What does this mean in Newsletter #62 Does the USA and other countries still exist in the year 3300 or did it evolve into the Federation?
That text gives the impression that USA is a _former_ nation and does not exist any more. That is basically the fate of all previous nations (that's why you don't see Finland mentioned anywhere, for example). The only things remaining seem to be some of the old national flag designs which are still sometimes seen used as an inspiration for ship paint jobs.
It does give that impression, if that's the case then the United Kingdom wouldn't exist anymore and all other countries. Finland is a bad comparison though, because it's a small country in almost every aspect except land size (could be medium).
I think the largest countries like the US are more than capable to stay sovereign and exist as important members of the Federation.
Can we get an official explanation as to what happened to countries inside the Federation? Maybe the author made a mistake.
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No mistake there. Our present day countries don't exist in 3300. There was a World War III and other big things happening in the timeline that unified most of the humanity at one point or the other.
http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Timeline
Note that the timeline is not entirely official, but it will give you the general idea.
http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Timeline
Note that the timeline is not entirely official, but it will give you the general idea.
I noticed these two related events:
2040s World War III. Huge technological advancements, huge loss of life, dreadful environmental damage.
2240s First interstellar battle, formation of the Federation. Founder members: Earth, Tau Ceti, Delta Pavonis, Altair, Beta Hydri.
Still I don't think the largest countries on Earth would disappear after a world war. Or the entire world would be obliterated if it was that destructive.
2040s World War III. Huge technological advancements, huge loss of life, dreadful environmental damage.
2240s First interstellar battle, formation of the Federation. Founder members: Earth, Tau Ceti, Delta Pavonis, Altair, Beta Hydri.
Still I don't think the largest countries on Earth would disappear after a world war. Or the entire world would be obliterated if it was that destructive.
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No, but nation states would probably lose meaning when you meet an external threat such as the Thargoids. It would have a unifying effect on humans in general. As it is, you can probably view the Federation as the semi-dystopian development of the US in many ways (ruled by corporations and brands etc.).
I can imagine countries working together such as within the Federation. Though having become less relevant, the large countries would still exist as members of the Federation.
The federation is a semi-fascist corporatist interstellar government which is corrupted by big government and big corporations at the expense of small business and individual people.
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini
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If I were to switch that "would" with "could" it would be a correct statement. But, no, the old nations do not exist in the Elite Universe any more. Trust me. I wrote some of the official fiction and have been around since the original Elite.
Some possibilities naturally exist. After all, there are crazy religious cultists inhabiting some systems (or at least were in FFE - I haven't encountered any in E4 yet), so there might still be crazy anachronistic cultists somewhere as well... :/