A fifth major power in Jack of Harts politics is mentioned in the stories but is rarely seen as a great power. The AI Council of the 21st century that killed the Rogue AIs and became the Cybernetic Council of Jack’s time is far more powerful than most people know, but makes it a practice not to show that power. They are aligned with the Western Alliance, the Alliance officially recognizes their sentience and independence, and they are natural opponents of the Russians and Chinese who have hard anti-sentient AI laws due to their history with the Rogue AIs. The Council has spent centuries building a digital civilization on worlds incompatible with biological human life, while maintaining their links with humanity via individual personal friendships.
Our founding document, The Constitution, outlawed the slave trade when we formed the United States of America. Not as an amendment, but in the original document signed and approved by all States. Then we fought a war over a century later to bring an end to slavery entirely. Today the drug cartels impose contracts that amount to indentured servitude to the people they willingly take across the border, and then there are the literal sex slaves. This is a new generation of slaves brought into America. It is not compassionate to let the cartels bring them in. It is the worst thing we can do to them. The Democrat Party has opened the border to a new slave trade, and we must stop this if we wish to keep the soul of our nation.
The politics of Jack of Harts is organized around the idea that there are three great powers. The Russians and Chinese are highly centralized polities, with all power flowing from the capitals to the outer districts and colonies. They have centralized economies and laws independent of all foreign influence. And given their history with the Rogue AIs, they do NOT LIKE sentient AIs. The Western Alliance is highly decentralized, with every Nation State charting their own course. Their distributed economies are in constant competition with each other and other powers. They are economically and militarily a match for any other power, and constantly seek to keep the other powers from uniting against them. South America is a growing power, but no rival to the others.
Jack of Harts politics and history includes the idea that humanity did not go to space united. The United Nations and NATO collapsed under the weight of the Second Great Depression, and the global powers that returned to space where the three great powers, China, Russia, and the Western Alliance, a South American alliance that considered itself a fourth great power, and some other non-aligned nations. Russia and China were ascendant powers that had solidified their control of the nations surrounding them. South America charted its own independent path for the first time in centuries, and the Western Alliance consisted of North and Central America, the British Commonwealth, Western and Central Europe, Africa, and Australia.
So I spent time in the hospital. My dad got an infection that probably would have killed him in any other world. But we have the Mayo Clinic here, and they pumped him full of antibiotics until they cleared the infection and got him functional again. I went back to the hospital for the first time since Mom died, and that was not really very easy. I am both mentally and physically drained from that. My dad got better and they sent him home. He is still weak though, so he will have to be careful for the next few days to make certain he continues improving. He should be sleeping a lot going forward. Infections suck.
Forge of War on Amazon
Angel Flight on Amazon
Angel Strike on Amazon
Angel War on Amazon
Wolfenheim Rising on Amazon
Wolfenheim Emergent on Amazon