New Earth

**New Earth** is the name of a planet in a solar system that resembles the Sol system remarkably, and has a unique position in the galaxy giving it the same constellations as Earth. It is the only such planet out of all the explored regions where this is the case.

The planet was found on a star chart by the Vulcans in 2033, in their exploration of the Alpha and Beta quadrants. It has the same length of year, day, and lunar cycle as Earth, unique amongst all other planets.

After First Contact in 2063, and the restoration of most of Earth's farm lands and humans from radiation poisoning after World War III, a number of people looked to the stars to start a new life. The human ships of the era could only manage between 8 and 20 times light speed, depending on local conditions in subspace, so colonizing would be a slow process. In the United States, a number of people picked New Earth as a chance to start over, and create a better United States, free of the ghosts of the past, and a chance to start things over the way they wanted. The Americans brought English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians, South Africans, Russians, and several others, with an initial group of four dozen families from each country.

Due to a previously unknown feature of subspace, where certain routes acted like rivers, speeding up the effective speed of the ship more than the measured speed, it look six months less than expected to arrive. They arrived in 2076, and the families set up their villages and drew up town charters, and set up a global constitution, which allowed every settler a share of the global exports back to Earth. The new United States, new United Kingdom, and other countries were set up with the divisions each group wanted to create. The new settlements each sent a member to the global council to determine who would join from Earth, and they asked for specific jobs, nationalities, and physical characteristics to make their colony a success. Over the next ten years, the initial settlement of 672 people increased through births (via fertility drugs and surrogate pregnancies) and settlers to over 12,000 people.

## Countries

* United States of America: with 76 states, the new US has more 'old' architecture across its cities than on Earth. Architects, artisans, and construction workers were a large number of the initial colonists requested to settle to build old-style houses. Old town Charleston, Boston, New York, Savannah, Quebec, Halifax, and Jacksonville are representative of the houses and architecture across the country.
* United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland: a more federal United Kingdom, each country has its own devolved Parliament, and respects its own language and culture.
* Germany: This Germany has 40 states and a number of overseas territories.
* New Zealand: A nation with 10 provinces, a bicameral legislature, and a governor-general appointed by the monarch of the UK.
* Australia: Having made the desert bloom, Australia has 36 states, an inland sea, and numerous rivers and lakes on the interior of the continent.
* New Caledonia: Populated with Earth's New Caledonian natives and other citizens mostly from Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
* France: Populated only with the non-socialist French from Earth
* Netherlands: By the 2300s, this country has 26 million Dutch, and several other settlements around the planet.
* Brittany: Populated with Breton-speakers from Earth.

## Finances

Each country has its own currency, but each currency is set to a fixed amount of gold. The dollar, for example is $20.67 per 1 troy ounce of gold. The British pound is worth $4.85, or ₤4.26/t oz. Nations on New Earth have full reserve checking accounts and fractional reserve savings accounts, and none have a central bank, which were blamed for the crash of 1929, 2008, and 2022.

## Social Welfare

No nation on New Earth has any welfare system. Each has adopted a system of savings accounts with each person contributing a portion of their own wages to those accounts; each person is required by law to contribute at least 3% per annum to retirement savings accounts, at least 6 months expenses to their unemployment emergency savings account, and at least $5000 to their own health savings accounts. Anyone can contribute as much as they want to their retirement, health, and unemployment accounts. Private charities help people who are unemployed, as do religious institutions.

## Farming

Farms on New Earth grow only heirloom seeds using organic methods. Composting is widespread, as is recycling across the planet. Farms do not use pesticides containing chemicals such as glyphosate, which has since shown to be a cancer-causing chemical, whose dangerous side-effects were only reversed with Vulcan assistance in the 2060s.

## Construction

Houses and other buildings are built using metal and wood, using classic architectural styles by and large, such as: Georgian, Federal, Victorian, Edwardian, Klutho / Chicago school, Art Deco, Queen Anne, etc. Houses typically have solar shingles, and most buildings have solar glass, both of which absorb solar radiation for providing power to the building and power utilities, which are less necessary on New Earth than back on Earth due to the prevalence of solar technology. Electric lines are built underground, so that tornadoes and hurricanes do not cause widespread power outages. Sewage systems process waste so that waste water, which is separately plumbed back into toilets is clean, and shower and sink water is plumbed back into showers and sink such that those water sources are clear of all VOCs, lead, mercury, arsenic, and other harmful organisms and materials.

## Water

All water on New Earth is filtered, and no nation adds fluorine in any form, since research indicated it lowered IQ.