Orion War

Earth gains a measure of stability during the Orion Wars. Emboldened by the ousting of most Bactarans from the asteroid belt, many civilians begin to take to the solar system. The belt, not to mention the Saturnian system, quickly becomes home to miners working abandoned Bactaran mining facilities or creating their own. Adversity comes from all directions-the remaining Bactarans tend to lay claim to their fallen comrades' mines, pirates execute raids on shipments, and the UEN tends to squeeze the miners for materials and taxes as the wars put a strain on Earth's resources-all this on top of the naturally hostile environment of space.

With advances in manufacturing, Martian culture advances somewhat beyond merely surviving on the red planet, and the people living there begin to establish a way of life. The proximity of Mars to the asteroid belt makes it vulnerable to both piracy and attack from Bactarans, and so at the dawn of the Mining War, Mars signs on with the EGF as a protectorate. With this protection, it becomes a haven for traffic from the outer planets, and often serves as a way station between Earth and everywhere else.
With all these changes, Mars remains, at its heart, a planet of builders and tinkerers. Many Martians become engineers and sign on with the EGF, ESF, Unification Charter, or private vessels as engineers.

After two generations believing that the Bactarans had exterminated humanity on Earth, the Redland colonists are predisposed to hate anything non-human. After Second Contact in 2104, Redland is thrilled to learn that mankind is alive, though some are deeply suspicious. A decent number of colonists join the ESF after the treaty is signed in 2106, most with the sole intention of killing as many Bactarans as possible.
Culturally, Redland has become entirely controlled by organized crime, with the government having been overwhelmed following the population boom. As the Orion Wars come to an end, the various syndicates have started to entirely supplant the government in their respective territories, well on their way to becoming nations themselves.

Following the ambush of Sirius, different houses within the Republic are intent on either finding a peaceful solution to the situation, on reclaiming the lost territory at all costs, or on eradicating humanity in vengeance (the last opinion being led by none other than the House of Moti, of course, who have already lost the most to humans).

Voran drones gain a greater independence in this era; though many remain fiercely loyal to their hive, in modern Voran culture, this is a matter of choice, not obligation.

Technoshamanism is a society built around a new kind of computer hacker which combines traditional shamic beliefs with the implementation of the "spirit world" as a networked presence. While not every member of the society is a skilled hacker, the society relies so heavily on the network that members are more or less required to wear AR equipment at nearly all times. Technoshaman society has little in the way of Human leadership, relying instead on advanced distributed algorithms to determine what resources are needed and allocate the Human resources to that task. Technoshamans are motivated not only by money, but also by gaining influence over more network resources, including both people and hardware like drones.Broadly speaking, technoshamans are anti-corporate, and view large corporations as an enemy to be nullified by any means possible. In particular, technoshamans demonize corporations which do not directly contribute to the survival or betterment of the Human race, with a focus on banking and investment industries. Sometimes these means are violent, but just as often the strategies involved are deeper, including buyouts and market based strategies. Typically, the resources of the corporation being targeted will be co-opted and used to further the network's agenda, which is how the most notorious technoshamans earn their living.

Having served as a hub for mining operations throughout the Expansion Era, there are a great many Bactarans who call Ceres home. When the Mining War begins, there are some instances of violence between Bactarans and humans, but even with those, it is (until the creation of Parella Station) the only place where humans and Bactarans live together.

**Note:** This culture is only available to genetically modified humans born on Redland starting in the 2070's.
The first genetically engineered humans from Redland reach maturity during this time, and they are discontent, with good cause. Shortly after Second Contact, the UEN signs a treaty with the Redland government which makes law the discrimination that the experiments felt since their creation; they were not human, and therefore, they had no rights. Subsequent protests forced Redland to grant one concession; experiments could leave Redland and emigrate to Earth, where they are considered humans under the full protection of the law, under the condition that they serve in the ESF military for at least two years. Droves of experiments accept the deal, and Redland doubles down on mistreatment of "inhumans", and continues to create more and more experiments, now kept in secured enclaves, cut off from the outside world.

From the point of view of the Bactaran Republic, the human fleet ambushes Sirius out of nowhere; the Republic shores up its defenses, and for a time, it appears that peace can be reached. When interrogations of captured ESF personnel reveal that many of the miners in the belt were killed, the Republic is enraged, and declares all-out war against the UEN. Resources are poured into the Argosy, and the Orion War is in full force.

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Venus becomes a tourism centered world as it becomes more established, with a consistent and reliable climate. The service industries on the planet experience a massive boom in both Human and alien tourists, with Bactarans and Vorans stationed in the solar system both enjoying Venus's climate more than Earth's.
As a result of this, Venusians develop a reputation for being friendlier to aliens than many other cultures of humanity (especially during the Orion War), and Venusians are major opponents of the war. Many war protests occur here.

The Earth military fleets take on a huge role during the wars. Early on, the EGF starts the war over a blown blockade at the Battle of Ceres. As the ESF presses outward and takes over the war, the EGF must now take over protection of humans from the remaining Bactarans in the belt, and is additionally charged with enforcing trade tariffs and material shipments to ensure that the war effort has sufficient materials.

Once the Mining War breaks out, the surviving Moti in the asteroid belt are stranded. Luckily, most of their basic needs are met with the self sustaining solar powered equipment built into their mining facilities, so most are able to hunker down and hide. However, as this equipment starts to age and break down, the Bactarans are forced to raid human ships, stations, and settlements to obtain the required replacements. In a cruel twist, many of the humans in the belt at that point have started using the Bactaran equipment that was left behind, meaning the Bactarans are reduced to raiding their own mines to survive.

During this era, the Voran society begins to shift. In the old days, it was difficult for a female to successfully become a Queen, thanks largely to overcrowding and limited resources. With trade and colonization, the Vorans experience a surge in Queen population. This is, however, not sustainable; more Queens mean more offspring, and the same overcrowding problems could occur in the next generation, only on a larger scale. New legislation limits the number of fertile offpsring (that is, not drones) young Queens are permitted to spawn.

Increased interaction with other cultures grows the Libertine cultural movement among Vorans. Vorans among this culture behave more like humans do-living as individuals rather than a part of a hive, seeking romance for its own sake rather than as a means for survival, and living in a free market economy. Voran Libertines tend to fit into alien cultures more easily than other Vorans, and more tradiitonal Vorans may even hire Libertines for this exact purpose—liasons to alien cultures.