Prologue:
The year is 2501.
No longer sheltered in our solar system of only nine planets and a single sun, humans have discovered incredible new life forms, amazing space and time phenomena, and have expanded thousands of light years from our Earth origins.
As far back as the 20th century, the world’s governments and nations began to collapse. It was during the 21st century that the nations of the world merged into six powerful unions: the American States, the European Union, the Asiatic Federation, the Microtel Protectorate (in South America), the Pacific Bloc, and the Indo-African League. An era of new world government had begun.
Just as limited resources of the planet were about to propel the world to war, the Fusion Age was spawned in 2047 by the development of an efficient fusion generator. Within a year, dozens of generators were powering an energy-starved world. Fossil fuels were no longer necessary. Fusion torch engines opened up the second space race; and in the next few decades, almost 100 stations were established on the nearest planets, moons and asteroids. Colonization beyond Earth was finally a reality.
Humans experienced decades of peace until the invention of the mass reactor in 2106. The same mass reactor, with only slight modifications, has stayed in use for the past four centuries. The mass reactor offered numerous advantages over the fusion generator: it could be miniaturized and used to power smaller spacecraft, equipment, and space stations. However, the mass reactor renewed political tensions as the great powers entered into an intense competition to find uses for this new energy source.
From 2110 and through the next four decades, the world powers visited, divided, and colonized the solar system, expanding their territories from fiery Mercury to cold, distant Pluto. Despite its new technology, humanity was still imprisoned within its solar system as the distances between the stars remained too vast to cross, even with modern technology.
The turning point for humanity came with the first alien contact in the early morning hours of July 17, 2124 when a fraal vessel slowly landed on Earth; and in October of that same year, the Contact Treaty granted full citizenship to the fraal. In exchange for a few reasonable requests from the humans, the fraal immediately began to share their technology with the nations of Earth. Between the advanced sciences of both the humans and the fraal, the first stardrive was activated in 2160. Finally, starships could travel between the star systems in a short period.
Now, with the birth of the Gravity Age, the race was on as thousands, millions, and eventually billions of humans bid farwell to the solar system. In the first years, the six wealthy power blocs led the journey to the stars. By 2241, Earth’s alliances, now called the Terran powers, claimed more than 100 star systems, and the six great powers began to lose control of their far off colonies. These Earth-based powers began to move their capitals, corporate headquarters, and other centers of power out into space, closer to their colonies.
In 2250 the Terran Empire (Earth) attempted to claim it was the governing body for human colonies everywhere. Eventually tensions between the Terran Empire and the colonies out in space brought about the First Galactic War. The war was vicious and expensive, both in the cost of lives and resources. By 2312, the Treaty of Earth was drafted which abolished the Earth-based superpowers and formally recognized the twenty-five stellar nations. The formation of a 26th nation, the Union of Sol, replaced the Terran Empire, and it was made up of only the Sol system—Earth’s original solar system.
Life progressed rapidly for the next 30 years, and the nations quickly expanded some 2,000 light years across the Milky Way galaxy. Regions such as the Verge, Far Reach, and the Orion Frontier were opened. The Verge rested on the edge of the Orion Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy, and was the furthest anyone had ever gone. It could now serve as the gateway for the next wave of human expansion. The Verge was also rich in needed resources, where each stellar nation was quick to attempt to establish a stronghold. The Verge was viewed as wild, unclaimed space by the stellar nations, and colonies and outposts were created only to serve their stellar nation masters. Whereas the stellar nations were located in civilized Old Space, the Verge was new and unexplored.
As with most wars, a minor incident was the cause of the second Galactic War in 2346. This war was even more savage and lasted far longer than the first. The Verge was completely cut off from Old Space for the entire war. A truce was called 2465, not from any outright victory but because continuation of the war would have lead to the majority of humanity’s extinction. Finally, in 2472, the Treaty of Concord ended the war and established the Galactic Concord. The treaty first divided human space into twelve distinct nations. But more importantly, it established the Galactic Concord, an independent nation consisting of worlds, people, and resources donated by the war’s twelve survivors. Their mission was to preserve the peace, negotiate differences between the nations, and generally oversee humanity and the known species throughout space.
Just over twenty years later, contact was finally reestablished with the Verge in 2496 after the repair of the drivesat relays that carried the communication waves across space. By the end of 2500, the Concord had established several secure bases in the Verge and was helping the region rejoin the galactic community. But many Verge worlds regarded the Concord with suspicion, while others wished to remain independent of their original stellar nation.
The year is 2501. At dawn of the 26th century, a bright future seems to be on the horizon. But the remnants of ancient wars also linger in minds, hearts and actions. The Concord and current order of the universe are not popular with all stellar nations or those in the Verge. The powerful stellar nation of the Galactic Concord and its Administrators constantly balance law, order, and the dispensation of justice with the suspicion held by others that the Concord could one day overthrow all of them.
No longer sheltered in our solar system of only nine planets and a single sun, humans have discovered incredible new life forms, amazing space and time phenomena, and have expanded thousands of light years from our Earth origins.
As far back as the 20th century, the world’s governments and nations began to collapse. It was during the 21st century that the nations of the world merged into six powerful unions: the American States, the European Union, the Asiatic Federation, the Microtel Protectorate (in South America), the Pacific Bloc, and the Indo-African League. An era of new world government had begun.
Just as limited resources of the planet were about to propel the world to war, the Fusion Age was spawned in 2047 by the development of an efficient fusion generator. Within a year, dozens of generators were powering an energy-starved world. Fossil fuels were no longer necessary. Fusion torch engines opened up the second space race; and in the next few decades, almost 100 stations were established on the nearest planets, moons and asteroids. Colonization beyond Earth was finally a reality.
Humans experienced decades of peace until the invention of the mass reactor in 2106. The same mass reactor, with only slight modifications, has stayed in use for the past four centuries. The mass reactor offered numerous advantages over the fusion generator: it could be miniaturized and used to power smaller spacecraft, equipment, and space stations. However, the mass reactor renewed political tensions as the great powers entered into an intense competition to find uses for this new energy source.
From 2110 and through the next four decades, the world powers visited, divided, and colonized the solar system, expanding their territories from fiery Mercury to cold, distant Pluto. Despite its new technology, humanity was still imprisoned within its solar system as the distances between the stars remained too vast to cross, even with modern technology.
The turning point for humanity came with the first alien contact in the early morning hours of July 17, 2124 when a fraal vessel slowly landed on Earth; and in October of that same year, the Contact Treaty granted full citizenship to the fraal. In exchange for a few reasonable requests from the humans, the fraal immediately began to share their technology with the nations of Earth. Between the advanced sciences of both the humans and the fraal, the first stardrive was activated in 2160. Finally, starships could travel between the star systems in a short period.
Now, with the birth of the Gravity Age, the race was on as thousands, millions, and eventually billions of humans bid farwell to the solar system. In the first years, the six wealthy power blocs led the journey to the stars. By 2241, Earth’s alliances, now called the Terran powers, claimed more than 100 star systems, and the six great powers began to lose control of their far off colonies. These Earth-based powers began to move their capitals, corporate headquarters, and other centers of power out into space, closer to their colonies.
In 2250 the Terran Empire (Earth) attempted to claim it was the governing body for human colonies everywhere. Eventually tensions between the Terran Empire and the colonies out in space brought about the First Galactic War. The war was vicious and expensive, both in the cost of lives and resources. By 2312, the Treaty of Earth was drafted which abolished the Earth-based superpowers and formally recognized the twenty-five stellar nations. The formation of a 26th nation, the Union of Sol, replaced the Terran Empire, and it was made up of only the Sol system—Earth’s original solar system.
Life progressed rapidly for the next 30 years, and the nations quickly expanded some 2,000 light years across the Milky Way galaxy. Regions such as the Verge, Far Reach, and the Orion Frontier were opened. The Verge rested on the edge of the Orion Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy, and was the furthest anyone had ever gone. It could now serve as the gateway for the next wave of human expansion. The Verge was also rich in needed resources, where each stellar nation was quick to attempt to establish a stronghold. The Verge was viewed as wild, unclaimed space by the stellar nations, and colonies and outposts were created only to serve their stellar nation masters. Whereas the stellar nations were located in civilized Old Space, the Verge was new and unexplored.
As with most wars, a minor incident was the cause of the second Galactic War in 2346. This war was even more savage and lasted far longer than the first. The Verge was completely cut off from Old Space for the entire war. A truce was called 2465, not from any outright victory but because continuation of the war would have lead to the majority of humanity’s extinction. Finally, in 2472, the Treaty of Concord ended the war and established the Galactic Concord. The treaty first divided human space into twelve distinct nations. But more importantly, it established the Galactic Concord, an independent nation consisting of worlds, people, and resources donated by the war’s twelve survivors. Their mission was to preserve the peace, negotiate differences between the nations, and generally oversee humanity and the known species throughout space.
Just over twenty years later, contact was finally reestablished with the Verge in 2496 after the repair of the drivesat relays that carried the communication waves across space. By the end of 2500, the Concord had established several secure bases in the Verge and was helping the region rejoin the galactic community. But many Verge worlds regarded the Concord with suspicion, while others wished to remain independent of their original stellar nation.
The year is 2501. At dawn of the 26th century, a bright future seems to be on the horizon. But the remnants of ancient wars also linger in minds, hearts and actions. The Concord and current order of the universe are not popular with all stellar nations or those in the Verge. The powerful stellar nation of the Galactic Concord and its Administrators constantly balance law, order, and the dispensation of justice with the suspicion held by others that the Concord could one day overthrow all of them.