After all the bashing of the idea, I have to admit I did once have a crazy offshoot idea for 2300 that would be based around
a Commonwealth. However, for those who have dreams of British Empire 2.0, I don't think it'd be that popular - it was something I thought of back in like the late 90s when I saw a program about Indians in the UK and the idea had some bones I never fully fleshed it out -
I had this idea that post Twilight War, France being relatively untouched compared to the rest of Europe would continue to run the "European Union" though it'd be more like the French Union. The mission of this Francophone EU would change from "Keep the Russians out, the Germans down, and the Americans here" to "Rebuild Europe, get the Americans out, and Unite." During the war and its short aftermath, I imagined that separatists in Scotland egged on by some Frankenstein reimagining of the "Aulde Alliance" is egged on by France to split off. At the same time, Eire quietly reaches an understanding with the British troops there and takes Northern Ireland. Wales considers splitting off, but in the end decides to stick with England (without Northern Ireland there is no United Kingdom anymore, and without Scotland there is less of a Great Britain anymore - most people refer to the "rump" of Wales + England simply as "Britain" during this period). Eire and Scotland receive a disproportionate share of EU rebuilding funds with the "Scottish Lobby" working to stifle funds to the England. As a result, Eire and Scotland rebuild reasonably quickly and enjoy many decades of prosperity (and enjoying more than few "small laughs" at how their one-time overlords are so poor, though rarely in polite company).
Meanwhile, the British Commonwealth, with the UK knocked out, Canada having more pressing interests closer to home, and so on, finds itself dominated by the once looked down upon Indians. If France could be relatively untouched by the Twilight War, I reasoned that India could have been as well. The Commonwealth nations around the Indian Ocean (South Africa, India, New Zealand though it doesn't really touch the Indian Ocean is counted here and so on) gain ascendancy and become a greatest, wealthiest power bloc in the Commonwealth. The sole exception is Australia, whose parochial dislike of the non-
bloc keeps them from fully benefitting from the Commonwealth (eventually Australia gets over this, but decides to ally closer with America instead). In turn, Britain finds itself the target of a huge amounts of capital investment as the Commonwealth sees the former mother country as a good way to access EU markets.
While the EU has a headstart in many areas, the vigor of Commonwealth nations makes itself felt after a while - while the EU is exploring space, the Commonwealth corners the biotech market. While the EU colonizes other planets a seemingly unassailable headstart, the Commonwealth shores up its lead on biotech and plows its biotech advantage into recycling - various tailored bacteria that can refine the junk in landfills back into usable refined materials, rare metals in particular. With this move, they singlehandedly pull the rug out of under the EU model of colonization - it's much cheaper to recycle what's on Earth than haul it a dozen lightyears down the Arms.
As colonization and exploration falter as their wealth European backers suddenly face divestment from their backers as colonies are simply no longer seen as good investments. Romantic exploration is great and all, but money is what these people want. Some colonies fail, while many more face economic doldrums. That's when the Commonwealth begins to invest in space - buying up a number of EU exploration companies for cheap (in this version of 2300, it's actually this which causes War of German Reunification as confidence in France and French policy erodes as the jobless rate spikes to 15% in the EU at large, compared to 3% in Britain - with EU workers less able to get to Britain due to the EU's "special regulation" put in place decades earlier which now Britain is reluctant to repeal). This triggers a long dormant sense of British pride - Britons leave England, at first by the tens of thousands, but eventually by the hundreds of thousands for the stars. They're joined by other Commonwealth groups that feel a bit marginalized - like white South Africans (though Azania in this 2300 isn't anywhere near as harsh as in official 2300), Canadians, and so on.
The entire set-up created a world where Anglophones built on the frontiers and were building up their futures there. Indians and black South Africans were the corporate heads and investors who loathed to leave Earth and the red soils of South Africa or the holy Ganges but were more than willing to pay money to help the colonists out. It would have created a universe where my players could see familiar white faces out on the Frontiers while a visit to Earth would be suitably "exotic." As two of my players were Scots, I paid special attention to Scotland - Scotland was facing a stormy political crisis - with circumstances leading to worse unemployment, many Scots have taken advantage of a shared language (efforts to stamp out English never really took hold) to go work and join in colonization. Some have gone so far as to suggest taking Britain up on their century old offer to join in a recast "Kingdom of Equals" - the United Kingdom of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
. The notion of Japan Inc had just reached the public. The European Union was at a standstill and was seemingly struggling to find a purpose. Nations in Latin America (Argentina and Brazil), Africa (Azania and UAR) and Asia (Manchuria and Indonesia) being main actors on the world scene was a bit far fetched then.
