This section is devoted to information that applies to all the nations.
Geography Overview
A single, contiguous ocean called the “Colony 12 Ocean” circles the entire globe, flowing between the continents. At the northernmost point of the northern continent there is some permanent ice and snow, though not much. The overall climate ranges from temperate to tropical, though mostly the climate is very mild. It is assumed that this was built in by design. The soil is good and strong, and plants grow easily. There are many different animals, all brought in by the original colonists. Most are domesticated, though there is a sizeable portion that are wild, perhaps escaped from ancient zoos during the catastrophe.
After the second Catastrophe, the continents were divided into numerous islands and archipelagos. The larger islands tend to house the capitals of the various nations. Of the continents, the Southern Continent has the most contiguous land, the Western Continent the least.
Catastrophe Information
The information contained in the history section covers the Catastrophe events fairly completely, but it omitted certain bits that only later came to light. Along with all the texts that explained how to survive in a primitive world, there were also texts written in Pre-Catastrophe English. These texts were instructions on how to create an "ideal" pastoral society. The governments of the world disregarded them, of course, as they felt they knew better.
After the Catastrophe, the original colonists wrote down as much as they could regarding their systems and technology. Even so, much was not written down- it was merely assumed that future colonists would know about it. The events post-catastrophe proved to show how foolish this was, and much of that early knowledge was lost. Many texts were also lost when the governments fell during the chaos following.
Many of the early texts sent to the colony were saved, however, and it was these texts that formed the basis of many of the societies and nations that emerged. In the Colonial Republic, the texts stored away by the Brotherhood of Iron and Wood formed the basis of the government and, later, the industrial revolution that soon followed. It can be expected, however, that they saved those texts which agreed more or less with their political positions. What books were lost, few can say. There are few extant records from that tumultuous period, and fewer still that reference lost texts.
On Surnames
Pre-Catastrophe, humanity slowly abandoned old surname usage, as it no longer provided a unique link to either family history, or a unique identifier. They favored the use of ID codes instead. Even given names slowly fell out of fashion, at least the older ones did. The name usage in the 2200s would be mostly unrecognizable to the average person of our time, or of the time following.
Post-Catastrophe, many old names were adopted. They were pulled from the history texts, or from old memories. Some names had been preserved, but most had been lost. As such, the diversity of names that we see today are simply not present.
Sector 34 is a notable exception, as many people there still have names of the old forms, which is a given name [very simple], and a alphanumeric code following [more complex, often not spoken aloud].
The Intercolonial Union reserves certain names for the members of the ruling class, and the Kingdom of Starport has many titles and noble surnames in use, but differs from the ICU in that a commoner who shows great valour in battle or skill in governance (as village headman, for example) may be ennobled, and many such are, leading to a burgeoning middle class composed of both petty nobles and of businessmen, doctors, lawyers and the like.
Earth's Exploration
In the period before the First Catastrophe, thirty-five colonies were formed, occupying a roughly twenty-five light year sphere. Most colonies were under-populated, in the belief that they would later expand and fill up, and later perhaps act as colonizers themselves. In any case, the various laws passed that separated Earth from her colonies served to force the colonies to amalgamate, and abandon smaller and unproductive colonies. This left twenty colonies functional, each with at least ten million inhabitants, though five colonies had at least one hundred million. In addition, three deep space stations housed three million citizens among them.
Colonization continued over a roughly two-hundred year period, with a very slow start, but a rapidly increasing rate of emigration from Earth. It is interesting to note that while Earth cut itself off from the colonies in that no colonists could return in the last twenty or so years, it did not do the same for emigration from Earth, and as such, the rate of emigration remained constant right up until one year before the First Catastrophe, when emigration ceased entirely.
The amalgamation process led to small clusters of colonies trading amongst one another, with swathes of space being unihabited, though habitable thanks to terraforming. The First Catastrophe sundered all connections with all but the closest colonies (certain star systems had two colonized planets in them).
Pre Catastrophe, trade was extensive and well-planned. The implications of the cost structure involved are staggering- humanity was shipping items between colonies for roughly the same cost as we currently pay for air-freight. Something came out of research being conducted in space that rapidly brought expenses down, and made large-scale space colonization not only possible, but desirable. Later events are not quite so clear, and will perhaps never be so.
The trading which took place was profitable and efficient, leading to specialization and optimization of manufacture and production, though each colony maintained basic production in event of emergencies of all necessities. Trade with Earth was varied and extensive, as Earth was the center of humanity, and the most important market. Later on, however, when contact with the Earth was forbidden, the colonies were hit hard by an economic downturn, but that rapidly evaporated as their businesses shifted production to items now unavailable from Earth but badly needed. Earth, on the other hand, had developed equipment and methods that now rendered the once-essential colonies superfluous, but in an act of selfishness and arrogance refused to allow them to participate in their technological triumph.
Post-Catastrophe, trade between colonies ceased, effectively. Some trade occurred between pirate clans, but they were mostly given to warring. Internally, the various pirate nations or clans (it is somewhat unclear as to which model they more closely follow) would trade between their holdings, but this was fairly limited, and mostly given to gathering tribute and returning it to the pirate headquarters, or gathering food and doing the same.