Federation Timeline

2020-2060: “The Crisis Years”. A combination of factors - the rapid dispersion of diseases such as AIDS, the various Filoviruses, and Brazilian Hemmoragic Fever (Likely a runaway bioweapon) via air transportation, the massive climatological changes and rising sea levels resulting from global warming, resource exhaustion, water shortages, extinctions, soil depletion, pollution - and the fertility drop resulting from the dispersion of estrogen-mimicing chemicals, leads to massive ecological, social and industrial disruptions.

2015-23. The Resource Wars. A series of small- scale conflicts - mostly over oil - throughout the Middle East, Far East, Africa and South America. The profession of “Mercenary” becomes respectable, but the actual damage is relatively minor.

2024. Reliable, bodywide, genetic modification techniques developed - and widely used to stop the progression of AIDS. Sadly, much of Africa and the Far East is virtually depopulated already.

2029. Brazilian Hemmoragic Fever - an airborne virus resembling Ebola - breaks out in Brazil. The containment measures will eventually include major nuclear strikes. A cure is found by 2030, but much of the world will be generations recovering.

2031. Exotica Bodyworks, specialists in human- genetic augmentation and bioware, opens for business - and kicks off years of legal wrangling.

2034. Commercial neural interfaces come on the market, making cyberware practical.

2036-60. “The Anarch Years”. Amid mass social disorder and corporate infighting, groups begin to employ bio- and cyber-enhanced agents against each other. The “Cyberpunk” era.

2039. Anasensecence or Youth treatments become truly effective. Those who can afford the cost can now extend their basic lifespans by at least fifty years. Global unrest, assasinations, and outrage, inspire the development of cheaper treatments with somewhat reduced results… Improvements continue from this point on, leading to increased stability and social order as the average age increases, but a decrease in the rate of scientific development.

2043. The European Fusion Consortium builds, and brings online, the first “commercial” fusion power plant. The surviving industrial nations adopt the design; cheap energy - and intensive recycling using fusion heat - begins a general recovery

2049. The Siberian Wars break out. Much of the far east is eventually involved. Mutual exhaustion eventually ends the conflict, but massive european investment is required for rebuilding.

2054-55. The Environmental Restoration Council holds it’s first effective series of meetings. ERC regulations will form the foundation of the global recovery effort over the next century - and continue to hold a good deal of influence today.

2058. The first Laser-Launch Facility built in Baja, California. Orbital Colonies follow shortly.

 

2060-2102: The Environmental Reaction. Massive cleanup efforts, restoration of extinct species, and climactic control efforts are undertaken. Earth is the first planet to be “Terraformed”… Most heavy industries and are transferred offworld. Vat-based food production using fusion energies supplements, and partially replaces farming. Genetic modification of the human genome threatens creation of multiple subspecies. The Environmental Restoration Council becomes a major power - while many of the smaller, “classical”, nations begin to merge.

2062. Asteroid WRM-371 - now commonly known as “Wormwood” - makes a near-earth approach. The true extent of the danger remains unknown today, but is “played up” by the remaining astronomers. Results include riots, an upsurge in religions and “enjoy it while you can” movements - and a global industrial effort to turn it aside… Given that most current estimates of the impact charnce are less then a 2% anyway, this succeeds easily. Lack of agreement as to the appropriate group to put in charge hands it to the Environmental Restoration Council. The work is sucessfully completed in 2066.

2064. The Ecumenical Council… Faced with the theological dilemmas raised by genetic engineering and modification of humans, ani-men, fuctional sex changes, artifical life, cosmology, the widespread social disruption of the period, and various other challenges, a council of religious leaders reaches agreement on unification… Buddhism, Catholicism, and many of the fragmented smaller sects, combine.

2069. Small-scale fusion generators and drives enter commercial production. “Spaceplanes” become common, small towns become virtually independent.

2073. Mining of the asteroid belt and relocation of smaller asteroids begins.

2076. The Casamir Generator is developed - and opens the first major “new frontier” in physics in the past fifty years.

2081. First lunar “states” established.

2084. Sailsbury Plain Supercollidor in England demonstrates the existence of quark substructure and validates the “Keith-Erissin nonlinear interaction theorems” - demonstrating both the interactions of sentient minds with quantum effects and the electro- cosmological interaction.

2087. Danar Sky Survey locates 183 potentially habitable planets within 60 light years, and three extraterrestial ecosystems. They survey also notes a wide variety of planetoids in the Oort Cloud and an assortment of deep-space phonoumena. The first, asteroid-based, colony ships are soon launched.

2092. Keith-Erissin force field developed. The Mach Drive (96) and the Inertial Damper (99) follow.

2094. “Paraphysical Abilities” demonstrated to be Keith-Erissin interactions tuned by the nervous system. The effects and range are both very limited.

2098. Some 80% of Earth’s surface “returned to nature”, The Sahara Sea is created.

 

2103-2214: Solar Expansion. The introduction of commercial Mach-Drive Spaceplanes drives a wave of expansion across the solar system. Terraforming is applied successfully to Mars, less successfully to Venus. The colonization of the Oort cloud is begun by breakaway groups, and generation-style colonizing expeditions continue to be launched… Progress in science and technology slows as resources and manpower is devoted to colonization, terraforming and expansion - and as theories become so complex that only true geniuses can understand them at all.

2103. The “Voyager” Fusion Thruster/Mach-Drive Hybrid Spaceplane goes commercial. Bussard Ramjet systems will be added in 2117 - partially negating fuel-velocity limitations. Ships may now reach top speeds of almost .75C.

2019. Dana reaches Bernards Star and establishes the first extrasolar colony. The trip, made at .05 G, required slightly over 25 years.

2133. Holzman Genetic Survey demonstrates that better then 60% of the population at large carries three or more genetic enhancements; The Herinfjord Maturation Series (Enhanced strength, agility, and endurance) and Adojan Immunity Enhancement (From the AIDS period) are near-universal. Premarital gene- counseling now highly advisable.

2126. Oort mining crews discover life deep in the ice of several planetoids. It uses DNA-RNA and protein coding compatible with earthly life… The discovery validates the Arehennius Spore Theory, and leads to predictions of compatible ecospheres, and extreme biohazards, on worlds around other suns. A number of the mining “colonies” will later be used as bases for the establishment of permanent colony settlements in the Oort cloud.

2134-38. Mars is subjected to a carefully dir- ected series of directed cometary impacts designed to provide additional volatile elements and water. As a desirable side effect, numerous volcanoes are reactivated.

2053. Terraforming of Venus begins. Earth 99% urban, stabalized at approximately two billion.

2167-76. The Solar Wars. Political wrangling - backed by extensive military “posturing” and a few skirmishes around various space outposts - results in official Terran - soon to be Solar - Federation recognition of the Outworlds Alliance - and the wide variety of local governments it encompasses.

2192. Establishment of the Unified Federation Defense Corps. Given the general lack of enemies, the UFDC slowly evolves into a sort of combination peacekeeping/exploratoration/engineering/job corps organization with secondary military aspects. This is widely regarded as a good thing - especially by those considering the full destructive “potential” of space-based weaponry

2214. Benford Ling, experimenting with anomaly 3187CV, successfully demonstrates a prototype jump drive - really little more then a minor, if a very complex, modulation of standard ship shields. The main limitation is the distribution of jump points - and the time required to locate them.

 

2215-2431: Interstellar Expansion… Jump drive technology allows cheap and easy colonization on a massive scale. The exploration of alien ecologies and lifeforms advances the life sciences, but leaves little interest in - or funding for - other fields of study… Coupled with the conservatism inherent in vastly extended lifespans, and the constant drain of the adventurous and energetic to colony worlds, the physical sciences stagnate. Great improvements are, however, made in education and psychosurgery. Secondary civilizations develop in the Oort cloud.

2218. “Teacher”, the most sophisticated expert instructional program to date, is released as free software. It’s limitless personal interaction, VR teaching environments, patience, terabytes of data and techniques derived from dealing with millions of human children, transforms education. As intended, human society maintains a certain coherance across the light years. Enhanced socialization, effective “intelligence”, and mental stabality, become normal.

2256. The first “Galactic” survey reaches 500 light years out. Biospheres prove plentiful, as do waterworlds and desert worlds - but advanced life is rare, and no other sentient races are found. Some two-thirds of the stars within 500 LY seem to have one or more jump points associated with them, most commonly at 20-40 light hours out.

2265. With significant human colonies present on forty worlds, and a variety of unpleasant alien bioagents “encountered”, the initial enthuiasm for colonization wanes. A period of consolidation, and better surveys before colonization, ensues. Final approval is left up to teams of “expendables” sent on preliminary surveys.

2288. First Contact. The Tahl, a vaguely eel-like aquatic species, are discovered on Mac Lir, a recently-discovered waterworld. Their “culture” is ruthless, intricate, and - thanks to their lack of manipulative organs and enviornment - purely oral. A research center is soon established, but most of the human race finds it pretty disappointing. Some primitive talking fish were not what they’d had in mind for an alien race.

2300. The Malenfant Foundation - driven by the general disappointment of the Tahl - campaigns for widespread uplift of several species to full human equality. Bypassing both environmental and genetic laws, the foundation establishes breeding colonies of sentient Chimpanzees, Dogs, Dolphins and Squid. After much wrangling, members of these species are granted limited rights on most worlds.

2346. Menemonic Interface developed. Computers can now act as an integral part of the user’s mind and memory. Skill programs and Actwire technologies are developed shortly thereafter. Physical science begins something of a renaissance.

2376. The existence of Quagma demonstrated.

2497. The Terran Sphere reaches 100 colonized worlds. Solar Federation officially renamed to The Federation in recognition of this milestone.

2532. Current time. The Ourathan invasion.