It is the year 2300 AD. Humanity has reached its next stage on the evolutionary tree. We have isolated the human personality, what makes you you, and have found ways to copy it, and replace it into other bodies. Now it does not matter if your body dies. Because your soul can outlive your body.
Death is a thing of the past. Mankind has become sempiternal.
But eternal life is yet imperfect.
To have your personality copied is not very cheap. And the machines used for copying are (almost) all controlled by the innumerable megacorporations that rule this world. But the biggest problem is that your copied personality is not quite you. Well, it is the "you" at the time you had yourself copied. However, any further experiences, memories, and knowledge gained will not be transferred to that "you". Therefore, if you want yourself to most properly live on after the death of your body, you better get yourself copied often. Which requires even more money...
Money is the lord of Earth. The governments that once brought peace and justice to the world are now little more than bloated, useless bureaucracies, riddled with corruption. Their armies are underfunded, their armament outdated, their ranks thin. They are mere shells of the glorious superpowers they once were. Some few governments are still trying to regain control over their old territories, but to little avail.
In their place have risen the megacorporations (MCs). These vast, efficient, well-established factions have their own declared territories, wherein they hold complete control. Everything from selling toothpaste and food, creating and maintaining transportation services, and delivering Criminal Justice and Military Security, is done by the MCs. But when money is supreme...
Justice in most parts of the world is a meaningless word. Unless you can dole out the requisite cash. But because of the nature of the MCs, there is a massive gap between the wealthy and the poor, and the middle class is made up almost exclusively of MC-contracted mercenaries, bounty hunters, and assassins (all of which are paid handsomely for their services). Because of this, the poor (which make up the majority of persons) must seek justice on their own whilst being crushed under the thumb of the MCs.
For hundreds of years, peace has reigned between the world's superpowers. Not a single shot has been fired between the MCs, and the world's economy has increased exponentially as a result. The great Leviathans are prosperous, expanding greatly, having been freed from the terrors of a world burning in war's flames. But as Sir Henry Maine put it,
"War appears to be as old as mankind, but peace is a modern invention."
Peace is a newfound reality in human history, and thus not fully assured. Eventually this balance of power between the superpowers must be broken. And when it does, war will erupt like a nuclear blast, shattering humanity's new consciousness.
This is not to say that warfare has not occurred at all. For there are several smaller factions that have been warring with the MCs, and with each other. Terrorists, vigilantes, secret conspiracies, criminal syndicates, religious armies...the world is not free of strife. Nevertheless, peace is the norm in the world. Or at least on the surface.
How long will it last?