The Final Frontier
– Arthur C. Clarke
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A mysterious chip fell into the dense forests of Estonia in 2008. What occurred next changed the course of history forever.
A new cybersecurity system developed in the wake of Russian interference allowed Estonian intelligence to break through several waves of metastatic code-weave to unravel the language of a civilization that never appeared on Earth- and with it, knowledge of technology and science spanning a millennia.
The response was rapturous. A boom of research, advancement, and development completely enraptured nations across the world as a miraculous well of knowledge could be pulled from. Humanity took the blueprints of this chip and remade faster-than-light travel; hardsuits; artificial gravity; advanced lasers; first-generation spacecraft; hardlight panels. The only limit was human imagination.
Alas, as the resources required to develop so rapidly bled the planet dry, another limitation became unignorable; the terrible strain on Earth’s environment. In 2028, an official statement was released by the United Nations warning of The Fall: that the damage done to Earth’s climate would make it inhospitable by 2050. What ensued was a unified scramble to the only place humankind knew they could go; into the vast cosmos themselves. Coordinates were set as fleets of ships hurtled out and across the galaxy’s twin spiral arms to escape The Fall- with no FTL-speed communication created yet, populations of individual countries had no means to contact other nations. The next two centuries- the New Dark Age- saw countries focus inwards- on successfully settling the systems they found, building infrastructure and bureaucracy over generations until ship-to-ship contact could be made. The Intergalactic Conference of 2252- the first-ever multinational meeting since The Fall- established the Walloon Declaration, formalizing the sovereignty of the 100+ new nations that formed during the settlement centuries, a basic trade framework, the establishment of the galactic center of neutral international space, and a Permanent Galactic Forum.
The questions that have gripped the galaxy since, however, are those that the Conference failed to answer. Collective security frameworks remained at the regional level, no arms control was formalized under the impression mutual deterrence would hold, no rights were established for indigenous/minority groups who had not found sovereignty, and above all else, no accountability was held for Earth’s decay at humanity’s hands. A recovery mission spearheaded by India in 2258 rubbed salt in the wound by confirming that the planet was completely dead and borderline unrecognizable.
Many other events have occurred until now: the emergence of Mongolia as a new superpower; the discovery of a new alien chip floating in Angolan space; an organized Houthi assault on Yemen’s capital planet that Iran does not claim; Russia managing its post-imperialism by releasing many of its former republics; but they are footnotes in foreign affairs at best. The one question that grips every president, minister, sultan, diplomat, engineer, general, negotiator, pilot, chairman, monarch, trader, financial analyst, citizen, refugee, and revolutionary rings in unison:
Who will control the future of the galaxy?
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Hey, fellas- weirdo that made the inverted land-and-sea Europe here. I wanted to make something that would be able to outperform that, and hopefully this does the trick.
– 357 countries + new flags for almost all of them
– 993 "systems" (cities)
– 23 releasables/revolts
This whole project began development in late February- I took a lot of time on it, so leaving a like and rating would be greatly appreciated! 😀
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– Chairman Morningstar, for the original skeleton of the galaxy map:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3303178672
– Fulgrim, for pioneering what space maps can look like- I probably would not have made the galaxy look the way it does without the release of their Star Wars scenarios:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3303178672
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3691635203
– NinjaNate898, for the flags of Buryatia, Sakha Republic, Tuva Republic, Altai Confederation, Khakassia, Udmurtia, Komi Republic, Tatarstan, Mari El Republic, Chuvashia, Mordovia, Kalmykia, Ossetia, Casamance, and Dagestan- taken from Ninja’s Realistic Modern World Map:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3636367143
– Cherri Animations, for the flags of Tokelau and Norfolk- taken from Advanced Oceania scenario:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3486332621
– L0maxx, for the flags of Rif Republic, Inner Mongolia, Zambesia, Katanga, Cabinda, Gagauzia, and Assyria- taken from The Fire of the World Revolution scenario:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3697526131
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Size: 1034×930 (961620px)
Nations: 373
