This is the Financial Management and the Inflationary Universe information page. Think of it as being an Encyclopedia Galactica entry in Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide, if such a thing existed in this version of reality. If you want to know more about the ideas behind HyperGolf, you might find them here, or on the FAQ page (link on the main menu on the left). If you'd like to see more on something else included, feel free to contact me (on the left under the menu) and I'll see if I can add it.

Although a great many species turn up in the stories, the main characters are all members of the three species of human described below:

The Solans (pronounced sol-ans, to mean 'people of Sol') are the eventual descendants of the humans of Earth. When World War Three broke out over genetic engineering rights in the 2300s, most of civilisation was destroyed. The surviving humans had to rediscover everything over a period of several thousand years before they developed the technology to colonise the other planets of the Solar system. Soon after this, they were noticed by scouts for the Union of Allied Galaxies, a society of the civilised species of the Local Cluster led by the fiths of the Small Magellanic Cloud. The Solans joined the Union and gained access to superphotonic travel through it.

Although the majority of Solans still live in the Solar system, many of them have colonised other worlds alongside other species of the Union of Allied Galaxies. Solans are an open-minded race, and most of them will happily befriend aliens. As they resulted from the interbreeding of all the human races of Earth, their appearance shows a blending of many different racial characteristics, and they tend to have medium-brown skin and black or brown hair. The British humans generally find the Solans contemptible, mainly because of their membership of the Union of Allied Galaxies, which the British consider bureaucratic and restrictive and frequently clash with over territory. Most American humans haven't even heard of the Solans.

(British human species)
In the late 2200s, concerned about the rapid loss of the original human races, the Government of Earth commissioned a number of highly advanced computers to collect and archive data so that history might be preserved for posterity.
One of these computers, instructed to collect data on the British Isles and their history, malfunctioned, causing it to become self aware and capable of conscious thought. It reinterpreted its own prime directive as to bring about the resurrection and ensure the survival of the British race. Calling itself Britannia, it amassed a bank of genetic information it considered original to the native inhabitants of the isles, then took control of a spaceship, in which it fled towards the Galactic halo at just below the speed of light. Meanwhile, the Third World War broke out on Earth, and in the subsequent nuclear winter most technology was destroyed and all the information about history was lost.

10,000 years later (or a few hours at slightly below lightspeed), Britannia arrived in the vicinity of an A-type star orbited by a number of habitable planets. Calling the star Albion and the most favourable planet England, Britannia set about resurrecting the British race. Ironically, it made an error when translating its genetic records back into DNA, and because of this the British species of human have bars of dark pigmentation on the sides of their faces. After a few thousand years, the British species advanced considerably, developed superphotonic engines and wormhole-generating machinery, and spread about the Galactic halo.

The British are a medium-height species with pale skin and quintessentially Caucasian physiognomy. Their culture is based around Britannia's records of British history, and visually most resembles the Victorian period during the height of the British Empire. They rely rather heavily on their computers, and their children are brought up in virtual reality because parents are too busy and too worried that they'll get run over or die in an accident if released into the real world. Because of this, many of them have a thirst for genuine adventure and a fairly limited grasp of the concept of danger.

(American human species)
The ancestors of the American species romanticised the idea of space and the American space race technology of the 1960s. They chose to set up permanent habitation in asteroids and space stations, places most humans avoid because prolonged periods in null gravity don't do the human body any good. Still, with some natural selection and a bit of judicious genetic engineering, they evolved means to cope with this.

After the outbreak of World War Three on Earth, they became isolated from the original Earth species, and took to a nomadic existence, travelling from star to star and trading with whatever species they found there (mainly fast food, action videos, and branded clothing). Eventually they wandered into the environs of the British Empire in the halo, and came into contact with another species of human. Both species were astounded, since the knowledge of any humans beyond themselves had long since faded into legend. Despite obvious differences, relations between the two species remain generally amicable, and they consider each other allies and share technology.

American humans are unusually tall compared to other human species, growing as they do in null gravity. Their skin and hair colour varies a lot from individual to individual. They don't like other species of human to know it, but they also have opposable thumbs on their feet as an adaptation to hanging on to things in null gravity.