2108, the Milky Way.
The Earth died a long time ago; humanity went through a second boom in the population in 2025. More people, more resources needed. We sapped the planet bone dry in thirty years. I guess the colonising of Mars' success numbed everyone to the looming end of mother earth. Nowadays there're only a few million down there. Religious fanatics who won't let God's creation alone, scientists who think that we can go back, criminals tryin' to avoid tax or justice. Anyone on earth is just gonna wind up dead anyway; doesn't matter.
When the Earth died there were about five billion colonists on Mars; a real society. The remainder of the population (four billion, I think) landed on Mars and set to work. For twenty years there were a lot of rising tensions, resource feuds and an inability to share. War broke out - we're humans, of course it did - and that lasted for twenty years. Called it the Red War. Dunno if that's a metaphor for blood or Mars bein' red. Doesn't matter.
The five billion original colonists won, and the people from Earth lost a lot. Most of 'em wound up spending what little they had on technology to colonise Titan: One of Saturn's moons. Roundabout then some scientists came up with the idea of The Interplanetary Instantaneous Transmission Service. We just call 'em Slingshots. I dunno how they work specifically, but they're huge constructs that allow ships to get catapulted into near-hyperspace and wind up at another slingshot. Like a giant space subway. There's a slingshot over Earth, Titan and Mars and they're each attached to major space stations. Those stations house people too. Doesn't matter.
The colonizing of Titan worked fine at first, but a lot of the humans there were put there 'coz they lost on Mars. Still a lot of bad blood goin' between 'em, and the people at the centre of that blood - makin' money off it, fuellin' it, keepin' it goin' - are known by a lot of names. The Mob is a real common one, but their actual name is the Marks of Orion. They're pullin' a lot of the strings behind all this crap goin' down today.
There are 13 billion humans in the Galaxy.
It's 2108.
Doesn't matter.
150
200
100
