United Nations of Earth

The United Nations of Earth
The United Nations of Earth, commonly known as the United Nations, was a planetary state comprising of 233-member states, an administrative zone and a major autonomous zone. The UN has 27.1 billion citizens, with a GDP of over $144.6 quadrillion, using UNE Credits. The first fully sentient life form evolved on Earth 265,000 years ago, forming the first major nation state 3,000 years ago.

The predecessor to the UNE is the UN, formed in 1945 in the advent of the Second World War, however it would possess no power besides the support of its members. The UN would eventually evolve into a fully functioning governing body with full legal jurisdiction of Earth in June 27th 2294CE in the Claudeman Agreement, being fully ratified by most nation states on Earth by August 13th2294CE. However, a series of unification wars would be fought to take full control over the Earth. Eventually, this made the UNE one of the strongest states in the Solar System, with no direct competitors besides the Mars Autonomous Zone.

The foundation of the UNE would be marked by politcal instability and numerous wars on the principle of a unified earth government.

The UNE would functionally cease to exist following the Martian-Terran war of liberation. During which, multiple ISAMMs were launched by both sides at each other, targeting major shipyards, population centres and other military targets, resulting in 92% of Earth’s water permanently vaporising, as well as the death of an estimated 22 billion humans. However, the UNE would continue nominally into the late 24th century under various splinter organisations, before finally ceasing all activity on August 29th 2387CE.

Fragmented Civilisation
Prior to the foundation of the United Nations of Earth, Earth was a fragmented nation-state society, with multiple ideological factions operating at different development levels. The most developed nation-states were the United States, European Union and Japan. Many other countries were also relatively developed. With less developed regions in Africa, South America and South Asia.

While there was no immediate reason to form a global government until the 2283CE resource crisis, there had been two inter-governmental organisations before the United Nations of Earth, the League of Nations and the United Nations. These two organisations were powerless without the support of its member nations, and only able to act through these nations, as a result, both organisations often suffered from bureaucracy and conflicting interests, such as the lead up to World War Two and the Suez Canal Crisis (2267CE).

Establishment
The rising tensions in the late 23rd Century over the extremely limited resources on Earth and its Lunar Colonies led to the escalation of border skirmishes between China and the South-Asian States and the Second Sino-Indian War over the mining regions of North Vietnam and West India. As well as the dissolvement of all international bodies in favour of a new global government, the United Nations of Earth. American, African, Asian, European and Lunar representatives, like the young James Kaulima, voted in the final session of the United Nations to suspend the UN Charter and replace it with the Unification Charter. The new charter would pass the general assembly 178:55. The security council would pass the new charter, resulting in the formation and integration of all those who voted in favour, and absorbing the countries that voted against the charter into Observer States.

South America
Despite promises not to influence the politics of non-member nations, the UNE continued to supply pro-unification factions, eventually leading to the Argentinean Civil War in 2299CE. The Northern states of Chile Del Norte and Sur, San Antonio, Nueva Grenada, Henria and Meseta declared war on the Southern states in order to more closely associate with the UNE and obtain energy resources. The UNE would initially provide military equipment and advisors, but by the second year of the civil war, over 30,000 UNE soldiers would be deployed in active combat.

The Argentinean Civil War would end in a stalemate, with the rebel forces unable to take any strategically important areas of the mountainous southern regions and the overall lack of military strength of the South. Both sides would sign an armistice in 17th December 2299CE. The instrument of surrender of the Government forces would be signed on the 25th December 2299CE in the San Francisco treaty, which divided Argentina into the Republic of Meseta, which would join the UNE; and the Argentinean Republic, which would lose with Northern States and keep the remainder.

Other South American states realised the risk that rebel insurgencies posed to the government, and so under increasing domestic pressure; Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia became members of the UNE and others granting larger autonomy to UNE influenced areas.

Africa
As a result of Africa’s underdevelopment in the early 2nd millennium, mineral resources located in the central highlands of Africa were relatively intact, leading to large scale conflicts and the intervention of the European Union and China prior to the formation of the UNE. Shortly after the formation of the UNE, 19 regions of Africa, particularly the coastal regions had joined the UNE, with the exception of South Africa, Senegal and Mauritania. The primary reason is the high demand for vital resources such as Uranium and Helium-3, this allowed the countries to threaten a trade embargo, to remain relatively free and prosperous, preventing any military invasion. Despite this, the UNE wanted absolute control over the remaining independent states in Africa, and so on September 22nd 2300CE, European armoured divisions arrived in Morocco and crossed the Guerguerat bridge into Mauritania, beginning the African Unification War.

The invasion of Mauritania caused a large political backlash from the independent nations of Africa, culminating in the formation of the African Defence Pact, bringing other independent nations into the war. The War was relatively short lived, with most non-UNE states capitulating in the first month of the war, and the total surrender of all non-UNE states within three months, the last of which was South Africa that enacted a scorched Earth policy and retreated into the hinterland of Pretoria, causing up to $27 billion in damages.

Asia
The only non-UNE state in Asia was North Korea, which due to its political isolation and technological stagnancy in the 21st century, was largely ignored, and all major land connections to South Korea were done through the Qingdao-Seoul and Seoul-Nagasaki Tunnels, largely bypassing North Korea. No active combat would occur in Asia until the Marian Insurrection in Malaysia against Chinese occupation.

Europe
The primary non-UNE members were the Russian Federation, which remained largely independent of the UNE, in addition to its neighbours in the European-Asian Trade Group. The Russian Federation was one of three major powers who had developed a space elevator and lunar colony, and as so was granted a opt-out of the UNE foundation, however Russia had many domestic issues, primarily in separatist organisations in the fringes of the Russian Federation. This led to the July 10thStand-off between the Russian Government and the Ukrainian Free Forces, with the threat of launching 18 captured nuclear warheads at Moscow, the capital of Russia. The inherent instability granted a casus-belli for UNE forces to occupy and eventually integrate Russia. The invasion of Russia in the winter of 2298CE would be a success as the Russians quickly splintered and outdated Russian weapons were totally annihlated by modern UNE equipment. UNE forces would continue to occupy Russia, until the outbreak of the Martian-Terran War.

Early Interwar Period (2299CE – 2327CE)
With tensions on Earth at an all time low, the UNE issued the “Mars Proposition”, directly aimed at encouraging as many people as possible to leave Earth for Mars, therefore colonising Mars and decreasing population burden on Earth.

South American Reconstruction
However, for most of Africa and South America, the early interwar period was based around reconstruction, particularly the Chilean capital Santiago and Argentinian capitals, Cordoba and Buenos Aires. Much of South America became more modernised as major cities could rebuild major infrastructure networks and futureproof them, however approximately 40% of all artefacts in the region and historical sites were destroyed by either the reconstruction or the Unification wars before.

Reclamation of the deserts
Parts of the Gobi Desert were also reclaimed in this period, as the increasing demand for living space and farmland needed to be supplemented. As part of the “Green Wave”, the Chinese governments funded a massive terraforming campaign in the desert. Between 2302CE and 2338CE, the Gobi Desert would have 68% of its surface area converted into grasslands capable of tropical agriculture. Similar projects occurred in the Americas, the Sahara and the Australian “Outback”, creating roughly 22 million km­­­2 of grassland.

Pax Terra
The Pax Terra would be established, creating a safe environment for scholars, merchants and scientists. During the Pax Terra, many critical technological developments were achieved, the most important of them was the impulse engine and anti-matter storage. At the same time, large corporations began to grow, especially Rho Coronae, which began originally as a space mining corporation, before specialising into weapons research and manufacturing.

Red Flu Pandemic (2301CE – 2306CE)
The Red Flu began in Napoli, Italy, October 2301 as a virulent, though non-fatal virus. Though through infecting animals, a more infectious and lethal strain evolved in cows. This strain (RF-04) was able to be transmitted through bodily fluids and could also be carried by cows. While the initial deaths were not recorded, the Italian Health Service concluded that the first 1000 deaths occurred within 3 days of the first recorded case of the Red Flu. Italian Health Services failed to contain the virus despite extensive quarantines of humans, as they were unaware of cows being able to transmit the virus asymptomatically. The first non-Italian nation infected was Algeria, after a batch of infected beef was shipped to Algiers. Within 2 months, all European nations with the exception of the UK and Switzerland was infected and fatalities range between 2.7 million and 3.5 million. The French government enacted martial law and banned the sale of beef in an attempt to keep the infection out of Northern France. This strategy succeeded, and Northern France remained uninfected for the duration of the pandemic. Other governments replicated the French government, and also successfully maintained safe zones. However, the Red Flu was still able to be transmitted and other continents were infected as well. The only other nations to remain uninfected for the duration of the pandemic was Australia and New Zealand. The Red Flu, akin to the Spanish Flu, suddenly became inert and was no longer fatal, whilst the strain was still identifiably RF-04. The pandemic suddenly ended without any human interference, but fatalities did range between 17 million and 31 million in 2306CE.

Following the Red Flu Pandemic, the UNE Health Commission recommended the settlement of other planets and celestial bodies as a safeguard for the human race should a catastrophe wipe out humanity on Earth.

Colonisation of Mars
The first human colonies on Mars were established in 2117 by the United States of America and China, followed up by the European Union and Mars. These first colonies were all established at the polar regions of Mars, and subsequently were slow growing due to the lack of cheap supplies as a space elevator was impossible to build near a pole, but scientific and small-scale mining occurred in these colonies and were economically self-sustaining. By the end of the Red Flu pandemic, spending in colonisation quadrupled to $2.1 trillion a year.

By 2309CE, the planet reached a population of 2 million, with most residing in the polar colonies. The first space elevator on the planet was constructed in the same year, at the peak of Olympus Mons, with railway lines connecting all polar colonies to the elevator.

The UNE government offered large financial rewards for anyone willing to go to Mars, especially encouraging people with required skillsets to go. Eventually, the first major non-polar colony was complete around the base of Olympus Mons, having a population of just of 130,000. Martian representatives also petitioned funds to begin terraforming Mars. This petition was approved and $13 trillion was allocated to the terraforming projected, expected to take 40 years to create a breathable atmosphere and 120 years to reach Earth’s biodiversity.

In 2310CE, all Martian colonies signed treaty of confederation, unifying all different national colonies into the United Colonies of Mars, but would remain connected to the UNE as an autonomous region.

By 2324CE, the planet reached a population of 10 million, largely in part due to subsidised shuttles to the planet and colonisation grants to people. As the planet grew larger and larger, less was required from Earth, until 2325CE, where no imports of non-luxury goods happened, marking the full economic independence of Mars. Also, in comparison to Earth, Mars’s 10 million people had a 94% rate of higher education, with 62% educated in STEM and coupled with advanced automation, made the UCM the most advanced and prosperous society in the Solar System. On the 1stof May 2327CE, the United Martian Colonies became the United Republics of Mars and renounced all affiliation with the UNE.

Late Interwar Period (2327CE - 2361CE) (See Martian Cold War)
The Interwar Period, often referred to as the Martian Cold War, began officially on the 2ndof May 2327CE when Secretary-General Yuan Mofei declared the URM declaration as an illegal secessionist act, thus a declaration of war on the UNE. However, the UNE did not have a standing military, and so military action was impossible. This period would be marked by staggering technological developments, increasing tensions, the proliferation of weapons and the expansion of humanity into other regions of the Solar System and the first manned ships to extrasolar objects.

Due to the perceived declaration of war on the UNE, Sc. Gen. Yuan passed multiple defence acts; HALO RING, GenDef and MAPS. These acts authorised UNE government infrastructure to manufacture, purchase and develop military equipment and train servicemen rather than rely on individual nations.

Technological progress within the UNE rapidly advanced, with the GenDef act providing substantial grants. Major developments included the first viable handheld plasma weapon, portable fusion generators, medical replicators, powered exoskeletons and particle shields. Super tough materials were also developed, such as Lurangium, an alloy 4x stronger than graphene, but the primary manufacturing resource became graphene as graphene production was improved.

Under the HALO RING act, $17 trillion was allocated to the construction of an orbital ring around Earth, acting as a defence network, drydock, shipyard and habitat. The Aeorus Ring was completed in 2358CE. The Aeorus Ring was capable of servicing up to 400 warships at once, and had both the docking potential and maintenance potential of up to 3,000 warships due to its huge size and constant energy production.

In order to supply to Aeorus Ring, multiple cities were built directly connected to the Aeorus Rings, these were suspended via huge cables from the ring itself, and the city would not touch the ground besides large hollow tubes that allowed large cargo to be directly shuttled to the city and then to the ring itself. This system was highly effective, cutting costs by up to 40%, but it also out competed many other space elevators, resulting in all space elevators shutting down by the outbreak of the Martian-Terran war. These cities became wealthy through taxing goods going up and down the tubes. Many of the cities became independent states, being classified as a Free City, and often being ignored by the government in return for continued flow of materials both ways, as a direct result, the majority of cities became despotic, such as Zalem and Vjalkahursk. By the beginning of the Martian-Terran War, 24 sky cities would be built, and up to 100 much larger cities grew beneath them.

Other projects during this period also included 3 manned missions to Alpha Centauri, one of which is a generation ship housing 7,000 people. Colony ships were also sent to different parts of the solar system.

Collapse (2361CE – 2364CE) (See Martian-Terran War of Liberation)
Despite the UNE considering the war to have begun in 2327CE, the first shots fired between the UNE and URM were fired on 26th February 2361CE between the light cruiser UNES Abdullah and the destroyer URMNS Silent Widow, while no casualties were reported, a small naval flotilla numbering seven URMNS destroyers assembled 4,000km from the Lunar Colonies, but were intercepted by the UNE Earth Defence Corps, starting the Battle of the Lunar Marches.

The continued war saw up to hundred naval vessels lost in the opening two weeks of the war and approximately 42,000 casualties. The increasing focus on the war effort strained UNE resources. Domestic issues also arose during the war, since family members of Martians still resided on Earth, however protests would be met by strong crackdowns by the UNE, which was increasingly funded by Free Cities.

Increased resource demands for ships on the Aeorus ring combined with spectacular losses by the UNE Navy allowed the Free Cities to grow even richer and also gave power to these Free Cities. By 2362CE, the Free Cities were effectively in control of the UNE, with Sec. Gen. Kaulima a puppet of the Free Cities.

The Martian-Terran War was primarily fought planeside, due to an overwhelming presence of more advanced and numerous URMN ships. As a result, massive casualties sustained by UNE ground forces, and numerous Sky Cities would be destroyed by URM Marines, causing the deaths of up 41,000,000 civilian deaths and incalculable economic damage to the UNE, whilst reducing the maximum output of the Aeorus Ring.

Conscription of civilians in the UNE occurred towards the later parts of the war. Many civilian factories had switched to the manufacture of military equipment. This led to a substantial decrease in living standards, and encouraged further dissent, which would be met again by crackdowns and imprisonment.

The UNE suffered heavily, all critical infrastructure around Sky Cities destroyed, and the central government under the control of the remaining Sky Cities. As the UNE could no longer offer any meaningful resistance in space, and three remaining organised armies on Earth, the UNE split into two distinct factions, both factions called for an end to the war, but UNE Joint-Command proposed to use ISAAMs against URM forces on Earth and Mars. The Sky Cities, down to the cities of Zalem, Ana and Zeit, approved of the use of ISAAMs against all enemy targets. At 9:46 GMT, 21st December 2364CE, four thousand ISAAMs were launched, with 917 targeting URM forces on Earth, 9 targeting URM on Luna and the remainder launched at Mars directly. URM retaliated with 3,700 ISAAMs, targeting the last Sky Cities, major population centres and all military sites. The last ISAAM to detonate on Earth was at 11:06 GMT of the same day. An estimated 22 billion were killed in the final salvo, and 98% of Mars’s population was killed. 2 of the 3 remaining Sky Cities received direct hits, annihilating them, while Zalem’s point defence weapons and jamming systems prevented any direct hits, though the shockwaves from an ISAAM 200km away levelled New Jericho beneath Zalem.

Most automated systems in the UNE remained active, such as the Aerous Ring, which did not receive any substantial damage.

The Central Government collapsed in the same day, any surviving military groups deserted, the UN Capital of Jing-jin-ji destroyed. Surviving naval vessels and vessels docked at the Aeorus ring fled to the outer regions of the Solar System.

Post-War Existence (2364CE – 2387CE)
Following the collapse of the central government, many regional commanders who survived and retained any military strength loyal to them, quickly tried to establish their own government, claiming to be the UNE. Almost all warlords carved out small nations of their own. However, the most powerful state was still Zalem, which still existed and had the only access to the Aeorus Ring and cache of military weapons. However, three of the largest warlords unified under the still surviving James Kaulima as the UNE Remnant, with the prime objective of securing Zalem and restoring the UNE with Zalem as the capital. This remnant would be soundly defeated by Zalem’s small armoured corps. All of the continents were now connected via land, and that allowed for many of the warlords to expand and conquer each other. Finally resulting in the Xia Governate in Asia, Bundeswehr in Europe and North America under the control of Zalem. However, control would be nominal as much of the land was uninhabited and useless due to the severe lack of water. Finally, in 2387CE, the few UNE loyalists declared that the UNE now officially ceased to exist, citing “lack of personnel, equipment and organisation”.