Ecology: Earth’s atmosphere is a nitrogen-oxygen blend. The planet’s surface is almost 75% salt water, divided into four main oceans. At the poles, the ocean is frozen into icecaps. Seven continents are present, each exhibiting a wide variety of ecosystems. Earth’s main resources are its mineral reserves and its wide variety of biological materials. High technology, agriculture, and finance are the planet’s main industries. People: Earth is home to the Terran race. However, Terrans are nearly 97% identical to Taurians, and some scholars speculate that Terrans are perhaps not native to Earth at all. Terrans breathe oxygen and are omnivores. The average Terran stands just under 2m high and can lift roughly 55 kg. Terrans display a number of skin, hair, and eye tones and speak an extremely large variety of languages.
Unfortunately, the technological boom took its toll on Earth’s environment, and pollution was widespread after 1980. In December 2012, Earth experienced the meltdown of four central Asian nuclear facilities, two oilspills, the largest volcanic explosion ever recorded, and three disastrous earthquakes. Almost 500,000,000 Terrans perished by the following summer. The nations of earth, no longer able to handle the widespread destruction, finally began overtures to a world government with the Global Resource and Environmental Treaties of 2013. In 2014, the more powerful nations signed Free Trade Agreements and formally began cleanup efforts. Earth formally established a global government in 2045, the same year that the cleanup was deemed to be largely completed. The funds allocated to the massive project were redirected to development of space resources and clean energy. In
2071, Earth began the colonization of its satellite, Luna,
and founded the city of Tranquility.
The city became the site of a concerted attempt at faster-than-light
travel between 2079 and 2095, when the first hyperdrive was successfully
tested. Interstellar travel became a reality, and in 2138, a Terran
research group orbiting Phylus was contacted
by a similar starship sent from Leptax.
The first contact with a second intelligent spacefaring race immediately
caused widespread panic and a series of large “Alien
Riots”.
Earth began formal colonization of Mars in 2152. By this point, cooperation with Leptax had become commonplace, and a team of Leptaxians began experimental terraforming techniques on Mars. The discovery of several other intelligent races led to the Solar Alliance of 2174. Earth was visited by a delegation of the Tauria-Crylix Alliance in 2198, and a half-century of allied cooperation resulted in the move to establish the Interstellar Organization of United Imperial Worlds in 2264, and its formal introduction in 2277. Today,
the Imperial center of government is located along the Atlantic coast
of North America, an area of vast industrial capabilities well-suited
to the demands of Interstellar government. The Parliament
of Planets is located on Manhattan Island in an attachment to the
old United Nations Building,
now a museum. The Executive mansion is the former home of a 21st
Century industrialist near Philadelphia. The Imperial
High Court of Justice is in the old United
States Capitol Building. Earth is home to the Ministry of
Defense, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Transportation, Ministry of
Intelligence, and Ministry of State.
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Civilization:
Ancient Terran societies were primarily organized around powerful rulers
and their states. The rise of religion as a political power between
the 6th and 10th centuries supported this trend to a large degree, and
monarchies remained very powerful until the beginning of the 20th century.
Following the first global war of 1914-1918, Earth experienced a tide
of revolutions and an overwhelming amount of scientific development.
Although this was briefly interrupted by the second global war of 1939-1945,
the democratic states and their scientific research began to flourish.
Space travel on a productive scale began in 1969.
