From Hero Games Web Site
3rd World is a setting for Star Hero 6th Edition, a genre book for the HERO System 6th Edition.
Mankind once looked to the stars and wondered what, or who, might be out there. But before they could go out and seek the answers, the answers came to them. Humanity endured the onslaught of a "Dark Alliance" that savaged the very planet, forever changing its face. Others born of the stars came to the planet's rescue, but at a terrible cost. These savior races have divided the globe among their own, leaving Native Earthlings second-class citizens on their own planet. Former nations have been portioned out among an alien government known as the "Co-Operative" and broken up beyond recognition. Human cultures have faded over the decades under the rule of this or that species. The resources of Earth are no longer its own but are used to line the proverbial pockets of the newcomers. Some of these aliens spoke of Earth as a holy land promised to them, others merely as a commodity. Some saw a chance for acceptance, and still others sought to help... even if their help is not always welcome.
Second Page from Hero Games
It is the 23rd Century. Generations have passed where the Earth held not one, but many sentient species. The stars remain distant and, for most, inaccessible. It is on the Earth itself where colonists must craft their future. It is on this planet where the descendents of humanity must decide what of their past they hope to salvage. Wonders and terrors await them. Finally, the age of ashes has passed, and now comes a new world of clay that the brave and determined have a chance to shape. Earth is now used or ignored in turn. It is truly a 3rd World.