AU Earth - Life in the 22nd Century

In an Alternate Universe, life on Earth is very different.

In the middle of the 20th century, thousands of aliens arrived on earth, seeking refuge. As they were peaceful and promised advances in science and technology, they were welcomed. The aliens became known as the MTTs. Their great adaptability and respect and humility towards mankind helped the MTTs to quickly assimilate with human culture. With the help of the MTTs, mankind made huge leaps in developing new technologies and soon made their first ventures into space.

As the MTTs were integrated into life on Earth, the overall population of Earth started to grow fast, and the face of the world was altered greatly.


Life on 22nd Century Earth

Countries as such have disappeared. The entire Earth is now known as the United Republic of Earth and is controlled by a single government. The lines between different cultures and races are becoming increasingly blurred. There is only one currency, the United Earth Dollar, or UED.

The population of Earth has grown explosively, standing at 19 billion in the year 2157. This means that Earth is severely overpopulated. Free land is scarce and consists largely of empty wastelands, cities are humongous and have melted into one in many places. The population consists of about 90% of MTTs, 7% of humans and 3% of other races.

Pollution levels are crazy. 75% of all the species of animals and vegetation have gone extinct, leaving only the toughest and most adaptive species, which are also scarce.

Very little food can be grown by natural means due to the pollution, lack of sunlight and lack of land, so food is being produced by artificial means. Real food is extremely rare and expensive.

The sky is always covered in smog. The sky never clears up and the sun never shines. Even during the day, it is relatively dark.

Because humans are not able to cope with the high levels of pollution and the lack of sunlight, their population has dwindled. There are now about 1,3 billion humans remaining. The human population continues to decline.

Because MTTs are highly adaptive and can cope with the pollution levels, their population has exploded and they are now the dominant species on Earth.


Junction City (possibly going to be renamed. Placeholder name for now)

Junction City was founded in honor of the newly arrived alien race. It was to become the flagship of peaceful coexistence of humans and MTTs, a cultural hub, a prime example of prosperity and progress. Junction City grew fast and zoomed past even the largest cities of Earth. At the present, Junction City is the biggest city on Earth. Taking up a gargantuan expanse of land and boasting a population of 121 million, Junction City is unofficially considered the capital of United Republic of Earth. The population is currently 78% MTTs, 13% humans and 9% other races.

While MTTs have spread all across the world and established themselves as the dominant race everywhere, Junction City remains "their" city.

Like any other large city, Junction City has both a rich and prosperous side, as well as slums and poor districts. The way modern cities are set up, they build into heights, rather than expand on ground. Since buildings reach ridiculous heights, the city has levels. Many of those who live on the upper levels never touch solid ground. Lower levels are inhabited by poorer people (more often than not humans) and higher levels by those who are well off.

Junction City Reserve is situated at the outskirts of the city and is the largest reserve built to date. The reserve has a capacity of 1,5 million people, but only houses about 700,000 at the moment.


Reserves

To ensure the survival of the human race, special Reserves have been built. They are huge enclosed spaces, much like giant greenhouses. These reserves have clean air, clean water, real vegetation and artificial sunlight. The reserves allow a limited amount of humans to live normal, healthy lives, unmarred by the various sicknesses and short lifespans that plague humans who have to endure life outside the reserves. The reserves are set up much like a small town, with private domiciles surrounding a small centre of apartment blocks. They have their own stores, entertainment, etc, so most people have no need to set foot outside of their reserve. Each reserve has an internal body of water and small groves of trees.

There are ten reserves around the world, all built in the vicinity of a major city and named after them. There are reserves near Moscow, Tokyo, New York, Sydney, Buenos Aires, Beijing, Delhi, Istanbul, Mexico City and Junction City.

The smallest ones are round domes, while the larger ones have varying shapes and designs. Each reserve fits about 500,000 to 1,5 million people, though most are not filled to maximum capacity.

Only humans are allowed to live inside the reserves. Some MTTs may have day jobs within the reserves, but they are never allowed to live in one permanently.

These reserves are insanely expensive to maintain. Because of this, people are required to pay a yearly sum for their place inside a reserve. In addition, all non-humans are taxed for the upkeep of these reserves. Humans living outside of the domes are not taxed.

A human who has spent their entire life within a reserve would not be able to cope with the pollution outside and would not be able to breathe properly. They would pass out within minutes and die shortly thereafter. When these people need to venture outside, special gas masks are used.


Humans outside the reserves

The great majority of surviving humans cannot afford life inside a reserve. Even if they could, the reserves' total capacity is only a fraction of the amount of humans left on earth.

Humans cannot handle the pollution levels of modern day Earth. They are prone to sickness and life expectancy is around 40-50 years. Because of their health problems, humans mostly end up working low-paying jobs and occupy the lower levels of the city. Most of the government's support for humans goes toward the reserves, thus outsiders end up mostly overlooked. The problem is somewhat swept under the rug. Some of these people hold a grudge towards the MTTs for being able to cope with the increased pollution.

The reserve system is largely corrupt and ran by people looking to make money, so even they could let people in for smaller, more affordable sums, they simply do not.