In the quiet after the One Year War, the Earth Sphere rebuilds. It is a time of social change and cultural distinctions. As in the aftermath of all civil wars, factions strive to keep their way of life alive. Prejudices simmer, social distinctions become points of pride and importance, and the Alt-Cults ( of Cyberpunk V.3 ) are born. War and scientific development have rapidly changed the human landscape. Massive departures from 20th century normality are occurring in terms of human biology and attitudes toward the evolutionary future of mankind.
So much of the Earth is devastated by MAPPO's HCN Virus and the following Afro-European war of the ElephantMen and the Various asteroid drops carried out by the Neo-Orbital Rebels and dissident, anti-OLYMPUS factions of old hardline nationalists committing acts of terror against the Allied Earth United Government. That only a few billion people remain on the devastated surface.
As this is the reality, the new hot-spot is space. The Earth Sphere as it is called. The moving and shaking action of the UCEX universe is in the Orbital Republic. The Principality of Near Earth Orbitals may not have won the war but they certainly came out on top. The massive reconstruction effort being enacted by OLYMPUS/POSEIDON's Allied Earth United Government is underway but fully a decade or two from completion. When their plan is complete the Earth will be largely transformed into an ecological Utopia ( as per the Dominion manga series, yes, with Chrolis's and all!!)
