United Nations 2350

Universe: The Expanse

Polity: United Nations

Tags: index new

Links:

Earth at night, showing the city lights of thirty billion people

The Moon, home to New Hague and the Bush shipyards

Orbital station concept art, evoking UN orbital infrastructure

Dense megacity skyline, evoking Earth's overpopulated cities

Tech Summary

Value: Fusion-drive interplanetary. Epstein drive, railguns, torpedoes, PDCs. Reaver power armor. No FTL, no artificial gravity.
Confidence: InformedGuess

References:

Kardashev

Value: 0.89
Min: 0.85
Max: 0.93
Confidence: CalculatedGuess

References:

Population: 30.1e9 (30B Earth + 0.1B Luna). Estimated 15B on Basic Assistance at ~10,000 W/person = 1.5e14 W. 15B employed plus industry/military at ~40,000 W/person = 6.0e14 W. Luna 0.1B at ~50,000 W/person = 5e12 W. UNN fleet and orbital infrastructure ~1e13 W. Total: ~7.65e14 W. Per-person: ~25,400 W (vs Earth 2023: 2,200 W/person, roughly 11.5x more). Kardashev: log10(7.65e14) / 10 - 0.6 = 0.89. Slightly below the Sol System average of 0.90 because Basic Assistance drags down per-capita energy consumption.

Planets

Value: 2
Confidence: Canon

References:

The UN controls two bodies: Earth and Luna. Mars is independent under the Martian Congressional Republic. Belt stations and outer moons fall outside UN sovereignty.

Government

Value: Federal presidential republic
Confidence: Canon

References:

The Secretary-General is head of state and government. Three branches: the Secretariat (executive), the General Assembly (legislative), and the Court of Justice (judicial). The Security Council advises on military and foreign policy. Capital is New York, with New Hague on Luna as a secondary seat of government.

Warships

Value: 300
Confidence: CalculatedGuess

References:

The UNN outnumbers the MCRN roughly five to one (canon, TV Season 2). With MCRN fleet strength estimated at ~60 warships, this gives ~300 UNN vessels. The fleet includes Truman-class dreadnoughts as battle group flagships, Xerxes-class battleships for close-range railgun engagements, Leonidas-class battleships as heavy troop carriers, and Munroe-class light destroyers as the mass-produced workhorse. Sixteen Leonidas-class alone are docked at Lovell City on Luna during the Free Navy Conflict.

Population

Value: 30e9
Confidence: Canon

References:

Earth's population is approximately thirty billion, stated in both the novels and the TV series. Luna adds roughly one hundred million (books) to one billion (TV). Over half of Earth's population lives on Basic Assistance, a welfare program providing food, housing, and minimal medical care but no employment.

Techlevel

Value: 7
Confidence: InformedGuess

References:

Fusion (TL 7). The UN uses S-250 and S-400 series Epstein drives running on deuterium-helium-3 fusion. No nanotechnology (TL 8), no FTL (TL 9), no artificial gravity. UNN ships are generally built to older designs than their MCRN equivalents.

Location

Value: Earth and Luna, Sol System
Confidence: Canon

References:

Sovereign territory covers Earth and Luna. The UNN operates fleets throughout the Sol System (Home Fleet at Earth, Jupiter Fleet, Saturn Fleet) but the UN's political authority does not extend beyond Earth and its moon.

Class

Value: 7
Confidence: InformedGuess

References:

Interplanetary. The UN controls Earth and Luna but projects military power across the entire Sol System through the UNN Home Fleet, Jupiter Fleet, and Saturn Fleet. Fusion-powered spacecraft with sustained multi-g acceleration. No FTL capability.

By 2350, thirty billion people crowd Earth's surface. The oceans have swallowed old coastlines and cities stack ever higher, but the real weight pressing down on the planet is human. Half the population sits on Basic Assistance, government welfare that provides food, shelter, and nothing else. The economy cannot absorb them. Automation and offworld resource extraction have made most labor unnecessary, and so fifteen billion people wait in line for a shot at education or employment that may never come.

The United Nations governs this mass from New York and from New Hague on Luna. Secretary-General Esteban Sorrento-Gillis holds office during this period, though real power often flows through figures like Under-Secretary Chrisjen Avasarala and Deputy Secretary-General Sadavir Errinwright. The Security Council shapes military and foreign policy. The UNN Home Fleet orbits Earth while the Jupiter Fleet and Saturn Fleet patrol the outer system.

The UNN is the largest navy in the Sol System by raw count, outnumbering the Martian Congressional Republic Navy roughly five to one. Truman-class dreadnoughts lead battle groups. Xerxes-class battleships specialize in close-range engagements with railguns and boarding grapplers. Leonidas-class battleships carry marines and dropships. The workhorse Munroe-class light destroyers fill out the fleet in numbers Mars cannot match. On the ground, the UNMC fields over a hundred million marines in Reaver powered armor.

Earth's technology is the same as the rest of the Sol System. Epstein drives, running on deuterium-helium-3 fusion, push warships and freighters at sustained multi-g acceleration. Railguns, torpedoes, and point defense cannons arm every combatant. There is no faster-than-light travel, no artificial gravity, no energy shielding. UNN vessels are generally less advanced than their MCRN counterparts, built to older designs and produced in greater quantity from the Bush shipyards at Luna.