Strannik's Concept Vault - Part 2
So, a few days ago, I had an idea for a science fiction story that would parody the Star Trek franchise. My high concept was to do to Kirk what the new Battlestar Galactica did to Starbuck - make him female while preserving most of his character ( a change that put his personality traits in the whole new light ( which led to predicable whining from fanboys who simply couldn't grasp the implications)). Somewhere along the way, I decided that the United Federation of Planets - well, Interstellar Federation in my story - would act as the primary antagonists. The trick was to take the basic aspects of Federation society - universal peace and prosperity, non-interference, lack of cultural and ethnic conflicts, cultural conformity - and examine them in a decisively more critical light. Not the most original proposition, but there you go.
The story would also re-use a number of aspects and ideas from my other stories that are currently languishing in limbo. Hey, it beats creating a new universe from scratch.
Anyway, some of the things I came up with so far.
Setting
Two hundred years in the future, humanity was spread across the galaxy. Scattered by haphazard colonization efforts that emerged in the wake of the discovery of hyperspace jump engines, thousands of colonies spring up, each developing it's own, unique identity.
Three hundred years into the future, Earth is plunged into a new Dark Age. With no home to return to, the colonies were left on their own. For centuries, the children of humanity were scatted, unaware of each other.
Seven hundred years into the future, people of Earth regained interstellar flight. They sought out their extra-solar bretherin. They soon discovered that humanity was not alone, that there were other races who observed humanity with interest, sometimes even interacting with it. Alliances were formed. Deals were made. Now, humanity stands on the edge of the new paradigm shift. It's world will never be the same again.
The Powers
Allied Worlds of Humanity
Originally a military alliance created in the wake of the potential Quadramalian invasion, it has since become an economic and political alliance that encompasses the vast majority of human-controlled planets. It's members boast a great degree of autonomy in internal affairs. It's military is based around the space fleets of the members that had fleets when the Alliance was founded - United Nations, Martian Cooperative, Crimson Empire, Tai Seti Republic and Terraformers' Guild - with the other members providing support. The Alliance is not an integrated entity - it has no overarching culture, two standards of currency and seven official languages (English, Arabic, Japanese, Russian, Cantonese, Mandarin and Latin) . Some members control a single solar system, while some members control several systems or portions of the system. Some members are nations established in man-made space stations or large-scale colony ships. Furthermore, many members have smaller economic, theological, ethnic and political divisions - a bunk of United Nations, for example, is made up of nations of Earth.
The day-to-day governing of the Alliance is handled by the Council of Representatives, which, true to term, is made up of representatives of all member nations/worlds/etc. The executive powers are handled by a Speaker, who's selected from a pool of elected candidates from all worlds. Each world is assigned a random number - a candidate whose world is picked in a random lottery drawing holds the post for a six-year term. The judicial powers are handled by Allied Worlds Criminal Court, which is composed of five appointed representatives from founding space-faring members and four elected representatives that are drawn from the rest of the Alliance.
The Alliance has two capitals - Aurora, an oxygen-rich moon in the Tai Seti system, and Hopebringer, a retrofitted UNSNF Command and Control Ship that's protected by ships from all major members. The later is currently in a stationary orbit around a gas giant in Upsilon Andromedae binary star system - it's location changes depending on economic and political situation at the time.
United Nations - the Earth-based alliance of Earth nations, several orbital space stations, moon bases, several extra-solar colonies and a number of outposts scattered throughout the galaxy. It was the last member to gain a space-capable fleet. It's ruled by the Emperor (a descendant of the Japanese royal family) and the bi-chamberal Council of Nations. The Emperor is the head of the executive branch and rules in accordance with Constitutional law. To many humans, Earth continues to pose spiritual significance, which gives UN a rather unique role in the Alliance.
Martian Cooperative
- originally a coalition of Martian colonies that emerged in the wake of Earth's Second Dark Age, it grew to encompass most colonies in the solar system, as well as several extra-solar colonies. It has no executive branch - all decisions are made by a legislative council of equals. Corporations play important role in the Cooperative's society. Organized crime remains a significant problem in certain parts of the Cooperative, especially the outlying Solar settlements. It remains one of the more advanced colonies that's renounced for it's genetic engineering and aerodynamic technology.
Crimson Empire - an interstellar empire founded by East Asian colonists. It's the only major Alliance member that's ruled by an absolute monarch (though the Empire's bureaucracy, the court and cabinet wields considerable power). It's also the only member to attempt a large-scale extra-solar territorial expansion. Contrary to popular opinion, most of it's colonies were established from scratch rather then taken by force. Out of all major members, Crimson Empire is most likely to leave the Alliance, since the other major members have kept it's expantionalist ambitions in check. The Empire's exploration ships are along the most advanced in the Alliance and it's sensory equipment knows few equals.
Tai Seti Republic - a republic established in a system of eighteen planets, over a hundred moons and several space stations. The system's habitation zone encompasses six planets and eight moons, which makes it one of the most naturally habitable systems on record. Although today, it's a largely peaceful federated republic, the system has been a sight of several wars. It's current capital is located in the extensively retrofitted Colony Ship - a legacy of it's neutrality during the inner-system conflicts. It was the first human nation to make contact with a sentient alien race - the Tai Lu Chi. After a brief skirmish, the two parties established a truce, which, when the Alliance was formed, carried over to all of it's members. Today, the Tai Seti Republic is a major trade and diplomatic center of the Alliance. Most of the goods from outside Alliance territories pass through it at some point. It's a site of most negotiations and several foreign embassies. For many other alien and human powers, the Republic is the public face of the Alliance.
Terraformers' Guild - a nation founded by several colonists those ships failed to reach habitable worlds. Because of this, most of it's territory encompasses spaceships and space stations. As the name implies, they use their resources to make uninhabitable planets habitable. Their quest is greatly aided by their study of Urtai quasi-biological terraforming equipment. The Guild's official language as Latin, though, since it evolved over time through continuous use, it differs from the Latin as it is known by other human civilizations. The Guild is a direct democracy, with every citizen voting via an extensive wireless network and courier packages. Do to the fact that they continued to explore the universe for the entire duration of their history, their knowledge of it surpasses any other Alliance member. The Guild is the only member to have a significant alien population, most of which composed of renegades, outlaws and political/spiritual exiles. It's harboring of a colony of renegade Malai engineers continues to be a sticking point in diplomatic relations between the Alliance and Quadramalian Domininon.
Interstellar Federation
The space nation currently known as Interstellar Federation was founded by an alliance of the utopian-minded human colonists and the Erugant Vol nation of Vardas. According to the official Federation history, the Vardas Zo were taken by the humans' ideology and offered their help in building their utopia. The Alliance intelligence agencies question that view, as they uncovered evidence that suggested that Vardas Zo may have regarded the Federation as a large-scale social experiment.
The Federation is structured according to principles straight out of 20th century science fiction utopias. There is no crime, no war, no social strife and no poverty. The economy is based around distribution of wealth in accordance with person's social status and achievements. The currency has been rendered obsolete in most aspects of Federation economy. Material and social excess is discouraged in favor of accumulation of knowledge and personal enlightenment. The people of the Federation consider themselves to be a pinnacle of civilization, human or otherwise.
However, even the surface examination reveals a number of shortcomings. Although the Federation is supposed to be a fellowship of equals, most of the power is concentrated with the inhabitants of Terra, the first colony established by the founders, and people of Vardas. Together, they control Interstellar Federation Exploration Fleet - an organization that controls every scientific endeavor and military operation in the Federation. The membership in the Federation is supposed to be a matter of choice, but in reality, the Federation leaves potential members few options. Any world Federation discovers automatically becomes a "protected world." If that world isn't developed enough to support regular space travel, it's left alone, with IFEF ships guarding it against outside incursions. However, if the world either developed/rediscovered space travel or maintained it's space traveling capacities at the time of discovery, they are offered a membership in the Federation. Those that refused were cut off from any possibility of outside expansion, leaving them prisoners within their own systems. There have been rumors of the Federation taking certain worlds by force, but they haven't been substantiated.
Unlike the Alliance, the Federation culture is remarkably uniform. The official language is English. While there is cultural diversity on member worlds themselves, the rest of the Federation is dominated by Terran cultural trappings. Although there is no official policy to that effect, citizens of the Federation are encouraged to assimilate into the Terran culture in order to advance their careers. While non-Terrans are required to learn about Terran culture, most Terrans are unaware of any culture other then their own. Vardas are the only exception to this rule.
For most of it's history, the Federation was unaware that there were of the existence of other large-scale human civilizations. The discovery of the Alliance came as a complete shock, as the people of the Federation were dumbfounded by the fact that such society could possibly exist, let alone sustain itself. For the Alliance, the feeling was mutual. Since then, the two powers studied each other intently, hoping to figure out their respective secrets. Lately, both sides have been planting agents with each others' societies, leading to mixed results.
Do to their association with the Vardas, the Interstellar Federation possesses advanced technology such as artificial gravity, cosmic distorters, singularity bombs, transfer disks (which allowed instantaneous transport across great distances) and some of the best terraforming equipment in known space. Their intelligence and counter-intelligence agencies are among the best in all human civilizations. Their major weakness is their over-reliance on capital ships at the expence of everything else. Their security force, in particular, is notorious for having no armor and inferior weapons, which makes their ships incredibly vulnerable to boarding parties. Strategists on both sides estimate that, in all-out conflict between the Alliance and the Federation, the who sides would be evenly matched.
To be continued...
All above ideas are (C) Igor Studenkov
The story would also re-use a number of aspects and ideas from my other stories that are currently languishing in limbo. Hey, it beats creating a new universe from scratch.
Anyway, some of the things I came up with so far.
Setting
Two hundred years in the future, humanity was spread across the galaxy. Scattered by haphazard colonization efforts that emerged in the wake of the discovery of hyperspace jump engines, thousands of colonies spring up, each developing it's own, unique identity.
Three hundred years into the future, Earth is plunged into a new Dark Age. With no home to return to, the colonies were left on their own. For centuries, the children of humanity were scatted, unaware of each other.
Seven hundred years into the future, people of Earth regained interstellar flight. They sought out their extra-solar bretherin. They soon discovered that humanity was not alone, that there were other races who observed humanity with interest, sometimes even interacting with it. Alliances were formed. Deals were made. Now, humanity stands on the edge of the new paradigm shift. It's world will never be the same again.
The Powers
Allied Worlds of Humanity
Originally a military alliance created in the wake of the potential Quadramalian invasion, it has since become an economic and political alliance that encompasses the vast majority of human-controlled planets. It's members boast a great degree of autonomy in internal affairs. It's military is based around the space fleets of the members that had fleets when the Alliance was founded - United Nations, Martian Cooperative, Crimson Empire, Tai Seti Republic and Terraformers' Guild - with the other members providing support. The Alliance is not an integrated entity - it has no overarching culture, two standards of currency and seven official languages (English, Arabic, Japanese, Russian, Cantonese, Mandarin and Latin) . Some members control a single solar system, while some members control several systems or portions of the system. Some members are nations established in man-made space stations or large-scale colony ships. Furthermore, many members have smaller economic, theological, ethnic and political divisions - a bunk of United Nations, for example, is made up of nations of Earth.
The day-to-day governing of the Alliance is handled by the Council of Representatives, which, true to term, is made up of representatives of all member nations/worlds/etc. The executive powers are handled by a Speaker, who's selected from a pool of elected candidates from all worlds. Each world is assigned a random number - a candidate whose world is picked in a random lottery drawing holds the post for a six-year term. The judicial powers are handled by Allied Worlds Criminal Court, which is composed of five appointed representatives from founding space-faring members and four elected representatives that are drawn from the rest of the Alliance.
The Alliance has two capitals - Aurora, an oxygen-rich moon in the Tai Seti system, and Hopebringer, a retrofitted UNSNF Command and Control Ship that's protected by ships from all major members. The later is currently in a stationary orbit around a gas giant in Upsilon Andromedae binary star system - it's location changes depending on economic and political situation at the time.
United Nations - the Earth-based alliance of Earth nations, several orbital space stations, moon bases, several extra-solar colonies and a number of outposts scattered throughout the galaxy. It was the last member to gain a space-capable fleet. It's ruled by the Emperor (a descendant of the Japanese royal family) and the bi-chamberal Council of Nations. The Emperor is the head of the executive branch and rules in accordance with Constitutional law. To many humans, Earth continues to pose spiritual significance, which gives UN a rather unique role in the Alliance.
Martian Cooperative
- originally a coalition of Martian colonies that emerged in the wake of Earth's Second Dark Age, it grew to encompass most colonies in the solar system, as well as several extra-solar colonies. It has no executive branch - all decisions are made by a legislative council of equals. Corporations play important role in the Cooperative's society. Organized crime remains a significant problem in certain parts of the Cooperative, especially the outlying Solar settlements. It remains one of the more advanced colonies that's renounced for it's genetic engineering and aerodynamic technology.
Crimson Empire - an interstellar empire founded by East Asian colonists. It's the only major Alliance member that's ruled by an absolute monarch (though the Empire's bureaucracy, the court and cabinet wields considerable power). It's also the only member to attempt a large-scale extra-solar territorial expansion. Contrary to popular opinion, most of it's colonies were established from scratch rather then taken by force. Out of all major members, Crimson Empire is most likely to leave the Alliance, since the other major members have kept it's expantionalist ambitions in check. The Empire's exploration ships are along the most advanced in the Alliance and it's sensory equipment knows few equals.
Tai Seti Republic - a republic established in a system of eighteen planets, over a hundred moons and several space stations. The system's habitation zone encompasses six planets and eight moons, which makes it one of the most naturally habitable systems on record. Although today, it's a largely peaceful federated republic, the system has been a sight of several wars. It's current capital is located in the extensively retrofitted Colony Ship - a legacy of it's neutrality during the inner-system conflicts. It was the first human nation to make contact with a sentient alien race - the Tai Lu Chi. After a brief skirmish, the two parties established a truce, which, when the Alliance was formed, carried over to all of it's members. Today, the Tai Seti Republic is a major trade and diplomatic center of the Alliance. Most of the goods from outside Alliance territories pass through it at some point. It's a site of most negotiations and several foreign embassies. For many other alien and human powers, the Republic is the public face of the Alliance.
Terraformers' Guild - a nation founded by several colonists those ships failed to reach habitable worlds. Because of this, most of it's territory encompasses spaceships and space stations. As the name implies, they use their resources to make uninhabitable planets habitable. Their quest is greatly aided by their study of Urtai quasi-biological terraforming equipment. The Guild's official language as Latin, though, since it evolved over time through continuous use, it differs from the Latin as it is known by other human civilizations. The Guild is a direct democracy, with every citizen voting via an extensive wireless network and courier packages. Do to the fact that they continued to explore the universe for the entire duration of their history, their knowledge of it surpasses any other Alliance member. The Guild is the only member to have a significant alien population, most of which composed of renegades, outlaws and political/spiritual exiles. It's harboring of a colony of renegade Malai engineers continues to be a sticking point in diplomatic relations between the Alliance and Quadramalian Domininon.
Interstellar Federation
The space nation currently known as Interstellar Federation was founded by an alliance of the utopian-minded human colonists and the Erugant Vol nation of Vardas. According to the official Federation history, the Vardas Zo were taken by the humans' ideology and offered their help in building their utopia. The Alliance intelligence agencies question that view, as they uncovered evidence that suggested that Vardas Zo may have regarded the Federation as a large-scale social experiment.
The Federation is structured according to principles straight out of 20th century science fiction utopias. There is no crime, no war, no social strife and no poverty. The economy is based around distribution of wealth in accordance with person's social status and achievements. The currency has been rendered obsolete in most aspects of Federation economy. Material and social excess is discouraged in favor of accumulation of knowledge and personal enlightenment. The people of the Federation consider themselves to be a pinnacle of civilization, human or otherwise.
However, even the surface examination reveals a number of shortcomings. Although the Federation is supposed to be a fellowship of equals, most of the power is concentrated with the inhabitants of Terra, the first colony established by the founders, and people of Vardas. Together, they control Interstellar Federation Exploration Fleet - an organization that controls every scientific endeavor and military operation in the Federation. The membership in the Federation is supposed to be a matter of choice, but in reality, the Federation leaves potential members few options. Any world Federation discovers automatically becomes a "protected world." If that world isn't developed enough to support regular space travel, it's left alone, with IFEF ships guarding it against outside incursions. However, if the world either developed/rediscovered space travel or maintained it's space traveling capacities at the time of discovery, they are offered a membership in the Federation. Those that refused were cut off from any possibility of outside expansion, leaving them prisoners within their own systems. There have been rumors of the Federation taking certain worlds by force, but they haven't been substantiated.
Unlike the Alliance, the Federation culture is remarkably uniform. The official language is English. While there is cultural diversity on member worlds themselves, the rest of the Federation is dominated by Terran cultural trappings. Although there is no official policy to that effect, citizens of the Federation are encouraged to assimilate into the Terran culture in order to advance their careers. While non-Terrans are required to learn about Terran culture, most Terrans are unaware of any culture other then their own. Vardas are the only exception to this rule.
For most of it's history, the Federation was unaware that there were of the existence of other large-scale human civilizations. The discovery of the Alliance came as a complete shock, as the people of the Federation were dumbfounded by the fact that such society could possibly exist, let alone sustain itself. For the Alliance, the feeling was mutual. Since then, the two powers studied each other intently, hoping to figure out their respective secrets. Lately, both sides have been planting agents with each others' societies, leading to mixed results.
Do to their association with the Vardas, the Interstellar Federation possesses advanced technology such as artificial gravity, cosmic distorters, singularity bombs, transfer disks (which allowed instantaneous transport across great distances) and some of the best terraforming equipment in known space. Their intelligence and counter-intelligence agencies are among the best in all human civilizations. Their major weakness is their over-reliance on capital ships at the expence of everything else. Their security force, in particular, is notorious for having no armor and inferior weapons, which makes their ships incredibly vulnerable to boarding parties. Strategists on both sides estimate that, in all-out conflict between the Alliance and the Federation, the who sides would be evenly matched.
To be continued...
All above ideas are (C) Igor Studenkov