Rhestran Utopia​

 

The Rhestran Utopia (RTU) is a human interstellar cyberocracy composed of 22 member worlds and a population of approximately 18 billion. Significantly smaller both in spatiographic territory and population than other interstellar organizations within the Spur, the Utopia relies on a policy of measured isolationism and technological superiority to maintain its independence and control of the resource-rich cradle systems within the core of Utopian space.

History​

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Unlike other human civilizations within the Orion Spur the Rhestran Utopia has existed since the early period of human colonization.  Originally established by a private corporation to pursue scientific advancements otherwise illegal within Hegemony space, the colony quickly became a self-sufficient society and expanded to other nearby habitable worlds.  By the time of Confederate reunification these colonies had formed into the Utopia and controlled one of the largest territories within human-occupied space.  Boasting technological progress unhindered by the Interstellar Dark Age, the Utopia was easily able to negotiate its independence from the Confederacy.​,

Government and Politics

 

While the use of artificial intelligence and other "exponential technologies" is highly regulated within the Confederacy by the HDC, the Rhestran Utopia has no such restrictions and these technologies have been allowed to advance at a radical pace.  Quickly after its unification, the Utopia abandoned human oversight and installed the Keeper; a strong AI tasked with the benign governance of the Utopian population.

 

Currently the Keeper maintains complete control of Utopian industry, defense and social programs such as eugenics and work assignment.  The Utopia exists as a post-scarcity society, with the needs of its human population cared for by the Keeper's automatons.  Order is maintained efficiently via constant surveillance and dissent or nonconformity is eradicated quickly by lethal fleets of drone peacekeepers.​

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In order to curb the absolute power of the Keeper human input is still required by regulation in many levels of government, and modifications to the Keeper's code are expressly prohibited outside of an inner circle of academic elite.  While the AI has the ability to learn and extrapolate information, it cannot supplement its abilities without the aid of a human engineer and even minor enhancements have been delayed for decades pending thorough debate and investigation.

Military and Law Enforcement

 

The Utopian military is almost exclusively composed of highly advanced combat drones.  In contrast to Confederate military doctrine that deploys drones in support of human-controlled units, it is not unheard of for entire Utopian battlefleets to staff less than a dozen human operators.  While the Keeper directs the actions of autonomous units, regulation dictates that human input is required in the battlefield deployment of such weapon systems.  This reliance on automated combat groups is second only to the advanced drone technology of the Ativari Conclave, who still rely on organic troops to conduct sensitive operations.