New Humanity circa 3150

Humankind spread across the solar-system, seeding the void of space with habitats and establishing colonies on moons and planets pausing only at the very edge of the Kuiper Belt. Technological advances overcame a great many problems such as radiation and the effects of no gravity, yet humans remained frighteningly vulnerable beyond the safe confines of Earth. So it was that a variety of technological and genetic augmentations would be used to overcome those weakness and in so doing give birth to numerous new strains from the common baseline, some minor and others so extreme that they would be seen as alien beings.

Whilst baseline humans remain the most numerous, largely due to Earth being home to billions, these new breeds or offshoots have become common and in some cases have forged their own thoroughly and fiercely independent civilisations far from the home-world. The rigours and problems of space travel have been overcome through selective genetic engineering, eugenics and in some cases the fusion of flesh and technology. Even baseline humans who must travel and live in space have been adapted to overcome the numerous physical difficulties inherent in leaving Earth. So whilst the Sol System could be said to contain a hundred worlds, so can it also be home to dozens of species; all descended from Earth.

The Tuatha

Named after the legendary fairy folk of Ireland, the Tuatha are an insular and mysterious people whose habitat, Haven, sits in orbit of Saturn. They are strangely elfin in appearance, being graceful and lithe beings compared to regular humans and this is reflected in their architecture and technology, much of which is curiously organic in appearance. They are also a highly psychic race, capable of telepathy and telekinesis. Their origins are a great mystery and few outsiders have ever set foot within Haven. Those that have speak of a great forest with towering trees and strange forms of terrestrial life. They make extensive use of clones and have a work force made up of entirely of subservient human/animal slaves bred and conditioned to be utterly loyal and dependent upon their Tuatha masters.

Long lived and indulgent, the Tuatha enjoy the wealth and power they have due to their tight control of the resources found so abundantly in the Saturnian system. Many outsiders see them as arrogant and degenerate, a people more concerned with pleasure and the arts than is healthy. They have often been described as being like cats; graceful and cruel creatures whose moods are mercurial and often unpredictable. Regardless, they have considerable military power and on the few occasions they have been roused to anger they have always emerged the victor. The Tuatha encountered outside Haven are either outcasts or libertines, seeking new experiences amongst the "lesser folk." The outcast Tuatha tend to rise in the ranks of criminal organisations where their quick wits and amorality serve them very well.

The Tuatha are also renowned for their cold and merciless wrath. Those who have transgressed upon them are dealt with swiftly and rumours of hit squads of nigh-on supernatural Tuatha assassin squads hunting down any who escape their justice are cautionary tales to any who anger them.

Their governing body is rumoured to be a King and Queen, though any interactions with the Tuatha and outsiders is always done via diplomats who never reveal secrets of their people. Willingly, at least.

The Dwarger

Masters of the Jovian System and its rich resources, the Dwarger are an enigmatic people built to survive the harsh enviroment in and around the gas giant of Jupiter and its moons. Few Dwarger are taller than five and a half feet and are stocky and strong, yet it is rare to see one outside the powered armour they wear. They are a people adapted to the harshest of environments and are seen as grim and no-nonsense, quick to take offense and slow to forgive those outside their kind.

Unlike the Tuatha, the origins of the Dwarger are less mysterious. They are the result of experiments to create a people with greater resistances to radiation and lack of gravity. This has led to a strain who can thrive in the most challenging of environments and has given them a great pride and arrogance, seeing other people as weaklings. Even more insular than the Tuatha the Dwarger export the bounty of the Jovian system to the highest bidders, rarely negotiating and expecting their trading partners to abide by strict rules. Those that deviate even slightly can expect to have their trade agreements dissolved with no chance of ever getting them back with Dwarger society as a whole cutting them off. In this way the Dwarger have become a formidable political force, courted by other factions yet remaining largely independent.

Their ships are often immense and brutal, vast space-faring factories that consume asteroids and can withstand close proximity to Jupiter. Their colonies are similar being brutalist structures built to endure an enviroment inimical to life. Only in their tools, weapons and armour does one see anything other than utilitarian craftsmanship. A Dwarger will seek to have some form of artistry in their tools and their armour is often ornate and grand, with each being different according to the individual. Families will have such items passed down as heirlooms, with each new bearer seeking to add their own mark whilst retaining the history the item carries.

Dwarger society is made up of tight knit families and clans, overseen by the artificial intelligence of Jove; a centuries old AI of unknown origin who is treated with respect and loyalty by the Dwarger.

The Oberzahn

The powerful and disliked merchant and information brokers of the inner solar system, the Oberzahn oversee numerous manufacturing and agricultural habitats that the trade of the system relies upon.

In appearance they are grotesque, bloated beings who rely upon cybernetics for mobility. Whether this is due to mutation is unknown. Outside of their exoskeletons an Oberzahn is weak and frail, yet within they are formidable beings armed to the teeth, immensely strong and very resilient. They reward their minions with wealth and power, often getting them addicted to narcotics only the Oberzahn have access to and when dealing with outsiders an Oberzahn will always be protected by well-armed soldiers of their Myrmidon class; a race of slaves bred to be stronger and more durable than baseline humans and conditioned for absolute loyalty.

They reside in well-protected habitat stations and an Oberzahn measures status in their society by their wealth, territory and followers. They surround themselves with every luxury they can afford or steal and are fond of collecting priceless relics from across the system. A backstabbing and covetous people, the Oberzahn are united only in the loosest of terms and even supposedly close family members will turn on one another if the rewards outweigh the risks. There is no unifying government amongst the Oberzahn; only those with more wealth and military power than their peers can expect to be listened to and instill any sort of unity. In spite of this seeming lack of unity, the Oberzahn are quick to amass their considerable forces against those who threaten their interests, using their finical resources to buy mercenary armies and privateer navies to bolster their military might.

They are hated by the rest of humanity but owing to their stranglehold of food supply and other resources, they are seen as a necessary evil. In any region where they reside the Oberzahn are invariably at the top of criminal organisations, or at the very least well acquainted with the local crime lords.

As to how the Oberzahn came about is unknown. Whether there was design in their ancestry or a stable mutation is of some debate, though few bother to delve further into their origins. Unlike other strains of humanity, the Oberzahn do not fill a niche or seem adapted to endure an off-Earth enviroment. They simply exist and have grown into a formidable political force whose reach extends across much of the system, albeit clandestinely. Like a parasite latched onto its host, the Oberzahn cannot be removed without doing considerable harm to humanity.

The Ascendants

Once the dominant faction within Sol, the Ascendants are now a shadow of their former selves; a people in exile forced to hide from those who would wipe them from history.

From the 27th century until the late 29th the Ascendants controlled much of the Sol system, bringing a unity and sense of purpose to humanity as it expanded outward from Earth. The Ascendants had access to technology far in advance to any other faction and within each naninte infused blood flowed, making them superhuman in most aspects, capable of incredible speed in thought and movement as well as vastly increased strength and regenerative ability.

The Ascendants were ruled by a mysterious figure known as the Emperor, possibly the progenitor of his people and a man of singular vision who sought to lead humanity into a new age, no matter the cost. History tells of the atrocies commited by the Ascendants, of the evil wrought in the name of this new age and of the terrible conflict known as the System War which saw billions perish and much knowledge lost as the oppressed nations of Sol united to bring down the Ascendant Empire. Much effort was put into eradicating evidence of the Ascendants, expunging them from history. Yet two centuries since the fall of the Ascendants in the System War, a handful remain and remnants of their technology endure. And, of course, the simple fact that it is not certain that the Ascendant Emperor did perish in the War and that rumours persist his children were not all accounted for.

There are other new strains of humans across Sol, such as the aqautic denizens of the oceanic habitat of New Pacifica and the Martians of Mars.[ to name but two. There are also uplifted animals such as Gorillas, Dogs, Cats and Wolves along with Dolphins and Whales who either live amongst the general populace of the worlds and colonies or in their own specific habitats.

The abandoning of flesh for machine is another avenue of overcoming the inherent weaknesses and problems of baseline humanity. There exist small enclaves of cyborgs who can swap their minds into new forms for whatever task is required, overseen by gestalt hive minds or airtifical intelligences.

And there are those who have abandoned their human bodies entirely, digitizing their conciousness and uploading into the computer network and becoming beings of code able to explore the viritual worlds of that realm.

In summation then it is obvious that humankind will continue to evolve to survive beyond the Earth.