Spacer's Guide to the Sphere
The veracity of the following document is routinely disputed, as despite the most meticulate investigation no single individual fits all (or even remotely close to many) of the declared dates and times. Indeed, some appear to have been impossible. Problematically though for the dismissal of the 'Spacer's Guide to the Sphere' as generally fraudulent or a compilation, all the information contained therein is factually correct. Furthermore, to the consternation of many national intelligence services updated versions of this widely-distributed file contain information of a somewhat sensitive nature, often before official disclosure.
INTERPOL, the CIA and the Guójiā Ānquán Bù (the Chinese Ministry of State Security) have offered a bounty for any information that leads to the contact and/or arrest of the author of the Spacer's Guide to the Sphere.
European Union
The EU is one of the 'big three' superpowers. That means that back in twenty-oh-eighty or so, they sat down with the proto-PACT and China and split known space in three - and then proceeded to colonize and develop the shit out of it. Today, there's something like a quarter-billion EU citizens living outside Sol - over a third of the Union's entire population.
The thing that drives the EU is a collective effort to bring civilization to space. Nothing so crude as 'white man's burden' but concepts like the rule of law, human rights, health, economic prosperity and respect for the fellow man (they're basically everything the Rim isn't). They can be a bit bureaucratic and officious too, it's how they smooth out life's rough edges.
Unfortunately, Stauss-Kasserist philosophy has had its root entwined with the EU colonization effort. They had some bad experiences back in the oh-sixties and it spawned an entire philosophy that opposed the use of transhumanism for anything more than improving health. This was ostensibly to avoid the creation of a genetically superior overclass that would simply outcompete baselines. The entire Stauss-Kasserist memeplex was starting to break down and fade in the Breakdown, but then there was the ZOCU war . . .
That was a diplomatic clusterfuck to end all clusterfucks, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. 'Mistakes were made' is one of those empty corporate statements but in the case of the run-up to the war, it's pretty much spot-on. Neither ZOCU nor the EU was hearing what the other thought they were saying and in hindsight there were several opportunities to resolve the entire thing without the bloodshed and destruction that did happen.
Well, can't change history. The posties made sure of that.
Getting back to the EU, these days they're facing a lot internal discord. They 'won' the war, but some people say they didn't win enough and threw their gains away while others say the entire thing was a farce. Opinions on transgenics is equally divided - a lot of worlds in the Expanse managed to transition to an equitable transgenic population without everything going to hell, but on the other hand, a lot of other worlds also ended up exactly what Drs. Stauss and Kasser wrote their treatises against. That said, those Chinese and American authors writing about the 'End of Europe' are just fooling themselves. The EU is unified by shared history and ideology and has the single biggest discrete economy in the Sphere with a military to match and it's not going anywhere.
Neue Silesia
If you spend any time on Neue Silesia and have a good gasp of people, you'll probably get the niggling feeling that it's pretty much a microcosm of the EU as a whole. They have no present, only a past filled with ruin and a future they can only dream of.
But now they forge a new future, to guard the ideals of humanism and to find within its cold expanse, the salvation of the Union.
PACT
Corregidor
Corregidor is the best vacation spot in the PACT arm. I'm serious. The entire world's in what the geologists call hothouse highstand conditions, which means the climate is mild, the seas are warm and there's tons of islands. Not only that but the Corregidorans are simply some of the nicest people around. You move in and before you can order your robot to unpack your stuff your new neighbors have already shown up with a freshly-baked apple pie and invites for beer and BBQ later. They world hard and play hard, though all the best mod-cons mean they can stay at home and be neighborly while keeping in touch and doing work.
Whatever you do though, don't talk politics. And if you do have to talk politics, keep it to safe things like 'should Corregidor join the USA as a full world-state or maintain the status quo?'. Trust me, it's safer that way. I once got a tooth knocked out by someone who disagreed with my drunken assessment that ZOCU was kind of like the original 13 states. They're not touchy per se, but there's a lot of groupthink in Corrigedoran politics.
ZOCU
Hampshire
Hampshire was settled by 'Blue State' Americans who didn't like one thing or another about Earth. Unfortunately they managed to keep a few obnoxious Americanisms, most notably the concept of the perpetual political campaign. Everyone's always voting for this that or the other. Nooooot that it makes much of a difference, since there's about four families that have the entire upper political echelons sewn up tighter than the LDP in postwar (that's post-WWII for you young'uns) Japan. And so long as they continue to hit economic growth targets and avoid having too many kickback scandals a year, that's not gonna change.
Leaving that aside, Hampshire is a welcoming, open world. They've been swapping places with Londenium as ZOCU's biggest economy seemingly every other year and like Londenium they're a major source of starship drive kernels. They were also pretty much entirely untouched by the war (the ZOCU war, this time) and are riding pretty high on the hog.
A little bird told me they've quietly been stockpiling a number of cloaked warships though, so they're not all talk and no show.
Haraway's World
Haraway's World is one of the weirder ones going. Not because of the biosphere - though that's pretty weird - but because of the people. I hardly need to tell you since everyone knows, but Haraway's World is all-women. Sounds like heaven, doesn't it? Well, it is until you realize that except for the ones in the capital and spaceport of New Rekjavik, Harawayans are sexist bigots. They're also almost fanatical militarists and convinced of their self-important. Comes from fighting and winning against EU troops not once but twice and being saved from the inevitable massive sledgehammer of retaliation by providence in both cases, I guess.
They've also got a genetic caste system going on. Originally it was meant to give the colony a broad spectrum of innate aptitudes and ensure everyone worked together, but these days it's seeming like more and more of a failed experiment. The Reds (I'll get to that) finally got some form of equality but there's been a lot of backlash, though quietly. Advances elsewhere in the Sphere are also starting to show the Harawayan color system for what it is; an impressive achievement of late 21st century biotechnology, now outdated by cultural shifts and technological improvements elsewhere.
So, the colors. Each of the 'castes' are color-coded, which represent their aptitude. Here's a brief guide.
Reds
- The reds are the buff angry working class of Haraway's World. They're not as strong as an Atlas upgrade but have a bit better neuromuscular reaction time. Invaluable in the days of a colonial startup, their physical strength and endurance meant they pretty much ended up doing manual labour for the past century. The government's done a lot to improve their lot but Red Ghettoes are still common in all the cities.
Oranges
- Not technically a caste, Oranges is the Harawayan classification for bioroids. It's telling that they're chromatically higher than Reds . . .
Yellows
- Ever talked to an Omoikane upgrade and realized how smart they could be? Well, Yellows are like that but even moreso, minus the warmth. It ends up being like talking to a computer. Creepy.
Greens
- Greens are kinda the Harawayan equivalent to Ishtars. Amazing people skills. As a result, Greens pretty much run things on Haraway's World; nobody likes to admit it, but they're the ruling class.
Blues
- Blues are amazingly quick-witted and clever. Best con artist I ever knew what a Blue. A lot are just ditzy artist types though, writing poems and essays justifying the Color system and trying to keep the Reds from rioting.
Violets
- Violets are . . . unique. Instead of having some sort of super-keen physical or mental upgrade, they've just got an amazing immune system and one that filters out the heavy metals and toxins from the more primordial parts of Haraway's biosphere. They tend to live in the frontier areas, so they're pretty redneck to you North American types. Most of 'em heven't even seen a man before. Doesn't stop them from occasionally getting curious when they visit the big city though. If you do take one up on her offer, wrap it up. You're not gonna get a disease and she's not gonna get preggers, but their bodies excrete the toxins and heavy metals they pick up through their bodily fluids. Their body will have fully purged after a day or two, but if you have the misfortune of making time with one just in from the deep bush . . .
- Let's just say my lips and a couple more important parts of my anatomy were numb for the next day.
Other Colors
- Oh yeah, I forgot. While there isn't exactly much immigration to Haraway's World, baselines that do become citizens are classed as Blacks. Not very flattering. Likewise, non-Color transgenic upgrades are classed as Whites.
Kanon
Kanon's like that exclusive club you wanted to get in to but just wasn't good enough, the waiting line was too long, so on and so forth. With transgenic augmentations that nearly mirror the baroque social pyramid, Kanon can be an intimidating place to be. If you're not someone you should be trying to claw you way up to being someone. An iterant wanderer like me gets no respect. Of course being on Kanon is not without its benefits; the government provides substantial amounts of funding to research and medical care is top-notch. And of course there are exceptions to the stereotype of Kanonian Tsundere (male or female). I gave the daughter of a nobleman horsey rides while she told me (oh so seriously) of her dreams to grow up to be a voice actor.
She did it, too. Then turned around and joined the ZOCU Combined Militia as a pilot. Which is the other thing about Kanon. It's broken. Not in any physical way, but the scars from the war run a lot deeper than a lot of people want to admit or have came to terms with. The Kanonian are scared or angry or both and they haven't had the sort of cathartic release that'll let them move on. War otaku are a growing breed and I don't think it's a healthy reflection of society.
The League
Minkowski
One of the more divergent bunch of colonists to come from dear old Earth, you've probably heard of Minkowski Transcendentalism before. One of those 'scientific' religious cults that sprung up in the aftermath of the whole Singularity thing that syncretized various faiths and scientific principles together into a new-age remix. Like a lot of these sort they're kind of loopy - you've probably heard they see gravity as 'sin'. It's more nuanced and complex than that, but you get the gist. TBecause of this they're religiously compelled to live in zero-gravity habitats and except for a few old-timers, the population has been entirely modified to be quaddies - people with hands for feet. It can be disconcertening at first, but they're pretty han - dextrous.
Of course any self-respecting religion needs nuts and the Minks are no exception. There's been some cross-breeding with the Shia Muslims of Azadestan and a few fundamentalist splinter groups have adopted a sort of null-G burqa for both men and women. It's like they're always wearing a spacesuit. It's practical for a space habitat . . . I guess. Even other Minks give them weird looks.
Religious pecularities aside, the Minks are pleasant enough, if you don't mind getting proselytized at, mind your manners and pretend you're from a fellow League world. A lot of them are blue-collar types, putting in 10 hours at the spacedock or crewing a drone whaler - you probably saw the latter on Humanity's Most Dangerous Occupations. A good way to make a buck, if you can hack it.
The Magnates
Order of the New Dawn
Scary as fuck exhumans who sneeringly condescending towards mere transhumans like you and me and are militaristic to a fault. Unless you want some custom-ordered combat bioroids, then they're scary as fuck exhumans who will gladly fill your order for hard currency.