Report 2: 15 Jan 0015
There has been a great deal of social and political change since my last report. While less than 2 months have passed for me in the dreamless sleep of cryo, thanks to relativistic time dilation, 4 busy years have passed for the StarBorn.
Culture
With the combined influences of worker’s cooperatives and military machismo, a rugged, industrial aesthetic is ascendant.
As part of my studies I have created replicas of their food and clothing, in an effort to integrate myself remotely. I find the heavy boots and no-nonsense overalls comforting in the void of space; the echo of metal on metal with every footfall gives one a sense of forward momentum. The military rations by contrast, like all military rations throughout history, are universally disgusting.
These changes have brought problems beyond he culinary. Anything that is not a “hard science” in physics or engineering has taken a back seat - both in terms of funding and cultural prestige. Breakthroughs in visible spectrum lasers and new engines are impressive, of course, but progress seems to have come at the expense of plurality and diversity of thought.
Similarly, I have observed a creeping bias against anybody considered “a working man”. Technology has long since rendered physical bulk and essential component in building, but there are clear biases in hiring and promotion developing. In media, women and those with physical disabilities are 4.2x more likely to be shown as villains or victims than during my last report. Let us hope this trend doesn’t progress.
Planets and their names have simplified over time. Old Earth is known as Garden, orbited by Ape. Those who leave the homeworld to seek their fortunes in the financial centres and speculative banks are said to have “Gone Ape”, while those who leave for Morrigan are subject to few taunts - military earns respect you can’t buy with money.
Economics
Citizens are significantly more productive thanks to organisational and logistic breakthroughs, generating 120w/m. This has freed industrial and workforce capacity up for more research.
This budget headroom is giving the military-industrial complex space to expand and deliver wage and pension growth for the armed services. Police units sit on Morrigan awaiting postings across the system.
Despite the unionisation drives and economic growth, employment prospects have barely improved, with unemployment staying stubbornly at 9.1% - It looks like Workers of the World may not meet their electoral promises if this trend continues
Infrastructure wars
As readers are aware, the coalition Workers of the Worlds have forbidden the manufacturing of new infrastructure, significantly limiting the growth of colonies.
Ape is now almost perfectly teraformed, freeing thousands of infrastructure units that are now a finite resource.
Private enterprise is trying to buy this up even as the publicly owned freight fleets commandeer the infrastructure for use on Morrigan and the newly established Concordance base orbiting Jupiter.
The private fleets have been distracted by the lucrative trade between Garden and Ape, loosing focus on supporting their distant colonies. Concordance, singificantly easier to teraform than either of the private colonies, may give Workers of the World the chance to complete their bonus objective. Time will tell - but the fact that they control the taxes on private freight mean they can simply tax them into failure to pursue success.
Politics
Politics is becoming increasingly geographically distributed:
Here we see how the Workers of the Worlds (blue) are competing with the newly assembled and financially capable Ad Astra Per Aurum (yellow) over the colonies in Jupiter’s moons.
Brightwind, which remains dotted with automated mines, is the economic support line to the military Morrigan. In this way, despite not being coalition partners, the plutocrats have significant political influence over the ruling military party. “Unexpected maintenance” on the mass drivers always seems to begin when wealth tax is on the political agenda, and service is always restored whenever the inheritance tax votes fail.
Political responses to alien incursion
The political parties have begun to express clear political positions on the subject of aliens. Indeed, thanks to their (harmless) incursion, a xenophobic strain of protectionism has sprung up - Reclaim your future!. A fusion of futurism and fear, it deems any and all alien life a threat.
Naturally, I am personally deeply opposed to this movement as an ‘alien’ myself. This responses is, however, understandable given the sudden and unexpected arrival of an alien vessel. Who can say when more will arrive?
Political positions
While the political positions are still crystallising, my ship’s ability to intercept and decode supposedly secure communications has given me the inside line on as-yet-unanounced policy positions.
The incumbents are being forced to up the ante on their current positions, adding new mandates to stay relevant. This is unsurprising - the man willing to kill to feed his family will probably stay home rather than campaign for a marginally better dental plan. As militancy in the successful parties reduces, their appeals have to get louder.
Workers of the Worlds
Even as they struggle to meet their old mandate to halve unemployment, they are already planning to roll automation back and replace it with human jobs across colonies Naturally, their old taboo against automation is well established.
Controversially, they seem to be planning a policy of forced labour for criminals, particularly those of a political variety. Should this come to pass, it may mitigate some of the efficiency losses that such an anti-automation position mandates, but at what cost?
Their response to the aliens is surprisingly moderate - they are content to repel them from their systems, but do not seek to drive them out of existing territories. Should they capture them, they have no concerns over forced alien labour, but are not seeking conflict out.
Morrigan’s Children
As military research and capacity expands rapidly, it seems likely that they will meet their existing mandate, and so have extended their position for the next election - all inhabited systems must be surrounded by militarised buffer zones with STOs and surveillance for early warning against incursion.
The success of the current military research boom is hard to argue with, and will continue. Their strategy appears to be one of offence when it comes to the aliens, who they have no problem enslaving when required. StarBorn must remain free, however.
Ad Astrum per Aurum
This new coalition of plutocrats and futurists have a clear mandate - throw off the Luddite yolk and industrialise space with mining stations and fuel production across the home system. While the specifics are yet to be locked in, they want at least 10% of resources to be generated from these new technologies.
They have a strong free market doctrine, and absolutely forbid the taxation of the private sector, which can never be idle and must be supported by government contracts if there is no natural demand. Furthermore, the scientists are experimenting with a hybrid design doctrine which mandates that every station and ship must be dual purpose - a survey ship with missile launchers for defence, a colony transport that is also a troop transport.
They are against forced labour of any kind and want to reconcile with the aliens - they will not fire upon aliens that have not fired upon them before to try and open new markets and opportunities.
Reclaim your future!
This party has one purpose - exterminate any aliens they can get their hands on. They promise they will take a system or colony from the ‘other’, and cannot tolerate their presence whatsoever. They enslave them only as an alternative to their extermination.
Single minded and single-issue, they hare a polarising party that can bring support with their clear message.
Summary table
| Workers of the Worlds | Morrigan’s Children | Ad Astra per Aurum | Reclaim your future! | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mandate | Halve unemployment & eliminate automation from all mining colonies while increasing output | Defend every colony & create buffer system | Industrialise space | Take a colony or system from the alien menace |
| Taboo | Automation | >50% Mil Research | Reaganomics & Hybrid doctrine | Tolerating xenos |
| StarBorn forced labour? | Yes | No | No | No |
| Alien forced labour? | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Alien Civilisations | Repel | Attack | Reconcile | Exterminate |
- Workers of the Worlds
- Morrigan’s Children
- Ad Astra per Aurum
- Reclaim your future
Bonus:
Did any of you notice something missing from this post? Reply on the comments thread to see if you were more observant than the author!