I like THS, but I don't get the idea that pre-Fall Earth was too much like THS: with THS, the impression I get is "the status quo has mostly worked", whereas with EP, the impression is "the status quo has failed". I do realize there are some improverished/oppressive/otherwise unpleasant hellholes in THS Earth, but with EP, I get the idea that the majority of people are in situations like that (or just one misstep from falling into situations like that).

Boomzilla is, I believe, fairly correct, on both counts. Much like our current times, a majority of the population of the immediately Pre-Fall Earth live in relatively high economic disparity. They might be doing better on some levels than modern times due to diffusion of technology, but are definitely not doing as good as some people. Earth has faced a couple resource wars and probably is building to another in the immediate area prior to the Fall (this is presumably why the TITANs are up and ticking before they hit full singularity, they're crunching numbers for the oncoming World War), and due to how AB and other hab-domes are supposed to work, the climate on Earth is probably not kind. Unless your country or city is very well off, you'll have to deal with probably some nasty extreme weather and probably a decent amount of air pollution. It's also going to be colder, but that probably won't make it really suck for anybody in the Equator. The way I see it, people probably live a lot like what you might think for the major Martian city domes, only people are mostly Flats and Splicers (Assuming I'm not really screwing up the Math from Transhumans tables, it's about 45% Splicer, 35% Flats, and the remainder are Exalts, Sylphs or others). In major population centers, you have various hab domes and other contained urban environments which form the Enclaves, who are your rough middle class. At this point prior to the Fall, in a particularly well-off country (which any country host to a Space Elevator should be) would be employing AI-driven pods to handle services such as Security, rote labor, etc, and have have access to small scale nanofabrication, but probably have similar DRM schemes on the blueprints. The Hyperelite also live in these domes or would have completely private residences, filled with AI or AGI pod servants, and access to full blown nanofab tech and basically anything else imaginable. Outside the Enclaves, you have the lower classes of Earth, with shitty, tightly packed slum housing, and no access to personal nanotech or many other advanced technologies, other than what Charity is running. They probably still have internet in some form though, meshed networks have been around since BF ~40-20. These Underclass will either be working as they can in their districts, in criminal gangs, or be trying to get into queues up into space for indenture work with the Hypercorps in Orbit, or in the colonies of Luna and Mars. The Panamerican forces are also probably picking up plenty of people to work heavy industry around Jupiter. Your Enclavers are going to be equipped with stacks, basic mesh inserts, etc. Think of them as your urban middle class. They have jobs, moderate education, and some disposable income. When the Fall hits, some of these people are going to manage to evacuate and probably diaspora to Mars and Jupiter. The Underclass are poor, but aren't completely useless. They're working class, they probably have all have Ectos and Muses because AR is really wide-spread, and Ectos are cheap. Those who make it out, and they easily might by virtue of sheer numbers and proximity to escape, are going to become the refus filling the Orbital, Mars and Jupiter. Given their strength in the Jovian Republic, the Catholic church is undoubtedly going to be strong, but I suspect they're probably a little more relaxed than in the Jovian times, that's a conservative hardline you take when something bad happens. Uploading is relatively recent, but is probably being discouraged, as are stacks, and what limited Body Bank/Egocast facilities there are inside the Enclaves will probably see the occasional protest. Assuming the church is doing anything like they're supposed to do, expect a lot of missionaries and aid workers in the slums providing food, shelter and more advanced medical aid than can normally be expected. The Hypercorps will have a presence as well, but this is not the Planetary Consortium, and there is not quite any sort of typical Cyberpunk "Megacorp is government" going on.That's why the Hypercorps pushed out into space in the first place. Spaceport and Elevator functions will be heavily influenced, but openly control of them will probably lie with the coalition of Governments who come to form the Jovian Republic, primarily led by United States and Argentina. Since terrorism is a known quantity, and this is world on the horizon of War, so expect military troops for security, backed by private contractors, all of whom are filled with as much combat augs as the government(s) can afford.

You were also asking about power blocs, NimbleJack. Skimming through the books, and recalling from memory: [list] [*]The American bloc, including the US (but not Canada), Argentina, Chile, and probably most of Latin America, colonizing the Jovian system [*]North Atlantic Consortium: Scandinavia and Canada, [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutdown_of_thermohaline_circulation]hit hard by collapse of Gulf Stream[/url], colonizing Titan [*]other EU countires, many also hit hard by Gulf Stream collapse. Colonization of Venus. [*]China, colonizing Mars and Jupiter. People talk about globalization making China more democratic, but there is also a competing model (which fits EP) where Western govs become more Chinese, in the sense they grow more authoritarian, more devoted to businesses as government, etc. So, e.g., the "Great Firewall" becomes the norm for the Internet, justified by "fighting terrorism" or "enforcing copyright" or whatever. [*]Russia, colonizing Jovian system, maybe allied with China, maybe rivilrous a la the Cold War during the 1970s. [*]India, colonizing Luna. Said to suffer from famines from climate change/other upheaval (chapter on the Ulimates in "Rimward" said founder, Manu, was a Desi person). [/list] there are a bunch of other references to nation states on pre-Fall Earth. I might try to collect them all, put them annotated. I'll let you know if I do. [b]edit[/b]: re: the Ulimates founder, from the section of Xiphos in "Rimward",

Quote:

Small wars over resources—primarily water—were common throughout the equatorial regions. The strong survived and the weak died of deprivation. The ultimates’ founder, Manu Bhattacharya, began as a mercenary leader in the Indian subcontinent.

Anything off the Profession random chart in Transhuman? Though I suppose more broadly you're talking about skill-sets, not just the professional knowledge. Pilots and technicians are pretty easy, as are any security personnel (either private, police or military). Medics or Doctors would also be very useful. Just about anything which can be done pre-Fall can also be done Post-Fall. Again, Transhuman's really helpful. Look at the "Focus" skill packages and see what kind of skillsets commonly exist in the setting. If you're generating the characters for them (either completely, or they tell you kind of what they want to play and you build it) I'd even recommend just making them with Packages, just translate some of the backgrounds appropriately. I/E a Re-Instantiated: Military Casualty has yet to actually die in the Fall, they just have the same skills as those people are soon to die in the Fall.