Earth

History

22nd Century

During the start of the 22nd century, the space-based economy took off. Many fortunes were made in developing space-based infrastructure, asteroid mining and financing these endeavors. The first permanent skyhooks were built in Earth’s orbit, along with large orbital habitats and orbital manufacturing facilities. 

This was a time marked mostly by peace and economic growth. The colonies on Mars began to expand and the first colonies on Venus were founded. These colonial efforts were successful and helped fuel further development of the industrialization of space.

The economically dominant power during this era was the Pacific Alliance, an alliance between America and post-communist China. 

23rd Century

The 23rd century began with a series of wars on Mars, which the major Earth powers were involved in. These wars left the major powers of Earth weakened and increasingly looking inward. This era was much more economically precarious than the previous century with a major financial crisis in the 2260’s. 

The financial crisis of 2266 was effectively caused by Olympian actions within the asteroid belt and on Earth. In the early 2260’s the Olympians captured territory within the belt. Additionally, they created a series of shell companies based on Earth, ostensibly devoted to asteroid mining. These companies became massively overvalued and pumped up. They intertwined themselves with legitimate space based industries; other mining companies, technology firms and financiers. When the Olympians sold off their shares of the companies and collapsed them, there was a contagion effect which spread across the space industries and eventually into the financial industry. This was effectively a massive pump and dump scam. 

The Olympians were intent on gathering capital for their war effort and the development of their military. They used this as a way to gather capital. At the onset of the crisis, they used a series of back doors into the financial markets to start hollowing out companies and stealing capital. They were able to loot the markets on a scale previously unimaginable. This was the largest act of economic terrorism in the history of mankind. 

As a result of the crisis, the major powers of Earth were greatly weakened. China was split by civil war and America went through a sovereign debt crisis and fell into political strife. By the 2280’s political turmoil dominated the planet and, as a result, the economy continued to suffer. 

The Olympian invasion at the end of the century upturned the entire economy of Earth. The war lasted from 2289 to 2293 and ended with the surrender of all organized Earth forces. There were, however, numerous resistance and insurgency movements which operated all around the planet. 

Olympian Era

Under Olympian rule, the economy was depressed due to ongoing violence and the attempts by the Olympian leaders to nationalize industries across the world. The Olympian government rejected the traditional capitalist framework and attempted to craft a new collectivist economy controlled by them. This, however, proved difficult due to ongoing violence and lack of competence of the Olympian rulers.

Interplanetary Trade

Earth trades heavily with other planets, consuming raw materials from the asteroid belt and mining operations on the moon, and hydrogen from Saturn. It also regularly trades with Mars and Venus, mostly through services and intellectual property. 

Earth has a dedicated space elevator and a series of skyhooks in orbit to facilitate trade and movement of people.

Mars

History

The first permanent colonies on Mars were set up at the end of the 21st century. They were, however, not politically or economically independent. In the early 22nd century, there were a series of new international compacts agreed upon dictating the governance of Martian colonies and commercialization and industrialization of space. These compacts led to a boom in space-based industries and investment. During this period the nations of Earth supported colonization of Mars, with the EU and the Pacific Alliance supporting the colonies around Elysium and the Utopia Planitia, Russia supporting the colonies on the Hellas Planitia, private development groups supporting colonies in the Tharsis region and elsewhere and non-state actors supporting colonization around Olympus Mons. 

During the late 22nd century, there was a revolt in the Hellas colony leading to several years of infighting with the emergence of a new leadership and as a new nation. At the turn of the century Mars was engulfed by war which resulted in the growth of the Hellas state, Elysium undergoing a revolution, the expulsion of a segment of the Olympians and the crippling of Tharsis. 

By the end of the 23rd century, there were three great powers on Mars; Hellas, Elysium and Tharsis. Hellas had the most dynamic economy and fully embraced a capitalistic model. Elysium and Tharsis were far less dynamic, with Elysium embracing socialism and Tharsis having a cumbersome bureaucratic state and civil conflict. 

Interplanetary Trade

Mars is now self-sufficient, and no longer depends on Earth for vital goods or services, though there is still a robust trade between the two planets. Most of the trade between Earth and Mars is, however, services and intellectual property, not manufactured goods or raw materials. Mars is reliant on mining in the asteroid belt for some raw materials, and also on Saturn for hydrogen. 

Mars has several space elevators. The Zephyrian space elevator was the first one built and one of the major ports on the planet. 

Venus

History

The first colony on Venus was founded in the mid-22nd century. Unlike Mars, most of the colonies on Venus were founded by non-state actors. As a result, there were a number of regulatory and legal hurdles that they faced which the Martian colonies didn’t. Most of these issues were resolved by the end of the 22nd century, though. 

The largest entity on Venus is a trade and mutual defense compact built around the oldest colony of Beacon, it is often referred to as the Archipelago. The Archipelago embraces a highly capitalistic model and has been very successful. There are a number of other smaller independent colonies which have embraced different economic and political systems. 

Throughout the 23rd century, there has been a tremendous amount of growth on Venus, in both terms of capital and population. By 2300, Venus had a larger population than Mars and the highest GDP per capita in the solar system.

There were, however, issues with pirate activity originating from some of the less developed colonies. The conquest of Earth by Olympian forces had a negative impact on the economy of Venus and caused considerable uncertainty.

Interplanetary Trade

Venus is heavily reliant on interplanetary trade for basic raw materials. There is effectively no mining done on Venus, so all raw goods need to be imported from either the asteroid belt or Mercury, or in the case of hydrogen from Saturn. Venus also trades regularly with Earth and Mars for services and intellectual property. 

The Olympian conquest of Earth has pushed the Archipelago to develop space-based military assets to defend its claims in the asteroid belt and shipment of hydrogen from Saturn. 

Venus has a series of skyhooks it uses to get people into orbit. 

Interplanetary

Mercury

Mercury has no large permanent inhabited settlements on the surface, but there is a good deal of industrial activity occurring there. There are a number of robots on the surface involved in mining and ore processing. The robots receive power beamed down from solar arrays. They work primarily at night, as the day on Mercury is too hot to permit work. During the day, the robots take refuge and go into a hibernation state. There are, however, several mines which have been experimenting with shades for day operations and there are several deep mines which can operate at day as well.

In orbit, there is a permanent habitat at the L2 Point holding several thousand people, all involved in the mining operations on Mercury. There are a number of solar arrays around the planet which provide beamed power to the space habitat and to the robots on the surface. 

Asteroid Belt

The Belt is sparsely populated with only a few million inhabitants. The inhabitants live in space habitats and are largely involved in asteroid mining operations. Asteroid mining started in the late 21st century, though it really took off in the early 22nd century. The boom in asteroid mining helped create many fortunes on Earth and helped propel further space colonization.

The Olympians had set up bases in the asteroid belt following the war on Mars. They used these bases to breed soldiers and to build up their military for the invasion of Earth.

Jupiter

There are some sparse mining operations and minor settlements, but no larger long-term inhabitation. Several Olympian colonies were established following the war on Mars.

Saturn

There are several minor colonies around Saturn, primarily involved in industrial activity. Saturn is considered a vital part of the solar economy because of its role in energy production. Much of the hydrogen used in nuclear fusion reactors comes from Saturn cloud mining operations. Due to the long transit times between Saturn and the inner planets, this is considered a key resource and also a key risk. Attacks on mining facilities or hydrogen in transit could have a devastating impact on the inner planets. 

Uranus, Neptune and Beyond

There are no permanent colonies, though there are a handful of scientific outposts. There are no industrial activities either, though there are some plans for development. 

Major Sectors

Energy

Nuclear Fusion

Nuclear fusion is one of the primary sources of energy used. There are a number of different commercial reactor designs that have been built, optimized for a variety of different applications. Nuclear fusion requires hydrogen, which is mostly mined on Saturn with the use of cloud miners. There are also some hydrogen extraction operations elsewhere, such as on Earth’s Moon.

Power Satellites

Power satellites use solar energy collected in space and then beamed down to the planet they are orbiting. There are massive arrays on Mars, Venus and Earth, there are also arrays on Mercury for mining operations there. The power satellites gather solar energy in orbit around a planet and then beam it down to collector stations, which are usually located in sparsely inhabited regions. 

Other

On Earth there are a few other energy sources used, such as legacy nuclear fission plants, other renewables, such as wind, hydro-electric and geo-thermal and some legacy oil and natural gas. 

On Venus wind power is used by a few of the habitats, though most habitats use the wind for maneuvering. Chemical rocket fuel is also a major source of energy for transportation. 

Battery power is highly advanced and it can hold a tremendous amount of power. 

Finance

Solex

Solex was founded in the early 22nd century, its original business was building and operating interplanetary communications satellites. This network of satellites became known as the Solex network and was the backbone of interplanetary communications. 

Shortly after this, Solex began offering money transfer services and quickly became a key player in interplanetary trade. It could be considered analogous to Western Union in the 19th century. 

By the end of the 22nd century it began offering its own crypto-currency, the Sol. Following the economic crisis of the 23rd century the Sol became the preferred currency of most people. 

Currencies

The Sol is the major currency in use, it’s a crypto-currency managed by Solex. The mining of Sols is based on an algorithm that uses key economic indicators as inputs and it’s designed to inflate at a low and predictable rate. The goal is for the Sol to be a stable, usable currency by all people in the solar system. Anyone can mine Sols provided they have the right equipment. Most are mined by specialized satellites by specialized firms. 

There are a number of other currencies in existence. There are various other crypto-currencies; some are based on commodities, some are designed to be deflationary, some are fiat currencies issued by various nation-states or other private entities, such as banks.