I was overwhelmed by project deadlines and haven’t got much writing done. I did, however, spend a decent amount of time yesterday writing on some Space Arc shorts. Yes, I know I should be working on the next chapter of Tico3, but while I know what I think is supposed to be there, I can’t really muster much inspiration. I figure another Argyre chapter is necessary for balance, but there’s nothing that stands out particularly about the event in question. I’ll mull on it a little longer, but I may just scrap it and move on. We’ll see.

I mentioned before that I’d be doing a commentary piece following the release of Chapter 21 of Tico3. With the introduction of the Martian Militia back in Chapter 18, I really thought I should provide a little more detail. You get a little bit in the narrative of Chapter 21, but I wanted to take it a step farther.

The Earth Union has a number of paramilitary organizations. Most are the enforcement agencies of cabinet-level ministries, but there are a number of exceptions. Today we’re going to be talking about two similar organizations: the EDC and the Martian Militia. Though the Militia is more relevant to Tico3, we’ll start with the EDC.

The Earth Defense Corps was founded in the aftermath of the Lunar Revolt. Tensions between Earth and the Colonies were running high and reactionary elements agitated to form a secondary line of defense against a perceived Colonial threat. During the Sheol War, no small number of native Earthers refused to serve in the Colonies and the EDC was touted as a ‘true Earth army’. Because service in the EDC counted as an alternative federal service, it was a handy destination for Earthers looking to dodge the draft while still claiming they were soldiers.

The Martian Militia was formed essentially as a reaction to the reactionaries on Earth. Once Ricardo Banderas, a native Martian, became the first Colonial to be elected World Council Chairman, he authorized the formation of the Martian Militia. The concept was basically the same as the EDC, but there is a bit of a separatist undercurrent. It’s not really something that’ll be treated in any depth in Tico3, but it may come up elsewhere.

Naturally, the regular military doesn’t hold these paramilitaries in high regard and the feeling is mutual. Toss PMCs and local law enforcement into the mix and you can have some fraught joint operations. The Argyre Campaign has this in spades and I could almost write a full novel just on that. Maybe I’ll even go that far one day, but for now we just get some glimpses to paint the larger picture of the Battle of Mars.

Well, I found myself getting restless as I was trying to continue my work of going through T3W and instead hopped back on Tico3 and made some good progress on Chapter 22. One more push, I’d say, and it should be done. It would seem that I’m more eager to break new ground rather than retread the old. Given the sheer volume of stories I have yet to write, I suppose it’s little surprise.

I never go into too much depth regarding the political system of the Earth Union because A) I try to avoid info dumps in my writing, and B) I really try to avoid irrelevant info dumps. For the most part, what goes on in Atlantis City doesn’t apply to the day-to-day lives of the characters of the Tico series. Well, it does apply, but rarely in the sense that a working knowledge of the system is necessary.

At the beginning of the New Era, a one-world government emerged from the pit of the Blackout, an undefined period in the late 21st Century that’s been wiped from all records. I don’t plan on committing to exactly what went on during the Blackout, but I will say that it wasn’t pretty.  I will say that the global population as of the NE 010 census was 7.6 billion. Those of you aware of demographic trends should be able to infer some stuff from that.

The Earth Union was originally composed of ten supranational ‘provinces’, the borders being the result of some rather intense wrangling prior to the Union’s formation. Each province is represented by a member of the World Council. Add in the Chairman and Vice-Chairman  and that makes twelve. The Chairman’s role as a member of the council means that the Union doesn’t have quite the same degree of separation of powers as, say, the United States, but it isn’t too far off as the Chairman has considerably autonomy in the administration of the executive branch.

As the Union expanded out into the Sol System, the World Council was expanded as well. Luna was the first to be added when it was given special provincial status and a nonvoting seat on the Council. As its status would imply, Luna is a bit of a special case in that it’s viewed as a Colony but legally regarded as one of the provinces of Earth.

The planetary spheres beyond Earth are dubbed ‘regions’. The first was Mars, which gained a nonvoting seat on the Council in 021. As colonization progressed, the number of regions increased to the current total of nine. In the aftermath of the Lunar Revolt, the Colonial Bloc was established to represent the rest of the Colonies (which were never projected to have a sufficient population to warrant individual representation) and, of course, given nonvoting status.

While the Colonies had a voice on the World Council, they didn’t have a vote until the Colonial Bloc was enfranchised in 070. Although it was originally intended that the Colonial Bloc would provide the sole vote for the Colonies, the Councilors from Luna and Mars were enfranchised in 081 and thanks to the population boom on Ganymede, Jupiter was given its own voting seat right out of the gate in 101.

Though officially part of the Earth Sphere, Luna has historically held solidarity with the Colonies. The bad blood from the Lunar Revolt never really went away, you see. Typically, the ten provinces of Earth will unite in lock-step to defend Earth’s privileges first and foremost, but occasionally there will be breaks depending on the political winds of the moment. (The political parties are a can of worms I’ll save for another day.)

Where we find ourselves in Chapter 20, the Earth Sphere isn’t going to sacrifice a single ship of Fourth Fleet to defend Mars. All the provincial Councilors agree on this and the Councilor of the Colonial Bloc, Ragna Nilsson, isn’t willing to support Mars’ Councilor Vincentez 100% on his call for more aid and Jupiter’s Councilor Lau isn’t going to stick his neck out either. I’ll leave it to you, the reader, to decide how reasonable they’re all being about this.

This really only scratches the surface, but it’s at least something to get you started. When I get to writing Avni, you’ll see a lot more of Union politics in action as Tziona Avni is up to her neck in the stuff. I’ll probably do more posts like this in the future and shed a little more light on how the Union operates. Stay tuned.

A little more progress on Chapter 22 of Tico3. Nothing too much, but so it goes.

I’ve pretty well finished Chapter 21 and made a little more progress on Chapter 22 as well. Need to be thinking about reviewing Chapter 20 for the update. Maybe I should go ahead and have my little post on EU politics prepared so we can hit the ground running Wednesday. We’ll see.

In other news, Kazuya’s making good progress on the character models for the animation project. Once he puts faces on them, I might give you a little preview. Stay tuned.

A little more progress on Chapters 21 and 22.  Slowly but surely getting there.

I did a little more writing on Chapter 21 and made some progress on Chapter 22 as well.

I’m going to be done with Tico3 before I know it. Then it’ll be time for Tico4. I wonder what I’ll do after that. Maybe I’ll actually focus on Everyday Magic a little more.

Made a little more progress on Chapter 21. Starting to integrate that flashback I mentioned. I think the segues work rather well. More to come.

Still inching along in Chapter 21. I’m toying with the idea of inserting a flashback. It’s honestly something I thought I’d be doing a lot more of in the series. Yes, I may go ahead and do it. It’ll provide some useful background on Colonel Vasquez. Stay tuned.