My friend and I bought french fries at lunch. We put them in the same container and shared them. This is true communism, it's over the class war has been won.
Here's my WIP app, to give you an idea of what you're going to get from me.
Faction Name: People's Republic of the Belt (PRB, Communist Belt, The Republic)
Faction Government: The People's Republic of the Belt is led by the Belter Communist Party, and functions as a single-party oligarchy. The official head of state is the President, but total power is granted to the People's Senate. Representatives in the People's Senate are elected by representatives in Regional Councils, which are elected by representatives in Local Councils. The President is elected by the People's Senate. Generally, representatives in the People's Senate are rich industrialists and bribe the Regional Councils to keep themselves in power. The President, meanwhile, functions as nothing more than a mouthpiece for the People's Senate. Though the PRB is officially a Socialist State, there are few restrictions on the power of corporations and labor laws are practically nonexistent.
Territory/Claims: The People's Republic of the Belt claims a large portion (Approx. 10% total territory) of the inhabited Asteroid Belt, with its capital on Ceres. Its few core bodies are heavily populated metropolises, but as one moves further away from Ceres the populations get sparser and sparser until there are only small mining outposts. Most of the heavier populated asteroids rely on imports of ice for water and oxygen, while specifically designated "breadbasket" asteroids and stations maintain artificial ecosystems to keep atmospheric equilibrium.
Ceres is the largest and heaviest populated body in the PRB, and its city of Saltsgaver which serves as the capital of the Republic is the largest city in the nation. Interestingly, most of the more densely populated bodies are inhabited by lower class workers while the middle class can be found in the much smaller, post-industrial cities that act as the capitals of "breadbasket" farming asteroids such as Elon (one of the oldest hollow asteroid colonies) and Sydney.
Culture: The People's Republic inherited much of American culture, as the original colonies were founded by the American SpaceX corporation. Colonists were restricted to those deemed "Pure Americans" out of a belief of American supremacy-the idea being that the American dream and spirit would drive the colonies to success. Despite the revolution including a fairly large number of Chinese colonies, over the years the sheer number of American descendants cemented it as the clearly dominant culture.
However, the early attempts of the Republic to distance itself from Earth are clear. Solresol-a constructed language considered alien enough by the founder to show favor to neither Chinese nor English-is taught in schools, printed on all products, and used at official government functions. It's simplified script-seven colors used to represent the conventional musical notes upon which the language is based-is considered an easy bridge between the minority Chinese and majority English speakers. Exported products usually have it printed on them as well, making the simple color-based script representative of the nation as a whole.
Furthermore, traditional communist iconography can be found throughout the nation including some "Saltsgaverist" symbolism. Aside from the requisite red, hammers, and sickles of any degenerated socialist nation, many older buildings are constructed around Saltsgaver's personal philosophy. The Council chamber, for example, is a zero-g chamber without any area for representatives to sit or stand. As such, they simply float in the chamber without any sense of up or down-making it impossible to consider anyone "above" or "below" anyone else. Furthermore, the Ansbach Auditorium on Ceres has a central stage placed well below all of the seating. The auditorium was used by the early Presidents of the Republic for addresses, the idea being that it showed the President as below or inferior to the people-making them out to be a servant rather than a ruler. The fact that no official has used it in a century is used as a sign of the Republic's decay.
Other traditional "Saltsgaverist" iconography include various works of art that curiously represent Biblical events, a remnant of the highly devout rule of President Saltsgaver. In the capital building's lobby there is a painting depicting Simon of Cyrene carrying the cross, and in Ceres Spaceport there is a massive mural of Saint Cristopher carrying the child Jesus across a river. Saltsgaver was a Christian Socialist who believed that communism was ultimately the will of God, and it shows. Though in modern times religion has completely disappeared from the middle and upper classes, Christianity is still widely popular among the lower classes (which, of course, makes it seen as a fool's belief by the better-off). It is, however, heavily influence by Saltsgaver's own beliefs and lacks essentially all of the once controversial beliefs that created early 21st century social struggle. Any modern Belter priest will happily tell you about the overturning of the moneylending tables, but he will most definitely refer to any passage calling for the stoning of homosexuals or wives that talk back as "bourgeoisie and blueblood propaganda meant to divide the working class".
Though the actual ideals of communism are rejected by the middle and upper classes, they are still very much alive in the lower classes. All that keeps them in line is the good living standard relative to other lower classes offered by the Republic, as well as the remaining empty promises of a future utopia made by politicians who themselves own the very corporations they speak against.
History: The Republic began as a series of American colonies founded by the SpaceX corporation, and were originally restricted only to American citizens due to a belief in American supremacy that was highly prevalent at the time. SpaceX's asteroid colonies were championed alongside Mars as proof of the nation's greatness, and as a result extensive government funds went to the corporation to boost their colonization efforts.
In the colonies, however, nobody could see the benefit. Most colonists were poor Americans who had been promised good work and good pay in the asteroid belt, as opposed to the technical professionals that had made up the early Martian colonies. Instead, they were met with lackluster safety regulations that characterized corporate space exploration. While mining asteroids, incorrectly calculated ordinance and weak construction led to many incidences of lethal decompression.
It was common for early colonies to run short on essential supplies, and in the case of one of the smallest colonies the population almost suffocated before an oxygen tanker reached them. Habitation remained a major problem, with artificial gravity being impossible on the surface of an asteroid and most colonists being unable to afford trips to rotating space stations for therapy. As it became clear that none of the colonists could ever return to Earth, SpaceX found it harder and harder to keep its colonies in line.
To solve this problem, Elon Musk himself brought in Nicholas Saltsgaver-a genius engineer on SpaceX's payroll-to devise a cost-effective way to placate the colonists. In return, he promised him anything so long as his plan worked. His solution was to hollow out Ceres and create an artificial environment within it, then set it spinning and steadily increase the speed to allow the colonists to re-acclimate to Earth's gravity to give them the illusion of being able to return.
It was not exactly cost effective, but Saltsgaver and his team assured Musk that it was thee only way to placate the colonies. Such a large investment would be a sign of the company's dedication to its people, and of course it would make a great location for an elite administrative and scientific population once fully completed. To facilitate the hollowing of Ceres, the US government provided nuclear weaponry to the company. It had, after all, been mining the asteroid belt. Had he wanted to, Elon Musk could have bought the entire Senate.
Saltsgaver was placed in control of the project, and after years of work SpaceX revealed the Ceres colony. With Saltsgaver appointed as governor, he and his personally-selected team began to screen applicants. Contrary to what he had proposed to Musk, the majority of those who were given property on Ceres were miners from other colonies. The select few well-educated people that came in did so not because they applied, but because Saltsgaver offered them various positions. In the first few years of the establishment of the Ceres colony, the first Belter university was founded. To "encourage the development of further officials and scientists for the company" it didn't require tuition, only five years of employment in SpaceX. As such, it functioned more like a military academy than a traditional university.
The Ceres colony grew to become the SpaceX capital in the Belt, and soon boasted its own industries for the processing of the ore mined in other colonies. Factories began to spring up on the surface of Ceres rather than in the interior, allowing for microgravity manufacturing of various products using resources mined and processed nearby. This was the first time any product bought on Earth was made entirely in space, marking a new era in manufacturing.
As the governor of Ceres, Saltsgaver made a killing on trade and manufacturing. The vast personal wealth he amassed he used to steadily gain more influence within the company, attempting to gain control over the rest of the belt colonies. Every colony he gained control of, he put extensive effort into industrializing. When the company refused to, he personally paid to send any colonist who requested to Ceres for higher education. He quickly became the face of the benevolent megacorp and the "bootstrapper" on Earth.
With the image of a philanthropist supporting him, he founded an independent business on Ceres itself. Using the extensive engineering base found in the educated on the dwarf planet, he had a shipyard station designed and constructed in orbit of Ceres connected to it using a space elevator. In a surprising move, no experts from Earth were brought in to work in or supervise the shipyard. Saltsgaver gave up the shares entirely to the workers, with the sole condition that they put any orders placed by him at top priority. And so, the Ceres Naval Syndicate was formed.
SpaceX wasn't happy. Saltsgaver had not only become a competitor in shipbuilding, he had a distinct advantage over the corporation's expensive need to launch vessels from Earth. Even worse, he didn't even have a stake in the business. It was run by its workers alone, meaning that SpaceX was incapable of siphoning it's income through Saltsgaver (early colonial industry run by individual businessmen under SpaceX employ was made to be profitable to the company through the pseudo-taxing of individual incomes). As a result, SpaceX began to become hostile to Saltsgaver.
Behind the scenes, Musk and Saltsgaver were at each other's necks. Musk knew that Saltsgaver stood to surpass him in not only fame but corporate influence, and Saltsgaver knew that Musk could have him thrown out an airlock if he wanted to. After many years, SpaceX made a private statement to Saltsgaver: all imports of food and water to the asteroid colonies would be subject to tax at the time of import and the time of sale. Furthermore, all imports had to be carried on SpaceX vessels.
This led directly to two events. First was the Battle of Ceres Port, wherein a crew of a dozen smugglers bringing in food from the Chinese colonies was massacred by SpaceX security personnel at Ceres Port. An additional sixteen colonists were also killed in the struggle when they tried to act as a shield for the smugglers, whom were their only source for affordable food. Second was the Ceresian Nuclear Crisis caused by the detonation of a nuclear mining charge by a merchant ship under the personal employ of Saltsgaver, which led to fears of a nuclear-armed Belter state. Comparisons suddenly started to pop up between the modern belt and the Thirteen Colonies.
A few months later, the true purpose of the nuclear charge was revealed. Saltsgaver declared the construction of a second hollow asteroid colony at Blair's Asteroid (named by a SpaceX survey team, formerly known by a catalog number). The news of this shocking announcement covered up the fact that the Ceres Naval Syndicate had expanded with ten more berths and taken on a former USN captain and multiple USN engineers to assist its design team. After years of construction, the new Blair Colony was officially founded. And Saltsgaver personally requested for farmers displaced from their land by corporations on Earth in Africa and Asia to come, promising he would pay for their transit and allow them to keep their profession.
That raised tensions more than even the nuclear crisis.
Soon afterwards, the Belt colonies had their first major harvest. A farming industry that sprung up almost overnight on Blair now fed the Belt. SpaceX was furious, and began to make open threats to remove Saltsgaver. He had lost most of his former allies in the corporation, and him being flat-out fired and his assets seized by Musk was a very real possibility. Rather than try to placate them, he requested that the Ceres Naval Syndicate design and construct a brand-new fleet of "mining vessels". The supposed idea behind these ships was that they would use lasers to break chunks off of asteroids, then use drones to pick up those chunks and bring them into a central bay for storage and/or processing.
Anyone with access to the highly confidential plans, however, would know well that they were exactly what many suspected them to be. Space warships. Though SpaceX had no true basis to shut down the project, they did demand that the mining colonies of the belt allow them to station PMC garrisons in fear of a coming strike (Saltsgaver had always been soft on unions, which had originally been an integral part of his "Good Businessman" image). Some accepted, some refused, and what would soon become battles lines were drawn. In the year 2121, SpaceX requested to station a garrison in the small colony of Mat-5231-14. It refused, which led instead to a small collection of SpaceeX "representatives" forcibly evicting suspected union sympathizers.
It's Sheriff, Sydney McCoy, brought the SpaceX representatives to the mayor and stated that she believed their warrant to be false. Though it is no longer known if the warrant was fabricated, the mayor took a single look at it and declared it to be bogus. A shootout ensued and the SpaceX representatives were killed. In response, the corporation deployed a force to the colony. A merchant vessel affiliated with it rammed the interplanetary transport delivering the troops, killing an estimated three hundred mercenaries. From that point on, the Mat-5231-14 was considered in open revolt.
The miners seized an intra-belt passenger ship and took guns from the Sherrif's armory with them, alongside re-purposed mining drills and anything else they could find and use as a weapon. Various other mining colonies declared independence at the same time, and soon a makeshift armada of union-commandeered vessels approached Blair's Asteroid. The Port Authority security forces let them in to dock and promptly detained all SpaceX vessels at the colony. A battle ensued between the miners and the colony's mercenary garrison, at which point the US Government intervened.
Army forces stationed on the asteroid were mobilized against the miners, but the tenacity and numbers were too much for even the Army to overcome. Seeing an opportunity to end not only the small rebellion but also any hopes of Belter self-sufficiency, Musk successfully petitioned the American government to send one of their three heavy warships to nuke Blair's Asteroid.
Saltsgaver had the colonial-owned "mining ships" diverted to intercept the American vessel, and one of the earliest examples of a modern space battle ensued. The heavily-armored designs of the ships on both sides made for a long and drawn-out laser exchange. As one observing reporter on the Belter side reported, it was "Like the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimack". The American vessel (The USS Liberty Bell) was greatly outnumbered by the three Belter ships that intercepted her (The Leslie Fish, the John Henry, and the General Anspach) and soon met its defeat.
At this point, Saltsgaver declared the SpaceX Belt Colonies to be in open rebellion against the corporation and the United States of America, and promised that if the war of independence was won then he would completely relinquish control of his businesses to the workers and create a democratic government in the Belt. SpaceX suddenly realized what they were looking at. This wasn't a rouge businessman, this was a socialist revolution that had been in the works for years.
The war was long, lasting for a total of eight years of struggle. After only the first year, however, corporate and government forces had been driven from the ground of the Belt. For seven years, the only fighting was in space. Even once the American Star Navy had been defeated, however, SpaceX refused to relinquish their claim to the asteroid belt and attempted to call in Chinese corporations and their government with the promise of land. His last ditch effort failed when the warship Molly MacGuire parked itself in geostationary orbit above Washington D.C. and threatened to hit America with one of the nuclear charges used to hollow Blair's Asteroid. SpaceX was forced by the American government to relinquish control over the Asteroid Belt, and after a month of debate they finally accepted.
In the aftermath of the Belter Revolution, SpaceX lost credibility with the American public. Their stubborness to surrender even with a warship in orbit threatening a nuclear holocaust caused mass boycotts and protests in America and in their colonies. The company would eventually go under and be denied any Federal funding, ending its existence and ruining the once-powerful Elon Musk. He died some time afterwards, in what appeared to be a suicide.
[More comes later, I have an essay to write]
Technology: An overview of the faction’s technological capabilities. Keep in mind the general scale I outlined. If there are any questions, PM me.
Military: Just your military capabilities. You can include equipment descriptions if you want to, but don't try to sneak by a Wave Motion Gun or something.
I'm hiking down to the Amazon to harvest cacao beans by sneaking into corporate farms, then bringing them back here to make into chocolate (using shoplifted ingredients of course) using a stove I built myself. Because I'm basically a lifestylist.
@Arkaquiavel Actually, if North Korea tried anything of major importance China would probably blitz them and just set up another opressive puppet government in the region. China wants a buffer state, not the whole peninsula. During the big showdown where it looked like the cease-fire might be broken last year, China stationed mobile forces on their border with North Korea in what appeared to be preparation for an attack. For all we know, that might have been enough to make them stand down. It really boils down to whether or not China wants to deal with beating back American attacks, occupying a heavily populated and vehemently independent South Korea, and risking the possibility of the total destruction of Earth's entire biosphere.
I'm gonna actually be serious here: I really don't think there's an explanation beyond the one I already gave earlier. It's all connected to the recession's impact on culture, and the seemingly ever-approaching threat of a full-on cyberpunk dystopia.
I'm a weeaboo communist. Are you surprised?
EDIT: You probably are now, but I'm not going to tell you why you wouldn't have been like two years ago. You get to agonize over that yourself.
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;">I'm a weeaboo communist. Are you surprised?<br><br>EDIT: You probably are now, but I'm not going to tell you why you wouldn't have been like two years ago. You get to agonize over that yourself.</div>
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