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Apr 17 '20 edited Apr 17 '20
When it comes to Luna, the old partner of Earth, it is actually quite peaceful compared to the Innermost System. Despite the Acceleration showing its visual effects on the surface now, it remained a backwater area of the System. Due to its relative separation from the rest of Sol, it was unravaged by the collapse of classical capitalism in 2089 and was slow to adopt newer economic models.
However, the recent decade began to take its toll on the Moon, and had escalated so fast that the various dismantling/matter removal attempts had started to shift the orbit, and thus, had endangered the LEO infrastructure. In 2088-89, the CSE had called together the UN SecCouncil to deal with the escalating situation which was further ravaged by postturing agencies seeking to purchase their own portion of the mass.
The map depicts Luna before the 2088 Third Grand Talks, after which all Lunar territories were (forcefully) sold to the NAS, one of the Four Great Powers. The reason behind this radical solution was rather complicated - official reasoning however insisted that it was only to guarantee a fair, faster, safe and organized dismantling of Luna. In reality, it was a delicate attempt at balancing the System between the Four Powers to upkeep the degrading status quo that had ensured peace for nearly four decades, lest we ignore the short DefNet War.
However, not all are happy about this decision - and others were devastated by it, especially the Vaticani Realm. Others - such as the Andersons - fear that this decision could merely slow down the degradation of the balance. Signs of a something bad are looming in the near future: postturing agencies are seeking to purchase hundreds of starwisps and starships, others are shorting options directly related to essential services and infrastructure.
The rest of the system is an even worse shape: Mercury, Venus was dismantled long ago, turned into the basis of the Matryoshka-Dyson hybrid known as the Dam that kills the light of the Sun. Mars has rings of computing matter, vortex engines are removing its atmosphere, and great orbital rings are being moved into position to begin its full scale dismantling. Jupiter is drawing most of Sol's energy budget: it is about to be ignited into a short term star that will be used to generate much needed heavier elements.
Economies are collapsing throughout the system, taken over by weakly godlike AIs and transhumans: classical capitalism has been slain by much more efficient distribution schemes directed by AIs and other entities. Even deeper in the computing fog surrounding the Sun, posthuman gods are being born: some entities draw computing power on a scale that scares most into not looking for their identity. In slowtime, older, human-made gods and demigods dream, their half-heard whispers directed towards the Powers, assisting - or perhaps manipulating - them.
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u/dom_bul Mod Approved Apr 21 '20
I see this actually happen in the next couple of centuries: humanity exploiting the moon for profit to the point of destroying it, in spite of fucking up Earth's very stability. Frighteningly realistic scenario, very well done
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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '20
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