richest and most populous of the “free republics” having sprung up there, and was a major hub for inner system expatriates in the postwar era
The Free State of Quaoar
Population: 11.6 million (second highest population after Pluto/Charon)
Capital: Port Tomol, Quaoar (population - 3.4 million)
Government: semi-presidential republic (President - Faience Haveri / Prime Minister - Luca Maldonado)
Affiliation: officially unaffiliated (maintains neutrality and enjoys relative peace and stability)
Notes: actually one of the first dwarf planets to be settled, Quaoar was in fact reached by pioneers only a few years after Pluto. Over the three centuries that followed, its home-grown trade empire flourished, centered largely on its cornering of the market on the design of deep space transit engines. This monopoly has allowed Quaoar to remain largely free of inner system influence, even during the Kuiper War
The Confederation of Orcus and Vanth
Population: 9.4 million (third highest of worlds in the Kuiper Belt)
Capital: Freehaven, Vanth Republic (population - 2.8 million)
Government: federal parliamentary republic (Chief Minister - Walter Prentiss)
Affiliation: none (maintains a "laissez-faire" policy that it claims protects its economy)
Notes: as a major port of call for merchant vessels in the years before the Kuiper War, the C.O.V. has retained a fair amount of autonomy in the years since it ended. Despite its importance to outer system commerce, it holds a strict “hands-off” policy, and refuses even to permit an Outer System Patrol base in its space. This may only buy it so much leniency if the War should kick back off again, however
The Democratic Republic of Rapa Nui
Population: 8.7 million (fourth most populous of the Kuiper Belt Objects)
Capital: Ariki Mau, Makemake (population - 2.6 million)
Government: unitary one-party totalitarian state (Premier - Yanek Unshara)
Affiliation: the Martian Federation (current regime is a puppet government propped up by Mars)
Notes: as the Martian Federation’s primary supporter in the outer system, the DRRN has long enjoyed the favors of the Red Planet’s imperial agenda, even at the detriment of its more free-thinking citizens. During the Kuiper War, Makemake hosted the Martian Outer System Command’s main base of operations, and Rapa Nui has remained the Federation’s principal ally in the Kuiper Belt since the war ended
The People's Republic of Haumea
Population: 7.1 million (fifth highest in the Kuiper Belt - majority live on Haumea)
Capital: Kanaloa City, Haumea (population - 1.4 million)
Government: unitary one-party socialist republic (Premier - Rani Tukaram)
Affiliation: the Martian Federation (maintains official neutrality but fools nobody)
Notes: Haumea was not settled until 2283, and its growth did not really take off until an influx of refugees of the Frontier Wars (2371-2398) caused its population to swell. By 2564, it has grown into a bustling trade empire, ruled by a small cabal of state-run business interests including the Ministry of Interstate Transit, which controls all traffic in and out of the highly-lucrative ports of the small, oblong dwarf planet
This is fucking wonderful. You did an outstanding job on the graphics, and I so enjoy the breakdown of each world. Please always make more of these.