Politics

Puppet "freedom"

It is a time of racial tension between humans and puppets. While there is a calm in the all out hostility that plagued the middle of the 21st century, problems still exist despite the appearance of solidarity that surrounds the unification of human and puppet science in the form of the Galaxy Scout project.

In the mid-21st century, tensions were at their highest. In 2048, puppet rights activist Michael Finn was assassinated during a speech in San Francisco focused on the importance of voting for puppet independence. It is widely accepted that this event swung the popular opinion from what was a 45/65 split against to a 80/20 split in favor. Thus, in 2050, after much more campaigning and hard won political battles, puppets around the globe were given the right to form Independent Puppet Nations, much like the Native American Nations in North America.

While these independent puppets immediately dove into education and technology it took nearly ten years to form the United Puppet Nations as an advisory council made up of representatives from all of the IPNs. It was the UPN that was eventually able to coordinate the Puppet Tech markets from all of the various IPNs to coordinate scientific efforts that capitalized on the technology known as the F.E.L.T Drive.

In 2074, when the GSC Charter sparked riots in New York, two Mars Shuttles were sabotaged and left adrift. Shortly after that, the Lunar Base was also sabotaged in a terrorist attack that left many preeminent scientists (human and puppet) dead. The shock and horror of these two tragedies brought hostilities to a standstill, and afforded Galaxy Scout Command the opportunity to found Galaxy Scout Academy to begin training the astronauts who would eventually pioneer space exploration for both human and puppetkind.

By 2080, technology had advanced to the point where humans and puppets were both invested enough in the GSC project that the keel of the first starship was laid. The IPV Bunraku launched two years later under the command of Captain Dean Nichols. The IPV Endeavor launched a little over a year later under the command of Captain Gillian Frye. And barely a year after that, the IPV Intrepid was launched under the command of Captain William Taggart Finn, son of Michael Finn. During the shakedown cruise of the Intrepid, an on-board explosion took the life of several puppet crewmen, including NavCom officer Billy Rigg, and caused the Intrepid to be drydocked for repairs. In early 2085, the Intrepid was prepared for re-launch, which is where we find ourselves as our story begins…

Political Changes between Now and Then

• Tibet is free, and is the center of Puppet religion that is an offshoot of Buddhism.
• The EU has expanded to include a good portion of Africa. Now it's the EAU.
• The Americas have united into the North and South American Union NASAU.
• Mediterranean Independent Liberated Federation includes the Middle East, Turkey, Crete, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Madagascar - MILF broke off from the Asian Economic Syndicate when its currency collapsed.
• Australia hasn't changed one bit.