THE WORLD OF THE SWALLOW WAR
One of the “Big Three” passenger lines, Martian & Beltward Line (M&B) is operates large-scale passenger and cruise ships and is renowned for its high standard of customer service. Traditionally focused on Mars and the Asteroid Belt, the company has taken advantage of the opening of Jupiter and its moons to tourism with the purchase of three long-range Desideratum-class cruise liners
Nuclear fusion is the dominant form of power generation and propulsion in the 22nd century, producing vast amounts of non-polluting energy from astronomically-abundant fuel sources. A series of innovations in the late 21st century, including the discovery of room-temperature superconductivity, paved the way for the creation of the first viable fusion reactor, which in turn led to the flight of the first fusion torch engine spacecraft, the Prometheus, in 2093.
The Red Planet has not lived up to the aspirations of ages past: radiation and the toxic, perchlorate-rich soil make it unattractive for industrial development, while its relatively high gravity and thin atmosphere complicate both take off and landing. Big business has largely avoided Mars in favour of further developing Luna or staking claims in the Asteroid Belt.
The Deployable Operations Group is the World Union for Space Policy’s boarding and orbital landing force. Embarked aboard Space Patrol Service ships, the Deployable Operations Group is formally subordinate to the Patrol, but in practice is a co-equal service. The Deployable Operations Group today numbers 66,000 operators, organised into three divisions, and has earned a reputation for high physical fitness standards, gruelling training, and hard fighting.
The cradle of humanity, Earth is home to twelve billion people as of 2125. Earth has benefited immeasurably from space in the last thirty years. Cheap fusion power has ended reliance on fossil fuels, which only a century ago seemed poised to devastate Earth, while space mining has drastically lowered the price of raw materials on Earth. As a consequence, many states now operate generous programs of universal basic income, freeing most of their citizens from the need to ever work.
The Blackwood-class cutter is one of the most modern ships of the Space Patrol Service. Uncompromisingly designed for missile combat, it is today the Patrol’s most numerous large combatant.
The invention of the fusion torch engine in the late 20th century was perhaps the most important in human history: in 2093, the first fusion torch spacecraft, the Prometheus, flew to Mars in twenty-five days. In the thirty years since, the fusion torch engine has engendered the formation of the World Union for Space Policy, put the resources of the entire Inner Solar System within a month’s travel from Earth, and prompted unprecedent prosperity and peace.
The Space Patrol Service is the security, search and rescue, and law enforcement arm of the World Union for Space Policy. Formed in 2095 as a largely-unarmed policing and customs control service, the Space Patrol Service expanded significantly as commerce and colonisation extended to the Near-Earth Asteroids, Mars, and the Asteroid Belt.
Formed 4.6 billion years ago by the gravitational collapse of an immense cloud of gas and dust, the Solar System consists of eight planets, nine dwarf planets, and millions of asteroids and comets orbiting around the Sun. It has been extensively colonised since the development of viable fusion torch propulsion in 2093 under the aegis of the World Union for Space Policy. While the vast majority of the human population remains concentrated on Earth, as of 2125 extensive colonies have been established on Luna, Mars, and Ceres. The Asteroid Belt has become the economic engine of the Solar System, providing vast amounts of raw materials for the system’s inner planets. Nascent colonies exist on the moons of Jupiter, and Saturn is expected to be colonised in the next five years to support further expansion into the Outer Solar System.
The World Union for Space Policy is the governing body for space in the 22nd century, a political and economic union of Earth’s nation-states that ensures equitable access to the Solar System’s resources.