The Story So Far

War on Terror

When open warfare broke out between the 'free world' and states accused of sponsoring global terrorism in 2003, few people took notice. Most people thought it would be the Gulf War over again. While successes were made in conventional warfare on the field, global terrorism hit new heights in this period of war.

Terrorist activity seemed to reach its pinnacle when a crude nuclear device was used to devastate a large section of Washington D.C. in 2006, resulting in the deaths of the President and most of the Senate. There were other attacks of lesser degree across the globe but the significance of the Washington attack could not be ignored.

While the United States attempted to recover from the shock of the massive destruction wrought upon its capital and nations across the globe began to place their militaries on a war footing, the first foreign aid began to pour in from the rest of the shocked world.

Then less than a month after the destruction of Washington, another detonation, a thermonuclear device this time, wiped New York off the face of the earth, along with several hundred thousand tons of merchant vessels from the rest of the world that had borne food and supplies bound for the Washington blast survivors.

At first, it was believed that terrorists had someone smuggled another bomb aboard one of the many ships that had come to America in the name of peace. The new president, pressured by an enraged nation authorized the military to respond with limited nuclear strikes as soon as the perpetrators were found.

However, no one was really prepared when China was revealed to have masterminded the attack. It was a shocking revelation that was whispered only behind closed doors in the Pentagon. No one believed that the public would accept that China, a trade partner and willing ally had actually struck first.

War of the Bombs

Hungry for revenge yet knowing that the President would never allow a strike on China even if presented with solid proof, the Joint Chiefs decided that they had to do whatever was necessary to ensure the continued existence of the United States.

The President thus became the victim of one of the most elaborate plots in history and was deceived into believing that it was the Libyans who had launched the attack. True his word, nuclear launch release was granted and the first wave of missiles were streaking off towards their targets just minutes after the decision was reached.

Minutes later, several military installations around Tripoli vanished in white-hot balls. Then Beijing, along with millions of Chinese, disappeared as well.

By the time the President realized what had happened, it was already far too late, the world's most populous nation had officially declared war on the United States. While on the verge of dismissing the Joint Chiefs and placing them all under arrest, they revealed to him that China was indeed behind the attack on New York. The President realizes that it is irrelevant now since China was obviously targeting America with her own missiles even as he and his Joint Chiefs were speaking.

While realizing that he had been deceived, the President also realized that he had no choice but to act fast to ensure the survival of his nation. China has already viewed America's attack as a first strike and the Americans viewed China's subterfuge in New York in the same light. No one was listening to the other and the United States beat the Chinese to the punch. But it wasn't enough.

That dark day in 2007, spears of nuclear fire came raining down on China, taking out strategic assets as well as missiles silos. But some Chinese missiles had inevitably gotten through. And unlike the United States, those missiles weren't targeted at military installations. And not all were nukes.

Close to a dozen cities suffered 90 destruction or depopulation within the first day. As tensions and confusion reigned across the globe, the world seemed to suddenly become consumed with war and chaos.

Much of Earth's history during this period is unknown. Fragmentary records indicate that there were more missiles and bombs. The depopulation of Earth was catastrophic and near total.

Reconstruction

Reliable and detailed historical records indicate that only a few nations of the world had somehow clung on to life in the great holocaust that followed. By 2035 the reunited population of North America were once again exerting their influence as the world's leading nation.

While other civilizations struggled to rebuild their lands and infrastructure, the newly-formed North American League began to annex neighboring territories through diplomacy and occasionally, force.

It was during these dark years that the first feelings of global resentment towards the Americans begin to simmer. Many blamed them for starting the war that had so terribly altered the face of the Earth and humanity.

By 2043, this widespread resentment comes to a head with uprisings occurring in numerous American protectorates. With the people in open rebellion, the Americans do not hesitate to use a few of its remaining nuclear weapons to quell the unrest.

But unknown to the League, the rest of the world was already planning to break the American stranglehold on the globe with the help of America's old enemies, the nations that had once been China and Russia. A year later, these nations would unleash a holocaust unlike anything the world has ever seen yet.

The Second Holocaust

The short war of the bombs lasted for a mere three days in October 2047. Over 300 ballistic missiles are fired during this period resulting in the total destruction or contamination of 48 cities. Nuclear, chemical and biological weapons are all used and the short war ended with the destruction of several major American cities and the entire American League's power structure along with it.

With that, the Americans would never be a major power again. The conservative government that replaced the old military government vowed never to go to war again. The war had also left Russia literally blasted into the stone age and China in ruins as well.

It was during this period that nations like Japan, India, South-east Asia and South America began to grow, their recovery far outstripping that of their former superpower brethren, their industries mainly focused on exports to the former global powers.

With no more than two billion people left worldwide, and tens of millions dying from radiation sickness and biochemical contamination annually, humanity is hard-pressed to survive in this post-apocalyptic world.

The Second Dark Ages

The following two centuries will be labeled as the Second Dark Ages with various sections of humanity degenerating to barbaric levels in their quest for survival. While the majority of human beings spent their time trying to coax life out of the scorched planet, a passionate few maintain their research in fields like terra-forming and space travel.

In the course of the two centuries that made up the Second Dark Ages, many cultures fade into oblivion. Few are willing to cling on to their cultural heritage in an unforgiving world that demanded the cooperation of all peoples for survival. One thing was certain, the hegemony of the Western hemisphere had been forever broken and humans, forced to coexist to survive, now form the kind of society that the UN had once dreamed of establishing. Earth continues to heal during this time as humanity struggles to rebuild.

The Return to Space

By 2240, the Second Dark Ages were officially over with the world having been restored to 1980s standards of living. New cities had sprout up over what had once been nuclear wasteland and major breakthroughs in terra-forming research has helped to transform former biochemical strike zones into lush, thriving Edens.

Mankind is now a lean, communal race dedicated to helping one another. With the lessening of bureaucracy, increased efficiency and lower costs, space travel research becomes feasible. For the first time in almost a quarter of a millenium, Man has his eyes turned to space once more.

In 2252, Houston's former NASA facilities were active again after two and a half centuries of disuse. The first space craft is launched in early November that year, dubbed the New Dawn One. This unmanned space vessel makes 100 orbits of Earth before returning safely. By the end of the following year, satellites are being launched on a large scale once more.

2255, Man's finest achievement to date, the Hubble II space telescope was launched, giving humans an eye into the sky. More experiments are carried out, this time with manned space craft.

In 2258, Grigori Brusilov and Naomi Takamura became the first people to spend a year living aboard a mobile spacecraft, mapping the surface of the Moon for possible colonization sites. They suffered no ill-effects from their stay and this paved the way for the next step.

Reaching for the Stars

Development of new drive systems between 2259-2265 saw shorter and shorter transits between Earth and the Moon. By late 2265, large colony ships were now able to make trips between Earth and the Moon in a matter of hours. Transit times between Earth and Mars could be measured in no more than ten days.

With such capability, it was not long before the first colonists start arriving on Earth's moon, Luna. The first colonies were set up in the vicinity of the Sea of Tranquility and Luna's capital has been Tranquility City ever since.

By 2280, large starships, both civilian and military were plying space lanes between Earth and beyond the Moon. The first Martian colony was established in early 2282. Advance terra-forming techniques were tried out and after three years of hard work, Mars had a thin atmosphere that allows humans to spend limited periods of time on the surface without a space suit. Travel time between Earth and Mars shrank to a mere 2 days.

Mars would continue to serve as a test bed for terra-forming experiments and would grow into the R&D hub of humanity over the next few years. It was here where Professors Thomas Long and Richard Speiss develop the theory of jump points.

Nobody took their theories seriously at first and since Mankind was more interested in first exploring the rest of its solar system, any thoughts of travelling to other stars was shelved in favor of settling on the other planets and moons in the solar system.

By 2295, all the planets in the solar system with the sole exception of Mercury were home to human outposts both orbital and planetary. However, it was not until 2315, long after Long and Speiss have died that the United Earth Government, now renamed the Government of Solar States decided to do more research in the field of inter-system space travel.

The Trailblazer was the first jump-capable ship developed by man and it made its historic first jump on 19th March 2322, arriving safely in the Alpha Centauri System. Before long, more jump capable ships were constructed, bringing Man to the stars.

From then on, little could be done to control the numerous independent stellar nations that would rise up and fall in the centuries to follow.

Arcadia

The Arcadia star system was colonized in 2367, during the Age of Expansion. The original settlers were a group of peace-loving people who sought to avoid the inevitable conflicts that now plagued mankind as it reached outwards to claim the stars around Sol.

Passing through the then-unknown Gateway System, the would-be settlers or Arcadia made a daring transit through a jump point that had not yet been probed. What they found was a life-bearing star system with four of its six planets in the life-supporting belt. It was an incredibly rare find. With no need to spend exorbitant amounts on terraforming, this paradise was name Arcadia.

Work was begun on a colony on the third planet which was also named Arcadia and by 2380, the system was home to nearly a billion settlers seeking peace from the numerous wars that were taking place closer to the 'Inner Worlds' that surrounded Sol.

The surrounding systems of Valhalla, Elysium and Evciler are explored between 2398-2405 and by 2450, all the planets of Arcadia had been colonized.

The People's Republic of Soyuz

In 2464, a Socialist leader by the name of Vladimir Smirdov nearly won the election to the Presidency of Arcadia. He hjad thought Arcadia to be perfect for creating a new Soviet Union. Some of his supporters, displeased with the result, began a revolt and the Arcadian Civil War began.

This conflict last for nearly five years before the Socialists were defeated and its leaders were sent into exile. Smirdov would himself lead an expedition that took him a dozen jumps away from Arcadia where he set up the colony of Soyuz, offering it as a haven for all who shared his Socialist views. Over the next century, it would grow into the People's Republic of Soyuz which would encompass nearly forty star systems.

Birth of the Alliance

In 2532, the threat of the People's Republic hung like a pall over the Arcadians and her neighbors. Born out of this fear and need for solidarity, the Arcadian Alliance was formed, comprising of the Kingdom of Elysium, the Dieron Federation and the independent worlds of Freya and Nirvana.

This pitted the Alliance's thirteen star systems against the People's Republic's thirty-nine. Yet despite this disparity in numbers, the Alliance's economy and industrial infrastructure was better-built and it experienced great prosperity while the Soyuzans struggled to keep up.

Realizing that they couldn't dominate the Alliance economically, the Soyuzans undertook its '2000-ship navy' building program. The formerly peaceful members of the Arcadian Alliance, worried by the implications of such a move, were forced to build up its own military. With the threat of the Soyuzans overrunning their stellar nation, Alliance citizens began to discard their loathing towards all things military, their industry geared up to meet its defense requirements.

While the Soyuzans opted for the strength of numbers, the smaller Alliance decided to go for a lean force of well-trained regulars with the best equipment money could buy and the best training possible. Military advisors from friendly stellar nations such as the Star Kingdom of Lyra and the Orion Empire helped in establishing the Arcardian Alliance Army, Aerospace Force, Marine Corps and Navy.

Military Expansion

By 2617, the plans for the Alliance's military had reached fruition. Every planet in the Alliance had been fortified with formidable defenses on the frontiers with the People's Republic to repel any assault.

While its Army and Aerospace Force was about one-eighth the size of its Soyuzan rivals, the Arcadian forces were well-trained and equipped for a possible war. The Navy's strength had reached nearly 500 combat ships of all types.

And then, in May 2624, it finally happened. The Soyuzan fleets came rushing through the Freya and Dieron Systems, almost threatening to cut off the Fleet Base at Tangier before Arcadian units managed to halt the invasion at Altair.

Now, three years on, that war rages on.