Colony Alpha Timeline and Introduction
c. 2100 – Martian terraforming begins and Mars gains its first permanent settlements in specially engineering fully-enclosed colonies. Human cybernetic enhancements become viable. The medical procedures to implant them and their electroneural interfaces are perfected. However, most cybernetic enhancements remain in the realm of the military and those that can afford them. Corporations reach a point of prominence in global influence. Some corporations secede from their founding countries and begin to maintain private military forces.
c. 2125 – Years of extreme drought and massive sandstorms due to climate change cause the complete collapse of Australia’s government. Australian based corporations evacuate their arcologies. Many cities are left empty husks buried in red dust. The entire continent becomes a wasteland.
c. 2200 – The United Nations becomes the major governing body of Earth. Corporations are recognized as sovereign states-within-states with all rights accorded to nations. Some small nations and nation states refuse to join the UN or acknowledge its rule. The widespread colonization of Mars begins as separate territories governed by different Earth nations.
c. 2250 – Colonization of the asteroid belt begins, spearheaded by corporations. The Martian Federation created as an analog of the United Nations on Earth.
c. 2300 – Human life expectancy reaches 140 Earth years on average.
c. 2350 – Martian territories begin declaring independence from Earth.
c. 2400 – Sectarian violence between separatists and Earth loyalists leads to a civil war on Mars. The United Nations imposes sanctions.
c. 2450 – Mars declares independence. Earth and Mars go to war. Earth dominates the war and would otherwise completely subdue Mars if not for the window in which both planets’ orbits line up. Many colonies of the asteroid belt create a confederation and announce their neutrality in the war. Some remain aligned.
c. 2460 – A massive spatial distortion mysteriously appears next to Sol, destabilizing it. Exotic matter from the distortion fuels Sol into the beginning stages of going nova. Scientists estimate Sol will go nova in approximately 200 years.
c. 2465 – Small portions of the population of the Sol system begin to exhibit psychokinetic powers. The sudden manifestation of these powers sometimes leads to destruction and loss of life. These people are dubbed “pariahs” and widely discriminated against.
c. 2476 – The Pariah Control Act is signed into law by the UN. Pariahs throughout the Sol system are hunted down by UN spec ops agents called Spectres. An unknown pariah calling himself (or herself) Ghost starts an underground rebellion known as the Pariah Liberation Front.
c. 2480 – Pariahs are forced into military service by the governments of Earth and Mars to aid in the war effort. An underground railroad for pariahs springs up independent of the war, to secret them away to the free colonies in the asteroid belt.
c. 2490 – Sol emits an enormous coronal mass ejection that devastates Earth and Mars. Millions are killed. The free colonies of the asteroid belt are left mostly in tact. Many pariahs seize this opportunity to throw off their shackles of oppression. They form a third faction in the war, centralized in the asteroid belt. The pariahs begin a systematic genocide of Earth and Mars aligned colonies and factions. They attack both planets directly, causing further destruction.
c. 2540 – The governments and corporations of Earth and Mars make peace to combat the threat of the pariahs. Through their combined efforts pariahs throughout the Sol system are subdued and forced into concentration camps and penal colonies. Many pariahs hide their true nature from friends and family to escape detection and incarceration.
c. 2550 – Earth and Mars begin a joint effort to deal with the destabilized sun, which will go nova in approximately 100 years. The IC 2602 Theta Carinae Cluster is identified as having many stars and exoplanets suitable for human life. Work begins on massive colony ships to transport a portion of the population of Sol to the Theta Carinae Cluster to combat the potential extinction of humanity. These colony ships are called “slowboats” due to their relatively slow interstellar speed (15% the speed of light at maximum velocity). It is estimated that the slowboats will take about 3000 years to reach Theta Carinae. Plans are made to construct 20 slowboats, each will hold nearly a million people, plants, and animals, as well as seeds and genetic material of all nonextinct flora and fauna from Earth and Mars. Each slowboat is to head toward a different habitable world in the Theta Carinae Cluster. The worlds are close enough together that travel between them will be feasible with contemporary spacetravel technology, thus creating an interstellar society. All colonists are to be cryogenically frozen during the journey in what is called cryostasis or “coldsleep.”
c. 2600 – The slowboats are completed. There is a systemwide lottery to determine who will be allowed to leave the Sol system. Families are torn apart. Mass hysteria surrounds the launching of the slowboats. Governments nearly falter. The slowboats launch and leave the Sol system behind with approximately 50 years before Sol destroys the birthplace of humanity.