Terran Compact and the Sol System
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...... The sol system is the cradle of humanity and new home of the Terran Compact, the treaty organization encompassing the core systems of human expansion. Earth of 2320 enjoys the fruits of the heavy handed leadership of the past century. After the last of the world wars a century ago, the young nations of the west came to dominate the world with strong military and economic powers. This New Imperialism sparked the first exodus with the birth of the MAW Drive.
Earth and the Sol system today are radically different from the "Broken Earth" of the past. The wars which once ravaged her continents and threatened to wipe her clean of humanity have moved to the cold reaches of space and alien worlds. This new "Mended Earth�, as the propaganda of the TC puts it, is free of the violence and oppression of her forbearers. Some claim that this new peace comes at too heavy a cost.
In the Early days of the first Exodus, the TC used a form of Gulag, to banish potential dissidents to the newly discovered worlds of the frontier. There on alien soil, the banished built new homes and communities, this over time prospered into nations great enough to rival the sovereign nations of the broken earth. Left to their own devices these new sovereign worlds have come to hate those who now control the birthplace of their ancestors, and even today the embers of ancient aggressions, all but forgotten on the peaceful soil of earth, smolder on the many worlds of the cosmos.
Now with the means to fuel old rivalries, the governments of distance planets such as Kroneheim, Junzen, New Britain, and as many others as there are stars in the sky ache, deep in the unknown places of the heart to return to the hills and valleys of their forgotten homes, and know the fruits of the peace they try to destroy........
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Excerpt from the Book "The Forgotten History of Human Expansion"
The story of the Sol system is the story of all humanity. Sol, the cradle of humanity has been the battlefield of her wars and bloodshed for generations beyond count. Life among the stars, on any other ground but Earth, is only a sentence in the sprawling history of humanity.
The change occurred early in, what historians have come to call the “Broken Earth�, of the early 21st century. Violence and death ravaged great parts of the globe and the earths resources, squandered for centuries were starting to show signs of exhaustion. Just when things looked the bleakest two scientists, Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann both electrochemical engineers, made a startling discovery involving room temperature fusion of deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen. This news, because it had come form chemists instead of physicists, was largely ignored. By 2008, other scientist had duplicated their experiments and within 2 years, the first cold fusion reactor, dubbed the PF reactor in honor of Pons and Fleishman, was commissioned for the city of Baltimore Maryland. This reactor which was fueled by heavy water, went on-line August 31, 2012, and worked without a hitch. This new cheap, clean power source was set to revolutionize the entire world.
By 2022, 90% of all power generated in the United States was produced by PF reactors. Along with this came sweeping reforms for the regulation of the Petroleum industry, who had almost overnight saw their stock and their reputations plummet. This new public conscience hit hardest in the Middle East where entire economies were dependent on the prices of crude oil. A firestorm of protests and violence surged throughout the destabilized region, as governments and economies collapsed. Through it all Muslim religious factions joined forces to denounce the United States as imperialist trying to undermine the stability of their economies.
Early in 2023, several members of an islamic extremist group, said to be funded from the middle eastern state of Iran, planted a small nuclear device in a shopping center several blocks from downtown Los Angeles. The bomb detonated at 5:14pm on January 12th. The final death tolls including those suffering from radiation poisoning numbered close to 32,000. The American response was swift and decisive. Before the ash had settled on downtown LA, the US intelligence gathering apparatus has found the terrorists and their sponsors and within 12 hours of the attack Marine Reaction Forces were landing in the Gulf. Air strikes and laser guided munitions ground the cities of Iran to dust and low yield nuclear artillery rounds melted hundreds of square miles of desert into glass.
The U.N. held a special session to discuss the severity of the US reprisal. Their session closed with sanctions against the U.S. and voted unanimously to censure the president, Travis Brody, for the collateral damage inflicted in the attack. Brody responded by signing executive order 2408A, officially withdrawing the United States from the U.N.
The actions of the U.S. instantly polarized the whole of Islam, and in March of that year the entire Middle East unified, forming the Sovereign State of Islam, under Abdul Dhul Fiqar “servant of the prophets sword�, a charismatic son of a Saudi oil sheik. Sovereign Islam immediately decreed that all loyal muslims wage Jihad against the U.S. The war lasted just 200 days, and ended with the entire Middle Eastern block declared as a U.S. protectorate.
The U.N. sat powerless as America expanded her control of the newly acquired states. In August the U.N., after weeks of talk, issued an ultimatum, that the U.S. pull out of the middle east and surrender a total of 6 trillion dollars to rebuild the countries destroyed during the 3rd gulf war. The U.S. in response formed the Western Hemisphere Compact, composed of countries who supported the U.S. including Britain, Japan, Canada, Mexico, and the whole of South America. Months passed and pressure from the state of Sovereign Islam, whose government was now in exile in France, forced the hand of the U.N. A U.N. resolution led by the ambassador from France, declared war on the U.S. led WHC. The third world war had begun. Before the ink had dried on the declaration, the war was over. In less than six months the WHC destroyed the much inferior forces of the U.N. During the short war the U.S. unveiled the power of the fully realized SDI program initiated in the 1980’s and powered by PF reactors. With less than 10,000 killed, the U.N. secretary signed a declaration of unconditional surrender to the WHC forces. The UN was immediately dissolved and on May 8th, 2024 the WHC became the Terran Compact and for the first time in history the entire globe was unified under the power of one government, the United States.
Other events played out under the shadows of war. In 2018 research began by the Mexican Physicist Miguel Alcubierre led to the first successful unmanned faster than light flight to the solar systems Zenith. The technology, based on Alcubierre’s Warp Theory, began to grow rapidly, and by 2020 our understanding of the nature of space time was growing by an order of magnitude. In 2022, just months before the bombing that would set into motion the events leading to the formation of the TC, Major Thomas Hoch USAF made the first manned faster than light flight in the ship Solar 1, equipped with a MAW drive. Further technology spin offs including the invention of a viable anti-gravity device enabled the first rudimentary station to be built on the moon, and within 8 months the first human missions to Mars were executed.
As events unfolded, it was obvious that the course of human destiny had changed, and that not all human were aware of it, and fought the change at every turn. Unrest and revolt were the defining words for the following years across the globe, as the TC enforced its will on previously sovereign states. The lack of manpower to contain these isolated events, saw them quelled brutally as overworked troops made examples of dissidents who refused to comply.
As the unrest grew, a solution presented itself; the newly discovered warp drive would begin to carry off batches of these dissidents. The thinking was that when removed from earth, these troublemakers would conform to TC policy by using the leverage of isolation, while at the same time providing a labor pool to exploit the resources of distant stars. This could also alleviate the growing population in the planets urban centers, where food shortages and rioting had taken its inevitable toll. By 2029, the growing aerospace technology field allowed the construction of a fleet of survey ships under the auspices of “Project Prometheus�. Their mission statement was to survey planets for possible future colonies. The survey ship “Icarus� fell out of warp around their first target, Alpha Centauri , on April 27th, 2029 at 3:14 GMT. Over the course of the next 3 days they mapped the surface of 7 planets in the multiple star system. One planet which they rightly named Nova Terra was startlingly similar to Earth in its climate, atmosphere, gravity and geology.
Back in the Sol system several major space-based projects were initiated which were to affect humanity for all time and set the course for the habitation of alien worlds. TC senate appropriations were passed in June of 2029 for the first phase of these projects, to establish human living quarters on the Moon and Mars, and to begin exploitation of the resources in the systems asteroid belt. Further legislation enacted the following year began the construction of several atmospheric generators hoped to create a earth like atmosphere on Mars, and the construction of an orbital station where ships could be produced for expeditions to planets outside our solar system.
2029 also saw the formation of the first industrial conglomerate formed for the sole purpose of aquiring contracts for the off-world projects the TC planned. Terran Orbital Industries Unlimited was awarded many of the contracts for the planned projects, and research funded by the company produced many of the technologies that would be used for centuries to allow human to survive the rigors of space travel.
The first ships of what is now called “The Exodus� embarked in 2032 for the newly founded colony of Nova Terra. Throughout the next decade, billions of humans crossed the distance to scores of awaiting planets. The second and third Exodus in actuality, were a constant stream of immigrants, many against their will, to these new worlds.
The next step in the history of Sol came in 2066. The Sol system was finally at peace. The projects on Mars and the Moon were completed and making good progress. The population of the Sol system had been cut almost in half and the alleviated planet had begun to heal itself of the scars of mankinds history. In September of that year, three colonies in quick succession declared their independence from the TC. On the planet New Britain, the first act by the newly restored royal Monarch, Albert I of the house of Arturos, was to declare the Whitcross system a sovereign state no longer under the control of the TC. Likewise the newly crowned Emperor of the Nishu system, Lord Horigashi Matsumana of the first Tenno dynasty , added that his system would no longer support the terran compact or be bound by her laws. In October, while the TC was considering its options, the third colony, in the Gandis system, joined the ranks of the resolved. The TC was in a quandary, as even if it had the man power to stem the tide, it lacked the capability to land enough forces to prevent the defection. The months that followed saw similar declarations from other colonies, many not nearly self-sufficient enough to support themselves. The TC administration saw at once that something must be done to bring her colonial assets into line. In January of 2067, the TC government passed a measure to begin construction of a fleet of warships equipped with the MAW drive, capable of bringing force to bear on worlds not willing to accept TC policy. The wording in the Congressional findings included “ …. pacification by force…� . As word of the TC decision spread scores of colonies including the Sovereign Nations of New Britain, Nishu, and the AVL(the official name of the nation based on Kroneheim) began their own military programs in preparations for what looked to be the first intergalactic war.
By 2072 the first of these Warships were rolling out of their construction berths. Ground forces had begun their training in planetary assault and the armed forces of the TC almost overnight went from a planetary peacekeeping organization to a machine of war. The TC’s forces were expanded from around 3 million to 22 million soldiers over the course of 5 years and all of humanity braced themselves for the war that was sure to follow.
The first warships jumped out of the Sol system on May 6th, 2073 on course for the Whitcross system. They fell out of warp in the Whitcross system on August 9th , 2074. The battle that ensued with the newly commissioned Royal Navy, to the surprise of both TC and New Britain forces was decidedly one sided in favor of the British Forces. When the first wave of landing troops dropped to the planets surface, they were unprepared for the ferocity of the ground battle that followed. The first engagements showed the relative inexperience of the forces of both sides. The final battle, known to posterity as the “battle of Castle Heights� left the TC forces in a general rout and decisively established the sovereignty of New Britain under the rule of Albert I who had personally commanded the British forces during the battle.
Similar results awaited the forces deployed to Nishu and Gandis. Each were able to defeat, through attrition, the TC forces, whose overconfidence had left them without the supplies to fight a protracted battle. Only in the smaller unprepared systems were the TC forces able to win decisive victories and reestablish their dominance over the foundering colonies.
The aftermath of the First Secession War, saw the loss of more than two-thirds of the TC fleet, trillions of dollars of equipment and fuel, and countless lives as well as the publics confidence in the TC’s administration. The news shocked the citizens of Sol, who clamored for an end to the wasteful expenditure, as the government was already preparing for the 2nd war. The near complete devastation of the TC’s forces and the growing sentiment of Earth’s citizens, gave the administrators pause. The final decision reached in 2075, was the passing of a bill, the “Colonial Reform Act�, which set up the parameters by which a colony could gain autonomy. This bill meant to save face for the TC government without the need to risk another secession war, achieved what no one had expected. An onslaught of regions on Earth petitioned the TC government for the ability to be recognized as autonomous under the conditions of the “Colonial Reform Act�. When the TC government released official statements that the “Colonial Reform Act� would never be applied to any region on Earth, a new round of violence swept across the globe. This new violence was met by sweeping changes in TC policy. The new Administration pushed through changes in the governmental policy affecting the freedoms, based largely on the American bill of rights, of its many citizens. These new policies set up the groundwork for the TC,s change to a heavy handed totalitarian government.
The defeats in the Nishu, Whitcross, and Gandis systems, gained the TC vital training on the nature of interstellar warfare and the knowledge that a large scale war should be avoided if possible. The next century saw the advancement of the TC’s new policy of fascist totalitarianism along with the advances in the quality of life on Earth and in the entire Sol system. The terraforming of Mars was completed in 2150, and the new pollution controls and system of land revitalization had remade the Earth into the pinnacle of mankind’s achievements. The weather control system, capable of dispersing potentially damaging weather, along with other projects stopped and then reversed the growth of the worlds deserts, creating arable farmland in what was once the Sahara and Gobi.
The TC’s forces over the course of the next century developed into a viable defense force, having fought thousands of border skirmishes and uprisings on small colonies.
Sol Today
The Sol system today is unquestionable one of the greatest achievements of the Human Race. Projects started in the dawn of the current age are now coming into fruition, and the standard of living for TC citizen far surpasses most every other system. The systems 19 billion inhabitants have spread to every habitable corner from the depths of Mercury to the peaks of Saturn’s moons. Many have likened the expansion in the system to humanities expansion to the corners of Sapient Space.
Earth remains the seat of the Sol system, housing nearly half of the systems population. Projects started in the years since the Exodus have turned previously uninhabitable land into a virtual paradise. Where deserts and badlands had once separated population centers, now crops grow. Systems of weather satellites disperse potentially dangerous storms while strings of cities on the oceans floors mine resources from the Earths very heart. The capitol of the Terran Compact is located in the city of Washington DC in the NorAm sector.
Lunis, as Earth’s moon is now called, holds a special place in the heart of humanity. The various Lunar Population Projects have turned the once desolate world into a self supporting ecosystem capable of sustaining humanity. The heart of the Lunar Population Project began in the latter part of the 21st century as a test bed for future intstellar colonies. Early mining projects between the moon and the asteroid belt shifted billions of tons of heavy elements into the moons inner core. This added density to the newly engineered planetoid and gave the moon a level of gravity necessary to support an atmosphere. Other projects saw the newly created Lunar core ignited by nuclear reactions warming the surface of the new world. Today the moon is a vibrant world where forests of genetically engineered trees grow tall in the mild .85g Lunar gravity while fish swim in the new sea of Tranquility.
Mars, much like Lunis, has been changed in ways past people could never have imagined. Fully 6.5 billion people live and work on the once red planet. The Martian Population Project, like the projects of Lunis, was begun in the late 21st century and reached completion much ahead of schedule as new breakthroughs in science and biology revolutionized the TC’s system of terraforming. Mars today is almost a mirror image of Earth’s biology and ecosystems. Cities spread across the horizon into the cool mist of the martian night.
Other attractions in the Sol system include large population centers in the cool, shadowy canyons and craters of Mercury and Venus, while several large dome cities spread across the icy surface of the moons of Saturn. Major mining operations still persist in the systems asteroid belt and produce billions of tons of raw ore per year.
Organization
The governing of Earth has been divided into 6 regions. The NorAm sector acknowledged the sovereignty of the old United States and included all of America and Canada and was administrated from Washington D.C. The Asia Major Sector included all the countries of the old Soviet Union , and the eastern bloc region and held its administration in the Russian city of Kiev. The Asia Minor Sector included all of south east asia and the Orient as well as the Philippines ,the Pacific Islands, and the Indian subcontinent and was ruled from Soeul. The Euro Sector covered the whole of mainland Europe and the islands of Britian, and was administered from London. The Africa Sector affected the entire continents of Africa and Australia and included the Middle East and was headquartered in Johannesburg. Finally the SoAm Sector included all of Central and South America, and was administered from Buenos Aires. Special subcommittees were appointed to oversee and set policy for the off-world colonies.
The Executive Branch of the Terran Compact is composed of the President and his cabinet. The cabinet administrates the various factors of the systems infrastructure.
Military Assets
The militaries of the TC are organized very similarly to the armies of the broken Earth United States. The TC Army includes over 80 million soldiers, organized into 640 divisions, while the TC naval assets include 8 independent fleet commands. The naval assets also include the Terran Marine Corp, who command some 30 divisions of marines. The Marine Corp also possesses its own small highly mobile “Marine Reaction Fleets� capable of delivering military assets to potential hot zones with startling speed. Overall the TC armed forces include some 140 million including logistics and support personnel.
Industry
Terran industry remains among the highest performers in the ICA Stock Exchange. The systems itself is a hotbed of corporate activity, where almost every major corporation has a branch office, while many use Sol as their corporate headquarters. Most every industry, from mining to biotech, is represented in Sol, while the systems production assets produce every form of consumer good. Major Corporations include; Solar Transportation, Solar Ore, and Synotech, just to name a few.
Law
The TC government has evolved over its long history through many doctrines of the old nations of the broken Earth. The TC today could most accurately be called a Totalitarian government, considering its heavy handed government and hundreds of layers of bureaucracy. Though corruption runs rampant to the highest levels of the TC government, the citizens of Sol are largely happy in their ignorance of true freedom.
The TC government has over the past 60 years come to terms with her ill-borne creations; including “up-lifted, clones, and robots. While the average citizen still see these sub-races as less than human, the Government of the TC has begun to consider laws whereby these races can receive citizenship, though that is still some time off. Current policy for these sub-races is mostly vague and loosely worded, usually giving them little rights. This system, which fosters the abuse of the systems many sub-Sapients, has caused many much animosity with the systems who consider these races equal to humanity.
Many policing agencies pervade every level of the TC government, from Federal to Municipal authorities. The TC Security Force is the top agency for law enforcement in the Sol system. The TCSF has become, in the century since its inception, a highly corrupt yet effective force in Terran Space. The TCSF maintains offices in every major city in the Sol system as well as a fleet of STL craft for patrolling the inner system.
Culture
Like most every nation in Sapient Space, the culture of Sol is a blending of all the cultures of humanity, more-so here than anywhere else. The many traditions of once warring nations are now commonly practiced side-by-side while an overtone of the new space faring culture of humanity pervades every life and blends the Earths many cultures into all shades of the same.
The official language of the TC is High Common(English) though every human language is spoken in various parts of the globe. The monetary system is based on the TC Dollar, though as a member state of the ICA, the Credit is almost universally accepted.
