Archie
Not even my final form
Humanity didn’t go to the stars to escape our dying planet, to further the causes of human exploration, for all those things that the sci fi books and optimistic pundits told us we would. We went to the stars for energy, on a scale nobody had seen before.
The year is 2278, and most of humanity lives in a destitute state. Technology has brought us great promises, and great divisions. Ever since the creation of the first self-replicating solar panel systems, robot factories that would latch onto moons and asteroids, collect resources, and establish highly efficient solar rigs on those moons, humanity has had energy cheaper and in greater abundance than ever before, beamed down onto colony worlds from the moons above. Robots and automation on the ground have turned our civilization into one where work, except at the top levels of management, has become redundant and less efficient than replacing all human work with robots and AIs.
With abundant resources and enough being made for everyone to live a comfortable life, the government voted to give us all a livable stipend. Mankind focused less on work and more on play, and enjoying our lives before we re-enter the ecosystem. The new century was one of innovation, creativity, and equality...
Just kidding. The heads of the large industrial and energy corporations kept accumulating beyond amounts they could ever spend or use in their lifetime. The first quadrillionaire in international dollars made so much in a second that it was impossible for him to spend it all buying products online even f he shopped every second of his life. Meanwhile, the majority of earth’s workers were laid off as their labor was rendered utterly irrelevant. Virtually the only people left with buying power were bureaucrats, soldiers, colonists, scientists, and upper management of corporations. The economy collapsed as virtually no one was left to purchase the majority of goods.
So began “the troubles”. The lower class on earth, without a way to make a living, revolted against corporate control of the world’s governments, aided by a mass mutiny of soldiers. For a brief moment, they occupied the world’s capitals, but were blown back by space-based nuclear and particle bombardment, as colonial troops retook the homeworld, establishing the dictatorial United Colonies of Mankind, a government that controlled the population with eugenics and a scant welfare program that barely covered basic needs.
But there were those who escaped the battle, fled on the planet’s remaining merchant vessels, linking up with disaffected colonists and naval mutineers. They moved to habitable worlds far across the stars from the main corporate zone of control: the Outer Rim.
Here, there is no law, and there is no order: the only safety you can find is with your guild: organizations dedicated to the survival of groups through a common profession. They range from shippers to mechanics to mercenaries, and every aspect of life relies on their work and protection.
But “civilization” is encroaching on these barren parts, to absorb them back into the “organized” hell that is the United Colonies. Will the people of the Outer Rim band together to resist the threat, or will divisions and overwhelming odds force them back into the system from which they fled?
Any interest in this? There's a lot of room for flexibility in the world so we can either set it up as open world (Everyone plays someone, somewhere and we roam around), focused on single item (maybe an old space station), or as a conflict and war between the players on the UC side and on the outer rim side. Thoughts and input are welcome!
