Earth

The cradle of the human race and to some the most important planet in the Orion Spur, Earth is the center of humanity even in the 25th century. Though it was ravaged by ecological devastation caused during humanity’s ascension to the stars to such an extent that most of its non-human life died off, the blue planet was revitalized over the course of the 23rd and 24th centuries by the Solarian Alliance and many previously-extinct species and devastated ecosystems have been restored through the efforts of Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals. The Earth of the 25th century today stands as the most populated planet in the entire Orion Spur, with 19 billion residents on its surface -- many of which have come to live in massive urban settlements commonly referred to as conurbations -- and another billion in orbit. Earth maintains a close relationship -- sometimes simply referred to as the “special relationship” -- with other colonized worlds in the Sol System though no “planet” is closer to it than its sole natural satellite, Luna. The capital of the Alliance, Unity Station, is positioned in the orbit of Earth.

Environment
Earth’s contemporary environment is similar to the contemporary Earth of the early 21st century thanks to extensive environmental reclamation projects undertaken by the Solarian Alliance over the course of nearly a century. Most of the flora and fauna that can be found on the continents and in the oceans modern Earth are cloned species reintroduced during the course of the Alliance’s reclamation projects, though some species -- often locally referred to as “vintages” on Earth -- survived the pre-reclamation period of ecological collapse and were able to persist into the current day.

More information about Earth’s ecological crisis and the efforts undertaken to restore the cradle of humanity to its former glory can be found in the Timeline of Humanity.

Regions
Though Earth is now under the unquestioned control of the Solarian Alliance it has, despite ecological disasters and the steady passage of time, managed to retain a planet defined by distinctive regional identities and governments. These regional governments are subservient to the greater Solarian Alliance, but hold a degree of autonomy not typically seen in other Solarian member states thanks to the special status of Earth. There is no such thing as a truly unified “Earther culture” on Earth thanks to this regionalism, and many from the cradle of humanity pride themselves on their distinctive regional identities, even if they are from what is functionally a single Sovereign Solarian Nation. Despite this pride many Earthers hold it is often seen as foolish to describe oneself as coming from anything other than Earth when abroad, and Earthers that instead identify themselves as belonging to a region first and Earth second are typically looked down upon by other Earthers as strange or dangerously identitarian.

The Planetary Government of Earth is centred in Paris, France, and consists of a 1,000-representative large Planetary Parliament, with representatives from every region of Earth aside from those directly governed by the planetary government attending. The number of representatives per region is determined by population. Every 4 years the assembly elects the Planetary Governor of Earth, and along with the Governor, is the highest authority on the planet. The primary function of the Planetary Government is to mediate disputes between the various regions of Earth and ensure cooperation between them, even if such has to be forced from time to time. The regions of Earth maintain autonomy in many ways, but are in no way fully independent. All are beholden to the laws and decisions of the Planetary Assembly and its Governor.

Asia
The Federal Republic of China is the undisputed largest regional power in Asia and where humanity’s oldest megacorporation, Einstein Engines, originated. While founded in the aftermath of the bloody Sino-Soviet War and Second Chinese Civil War, the Federal Republic has left its bloody history behind itself to become one of the most important nations on Earth. The Federal Republic is additionally the birthplace of Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals, a biomedical giant that is regarded by many on Earth as having saved the planet itself due to the keiretsu’s massive investment and involvement in Earth’s reclamation projects. Earthers from China are a significant portion of Einstein Engines’ staff and can be found at all levels of Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals, with the megacorporation’s headquarters in Shanghai employing hundreds of thousands of workers in its massive arcology. The economic influence of China during the early space age can still be felt throughout human space, particularly on Luna, and Standard Chinese formed the linguistic basis for modern Solarian Common. In the modern day, the Federal Republic of China is still arguably the global centre for business and culture for the planet Earth, housing dozens of its most populated cities and largest commercial centres such as Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou.

Across the East China Sea from the Federal Republic of China lies the island nation of Japan, another major regional power in Asia. Several parts of Zeng-Hu Pharmaceutical’s keiretsu, such as Yomi Genetics, originated here along with many other smaller medical companies that would eventually form other smaller parts of the Zeng-Hu machine. The country has long been a center for technological development, particularly in the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics. Japanese engineers working for Einstein Engines helped pioneer early forms of robotic laborers and assistants, though their products would ultimately be supplanted by IPCs originating on Konyang. Like many island nations, Japan covered its coastlines in a network of extensive seawalls primarily produced by Hephaestus Industries in order to withstand climate change, though recently, some of these walls are beginning to come down in an initiative by the Japanese regional government to restore the natural beauty of their island.

Between Japan and China lies the Republic of Korea, another important economic player in Asia. Following a successful reunification in the late 20th century thanks to the support of the Federal Republic of China, Korea established itself as a major regional power that was able to gain the attention of the early Solarian Alliance during the first colonization efforts through the orienteering of many of its heavy industries and technology companies to the colonisation programme. Eventually this would result in the colonization of the frontier world of Konyang, which would later become the center for robotics in the Alliance. Korea, as a result, has recently seen a return to form as one of the top centers of positronic research and development in the Alliance alongside Callisto following Konyang’s secession in late 2462.

Southeast Asia can be divided into two distinct parts: the mainland and oceanic regions. The mainland of Southeast Asia is, as it has been throughout its history, divided between a variety of states such as Vietnam, the Commonwealth affiliated Malaysia & Singapore, and Thailand. The countries of the region have had close economic ties with one another for centuries now, and worked together alongside one another to colonize New Hai Phong, Despite this, the region’s trade is dominated by the Federal Republic of China and its associated megacorporations, and the entire area has seen heavy investment by Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals from its regional hub in Singapore. Oceanic Southeast Asia is dominated by the economies of Malaysia and the Indonesian Federation along with the recently resurgent Philippines, which is widely touted as a a herculean feat of Earth’s ecological reclamation project due to the amount of time and work needed to restore the archipelago’s devastated ecosphere. Large-scale construction projects of bridges linking the various islands of Indonesia with each other and to the mainland have recently begun with the sponsorship of the Solarian Government, and many in the islands are hopeful for what new possibilities these might bring.

Further to the south Oceania is home to Australia, New Zealand, and the Federation of Oceania -- an alliance of those islands in the Pacific lucky enough to survive the ecological disasters that impacted Earth before ecological projects were undertaken to restore the planet to its former glory. The region is most well-known for the Restored Great Barrier Reef, which was regrown by Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals following its complete destruction in the late 21st century. Many in the keiretsu hold the Restored Great Barrier Reef as the crowning achievement of Zeng-Hu alongside cloning. Australia and New Zealand are also founding Commonwealth Members and participated in the colonisation efforts with the rest of their Commonwealth partners. The Federation of Oceania, like its counterparts in the region, was severely impacted by the ecological disasters that befell Earth during its climate crisis. As a result many surviving islands in the Federation were reinforced with seawalls constructed by Hephaestus Industries to prevent flooding, though the usefulness of these structures has faded with the success of Earth’s climate restoration measures. Many of these colossal constructions now stand as relics of a much darker period in Earth’s long history, though there have been recent proposals from various officials and even citizens in the Oceanian government to either scrap the sea walls for materials, preserve them as outdoor museums, or even convert them into giant, free standing art exhibits.

The Indian subcontinent is the most populous region on earth and one of its powerful economically, competing with other regions like China, the United States, the European Union, and the Soviet Union. Even so, it has long been seen as less prestigious as no megacorporations originated in the subcontinent and lacking a certain pedigree. Despite this though, India remains a mighty economic powerhouse felt across the globe that was able to carry out a colonization effort alongside its neighbors that resulted in the settlement of numerous colonies on the Human Frontier prior to the Interstellar War, most notably Gadpathur. While this colony has long slipped from Solarian rule, India also found success in its efforts to colonise Callisto alongside the other members of the Commonwealth of Nations. While China’s influence is felt most strongly in the Alliance economically, India’s influence -- particularly in the linguistic sphere -- can still be felt in the Coalition of Colonies and the broader human frontier today, as Freespeak, the most spoken language in the Orion Spur, has its roots in the various languages of the Indian subcontinent.

Europe
Europe in the 25th century remains an important and relevant center of the planet despite its former division between the European Union and Warsaw Pact. The one nation that does not follow this trend is the neutral state of Switzerland. While on paper Switzerland is unique on Earth in that it is technically not a Sovereign Solarian Nation or regional province of Earth and is instead an independent nation, it is de jure a member of the Alliance and all Swiss citizens automatically hold dual citizenship in the Alliance. It, along with Luna, has long been diplomatic neutral ground for humanity and a variety of treaties -- such as those ending the Interstellar War and recognising the independence of breakaway states such as the Republic of Biesel -- have been signed here.

The European Union is the unquestioned economic power of the European continent and home to many of the companies that would eventually form the foundations of humanity’s megacorporations. The modern EU consists of a multitude of smaller semi-independent nations from Scandinavia, the British Isles, Western Europe, Iberia, and the Balkans. The most important of these member states is generally considered to be France, which is home to the EU’s largest city and the seat of Earth’s planetary government, Paris. The city is not just notable for these traits however, but also for its long history of being a city on the cutting edge of the sciences, particularly those relating to Aerospace and Nuclear Science. It is also where practical fusion power was invented in 2027, a year which many historians consider to be the start of a new Human Era. West Germany is also a strong force in the economy of the European Union, and is considered the spiritual home of Hephaestus Industries by virtue of it where some of their first engineering facilities and factories on Earth were built. Also of importance is Italy, which is more closely aligned with the Mediterranean nations such as the United Arab Republic through the Mediterranean Economic Pact, commonly called the Med-7 agreement. The Vatican City, located in Italy, is both the smallest member state of the Alliance and also one of its most-visited tourist locations, with millions performing pilgrimages to it every year. Other locations in the European Union, such as Yugoslavia, Portugal, Ireland, and Spain, are also commonly visited for their natural and cultural beauty by Humans from all over the Orion Spur. The EU is where Terraneus Diagnostics -- a subsidiary of Einstein Engines that would later go on to invent the first practical IPC frames. The Romance languages found throughout Western Europe formed the basis of modern Tradeband.

The United Kingdom never formally joined the European Union and instead reinvested itself into its former colonies through the establishment of the international organisation known as the Commonwealth of Nations that focused on being an economic and cultural partnership between all of its member states. As colonisation became more prominent as well, the Commonwealth, headed by the United Kingdom, took to the stars and established numerous colonies throughout human space, the most notable and successful being the colony on the Jovian moon of Callisto. In the present day, the Commonwealth is still a strong economic partnership, though it has declined in notoriety since it stopped colonising worlds across the spur. It maintains a positive relationship with nearly all of its former colonies, however, aside from those no longer in Solarian space, and often coordinates trade between its member states and these colonial worlds.

The European Union’s opposite in Europe is the Warsaw Pact, formerly a military alliance of socialist nations long in the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence that transformed into an economic and colonial cooperative pact after the establishment of the Solarian Alliance in the early 2130’s. The countries of the Pact lagged behind their Western counterparts as megacorporations gained more and more power until what would eventually become Zavodskoi Interstellar was founded as an effort to unify the heavy industry of the Pact into a cohesive industrial force. In the years since the Pact has caught up to, though not surpassed, its western counterpart. The strongest economies in the Warsaw Pact are East Germany, Poland, and Czechoslovakia, with each having a respective focus in arms development, ship building, and robotics. The Warsaw Pact’s economic woes in the Second Great Depression caused it to experience a period of social and political instability during the Earth’s climate crisis, which would result in the Pact -- working alongside Soviet authorities -- deporting a great number of political dissidents to various frontier colonies. Most Earthers from the Pact that go abroad find themselves working for Zavodskoi Interstellar.

To the east of the Warsaw Pact lies its historical overlord, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The USSR is an intimidating economic strongman on Earth that has a unique, and often strained, relationship with the greater Solarian Alliance and the corporations that have come to dominate its economy. The Soviet Union maintains a strict policy of disallowing the operations of any corporation aside from the state-sponsored Zavodskoi Interstellar inside its borders and sphere of influence, which has won the Union very few friends abroad. Regardless of this cold attitude though, the old Union maintains a significant amount of clout in Earth’s politics and economy due to its size and dominant heavy industry, much of which was critical to Earth’s climate restoration project. The Soviet Union has also been the most supportive of any region on Earth of the recent establishment of the Solarian Corporate Authority and the expulsion of NanoTrasen from Solarian space following the collapse of Solarian authorities in its outer colonies in 2462. Soviet citizens that travel abroad are almost always employed by Zavodskoi Interstellar, thanks to the state’s sponsorship of the megacorporation. The USSR’s most well-known colonial ventures are the establishment of the Zvezda moonbase in the 1980’s on Luna, the first permanent human extraterrestrial settlement, and the settlement of Pluto and the moons surrounding it, which now serve as the Alliance’s primary source of the valuable gas Helium-3.

While the Pact and EU are still often at one another’s throats politically and economically in the eternal game of vying for resources and influence over the global affairs of Earth’s Government, the Mediterranean Economic Pact, sometimes referred to as the Mediterranean Seven, Med-7, or Med-Sev, represents an alleged third option, though its influence has waned since its golden age in the 22nd century. The MEP is an unusual economic cooperation agreement between countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea originally designed to both counterbalance the economic power of Asia and North America and allow its constituent nations, some of which were already members of the EU or the United Arab Republic, to afford then costly colonization projects. While its economic cooperation terms remain in effect, it is now primarily a ceremonial organization that shows the historical friendship of the Mediterranean nations. The most notable achievement of the MEP was the colonization of Assunzione, which still remains one of the farthest planets from Earth that has been successfully colonized. There are movements within the Med-Sev nations to try and establish cultural exchanges or trade agreements with their far-flung former-colony in the name of extending the friendship now so emphasised by the organisation, though these efforts have met staunch resistance in the new political climate of a post-collapse Solarian Alliance.

The Middle East and North Africa
Northern Africa and the Middle East are both dominated by the United Arab Republic, an alliance of states stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean formed in the early 21st century during a tide of Pan-Arabism in order to combat growing Soviet and American influence in the region. The Federation gradually strengthened as the 21st century rolled along and was eventually able to pursue its own major colonial endeavors funded by the large scores of wealth accrued from the petroleum and hydrocarbon industries of these countries, the most notable of which was colonization of Persepolis and other planets in the early 2200s that would later become the Elyran Coalition, and finally the independent Republic of Elyra. Despite the Republic’s separation from the Alliance, it and the Federation maintain diplomatic ties, and many muslim Elyrans still travel to Mecca to perform their Hajj. The United Arab Republic is also home to the Suez Commerce Zone, once only a canal linking the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, it is now the largest commercial spaceport and seaport in the Middle East & North Africa and one of the largest on Earth. Since fossil fuels became unprofitable, many countries in the United Arab Republic have instead made great investments into other energy sources such as solar, wind, and fusion power, and export much of this energy to other regions on Earth.

To the east of the United Arab Republic lies its colonial partner in the initial rush to Persepolis, the Free Republic of Iran. Historically a flashpoint between the Soviet Union and the United States, Iran opted to align itself with the Federation following the overthrow of its Soviet-dominated client state government in the Iranian Revolution of 2023. The country, thanks to its large supply of oil reserves that had -- up to its revolution -- been reserved for use by the USSR and prevented from flowing into the open market, provided a significant amount of funding for the Federation’s colonization efforts. Its government was allowed to name the first planet of the colonization project, and eventually settled upon Persepolis. In the modern day, the Free Republic of Iran often works closely still with the United Arab Republic in matters both economic and political, but is also seen as a bridge of sorts between the Asian economies of China and Southeast Asia and the EU and the various states of the West African Union. For this reason, The Republic of Iran has seen heavy investment from Idris Incorporated throughout its history and is commonly host to some of the largest conventions and meetings of business officials on Earth.

The third player in the Middle East is the Republic of Turkey, a historical ally to the United States during the Cold War and founding member of the Mediterranean Economic Pact. The country was one of those consistently on the front lines of the Cold War, and as a result saw a large investment from the United States and Hephaestus Industries during the days when the corporation specialised in being a defense contractor. After the end of the Cold War because of this investment, Turkey became an industrial and financial centre for the Middle East, a status which it holds to this day. This industry was most famously put to use in an agreement with the United Arab Republic and Free Republic of Iran, in which the three nations agreed to cooperate in colonisation effort to settle what would become the Republic of Elyra, with Turkish industry building many of the space vessels and terraforming equipment needed for the process. The country also was one of the primary industrial forces behind the mission to colonise Assunzione. To this day, Turkey maintains a position as one of Earth’s most robust industrial powers, however due to recent tension between the Solarian Alliance and Hephaestus Industries, Einstein Engines and Zavodskoi Interstellar have been allowed to make their way into the Turkish heavy industry sector in small capacities.

Africa
Modern Africa is a location of immense commerce on Earth, and the continent is home to the majority of the planet’s space elevators, vital structures that allow for cheap and efficient transport of goods to and from Earth. The continent has historically been divided by the Sahara Desert, which grew even larger during Earth’s climate crisis. The process of shrinking the Sahara would eventually become one of the longest and most difficult projects of the climate restoration project, officially ending in the early 2400s.

West Africa below the Sahara is dominated by the West African Union (UAO), an evolution of the late 20th-century West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA). The economies of the UEMOA nations boomed in the early to mid 21st century thanks to their smart balancing of the interests of Soviet, American, and European investors to create a loosely-regulated but dominant regional economy by the 2050s. The UEMOA officially formed the UAO in the 2060s in order to secure its regional economic dominance, and entered the colonial race in the same decade. While it would initially only perform minor ventures, the UAO secured the foundation of the Eridani Federation in 2095 when it secured the sole rights to colonize the Epsilon Eridani system. Most Eridanian Suits are descended from the West African settlers of the UAO’s colonial program, and the Federation maintains warm relations with the UAO to this very day. Modern Eridanian Tradeband is descended from French and some indigenous languages found in West Africa. The UAO has longstanding ties with Hephaestus Industries, which contributed greatly to its colonization effort of Oran -- the first planet in Epsilon Eridani. Presently, the UAO maintains a very close economic relationship with the Eridani Corporate Federation, though politically they have drifted apart over cultural differences, with many citizens in the UAO decrying the ECF’s treatment of the Dreg Underclass and the eradication of any West African culture that may have once existed in the ECF.

Nearby the UAO lies the Federal Republic of Nigeria, West Africa’s second-largest economy and a longstanding rival of the UAO in both economics and colonization. The rivalry would peak in the late 21st when UAO beat out Nigeria’s bid to colonize the Epsilon Eridani system, which led to the nation more closely aligning itself with the Commonwealth’s ongoing efforts to colonize the Jovian moon of Callisto. The country is also home to the Lagos Interstellar Space Elevator, the largest of its kind on Earth’s surface. Nigeria, along with its numerous elevators, has also developed an incredibly robust aerospace industry, with many firms having manufacturing and assembly plants for spacecraft in the region.

East Africa is home to the East African Federation, a union of states that was inspired by its West African counterpart, the UAO, that formed in the late 21st century. While the UAO found success by carefully balancing -- some might say “juggling” -- the interests of investors from both the capitalist and communist worlds, the EAF’s initial economic boom came primarily from investments by the UAO into its growing market. As a result the EAF and UAO have always had close ties, and the EAF later joined its West African counterpart in the colonization of the Epsilon Eridani system. Many of the Federation’s Suits outside of Oran are descended from these later East African colonists. As a result of this Eridani’s planets (locally referred to as “Sectors”) after Oran tend to be dominated by megacorporations more readily found in East Africa, such as Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals and Einstein Engines. The EAF also sports one of the most robust biotech industries in Africa and on Earth at large, with some of the premier prosthetics and augments in the Spur seeing some research and development in this region of Earth.

Central Africa, unlike its Eastern and Western counterparts, was never able to federalize or unionize to the extent of its neighbors. The region was first a hotspot for proxy wars between the United States of America and Soviet Union, along with heavy involvement from the Union of South Africa on whatever side most benefited it, before eventually finding itself the main region of investment by both the UAO and East African Federation in the 2100s. With the colonization effort in Epsilon Eridani well under way in the 2100s a source of labor was needed for the fledgling colonies, and the Francophone Republic of the Congo was -- to investors from the UAO -- the ideal place to find cheap labor. While some of these colonial laborers found success in Eridani, many found themselves performing unpleasant, time-consuming work in hazardous conditions for another nation’s colony. Dissatisfied with their positions in the colony but unable to easily return home, many of these laborers would become the first “dregs” of Eridani when they were unceremoniously fired by their colonial supervisors during a strike in 2148. Central Africa is today overseen directly by the Planetary Government of Earth and is home to some of the largest mineral extraction operations in the world. Its seen by Earthers as a somewhat dangerous place, but also one where anyone could go to with hopes of making it big in the ever growing mining industry of the region, and as such, has become one of the most multicultural places on Earth, with people from China to the EU to South America, to recent Martian refugees trying to make a living there. There have been pushes to federalise the region into something more coherent and self-governing and these have been gaining steam despite the disapproval of megacorporations involved in the mining operations there.

The Union of South Africa is the absolute hegemon of southern Africa despite a history of internal unrest and external controversies. The Union was a major player in the African theater of the Cold War, at times working with the United States and at times working against it with the Soviet Union, but ultimately only working for itself and the security of its business interests. South Africa would eventually make its “deal with the devil" in the mid 21st century and opt to closely align its arms industry with the Soviet Union’s Zavodskoi Industries thanks to an ongoing arms embargo by the United States in an effort to end its ongoing involvement in Central Africa, which would not be truly end until the late 2100s. Thanks to its pariah status until the 2100s South Africa is one of the few Commonwealth nations not to have had a hand in the colonization of Callisto, and is typically looked upon negatively by the East African Federation and UAO alike. However, its close association with Zavodskoi Interstellar has allowed its arms industry to remain relevant even in the 2400s. While unable to participate in the colonisation efforts of Callisto, many South Africans instead looked to the frontier as a land of opportunity and came to inhabit many worlds in the current Coalition of Colonies along with being sizable minorities in more global colonization efforts, most notably those on Silversun and Xanu Prime.

North America
Even in the 25th century North America remains a center of industry and culture on Earth, though it has long been eclipsed by the interstellar scale of the Solarian Alliance as a whole.

The United States of America once stood as, arguably, the most important nation in human history prior to the dawn of the Solarian Alliance following the Crisis of 2127. A dominant regional power and the only single nation able to oppose the Soviet Union, the USA found a Cold War with its counterpart that continuously escalated -- eventually going interplanetary -- until the early 22nd century, when the Earth’s ecological and economical problems came to a head and caused a collapse of the old order. The United States in particular was badly damaged by Earth’s climate crisis, with many of its cities ruined by rising sea levels. The United States’ overfunded military industry would eventually go on to form the foundation of Hephaestus Industries alongside several European defense and heavy industry companies. Its largest city, Los Angeles, still has a massive Hephaestus-manufactured sea wall dating back to the climate crisis that is the only reason the city itself was not abandoned during the 2100s. The United States still is a powerful economy with a huge hold over Earth’s markets and many in the country have found great success in working with megacorporations across the spur. Because of its great involvement with colonisation from its early years, humans with American heritage can be found all over Human-Inhabited space in the Orion Spur.

To the south of the USA the United Mexican States houses the single largest city in North America, Mexico City. Mexico has long had a close relationship with its northern neighbor and was a major partner of the United States in early colonial ventures to colonize the Solar System, where it helped to found some of the original American domes on Earth’s moon. Its close relationship with the United States made it an ideal market for Hephaestus Industries, which controlled much of Mexico’s heavy industry sector before the megacorporation’s investments were bought out by a resurgent Einstein Engines in the 2450s. Mexico continues to see a strong presence of the megacorp and is where its Earth operations are headquartered. Along with the domes of Luna, Mexicans also participated greatly in the establishment of the South American colony of Mictlan after it encountered some difficulties.

In the north Canada endured the climate crisis of the 2100s better than its southern neighbor, and grew significantly thanks to climate refugees settling inside its borders as they fled northwards to escape rising temperatures and sea levels. Toronto, as a result, remains the second-largest city in North America after Mexico City. Canada itself still straddles a line between the Commonwealth and the United States and ultimately involved itself in the colonial efforts of both, with Canadian colonists forming a significant part of the early population of Callisto. As with the rest of North America much of Canada’s industry has been historically dominated by Hephaestus Industries, though whether the Solarian government will allow this state of affairs to continue remains to be seen as corporate restrictions against the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate continue to advance in Sol

While it was devastated during Earth’s climate crisis the Caribbean managed to endure, though many of its islands disappeared beneath the tide of rising sea levels. When islands started to slowly reappear during Earth’s climate restoration projects they were often purchased wholesale by Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals, the heroic savior of Earth’s ragged environment. While some islands, such as Cuba and Hispaniola, make up the Caribbean Federation -- a desperate union of states created to manage the refugees caused by the climate crisis -- many are simply Zeng-Hu special administrative zones leased to the megacorporation by the Solarian Alliance where a variety of experiments, some legal and some less so, are performed. With the recent anti-megacorporation initiative of the Solarian government, it remains to be seen what will become of Zeng-Hu’s island paradises in the Caribbean. Due to these questionable activities, many citizens of the Caribbean Federation have a mixed opinion of Zeng-Hu, with some seeing the company as the only reason they can live where they are, and others seeing the corporation as a sinister entity that plays with the lives of others.

South America
While its historical legacy on Earth remains its period as the main theater of the 21st-century Cold War between the USSR and USA, South America has forged its own unique identity in the decades that followed this period of strife. Unfortunately the period of recovery that followed the end of the Cold War with the Crisis of 2127 means that the nations of South America were late to the colonial rush that would define much of humanity’s history up to the present day, with Mictlan standing as the only major successful colonial venture launched by South American nations.

The largest economy in South America is the Federative Republic of Brazil, despite the devastation it suffered during Earth’s ecological crisis. Brazil possesses longstanding ties with Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals due to the corporation’s major role in the restoration of the Amazon Rainforest during Earth’s climate restoration initiatives. The economic prominence of Brazil allowed it to overcome linguistic barriers and assume leadership over the “Mictlan Project” of the 2150s, which would eventually result in the planet’s colonization in the 2180s. Brazil did not escape the Cold War unscathed though, and closely aligned to the United States throughout it. Many critics of the Mictlan Project argued that the Brazilian championing of it was not due to a sense of charity, but instead out of a desire to get anti-business environmentalists out of the picture by encouraging them to travel to Mictlan, rather than continue to fight against business in the Amazon. Brazil enjoys a status as one of Earth’s premier agricultural powers currently as well, with Zeng-Hu’s continued involvement in creating and testing prototype superfoods in the region.

The main continental rival of Brazil during the Cold War era was the Democratic Republic of Chile, which aligned itself with the Soviet Union first out of pragmatism and then after dogmatism following an unsuccessful American-backed coup of its government. Unlike the Zeng-Hu affiliated Brazil, Chile has long had a positive relationship with Zavodskoi Interstellar dating back to Soviet industrial aid during the 20th and 21st centuries. Its burgeoning industrial sector fueled by its massive mining industry allowed it to include itself in the Mictlan Project despite Brazilian protests, and Chile provided much of the work on the Project’s colonization vessels. Chile’s status as a producer of spacefaring vessels continues to today, with several of the Alliance’s active-duty warships originating in the network of shipyards that orbit above it. Many claim that the political divide between the Zavodskoi-backed Chile and the Zeng-Hu-affiliated Brazil is the source of the longstanding competitive rivalry between the companies, though this is often seen as more legend than fact by historians.

Caught between Brazil and Chile is the Republic of Peru, a nation that tried to balance the competing interests of the United States and the Soviet Union during the second phase of the Cold War. Peru opened itself up to investments from both sides in an attempt to get ahead of its neighbors, but would ultimately find itself indebted to both sides and unable to please either. As a result, the Republic nearly buckled and collapsed under the weight of civil unrest towards the end of the Cold War, but would ironically recover its footing during the Crisis of 2127 before opting to involve itself yet again in international affairs through the Mictlan Project. Contemporary Peru is known for having a significant presence of nearly every megacorporation (aside from NanoTrasen) in its investor-friendly economy, though its reputation as the gateway between the USA and USSR faded into history with the advent of interstellar politics. Many Peruvians can be seen in corporate relations or PR positions because of their familiarity with multiple megacorporations.

To the south of Peru, the Republic of Argentina attempted a similar strategy with more success. Unlike its northern counterpart Argentina simply balanced the interests of Chile and Brazil in order to create a prosperous local situation, ultimately emerging from the Crisis of 2127 in a far more intact state than either of the neighbors it had invited into its economy thanks to its reliance on regional economics rather than international economics. Argentina was the first nation to propose the Mictlan Project, and intended for it to be a way for the nations of South and Central America to move past their Cold War-era past and into a new future in the stars. Argentina is also the technology centre of South America, being home to numerous AI and robotics research labs that allow it to continue to be relevant economically today.

In the north of the continent Columbia, Ecuador, and Venezuela all suffered roughly the same fate during the Cold War. Thanks to their close proximity to the United States, the Soviet Union saw them as ideal “springboards” that could be used to undermine the Americans in the same manner that China undermined their own influence in Asia. As a result, they were ravaged by coups and counter-coups throughout the 21st century and barely managed to emerge intact enough to give paltry contributions to the Mictlan Project, though many fled to the colony to escape their living situations on Earth. While they are now as prosperous as other regions on Earth, the legacy of the 21st century looms large in the minds of those that live in this region: many simply do not trust their neighbors -- let alone non-human residents of the Alliance.

Antarctica
Far to the south of Earth lies the continent of Antarctica, long unpopulated by humans. The Antarctic ice of the continent was ravaged by climate change and the continent itself came to feature more and more human settlements as the climate crisis worsened, with settlers primarily consisting of the most desperate refugees. Very few of these settlements were successful, and few of those have persisted until the present day. Due to the pressures of climate change impacting Antarctica so severely it was chosen by the Alliance to serve as the base of operations for the climate restoration initiative, and much of its former splendor -- and ice -- has been restored. What settlements remain on Antarctica are dedicated either to supporting the climate restoration project or repurposed themselves as scientific research centers as the temperature dropped. Due to this, there are very few settlements on the continent dedicated to anything aside from scientific research, and many of the Alliance’s best and brightest natural scientists train in facilities located on the continent.