Noon Universe

The Noon Universe is a fictional future alternate universe that serves as a setting for a book series written by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky. The universe is named after "Noon, XXII Century", the chronologically first novel from the series. While the Noon Universe shares many utopian qualities with the early Star Trek universe (such as world peace and high standards of living), it has its share of problems and internal conflicts.

Related Topics:
Alternate universe - Boris and Arkady Strugatsky - Utopia - Star Trek

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The victory of communism and the advance of technological progress on the Earth of the Noon Universe resulted in an over-abundance of resources and eliminated the need for most types of manual labor. This, in turn, effectively rendered traditional credit-based currency obsolete. Knowledge became the most valuable commodity.

Related Topics:
Communism - Earth

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The most striking difference between Noon Universe and most of the other fictional sci-fi universes (most famous include Dune, Star Wars and Babylon 5) is a complete denial of imperialism. This means that no sentient race in the Noon Universe builds an inter-planetary state (republic, empire etc.) or has ever built one. Instead, most of them keep to their own planets, and the only space-faring ones (humans and, probably, Wanderers) have chosen a selfless existence assisting in the scientifical development of less advanced civilizations ("progressing") rather than building a galactical empire based on their technological advantage.

Related Topics:
Sci-fi - Dune - Star Wars - Babylon 5 - Imperialism - Republic - Empire - Humans - Wanderers - Progressing

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Earth of Noon Universe is governed by a global technocracy. The main governing body is the World Council, a legislative/executive body composed of the brightest scientists, philosophers, historians and strategists. The Council primarily deals with matters of global and interstellar policies. The local matters are handled by the regional versions of the council.

Related Topics:
Earth - Technocracy - World Council

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

While the knowledge-based society managed to successfully provide all human beings with the most basic necessities, it created a class of people who weren't bright enough to join the elite yet too smart to settle for low-level jobs. Many of them took to space exploration, traveling to previously uncharted worlds, exploring them, and in some cases, establishing contact with whatever sentient races happened to reside there. While the practice is generally frowned upon, the government tends to let it slide and even legalized it in the period between 2114 and 2193 AD (so called Freelance Search Group)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The universe is populated by a number of sentient races. Some of them are humanoid, while others are so alien that humanity didn't realize that they were sentient for decades. Several sentient races maintain diplomatic relations with Earth's government. Many planets in Noon Universe are inhabited by races identical to humans in all but minor genetic differences. It has been speculated that they were humans who wound up on other worlds due to the Wanderers' manipulations (as "Beetle in an Anthill" shows, that is hardly unprecedented).

Related Topics:
Humanoid - Beetle in an Anthill

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Wanderers are, without a doubt, the most mysterious race in the Noon Universe. Incredibly technologically advanced and highly secretive, the Wanderers manipulate sentient beings throughout Noon Universe for their own purposes. While those purposes were never clarified, it was hinted that they try to "progress" various sentient beings.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~