///From the author: The world of 2389 is what I would call medium-hard sci-fi - physics are observed whenever possible, but there are caveats. For example, the basic method of spacecraft propulsion is pulsed fission or regular fusion, but there are also special operators who can use “neural connectivity” to read other people’s thoughts.
The basic idea here is that human civilization has evolved somewhat linearly in the three hundred years-plus between today and the setting of The Frontier Wars, with the exponential nature of advancement in the past century gradually slowing into a plateau in the coming century.
Still, while technology has not advanced as far as some optimistic futurists predict in the IRL 2020s, it has still wrought some very amazing future outcomes, from fusion power to mind-body uploading. In short, while tech may not be as science fantasy-miraculous as Star Wars, humanity has still managed to settle most of the Solar System by 2389.
In addition, the idea that human technology is always on the verge of another revolutionary paradigm shift is a major subtext of the entire Spacers Saga universe
Solar Space in the year 2389 CE
(A graphic displaying various locations in Solar Space and their affiliation)
Notes on the future history of The Frontier Wars
The many settled worlds of Solar Space all have their own unique culture and history, with orbital stations around the sun, hollowed-out asteroids in the main belt, and domed-over settlements on the gas giant moons mingling against a backdrop of interplanetary commerce and, more often than not, sociopolitical strife. The Interplanetary Cooperative Administration (ICA), born in the mid-21st century from an agreement among UN nations following the 2049 Lunar War that all offworld affairs were to be overseen equally by the assembly of peoples instead of by individual nations, abandoned the pretense of impartiality in the wake of the Solar Civil War (2273-2278), and now allows the wealthy Confederation of the Main Belt and their militaristic allies in the United Nations of Mars to call the shots in Solar Space. As a result, the Alliance of Free Worlds emerged to challenge the ICA’s oversight of solar resources and grant a new dimension of sovereignty to the colonial frontier. As the ICA seeks to rein in the colonial uprisings spilling across the vast solar frontier in the wake of the Draconist Crises (2324-2361), the nascent Alliance wages a revolution against their longstanding control of Solar Space.
This graphic was created to demonstrate the political situation in Solar Space, with color-coding to indicate which faction controls each world. It shows worlds as wholly or partly controlled by each faction based upon the 2281 Nüwa Accords, which apportioned controlled territories in the aftermath of the 2279-81 offensive run by the Alliance and their cohorts in the Zharan Collective. These divisions hold more or less true eight years later, though some blending of factions on worlds in the mid- and outer system does occur. A prime example of this is the Commonwealth of Titan, which remains jointly-run by both ICA and Alliance in a “divided world” scenario that is intended to allow for trade and discourse between the two superpowers. Still, as 2389 drags on, many commenters on both sides debate the idea that a lasting peace is merely a pipe dream, and that a return to open war will be, if nothing else, made inevitable by the necessities of each side’s military ambitions.
By and large, the single greatest threat to this fragile status quo is the existence of the Colonial Liberation Front, an insurrectionist faction which rebels against Alliance domination of the frontier in the name of achieving total colonial sovereignty. The conflict between the Alliance and the CLF has now spilled into its seventh year, and a zharan special forces Colonel named Damon Jerek wages a brutal campaign against the CLF’s various operational cells in the interest of whittling away at their ability to mobilize resistance to Alliance rule. As the ICA struggles to balance tacitly supporting the CLF rebellion with avoiding an outright breach of the Nüwa Accords, the dormant Frontier Wars seem closer than ever to reigniting. And it will be the new generation who will step up to fight whatever conflict may emerge - including three young Spacer Corps reservists from Mars...
Factions within Solar Space
The Interplanetary Cooperative Administration ("ICA")
Notes:
Officially founded in 2051 with the adoption of the Tyndall Accords by the UN, it was devised as a means to prevent interplanetary conflict in the vein of the Lunar War of 2049. With its the start of its first council session, a standard was set that has lasted more than two centuries, despite the turbulence of the Fall and the recent Frontier Wars, wherein the ICA legislates, mediates, and arbitrates all affairs beyond Earth
The Interplanetary Defense Corps ("IDC" or “ Spacer Corps”)
Notes:
As part of the Tyndall Accords, the UN devoted considerable effort to discussing the creation of an armed branch tasked with peacekeeping and security within jointly-controlled space. The IDC, also called the “Spacer Corps'' after the demonym for its personnel, was first mustered in 2054 to that end, and would be called in to defend ICA interests from the early years of the Fall through to the Frontier Wars of the 24th century
The Alliance of Free Worlds (“the Alliance”)
Notes:
Beginning with the outbreak of Draconist-led revolutions in the Jupiter and Saturn Sectors in the 24th century, the long-widening chasm between the ICA and the citizens of the outer system quickly split into a vast gulf. As the ICA’s Spacer Corps fought to crush these Draconist insurrections, a new organization–the Alliance of Free Worlds–emerged to serve the interests of countless disillusioned citizens in the frontier
The Zharan People’s Collective (“the Collective”)
Notes:
Once referred to as “artificial labor units,” zharans are synthetically engineered beings created beginning in the late 21st century to carry out the menial and dangerous work of building offworld infrastructure. After they were used in combat roles during the Solar Civil War, they were strictly regulated by the ICA until they rebelled in 2357 (the Uprising) leading to the formation of the Collective as an independent state
The Purimar Organization ("Purimar")
Notes:
Emerging during the late 21st century boom in interplanetary commerce that followed the adoption of the Brookenden Accords in 2054, Purimar was originally just another competitor in the rapidly-expanding field of deep space water distribution. By the 24th century, though, it has become a veritable monopoly, with enforcers deployed to harass water license holders and maintain the org’s grip on Solar H²0 resources
The Tianshan Mining Corporation ("The TMC")
Notes:
In the mid-22nd century, an asteroid mining cartel called Tianshan Incorporated became wealthy enough they could essentially buy a planet. Through an agreement organized by the ICA between Tianshan and the United Nations of Mars, they did just that: they would have rights to nearly all mining claims on Mercury, provided that twenty percent of all material mined went to the bustling Martian materials industry
The Venusian Advanced Research Institution ("VARI")
Notes:
Although never the most populous or most powerful world in the ICA, Venus has long held a place of infamy among its population, owing to the existence of Kelvin Station. Built in the early 22nd century, Kelvin Station was the first large-scale IDC black projects facility built in orbit of Venus - and it would not be the last. The VARI was conceived to give an umbrella to this research in the years since its inception
The Community of Gaia (“The CoG”)
Notes:
In the years during and after the Long Fall, many of Earth’s old nation-states faded away as stressors forced the people there to adapt and refocus their efforts on basic survival, which ultimately brought about greater equity and sustainability overall. By the time the Harrison Accords were signed in 2301, the Community of Gaia was set up as the main overseer of Earth’s recovery and reconstruction as a “better society”
The Progressive Union of Gaia (“The PUG”)
Notes:
The PUG splintered from the CoG in the early 24th century over disagreements as to the approach to governing the Earth. Despite overlapping ideologies, they resisted cooperation with the Alliance of Free Worlds until the Alliance forced the ICA to the negotiating table at the end of the Frontier Wars - since then, the PUG has leaned increasingly pro-Alliance in the interest of removing offworld influence from Earth
The United Nations of Mars (“UNOM”)
Notes:
Founded in 2169 as an aggregation of Martian pioneer settlements, the UNOM quickly rose to peer status with the nations of the UN. Over the next two hundred years, as the Confederation of the Main Belt rose to superpower status, Mars and the worlds of the outer system fought tenaciously for second place, with Mars’ long-standing aspirations on the ambitions only recently threatened by the Alliance of Free Worlds
The Confederation of the Main Belt ("The CMB")
Notes:
Founded in 2192 during the long prosperity of the 22nd century, the CMB (often referred to simply as the Confederation) has long maintained a monopoly on the trade & mining of deep space resources across the inner and outer system. As a result, the Ceres-led organization is among richest and most influential in Solar Space by the 24th century, which often makes them the chief benefactor of ICA legislation
The Republic of Ceres ("the Big Cee")
Notes:
As the oldest and largest of the various semi-independent republics within the Confederation of the Main Belt, the Republic of Ceres (founded in 2178) has also maintained a predominant position in the politics of Solar Space. The people of Ceres enjoy a wealthy and prosperous lifestyle, based largely on the Confederation's control of deep space commercial interests and the might of the Spacer Corps at their disposal
The Vesta Commune ("the Commune")
Notes:
The Commune was founded in 2347 as part of a long series of governments to take power on Vesta, and it has only lasted as long as it has thanks to its close partnership with the Alliance of Free Worlds. During the era of the Frontier Wars, Vesta has been a major shipyard and port for the Alliance in the Main Belt, and the various worlds of the Commune have been an indispensible supply of metal ore for the Armada
The Solar Mining League ("The League")
Note:
The League was founded in advance of the big outward push of the late 21st century as a means to forestall overreach by the corporations champing at the bit to cash in on this boom time. But as with the Purimar Organization before it, the League metastasized over the years until it was a conglomerate in its own right, and by the 24th century it controlled resource rights in most of the Main Belt
The Galilean Union ("The Union")
Notes:
After the turmoil of the 21st century, many refugees from Earth sought opportunity in the outer system. This led to a surge of new polities springing up in the 22nd century under the oversight of the ICA, with the Galilean Union a prime example. Thanks to the fall of Callisto to Draconism in 2324, however, it became essentially a rump state, and existed only as a shadow of its former self by the ascent of the Alliance to power in 2339
Hernandez-Echevarria Resources Amalgamated (“HERA”)
Notes:
During the rebuilding that followed the Solar Civil War, the Hernandez-Echevarria Group (a joint interest founded by descendants of two of the original families to settle on Mars in 2038) took over control of the struggling mining colony on Io. Under their administration it was a manufacturing powerhouse for all of ICA-aligned space, at least until Io fell under the control of the Alliance of Free Worlds
Interplanetary Dynamics ("The Moving Company")
Notes:
Founded in 2137 during the so-called Golden Age of Space (2097-2157), the IPD was originally meant to leverage the new technology of plasmadyne magnetic sailing to establish an interplanetary trade network for the ICA. By the 24th century, though, it had come into such a position of power in the outer system that it effectively owned Europa as a fiefdom, in spite of the ongoing agitation of the Draconists
Divisão Revolucionária da Assembleia de Callisto (“The Draconists”)
Notes:
Draconism arose as part of the surge of nationalism which swept through the colonial frontier following the passage of the Harrison Accords in 2301. From there, it infested much of the outer system, spreading to dozens of settlements as cadres spread the movement’s radical ultranationalist message. By the time it was stamped out, it had irreparably changed Solar Space, paving the way for the Frontier Wars
The Commonwealth of Titan ("The Commonwealth")
Notes:
The Protectorate of Titan was created by the ICA to represent the booming industrial settlements which sprang up there throughout the 22nd century, only to be torn asunder by regional infighting during the era of the Solar Civil War. During the Draconist Crisis, Titan was just as swept up as was the rest of the outer system, and the rise of the United People’s Party to power led to the eventual partition of the Commonwealth
The United People's Party ("The Party")
Notes:
Following Draconism’s arrival in the Saturn system in the early 2330s, the neo-Marxist/ ultranationalist ideology which they espoused took up residence on Titan. The UPP took power in 2335, kicking off a twenty-six year-long period of civil strife which ended with the massive moon being split three ways between the ICA, the Alliance of Free Worlds, and the Zharan Collective, who still claim dominion over the whole
The United Communes of Saturn ("the Saturn Commune")
Notes:
As one of the first new political organizations born out of the rise of the Alliance following the Pact of Union in 2339, the UCS quickly rose to a position of prominence in Saturn system politics. Its citizens enjoy a higher than average standard of living for the outer system thanks to their native agricultural and manufacturing sectors, which have been well-funded by the Alliance as part of Project Frontier
The Republic of Tethys and Mimas ("ROTAM")
Notes:
Another of the organizations born under the post-2339 reconstruction overseen by the Alliance, the ROTAM did not enjoy the same success as the United Communes of Saturn due mostly to the relative lack of good leadership in its local government. As a result, by the late 2360s, with the Frontier Wars looming, its leadership was removed by an act of the Alliance Presidium and replaced with a military junta
The Enceladus Scientific and Biological Preserve ("The Preserve")
Notes:
When humans began exploring the Saturn system in-depth in the early 22nd century, alien lifeforms were found beneath the ice of Enceladus. After it was revealed to the public in 2125, there was extensive debate within the ICA Council over how to respond. In 2128, they passed the Enceladus Preservation Act, securing most of the moon as a biological preserve for future generations to study and enjoy
The Protectorate of Uranus ("The Protectorate")
Notes:
Among the last of the sectors to be extensively colonized, Uranus was especially sought after for its easily-accessible supply of hydrogen and helium. Even so, it took until 2307 for the settlement there to advance to a point at which the ICA would grant the colony membership status as a protectorate, an event spurred on largely by AEROCOM’s post-Solar Civil War interest in securing fuel for the IDC Fleet
The Federation of Neptune and Triton ("the Federation")
Notes:
The Federation is among the smallest nation-states in Solar Space, owing largely to its immense distance from the inner system. Still, its population has begun to explode since the start of the Draconist Wars (2324-2361), thanks to an immense influx of refugees from the Jovian and Saturnian sectors, a trend which has continued through the current crisis between the ICA and the Alliance of Free Worlds
More to come, when it's ready...
Hey man, this is great!