Historical Timeline

A timeline of events thus far, as understood by modern humanity.   -426 NS: The Cloudbreak - Due to advanced cyberwarfare and an over reliance on fragile digital storage, it is estimated that roughly 83% of all human media and documentation was lost beyond recovery during this time, turning much of what came before into the Digital Dark Age. Tharsis Colony on Mars is spared the calamity.   -379 NS: The first extrasolar vehicle, the Glorious, leaves Sol, bound for Alpha Centauri to settle a world they intend to call Gloria. Transit time is 17 years.   -375 NS: The second extrasolar vehicle, the Kreschet, leaves Sol bound for Alpha Centauri. With a transit time of only 8 years, they overtake the Glorious and make planetfall first in -367 NS, settling the world of просека (Proceka).   -362 NS: Glorious arrives at Proceka, establishes the Gloria colony at alternate landing site.   -318 NS: Fighting breaks out between Proceka and Gloria missions, resulting in Procekan victory and the annexation of Gloria. Damage during the fighting leads to a cascade of failures that results in huge setbacks, roughly a quarter of Proceka is temporarily abandoned. Outrage on Earth leads to the formation of a neutral body, the Colonial Oversight Authority, to act as a mediating factor and coordinate cooperation between extrasolar efforts. The COA has little power at this time, despite its supposed jurisdiction.   -309 NS: The Age of Expansion begins, with colony missions founding Rheinland and Capital in rapid succession.   -302 NS: War on Earth consumes attention of planet-bound powers, cancelling a planned mission to Sirius. Political instability on and around Earth draws attention from spaceborne efforts and leaves the colonies largely ignored. The COA steps in to keep the colonies from failing by coordinating trade between the colonies to mitigate reduced support from Earth.   -243 NS: The Martain Strawberry is developed, becoming an enduring staple food for human populations outside of Earth.   -210 NS: The High-Entropy Compression Swap (HECS) is successfully demonstrated, mankind achieves faster than light travel for the first time. Transit back and forth to the colonies becomes a fraction of what it once was, but transportation is limited by the cost of production of Heavy Exotic Matter, which can only be produced in limited quantities from specialized particle accelerators.   -161 NS: New advances in the production of Heavy Exotic Matter by Samra Solutions LLC make extrasolar travel dramatically cheaper and easier. Exploration and expansion of human space accelerates.   -157 NS: The Samra colony fleet settles the Tau Ceti system, marking the first time that an extrasolar colony is founded by a corporation rather than a nation-state.   -140 NS: Proceka builds its first open-air city, well ahead of expectations.   -138 NS: A vessel of non-human origin briefly makes contact with Rheinland, before smartfolding to Earth. First contact with the machine intelligence known henceforth as the Intercessors begins.   -134 NS: The Contact War occurs during registration with the Intercessor Protectorate, lasting 7 months. HECS becomes a banned technology under Protectorate law, in return for access to smartfold banks.   -133 NS: Diplomacy with nonhuman, non-Intercessor factions begins.   -128 NS: A joint effort between Rheinland and Earth attempts to take EZ Aquarii back from the Frogs and fails.   -127 NS: Y'tug ships destroy undefended colonies and stations in Cancri, Rossguard, Timo's Star and Sirius. Intercessors do not interfere, as none of those systems are recognized as Human controlled volumes under the Protectorate. Expansion of human space comes to a halt as spaceborne military power becomes necessary for new colonies to survive.   -109 NS: Construction of humanity's first Aperture, the Sol Gate, is completed. It remains unused until the construction of the second Aperture on the edge of Rheinland 18 years later.   -91 NS: A joint effort between Rheinland, Capital, Tau Ceti, Proceka and Sol attempts to take EZ Aquarii back from the Frogs and fails.   -77 NS: Rheinland becomes the dominant military power outside of Sol, and under the protection of its armada begins to reinforce Rossguard and Sternbild as secondary colonies and military outposts. The COA issues warnings to Rheinland for ignoring its authority without effect.   -58 NS: A joint effort between Rheinland, Capital, Tau Ceti and Sol attempts to take EZ Aquarii back from the Frogs and fails.   -41 NS: The close proximity of Lalende and Wolf leads to a joint settlement effort, planned to be the Twin Systems.   -2 NS: Earth's 7th World War spills over into space in an unprecedented move, resulting in space battles across the solar system. Mars suffers extreme damage, ultimately resulting in the collapse of its fragile terraforming efforts. The Succession occurs. Rheinland, Capital and Proceka form an alliance and cut off Earth from space for the first time, establishing the Terran Blockade.   0 NS: The Unified Colonies of Humankind is established, building upon the pre-existing Colonial Oversight Authority and expanding its role into a functional governmental body. The New Standard Calendar is established, supplanting the Earth Solar Year with a new, 500 day yearly cycle.   1 NS: Lacking support from patron nations on Earth, the Twin Systems project fails. Archology construction is abandoned, food shortages lead to starvation and violence. Support from the newly founded UCH is limited and sporadic. Human stations in the Twin Systems survive, but only barely.   3 NS: Ceres Shipyard in Sol is repurposed as the seat of UCH government, and redubbed The Wheel. Work begins in earnest on the UCH constitution. Resulting doctrines include UCH ownership of all Human-assigned smartfold equipment, a limitation on UCH planetside power, and the establishment of Logistics, Intelligence and Operations Officers.   14 NS: UCH relief efforts stabilize the situation in the Twin Systems.   31 NS: Construction of the Stonehenge, mankind's largest warship, is completed. It is heralded as the dawn of a new age of human military power.   32 NS: UCH forces attempt to take EZ Aquarii back from the Frogs and actually succeed, maintaining a hold over the system.   38 NS: The Frogs reclaim EZ Aquarii.   50 NS: Working with Oolo! allies, construction begins on Megastructure 01.   62 NS: Samran scientists begin the wetware computing experiment known as the Tau Ceti Grid. The UCH attempts to censure Samra for violating standing laws regarding cybernetic research, but Samra successfully defends itself in court. Over the next 15 years the Tau Ceti Grid becomes the forefront of human innovation, leading to the development of Third Lobe Technologies, Smartdogs and the first purely human-engineered gravity control systems.   111 NS (Current Year): UCH forces attempt to take EZ Aquarii back from the Frogs and fails. Heavy losses lead to widespread promotions to fill the gaps, and calls for a fundamental re-organization of UCH military and governmental order to address shortcomings.