Lore

SSRP's lore takes place in the 22nd century, following the fresh advent of FTL travel.

Awakened by a polluted world and news of technology capable of reaching the stars in very short time sparked the founding of the Final Frontier Project, an effort commissioned by the world's United Nations and hosted by its spacefaring military branch, the Sol Defense Corps. The Project's goal is to find, document, research, and colonize any new worlds that can prove habitable for new human life. The SDCN Emissary is the current flagship of the project, part of the SDC Navy's Odysseus Fleet, and a pioneer of new designs, new technology, and, most importantly, new horizons.

The Emissary

With the registry of HCR-146, the SDCN Emissary is an exploration heavy cruiser commissioned in 2112 meant to service the latest interests of the Final Frontier Project. Armed with significant battery, sensory and science equipment, and long-term amenities, the Emissary adopts a luxurious design different from the stark, industrial look found on most other SDC vessels. Research had proven that investing extra resources into increasing the aesthetics of the ship leads to higher morale and comfort when staying in the ship, a feat important for its long-term missions.

Every two years, the Emissary docks at SDCSS Charon, the ship's port of call, where a thirty-day turnaround process is made (lengthened to 3 months for construction refits) and crews are exchanged. Due to logistical, legal, and ethical issues, crews are entirely replaced upon each docking. It is here, too, that several retrofits and upgrades are made to the ship to better serve the next complement of crew.

The World

Earth is functional as a planet, with overpopulation and resource shortages outpaced by new advents in farming and mineral imports from space. Several large economic blocs have formed and reinforced themselves within the planet to cope with the changing economic and political environment offered by the planet.

Middle East

Following a war involving the dropping of a nuclear weapon, a majority of the Middle East is undergoing a massive cleanup effort to scrub high doses of lethal radiation baking the desert landscape and rendering much of the area around impact uninhabitable. In the wake of this, numerous nations in the Middle East and Arabian Peninsula had formed a bloc to assist themselves in recovering from the war and helping in cleanup efforts, called the Arabian Cooperative.

Africa

Africa, with the exception of the DRC, CAR, Western Sahara, and Somalia, had united into a bloc of its own - the African Union, a more coherent and unified successor to the preceding union of the same name, quickly became a global power, its massive pool of resources and people contributing majorly to the global markets and accelerating many African nations to higher GDPs and boosted economies.

Poverty, however, remains rampant - the West's forceful introduction of capitalistic and libertarian ideals into the Union had shocked the native cultures resulting in wealth gaps between traditionalists and pioneers. The United Nations had adopted a massive program to attempt to preserve the damaged African cultures and keep the continent's rich history.

Asia

The previously diplomatic ASEAN had eventually grown to welcome China, Japan, Korea, and several other nations into its forces. Resistance to change and a sedate bureaucracy had led for the official acronym of ASEAN to remain unchanged, despite the notion that it was obviously inaccurate. The name had instead been changed to the Association of East Asian Nations, incorporating the S of ASEAN into Association.

Korea had, after decades of peace talks and convenient plots to adopt Western ideals into the North, united itself into one body, befalling the DMZ and ridding the Korean peninsula of militaristic conflict. The North, however, continues to remain culturally segregated from the South, with legacy ideals and beliefs sharply contrasting each other. Integration programs have proven slow, and critics say that the two nations should be split into separate regions if not separate countries.

China had fought a cold war with the US in 2025 following rising economic tensions sparked by events in the 2020s. Neither side emerged particularly victorious in establishing supremacy, instead only serving to raise the military budget of both countries even higher, perhaps even past the tipping point.

Americas

The United States remains a global superpower, a title however now contested by the European Union and ASEAN as the trio of nations constantly exchange military contractors and companies in cold wars of superiority. While the nation has refused to join or form any political blocs with its neighboring states, the US continues to prosper in an economy built upon the shoulders of giants. American innovation, however, has been struggling to keep up with newly-revitalized minds and technologies coming from the other two nations of the global trio.

Europe

The newly-united European Union, with the United Kingdom as an honorary member, formed a military and economic superpower with its combined strength to eventually join as a major participant in the United Nations' own projects and whims. Despite being unified on paper, many countries still exhibit their own independence to a similar degree as in the early 21st century.

Russia, now with democratic ideals flooding its doorsteps, has had its oligarchy being increasingly fractured by both political dissidents and civilian protests advocating for a nationwide ethics change and deposition of its current ruling system. The nation had nearly exhausted its natural resources but remains a prominent export of military and industrial equipment and goods for neighboring countries.

Worldwide

Formed by the revolutionary Constellation Act in 2052, the UN had grown significantly in power, taking place as the planetary representative of Earth and establishing military, economic and political associations to forward the world's interests as a single governing body. The formation of the Sol Defense Corps, the Peacekeeper Corps, several economic institutions and the bolstering of its already-existing departments thrust the UN into quickly becoming an authority to be taken seriously, with equal parts economy and military might at their disposal for enforcing worldwide regulations on countries.

Many large, prominent nations had chosen to not join economic blocs in favor of independence and liberty, a sympathy that some political figures in the bloc nations start to share in wake of the cons of being part of a bloc revealing themselves to the government. While all bloc nations are stable, they are not without controversy nor without dissent, and threats to unity continue to be part of the noise that prevents the world from going into peace.

War is uncommon now with the advent of the Peacekeeper Corps' mission to prevent such armed conflicts, and instead, nations settle disputes coldly, with the building of military equipment as a contest and show of power being all too common with rival nations. Guerilla warfare and civil wars are still fought in the Arabian Cooperative and African Union, mainly as a result of the few resistance groups refusing to acknowledge that they are part of something bigger.

Space

Space has been heavily militarized and commercialized, with the Sol Defense Corps taking up the mantle of functioning both as interior and exterior guard to the system. Mining and defense companies vie for prized locations on both planets and in the asteroid belt, with many legal and illegal organizations taking up mantle within the Belt's confines. The SDC, as a result, had deployed multiple intelligence operations within the belt as well as establishing a sector command, BELTCOM, to attempt to attack piracy and illegal activity at its source.

Several colonies, namely those of Venus, Luna, Mars, and Jupiter, form prevalent planetary settlements growing into ecumenical nation-states of millions of people, exporting the planets' resources to Earth in exchange for food, utilities, workers, and defense. Due to the relative infancy of the colonies, the trade relationship between Earth and the Colonial Administrations is heavily Earth-centric, favoring the blue planet over any other option out there.

A failed revolution in 2088 on Mars between a militia named the Ares Freedom Fighters and the SDC had led to the United Nations establishing several protective and economical sanctions and restrictions on Mars, effectively making its government a puppet state under Earth's rule and eliminating any trace of independence its leaders had. While political tension remains high between Earth and Mars, the revolution had served as a grim reminder to Martian resistance that fighting is all but futile, at least, for now.

Technology

Numerous advances in technology had been made ever since the early 21st century, leading to contraptions and inventions many would have called 'science fiction' a hundred years prior.

Electronics

Virtual reality has expanded to involve five-sense feedback to and from the headset directly with the brain, allowing for full out-of-body experiences able to be conjured. In the medical field, this has allowed those with physical disabilities, such as blindness, to be able to see the world using Sensory Augmented Reality (SAR).
Holograms exist through ionization of air using femtosecond lasers. With eighty years' worth of development, the holograms have evolved to be capable of projecting 3D shapes that can be directly interacted with and touched. Due to power concerns and risk of blindness, however, holograms are only used sparingly in utilitarian settings, instead, being favored by militaries to be used as star maps or tactical displays. In civilian settings, they are often used for 3D advertising, for making interactive displays, and for creating holographic 'paintings' hovering above city streets and parks.
Smartphones and tablet computers have evolved to be capable of instantly acquiring data through tenth-generation communication and data technology allowing for unprecedented speeds. Several higher-end models even integrate holographic projectors, although this has been dismissed as a gimmick more than a feature.
High-speed worldwide internet with speeds of more than 300TB/second have become widely accessible and cheap to the general populace. Latency issues are a thing of the past within Earth -- however, cross-planet communication remains a bottleneck for high-speed information technology.
Inductive wireless charging developments allow for the near-elimination of power outlets and the ability for all modern electronics to tap into a wireless "field" of charge that permeate across individual rooms or even entire buildings. Power outlets still remain in most structures for the sake of backwards compatibility.

Medicine and Biology

Cures for diseases and ailments that plagued the world even in the 21st century, such as viral pandemics, cancer, and even some mental illnesses have had treatments and cures developed.
Advents in chemistry along with artificial molecular synthesis have allowed for new drugs to be created that treat several injuries and ailments so effectively, they're almost treated like magic.
Genetic modification has been employed regularly to correct birth defects and prevent or treat cancer or other underlying illnesses caused by mutations.
- United Nations charter has prevented the recreational or non-medical usage of genetic modification, and technology is strictly regulated.
Cloning, while proven possible and near-perfect in heavily controversial secret tests by private laboratories, is illegal. Backwater laboratories often use salvaged or outdated versions to attempt to perform their own cloning experiments, only for them to often backfire miserably and result in abominations.
Research into expanding the biological, psychic or imaginative capabilities of the human mind had also been deemed illegal and were shut down by UN organizations.
Prosthetics are available in the form of bionic limbs and organs. They can be made of different materials such as aluminum, steel, or polymer, and have sensory feedback integrated into their skin for a basic sense of touch.
- They are still not on par with organic limbs, and don't possess artificial skin due to concerns over the uncanny valley.
3D-printed organs and tissue is widely practiced and used; however, the process is expensive.

Engineering

Development of artificial gravity through exploiting elementary forces has led to the development of compact artificial gravity on spaceships and space stations, as well as allowing the engineering of gravity-defying structures and sculptures on Earth.
Warp travel is a recent invention, and is regularly being fitted onto an increasing amount of civilian and military vessels to travel Sol and the universe far quicker than before.
Faster-than-light communication has also been invented by the military and named Lumicom. Civilian versions exist to transmit news and data transmissions between planets, while the SDC uses it for tactical communications or information relays.
Developments into artificially strengthening the bonds of several alloys together has allowed for much harder materials than was ever thought possible.
Silica-based glass in industrial and military settings have been replaced with transparent aluminum or other transparent metal alloys to better withstand impact, scratching, and high pressure. Spaceships and space stations coat transparent aluminum with diamond-based glass for even stronger reinforcement.
Material synthesis from scratch has not yet been developed, however rearrangement of existing materials into other, similar forms (such as turning coal into diamonds) has been developed and explored, allowing for the mass synthesis of previously-valuable materials such as diamonds. This has subsequently devalued precious metals and gems from civilian markets, instead opting to have jewelry fashioned from exotic acquisition (asteroid metals) rather than the composition.
The primary source of energy is from nuclear fusion, generated via fusion reactors scattered around various installations. Only a single corporation controls almost the entire market on fusion reactors and, as a result, holds a near-monopoly over the energy industry.