Space Opera "Equilibrium"

What is a Space Opera?

A space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes space warfare, melodramatic adventure, interplanetary battles, chivalric romance, and risk-taking. Set mainly or entirely in outer space, it usually involves conflict between opponents possessing advanced abilities, futuristic weapons, and other sophisticated technology.

The ideal space opera, contains most if not all of the following criteria:
(as described by Brian Aldiss)

• The world must be in peril.
• There must be a quest,
• And a man or woman to meet the mighty hour.
• That man or woman must confront aliens and exotic creatures.
• Space must flow past the ports like wine from a pitcher.
• Blood must rain down the palace steps,
• And ships launch out into the louring dark.
• There must be a woman or man fairer than the skies,
• And a villain darker than a Black Hole.
• And all must come right in the end.

Star Wars is inarguably the most famous modern example of space opera. (Indeed, The Empire Strikes Back may have shifted "space opera" from insult to a more neutral genre descriptor, due to the involvement of veteran sf writer Leigh Brackett.) In Star Wars, technology is either magic (the Force) or jazzier versions of today's gadgets (blaster rifles, hovercars, space ships). Any Star Wars character (evil emperor, farmboy, princess) would feel at home in a thick fantasy novel, in part because editor-publisher Lester del Rey derived the "epic fantasy" template partly from Star Wars and partly from The Lord of the Rings, though also because these works borrow from the same source of Jungian imagery.

This genre is useful for long story and character arcs.
Read the full article at TvTropes: What is a Space Opera where i found the list with criteria.

RESEARCH

I start with some historical events.

History

1920

Admiral Richard E. Byrd established a naval base at Little America I, led an expedition to explore further inland, and conducted the first flight over the South Pole. Secret: Byrd also has first contact with humanoid life. Byrd informed the president of the USA, Coolidge. Coolidge gets warnings from the humanoids about pollution, nuclear energy usage, global warming, natural disasters, rising sea levels and most important, unbalanced financial ways of doing business. Coolidge decided that all should kept secret.
In 1928, while vacationing in the Black Hills of South Dakota, he issued the most famous of his laconic statements, “I do not choose to run for President in 1928.” note: it is unknown if president Coolidge knew or suspected what was going to happen. Some say he knew, because he was both the most negative and remote of Presidents, and the most accessible to the public. He actually talked little.

1933

The Great Depression seems caused by the banking crisis that caused one-third banking to vanish, a reduction of bank shareholder wealth and monetary contraction of 35%, which they called “The Great Contraction”. This caused a price drop of 33% (deflation). By the time the disaster of the Great Depression hit the country, Coolidge was in retirement. Before his death in January 1933, he confided to an old friend, “. . . I feel I no longer fit in with these times.” Secret: the Antarctic made the great depression happen as a warning to the nations.

1940

World War II The USA tries to stay out of the war, but the japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec, 7th 1941 forces them violently into the war.

1945

World War II ends with the capitulation of Germany

2001

9/11 terrorists fly planes into the world trade center and the capitol.

2011

nuclear meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima reactor, brings development to a halt. (although military keep spending large amounts of budget into atomic weapons.

2019

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. It has since spread worldwide, leading to an ongoing pandemic.
duriong the pandemic, in 2020, Acting President Trump blamed the Chinese, a claim that proved to be false. Trump later praised China’s response to the coronavirus, saying that country “has been working very hard” to contain the virus, and writing in a tweet that, “the United states greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency.”

2025

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project is a cooperation between the European Union, the United States, China, India, Japan, Russia, and South Korea to build in southern France a prototype fusion reactor with the world’s largest tokamak. The multibillion dollar project seeks to prove the feasibility of nuclear fusion as a large-scale source of energy. The test is a success.

2027

India builds the first useable Thorium power plant as a replacement for the nuclear power plants. The energy output is the same as a regular nuclear plant, but the nuclear waste will only last 300 year. The fuel is found in abundance on earth (compared to uranium). Researcher Pratik Niruprama (meaning: look, appearance | unequalled, unmatched) studied in the USA and learned about the Thorium project just after the second world war. He finds the Oak Ridge National Laboratory where the machine was built in the 1960s. The project is Pratik’s research finds out that Thorium reactor research ended, never to start again because it had no weaponized use.

2029

Climate Central, an organisation where scientists keep count on the number, severity and duration of storms, hurricanes and sea water levels, measure a disturbing rise in sea water levels. The US government is informed. but practical no action is taken.

2034

The US build 2 large underground bases on areas high above sea level.

2055

The first nuclear fusion plant is build

2076

Global warming melts the polar icecaps on the north- and south pole. On august 12th, 2076 an 7.6 earthquake has devastating effects on New York city. A tidal wave hits the city. NY lacks defenses against the water and gets flooded.

2082

Antarctica's ice caps are melting at a much higher rate then projected. Research proves that lava is heating bedrock underneat the thick ice.

2094

Bo Shan (genius,inventor,engineer) builds a prototype of the nuclear fusion ION drive The project almost got shutdown due to the fact that the test for initial flight failed, killing several engineers and scientists.

2103

Dr. Noro Kursiun (doctor in Biomedical physics and Electromagnetical Field Barriers) invents a way to enable humans to endure high G forces for a longer duration, using microbubble technology on a cellular level. The technology is based on a push/pull effect of a cell-matter's electrochemical properties in a tight electromagnetic balance. (in a sense the cell gets pulled apart by the G forces, the field effect pulls it back. The harder a deformation is made (as result of high presure, G-Force or impact, the more energy is spend at the generated field effect to balance. Just like muscle fatigue and acid buildup during heavy strain this will guse up energy from the muscle, generate heath and when overloaded induce pain. Go to far and the pain induced by minute differences in response time and lack of energy in muscles infict massive trauma and anafalactic shock. When this happens the only cure is placement in a stasis pod, administering a muscle cleaning and bloodenhancement fluid. (All these are extremely expensive and (practical) impossible to get.)

2108

Start of building 12 large ships to colonize Mars. The trip to Mars takes 6 months. 3 months accelerating and 3 months decelerating. A fleet of ION engine ships deliver all the cargo which takes time.

2113

The fleet enters Mars and 10 make it down. (1 in orbit, and 1 crash)

2114

The first Mars colony is created.

2121

A breakthrough in quantum mechanical engineering theory. A stable artificial wormhole is created, proving the existence of the Einstein-Rosen Bridge

2165

First practical application of the Einstein-Rosen Bridge as portal from Earth to Mars for instant communication, and non biological packages less then 30 cm diameter.

This is a rough draft of events that I am researching and creating to add to my world.
I didn't base this on actual events. COVID followed shortly after what I imagined. This article is based on notes in my paper notebook in 2019.  

The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is a global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified in an outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, and spread to other areas of Asia and then worldwide in early 2020.

Although not related to COVID, the global warming and such is based on scientific research and my imagination.

in a nutshell:
a large part of the world will die due to a pandemic.
the sun goes into a period of maximized radiation, and the polar shift weakens the cosmic radiation barrier. the MCE hits, and energy grids worldwide go down, the world as we know it is technology-wise devastated. Unprepared people die.
(~60% of human population is death.)
Instead of sliding back into the new dark ages, people go underground. Small communities undergound evolve into larger ones. Humanity stays underground during the MCE, followed by a extreme cold period as response to the sweet water release in the northern pacific ocean (due to the global warming) AMOC and emerge as the planet has changed (flooding, hurricane devastation, etc.) the planet has changed significantly. coastlines have altered, cities are now in decay. predator animals have taken over the lands, and the climate has shifted significantly.
(some more here)

This is the world that Jalla "Meow Meow" Calleio starts in.