Restof Inspired me to type up ideas for an original universe. It's something I've been thinking about and evolving over time and some of it has been written years ago. Don't worry I edited it all so everyhing makes sense:
3 ideas...
Idea 1:
Distance causes problems. As a civilization expands, the time it takes information and capital to reach the outer edges increases. When the planet Earth was nearing the second millennium, technology all but solved the issues caused by distance. Air travel and wireless communication brought humanity closer than ever. Progress was fast and the next level of expansion was inevitable, expansion into space.
Colonies appeared in the obvious locations: the Earth's moon, Mars, various moons around Jupiter and Saturn. Humanity stayed comfortably within the solar boundary until more advanced terraforming methods were developed and more efficient material harvesting. With the artificial mutation of plants to be able to inhabit near intolerable conditions, less dependency was on the surface of planets and more placed on large integrated networks of floating spacecraft. These floating colonies grew less and less dependent on their distance from life giving planets and the sun itself. Colonies started to separate themselves in culture, dialect and national identity. This is all before the next level of human expansion took place.
Some colonies closely studied the orbit of nearby star systems. They saw opportunities to intercept these star systems, opportunities which would only be possible between thousands or even millions of years. The nearby planets and other celestial objects, were studied for material content, and environment factors at long range. They found new resources, free of synthetic pollutants and best of all it didn't need to be shared. Eventually, some colonies felt confident enough to take the leap and begin the journey to entire new star systems. These journeys, made with future generations in mind, would take hundreds of years. Though there were tragedies, many were successful.
Those that made the journeys found themselves in the midst of a terraformed paradise. They traveled to many different star systems, mostly [/url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nearest_stars]determined by distance[/url]
This form of expansion left the once peoples of Earth isolated: delayed radio communication, no exchange of material goods and political separation. The wall of distance caused the exchange of ideas between these societies to dwindle as they became culturally separate. Over the next thousand years, the 'root' colonies which made the initial journeys to these new star systems spawned their own unique race of humans. Each race expanded further into their own star system and beyond, continuing their slow and sure cultural divide. From this point, history splits between the root colonies...
..Many years later the discovery of subspace was made on Earth, a radical invention which allowed ships to be able to travel between star systems is mere moments. An invention which would spread culture shock and so much more throughout the human inhabited galaxy.
Idea 2:
Near the middle 21st century, the democratic world became such a large portion of the entire world that the state global conflict changed its form. World struggle began to shift from State superpowers to rogue threats; independent guerilla factions that terrorized otherwise peaceful nations to gain power became a growing concern to international security. General belief in a more internationally recognized police force gained more support over time. Given economic incentives, the established state powers began to slowly filter their large military budget into the growing United Nations. The weak and under-funded humanitarian mission assumed the greater role of global peacekeeping.
The power trend continued until the United States under contract with the Japanese space program launched a weaponized satellite to further control the guerilla threat. The new weapon could target any point on the planet within 3 hours, an amazing tool in a world where rogue factions could strike and spread anywhere. Many advocates against the device argued that it was a threat to global security and should be immediately turned over to the United Nations. The American government argued that it was built to protect its citizens and interests abroad in the face of a sudden threat. In the early 22nd century, China also launched a weaponized satellite of its own to offset the American made power gap. Competition grew and attention begin to wane from the terrorizing factions. The old days of state to state cold wars began to come back into play ironically not in a struggle for power, but out of fear from others' preemptive attacks.
The United Nations formed a program of its own for an epistratispherical force that would provide complete control over the planet. For idealists, it seemed like the only way to avoid another arms race between individual countries. A space race of a different kind had begun, only this time, the goal was not to peer into the distance. It was to provide global stability and peace on the planet itself.
What started as a program to launch a satellite had become a real world necessity. Many reporters called it “The Global Defense Program”, a name which eventually stuck. With the technology of the time, building such weapons turned out to be much less costly than initially projected, with more efficient rocket thrust and staging techniques. The orbital weapons had not even been field tested before they received praise as the ultimate peace keepers. A larger and larger portion of the UN’s large military budget was granted to the program. Amazingly enough, the GDP became the largest grossing military organization in history without firing a single shot.
The program did have noticeable effects though, it proved to be a deterrent to rogue establishment and, as a result, made police operations of these factions much easier. The program was carefully distributed internationally and provided unification for all the participating governments. Military intelligence was being openly shared between the nations and the free world began to truly erase their organizational boundaries. The collective governmental intelligence agencies gradually became motivated to fight the rogue factions as a whole.
The weaponized satellites grew larger, eventually harboring crews of their own to manage the many complex systems and facilitate the processing of intelligence data. Space flights steadily became as routine as airplane travel. Most tanks, and other mechanized ground units became decommissioned and newer jets were converted with the option of orbital travel and eventually, docking with the continually enlarging space satellites. Eventually, what was now called the Orbital Fortress became large enough to see from the Earth’s surface with the naked eye.
Rogue entities were enclosed within a global checkmate. Their options limited to stealth and subversion. The ladder of the two options quickly became their preferred tactic....
...A briefcase lay conspicuously on the table in front of the Warlord Colonel. A young gentleman sat across from him wearing a long coat, the lighting in the area made it hard to see his face.
“I am here to impress upon you the importance of the decision you will be making today.”
The young man routinely stood out of his chair and unhooked the latch which held the briefcase shut. The new main light source in the room became what was inside. Three dimensional images filled the air above the briefcase. A fast moving streaks of light came down on the illustrated surface and quickly turned the entire scene into what appeared to be smoke and dust. Images of weapon designs never before seen by the common eye to be sure. The young man sat down making a gesture with his arms.
“What you see here Colonel is the future of war”
The old militia Colonel didn’t know what to make of it. The scale of these weapons were much larger than any man made thing he had ever seen. The technology seemed impossible.
“For now you need only understand their projected capabilities. They can reach any surface point on earth within a matter of hours, and once within range they can establish complete control of a wide area within minutes.”
“And how do I know this is not just some radical conspiracy theory?”
Though hard to see past the cone of light, the young man across the table made a visible smile. “I am now very close to you and you hardly know me. Do you think that was by chance? It is a skill I have acquired and, despite my young age, I have been in practice for quite awhile.” The young man raised his face over the holographic light to increase the believability of what he was about to say next.
“This information is directly from The United Confederacy’s confidential development log. This is their aggressive leap for a coup de main. If they complete this project, your struggle is over.”
“And if what you say is the truth, what am I to do? You and I both know I don’t have the resources to take over their defense operations.”
The young man nearly laughed at how ironic the colonel’s words were. “If you play your assets properly, I think you will be amazed at what my methods can accomplish.”
The colonel started feeling uneasy, ”and what exactly do you propose that I do?”
“Simply that you become the defense project”
Without further explanation the colonel knew what he meant. It was a bold move, but success could mean domination of the entire world. So convinced by the young man’s proposal, the Colonel quickly began taking steps toward forming a militia of infiltrators.
Idea 3:
Idea 3 sort of appeals to chaos, I'm trying to think of ways where the reader could get their sense of reality shaken.
In the near future (100 yearsish), Human society discovers wormholes quite quickly and begins to travel through them. They seem innocent enough at first, but after prolonged use, astronauts, and their equipment are beginning to demonstrate strange properties. Alternate realities meld together and characters get trapped in dimensions for unexplained ammounts of time; basically chaos.
Then there's always...
Space CAT!
A 1950s style horror flick set in the Freespace universe. The main character slowly descends into madness over long patrols in isolation, eventually leading to a climax where he must psychologically face off against the the arch rival of all his thoughts: Space Cat! A Sathanas class ship that meows like a cat, jumping in and out of the main character's psyche... Meooowww....*poof* Can the main character prevail over his daemons, wake up and win over the love of his life Alpha 2?
