Guild
Space History:
Hegemony / Expansion Era
2162 - The Japanese Corporations complete their first
fusion-powered craft and begin their own mining colonies in the asteroid
belt.
2170 - The Japanese start up a new transport scheme.
The hurl mining products in canisters towards Celene station on the moon;
a laser cannon on the moon at Celene station slows the incoming canisters
as they approach so they decelerate into a stable lunar orbit. Americans
call this scheme "baseball," named after the ancient sport. The mass driver
in the asteroid belt becomes known as "the pitcher," the laser on the moon
is called "the catcher." This approach proves much faster than using the
Colossus as an ore carrier.
2178 - The CNC corporations start their own "pitcher-catcher"
scheme to transport ore from the asteroid belt. The Colossus is retired
as an ore Carrier and is retooled as an exploration vessel.
2182 - The Colossus makes its first flight to Jupiter.
Stations are set up on Europa and Ganymede.
2189 - Growing out of technology developed in the "catchers,"
efficient man-portable laser weapons become a reality.
2191 - Ganymede station is now permanently manned.
2193 - Scientists at Ganymede station suspect that primitive
life of a sort floats deep in the Jovian clouds.
2196 - A nanonically synthesized superconductor material
makes not only replacement of nerves a reality, but the attachment of bionic
prosthetics directly to the nervous system.
2200 - A survey team on Ganymede uncovers an amazing
discovery: an abandoned listening post once "manned" by an unknown alien
species. The world responds in astonishment.
2203 - Further surveys around Jupiter reveal an alien
ship floating in the rings of Jupiter. The ship is severely damaged, and
its alien crew has apparently been dead for over 200 years. The race is
apparently the same one that maintained the listening post on Ganymede.
2205 - The alien ship is towed to Luna city by the Colossus
for analysis.
2207 - "Cyberware" prosthetics start to come into fashion.
2208 - A group of activists called the "Guardians of
Terra" arise on Earth that advocates elimination of all alien artifacts
on the premise that they are "dangerous to mankind."
2210 - After extensive examinations by many scientists
from all nations, two things are confirmed about the spacecraft. It has
some sort of faster-than-light propulsion, and it was not damaged by a
collision, but some form of energy beam.
2211 - Fanatics of the Guardians of Terra plant explosives
devastating the alien craft and killing 202 civilian scientists and technicians
working on the project. Outrage is felt throughout the scientific community
on Earth.
2212 - Though scientists are baffled by the stardrive
in the alien craft, examinations of the wreckage turn up a vital clue to
its functionality. The are traces of element 115 ("Ununpentium" or "Elerium")
in the wreckage.
2214 - Dr. Heidi Sanchez, a nuclear physicist, proposes
the threshold force transformation hypothesis. This upshot of this
theory is that it proposes that ultraheavy elements like E-115 can undergo
reactions that release gravity waves.
2216 - Berlin Polytechnic builds a gravitic reactor using
small quantities of E-115. Though this is a startling accomplishment, the
scientific community is still far from understanding the alien FTL drive.
2217 - Namika, a Japanese computer corporation, releases
the first Qubit computer - a computer using the Qubit - a multi-state memory
cell - instead of bits.
2219 - The advent of the Qubit based computer provides
a major breakthrough in the research of the alien spacecraft. Apparently,
the alien computer - which was extracted from the ship prior to its destruction
- used a similar type of memory cell. The CNC contracts Namika to participate
in the research of the alien computer.
2220 - The body that was once the United Nations becomes
the Hegemony, a body created to regulate human expansion into space.
Though all nations on Earth are nominally members, the CNC is the only
member really commited to its cause.
2222 - Ion drives are invented and installed on many
new space vessels. These drives are many times more efficient in terms
of reaction mass than previous drive configurations, and make possible
much longer trips.
2225 - The alien computer is cracked. A version of the
FTL drive is within a year of completion.
2226 - Merrick Ames, a theoretical physicist, comes up
with a theory to explain how the alien drive works.
2227 - The Japanese send their first ion-powered spacecraft,
the Imura, to Saturn.
2230 - Ames and Sanchez combine efforts to build the
first Quantum drive, or Q-drive. This drive is to be installed on a new
exploratory spacecraft, the Velikovsky.
2231 - An international team is put together to man the
Velikovsky. The Velikovsky makes its first exploratory mission to
Alpha Centauri. Alpha Centauri A is shown to have a small entourage of
terrestrial planets. All are lifeless, but the outemost planet is cool
and has liquid water oceans, and is an excellent prospect for terraforming
and colonization.
2232 - Due to the unusual nature of the Q-drive, only
close, massive stars are possible destinations of the Q-drive. The Perry,
the second FTL "starship," makes the first journey to Sirius. The Velikovsky
explores the Proxima Centauri system.
2233 - The starship Armstrong journeys to Procyon
via Sirius, then to Luyten 5-1668. Luyten 5-1668, a red dwarf star. The
Armstrong gets humanity's first close up look at a super-jovian "Brown
Dwarf."
2236 - Various Japanese corporations start long term
terraforming contracts on Alpha Centauri 4, and develop it on behalf of
the Asian Alliane, under the articles of the Hegemony. The planet is dubbed
New Nippon.
2240 - A new Q-drive is produced, the factor-5 drive.
This drive is installed in a new larger class of ship. The maiden ship
of this class is the Sagan.
2241 - On its first voyage, the Sagan travels
to Epsilon Eridani via Sirius. The second planet of the Epsilon
Eridani system has promordial carbon-based life forms and a oxygen bearing
atmosphere. The captain names this planet Enoch.
2242 - Astrogators calculate that it is possible to use
the Q-drive to jump to a nearby giant star, Arcturus. Although it is possible,
the ship that made the journey would emerge so close to the star that such
a ship would be destroyed by any solar prominences or flares. For a time,
such a journey is put off until technology is more able to deal with such
extreme conditions.
2245 - Aggresive colonization of Enoch begins.
2250 - Sirius 1 is established, a asteroid base around
Sirius that acts as a way station for colony ships moving through the system.
2253 - Artemis station is completed under contract of
a Japanese corporation. This is an asteroid station unlike any previous.
It is a nickel-iron asteroid that was heated, melted, and inflated into
a 5 km long hollow cylinder. After cooling, it was filled with air, soil,
and artificial light, making it a self-contained habitat.
2255 - Sirius 1 spots an unidentified ship emerging from
Q-space near Siruis A. The ship rapidly re-enters Q-space, destination
unknown.
2259 - Another breakthrough occurs in Q-space technology:
the factor-6 drive. This opens the way to colonies around LTT 12352 (Near
Sirius) as well as opening two other major "concourses." Concourses are
groups of stars near large stars made accessible by Q-drive due to the
presence of the large star. The new concourses are the Arcturus concourse,
and the Altair-Vega concourse.
2265 - The colony ship Ivory Coast encounters
an alien starship in close orbit of Arcturus. The initial communications
are baffling and inconclusive, but peaceful.
2266 - The Hegemony starship Hegemony makes contact
with the alien species around Arcturus. It turns out that the race, which
would become called the Lurkers, are a race of ammonia based beings
that evolved in cold environments in one of the red dwarfs near the star
Rasalhauge, a blue-white giant reachable from Arcturus. It turns out that
the lurkers already have several colonies in the Arcturus concourse, but
the humans never ran upon them until now since the Lurkers prefer
cooler planets around red dwarf stars, many of which are beyond the human's
ability to reach.
2268 - By this time, three primitive sapient races are
contacted in the Arcturus concourse.
2269 - An Artemis type colony is set up around Luyten
5-1668. Humanastar, a corporation specializing in such constructs, boasts
that humanity can essentially inhabit ANY system in this manner.
2272 - By this time the Hegemony has initiated 3 new
colonies - one at Chi Draconis in the Altair / Vega concourse, and 2 in
Arcturus concourse: One at 59 Virginis and one at Chien 414. However, under
the hegemony charter but initiated by corporate vice Hegomony funds, corporations
start up one other colony in the Altair / Vega concourse (at 70 Ophiuchi)
and 7 other colonies in the Arcturus concourse (Chien 112, Chi Herculis,
Theta Bootis, 70 Virginis, Ross 948A, Psi Serpentis, an GJ 1171.)