[Space] 'Space Opera' Setting

[thtraveller]

Originally Posted by Frost

I have just started working again on an idea I have had kicking around for a few years in various forms and thought that I would run the outline past the hive mind to see if you guys can spot any flaws or possible improvements.

Space opera often means that people haven't changed whilst technology has, whereas hard science often means people have changed with the technology - often markedly as with Transhuman Space or Orion's Arm.

The basic idea is to create a 'space opera' setting in the vein of Alistair Reynolds etc by using a small number of relatively closely spaced worlds connected by fast STL ships and without any other form of super science.

Warp ships that can do 0.5C or more is technically super science.

History
The human race acquired an interstellar capability in the later part of the twenty first century, expanding over the course of the next hundred and twenty years to the point where settlements existed within most of the more appealing solar systems within about thirteen light years of earth. By the height of the colonial boom more than a dozen large independent settlements had been established on five more or less habitable worlds.

What was the imperative that drove the colonial expansion? A wealthy Earth, private individuals, existential angst, external factors, something else?

Only a few years after the peak of settlement activity the whole edifice came crashing down as earth found its political and economic establishment paralysed by economic collapse and subsequently global warfare. With the breakdown of the preceding golden age interstellar flight stalled and the settlements found themselves isolated for almost a century.

That is quite a radical and prolonged economic hit to Earth - which is presumably far and away the most populous world. That is unparalleled by a mere depression or even any previous world war. Is the implication global nuclear war?

Is the implication also that starship production and maintenance was centered on Earth? High maintenance drives implies that the engineers were on the ships not the planets. So why would communications between the colonies stop? Why did the ships stop? Also is there no interstellar radio/laser comms?

Also did advances in intelligence augmentation and/or AI fail to deliver improvements and mitigate any breakdown?

Or was the economic collapse somehow brought about by the expansion or intelligence augmentation/AI?

By the time that engineers on (a now somewhat depopulated and impoverished) earth and the closer settled worlds re-established communications in the late twenty third century the colonies had had become established and distinct cultures. In many respects although still relatively limited the larger settlements spared the destruction of the collapse by their remoteness had already begun to eclipse earth as technological, cultural and even economic centres a trend that has continued into the present day (2465).

It seems reasonable that the brightest and best, or alternately that surviving/adaptable types, would be colonists. Though it is possible that some just went low tech. New worlds should be relatively benign on the disease and predator front (as they are extremely unlikely to have native life that are human compatible).

Scope
Human settlement is currently confined to a handful of worlds within less than thirteen light years of Earth. Initially this was determined by the limitations of early interstellar propulsion and settlement technology. Later the extreme difficulty of operating new settlement projects with post collapse population and resource bases had much the same effect although with the upsurge in shipping over the past three to four decades this seems likely to change rapidly.

Resources of space are abundant and easy to get to with fast interstellar capable drives, in both mineral and energy terms, so is the implication that the collapse cut off space which then contributed to the collapse? That seems like an easily reversible fix. So why is it a prolonged problem?

Although for most people the Waste is an unsettling reminder of how hostile the Galaxy is to humanity it still commands a degree of fascination being home in the imagination at least to hidden colonies, alien artefacts and other somewhat unlikely wonders.

Alien artefacts? Do you mean technology or just natural things from alien worlds? Relics of a collapsed alien civilisation might lead to existential angst - which should be good for the space program.

[Frost]

Originally Posted by thtraveller

What was the imperative that drove the colonial expansion? A wealthy Earth, private individuals, existential angst, external factors, something else?

Currently unknown, earlier versions used a combination of idealistic adventurism and comercial opertunism. I am likely to stick with this model if only because it is different, but to be honest I have been more concerned about the present and near future of the setting. A detailed history of the period before the collapse is a project for another time.

Originally Posted by thtraveller

That is quite a radical and prolonged economic hit to Earth - which is presumably far and away the most populous world. That is unparalleled by a mere depression or even any previous world war. Is the implication global nuclear war?

See above, but yes the implication is a combination of Nuclear warfare and the colapse of various environmental management schemes. As for the prolonged nature of the collapse I don't see it as too implausible that a surviving technological civilisation faced with massive and rapid population decline will rapidly find that the bulk of its resources are commited largely to remaining a technological civilisation for generations after the event.

Certainly an upheaval of this sort seems the only way to strip earth of its advantage over the older colonies, something which I found useful when trying to create rapid cultural divergence.

Originally Posted by thtraveller

Is the implication also that starship production and maintenance was centered on Earth? High maintenance drives implies that the engineers were on the ships not the planets.

Production certainly was centered upon earth. Given the nature of the expansion the ships were perhapse unsurprisingly cheap jury rigs requiring extensive refitting after even a single round trip. By and large they arrived back at earth where the refurbishment capacity no longer existed and where they were either mothballed or expended on one way refugee flights.

I may reduce the timelag before shipping restarts, at a low level, after the collapse once the various states have been able to improvise a new refurbishment facilities. But to be honest I don't see it hapening on any timescale short of decades. Trade and new settlement will take even longer to appear because it will take time to regain the resources for substantial building programs.

Originally Posted by thtraveller

Also is there no interstellar radio/laser comms?

In short no, while they are possible they only realy tend to be practical for simple messages of the 'we are here and still alive' variety. Despite the timelag recorded messages carried by ships should win out for anything more complex where bandwidth becomes an issue.

Originally Posted by thtraveller

Alien artefacts? Do you mean technology or just natural things from alien worlds? Relics of a collapsed alien civilisation might lead to existential angst - which should be good for the space program.

Again this is something that I put in as a possible plot hook and have yet to fully develop, given the nature of the waste (and their utility to the setting) the rumors will almost certainly cover manufactured if not specificaly technological objects.