A series of occupational factional differences between the SocDems and Ancoms in Light Era, from 2021.
Commentary (and bonus memery) below.
I think that a lot of independent sci-fi projects I see around aren't very compelling to me because I find they re-tread the same ground. Especially after being a moderator of the largest online worldbuilding community for about two years, eventually you get tired of seeing the same re-hashed discussions and "explorations" of space travel, biomedical science, militaries, that sort of thing. I'm no less guilty, but I figured I might as well try to push it in new directions.
For background, in Light Era, the Terrans are largely split into two large factional groups: the Social Democrats are a urban, industrious, highly technocratic, let's-build-some-cool-stuff people, whereas the Anarcho-Communists are far more relaxed, go-with-the-flow, communal, and almost luddite-like by contrast. There's more to them than that, which I will get to in the future, but that's a workable distinction for now.
I didn't want the factions to be identity politik excuses for conflict like I see in a lot of other scifi works, where each faction is kind of just a shallow superficial vessel with a name and flag. I tried to explore the implications of each faction's doctrine in the way the people live their lives in them instead, and really focus on their philosophies as legitimate cultural artefacts. It seems to be a success, since this is one of the most well-received series of worldbuilding art I've done so far.
I encourage other worldbuilders to take a step back and try this method too. It's harder than just making United League of Space NATO Federation again, I know, but give it a try—I promise your work will be richer as a result.
Anyway, as promised, dorky memery:
Was it worth it? Probably not. But you've come this far!
