If you guys know me, than you would know that what this project would lack in grammar, it would make-up for in kickass illustrations... if it should ever come out at all!
THE BACKGROUND
In the setting's past, wars and pollution threaten humanity and the planet. When the dust cleared, it became apparent that humanity would have to take to the stars, but it would take time to get everything ready. There was a whole generation motivated to head out to lay the ground work for colonization to new words, and a strong desire mend the broken Earth.
Notions of traditional nations have been dying over the more popular nomadic lifestyle. At one time, travailing abroad was a prerequisite for heading out into the space colonies — it was expected that people of all sorts would be leaving Earth and bumping shoulders on a daily basis, so they all had to know how to deal with new people, and to know how to deal with unusual situations — but over time, the world become more cosmopolitan and people embraced the nomadic lifestyle as a way of life. This formed three major camps within the Earth Sphere:
The Establishment Society believe in the preservation of old nations, individual standards to reflect the history and traditions of a country (like establishment of laws to force everyone to speak the old language or reestablishing Standard Imperial measurements in U.S. communities) and the formation of unique customs and identities in space colonies. Their views reflect the desire for people to settle down to build national identities, at the cost of one's ease of travel. They feel that a transient lifestyle should only be a phase in one's life, where you move around to eventually settle down — most Globizens would disagree. The more extreme members are isolationists, who want to close off their respective community from outside influences and transients. Above all else, they believe in tradition and social stability.
The Nations of Globizens are perpetual travelers — modern Nomads, if you will — who embrace the world as one big road with countless points of interests. Although the movement grew form a desire to head out into space, they were too restless to take roots in a space colony, so they kept on moving. They believe that the Earth Sphere should be culturally uniformed and open to make it easier for them to travel and not get bogged down by rules and regulations that plagued the movement in the early years. The more extreme members are social anarchists who see government as an archaic system to control people. Above all else, they believe in freedom and adventure.
The New Worlders are people who believe that humanity has hurt to the Earth long enough, and the Earth should be abandoned no it could heal on its own. They mostly live in space colonies, with members on Earth advocating mass-exodus of the planet. They are at odds with the Establishment Society for being too attached to the Earth, and with the Nations of Globizens for not wanting to stay in space. The more extreme members want space travel a one-way fare, so that no one could ever return! Above all else, they believe in a sense of manifest destiny.
Within one or more groups, there are a number of outliers, sub-groups, fundamentalists, extremists, and special-interests groups. A number of these groups deal with post/trans-humanist ideologies. They are called Cadres. (I will address them later.)
People on Earth live in giant arcologies, on floating domed cities in the sky, or zipping along in flying vehicles. The arcologies are massive self-contained cities built into the ground — on land or under the sea — covered over by dirt so support the growth of a natural biome. They connect to each other by long spanning transit tunnels that work like pneumatic tubes. They were developed to help recover the earth, which faced near-catastrophic to past wars and pollution, and to assure the safety of their citizenry by giving them a self-contained environment. They normally have large openings for flying vehicles to enter and leave. They are named after the cities that used to occupy the land. For the most part, they have replaced normal surface cities. Establishment Society members usually come form cities like these. While most cities are open and friendly towards Globizens, there are a growing number of cities that are becoming more and more hostile towards transient people. Floating domed cities are adrift in the open sky. They normally occupy a set aerial route so travelers can find them. Of all the types of communities on Earth, they are the most accepting of the Nations of Globizens, to the point that most people who live in such a city are transients. They connect to each other, along with ground cities, by airbuses and freighters. Members of the Globizen nation who are not at a layover in some city are traveling in some form a flying vehicle or submersible (or both). A young person would travel by aircar (his own or as a passenger), living between hostels. A more established traveler with a family in toe would likely own a mobile home in the form of a flying yacht or RV.
In space, people live in one of the many orbiting colony station, in a surface arcology on the Moon, Mars, etc., or as asteroid miners. Orbiting colony stations take on many shapes and sizes, as well as take on a number of roles: residence, research, entertainment, and so on. On any given planet, there are stations that serve as a way station for movement (transit and supplies) between stations and planets. They are called "Hubs." Hubs tend to favor Globizens then Establishment or New Worlder members. Surface arcologies are like earthbound cites, including the power struggle between ideologies, but most people are indifferent. Asteroid miners are the roughest sort of folks. They live far beyond the civilized Earth Sphere in the Asteroid Belt, Jupiter's Greek/Trojan Belt, or the planetary rings of one of the gas giants. Most miners came form the New Worlders movement, and they have a strong sense of personal freedom.
THE CONFLICT
Tension between the three communities have boiled over into conflict, with each side blaming the others. Establishment Society forces fight to establish strong communities and to keep them safe form outside influences. Globizen fight to liberate communities and allow free mobility between them. New Worlder forces fight to free the Earth of a human presence. And the Cadres fight for their own fringe goals. Since few people are willing to risk life and limb to fight in this age, people who are dedicated to a cause made use of advancements in technology that allows them to duplicate themselves as expendable combat clones or replicants. If one of them is killed and their brains are intact, their thoughts and experiences can be downloaded into a new generation of fighters. The use of clones and replicants had the effect of fielding troops that have no regard to other people or themselves, as they treat their own existence as video game characters, with each new generation of fighters.
In this chaos, once great cities are ether urban warzones, closed fortress or cast in ruins. Underwater cities flooded, floating cities blown out of the skies, colony stations ripped open, and other cities in ruins. The skies are also no longer safe for casual travel. And countless civilians were caught in the crossfire. This is the reality of the Earth Sphere!
As characters, you play as free agents who can preform a wide range of unusual or clandestine missions. Given their agency, they do not have the luxury of maintaining a strong a partisan stance, although, it could make for good character backstory.
As military forces seldom fight with unprotected infantry forces, human and human-like troop fight in combat armor. There are also combat robots of all sorts, and military vehicles ranging form fighters to warships that can freely move between the sea, the air and outer space!
