The Engineers Journal
By Synthetic
Prologue: The Jewel of Sol
Sol. The latin word for Sun, and the celestial body of planets that encompass what we've come to known as home. The year is 2045, and humanity has traversed great distances and overcome many significant challenges to reach the state that is in today.
Historians have debated greatly about the events of the past and how humanity came together, of how the beginning of events transpired, and just how the Jewel of Sol came to be united. Today, the world stands united under the banner of the Sol Cooperative, governing as a Federal Republic.
Just as many creative thinkers have predicted the unity of humanity through works of fiction, all it took was a great tragedy and devestation in every form on a massive scale for society to finally put aside their differences and unite under one government. This tragedy would later be known as "The Conflict of Terra", but that is a story for another time.
As it stands currently, Gaia, The Jewel of Sol, or as we know it Earth; lays heavily scarred and largely depleted of valued and much needed resources. Drinkable, naturally occuring fresh water sources have drastically been reduced to a whopping two percent of the worlds water supply; with ocean levels having been significantly raised in areas where bodies of land occupied, and drastically lowered in areas known to be part of the ocean.
The ozone layer has been irreperably damaged and parts of the world have been exposed to extremely high temperatures and turned once lush environments uninhabitable and ill-suited for human life. Ultimately caused by Climate Change, but not in a way anyone expected. It wasn't emissions that did it, but rather the weapons used during the conflict that accelerated the damage to the Earth's ecosystem and unfortunately, the ozone layer.
With the sea rising and flooding once beautiful coastal regions and islands, and entire regions being rendered unlivable by the sun's deadly gaze; new cities and technologies would have to be created in order to sustain human life. Once eight billion strong, now the human population ranges at an approximation of two billion people left surviving.
Specially engineered cities, meticously designed by a large team of architects and specialists, would be built in places deemed ideal for human life. Integrated, closed ecosystems would dot these city scapes with careful control of waste, and close monitoring of recycling and damage. In some of the more politically chaotic regions, security and law enforcement were a lot tighter; to perserve what vegetation and animal life remained - and to prevent further loss of valued resources.
In order to combat crime, a new justice system was implemented; a system the Cooperative would call the "Societal Reform and Rehabilitation Program"; or "SRRP" for short. To prevent further loss of life, and the long process of repairing the damage sustained to Earth and the environment, a government funded rehabilitation program was invented. The idea was simple, but effective; under guard, criminals with good behavior would be selected for the program and sent to an educational institute where they learned trade skills best suited for the individuals.
This program also was later expanded to include those who were unemployed or impoverished; in exchange for contracted service, what some who opposed the program called "a new form of indentured servitude", they would have all basic needs provided for by the government and they would gain valuable skills and experience in a trade that could guarentee employment.
With a new surge in skilled labour, endeavors to journey deep into space marked the beginning of humanity's second great space race; which would spark the development of new and more sophisticated technologies regarding space flight and artificial intelligence.
The year is 2045, humanity has not yet discovered a way to travel faster than light, or a means to travel great distances in short periods of time. Humanity is united, and the golden age has just begun.