Beyond the Cradle: A Science Fiction Vision of an Interstellar Future

Name: Matete Rivieu
Discovered: 2092
Explored: 2156
First Settlement: 2226
Affiliation During the Cradle Wars: None
Last Contact with Interstellar Governance: 2632
Year of Rediscovery: 3102
Planetary Classification: Earth-like planet within the habitable zone
Surface Temperature: 68 Degrees Fahrenheit, 20 Degrees Celsius
Gravity at Planetary Sea Level: 9.45 m/s2
Population Estimate: 155 Million (0.86% of Planetary Humanity)
Population Ranking: 27th
Off Planet System Population: 30 Million
Technological Level: 25th Century
Interstellar Capacity: Limited
Risk of Dangerous AI Proliferation: Limited
Autonomous Robotics Capacity: Limited to moderate
Governance Type: Planetary Governing Body
Prevailing Cultures: French, Kikongo,
Secondary Cultures: Bakongo, Ngala, Slovenian, Belgian
Tertiary Culture: Sangha, Teke, Yoruba
Language Estimate: Matete Rivieu Creole (French, Kikongo, and Bakongo) 92%, French 5%, Yoruba 1%, Other 2%
Religious Estimate: Catholicism 34%, Local Abrahamic Variations 28%, Atheist/Irreligious 38%
Degree of Secularity: High

History:

One of 4196 known planetary colonization projects originating from Earth prior to the Cradle Wars, Matete Rivieu is one of the most intact worlds to be examined during the 32nd century’s rediscovery efforts.

Early colonial efforts were the product of a joint French and Congolese mission. Intended to mark the entry of the united Congolese Republic onto the interstellar stage, Matate Rivieu was never intended to carry a strategic purpose in mind. Rather, its location was chosen in order to avoid conflict with other national, international, and corporate governance.

Situated far out of the way of major interstellar travel routes, substantial effort was made to ensure that the colony was self-sufficient. Manned travel was often more expensive than could be justified, and as a result there were difficulties in sending people to this planet. After the United Congolese Republic became more prominent, immigration dried up as other colonial efforts were established closer to the major power centers.

The United Congolese Republic divested ownership of the colony in the 24th century, defaulting to French control. The French maintained the colony for another century, and recognized complete local autonomy. Matate Rivieu’s governing body sought to attract further immigrants from Earth and other populous planets, but attracted only limited interest.

Declaring independence in the 25th century, the independent planetary system had difficulties maintaining economic viability. In 2587, Matate Rivieu agreed to partial federated status in under the South Nigerian Republic in order to maintain its deficit spending. A Lagos based firm invested nearly twice the planet’s domestic capital in an effort to update and modernize Matate Rivieu in 2603 in an effort to establish a forward presence. Their intent was to take advantage of the planet’s isolation to create a new hub of planetary colonization far from the heightened tensions that were rising in near-Earth systems.

The subsequent colonial efforts never took place, as shortly after the investment took place great power contention distracted the South Nigerian Republic, and a few decades later there would no longer be a South Nigerian Republic – or an Earth – to follow up on the endeavor.

Last contact with interstellar governance took place in 2632 when the West African Federation made territorial claims on all former South Nigerian interstellar possessions by right of conquest and cultural kinship. No serious attempt was made to establish control, and the West African Federation collapsed only a couple years later.

While far removed from any substantial military presence, Matate Rivieu was on the outer edge of some interstellar trade. Matate was able to maintain some limited interstellar capacity, though could not venture much farther than ten lightyears from their home system. Many of those in the system not native to it left to return home, but by 2683 almost no starships arrived or left Matate Rivieu controlled space.

The only notable exception occurred with the arrival in 2701 of a merchant fleet from a Slovenian entity which may, or may not, have been connected to the Central European Intelligence Bureau. With several ships badly damaged, some 70,000 Slovenian and mixed Central European seamen sought safe harbor in Matate Rivieu. Though very weakened, their presence easily doubled the amount of space assets available to the system, and posed a military threat if exacerbated.

The group was integrated into society, and adopted a privileged position for the better part of a century until they were largely adopted into the Creole society. Over time the interstellar capacity of the system gradually reduced, but some limited capacity remains to this day. Much of this infrastructure has been readapted from the Slovenians.

Some 30 additional million human beings live in orbit or neighboring systems on spaceships, colonies, and space stations. They have almost no offensive capacity, and minimal defensive capacity.

While the planet can support upwards of 1.5 billion people, after a population explosion in the 27th and 28th centuries, the population growth rate declined sharply to the point where now the planet is experiencing a population decline. Effort should be made to boost the fertility rate, but the federal government of the system has little to no interest in this effort.

The planetary governing body of Matate Rivieu is a presidential federal republic. An indirect democracy that operates primarily through a congressional body under the authority of a strong presidential figure, first contact was easy to establish following rediscovery. There has been moderate resistance to joining the interstellar governing body. A local referendum showed that this motion was defeated with 62% voting in favor of maintaining independence, though 89% voted in favor of stronger ties.

Local cultural conditions highlight a mixture of Napoleonic and 24th century United Congolese nostalgia, neoclassical and second age techno-modernism architecture spreading across the main populated zones.

There is a strong sense that society and civilization has reached its peak under their governance and that the Franco-Congolese culture represents the best that humanity has to offer. While there is a government based on lines of competence and merit, the cultural malaise has limited their ability to flourish, and to their detriment they maintain kernels of the worst habits of pre-collapse civilization.

stevep,

Thanks Steve! Your comments helped put some things in focus for me, and have encouraged me to spill some more details I hadn't put to paper yet.


The Cradle Wars came about because a lot of things went wrong at once, deterrence failed, lines of trust were entirely eroded, technology went amok, systems collapsed, and a general decline of most norms and mores when it became clear that things had fallen (or were falling) apart.

For a crude metaphor, if its clear that your entire planet is being wiped out by nuclear winter and fallout even though most of your entire continent remained neutral, do you expect them all to team together and do what they can to best comfortably survive humanity's descent into eternal night, or do you expect them to take what they can to ensure that when the last light of humanity is snuffed out that it is yours and not your neighbor's?

What happened here is that both choices were made millions of times spread across the galaxy. While in most cases it did not make a difference, there are some cases where it did.

The interstellar government has a large amount of rules about how discovery and reincorporation are supposed to happen, but even in Ongsi Yabeibei (which, by the way, means Red Flower in the native Creole) the surface dwellers with minimal access to technology in the two more habitable regions of the planet would be nest of worms to approach, in a way that dealing with the more intact city states would not.

A lot of the space assets are legacy, and a lot of those people living in space (about a half) no longer have the capacity to live on anything approaching Earth's gravity - which was a prime consideration in early colonial efforts. It is not so much that the planetary bodies are not really relevant, but that there's almost no ability for people adjusted to low gravity for hundreds of years to return to the surface. This is made worse by their dependence upon planetary bodies for their existence on an existential level. While by now most of those that remain in space are largely sustainable in space, the general direction would be a decline and eventual end of humanity if it remains wholly among the stars. Take the expensive O'neill space stations, there were never many of them, and unless there's a planet to try to make a new one, their numbers will just continue to fade with time.

That doesn't take away the ideas you put forward though. There are pressures to move into space. So even if everyone could resettle on a planet without much difficulty (and there is a problem of capacity among the interstellar government's worlds), the vast majority of the population would still be in space.

Oh yeah. AI systems went wrong in a number of different ways, so the interstellar government is very careful with how it approaches this issue. Still working out how this will all fit together though.

Never read Neal Asher or Iain Bank's books before, so I'm not sure. Maybe?

Its funny you should bring up the new interstellar government being under AI control. I mentioned earlier that it is not as it appears, though it is benevolently inclined. AI does have a role to play in that, but its not in a controlling capacity.

As for the disunity of Earth, that was never really a problem so long as it was the core of human civilization. Economic integration and globalization basically fused the planet together once triage and technological forces reconciled and leveled off the different levels of Earthbound economies. The number of countries increased to over 400 before problems started to emerge. When the relative power and population of assets off world began to dramatically outweigh Earth's, competition over them had fundamental consequences for Earth. This competition led to increased military capacity, and soon fait accomplis were recognized legal practice. If you took over a barely populated system, it was yours. At first states had to compensate, and there were gentile restrictions for interacting with local groups, but the practice went from happening only a handful of times when first introduced in largely bloodless affairs, to common, bloody business. When the Cradle Wars started to take place, that practice was occurring on the most prosperous worlds, including Earth. Right before the Earth was made uninhabitable it was under a single government that was the last local player (which had a capital based in Jakarta) standing before one of the recent losers decided to spoil their prize. This is what the practice of the Right By Conquest referenced.

While I say the Cradle Wars were a lot of things going wrong at once, the above was probably one of the most important reasons.

Interstellar travel's cost grows exponentially depending on the type of travel you desire, and there is an infrastructure component that makes range bounded. The ability to reach every part of the galaxy does exist, with only the interstellar government possessing this ability in any great capacity, but they will almost never use this because of how hard it is. If it helps, here's the classification system for these worlds and what they mean.

No interstellar capacity: The planetary body may be able to reach a local moon or a nearby planet, but is at best only about four times better than we have now.
Minimal interstellar capacity: You can reach the outer edge of the star system, and can travel the distance of one light year in five years.
Limited interstellar capacity: You can reach about a 20 light years within a year of travel.
Moderate interstellar capacity: You can reach 100 light years within a year.
High interstellar capacity: You can reach 2000 light years within a year.
Advanced interstellar capacity: You can reach 10000 light years within a year.
Most Advanced interstellar capacity: You can reach 200,000 within a year.

The first two are bound by physics as we understand it, whereas the rest are varying capacities of warp and warp stabilization. Jump and hyperspace travel are possible, but are also considerably less safe.

Beyond the Cradle: A Primer on the Galaxy – AstralPolitics
The known galaxy is a catch-all phrase for the limited extent of knowledge currently possessed by the interstellar government which represents the largest chunk of space-faring human civilization. This includes most of the knowledge that has been stitched together from the surviving colonies, states, and fleets that survived the centuries that followed the Cradle Wars, alongside knowledge gathered since the formation of the interstellar government. However, as there are several other actors in the galaxy, knowledge on them varies. Some of those actors are almost completely unknown, outside of minor altercations. A lot of the information from prior to the Cradle Wars is vital for stitching together a starting point to rebuild, but there are clear limits to this knowledge.

Almost none of the most advanced factions that existed prior to the start of the Cradle Wars continue to exist today in a recognizable form. Many shattered remnants of them are around in the galaxy, but this should not be taken too far. The name becomes a misnomer, rarely reflecting the legacy of the actor. Like Trebizond claiming to be the Roman Empire (though sometimes it is more tenuous, so it is like the HRE, Russia, or the Vatican making such a claim.) A clear example of this would be the South German Directorate. At one point they were the seventeenth richest and the twenty-sixth most militarily capable faction in the known galaxy.

Once sole owner of four planets, partial owner of eleven more, and with a population approaching 25 billion people, the South German Directorate still technically exists. To be precise, there are at least five groups claiming to be the South German Directorate, but even counting all of them together they barely make up 100 million people, and no longer possess any planetary assets. Their main bases of operations are a moon, three asteroid groupings, and a space station, and each claims the right of absolute authority as the South German Directorate. One of them, the space station, was in terminal decline and was perhaps a few decades away from being unlivable before the interstellar government intervened.

This is commonplace. If the only thing one cared about was names, then virtually all of the actors involved in the Cradle Wars survive. But how can this be possible given that over 98% of humanity died? Clearly, names and claims to former status cannot be used as an accurate means to determine the survivors. Nor can it be used to describe current existing players on the galactic stage. The South German Directorate fragments would not appear on anything other than a local survey map. No, different standards are held.

There are about 233 billion human beings living in the known galaxy. The real number of human beings is almost certainly larger, though none but the most imaginative would suggest that the number is greater than 275 billion. The interstellar government has a massive plurality of those numbers: 158 billion people live under the authority of the interstellar government. This number is inflated, as the interstellar government claims authority over all planets that are rediscovered by them and which are not under the authority of another recognized group. Without a high interstellar capacity, and without a powerful navy, most small actors are automatically considered under their protection.

The interstellar government practices a noninterference policy with any group that still claims independence. The South German Directorate fragments would thus be placed under the interstellar government’s umbrella, but for all intents and purposes those fragments are autonomous governments. The purpose for this is a mixture of aspiration and defense. The stated objective of the interstellar government is complete reintroduction of all humans under their authority, and for the most part few of the actors object to the interstellar government claiming control over the space around them, so long as they do nothing to harm or interfere with them, and continue to give them aid and assistance that is often vitally necessary for maintaining their societies.

This means that although 158 billion are under their authority, the number of active participants within that faction are fewer. 94 billion human beings are a part of the interstellar government directly, of which 32 billion were reintegrated into the interstellar government within the last century. That is, since the year 3016. Much of this integration was with neighboring human groups that had maintained themselves since the collapse and were in contact with the interstellar government, as this is how the interstellar government slowly started to grow since its founding in 2782. What was new is that 11 billion of those were from previously lost human groups, as many of them had been contacted and zealously investigated and incorporated depending on their local conditions since 3091.

While the interstellar government now has the mission of being the governing body of all humanity, it was originally established as a defensive alliance structure and self-contained economic unit based around a series of mostly Latin American colonial efforts which had managed to delicately avoid any involvement in the Cradle Wars. Though initially quite small, as many fleets left the warzones, safe harbor could be found within their borders under certain conditions. The location of many of their assets were kept hidden, so few losses occurred during the Cradle Wars.

It was a very common practice for orphaned navies to conquer local actors or retreat to colonies, and in the process discover those colonies destroyed or end up destroying the local groups they wished to dominate. In the interstellar government, orphaned navies were not usually powerful enough to wage war against them. Most left, while several were incorporated into the government’s preexisting fleets. The original government was thus hypermilitarized, and nearly collapsed during a series of mutinies, but through a series of events and good fortune, it mostly held together. Most actors in similar situations did not. Long after the Cradle Wars in the center of the galaxy finished, new wars were kindling on its edges. The interstellar government was, in this way, the single most fortunate actor in all of the galaxy. It was not the only one, however.

There are twelve other interstellar governments recognized by the interstellar government. Seven of them are like the interstellar government. These were actors on the periphery of the galactic economy, their survival was the result of a mixture of luck, the personality of their leaders, the endowments of their colonies and governments, and their ability to integrate mass refugee and military assets floating into their systems. Four emerged from the conflict wholesale as the “victors” of the Cradle Wars. Unlike the South German Directorate, there is weight to their claim to being a survivor, and even a winner, of the Cradle Wars. The last actor is the Pacific Alliance, which turned its back on the galaxy early into the Cradle Wars after the destruction of Earth. Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Pacific Alliance broke away from most of humanity a few decades prior to the Cradle Wars.

The interstellar government knows and is on cordial terms with eight of these actors, is at war with two of them, is in negotiations to integrate one of the actors into itself, and has only strained relations with another. The wars are not existential, and appear to be over territorial boundaries. The interstellar government possesses a major power asymmetry over each actor, and none of them wish to escalate.

The first of the actors the interstellar government is at war with is the Niqabat, and the war is over a claim over the Niqabat’s former homeworld, Rahat Alnabii. One of the “victors” of the Cradle Wars, the Niqabat is an interstellar government representing at least 11 billion people. Joining in the middle of the Cradle Wars, the Niqabat were originally a collection of Arab or mixed Arab colonial efforts less than 3000 lightyears from Earth. Mostly neutral, the Niqabat was a collective defense union that emerged after the fighting started. However, as several of its faction members were attacked, and two of its planets destroyed, the Niqabat entered into the wars. Originally trying to attack only those who attacked them, gradually it became a war of all against all. Most of their core territories would be wiped out, but while others vanished into nothing or became orphaned fleets, the Niqabat held to some of their territories. Greatly weakened, and near collapse, the Niqabat spent all of their energy recovering and trying to invest in something other than war.

This ended when the interstellar government began reincorporating many territories that were abandoned during the cradle wars. Rahat Alnabii became part of the interstellar government’s territory. There were minimal flags raised over the incident at the time as Niqabat was far too weak to do anything to stop it, and feared another conflict. The Niqabat recovered, and eventually began to force some of their border claims with the interstellar government. The interstellar government surrendered some of the territory, but not all of it. Several locations had a few pockets of survivors, and many were incorporated into the governing structure. When it came to Rahat Alnabii, while the world itself is mostly ruined, neighboring systems possessed some who became part of the government. As such, the interstellar government would not back down. Niqabat and the interstellar government have been engaged in small naval battles, and diplomatic contact was largely cut off in 3104, and the war is ongoing in 3116.

The second actor the interstellar government is at war with is another victor of the Cradle Wars. The United Congolese Directorate is home to 3 at least billion people. Not an active participant in the early Cradle Wars, the United Congolese Directorate was established after Earth and several other of the Congolese Republic’s main assets were taken from them or destroyed. Independent Congolese projects, originally established on the far periphery, such as with Matete Rivieu, were pushed closer to the center of galactic trade and power. At one point the fourth most powerful faction in the galaxy, there were several other locations that the Congolese government could flee to or reestablish itself. The Kalwezi System became its new home.

The United Congolese Directorate entered the Cradle Wars earliest of the four “victors.” It entered into hostilities and continued to contend for control over Earth long after the last government on that planet had fallen and its atmosphere became irradiated and destroyed. It was also still actively at war with another surviving power, right up until the establishment of direct political ties with the interstellar government. The reason for the Directorate’s survival is also tied into its currently conflict with the interstellar government. The directorate holds the largest number of known shipyards in galaxy, and their production and operation are largely autonomous with extensive AI integration. The directorate’s fleets often have few sailors. While their enemies attacked their population centers extensively, their war capacity was not substantially damaged. The directorate is a technocratic military dictatorship, and has been ever since the republican and democratic leadership was eradicated during the Cradle Wars by enemy forces.

The United Congolese Directorate desires to regain control over all territories that were once under the United Congolese Republic, and it is here where war between the interstellar government and them first began. Some of the earliest factions to be integrated into the interstellar government were of part-Congolese origin, and many of the planets discovered – a disproportionate number – are at least partially Congolese. Almost none of them desire to leave the interstellar government, and its not clear that the interstellar government would tolerate secession to a clearly militaristic actor that is so dangerously bound to potentially ruinous technologies. Though the interstellar government could destroy the United Congolese Directorate should the conflict turn existential, it is clear that the Kalwezi system and its military leadership is aware of this and deliberately refrains from taking action that would draw too extensive a backlash.

Rather, they appear to be trying to make up for their relatively weak size, and are trying to expand elsewhere. While they have a greater capacity for war, they are limited in size and scope, and surrounded by neighbors that have no love for them. Some within the directorate advocate a ceasefire so that they may go after a weaker neighbor to gain more resources and population to go to war with the interstellar government on more even footing. Of all the actors in the known galaxy, the United Congolese Directorate is considered the greatest danger to peace. It also, perhaps strangely, represents the third most likely candidate to restore intergalactic government.

The other two “victors” of the cradle wars are the Gaborite Federation and the Faridabad Sandhi. The Gaborite Federation is a collection of Northwest European, Southern African, and other systems. Its original structure was a corporation based in Botswana’s capital, and represented one of the largest private transportation and trading consortiums in human history. When intergalactic governance fell apart, the Gaborites grew in power and began actively participating in the war rather late. No more than a middling power during the Cradle Wars, it was able to survive due to a mixture of luck and monopoly over certain transit routes and infrastructure. Once everything collapsed, however, even mediocre power and projection becomes incredibly valuable either to possess or to deny others the ability to possess, and they got involved after numerous attacks. The Gaborite Federation transitioned from a company to a democratic government as it incorporated additional territories and the economy fell apart, forcing it to rely on alternative methods of incentivization other than money. Now at least 4.5 billion people call it home, and have been fostering very close ties to the interstellar government. They are, at the moment, discussing in depth how to best integrate.

The Faridabad Sandhi is the thirteenth successor government to what used to be called the Republic of India. It is home to at least 6.5 billion people, and demographically includes more people from Bangladesh and Southeast Asia than from India. While powerful, the Sandhi are very divided. As each of their governments collapsed, and much of their population died off or were killed, while new population centers were added by the fortunes of war, India lost much of its ability to maintain centralized control. The Faridabad Sandhi is perhaps more accurately a collection of some hundred factions, of which four hold the most power. It is perhaps because of this disunity and weakness, alongside their proximity to the United Congolese Directorate, that even as the Cradle Wars died down as there were no longer anyone left to shoot, few governments left to obey, and almost no worlds left that were not monuments to the dead and dying, even then the Faridabad Sandhi still became victim to a war with the Congolese. This war was bloody and expensive. The Congolese had substantial difficulties. However, it was clear by the point of contact with the expanding interstellar government that the Sandhi were perhaps fifty to a hundred years away from being completely defeated and likely incorporated. The Sandhi received a reprieve when the Congolese started fighting the interstellar government instead, and were able to get away with relatively few losses.

The seven interstellar governments that formed similar to the universal interstellar government are: the Kalyma Republic, the Orel Union, the Brotherhood, the American Confederation, the Huai Communes, The Biafran Unity, and the Osaka-Lucena Empire. Each of these states emerged around a small core of worlds that formed a largely isolated economic bloc on the periphery of the interstellar economy. Rather than collapse in on themselves, or engage in continual war until their destruction, many attempted to cut themselves off from the fighting and focus on internal self-strengthening. Combined these seven entities hold at least 45 billion people.

The Kalyma Republic is located around the 210 line of Galactic Longitude, and includes parts of the Canis Major dwarf galaxy. It possesses a population of at least 7 billion, and was originally a remote network of colonial systems set up and established under the coordination of both the Eurasian Federation and the Shanghai Group. The Republic is largely Chinese in population and character, but there are extensive Russian legacy influences. Largely left alone after the collapse of galactic civilization, a defensive arrangement between most of the local actors was formed. After a series of small wars with orphan fleets, and a growing population of refugees, the leaders of all of the major worlds and systems got together to discuss what was to be done, where they were promptly all killed in a military coup. This coup was short lived, and an admiral from the Kalyma system overthrew the dictatorship and restored democratic government – though not fragmented democratic government. What emerged was an oligarchic democratic federation that soon reached the local dwarf galaxy and started incorporating local territories and neighboring systems. Contact with the interstellar government was cordial, but Kalyma made it clear they have no intention of joining the interstellar government in the foreseeable future.

The Orel Union is located on the opposite side of the galaxy, and like Kalyma has a small intergalactic presence in the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy. Unlike Kalyma, however, this system was far more patchwork and has a very limited core structural identity. Far from the galactic center of trade and power, the planetary systems that would make up Orel were mostly outposts, research centers, and vanity colonial projects. The immense distance meant that the ships and infrastructure in the region were very powerful and capable of traveling long distances. The Orel Union emerged as a uniform state only after a series of consolidatory wars in collaborating between the local Central European naval forces teamed up with a massive orphan fleet from the Siberian Federation. Combined, their strength was enough to intimidate into consolidating much of the neighboring sector. A few resisted, but to limited effect. Militaristic and technocratic, the Orel Union is among the least known factions in the known galaxy due to distance and expense, but it is believed they have at least 2 billion people under their jurisdiction.

The brotherhood emerged from a series of religious organizations, mostly Christian, that had set out to be removed from the galactic center. It was a religious movement that tried to take direct inspiration from Saint Augustine and other religious figures. Originally referred to as the Brotherhood of All Believers, or the Holy See, this did not last very long into the Cradle Wars. While largely isolated and separate in character to the rest of the galaxy, their ability to collectively defend was limited, and few of the groups were able to effectively coordinate with one another. As orphaned fleets made their incursions, many collapsed and the general chaos of the outside galaxy nearly caused the region to implode. Fearing their potential extinction, and many began calling for religious war and unity governments. A crusading framework was adopted, and was initially successful. However, massive refugee flows and the mixing of different sectarian groups would, within a few decades, help spark a secular humanist movement within the group, eventually leading to a civil war. Religiously minded factions vs. the humanist group. Though very bloody business, the secular group was able to obtain control with relatively small whole-sale destruction. In part, this was due to the religiously minded factions failing to cohesively unify due to sectarian fears. The largest of the groups, the Catholics, were thus the hardest to put down, and resulted in the most lives lost. Today, the brotherhood has at least 7 billion people under its authority.

The American Confederation is a loose collective of several major factions that pulled together in a relatively unimportant part of space. Though called the American Confederation, and its government contains a lot of United States symbolism, its demography is more Canadian, Brazilian, Romanian, and Australian. Their interaction with the cradle wars was substantially more involved than many of the other factions, and the region suffered repeated waves of orphaned fleets. Their relative proximity to the group that would lead to the interstellar government meant that those orphaned fleets unwilling to surrender themselves to their conditions could find an easier target in the Confederation. The bombardment of planets and repeated incursions has made the American Confederation an entity mostly of ships, with minimal people living on planetary bodies. The capital is a world cylinder of enormous size called the Brunswick. There are at least 4 billion living under the American Confederation’s authority, though its territory is among the most sparsely populated of the other powers.

The Huai Communes is one of the rare examples of a successful interstellar revolutionary wave that was not immediately destroyed during or after the Cradle Wars. The mechanisms through which violent political revolution designed to overturn economic structures take place are often not very conducive to the establishment of planetary, let alone interstellar, states. Most of these movements of sufficient scale collapsed in on themselves. While the interstellar government is aware of dozens of similar groups, only the Huai were able to establish itself and maintain itself during and after the Cradle Wars without falling apart. This may have to do with the highly decentralized nature of the collectivization efforts, the heavy reliance upon AI and autonomous robotics, and the relative close proximity of its major populated sectors. The population of the Huai communes were based largely on Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, and Ugandan population centers. Numerous waves of refugees and orphaned fleets resulted in periodic instances of disarray, particularly as the Huai Communes had immense difficulty waging organized warfare against highly advanced naval fleets. As time moved on their number and frequency diminished, and the Huai grew better as commanders. They have authority over at least 6 billion people.

The Biafran Unity is unique in that it is largely demographically homogeneous, and within its major worlds there are almost no creole cultures that the interstellar government is aware of. The Biafran Unity was initially established as a separatist colonial faction, whereby the South Nigerian Republic could reduce native pressure for the creation of a Biafran State. By exporting large numbers of their Biafran demographic far into remote areas of interstellar governance, the South Nigerian Republic could satisfy its local political situation. Movement to the far-flung reaches was not often voluntary, and the South Nigerian Republic was far from unique in this practice. The result, however, was that when the Cradle Wars came, the Biafran colonists were far removed from any danger. In their isolation, the Biafran colonies grew together and collectively organized for defensive, economic, and governing purposes. While there were at least forty-five orphaned fleets and numerous waves of refugees, the Biafrans were well situated to deal with them, suffering very little setbacks in the process. Home to at least six billion people, the Biafran Unity stresses the need to be one homogeneous people, and looks back at its long history of struggling for independence as a marker of national identity.

The Osaka-Lucena Empire is the largest faction outside of the interstellar government. Home to at least 13 billion people, and located far from the locus of both old and new interstellar governance, the Osaka-Lucena Empire is based on the cultivation of a deliberately created creole culture based around six major base populations, which are Japanese, Filipino, Iranian, German, Italian, and Indonesian. There are at least twenty major subdivisions, most of which are often grouped and created other creoles. The governing structure is that of an executive monarchy led by an emperor that lays claim to both the Japanese imperial line, as well as descent from the Prophet Mohammad through a matrilineal line. There are four legislative bodies with many subdivisions representing direct, indirect, and appointed forms of democracy. While there is a large autonomous robot capacity, the Osaka-Lucena Empire has banned and has harsh punishments associated with complex, integrated forms of AI.

The Pacific Pact, stationed in the Large Magellanic Cloud, is the least understood of all of the remaining human factions. Deeply isolationist, the Pacific Pact was established by the movement of a large number of governments, military, and scientific personnel outside of the galaxy starting from the 25th century, when it became clear to several national governing units that a large intergalactic war was likely. Other attempts to do so occurred, but they did not run far enough away, or make adequate provisions to reestablish interstellar governance. This attempt succeeded. The Pact claims to represent the Northern United States of America, the Republic of China, the Republic of Chile, and several other nations from the old earth, but made it clear that they no longer have any claim to any territory in the milky way galaxy. Outside of a few periodic naval contacts, mostly with the interstellar government, the Pacific Pact has no desire forge closer ties with the rest of humanity. Convinced that its only a matter of time before the Cradle Wars repeat themselves, they wish to forge a new path far removed from the interference of others. The interstellar government possesses only a limited capacity to reach the Large Magallanic Cloud, and so has visited it only fourteen times. The impression they provided was that of a large, technologically advanced actor, but it was clear that these visits were carefully curated and monitored. No solid forms of information is known about them, but they are believed to have at least 5 billion people under their jurisdiction. While many would like to know more about it, and some within the interstellar government view the Pacific Pact as a major threat precisely because of what they do not know or understand, for many others it is only a secondary concern compared to local actors and the struggle of reestablishing broad interstellar governance and reunifying humanity.

Thanks stevep ! 

That's definitely possible, and you may see a couple of them. The galaxy's a big place, and humanity was numerous and widely distributed. Odds are there won't be any that have a population over a billion, at least at this date. 

Looks like I didn't respond to your last comment:


Sounds like a good series to give a read. There are a few AIs out there running amok, and there are even a handful of autonomous robotic actors, but nothing originating from an alien civilization that's still active. There are a couple of sapient alien species out there, and I'm still undecided how I feel about older alien civilizations (dead or dying) out there, but odds are this will be pretty different from there. I'll need to give it a look some time though, might be a good idea to see how some of these ideas work out with an accomplished writer at the helm. 


I have a lot of ideas about how the ecosystems in this timeline would work. While a few were carefully constructed to mirror the complexity of earth-like ecosystems, almost none of the surviving planetary bodies have those in a finished form. There are some planets that have a lot of CRISPR monstrosities made in the image of fantasy and long dead creatures, and there are some that are almost identical to simple earth environments, but getting everything necessary to catch on an alien world, or even in a controlled environment like a spaceship is difficult. Small things go wrong, and large problems emerge. Most space assets continue to live in environments that resemble industrial farms more than an actual ecosystem, and because of the difficulties in producing redundancies, small problems can wipe out vitally necessary food stores. Those that have the ability to introduce random genetic changes to artificially expand the diversity of their genomes is necessary for those groups who have breeding populations for animals and plant life whose population diversity is too small for them to carry on naturally - or as naturally as can be done on their own - whereas others need to import them either from larger stations or from planets and some moons. Bare subsistence is usually possible under a few planty-starchy pastes that more resemble algae than their genetic forefathers for most people out there, but it turns out that keeping the ships alive and the people alive is far simpler than keeping a supporting ecosystem alive. 

Which leads us to the O'Neill's. A lot of them are better prepared to last, but most of them are not well suited to dramatic changes. A lot of the technology they use are difficult to replace, its harder to conduct scientific and productive research on many of those that are around, and when it comes to building new ones there are limits to the concentration of capital and people. Don't get me wrong, they are among the best places, but they need to be connected to broader economic structures to engage in the type of activities necessary to build a new O'Neill type station without disrupting all of the necessary tasks for their current one. There's also the pesky conservation of matter, which means that for some things is just very difficult to create the things necessary for an O'Neill structure to be built from within an O'Neill structure. Supporting fleets are necessary for most of it, but there's also a reliance on planetary bodies both for people and for difficult to obtain things. A lot of the ecosystems are biological disasters, capable of persisting only with a lot of effort, but a few are settling into patterns. 

For a lot of reasons its just easier to expand resources and population centers on a planet or moon. Space stations and large vessels may have a large capacity, but there's limited ability to grow, and far more limited ability to expand with large industrial products like the O'Neill's. This difficulty is compounded by many of the ships already out there being in poor shape. Some lasted for centuries on the equivalent of duck tape and luck. While it is theoretically possible for O'Neill's and other components of space faring civilization to carry on without a planet or moon in sight and expand ad infinitum, we're not there yet. While most of the galaxy doesn't need them for much, they are still play a necessary function for long-term humanity. 


Earth and a few other worlds had them, but none are around now. There are four planets where building one might make sense, and one of those where it would make a lot of sense, but there aren't any plans for them. If anything, the interstellar government would discourage their creation as it would act as a concentrating force for economic power in one of their systems. One of the big lessons they learned was that the collapse was partially due to a strong economic and population center losing importance and gaining rivals. Better for some of their richest worlds to suffer a bit and encourage net migration out of them, than to enable their growth in order to set up a future conflict. The only exception would be for some particularly necessary thing that requires extensive harvesting, but I've got no McGuffin Element X to work with that would be rarified to justify that here. 

Thanks stevep !

I think I know this one. You're talking about the Expanse series, right? I didn't read the books, but I just got around to watching the amazon series back in December, and I might have had a little bit of subconscious influence there. 

You're right about holding back some of the world's development being seen as a longer term problem, and it may come back to bite them in the future. There are a bunch of reasons for this though, so it'll probably show up in a longer form post at some point. A few brief ones are: concentrations of power lead to structural inequities within the system, and the interstellar government believes the greater the concentration of power, the greater the risk factor for instability is. Their aim at the moment is to diffuse concentrations of power. You have a population that is growing? Great, the interstellar government wants you. Not so that your population remains concentrated in your world or local system, but so that it can be spread out to other areas where people and resources are lacking. Think of it as a form of deurbanization. The point, however, isn't to make some areas weaker in absolute terms. It is merely to strengthen and expand power beyond its focal points. 

The largest cause for concern for the interstellar government is less than this will result in those regions eventually revolting - the very nature of this move is that their ability to do so is curtailed so that every year they do not revolt, they are less able to do so successfully. Rather, their concern is that concentrations of capital, population, and trade are the most powerful engines of development. If another interstellar group embraces this, and allows for a new Cradle-like environment, then they may be left behind. The interstellar government still pushes forward the limits of technology, but their role has made them more stewards and guardians of regions that have fallen to backwater status, rather than being the main hub of scientific advancement and pushing forward human civilization. This is part of the reason why they are frustrated by Matete Rivieu. Its a highly useful world, one that is vital for the future of humanity, but it seems content with its local stagnation. That's not how humanity is bound together, rather it is how it falls apart. At least, in their philosophy.