The Roaring Twenties of the Twentieth Century changed everything about America and most of the world too. Increasing prosperity brought about the rise of a powerful middle class that drove unprecedented economic growth. Talking radios and silent movies brought entire nations together. Sports heroes and movie stars became household names through the news reels. Cities built gigantic stadiums for their sports teams and palatial cinemas. It was a time of legends.
For those of you who don’t pilot starships, all stars generate gravitic links through hyperspace with other nearby stars. We normally ride those rivers when traveling because they’re faster than going in open hyperspace. Beacon Stars generate more powerful links with stars further away that are faster to fly on than normal stars. Canopus is a Beacon Star. A powerful one. I’m talking Alpha Centauri-class here. That’s why we named a sector after it.
Amber changed the politics of the mountains and forests of the West Coast States during the Second Great Depression. They were regions that enjoyed far different cultures than the coastal capitals, and they thrived with minimal support from her distribution network. She gave them weapons, ammunition, and spare parts they couldn’t manufacture on their own, and she sent operatives to keep watch over them. It was a powerful combination of people and resources.
I don’t know what all they teach in schools now but we Americans lost a lot of ships in the initial Shang strikes. The British of course lost a lot of ships at Alpha Centauri. That left the Spanish Armada to shoulder the burden of major fleet actions while the rest of us rebuilt. That is why Third Fleet was built around them. And that is why Epsilon Reticuli was so important. We had to show that the Alliance could win and win big. The Shang did not cooperate.
The Roaring Twenties gave once-backward America unmatched economic clout, and they used it to invest in destroyed economies. Humbled Germany accepted the loans and their economy rebounded. They paid their War Reparations to the Allies with ease, who turned around and repaid their War Debts to Washington. My family made a tidy profit in those years. And unlike many we kept it when the good times came to an end.