Re: Setting Information
In reply to The Watcher (msg # 2):
The following was a useful thought exercise but the Watcher reserves the right to revise things that turn out to have been poorly thought out... :)
Strikethrough denotes items that were present in the initial timeline I posted but are definitely not true. I'm not sure why I put them there, but I leave them there for posterity.
A Timeline of Humanity's Ascent to the Stars
2020
China attempts to create a permanent presence on the moon, but fails to solve the sustainability problem. USA, Russia, Britain, and India attempt to establish a collaborative moon base, with similar failure
2021
Microsoft, Google, Apple, Amazon, and similar companies are dissolved by massive anti-trust suit. Apple subsidiary Braeburn rises to the top in the aftermath.
2023
China demands payment in full of all outstanding debt. United States refuses, defaults.
2024
China goads North Korea into firing into South Korea and Japan, triggering World War III
2025
While the world at large is otherwise preoccupied, the Middle East erupts into chaos
2026
World War III cease-fire to deal with nuclear fallout in Israel, Iran, Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, Seoul, and Pyongyang
2027
United Nations assumes political stewardship of key countries, soon demoted from "countries" to "unstable territories" on the world stage
2039
China conquers Unified Korea, Vietnam, and Laos
2043
Japan, Russia, and India issue "pre-emptive strikes" against Chinese expansion
2044
World War III resumes
2049
Military satellites are deployed, disrupting most other satellites in orbit and blacking out GPS and related technology around the globe. This attempt to end the war merely localized it.
2055
Rumors of augmented humans with amazing powers -- termed "augers" -- begin to circulate throughout the world as strike teams surgically infiltrate the key power players behind the ongoing war effort.
2059
After the Black Decade, the lights come back on thanks to the successful launch of a powerful jamming satellite -- Braeburn IV -- which was described in layman's terms as "an off switch for the internet targeting countries that don't follow UN edicts".
2061
The continents are now largely under the de-facto control of the United Nations, backed by private companies from around the world who are largely tired of war and see no use in patriotism over profits.
2064
Additional Braeburn satellites build an on switch into the off switch to create the first stable, persistent, global, high-speed internet connection
2067
United Nations contracts Braeburn to create a software program designed to create lasting, balanced budgets and long-term plans for every nation.
2073
Suspicion grows that the Braeburn Formula may be siphoning funds from the world's governments to enrich itself. These rumors are silenced only after a mysterious global recession creates widespread panic, with conditions regaining their bullish nature almost immediately afterward.
2074
Braeburn publicizes The Archive, selling it as a way to "shave generations off our evolutionary development" by dramatically boosting the speed at which collective thoughts and discoveries can be compiled, interpreted, and put to better use.
2075
Braeburn releases the first fully functioning "universal translator", which can fluently translate (and vocalize said translations) as quickly as a human might care to speak.
2077
Braeburn releases experimental terraformation tech to the public domain, with a strict warning that bans any use of said technology on the moon -- it is declared "neutral territory, too valuable to potentially disrupt". Luna remains unterraformed to this day.
2083
Fledgling scientific cooperative SAGE successfully puts a terraformation satellite into orbit around Venus, stabilizing an area of its atmosphere enough to begin construction of a permanent floating colony.
2088
The World Census confirms the scientific community's growing suspicion that birth rates of augers are severely under-reported. Specialized divisions of law enforcement are established to deal with empowered criminals -- some of them staffed by folks who are themselves augers.
2090
The GENOME project is passed by the UN with overwhelming support, beginning the process of cataloging, licensing, and tagging augers to create a registry database.
2093
Nascent mining and refining company called Selena Resources attracts international attention by announcing an ambitious plan to analyze the mineral composition of the moon. Braeburn expressly forbids it, so Selena, in a merger with Pinnacle Orbital Shipping & Transit, becomes Ares Consolidated Enterprises and shifts its attention to Mars
2104
First nearly autonomous mining station is deployed to Deimos.
2108
Braeburn leases ACE a suborbital relay system to cheaply (though not quickly) transport mined materials to Earth's marketplace
2111
Auger civil rights becomes a major issue in most countries, none of which grant unfettered freedoms to anyone listed in the GENOME database. The most flexible countries have forced conscription, registration, and location notification systems in place. The least flexible use them as essentially chattel.
2117
Partial terraformation of Venus complete, creating an isolated pocket of habitable territory in the cone directly beneath the SAGE satellite, which has matched its orbit to Venus's rotation to keep it in the same place.
2123
SAGE becomes the first non-profit organization to claim another planet as its headquarters: Venus. The cone has now been expanded by a series of more advanced satellites to cover an area roughly the size of present-day Australia
2127
ACE extends its mining empire to Phobos and the Martian mainland, and denotes Deimos as its headquarters
2136
An auger named Donovan Green makes headlines by claiming he'd escaped an auger slavery ring on Mars overseen by ACE. The company flatly denies such claims, and UN inspectors find no evidence to support Green's story when they arrive (9 months later).
2140
A whistleblower claims that the UN has established a subterranean prison base on Mercury, but recants shortly thereafter. Their whereabouts are currently unknown.
2138
Braeburn claims Earth's moon as a "protected territory", and bans all travel to and from it. This is enforced with Braeburn's drone-like "escort ships", the first known deployment of "military force" in Earth's orbit
2143
United Nations dissolves association with Braeburn, declares autonomy
2144
Mysterious civil wars erupt across the world
2147
United Nations reaffirms ties with Braeburn
2152
Braeburn extends The Archive to Venus, Mars, Luna, and Mercury.
2157
Aided by The Archive, ACE tests FTL tech in its mineral delivery systems. The process is deemed too unstable for living transit, and too expensive for mineral transit.
2159
An organization called the Confederation of Nations reveals itself, declares war on "Braeburn's United Nations"
2165
War ends with the CoN "voluntarily ceding power" to the UN and many of its leaders "willfully deciding" to leave Earth to found the first "free colony" beneath the surface of Mercury. Media outlets report very little infrastructure supplies are sent with them...almost as a colony was already there.
2168
SAGE deploys first REV to Ceres
2173
SAGE, ACE, and Braeburn collaborate to send exploratory probes to Titan, Europa, and Charon
2175
SAGE, ACE, and Braeburn dissolve their partnership. Little information about the probes makes it to the general public.
2177
Braeburn declares Titan off-limits, deploys interdiction ships to enforce edict
2183
SAGE deploys second REV to Ceres, successfully beginning the process of terraforming it
2184
SAGE develops an experimental gravity shield in response from encroachment from asteroid mining drones sweeping the space around Ceres.
2185
Intense series of solar flares annihilates all interplanetary communications.
2185
Captain Blaise, who is not listed as an officer of the IDA on any official dossier, calls a meeting that does not occur aboard a capital ship that does not exist. (The game begins here.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:14, Thu 01 Nov 2018.