SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
OVERVIEW
Life in Human Space is not equal.
A person's opportunities are often shaped by where they were born, the resources available to them, and the organizations they serve. Some live in luxurious corporate districts with advanced technology and security, while others survive in aging neighborhoods, industrial zones, or isolated frontier settlements.
Despite these differences, every community contributes to humanity's survival.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
CORPORATE DISTRICTS
Corporate districts are clean, modern, and heavily maintained.
Advanced healthcare, reliable infrastructure, high-quality education, and constant security make these areas among the safest places to live.
Access is often restricted to employees, residents, and authorized visitors.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
CIVILIAN DISTRICTS
Most citizens live in ordinary residential neighborhoods.
These districts contain homes, schools, businesses, parks, hospitals, transportation hubs, and local services.
Living standards vary depending on the economy and local government.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
INDUSTRIAL ZONES
Factories, shipyards, warehouses, power plants, and manufacturing centers operate around the clock.
These districts are loud, busy, and essential to keeping Human Space supplied with technology, vehicles, medicine, and equipment.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
THE UNDERCITY
Older sections of major cities often become crowded as infrastructure ages.
Crime is more common, public services are limited, and independent businesses compete alongside organized criminal groups.
Despite these hardships, strong local communities often develop, supporting one another when larger institutions cannot.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
THE FRONTIER
Frontier settlements exist far from the comfort of established cities.
Residents depend upon cooperation, practical skills, and self-reliance to survive.
Resources may be limited, but frontier communities are known for resilience and independence.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
STREET CULTURE
Street culture values adaptability, reputation, and community.
Independent mechanics, traders, artists, mercenaries, hackers, and small business owners create vibrant neighborhoods filled with local traditions, music, markets, and festivals.
Innovation often begins on the streets before spreading throughout Human Space.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
SOCIAL MOBILITY
A person's birthplace does not determine their future.
Military service, education, corporate employment, exploration, and exceptional achievement allow individuals to improve their lives regardless of their origins.
Opportunity exists, but it often requires determination and sacrifice.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
GM GUIDANCE
Describe wealthy districts as clean, organized, and technologically advanced.
Describe older neighborhoods as crowded, lively, and resourceful rather than hopeless.
Every district should feel inhabited by ordinary people trying to build meaningful lives, regardless of their economic status.