By the late 23rd century, Earth had all but been destroyed by the effects of climate change and pollution. By the time that all of the governments in the world had come to a mutual agreement to move to renewable energies and sustainable farm practices en masse, it was too late. Major cities had been flooded repeatedly to the point of abandonment, many subsistence crops had gone extinct, and refugees swarmed the lesser-impacted inland cities. Widespread poverty and starvation brought most industries to a halt. But the United States Space Force, established during the early years of Donald Trump’s decades-long tumultuous presidency, continued to march on with what little funding it had left, in conjunction with Russian and Chinese space programs, and scientific breakthroughs led to the discovery of intergalactic teleportation by the early 26th century.
What followed was an unprecedented era of peace. Unlimited access to resources spread throughout the Universe brought poverty to near-extinction, and humans were able to colonize hundreds of inhabitable planets, bringing with them the hard lessons of the couple of centuries following the Industrial Revolution. It was in those years that all of Earth’s governments established a new government to regulate the settlements spread throughout the universe, the Galactic States. For the first couple of centuries, science and reason prevailed, and progress not only in technology but also in human rights led to the successful implementation of a Universal Basic Income, as most traditional jobs were replaced by Artificial Intelligence. New discoveries in medicine eliminated most lethal illnesses and eradicated the genetic variants that cause aging and the deterioration of the human body, and the human expected lifespan increased by nearly a century.
But humans have a way of interfering with even the most utopian arrangements, and separatist groups began to rebel against the Galactic States, establishing new colonies in the outer reaches of the Universe and touting the right to individual freedoms. Back on Earth, fringe sects of Old World religions repopulated abandoned cities. One sect in particular, the True Believers of Christ, rejected many of the central tenets of the Galactic States’ vision of basic human rights. The True Believers taught that all space travel, especially intergalactic teleportation, would be the downfall of humanity. Citing the story of the Tower of Babel as evidence, they believed that God had been clear in his thoughts about humans attempting to reach the stars. Furthermore, they rejected all medicine as a blasphemous overreach in utter defiance of God’s plan.
As it turns out, religious radicalization can be contagious. Humans have a curious need to find sanctity in profanity, and meaning in the mundane. The True Believers began to multiply not only in numbers but in influence, consolidating political power at the highest levels of government on Earth. They were vastly outnumbered by the largely Atheistic population of the Universe, and were unable to overturn more than a few of the more controversial changes implemented under the Galactic States. Still, although they were unable to implement legislative reform in far reaching ways, their individual actions on Earth had widespread consequences. Opting to reject vaccinations, decreasing access to medical care on Earth brought about the resurgence of several illnesses that had been thought to be eradicated, including the Plague.