It's the mid 21st century, and much of the developed world is in a state of collapse. Western Europe and USA have all declared bankruptcy. Right wing extremists battle marxist revolutionaries and Islamic Jihadists for control of territory in Europe while federal governments scramble to hold onto any sense of order.

USA is torn apart by a race war, a new confederate movement, protests and riots for Mexican annexation in southern states and Canadian annexation in northern states.

Within speculation over the abundant presence of iron, elemental aluminium, and other critical resources on the Moon, NASA enjoys what little funding and resources USA can spare.

East Asia, though suffering low birthrates and a declining population, competes against the United States for a presence in outer space.

Far right groups in Europe, frustrated at being a racial minority in their homeland, have started up their own shoddy but effective space program, colonising the Moon, Mars, and orbits around the Earth. Supplied with resources by Russia and a thriving Eastern Europe, and supplied with tech, designs, and know-how from the bankrupt ruins of the ESA and SpaceX, have managed to climb the tech tree of space very quickly. The "roaring 20s" and early 30s provided a fantastic breakthrough in space technology and spacecraft efficiency and optimisation before the mid 30's brought it all crashing down.

The Western Confederation, as they call it, is a de facto country with three provinces, the Norfolk Zone in England, Point de l'espace in northeastern France, and Reichsabschussrampe in northwestern Germany. Though this makeshift union lives in perpetual existential crisis, struggles to maintain order and control of territory desperately holding front lines against the Islamic State, national governments, and communist rioters, is barely able to move goods and resources from one province to another thanks to ravaged infrastructure networks and that fact that Point de l'espace is an enclave, and are barely even capable of remaining in communication with each other, they've managed to cobble together a shoddy, delicate, yet remarkably ardent outer space colonial empire.

They've seized control of the International Space Station, and hold it hostage until NASA promises cooperation, diplomacy, and disclosing designs and blueprints of spacecraft, they've settled 2000 people on the moon, and another 80 on Mars, and another half dozen in deep orbit around Earth.

On Earth:

Point de l'espace (Space Point, in french) considers itself the capital of the union, however there is no location for federal government or offices. Parliament meets wherever they can find a location, it usually ends up being a highschool gymnasium or a parking lot, or a cargo ship in the North Sea, and governments offices are located in people's homes.

The Chancellor, Antoine Ferrin, has been promising an election since he took the position unilaterally, but the three provinces cannot agree on a system of election. The English call for a Westminster style system, the French, direct presidential election, the Germans call for a system of nobility and to crown a king.

Antoine Ferrin allows parliament and the ministries to make most of the decisions, he himself only serving the role of holding the shoddy mess that is the Western Confederation together.

Most aspects of governance are handled provincially, including defense and military, citizenship, social issues, and infrastructure.

Minister for Resource Procurement, Sarah Boulier, enjoys the job of making sure that the rocket fuel sent by Russia doesn't get sunk by drones on the journey, blown up by jihadists in the Port of Bremen, and then enjoys figuring out how the fuck to get it to Space Point through hundreds of kilometres of blown up roads and railway past the German federal government. She has to figure out how to get the steel from Norfolk to Space Point, the rocket engines unearthed in a military base under Germany, and everything else from here to there past shitshows.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Julia Henkenburg enjoys daily calls with the French government begging them to stop shelling every road Space Point tries to fix, trying to bribe ISIS to go after the Communists, and getting called a 'kike' by the Nordic Resistance Movement and the Bavarian Reich for trying to invite them into the Confederation.

The Martian Colony

The Martian Colony, governed directly by the Martian Colonial Authority in Space Point, has a population of 78. Of these, 38 live in the capital, a municipality/base called "Fort Farage" (yes, named after Nigel Farage), there are other municipalities ranging in size from 15 to 2.

Food: The Martian Colony is largely self sufficient for food, growing rice, potatoes, soy, and a few other crops. Any attempt to raise animals has not gone well. Nutritional supplements get sent up on the bi-to-quarter-annual round trip.

Water: Recycled, but drilling efforts have shown the presence of liquid water as little as 10m under the surface in some places. The water immediately evaporates upon contact with the thin atmosphere, but innovative efforts are being made to begin pumping water.

Repairs and maintenance: Some parts can be manufactured using 3D printers (plastic, metal, other materials as well) on Mars, while other more complicated/larger parts are stockpiled.

Leisure: Books and board games are the most common. Computer gaming is also frequent. Exploration and cartography, though technically a job, is also seen as an enjoyable hobby by many. Many inhabitants also enjoy building and programming robots to perform tasks ranging from novelty to automation/utility.

Innovation: Apart from awesome topography, Mars is geographically monolithic. However, there are ongoing exploratory missions, such as finding low ground for digging for water, and looking for minerals.

There are ongoing efforts to extract iron from the soil. Cast iron can be made in tiny amounts within workshops, but designs and plans are being developed for a large scale smelting, and processing into steel.

Infrastructure:

Fort Farage has 6 dormitories with kitchens, 16 greenhouses, 4 workshops which double as community centres, a town hall, and a common area, as well as a monument to Nigel Farage, an airfield with 6 permanently stationed rockets (for emergency evacuation, scrapping for metal/parts, and retrofitting parts on ferries if needed).

Fort Farage relies almost exclusively on solar, however for projects/experiments/anything requiring large amounts of power, rocket fuel combustion is permitted. During the day, the municipality is powered by a common grid, while each building has a battery that carries it through the night.

Politics:

Fort Farage directly administrates the entire colony at the municipal level. The city meets semi-weekly to discuss progress, news, resolving conflicts, and so forth. The town does not have any official political figures, politics is dealt with by a randomly selected moderator and open discussion. Governing documents are written on Earth with advice from the colonists.

Economics and work:

Private ownership is minimal, extending little beyond personal belongings, rations, personal projects (robots etc...). A few people run hobby shops with merchandise ranging from hobby to utility. The means of production is collectivised, divided into cooperatives, such as the Agriculture Initiative, the Explorers' Initiative, the Drilling Initiative, the Maintenance Team, or the Electricians.

The Chinese also have a base on Mars, with 200 people living there. However, they are limited to one settlement, lacking the expansionist drive of the Western Confederation. NASA has no presence on Mars.

The Lunar Colony is significantly more developed, with around 2000 people. It is significantly more self sufficient, and has significantly more integrity, while Mars is considered quite delicate at this point. NASA and the Chinese are also both fairly developed on the Moon.

That about sums up all the information I have on this project so far.

I hope you guys spend the time to read and comment.