Editing 2300 AD (section)

==Setting==
The game setting follows on from that of GDW's military role-playing game ''[[Twilight: 2000]]'', in which a worldwide conventional war with limited nuclear exchanges at the end of the 20th century nearly brought about the end of civilization. In the intervening three centuries, mankind has rebuilt and returned to space. A [[Space Elevator]] orbital interface has been constructed, connecting the city of [[Libreville|Libreville, Gabon]] to a satellite in [[geosynchronous orbit]].  Also, practical means of [[faster-than-light]] (FTL) travel have been discovered, leading to the exploration and colonization of planets orbiting nearby stars. The post-[[Westphalian sovereignty|Westphalian]] [[Nation state|nation-state]] remains dominant, and most space colonies are considered the territories of various nations back on Earth, resembling the European colonial era of the 18th and 19th centuries.

The dominant power, both on Earth and in space, is France, recently reorganized (in 2298) as the Third French Empire, and incorporating much of Africa. France was able to survive the nuclear war relatively unscathed by abandoning its [[NATO]] allies and officially withdrawing from hostilities at the start of the [[World War III|Third World War]], retaining enough assets and skilled people to develop a significant head-start in the race for postwar rebuilding, political leverage, and technological development.  Competing powers include the United Kingdom, [[Manchuria]], Germany, and an alliance between the weakened United States and Australia. All of these control certain extrasolar planets themselves. There are three major lanes of explored space, called Arms, named after the nations which dominate them (the French Arm, the American Arm, and the Chinese Arm (Mongoose 2300AD renames the Chinese Arm to the Manchurian Arm, as the nation of Manchuria, separate from then-backwater China, is the leading nation in that part of space)). Lesser routes leading off the arms are called "Fingers".

It is still early in mankind's expansion into space, and exploration has reached little beyond 40 light years from Earth. As of the time period of the game, each of the three Arms is saddled with a particular difficulty. The French Arm is the route along which the alien Kafer are pushing an aggressive invasion into human space. The Chinese Arm is beset by an insurgent terrorist faction. The American Arm has reached a dead end, further expansion along it impossible under available technology.

Mankind has met with several intelligent alien civilizations, all of which are decidedly strange and non-human, from the [[Genetic engineering|genetically engineered]] Pentapods to the reflexively bellicose Kafers.