HistoryBack in 2027, scientists on Earth discovered the existence of Trans-Newtonian minerals and their applications in both civilian and military sectors. Under the United Nations egida, the United Nations Space Consortium was founded in 2030, an international efforts to explore the Solar system, thanks to the new propulsion tecniques that TN minerals allowed.
Mankind began its space colonization with the nearest bodies, the Moon and Mars. Both were evenutally terraformed and colonized and represent the oldes human extraplanetary colonies. After the discovery of jump points connecting various star systems, the further expansion of human presence arrived to nearby stars and their planets, thanks to developed jump gates that connect them. During this "Golden Age" of exploration, the attention shifted from Earth Nations to the nearly founded Galactic Colonies, this radical change of conception brings the transformation of the Consortium in a new body, the United Systems.
The United Systems became the body responsible for both military, scientific and economical development and management of humans activities. It's, in fact, a federation composed by Earth and its colonies, while on Earth nations still remains, their scope remains limited to territorial administration having the United Systems manage all other aspects.
This process however was relatively long as it spans from over fifty years transforming the human sociecty and its way of life, not without difficulties as the new "supergovernment" was also criticized for the enormous power it gains, but in the end, its benefits overcome its faults. Holidays are made now via interstellar travels, along as the commerce and freight systems: civilian freighters are now starships that transport goods between planets. As said before, human interactions and activities are the same as it were on Earth, but the bigger scale allows for an enormous wealth and welfare for everyone.
During the current year, the 2090, the human population surpass 14 billion among the stars.
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GovernmentThe United Systems administrations is composed by a council headed by a president, typically the governor of the Sol Sector. Along with the presidents, it is composed by the Sector governors (administrators of a group of systems) and Planetary governors (administrators of a planet). Each law and decision must pass the 50% quorum. The vote of the president is worth 3 points, the sector governors have 2, and 1 for the planetary governors. Having the president typically in charge of a total of 5 votes was a cause of unrest in history, but it also reflect an actual situation: the total population of all colonies cannot be compared to Earth, as, only on it, there was more than 13 billion of voting citizens.
Back at the foundation of the US, the seat for this interstellar government was, in fact, built, because it was estabilished on an artificial island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on Earth. The island was called Pax Astra, and it hosts the major part of the government offices.
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CultureThe human culture was greatly changed thanks to the introduction of TN materials. Overall, the great part of US citizens live in skyscrapers in the giant metropolis as the migration from the rural areas proceeded as it started in the XX century. Luckily, the environment issues was addressed thanks to the new technologies and, even if not perfect, the air, land and sea pollution is comparable to year 2000 level. The official language is the english, but many "native" languages still survive, becoming more or less like dialects.
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MilitaryEven if no real military actions was ever required, the exploration of space brought an senso of insecurity that was filled with the creation in 2053 of the United Systems Navy, also called the "Starfleet" , the military organization responsible for the management of the warfleets. Currently, only one fleet was composed, the First Fleet, and it counts nearly 40 military starships and the same number of smaller star fighters. Along with the USN, the United Systems Land Forces was founded, the land corresponding. The USLF is subdivided into divisions and it's forces are spread through the various colonies, ensuring both military and law enforcment presence together with the United Systems Security Forces (USEC) that however is not under USLF jurisdiction but respond directly to the US administration.
Another separated land branch, smaller than the USLF and the USSF, is the United Systems Engineer Corps (USEN), that is not a fully combat force, btu its responsible for engineering operations such as the installation of defences and the exploitation of alien ruins.
The last and more recent branch is the United Systems Marines (USM) a military corps specialized in off-planets and planetary assault operations. The USM is developing and the US planned to develop its own branch of starships.
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The Colonial FleetThe USN is also responsible for the so-called Colonial Fleet, the non strictly military branch of the Navy. The Colonial Fleet is what make the human expansion in space possible. Subdivided in departments, it managed logistic, scientific, colonization, mining, rescue, transport and harvesting operations. In details, its departments are:
- Emergency Division
The Emergency Division is composed by small but fast starships able to perform rescue operations in space. - Jump Operations Division
It is built around a fleet of jump gate builders, starships able to construct jump gates of jump points - Logistic Division
The biggest department, composed by cargo ships, colony ships, tankers, shuttle and tugs, and as the composition explain itself, is the fulcrum of space operations. - Resource Exploitation Department
The nicknamed "REX" department is composeb by asteroid miners, fuel harvesters and salvagers, and its purpose is basically to collect TN minerals in space. - Scientific Division
The USSD (United Systems Scientific Division) is composed by subsquadrons of geological survey starships, employed in the discovery on TN minerals source on new systems, and gravitational survey starships, employed in the discovery of new jump points - Starbase Management Department
The newest Departmen, the Starbase Management, monitors the deployment and functioning of the deployed starbases, three in 2090, with the main purpose as a safe port for USN fleets to refuel and resupply.
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Alien PresenceDuring the space exploration, three different alien cvilization ruins was found. These ruins was studied and some useful installations and technologies was recovered. The technological level of these three ancient culture was similar to humans, so, no supposed gains or advantage was available. All three races was able to travel among stars, but they disappeared, or migrated to somewhere else without an apparent reason.
These discovery was anyway a big hit in human culture, that know is aware that they are not the only presence in the universe, even if no contact with living species was made. In the last year, even an alien jump gate was discovered, but after intensive monitoring and studies, no further information about the race that deployed it was found.
