I chose to change the fact that interstellar travel was possible, and it resulted in this.

The Andromeda System

The Andromeda System, formerly known as the Andromeda Galaxy is the cluster of galaxies that includes all known and explored galaxies till the present moment. The name Andromeda was adopted from the biggest one of the galaxies that the system contains, whose name came from the Greek mythology. It contains 45 different galaxies, some of the biggest ones including Phoenix, Jericho, Sirius, Astrid and Calypso. It is also estimated to contain around 56 trillion stars, with over 9000 billion planets. The galaxies in the systems are estimated at around 3 million light-years from each other, so the only way of traveling between them is by intergalactic spaceships. The capital of the Andromeda System is the Andromeda Galaxy. The System came to life when intergalactic travelling was invented by N.A.S.A.’s Space Force division, founded in common accord by all the leaders of the world after the 45 galaxies that the System is composed of came so close to each other. Then started an intergalactic expansion that came to become the Andromeda System, which took the suggestive name of the Great Expansion. With the expansion immigration on other planets started, as Earth was dying from global warming. Over the time the population has grown bigger and bigger till, at the present moment, 90% of the discovered planets are inhabited by people. The System is shared by all the formerly existent powers of the world, including some new ones that appeared in the process. The battle for more territory marked a great part of the process of forming and evolution of Andromeda, and while partly it was resolved through peace accords and clear territory markings, a lot of the fights for power and colonies still exist. Considering the size and magnitude of the cluster, all type of climates can be met. From frozen planets to ones that are as hot as a Sun due to their proximity to such stars, from planets covered with water to ones where the land and air is incredibly dry, from ones filled with greenery and organisms to ones that are just deserts, to ones that are swept by the most violent and dangerous hurricanes or sandstorms, it has all kinds of regimens and life conditions, some not being predisposed for life at all. During the expansion and exploring of these new planets, a lot of new living organisms have been discovered, both plants and animals, which received new names and were subdued to man’s will. Some superior beings existed there as well, but all the ones that were found were slaughtered in cold blood, humankind wanting supremacy over this new land. Andromeda is inhabited by people of all colors, religions and nationalities, as all living humans live on her territory. The population that at the beginning was only around 7 billion, it has flourished and by laws that “encouraged” people to have big families, it got to around a septillion. While the System is inhabited by people of different ethnicities, who speak different languages, the official language was named English and laws specify that everyone has to learn it and be able to speak it, from an infant who is saying his first words to the oldest people that exist. Most religions have lost its reach and have fallen into oblivion, with only few people still practicing it and believing in a higher power. While it was not directly forbidden by any laws, with the Great Expansion people started thinking of themselves as gods rather than in any other celestial beings. The population is consisted of a lot of large families, as for a very long period a time abortion was illegal and authorities promoted family growing through any possible way. Andromeda does not have a unique monarch; it is managed and ruled by a council composed of multiple royal families and presidents from each galaxy. The council changes only at the change of the leaders of the galaxies and planets. As for how they get to rule the planet, they are either from a royal family, or a president chosen by the people. This council decides matters of intergalactic importance and sets the fundamental rules of the System. Other than that, each galaxy is autonomous and independent, having their own justice, law, health, education and economical systems. Each galaxy from the cluster has their own armed forces, however there does exist an intergalactic army that is responsible for maintaining peace in the System. Economical trades between galaxies and planets happen often, export and import being the main source of money for a lot of planets in the cluster. The system in each galaxy is built so that everyone’s talents and abilities are harnessed and used, though that means a lot of time separating families and transporting them to other planets. Each planet has its own specialty, whether it is for soldiers in training, artists, scientists, miners, prisoners, depositing trash or something else. The science is mainly revolving around using the newly discovered elements and resources to advance the society and the life conditions. A lot of new technologies have appeared, beginning with the intergalactic spaceships that allows people to travel between galaxies, to technologies that allow communication on a radius of around 15 billion light-years, to medical devices that can cure diseases that were once considered terminal. But, although all these new and improved technologies are available for using, only the rich people can afford to use them more often; for the people that are poorer they seem more like a fantasy than a real thing. Even with thousands of years of evolution, the socioeconomic differences still mark a big part of people’s lives. The ability test that each person takes in their childhood is also what determines where exactly on the social ladder they will end up; but even with its existence, rich families still have kids whose abilities would make them rich (and oddly enough, they are almost never taken away from their parents, as their talents are exactly the same as the entire family’s) and poor people’s children almost never end up with a good job or position (and the soldiers take them mercilessly from their parents). There still exists a really big and enunciated difference between people and socioeconomic classes and equality is still far from becoming a reality. The only way of transportation on long distances is by interstellar spaceships, which usually have regular routes once every two weeks, but which are extremely expensive. Between planets that are closer than 5 billion kilometers you can buy a ticket to a rocket, but they are still really expensive and a journey of this kind takes at least two weeks in one direction if you buy a regular one. The most common personal means of transport that an average person has is a manually piloted drone, which they use to fly on the surface of the planet, as these devices cannot raise higher than 20 kilometers from the surface. The culture of Andromeda is very varied, as it comes from all the parts of this cluster of galaxies, existing music, paintings, sculpture and books from different nationalities. However, a lot of the art that is produced comes from the galaxy properly named as Lyra, as a lot of the population of the artists in the System is concentrated there. Art in all forms is present on Andromeda, depicting their history (especially since the expansion), proudly showing their greatest achievements (for example the invention of interstellar traveling) and focusing on all the beautiful things they are surrounded by (most of the recent art being almost entirely space themed). Most of the holidays and important events are celebrated with air parades and demonstrations and, while old sports are still practiced, some new ones like space racing appeared. The news is usually broadcasted on galaxy level through special communication devices that transmit it to news bases on solar systems, which then send it to planets. Before sharing them, though, the news is very thoroughly processed and checked, to ensure that they would not ignite any spark in people’s heads and hearts. All in all, this System is controlled through every way possible as to work exactly the way the rulers want them to but, sometimes, even though it seems that all these rules and restrictions and conditions should keep everything in check, chaos still finds its way here.

How the Andromeda System was destroyed

As the time passed, the cities became bigger, the technologies became more advanced and the world became more prosperous. But under all that, the common people also became angrier. The inequality and pain they were going through were making them want revenge. So revenge they got. Seeing how they were mistreated, how their children, siblings and friends were taken away from them, how the rich flourished with their entire families together, going on space cruises and getting all the best treatments and technologies they decided to take them down. To take the entire system down. While they did not have any communication devices and way too few of them had the chance to travel to other planets, they had the numbers and they had the pain that kept them going. Out of that pain, like a phoenix from the ashes, they rose. Suddenly, all across the System revolutions started. Small folk refused to show up to work. They marched towards the nearest space base, toward the closest governmental agencies and they destroyed everything in their way. Till the army mobilized, it was too late. On around 50 billion planets they had already won. The council tried to keep everything under wraps, they tried to cover it up, to delete any record of something like that happening. But the people heard anyway. And the spark that all the leaders of the world feared ignited. People were going to the closest building that was under the government’s control and burned them down. They stole the spaceships, assaulted the news centers and sent them to those same planets they were using as prisons for the ones who were only trying to steal a piece of bread for their family. That was were most of them died. So all that was left after the revolution were the people. And while they got what they wanted, their freedom, their families back, the lack of someone to control them also destroyed them. They lived through the ashes of the kingdoms they burned, fighting and killing each other for a piece of what remained from the once glorious Andromeda. They killed one another to take control of the ships, to live in the beautiful houses and to get the finest things that could be found. They killed one another till all of them died, together with the ships, and the houses, and the finest things…

Dutza B

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