BY LETTER
Solar Organisation
 Image from Bernd Helfert |
Solar Organisation - Data Panel | |
| Territory | The Old Solar System (Solsys), excepting Earth, as well as Sirius A and B |
|---|---|
| Toposophic Level | The highest transapients in the Solar Organisation are currently at the third toposophic level |
The History of the Solar Organisation
The Fall of the Federation
The First Federation retained its formal status for many centuries after de facto loss of control over the colonies. Though it was merely the solar system government, it retained the trappings of an interstellar Federation. Politically it was used as neutral ground, and very rarely as a neutral arbitrator, by the emerging empires, but the dictates of the Federation bureaucracy were generally ignored. The solar system's economy declined in absolute as well as relative terms as businesses moved elsewhere and those that remained were hampered by the Federation's legalism and the complexity of Federation regulations.For a thousand years the vast distances of interstellar space had been the bane of the Federation. Many light years from Sol, rogue megacorporations, upstart colonists, and even petty crime lords were able to do as they pleased, breaking Federation laws, or worse, claiming to act under Federation mandate. This naturally caused frustration within the Federation government, and led to a growing militarist movement. As the megacorporations moved to richer pastures on the new frontier, and many of the transapient AIs likewise emigrated or abandoned the Federation to tend projects of their own, control of the Federation slowly reverted to the old hereditary baseline, nearbaseline, lesser ai, and Superior leadership. Apparently free of the memetic controls the departed or distracted transapients had placed on them, the Federation Council factions slowly reverted to a sort of multiparty rivalry, unified only in name and in their shared goal to see Solar greatness achieved across the known galaxy. Through much of the 20th century the tweedledum and tweedledee factions of "Solarist" and "Universalists" vied with each other over which one could best return a sense of pride and achievement to the Home System of Humanity, tugging the less enthusiastic but more pragmatic "Centralist" faction back and forth according to the tides of politics. Each side was backed by some of the AIs who had decided to stay in the Sol System, or to retain a presence there (many of the bigger AIs apparently backed both parties). Scarce resources were squandered in relativistic battleships and even more so on presents for swinging voters. Titan City, Oberon and the strategic Sung Base on Pluto were among the many polities that gained resources by cleverly playing the two factions off against each other.
When the first stargates were constructed, the Federation leadership saw its chance: once all systems were linked by wormholes, then it would be possible to unify all under a new Federation. In a rare act of unity, an alliance led by the general secretary Indira König (Universalist) and Speaker of the House Brent Nkumba (Solarist) steamrolled the administration of President Hans Chu (Centrist), pushing through the Stargate Governance Act of 2181. The Act ruled that while the higher toposophic beings who had created the wormholes might be beyond Federation jurisdiction, the persons megacorporations and using them were still under Federation governance. Any transits and any access should therefore be under Federation control, over and above any rights granted by the wormhole creators. This amazing case of groupthink and lack of understanding of reality was the final blow to the Federation. When their demands were ignored, the Federation leadership attempted to assert them through military force, in a series of ultimately unsuccessful campaigns. Most of the Federation's wayward outsystem "citizens" were quite capable of defending themselves; those who were not were able to call on aid from the stargate builders themselves, with devastating results for the Federation forces. The Federation also attempted an economic blockade, but that hurt no one but the Federation's own citizens in Solsys. This caused König and Nkumba's popularity ratings to plummet and led to grumbling even among their most ardent supporters.
Its fleet lost, and its economy subject to boycotts by all interstellar powers of note, the Federation government began to suffer from mounting popular discontent and internal criticism. The result was a desperate and crude attempt to impose order on the solar system through coercion (the infamous Copernicus Tyranny of Copernicus 2 to Darwin 15), which in turn led to the Solar Civil War of 2193-2200, and ultimately to the complete dissolution of the once-mighty First Federation.
The Postwar Period
From 2200-2600 the solar system slowly recovered and found a new place in the interstellar community. Initially, instead of being ruled by a single polity it was composed of many squabbling minor factions and shifting alliances. However, after skirmishes between the Moon Coop and Lagrange Association escalated into a dirty war in 2323, the various solar powers began to negotiate a common set of protocols for interpolity cooperation. The resulting Solar Organisation ended a long period of stagnation, and helped Solsys to reestablish itself as an important Inner Sphere polity.Over the following centuries the solar system mainly became a tourist attraction and a kind of living museum. Adapting to the situation, the inhabitants often renovated their habitats and environments to reflect the "Golden Era" (usually the First Federation or First Interplanetary Age). Change became very rare.
The Refugee Problem
The Solar Organisation remained neutral in interstellar politics, and stayed out of the Version War. The war led to a major influx of refugees. Most of these were turned away, but those who did arrive spawned a 200-year period of internal conflicts as the staid solar system tried to adapt to the culture shock.Anthropist Attacks
The single biggest headache the Solar Organisation faces is from extremist outsystem clades seeking to claim the Terragen home world and home system for themselves. Though it is not universally the case these are most commonly human nearbaselines of one sort or another, and so they are usually labelled "Anthropists" in the popular media. The most extreme groups of all are hostile to GAIA, and may even be so foolish that they try to reconquer Old Earth by force. Perhaps the most dramatic instance, and the most embarrassing to the Solar Organization occurred in the early 6th millennium when a militant splinter group from the Church of Human Rights, the now defunct "Branch Hominists" scavenged and cloned weaponry from the Version War and they managed to sneak past both the security systems of the wormhole guardians and Solsys' insystem sensors by using some stolen "chameleon" technologies. While still in low-earth orbit, the ships of the attacking fleet suddenly and mysteriously popped like balloons, despite defences that should have been adequate against all standard transapientech weapons. Since then the Solar Organisation has beefed up security at the Stargates quite a bit, but it doesn't stop a new, and generally incompetent, crank group from making an attempt every so often.Most recently, the Solsys authorities have been preoccupied by an ongoing conflict between the Authenticists and the Institute of Human Archaeology. Ongoing arguments between these groups threaten to break out into war once more, and given their considerable outsystem resources the Solar Organization may or may not be able to contain the result.
Articles
- Africa - Text by M. Alan Kazlev and Stephen Inniss
Old Earth continent between the Atlantic and Indian oceans. With an area of 30,303,000 square kilometres, it is the second-largest continent on the planet after Asia. Africa was an early centre of hominid evolution and the probable birthplace of Homo sapiens sapiens. It gave rise to several important human civilizations during the Agricultural Age but was eclipsed by European and later by Asian polities beginning in the 15th century AD (6th century BT) and did not produce any major world powers until the Interplanetary Age. - Amalthea - Text by Steve Bowers
Inner moon of Jupiter (Sol V). - Antarctica - Text by Stephen Inniss
Old Earth's southernmost continent. - Asia - Text by M. Alan Kazlev and Stephen Inniss
Old Earth continent bounded by Europe and by the Arctic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. It is the largest of the Old Earth continents, at 44,390,000 square kilometres. Human presence in Asia dates back nearly to the origin of Homo sapiens sapiens. - Australia - Text by M. Alan Kazlev and Stephen Inniss
An island continent between the Indian and Pacific Oceans on Old Earth. It is the smallest on Old Earth, with an area of 8,560,000 square kilometres, and it was not well suited to long term agricultural uses, so it did not contain any major civilizations or polities until the Industrial Age. It did become a prosperous continent/nation, and was a force in the Interplanetary Age as part of the alliance called Greater Australia. - Authenticity Purges, Authenticity War - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Late Re-Evaluation period historical-archaeological purges resulting in brief Sol System-Formac war. - Branch Hominist - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Extremist hu-rights group; quite active during the ComEmp period. Following their thwarted invasion of Earth in 5116, little more has been heard of them and it is believed that they either disbanded voluntarily or were eliminated by hyperturing assassin devices. - Callisto (Sol V-iv) - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Major moon of Jupiter (Sol V). - Caneshe Habitat - Text by Steve Bowers
Habitat in Solsys mostly inhabited by Provolved Dogs. - Ceres - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Minor Planet in the Old Solar System. - Ceres - The Early Years - Text by Steve Bowers
Early colonisation and development of Ceres. - Earth - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Earth; Old Earth, the original home of humanity and the origin of the Terragen Civilisation. Now a Caretaker protectorate with limited access. - Einstein Bridge - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Wormhole linking Sol System and Tau Ceti. It is the oldest macroscopic wormhole still in operation and, apart from a period during the Version War when it was shut down, it has been in continuous operation since the middle Expansion Age. - Europa (Sol V-ii) - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A major moon of the planet Jupiter in Solsys. - Europe - Text by Stephen Inniss
A continent of Old Earth. It is bounded by Asia, the Atlantic Ocean, the Arctic Ocean, and the Mediterranean Sea. - Federation of Worlds, The - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Another name for the First Federation. - First Federation of Hu and AI, The - Text by M. Alan Kazlev, Anders Sandberg and Steve Bowers
Centralist hu-ai hyperpower that ruled Terragen space from Solsys for almost a thousand years. - GAIA - Text by M. Alan Kazlev, amended by Steve Bowers
The Caretaker Goddess of Old Earth; the first entity to breach the Second Toposophic Level (although She has progressed through additional toposophic levels since). - Galilean moons - Text by Stephen Inniss
The four largest moons of Jupiter: Ganymede, Io, Callisto and Europa. They were discovered by Galileo in 359 BT (1610 c.e.), and became important industrial and population centres in the Interplanetary Age. - Ganymede (Sol V - iii) - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Major satellite of Jupiter. - Helios A, B, and C - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Intra-Mercury Orbital bands, SolSys. - Io (Sol V-i) - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
The innermost Galilean moon of Jupiter in Solsys. - Jupiter - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
The archetype of the Jovian-type world, in Solsys. - Luna - Text by Anders Sandberg and Steve Bowers
The moon of Old Earth. - Mars - Text by M. Alan Kazlev, Curtis Moore, Anders Sandberg, Tony Jones, Steve Bowers and Damon Court.
The oldest Terragen planetary colony; a partially terraformed Arean world. - Mars, Republic of - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
The oldest continuous functioning government; still administers Mars as part of the Solar Organization. - Martian War of Independence, The - Text by Damon Court
A chronology, and list of primary causes. - Mercury - Text by Anders Sandberg and M. Alan Kazlev
Hot, resource-rich world in the Old Solar System. - Neptune - Text by Steve Bowers
Cryojovian in the Old Solar System. - North America - Text by Stephen Inniss
A continent of Old Earth. With an area of 24,709,000 square kilometres it is the third largest continent of Old Earth after Asia and Africa. Its indigenous nations and tribes were conquered and largely destroyed by Europeans, but the resulting largely European-derived, cultures and polities had a powerful influence in the Industrial and Information ages, and had a formative influence on the Interplanetary Age powers. - Old Earth - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Generic term used to designate Earth before the Great Expulsion. As well as the literal meaning, and the reference to Terragen origins and ancient baseline history, the term has various other associated nuances, from the ridiculous or exaggerated to the romantic or sublime, including lost paradise, fool's opportunity, pre-archaiocractic human supremacy, unmoderated baseline civilization (positive or negative, depending on context and clade), natural evolution, and so on. - Phobos - Text by Daniel Eliot Boese and Mark Ryherd
One of Mars' two natural satellites. Little remains of the original Phobos. - Pioneer 10 - Text by M. Alan Kazlev and Steve Bowers
Unmanned spacecraft launched from Old Earth on 02 Mar 1972, the first human built spacecraft to travel beyond the Solar Asteroid Belt. - Pluto - Text by Stephen Inniss
The first to be discovered of several minor planets in the outer reaches of Solsys. Relatively unaffected by the Nanoswarms, it had become a regional "capital" by the 9th century AT, and to this day is an important element in the Solar Organization. - Rat Barrel, The - Text by Peter Kisner, updated by Steve Bowers
Originally an Interplanetary Age genetics research station, known as the Barrel, located at the Earth/Sun L4 position, far from any regulatory interference. The most common species of Rat Provolve, Rattus sapiens, was produced here in 210 AT, as well as many other species. Now a centre of hedonic drug manufacture. - Saturn - Text by Steve Bowers
Ringed Planet in the Old Solar System - Sirius - Text by Anders Sandberg, Xaonon and M. Alan Kazlev
Inner Sphere system, very close to Sol. - Sol Asteroid Belt - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Asteroid Belt in the Old Solar System - Solar System in 539 AT, The - Text by Todd Drashner
A Brief Account of the state of Solsys in the period before the Nanodisaster. - Solar System in the 9th Century AT, The - Text by Steve Bowers
The status of the Solar System at the end of the Interplanetary Dark Ages, and before the establishment of the First Federation. - Solsys (The Old Solar System) - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
The Old Solar System - South America - Text by M. Alan Kazlev and Stephen Inniss
An Old Earth continent; formerly part of Gondwana. With an area of 17,840,000 square kilometres, it is the fourth largest of Old Earth's continents, and for much of human history it was the fourth or fifth most populous. Its indigenous nations and tribes were conquered and largely destroyed through military action, introduced diseases, and an influx of settlers and their ideas in the centuries after the first European explorers found the continent, but eventually new hybrid (though predominantly "Western") polities arose to become major world powers by the Interplanetary Age. - Titan - Text by Felipe Brando Cadavid
Moon of Saturn in Solsys with a long history - Uranus - Text by Steve Bowers
Tilted cryojovian world in the Old Solar system. - Venus - Text by M. Alan Kazlev and Anders Sandberg 2002, Steve Bowers and Mike Parisi 2006
Second planet from Sol; after many delays it was terraformed late in the 100th century AT. - Vesta - Text by Steve Bowers
- Weeping Wall of Satori Crater, The - Text by John M. Dollan
The Weeping Wall periodically expelled liquid water in a spectacular but short lived flood - Wolf 359 - Text by Anders Sandberg
Resource poor Inner Sphere system, in near proximity to Sol.
Related Topics
Development Notes
Text by Anders Sandberg and M. Alan Kazlev
slightly modified by Stephen Inniss
Initially published on 24 December 2000.
slightly modified by Stephen Inniss
Initially published on 24 December 2000.
