Civilians

Workers, Pirates, and Corporatists paved the way to the stars, but they’re not the bulk of the population living there. Every new world has billions of unskilled workers, billions of kids who’re not yet working, and billions of retired elders just trying to live out their lives. When humanity uprooted itself for a thousand kingdoms across the galaxy, it uprooted its families too. There are more than those motivated or in power who’ve come to suffer this dark future.

Along for the Ride

Perhaps space was never meant to be the domain of your daughter, wife, and the family dog, but they all came along to the new worlds. These people never wanted to be involved in a fight or never dreamed of building a new world. They just wanted to live their lives. Love, family or necessity drew them to the stars and they simply made the best they could of a shit situation. They settled in, went to school, and got mediocre jobs flipping burgers. It kept them all together and that was good enough.

At the end of the day, life was life and it would’ve been the same on Earth as it was on Bumblefuck-9.

Oppression

When things got bad, they got bad on the Civilians first. Schools were closed, waged suppressed, the cost of living rose sharply. New expenses cut down on recreation and new laws sought to cut off any escape. Longer working hours reduced the average Civilian’s life to a 2 step process: work and sleep. There wasn’t time for anything else. Corporate owned schools taught propaganda and exhasperated parents couldn’t teach their kids the truth. It was a system that trained its own slaves to eagerly wear their collars with pride.

A culture of greed gradually built in most civilian populations. Every man for himself. Every one dreaming that they too could become a billionaire, even if they had more in common with a homeless man than they did the boss. It was the dream to rise to the top some day, somehow, some way.

Those not swallowed by the culture of greed live in a culture of fear. They worried for their friends and families, worried they’d be sold out, and worried they’d be jailed for life because they indulged in their latest vice. It was anything to escape.

Child Labor

The children are an easy pain point for any family. As the corporatist demand for cheap labor rose, they slowly exhausted their labor pool. The only thing to do was to make that pool bigger. In many systems, they simply lowered the age of majority. In the Barish Cluster, a person is an adult at 14 and they can work a full 80 hour week at 12. Children here are raised with the expectation that they’ll get a job early, work hard, and support their families. It is an unfortunate and dark reality of these worlds. When the worst of humanity got their chance - no crime was too cruel.

Faction Civilians

Pirate-Civilians

There are also Civilians among the pirates. Their lives are different. These people live with the pirates, but they are not themselves engaged in piracy. They live in a pirate-owned town and they have drinks from a pirate-owned bar, but they’re just keeping their heads down and living life the best they can. It’s easier among the pirates. Here they can achieve a reasonable status in their lives, get some happiness, and enjoy some comforts.

Among the pirates, there aren’t really laws outlawing vices. You can indulge in booze or drugs, so long as you harm no one else by doing so. Entertainment is available, work is reasonable, and the food is all good. It’s one of the best lives to lead in this fucked-up world.

Corporate-Civilians

It’s hard to say the family of corporatists are really civilians. They’re all being indoctrinated into the practice. Many of them have a job from an early age. Still, some of them are not drinking the Koolaid. Some are just trying to live their lives too. They often have lives of luxury, assuming they’re anywhere but the bottom of the corporate ladder. They get expensive vacations, live in comfort, and get to have real, organic food as oppose to the synethetic, textured-mushrooms used to feed the bulk of the lower class population.

New Athens

The story didn’t play out that way in New Athens.

The bargain struck between Pirate, Corporatist, and Workers ensured a fair living. The average civilian in New Athens has a good life, whether they’re living in a pirate territory or a corporate one. There are trade offs - the corporatists are still a little oppressive and the Workers still expect their families to learn a strong trade to follow in the family line of work.

Street Rats

The haste to build New Athens left behind many orphans. There is a higher than average populaton of homeless children. There is no social safety net here - BUT EQUALLY - no corporate force trying to squeeze productivity out of every worker. The end result is that New Athens has cracks in its social structure. It is possible, easier even to be a runaway here or to grow up in a bad home than on other worlds. It’s the irony of a place with freedom like this.

Life as a street rat means scavenging, stealing food wherever you can find it. It means fighting to survive or surviving in the wilderness. Maybe you’ll be taken in by another family, be throne in an orphanage, get adopted, or just get a job to make due on your own. The exact result varies by territory - a patchwork of laws and enforcement.