My first attempts at world-building started in high school, when I took a course on world history. I enjoyed it but, as it neared the end, I became aware of a tension of some kind at the back of my mind. I finally realized that I was waiting to see how it turned out. Of course, it turns out as today. But this gave me the idea of continuing the story, so I began making up a future history.
That history went through three or four iterations, ending up as a setting for a science-fiction roleplaying campaign, with interstellar travel, two scientific revolutions, alien contact, the works. Here is a sampling of that setting, in the form of tourism literature for some of the planets.
The first edition of The Vacuum-Tight Suitcase was written during the 23rd century, the “Golden Age” of United Earth, when UE was sole and undisputed government of a prosperous and reasonably peaceful collection of Terran races. But the late 24th century saw the introduction of psionic technology and the Psi War. The 25th century was one of reconstruction, then expansion, and the reconstituted United Earth no longer rules the Terran expanse alone. The current setting is (more or less) the early 26th century.
Through it all, The Vacuum-Tight Suitcase continues to get printed. Either Ms. Durrell enjoys all the benefits of modern medical rejuvenation or her estate is on to a good thing. The current edition therefore includes historical notes on how the different worlds have fared since the Psi War.
Available Excerpts:
Return to Jeux D’Esprit
Return to Wind Off the Hilltop
Copyright © Earl Wajenberg, 2025