Earth

Overview
The third planet in the Sol system, Earth has a wide variety of terrains, ranging from ice to water to mountains to forest to deserts and everything in between. Some of them might be familiar to you. It is made up of a multitude of nations. The planet is immensely rich with natural resources.

Earth is the planet the Ark crashed into four million years ago. In 1984 the Autobots and Decepticons awoke inside, and the war began anew.

Since then, humanity has undergone massive cultural, political, and technological changes as a result of being exposed to extraterrestrial, specifically the Transformers, life.

Political
Politically, most nations have banded together and strengthened the mandate of the United Nations, which now serves as a world government. Countries still exist and often continue to look out for their own interests, but their autonomy has faded. The UN is also responsible for leading Earth into this new galactic era. The nominal head of Earth is the UN's Secretary General.

Cultural
Culturally, humanity has come to grips with the sudden notion that they are only a small fraction of life in the galaxy. Nor are they a particularly important segment of it. Exposure to these raditically different cultures have shifted the way humans think, and propelled them forward with new ideas. Humans are an adaptable race, and they are learning to cope with the new environment. They are still in the wading pool of the galaxy, and are just now learning how to swim. Although Earth maintains several space facilities, it has no colonies to speak of. This is likely to change.

Technological
Technologically, Earth has benefited from the discovery of aliens both directly and indirectly. Initially much of their progress was given by the Autobots in exchange for safe haven and fuel. This led to huge developments in electronics, robotics, warfare, and space faring technology. These advances paved the way for developments in other, non-Transformer specific areas, such as medicine and cyberneticcs. Nearly every human on Earth has seen some benefit from these advances.

Defence
Earth is defended by Earth Defence Command, a relatively small UN agency that uses advance technology to combat threats to Earth, both at home and abroad. Their main weapon of war is the powered combat exo-suit, which serves to enhance a human solder's durability, mobility, and firepower. Beyond this, most nations, and the United Nations itself, maintain standing armies with somewhat lessened weaponry. While these armed forces are usually no match for Decepticons, their bases are found all over the world and are instrumental in giving aid to both the Autobots and EDC, as well as more mundane tasks such as evacuating civilians and tracking enemy positions.