Jack of Harts

The AI Council placed installations on most major rocks in the solar system before we arrived. That kept the Western Alliance, the Russians, and the Chinese from arguing too strenuously over who owned what rock. The main issue was that the Russians and the Chinese did not trust the AIs like the Alliance did. And due to that distrust of full AIs, Russian and Chinese AIs forever lagged behind the full sentient awareness of the AI Council. Given their history with Rogue AIs, they did not trust sentient AIs to remain under their control. And they had a few bones to pick with the AI Council because three of their number proudly admitted that they had been Russian or Chinese AIs before joining the AI Council. Such defections were not taken lightly. But as long as the AI Council maintained neutrality, they were tolerated. And so the Council helped shave off the rough edges of frontier colonialism in the solar system and kept us from starting more than one shooting war out there.