New Alliance

By the mid 21st century, China and the United States were the world's two superpowers. As borders shifted drastically and some nations were wiped off the map by catastrophic storms and severe changes in sea level, the former country began to absorb and claim nearby faltering states while the latter country took in refugees and extended protection to others. South America and most of Europe were allied with the U.S., While most of Asia and Africa were brought under communist Chinese rule. Resources were becoming scarce, population centers overcrowded, and tensions reached a breaking point by 2096 when war erupted once again in the Middle East for the remaining fuel supply.

Just when things looked like they might reach the nuclear tipping point, severe flooding decimated China and quickly brought the war to a screeching halt. China was not the only country affected by the floods, however, and the chain of events that followed nearly brought civilization to its knees when oil supplies could not be distributed for almost two months. Two sides set aside their differences and the world did what it had to do - it pulled together to survive. In 2107, from the ashes of war and the aftermath of flooding, the Earth Alliance was born.

Both superpowers had expanded their space programs and began exploration and colonization of the Moon and Mars during the war, and now that the war was over they pooled their focus and resources into finding a way to grow beyond the boundaries of the earth. It was for this purpose that the Earth Alliance was primarily formed. The secondary function of the EA was to police unstable nations and bring rogue nations under control. Each country in the Alliance retained its sovereignty and independence - at least in theory - but the Alliance held great sway and exerted greater influence over its member nations than the UN had ever dreamed of.

Numerous small satellite colonies were established on the Moon and Mars, but even with the joint efforts of the world's two superpowers and all of the supporting nations humanity struggled to get a foothold on either celestial body.

The broadcast from The Givers could not have come at a better time. With the advances in science and medicine, the EA was able to stabilize much of the earth's climate problems and seismic chaos as well as make colonization beyond the earth more successful and productive. It was almost as an afterthought that the largest vessel and crowning jewel in the Earth Alliance's fleet was constructed.