Humans

Humanity had thought itself the owners of the planet, and the technological rebirth had been a cruel wakeup call. The very things they’d built to maintain their control, that they felt spoke of their superiority over all other creatures they shared the earth with, betrayed them and left them nearly helpless until it reformed with what appeared to be an intelligence of its own. It was humbling and devastating.

As mass starvation, infrastructure failure, and fighting over resources spread leading up to and during the rebirth, governments failed, new ones formed, and the power structure the world was nearly unrecognizable in the end.

The Medical Institution Coalition

As fighting and unrest spread, healthcare facilities the world over found themselves one of the preferred targets of raids and resource poaching the world over, especially in countries where healthcare had been government supported as hospitals and other care facilities were often well stocked. Nurses and administration staff were some of the first to start establishing communication networks using older means out of a need to share information and resources, and when governments failed to step up to protect the hospitals this lead to them organizing their own protection. At first it had been local gangs, militias, and other informal groups volunteering their assistance, but as the network grew and more hospitals declared independence from the governments and ruling powers of old to join the coalition, it became clear this was more than an informal arrangement.

Officially naming themselves the Medical Institution Coalition, MIC for short, they elected a ruling body and annexed areas around their hospitals by negotiating deals with their occupants to share resources. They established laws, the crown jewel of which was the right to medical care for everyone in the world, and opened formal diplomatic negotiations with any government that appeared to still be standing. At first, most of the remaining governments ignored the diplomatic overtures, and a few of the more aggressive governments attempted to send military in to seize control of the medical facilities again. A couple of the hospitals were seized in this way, but once taken like this the medical staff would refuse care to anyone who came in wearing a military uniform, then would smuggle patients and supplies out to other hospitals, soon leaving the captured hospitals empty of staff, supplies, and patients other than the occupying forces. Though accused of betraying their medical oaths with this tactic, MIC care providers held firm as it proved their most effective defense.

As word spread of both the aggression against MIC and their law of universal health care, support swelled from the general population. More and more people donated to support their cause, and cried out for their governments to officially recognize MIC’s independence. Soon soldiers were laying down arms or outright changing sides to defend the hospitals and the standing governments had no choice but to open diplomatic channels. The first government to achieve an agreement for share of resources was Germany, and soon many other of the remaining governments formed treaties modeled after the Frankfurt am Main accords.