Reclamation - Stories in a post-Earth, extraplanetary setting.
Initial Lore
The Setting
Reclamation takes place within the boundaries of our own solar system. Earth has been abandoned; its surface smothered by smog, its ozone layer torn asunder, its life stifled and suffocated in the womb of their own fallen planet. Humanity has escaped - narrowly - by the efforts of the international scientific community, along with select species of flora and fauna. Worlds were terraformed and enormous structures built throughout the solar system for humanity, the last truly surviving Earth species, to limp to.
Two hundred and twenty three years later, our first story begins. Humanity has managed to establish a tenuously comfortable existence spread across the system.
The inner solar system is predominantly used for resource production; much of what is required for human survival and technology, as developed on the warm climes of Earth, requires the relative proximity of the Sun to obtain and produce - particularly food.
Mars has been terraformed into an ultra-fertile agricultural planet, which provides food for the majority of the solar system. Shipping routes are now well-established and defended, both against malcontents and natural threats such as the solar wind, but the supply lines are long and there are concerns about the vulnerability of humanity's other settlements. Meat is too inefficient to produce compared to crops, and so the majority of humanity are now vegetarian - not by ethical choice, but by necessity for survival. Only the richest and most favoured can afford such a delicacy. Mars' poles are dominated by enormous storage containers, silos containing not only food, but also the volatile ices and minerals mined from the gas giants further out in the solar system in order to hyper-fertilise the soil for crop growth.
Mercury and Venus have been converted into planetary power sources. Mercury's proximity to the Sun has been utilised in order to generate massive amounts of solar power; its surface is covered in the most efficient and sturdy panels humanity can construct, the power from which is beamed via laser to relay stations on Venus, and from there across the rest of the solar system. Significant investment has been made to perfect this technology and to reduce the dissipation of power as the laser travels through the vacuum of space. Venus, on the other hand, is covered in geothermal power plants, taking advantage of its extreme tectonic activity and volcanism to top up the energy provided from Mercury and - more relevantly - to power the distributive relay system.
The asteroid belt is, in essence, the largest mine anybody could ever wish for. Many basic minerals and ores, along with volatile ices, can be obtained from the bodies circulating through the belt. The Kirkwood gaps are populated by colossal, manned space stations dedicated to industrial processing and manufacturing. The requisite materials are mined by smaller manned craft and fleets of automated unmanned robots from the asteroids.
And so we come to the outer solar system, where temperatures drop precipitously at planet surfaces, and no structure can be built on any planet. The gas giants reign. Instead, humanity clings to moons, like barnacles on the hull of a ship, hoping not to be swept away by the unfeeling ocean of the cosmos.
Jupiter is a blessing for humanity - three of its four Galilean moons are large enough and on stable enough orbits to support settlements, while Io's cryovolcanism and strong magnetic interaction with Jupiter can be used as a local power source to supplement that provided by the two innermost planets. Additionally, the uppermost atmosphere of the undepletable planet can be harvested for volatile ices for essentially an eternity without being noticeably impacted.
Callisto, the furthest Galilean moon from Jupiter and thus the one exposed to the least radiation from Jupiter, is known simply as "The Prison", with emphasis on "the". With minimal radiation shielding necessary, and little else to be said for the moon, almost all convicts from across the solar system are sent here for manual labour operating enormous industrial sites that are unsuitable for the massive space stations in the asteroid belt. This has the dual benefit of, more often than not, providing valuable skills to the imprisoned, and it is common for former felons to find themselves careers out in the asteroid belt after their internment.
Europa is, by governmental decree, to be left untouched. Shortly after their escape, on their long exile out to Saturn, humanity discovered life in the subsurface oceans of Europa - alien, and aquatic only by technical definition, as reportedly the creatures were like unlike anything seen on Earth. Records of what lies beneath the thick outer ice crust of Europa remain closely guarded state secrets - supposedly for fear that knowing would make people more likely to attempt to visit the planet, despite the extreme prejudice with which it is defended by military-level equipment. Despite these restrictions, and to the outrage of many, it is possible for the ultra-rich to dine upon these creatures. Specimens carefully and secretly taken for classified research by state-sanctioned academics are, once finished with, sold to the highest bidder for dining purposes - a meal for kings, albeit under very close observation.
Ganymede is, politically speaking, the most important of the Galilean moons. It is the largest of them, and is home to the system-famous University of Ganymede: a conglomeration of all of Earth's previous top institutions, the home of the top academics and researchers of the day... and quite a few political opportunists. The founders of the UoG were the very same people who led the development of the astonishing technological breakthroughs that allowed humanity to escape its doom on Earth, and the prestige they experienced was passed on to the institution they spent the rest of their lives building. Many political and economic figures of the day were educated there. The university - as well as the many residences, shops, industrial plants, nuclear power plants, and other establishments that constitute one of humanity's largest colonies - is housed in large spheres, slightly extending from the planet's surface but with the majority of their bulk underground. The thin oxygen-based atmosphere is harvested, concentrated, and recycled in these spheres as it is consumed and exhaled by those living there.
Saturn. The ark of humanity's survival; the place we fled to when all was lost. The deliverer and saviour of our species, bearer of Earth's lost, the sacred resting place of all of our home planet's hopes for its children. And, in place of the beautiful rings that once looped the planet, built out of their bones: New Saturn, the ringworld. Humanity's new home. The centre of the solar economy and politics. A cesspit, stinking of opportunism and the shameful past of our ever-destructive race. A beacon, shining bright for our future and the oft-overshadowed nobility that lies in the heart of all people. All that is good and all that is bad about us, our God and our Devil, sitting upon both left shoulder and right. A glorious sight, and the most incredible technological marvel we have ever achieved.
A thousand kilometres across and situated approximately 35000 kilometres from the surface of Saturn, the ringworld has around the same surface area as Earth. But, by contrast to humanity's ancient home, the entire ringworld is hyper-urbanised - in other words its population capacity is enormous, although currently much of the ringworld is dedicated to industry and manufacturing rather than residential properties. It is utterly dependent on Mars for its food - though water can be synthesised from Hydrogen and Oxygen obtained from the planet itself and its moons. The surface of the ringworld itself is studded with every imaginable cross-section of a human life - slums and poverty, slabs of concrete rising from the ground like grasping fingers towards Saturn rising above, interwoven with the spacious and leafy promenades and gold-painted balustrades of the wealthiest and most fortunate. Industrial and corporate sectors meet at lines that are physically invisible, but are fiercely observed by the inhabitants - rarely crossed, gouged out of adamantium in the minds of New Saturn's denizens. It is a form of social and economic segregation that is tolerated because it keeps order. Digitisation and technology are ubiquitous; there was little room for any inefficiency in the early days, and New Saturn's culture has formed out of that hard and unyielding dedication to progress, to climb and reach for the next step. There is little doubt that, even compared to Ganymede, it is New Saturn that is the technological centre of the solar system - here, people breathe electricity, not air.
Titan, Saturn's most notable moon, is as untouched and protected as Europa. There is a scientific belief that life may also exist in its subsurface oceans. Until this is proven otherwise, the government uses its nearby military strongholds - which are predominantly based on New Saturn anyway - to defend the moon from any encroachment.
Beyond Saturn: No publicly-known major settlements. It is too cold, and too far from the supply lines of power and food from the inner solar system. Conspiracy theorists assert that secret military and government projects are based on the moons of Uranus, and it is known that their moons play host to the some of the small number of malcontents, revolutionaries, and bandits that exist in the system. Here, they eke out a miserable and isolated existence, living aboard their ships or, if they are lucky, in one of the self-sustaining bases that were established for various reasons during humanity's exploration and colonisation of the rest of the solar system. There are rumours of a larger, more organised community establishing itself there - one where no laws bind people, and everything from death games to unethical research to discussions of revolution can openly take place. To any ordinary citizen's knowledge, these rumours are unfounded.
Neptune, Pluto, and further are still unvisited by any person; though they are there if, for some unimaginable reason, they become necessary. Scientists are, however, utilising humanity's new home towards the edge of the solar system to explore the Kuiper belt more thoroughly, using unmanned probes.
Power and Technology
-Placeholder-
Religion and Other Factions
-Placeholder-
Initial Lore
The Setting
Reclamation takes place within the boundaries of our own solar system. Earth has been abandoned; its surface smothered by smog, its ozone layer torn asunder, its life stifled and suffocated in the womb of their own fallen planet. Humanity has escaped - narrowly - by the efforts of the international scientific community, along with select species of flora and fauna. Worlds were terraformed and enormous structures built throughout the solar system for humanity, the last truly surviving Earth species, to limp to.
Two hundred and twenty three years later, our first story begins. Humanity has managed to establish a tenuously comfortable existence spread across the system.
The inner solar system is predominantly used for resource production; much of what is required for human survival and technology, as developed on the warm climes of Earth, requires the relative proximity of the Sun to obtain and produce - particularly food.
Mars has been terraformed into an ultra-fertile agricultural planet, which provides food for the majority of the solar system. Shipping routes are now well-established and defended, both against malcontents and natural threats such as the solar wind, but the supply lines are long and there are concerns about the vulnerability of humanity's other settlements. Meat is too inefficient to produce compared to crops, and so the majority of humanity are now vegetarian - not by ethical choice, but by necessity for survival. Only the richest and most favoured can afford such a delicacy. Mars' poles are dominated by enormous storage containers, silos containing not only food, but also the volatile ices and minerals mined from the gas giants further out in the solar system in order to hyper-fertilise the soil for crop growth.
Mercury and Venus have been converted into planetary power sources. Mercury's proximity to the Sun has been utilised in order to generate massive amounts of solar power; its surface is covered in the most efficient and sturdy panels humanity can construct, the power from which is beamed via laser to relay stations on Venus, and from there across the rest of the solar system. Significant investment has been made to perfect this technology and to reduce the dissipation of power as the laser travels through the vacuum of space. Venus, on the other hand, is covered in geothermal power plants, taking advantage of its extreme tectonic activity and volcanism to top up the energy provided from Mercury and - more relevantly - to power the distributive relay system.
The asteroid belt is, in essence, the largest mine anybody could ever wish for. Many basic minerals and ores, along with volatile ices, can be obtained from the bodies circulating through the belt. The Kirkwood gaps are populated by colossal, manned space stations dedicated to industrial processing and manufacturing. The requisite materials are mined by smaller manned craft and fleets of automated unmanned robots from the asteroids.
And so we come to the outer solar system, where temperatures drop precipitously at planet surfaces, and no structure can be built on any planet. The gas giants reign. Instead, humanity clings to moons, like barnacles on the hull of a ship, hoping not to be swept away by the unfeeling ocean of the cosmos.
Jupiter is a blessing for humanity - three of its four Galilean moons are large enough and on stable enough orbits to support settlements, while Io's cryovolcanism and strong magnetic interaction with Jupiter can be used as a local power source to supplement that provided by the two innermost planets. Additionally, the uppermost atmosphere of the undepletable planet can be harvested for volatile ices for essentially an eternity without being noticeably impacted.
Callisto, the furthest Galilean moon from Jupiter and thus the one exposed to the least radiation from Jupiter, is known simply as "The Prison", with emphasis on "the". With minimal radiation shielding necessary, and little else to be said for the moon, almost all convicts from across the solar system are sent here for manual labour operating enormous industrial sites that are unsuitable for the massive space stations in the asteroid belt. This has the dual benefit of, more often than not, providing valuable skills to the imprisoned, and it is common for former felons to find themselves careers out in the asteroid belt after their internment.
Europa is, by governmental decree, to be left untouched. Shortly after their escape, on their long exile out to Saturn, humanity discovered life in the subsurface oceans of Europa - alien, and aquatic only by technical definition, as reportedly the creatures were like unlike anything seen on Earth. Records of what lies beneath the thick outer ice crust of Europa remain closely guarded state secrets - supposedly for fear that knowing would make people more likely to attempt to visit the planet, despite the extreme prejudice with which it is defended by military-level equipment. Despite these restrictions, and to the outrage of many, it is possible for the ultra-rich to dine upon these creatures. Specimens carefully and secretly taken for classified research by state-sanctioned academics are, once finished with, sold to the highest bidder for dining purposes - a meal for kings, albeit under very close observation.
Ganymede is, politically speaking, the most important of the Galilean moons. It is the largest of them, and is home to the system-famous University of Ganymede: a conglomeration of all of Earth's previous top institutions, the home of the top academics and researchers of the day... and quite a few political opportunists. The founders of the UoG were the very same people who led the development of the astonishing technological breakthroughs that allowed humanity to escape its doom on Earth, and the prestige they experienced was passed on to the institution they spent the rest of their lives building. Many political and economic figures of the day were educated there. The university - as well as the many residences, shops, industrial plants, nuclear power plants, and other establishments that constitute one of humanity's largest colonies - is housed in large spheres, slightly extending from the planet's surface but with the majority of their bulk underground. The thin oxygen-based atmosphere is harvested, concentrated, and recycled in these spheres as it is consumed and exhaled by those living there.
Saturn. The ark of humanity's survival; the place we fled to when all was lost. The deliverer and saviour of our species, bearer of Earth's lost, the sacred resting place of all of our home planet's hopes for its children. And, in place of the beautiful rings that once looped the planet, built out of their bones: New Saturn, the ringworld. Humanity's new home. The centre of the solar economy and politics. A cesspit, stinking of opportunism and the shameful past of our ever-destructive race. A beacon, shining bright for our future and the oft-overshadowed nobility that lies in the heart of all people. All that is good and all that is bad about us, our God and our Devil, sitting upon both left shoulder and right. A glorious sight, and the most incredible technological marvel we have ever achieved.
A thousand kilometres across and situated approximately 35000 kilometres from the surface of Saturn, the ringworld has around the same surface area as Earth. But, by contrast to humanity's ancient home, the entire ringworld is hyper-urbanised - in other words its population capacity is enormous, although currently much of the ringworld is dedicated to industry and manufacturing rather than residential properties. It is utterly dependent on Mars for its food - though water can be synthesised from Hydrogen and Oxygen obtained from the planet itself and its moons. The surface of the ringworld itself is studded with every imaginable cross-section of a human life - slums and poverty, slabs of concrete rising from the ground like grasping fingers towards Saturn rising above, interwoven with the spacious and leafy promenades and gold-painted balustrades of the wealthiest and most fortunate. Industrial and corporate sectors meet at lines that are physically invisible, but are fiercely observed by the inhabitants - rarely crossed, gouged out of adamantium in the minds of New Saturn's denizens. It is a form of social and economic segregation that is tolerated because it keeps order. Digitisation and technology are ubiquitous; there was little room for any inefficiency in the early days, and New Saturn's culture has formed out of that hard and unyielding dedication to progress, to climb and reach for the next step. There is little doubt that, even compared to Ganymede, it is New Saturn that is the technological centre of the solar system - here, people breathe electricity, not air.
Titan, Saturn's most notable moon, is as untouched and protected as Europa. There is a scientific belief that life may also exist in its subsurface oceans. Until this is proven otherwise, the government uses its nearby military strongholds - which are predominantly based on New Saturn anyway - to defend the moon from any encroachment.
Beyond Saturn: No publicly-known major settlements. It is too cold, and too far from the supply lines of power and food from the inner solar system. Conspiracy theorists assert that secret military and government projects are based on the moons of Uranus, and it is known that their moons play host to the some of the small number of malcontents, revolutionaries, and bandits that exist in the system. Here, they eke out a miserable and isolated existence, living aboard their ships or, if they are lucky, in one of the self-sustaining bases that were established for various reasons during humanity's exploration and colonisation of the rest of the solar system. There are rumours of a larger, more organised community establishing itself there - one where no laws bind people, and everything from death games to unethical research to discussions of revolution can openly take place. To any ordinary citizen's knowledge, these rumours are unfounded.
Neptune, Pluto, and further are still unvisited by any person; though they are there if, for some unimaginable reason, they become necessary. Scientists are, however, utilising humanity's new home towards the edge of the solar system to explore the Kuiper belt more thoroughly, using unmanned probes.
Power and Technology
-Placeholder-
Religion and Other Factions
-Placeholder-