Newhope

Newhope is one of several unrelated systems with the same name. The infrastructure of the Inner Sphere red dwarf Hip 99265 was established by the MPA Neumann bpRW-1011000110 in 2415 a.t., from which comes its popular name "1001100110's star." Following extraction by MPA Mining Swarms of most volatiles, the system was abandoned in 3157.

Within a hundred years, the first settlers (mostly relativistic isolationist vecs and a single nomadic nanopolity) had established a few small colonies. These were followed by representatives of several cyborg Hider clades. News slowly spread, and in 3429 the first nearbaseline human colony ship, the Freedom's Light, crewed by followers of the utopian nearbaseline human Marus Midas Chuny, arrived, with 980 colonists in stasis, and renamed the system Newhope. The Chunyists established a low resource high tech hu-only utopia, that at its height (in 3574) featured upwards of 3000 souls.

With the death of Chuny in a mining accident in 3589 (no backups were possible because of the shortage of resources and failure of advanced neuronal hylonano), the group split into two rival micropolities. This situation was further exacerbated by new arrivals who refused to assimilate to the Chunyist memeset, and by 3782 there were at least two hundred human and other sapient micropolities scattered throughout the system. By the early Second Federation period, the system was pretty much an aggregation of micro-fiefdoms with a smattering of short-lived cyberdemocracies. The limited resources, and competition with other clades, means that none of the micropolities ever amounted to much.

From 6826 to 7105 there was a system wide hegemony under the cyborg "Xarander the Conqueror", but this was overthrown with help from a passing ex-Version Tree vec clade, the Fastchip Cinderbots Association, and the usual condition of isolated and impoverished polities was restored.

In the 8100's the system became a loose confederation - the Newhope Union - that experienced a short-lived but exciting cultural renaissance and established a successful trade economy with the rest of the universe via several relativistic traders. An MPA regional hypereconomic recession in the surrounding developed star systems in 8426 made the trade uneconomical. The system remained one of the most impoverished in the region, until in the 9200's with easier access provided by a new 50 meter macrogauge wormhole to Dobsan (MPA red dwarf, distance 5 light years) it became a mecca for anti-ai (or pro-turing but anti hyperturing) humans and other bionts.

Several anti AI groups stage pilgrimage visits to Marus Midas Chuny's shrine, and curious Sephirotic citizens also visit. Most are usually conned by the locals, who have become experts at begging and confidence tricks. Over the last few centuries the increased tourism has led to greater wealth and the disappearance of most of the original poverty-based and scarcity-based cultures. Hu Supremacist extremists claim that Sephirotic interference prevents Newhope from developing into a powerful empire and threatening the established hyperpolities, but even the locals make this a running joke amongst themselves.

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