///From the author: this is a real labor of love, and certainly a bit of a headache, too - I actually stayed up past 2 or 3 in the morning a couple of times to complete all the flags and make the flag map! The additional maps, including the physical/satellite map and the color-coded political affiliations maps were fun to make, as well. I'm very proud of how this all turned out, and I'm glad to finally have a definitive source of lore for our homeworld in 2389, which can be drawn upon as a base text for the various powers of that era and their role in the Spacers Saga
Background Info:
[Physical map of Earth in 2389]
Current government: dual - most is controlled by the Community of Gaia (est. January 2097) while much of the rest is under the jurisdiction of the Progressive Order of Gaia (est. June 2314)
2389 Population: approximately 8.67 billion (estimated per the COG's 2382 census)
Capitals: COG - Arusha, East African Federation (pop. 34.3 million); POG - São Paulo, Unión Popular do Brasil (pop. 9.6 million)
Affiliation: COG is aligned with the ICA; POG is aligned with the Alliance of Free Worlds
Government:
COG: unitary totalitarian federation; seat of power - the Community Planning Council, Arusha; current Chancellor: Jonas Wokundi (since 2365)
POG: unitary Marxist-Leninist federation; seat of power - House of the People, São Paulo; current Premiere - Andrija Harkness (since 2378)
Primary industries: industrial agriculture (Earth is effectively the breadbasket of the solar system); sustainable electronics/technical goods manufacturing
Background & History:
In 2013, an asteroid destroyed Phoenix, AZ, ushering in the New Space Age. This new age of exploration resulted in a solar system-spanning campaign of colonization, and by the 24th century there were settlements on hundreds of worlds across Solar Space. When alien ruins were discovered buried on Saturn’s moon Titan in the early 2280s, it opened the doorway to an immense Network of ancient knowledge which brought the dream of exploring and exploiting worlds beyond our host star finally within our reach.
But the people of Earth felt little of this progress. The most remarkable difference in the world map of 2389 is the dramatic sea level rise made inevitable by nearly six hundred years of rampant industrialization and the resultant storm of carbon emissions. The Community of Gaia (COG), established in 2097, has prevented this calamity from deepening into a full-blown global catastrophe, but the new equilibrium state of global coastlines scarcely resembles that of the early 21st century. Aside from extensive climate conditioning initiatives, a massive sea wall system has been built to protect the nations along coastal regions.
The major cost of this preservation, however, is that the Community of Gaia maintains biological stability at the threat of violence. The COG police state is a powerhouse largely thanks to its power over 24th century terrestrial agricultural industry, which in turn grants them immense influence over terrestrial and interplanetary politics. The nations of the COG maintain cordial relations with most of the rest of Solar Space as of 2389, but their diplomacy is always tinged with the warning of "Do not dare to mess with Earth, or else."
[A color coded map of global nation-states in 2389]
On that note, the COG is closely tied to the Interplanetary Cooperative Administration, an interstate federation which emerged in the mid-21st century to provide oversight of offworld affairs. The ICA's controlling interest in the vast resources of the solar system allows them to leverage a favorable price for Gaian food resources, a deal which makes Earth the breadbasket of Solar Space even well into the 24th century.
Cultural developmnt in the COG is encouraged, so long as it does not interfere with the quasi-ecofascist state religion of "biosphere preservation" which retains a powerful influence over global politics and economics. With terrestrial economic ventures ranging from seasteading in the lagoons of the coastal regions to reforestation efforts in the deserts which sprang up in the equatorial regions in the wake of the 21st century's reign of climatic upheaval, the COG pours vast amounts of state funds into the re-greening of the Earth, and funds a robust state security apparatus to preserve this infrastructure at all costs.
Thanks to the predominance of emigres returning to Earth from the frontier, a number of ICA-administered territories have been carved out to provide room for offworld citizens to live on Earth. The practice of coming to Earth to have children is quite common in 2389, so much so that roughly half of all babies born on Earth are eventually talken off the planet. Coupled with the COG's strict birth control regulations and their stringent family planning laws, these facts combine to ensure Earth retains a slowly shrinking population.
[Flag map of the nation-states of 2389]
The primary state security apparatus in 2389 is the Ministry of Biological Preservation, which is divided into a number of sub-departments and appendices which execute the plans of the Central Planning Council, which is based in Arusha in the East African Federation. One example of these is the Air Quality Control Authority, which enforces regulations intended to preserve the standard of breathable air on Earth, and is authorized to use state power to punish violators - up to and including enforced disapprance.
As of the 24th century, the COG's power is threatened by the rise of the Progressive Order of Gaia (POG), which contends that Earth should be governed from a more traditionally egalitarian perspective. As the POG spreads its message across previously COG-dominated territories, many in the rest of Solar Space grow fearful of a possible Fourth World War between the two opposing factions, one which would bring an end to the steady outflow of foodstuffs from Earth. The ICA and Alliance are both known to deploy intelligence agents to Earth to prevent this eventuality, even as the latter becomes more and more intertwined with the POG.
Now that the long-simmering conflict between the ICA and the Alliance could erupt into violence once more at any time, leaving Solar nation-states jockeying for influence, the political leaders of the ICA have begun to draw plans for consolidating their own power on Earth, a scheme that they know will face stiff competition from the Alliance of Free Worlds as it seeks to enfranchise itself as a true superpower.
Stories Set on Future Earth:
[Sendayu Hajime's route across Gaia during The Old Ways]
The Old Ways
Sendayu Hajime is a man on a mission. He is a member of the illustrious Order of Journeymen, a society of warrior monks trained from childhood to carry a blade in support of worthy causes. Now he is on Earth, the backwater cradle of humanity, considered by many to be the madhouse of the Solar System, tasked with tracking down a missing Martian Senator in the interest of preventing an interplanetary war.
After meeting with an ICA courier in Angkor, he finds himself stuck on this dangerous world, where the preservation of the long-suffering biosphere has been elevated to the status of a state religion, and the Ministry of Environmental Security metes out swift justice on those who violate its sanctity.
If he wants to get offworld again, Sendayu will have to make a journey halfway across the world most people in Solar Space would rather avoid, all while at the mercy of locals who may just as soon turn him in as a spy as offer him food and shelter. By the time he reaches the Senator, he may discover that the secrets of Old Earth are better left buried, and that this backwater world is better left alone for all time...
The Factions on Earth:
The Community of Gaia
Notes:
During and after the Collapse of Terrestrial Industry (c 2050 to 2187), many of the old nation-states of the Earth faded away as stressors forced their people embrace the power of the Community of Gaia, which originally rose to safeguard Earth's fragile biosphere and shepherd humanity through the dark years they faced
By the time the Harrison Accords were signed, the COG was the main overseer of Earth’s reconstruction, an effort which it maintains with a formidable state security apparatus that is designed to prevent offenses against the "natural wellbeing" of the planet and to enforce regulations on everything from family size to farm output
The Interplanetary Cooperative Administration
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 October 2049, which pitted the major spacefaring powers aligned with NATO against those aligned with China and the Shanghai Pact for control of lunar resources
The ICA was originally a subsidiary of the United Nations, but as the power of Earthbound nations waned in the 21st and 22nd centuries it was forced to take up more and more power for itself, much of which was consolidated in the same Martian and Ceresian interests which still hold sway in the latter years of the 24th century
The Progressive Order of Gaia
Notes:
The POG split from the COG in the early 24th century over disagreements as to the approach to governing Earth. Despite overlapping beliefs about the importance of safeguarding the biosphere, the POG resists the COG's much more authoritarian viewpoints in the area of enforcement, and calls for less harsh punishments for offense
Since the Alliance of Free Worlds came on the scene in 2341, the POG has leaned pro-Alliance in the interest of pushing ICA influence off the Earth. Their leaders claim that this is intended to prevent undue contamination of Earth's ecosystem, but there are some who would attest it is merely the result of Alliance pressures
The Alliance of Free Worlds
Notes:
Beginning with the outbreak of Draconist-led revolutions in the Jupiter and Saturn Sectors in the early 24th century, the chasm between the ICA and the citizens of the outer solar system quickly split into a vast gulf, especially as the ICA-led crackdown on dissent rapidly accelerated public resistance to their rule
Since emerging in 2341, the Alliance has entreatied the POG to take a more aggressive stance in its anti-ICA sentiments, specifically the ways in which ICA settlers have set up time shares on Earth. As tensions mount between the ICA and the Alliance, many fear that these machinations could be a catalyst to open war
The Nation-States of 2389:
Antarctic Federation
Capital: Amundson City
Population: 4 million
Primary economic sector: mining/resources/energy
Allegiance: unaffiliated
Democratic Union of Manchuria
Capital: Haishenwai
Population: 282 million
Primary economic sector: industry/manufacturing
Allegiance: POG
East African Federation
Capital: Arusha
Population: 576 million
Primary economic sector: industry/manufacturing
Allegiance: COG
Estados Unidos de México
Capital: Distrito Federal
Population: 217 million
Primary economic sector: industry/manufacturing
Allegiance: COG
Federación del Caribe
Capital: New Havana
Population: 53 million
Primary economic sector: agriculture/forestry/fishing
Allegiance: COG
Federación de la Tierra del Fuego
Capital: Ciudad de la Plata
Population: 71 million
Primary economic sector: agriculture/forestry/fishing
Allegiance: COG
Federal Alaska
Capital: Anchorage
Population: 16 million
Primary economic sector: mining/resources/energy
Allegiance: COG; ICA (autonomous territory)
Federal Esperanza
Capital: Esperanza
Population: 8 million
Primary economic sector: mining/resources/energy
Allegiance: COG; ICA (autonomous territory)
Federal Ndongo
Capital: Lubango
Population: 57 million
Primary economic sector: agriculture/forestry/fishing
Allegiance: COG; ICA (autonomous territory)
Federal Siberia
Capital: Krasnoyarsk
Population: 31 million
Primary economic sector: agriculture/forestry/fishing
Allegiance: COG; ICA (autonomous territory)
Federation of the Sahel
Capital: N'Djamena
Population: 47 million
Primary economic sector: industry/manufacturing
Allegiance: COG; ICA (autonomous territory)
Federation of Southeast Asia
Capital: New Jakarta
Population: 765 million
Primary economic sector: industry/manufacturing
Allegiance: COG
Federation of Borealis
Capital: Edmonton
Population: 26 million
Primary economic sector: agriculture/forestry/fishing
Allegiance: COG
Federal Republic of Ethiopia
Capital: Adama (legislative/judicial); Addis Ababa (executive)
Population: 168 million
Primary economic sector: mining/resources/energy
Allegiance: COG
Federal Republic of Russia
Capital: Moscow
Population: 73 million
Primary economic sector: agriculture/forestry/fishing
Allegiance: COG
Federation of the Cape
Capital: Cape Town
Population: 35 million
Primary economic sector: mining/resources/energy
Allegiance: COG
Federation of Zambezia
Capital: Lusaka
Population: 193 million
Primary economic sector: mining/resources/energy
Allegiance: COG
Free State of Afghanistan
Capital: Kabul
Population: 62 million
Primary economic sector: agriculture/forestry/fishing
Allegiances: unaffiliated
Grande République du Nord
Capital: Montreal
Population: 39 million
Primary economic sector: agriculture/forestry/fishing
Allegiance: COG
League of Turkic Peoples
Capital: Astana
Population: 94 million
Primary economic sector: mining/resources/energy
Allegiance: COG
People's Republic of Morocco
Capital: Rabat
Population: 81 million
Primary economic sector: industry/manufacturing
Allegiance: POG
People's Republic of Vietnam
Capital: Hanoi
Population: 107 million
Primary economic sector: industry/manufacturing
Allegiance: COG
People's Union of Türkiye
Capital: Ankara
Population: 224 million
Primary economic sector: industry/manufacturing
Allegiance: POG
Republic of Guyana
Capital: Georgetown
Population: 19 million
Primary economic sector: mining/resources/energy
Allegiance: COG
Republic of Iran
Capital: Tehran
Population: 96 million
Primary economic sector: agriculture/forestry/fishing
Allegiance: COG
Republic of Pegu
Capital: New Pagan
Population: 62 million
Primary economic sector: agriculture/forestry/fishing
Allegiance: COG
Republic of Tangaroa
Capital: New Aotearoa
Population: 31 million
Primary economic sector: agriculture/forestry/fishing
Allegiance: COG
República de Gran Colombia
Capital: La Paz (executive/legislative); Quito (judicial))
Population: 483 million
Primary economic sector: agriculture/forestry/fishing
Allegiance: COG
Republic of Sakha
Capital: Yakutsk
Population: 42 million
Primary economic sector: agriculture/forestry/fishing
Allegiance: POG
Union of Terra Australis
Capital: Melbourne
Population: 72 million
Primary economic sector: mining/resources/energy
Allegiance: POG
Saharan Confederation
Capital: Tripoli (executive); Nouakchott (legislative/judicial)
Population: 64 million
Primary economic sector: mining/resources/energy
Allegiance: COG
Scandinavian Federation
Capital: Oslo
Population: 47 million
Primary economic sector: agriculture/forestry/fishing
Allegiance: COG
Second Empire of Tibet
Capital: Lhasa
Population: 35 million
Primary economic sector: mining/resources/energy
Allegiance: unaffiliated
Serene Republic of Nippon
Capital: Ōtsu
Population: 77 million
Primary economic sector: agriculture/forestry/fishing
Allegiance: COG
Slavic Federation
Capital: Budapest
Population: 297 million
Primary economic sector: industry/manufacturing
Allegiance: COG
South African Union
Capital: Gaborone
Population: 155 million
Primary economic sector: mining/resources/energy
Allegiance: COG
Unión de América Nueva
Capital: Denver
Population: 365 million
Primary economic sector: industry/manufacturing
Allegiance: POG
Union Populaire d'Europe
Capital: Paris
Population: 376 million
Primary economic sector: industry/manufacturing
Allegiance: POG
Unión Popular do Brasil
Capital: São Paulo
Population: 317 million
Primary economic sector: agriculture/forestry/fishing
Allegiance: POG
United Arab Republics
Capital: Riyadh (de jure); Al-Shams (de facto)
Population: 137 million
Primary economic sector: mining/resources/energy
Allegiance: COG
United Bengali Republic
Capital: Sylhet
Population: 87 million
Primary economic sector: agriculture/forestry/fishing
Allegiance: COG
United Republic of India
Capital: New Delhi
Population: 867 million
Primary economic sector: industry/manufacturing
Allegiance: COG
United Republic of Pacifica
Capital: Cascadia City
Population: 78 million
Primary economic sector: agriculture/forestry/fishing
Allegiance: COG
United Republic of Zhongguo
Capital: Beijing
Population 765 million
Primary economic sector: agriculture/forestry/fishing
Allegiance: COG
United Republics of Kemet
Capital: Khartoum
Population: 261 million
Primary economic sector: industry/manufacturing
Allegiance: COG
West African Union
Capital: Lagos
Population: 713 million
Primary economic sector: industry/manufacturing
Allegiance: POG
More to come, when it's ready...
This is great man!