The League of Allied Worlds presents itself as the heir to the great western democracies - an American utopia among the stars. Patriotism is a virtue. Education is universal. Every citizen is presumed to enjoy a middle-class standard of living or better. Individual rights and freedoms are enshrined in law and celebrated in culture.
This is the poster version of the League, and for many citizens - particularly those on established worlds like Calysto - it's close enough to true. But the League is a civilization of hundreds of worlds, and the further you get from the capital, or the deeper you look beneath the surface, the more the cracks show.
League culture descends from the American democratic tradition, filtered through fifty years of shipboard life during the Long Journey and four centuries of development since. The result is a society that values:
For the upper and middle classes on core worlds, this ideal is largely realized. They live in comfortable homes, send their children to good schools, and enjoy the benefits of an advanced interstellar civilization.
The League's promises ring hollow for those at the bottom.
Poverty exists throughout the League, though it's rarely discussed in polite company. On frontier colonies, resources are scarce and life is hard. On core worlds, the poor are simply invisible - pushed into forgotten corners where respectable citizens never have to see them.
Corruption flourishes at the local level. Police look the other way for the right price. Building inspectors can be bribed. Politicians serve their donors rather than their constituents. The League government is too large and too far away to notice, and local power structures have learned to maintain appearances while serving themselves.
The promise of opportunity is real for some. A talented child from a poor family can, in theory, earn a scholarship to a good school or secure an appointment to the Naval Academy. In practice, these paths are narrow and treacherous. The system favors those who already have connections, and those without them must be exceptional just to be considered.
The gap between the League's ideals and its reality is most visible in its major cities - particularly those with "New" or "Neo" in their names. League citizens have taken to calling these "n-cities": places that look shiny and modern on the outside but are hollow and rotten within.
New Athens, the capital city of Calysto and seat of the League government, is the archetypal n-city.
The city was built in layers over the centuries. Originally designed as a seven-layer structure with each level dedicated to a specific function, it grew as the League grew. When more space was needed, new layers were simply built on top of the old - often without bothering to clear what was underneath.
The result is a city with two faces.
Topside is what visitors see: gleaming towers, clean streets, efficient public transit, the halls of government, fine restaurants, and all the amenities of an advanced civilization. The citizens who live here are educated, prosperous, and proud of their capital.
The Undercity is what topside was built over: a maze of abandoned structures, sealed-off sections, and forgotten spaces. The old layers were never demolished, just buried. Power still runs to some sections. People live down there - those who can't afford topside, those hiding from the law, those who fell through the cracks. Gangs control territory. Drugs flow freely. Abandoned vehicles are stripped for parts. The infrastructure that keeps topside running passes through here, maintained by workers who the upper city prefers not to think about.
Officially, there is no "upper city" or "lower city." Each level of New Athens is equally important to its function. This is the line that government officials and topside residents will give you, and some of them might even believe it. The residents of the undercity know better.
The League doesn't officially recognize social classes. In practice, they exist.
The wealthiest citizens - major industrialists, media moguls, old money families who trace their lineage to the Perseverance Fleet. They have connections to government, influence over policy, and access to opportunities that ordinary citizens can only dream of. Many maintain residences on multiple worlds.
Successful professionals, senior military officers, high-ranking civil servants, executives. Comfortable lives, good schools for their children, influence in their communities. They believe in the League's ideals because those ideals have worked for them.
The backbone of the League, at least in theory. Skilled workers, small business owners, teachers, engineers, junior officers. They live the League Dream in modest form - stable employment, decent housing, hope for the future. For many, this is genuinely a good life.
Those who work but struggle. Service workers, laborers, those on frontier colonies where conditions are harsh. They keep the League running but rarely share in its prosperity. Many are one bad break away from falling further.
Those who have fallen through the cracks entirely. The homeless, the addicted, those born in places like the New Athens undercity with no realistic path out. The League's social safety net is supposed to catch them. It doesn't always.
English is the sole official language of the League, a legacy of its American founders. All government business is conducted in English, all schools teach in English, and it serves as the common tongue across all League worlds.
Other languages survive in various communities. Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, and dozens of others are spoken in homes and neighborhoods, particularly on worlds settled by specific ethnic communities. The League makes no effort to suppress these languages, but neither does it support them - English proficiency is simply assumed for participation in civic life.
Religious freedom is guaranteed in the League, and a variety of faiths are practiced.
The Flock of the Shepherd, a Protestant coalition that formed during the Long Journey, remains influential on Calysto and other core worlds. Various other Christian denominations, as well as Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and other communities, exist throughout League space.
The Catholic Church traveled with the Perseverance Fleet but eventually established itself in what would become the Confederacy. They maintain dioceses on worlds across human space, including in the League.
Secular humanism is also common, particularly among the educated classes. The League government is officially secular.
Marriage in the League is between two or more consenting adults. Monogamy is the cultural norm, and most League citizens practice it. Polygamy is legal but relatively uncommon and sometimes viewed as slightly eccentric.
Family structures vary. Nuclear families are common, but extended family households, single-parent families, and chosen families all exist without significant stigma. The League's individualist culture generally holds that family arrangements are private matters.
League Youth is an organization aimed at the secondary and college-age children of upper-class families. It serves as a social club, a travel service, a charity organization, and - most importantly - a pipeline into government service.
The organization's Summer Humanitarian Outreach trips are frequently cited as the crowning moments of time spent in League Youth. These chaperoned and curated trips to frontier colonies are carefully designed to give participants the emotional experience of doing good, while ensuring they never have to confront the actual conditions or cultures of the worlds they visit. Participants return home with a sense of accomplishment and stories to tell at university admission interviews, having learned nothing that might complicate their worldview.
Membership in League Youth is technically open to any citizen, but in practice, the fees, time commitments, and social expectations make it accessible only to the wealthy. It serves to reinforce class boundaries while maintaining the appearance of meritocracy.