Humanity First (World Building Notes)

I've been mulling over this idea for a while now, but I never really had a chance to put it into words. I was actually hoping to write it as a short story and introduce the idea that way, as opposed to writing a 'World Building Notes' post about it. These posts, however, do help me branch out an idea and solidify it, while also being able to think of new ideas once the basis of the thought is down. There have been a couple of things retconned and a few expanded on once one of these posts has been published, so I don't really see these as a "Set in stone," kind of idea. More so, it's a chance for me to flesh something out freely, and have the freedom to work off something, while also having a reference point to go back and rethink, or even find new inspiration down the line.

Source

The First Days of The Confederation
In the early days of the Confederation - where all Human worlds were joined under one flag/ identity under a heavily militaristic and authoritarian regime - a large portion of the population of each of these worlds didn't want to bow down to this new way of life, and the loss of their individual cultures and freedom.

The only way this portion of the population could resist, was by protests and demonstrations, which later turned to riots and terrorist activity, which allowed the media to control the narrative and showcase the acts of violence to give rise to military action against civilians.

A lot of the population of these worlds were arrested and later executed for their role during these early days of the shift.

Most of the freedom movements from before the Confederation formed were still active and had gained steam through organisation, however, a lot of the leaders had been systematically taken out prior to the conversion; this left a lot of the people disorganised.

The First Wave of Humans To Free Space
Anyone who would not comply could see that they were fighting a losing battle and anyone who could see that and had the means, left.

Free Space was a region of space on the border of the Human region, and while there was contact between the two regions, they had no agreements or treaties active, and most Humans didn't know much about these alien worlds. The only place for most people to run was Free Space, and regardless of the lack of information the people had on this region, it didn't stop them from arriving to their worlds in droves.

The capital planet of Free Space is known as Jex, and being the capital meant it was the most well-known of all the fleeing Humans and this led to millions landing there without warning.

Jex and its people and government scrambled to aid these refugees and provide them with the necessities to live on this new world. However, the buckling economy of this world was already strained, which meant that the world could not provide sole support, so in order to help relieve some strain people were shipped to other worlds throughout Free Space; which was seen as inhumane.

Jex, at this time, was a technological marvel to behold, a megacity that took up nearly an entire continent, with all of the luxuries a futuristic city could afford. However, some of the worlds people were sent to were lacking this lifestyle, and the ones sent away from Jex were angry as they watched the neon skyline get replaced with baron dust lands of certain other worlds.

Back on Jex
People were getting angry, but not the Humans, the locals. As the economy of the world was crippled, emergency measures were activated which saw the general public's wages drop significantly, while the cost of living skyrocketed, and most people only had one enemy they could point their collective finger at; Humanity.

Tensions rose, especially as demonstrations took place outside of the Human camps, and complexes, and soon assaults and attacks from both sides became a regular occurrence. Another thing that started to take place was organised crime, as certain criminal groups began to use these new arrivals as disposable soldiers who would do just about anything for the slightest financial incentive.

The crime rate rose drastically in these concentrated areas, and the regular citizens who lived in these places started to join the call to action against Humanity, which led to even more tension. Soon, armed security was hired to protect the Humans from attack, but the Humans behind the fences wondered if the security was for, or against them.

Humanity First
An organisation formed out of ex-members of freedom groups back in Confederation space, and their message was, "To safeguard Humanity against all individuals and governments,"

They were a pretty radical group and started by stamping out criminals and exploiters of Humans within their designated sectors. Their second move was to ban all Jex security, and replace them with only Human watchers; which led to all non-Humans being barred from entering Human sectors.

From here they become highly militarised and organised, which seemed like a threat to the anti-Human groups, who in turn got organised.

The Jex government tried to intervene and stop this situation from getting any more out of hand, but by this stage, it was too late, and too many deaths had taken place which cause all Humans to lose trust in any and all government.

Some of the leaders of Humanity First started to dabble in the criminal underworld, in order to make money to further their goals, but this soon led to corruption on a large scale, and there was a major split in the organisation while a war was taking place against anti-Human groups, which led to a major downfall.

From the major split, cells started operating independently, and some caused havoc through Jex which helped to give Humanity in general a bad name and reputation.

Soon, many of the people not involved in any political movement escaped the Human sectors and tried to integrate into society and live a normal life, however, some people suffered at the hands of hate, and for many generations, Humans, in general, weren't trusted by the average Free Spacer.

How This Fits Into The Stories
This is a short story I started writing, which I started to continue on, it follows a person living through these events and seeing it first hand, and from them, we meet other people who act as eyes and ears to all of the other events that coincide around this situation.

It has been an interesting story to write, and I think I really needed a post like this to try and pinpoint key events and work out some of the details, while also letting my mind wonder freely about the whole idea.