A formal alliance between the Earth Union and Esperanzan Commonwealth lead to a series of wars that drove the Xa Imperium completely out of Corridor, and weakened its ability to regulate trade with the Long Republic.ġ5 years ago, the Esperanzan Puritan regime was overthrown by an esper-supremacist group who called themselves the "Next Step". The Esperanzan "New Puritan" regime seized this opportunity, and began using Earth's industrial power to complement its own. The CoupĪlmost a century ago, the invention of the jump-1+ drive brought the core worlds within easy reach of the Main. Known as "Geeks".Īll about Earth's caste system. Peons (35%): Servants, drivers, gardeners.Commoners (60%): Well educated professionals.Favoured (1%): Wealthy industrialists, media stars, politicians and academics.Elite (0.1%): Ancient nobility and the super rich.Over the centuries, living society ossified into a rigid caste system. Earth's caste systemīefore the Coup, the virtual dead absolutely dominated the Earth Union, which effectively existed to construct, maintain and power millions of data centres. Today, the "Next Step" radicals are still consolidating their hold over Earth, whilst pushing aggressively on into the Outer Planets. The Next Step calls this the "War against the machines", while the opposition calls it the "Coup". Finally, four years ago the central Earth Union fell completely under their sway, and the remaining conservative nations were conquered in a short, bloody war. One by one, they seized control of Earth's nation states, destroyed the Virtuality's data centres, and imposed their own brand of totalitarianism. In the last decade, esper radicals from the colony world of Esperanza have infiltrated, and entirely overturned this ancient, conservative society. Many chose to go to the colonies rather than live as a second-class citizen. However, aside from a tiny elite, most living people felt entirely disenfranchised. Out in the living world, nation-states still existed, cooperating through a fairly strong "Earth Union" - successor to the United Nations. Eventually, living people came to be a minority who were largely excluded from decision-making.
Hundreds of billions of people uploaded their minds into this "life after death".
Until recently, Earth was dominated by a vast computer network called the "Virtuality".