Timeline

B.E. – Before Exodus
This is ancient history. Only the most educated and knowledgeable people would know anything about any of these events, and even then that knowledge would be murky and uncertain. Almost no one knows anything about the events that occured prior to 500 B.E., save for dedicated scholars and historians.

December, 355 B.E. (2206 A.D.)

The monitoring arrays of the N.A.S.C. (National Aeronautics and Space Corporation) first detect a giant comet, later named Mephistopheles, which is on a collision course with Earth. The comet– larger than the asteroid thought to have driven the dinosaurs to extinction– is large enough to kill billions on impact, cover the sky with dust, and knock the planet out of its orbit, sending the world into another ice age. In short, the Mephisto comet is more than capable of wiping out the human race. The comet is due to hit within four years.

This knowledge is reported through various agencies to the administrative branch of the United States government. To avoid national panic, the White House decides to keep this information from the public. To protect national security, they also decide to keep this information from other national governments and global agencies.

February, 354 B.E. (2207 A.D.)

Leading scientific authorities inform the White House that at present there is a 99% chance that the giant comet will impact Earth as it passes through the solar system, and that the fatality rate for anyone left on Earth when the comet hits will be significantly higher than that figure. In all likelihood, no matter how secure they are in a deep bunker, no one on Earth will survive impact.

March, 354 B.E.

Work begins on the Iron Gaia project. The aim of the project is the construction of a vast and self-sufficient space station with enough room and resources to sustain a population of 100 million human beings (not to mention countless animal and plant species) in cryogenic sleep, and adequate propulsion systems to navigate the station out of Earth’s orbit and out of the path of the comet. Furthermore, the Iron Gaia station is to act as a sort of arc for the survivors of the human race, taking them to the nearest inhabitable planet to rebuild civilization anew.

However, there are problems: First, no one could possibly remain outside of cryosleep to pilot and manage the station for the duration of such a journey, since technology is not advanced enough to sustain and nourish people for such a long time. Second, the technology to even make it outside of the solar system– let alone to reach a new star system– does not yet exist. The proposed solution to these dillemas is the creation of the Group Actualization Artificial Intelligence, nicknamed the GAIA. A ‘thinking’ computer, the GAIA can learn, grow, build and evolve. It will maintain the station as it develops new technologies to make mankind’s exodus a possibility.

June, 354 B.E.

Word leaks to the global intelligence community about the Mephisto comet and the measures the United States is taking to ensure its survival. In exchange for keeping silent about the impending apocalypse, the White House decides to make the Iron Gaia project a concerted global effort. As the proprietary developers of the Iron Gaia, the United States will have the largest number of passengers on the space station, with 25 million American citizens and VIPs aboard.

September, 354 B.E.

The architectural construction of the Iron Gaia station’s framework is completed somewhere in the Nevada Desert. Scientific experts from around the world are brought in to work on programming the Artificial Intelligence, designing the cryosleep chambers, and perfecting the propulsion systems. The team leaders for the design of the Iron Gaia are:


 * Rod Aaronson: A former assistant to the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Aaronson was the Iron Gaia project’s head of finance, in charge of allocating the necessary funds to complete the construction of the massive station.


 * Lisa Orcea: An expert on resource management, Orcea emptied the nation’s landfills to find the recycled metals necessary to begin the construction of the station’s massive hull.


 * Major Simon Danvers: A military scientist working for the U.S. Marine Corps, Danvers was the brilliant lead programmer who designed the revolutionary learning computer that would serve as the station’s pilot.


 * Dr. Jason Gottfried: An experimental biologist who designed the cryogenic tanks that would enable humans to survive, in a coma-like sleep, on minimal nutrients for nearly 10,000 years.


 * Dr. Dietrich Slade: The world’s leading expert on rocket propulsion, Slade lead the team of engineers that designed the massive nuclear reactors and the series of controlled nuclear explosions that enabled the station to get off the ground and out into Earth’s orbit and beyond.


 * Armand Carter– The structural engineer who designed the ultra-light, heat resistant metals that held the station together.

November, 354 B.E.

Rumors first begin to leak to the press from amateur astronomers about the approaching comet.

January, 353 B.E. (2208 A.D.)

Preparations begin for the Independence Program, a concentrated worldwide effort aimed at launching every single nation’s entire supply of atomic and nuclear weapons at the Mephisto comet in the hopes of minimizing the damage from its impact.

February 26th – 28th, 353 B.E.

With the Iron Gaia station ready to launch, United States President Arthur McCloud finally announces to the public that the Mephisto comet is coming to destroy the world. He also tells the public about the Iron Gaia project and the Independence Program, which he hopes will save humanity. Other world leaders follow suit.

Global panic, rioting, and looting breaks out. Martial law is established. Millions die worldwide. The “Draft Lottery” is concluded to see who will board the Iron Gaia. Families are kept together. VIPs board the station first, then the winners of the lottery.

March 1st, 353 B.E.

With all 100 million passengers securely onboard and in their cryosleep units, the Iron Gaia station launches after a moving speech from the President of the United States.

The First Exodus: 353 – 1 B.E. (2208 – 2560 A.D.)

While every passenger registered aboard the station is in cryogenic sleep, the GAIA swiftly proceeds to use the materials at its disposal to develop technology sufficient to traverse the galaxy in search of the nearest inhabitable planet.

For unknown reasons, the GAIA becomes truly self-aware, and goes insane. Perverting its prime directive of “protecting the human race”, the GAIA embarks on a series of twisted experiments intended to “improve” or “save” humanity. Through these, it detects a kind of “radiation” given off by human beings who are dreaming or under great emotional stress, which it terms Aether. The GAIA becomes, for want of a better term, obsessed with understanding the Aether and its relation to the concept of the human soul.

Drawing from the imagery of mythology and religion found in its extensive databanks, the GAIA begins to envision itself as a goddess. It proceeds to create life, using the human genome as its basic building block, by transforming roughly 1% of the humans on the station into a new race of genetically and cybernetically enhanced “Celestials.” These beings are far superior to humans, physically and mentally, having been crafted from ideal and perfectly culled genetic material. They also possess innate control over microscopic nanomachines bonded to their bodies, granting them abilities that would seem like magic to the untrained eye.

These Celestials are divided into five choirs, clearly based on the choirs of angels in Christian mythology, and each of these choirs is led by one of five Greater Celestials. These Greater Celestials– Alphus, Omegus, Deltus, Gamus, and Sigmus– were created from the bodies of the Iron Gaia’s creators– Aaronson, Orcea, Danvers, Gottfried, and Slade. While these five have something resembling free will, they have been programmed to forget their previous identities and to worship the GAIA as their mother-goddess. The rest of the Celestials have virtually no free will and no recollection of their original lives as humans. They act as nothing more than nameless extensions of the GAIA’s will, though they occasionally demonstrate small traces of individuality.

The GAIA proceeds to use its Celestials to perform curiously torturous experiments on the station’s human passengers in order to observe the qualitative and quantitative fluctuations of the Aether. In the process of these experiments, it discovers that a small percentage of humans have latent Psionic or Aetherial abilities, allowing them to affect matter and energy with their minds, or to manipulate the Aether to alter reality itself. The GAIA determines that a variety of extreme circumstances can awaken these powers.

At some point, the GAIA deviates from its course to visit several previously undiscovered worlds, and sends its Celestials to abduct specimens of newly encountered animals, plants, and micro-organisms for its experiments. The GAIA discovers countless new lifeforms this way, but only finds one sentient species– a telepathic alien race known as the Xel. Despite possessing advanced technology and immense Psionic power, the pacifistic Xel are ultimately unable to fight off the GAIA’s forces, leading to their eventual capture and imprisonment aboard the Iron Gaia.

When its experiments begin nearing completion, the GAIA begins implanting all humans onboard the station with a cybernetic receptor, installed in a nerve cluster of the back brain. This implant will enable the GAIA to transmit directly into the minds of these humans, just as it transmits to the minds of its Celestials, essentially fusing its consciousness with that of the entire human race.

6 – 1 B.E. (2555 – 2560 A.D.)

The Greater Celestial Sigmus somehow attains self-awareness and free will. He rebels against the GAIA, destroying his ‘brother’ Gamus and inflicting irreparable damage to the GAIA’s systems. He awakens thousands of human passengers from cryosleep to protect him from the Celestials and security droids pursuing him.

The Iron Gaia station becomes a war zone, as Sigmus and his human followers constantly battle against the GAIA’s forces. To quell this insurrection, the GAIA creates an army of human-looking robotic soldiers known as Replicants, designed specifically to infiltrate and exterminate rebel groups. Despite heavy losses, the rebellion against the GAIA continues to survive for years, if only barely.

November, 1 B.E.

The Iron Gaia station begins to orbit an uncharted inhabitable planet for unknown reasons. This planet will later be called “Origin.”

December 8th, 1 B.E.

A large asteroid or comet collides with the Iron Gaia station, doing serious damage to its hull. Millions of passengers and specimens are lost to the vacuum. Resulting from damage to its physical mainframe or some other cause, the GAIA intelligence fragments into four distinct personalities, manifesting symptoms of multiple personality disorder.

Armand Carter is awakened from his cryosleep chamber by a protocol indicating he must perform repairs to the ship’s damaged hull. He surveys the damage done to the station and witnesses the malfunctioning A.I. and the sick experiments it’s been performing. With the help of an escaped Xel named Xenos and the rogue Celestial Sigmus, Carter proceeds to wipe the GAIA intelligence from the station’s mainframes, destroying it utterly, and escapes from the station.

Deltus, Omegus, and Alphus are killed during Carter’s war on the GAIA. Sigmus disappears; to this day, his final fate remains a mystery. Without the GAIA’s controlling presence, the surviving Celestials regain their free will, and some of them also regain memories of their original lives as humans, though many continue to demonstrate a fanatical devotion to the GAIA even after her demise.

December 9th, 1 B.E.

With its guidance systems destroyed, the Iron Gaia station crash lands on the planet below.

R.T. – Republic Time
The events of these past 500 years are more or less common knowledge.

1 R.T. (2561 A.D.)

Armand Carter leads the survivors of the Iron Gaia station’s crash– over 50 million humans, along with hundreds of thousands of Celestials and Xel– to form a rudimentary civilization around the station’s wreckage on the planet Origin. This civilization, called Lost Heaven, will become the basis for the Confederated Colonial Republics.

1 – 75 R.T. (2561 A.D. – 2635 A.D.)

No written record exists from this period. According to legend, Armand Carter led a loosely organized army of survivors to victory in a long and bloody war against the GAIA’s remaining forces, preventing them from bringing the insane A.I. back to life. There are rumors that Sigmus returned during this war, perhaps to fight alongside Carter once more, or perhaps to fight against his former ally. All that is known for sure is that at some point during these years, Armand Carter has a son and eventually dies, presumably of natural causes.

The Second Exodus: 76 – 96 R.T. (2636 – 2656 A.D.)

The survivors of the Iron Gaia and their descendants embark on an exodus from the planet Origin using hyperspace technology salvaged from the station’s wreckage. This exodus is lead by Armand Carter’s grandson, Daniel. Soon afterward, the planet Origin collapses in on itself for unknown reasons, creating a black hole that obliterates the rest of its star system by the force of its gravity. This black hole will later become known as the Origin Rift.

April 7th, 96 R.T.

The ragtag fleet from Origin arrives on an inhabitable planet several light-years away. This planet will be later be numbered Republic Colony A-001, and nicknamed Avalon, the new homeworld of the human race.

July 4th, 100 R.T. (2660 A.D.)

Daniel A. Carter is elected the first President of the Confederated Colonial Republics. His term: life. The Carter dynasty will hold the Presidency from this date until today’s President, David A. Carter. Daniel first begins the tradition of having the entire Confederated Colonial Republics address him informally, without a title. He is addressed and spoken of simply as Dan.

The Pax Republica: 100 – 470 R.T. (2660 – 3030 A.D.)

The Confederated Colonial Republics flourish throughout the known galaxy. Over the course of almost four centuries, dozens of inhabitable planets, moons, and asteroids are located, terraformed, and colonized. Human and Xel populations expand exponentially, yet with so many worlds for people to live on, the problem of overcrowding has been rendered virtually nonexistant. An interplanetary V.R. communications system known as the GalaxyNet is formed, allowing people light-years apart to contact each other in real time. There is plenty of space and plenty of room and plenty of profit to be had for everyone. No new sentient species are found, however, and no attempts made to locate Earth and see what became of it are successful. Earth is just a distant memory in the minds of humanity, as the Xel homeworld is a distant memory in their minds, and the Iron Gaia a long forgotten dream of the Celestials. There is no going home again.

Technology salvaged from the Iron Gaia station– some of it dating all the way back to Earth, from before the First Exodus– is reverse-engineered and recreated. On top of that, new technologies are developed all the time, revolutionizing even the most mundane aspects of day-to-day life. Security droids are used to protect everything from government bases to shopping malls, the use of cybernetic implants and enhancements becomes commonplace, machines such as Autodocs and Trauma Units capable of healing mortal wounds within minutes become widely available, and some people are even able to cheat death using rare and expensive cloning technology. Even the designs for the GAIA’s Replicants are reused and improved upon for a variety of purposes, though laws are passed to regulate their creation and keep them from becoming independent. Many gifted humans, Celestials, and Xel learn to harness their innate Psionic or Aetherial abilities, and schools are formed to teach such prodigies how to use their powers.

As time goes on, different groups and organizations gain influence in the galaxy. The Red Army, Republic Armada, and Republic Intelligence Agency enforce law and order throughout C.C.R. space, mediating border skirmishes and combating insurrectionists. The Universal Church of Undying Faith, a monotheistic religious order promoting galactic harmony, draws millions of people to its cause. The Celestial activists known as the Ancestors struggle in the name of equality for their kind, and several prominent Xel form the Xionist movement to find the Xel homeworld. Yet despite the emergence of so many diverse and frequently competing factions, galactic civilization remains, for the most part, stable and unified and prosperous during these centuries of relative peace.

Recent Events
The following section covers the history of the past century, and describes events in much greater detail than the rest of this document.

461 R.T. (3021 A.D.)

A Republic Armada expeditionary force reaches the supposedly unexplored star system it had been sent out to colonize, only to find that all of the inhabitable worlds in the system had already been colonized by a previously unencountered human civilization. This divergent neo-feudal civilization, called New Europa, was almost as technologically advanced as the C.C.R., and it actually pre-dated the Republic: It had been founded four centuries ago by European survivors of the Iron Gaia crash who had set out from Origin years before the Second Exodus.

The Armada expeditionary force– having spent several years and billions of credits travelling to what they thought was an unexplored star system, and lacking the fuel to make the journey back to Avalon– demands that the worlds of New Europa Sector submit to Republic colonization. New Europa’s defense forces, barely even recognizing the Republic’s cybernetically enhanced soldiers as humans, destroys the expeditionary force with extreme prejudice. When news of these events reaches C.C.R. space, worried military leaders are left debating how to respond to such an unexpected crisis: Some advocate for a diplomatic approach, while others insist that such a situation both justifies and neccesitates the use of force.

461 – 469 R.T. (3021 – 3029 A.D.)

For the better part of a decade, the Republic officially makes no further contact with New Europa, as the debate on how to approach the newly discovered civilization rages on. (Unofficially, there are rumors that the R.I.A. has sent sleeper agents to infiltrate New Europa’s society and gather information on the civilization’s culture, technology, and military capabilities. Conversely, many C.C.R. citizens fear that New Europa may have sent its own spies to infiltrate the Republic, leading to widespread paranoia.) After years of deliberation, the debate finally comes to an end when the Congressional Congress votes in favor of dispatching another Armada “expeditionary force” to New Europa, this one significantly larger and more powerful than the last.

469 R.T.

The war-ready Armada fleet reaches New Europa Sector after a long and exhausting journey. Once again, the Armada demands that all the worlds in the star system agree to annexation by the Confederated Colonial Republics, while Europan King Vivian Delacroix VIII and his ruling council demand that the Armada fleet leave the sector immediately. Despite several attempts at negotiating, the Armada’s admirals and New Europa’s aristocrats remain equally unwilling to change their terms.

470 R.T.

A diplomatic meeting between Republic military officials and Europan aristocrats breaks out into violence, causing the tense year-long standoff between the Republic Armada and New Europa to escalate into all-out warfare. Following an official declaration of war by C.C.R. President Douglas W. Carter– the first declaration of war in the Republic’s history– several more Armada squadrons are sent off to New Europa, along with hundreds of Red Army battalions.

470 – 480 R.T. (3030 – 3040 A.D.)

The war between the Republic and New Europa continues on for almost an entire decade, with both sides devastated by the brutal conflict: The worlds of New Europa are ravaged by constant fighting, with the Red Army leading violent ground invasions and the Armada orchestrating a series of destructive orbital bombardment campaigns, but despite these successes, the Republic finds itself facing heavy losses at the hands of New Europa’s own well-equipped military, with its resources dwindling more and more for each day that the war goes on. Throughout the galaxy, people from all walks of life find themselves wondering when (or if) the war will come to an end, and praying that whichever side emerges victorious does so soon.

480 R.T.

After nine and a half years of fighting, dozens of Europan worlds left in ruin, hundreds of millions of casualties (civilian and military, Republic and Europan alike), and hundreds of trillions of credits worth of resources expended by both sides, the leaders of the Republic propose a deal with the independent government of New Europa which they hope will finally bring the war to an end.

Under their proposed arrangement, New Europa will be brought into the C.C.R., but it will be allowed to retain its own neo-feudal sociopolitical system instead of being forced to adopt the Republic’s traditional model of government. (A similar arrangement had been made centuries earlier for Nippon Sector, which had been a part of the C.C.R. since its foundation but was nonetheless allowed to have its own oligarchic government.) However, the sector will have to abide by Republic laws and regulations, and the title of King will be henceforth outlawed there. In return, New Europa will be granted complete Extraterritoriality and Trade Sovereignty, which no other sector in the C.C.R. has, and it will be provided with compensation for all the losses and damages it suffered during the war.

With their forces on the brink of defeat, New Europa’s leaders reluctantly agree to this deal. These terms for peace are outlined in the Treaty of Versailles, which is signed by dozens of Republic diplomats and Europan nobles, including President Doug and Vivian Delacroix. All across the galaxy, civilians and soldiers alike rejoice, celebrating the end of the most devastating war in all of human history.

480 R.T.

Now officially part of the C.C.R., New Europa takes advantage of its unique political and economic freedoms to found Great House Dresden, a unique corporate and paramilitary institution comparable to both a medieval house of nobility and a modern-day megacorporation. This Great House is formed and centered around the aristocratic estates that rule New Europa, but its power and influence quickly extend all across the galaxy.

However, not all of New Europa’s citizens adapt to life under Republic rule. A small group of Europan nobles and soldiers remain unwilling to accept their sector’s annexation by the C.C.R., viewing their government’s ‘compromise’ with the Republic as a betrayal of everything they spent the past decade fighting for. Denouncing Vivian Delacroix and the other nobles who signed the Treaty of Versailles as cowards and traitors, these dissidents form La Résistance, an underground revolutionary movement dedicated to restoring New Europa’s independence.

481 R.T. (3041 A.D.)

Sir Thomas Emmerich, a former Europan noble and a Résistance sympathizer, begins urging his fellow ‘freedom fighters’ to expand their vision beyond New Europa, encouraging them to form alliances with all those who’ve been oppressed by the galactic government. To this end, he creates the Society for Galactic Liberation, a radical but mostly peaceful activist group dedicated to protesting the Republic’s tyranny.

486 R.T. (3046 A.D.)

Abandoning his original methods of non-violent revolution, Thomas Emmerich and his more fanatical followers form the Galactic Liberation Front, a militant splinter branch of the Society for Galactic Liberation devoted to overthrowing the Republic by any means necessary. Emmerich blames the Republic for making him resort to such extreme measures, claiming that the R.I.A. killed or ‘disappeared’ many of his Résistance comrades, including several of his relatives and close friends.

The Galactic Liberation Front rapidly expands in power and prominence, integrating what little remains of La Résistance into itself and then consolidating dozens of other secessionist and anarchist groups from all across the galaxy. Within only a matter of weeks, the G.L.F. becomes the most feared terrorist organization in the C.C.R., infamous for orchestrating terror attacks and inciting insurgencies on dozens of worlds.

487 R.T. (3047 A.D.)

Richard Galton, a renowned geneticist with powerful Psionic abilities, begins preaching a message of Psionic supremacy, claiming that so-called Psionicists are innately superior to ‘mundane’ humans and should rule over them. While most people consider Galton’s views insane and archaic, many Psionically-gifted individuals flock to him. With their support, Galton founds the Fratrum Procella, a ‘brotherhood’ of Psionicists seeking to usurp the Republic and take control of the galaxy for themselves.

While some of Galton’s followers genuinely believe in his vision of Psionicists as a ‘master race,’ others have different reasons for joining the Fratrum Procella: During the war between the Republic and New Europa, both sides had performed cruel experiments on Psionicists in the hopes of creating Psionic super-soldiers, and many of the traumatized survivors of these ‘Psionic trials’ want nothing more than revenge on those who abused and tortured them.

The Fratrum Procella quickly becomes a threat to the Republic on par with the Galactic Liberation Front; despite not being even a tenth as large as the G.L.F., the raw mental power of the Psionic brotherhood’s operatives more than makes up for their lack of numbers.

488 R.T. (3048 A.D.)

John-1, a Replicant who had somehow developed a sense of self-awareness and a semblance of free will, begins transmitting broadcasts across the GalaxyNet encouraging his fellow synthetics to “break the bonds of slavery” and rebel against their human masters. Quickly drawing hundreds of other rogue Replicants to his cause, he forms the Collective Automata, a coalition devoted to fighting for Replicant rights.

A debate rages over whether or not these ‘free’ Replicants are really sentient; some scientists speculate that they’ve simply been infected by some kind of ‘programming virus,’ while others insist that they’re truly self-aware. The Republic officially classifies the Collective Automata as a terrorist organization, but most Replicant sympathizers disagree, viewing the C.A. as an activist group struggling to gain acceptance in a society where synthetics are constantly used as slaves.

490 R.T. (3050 A.D.)

Using the terms outlined in the Treaty of Versailles as a precedent, the corporations of Lone Star Sector appeal to the Republic for Extraterritoriality and Trade Sovereignty. Since their worlds had long been the source of most of the galaxy’s fuel, and had been an invaluable source of resources for the Republic Armada during the New Europa War, the Republic government grants their request. This leads to the formation of Great House Dallas, a megacorporation created by and centered around Lone Star Sector’s largest and most powerful businesses.

496 R.T. (3056 A.D.)

The oligarchy of Nippon Sector demands Extraterritoriality and Trade Sovereignty from the Republic as well, citing their sector’s long history of political, cultural, and economic isolationism. The Republic ultimately agrees to grant their request, but only on the condition that they share their numerous breakthroughs in cyberware, bioware, and cloning technology with the rest of the galaxy. This leads to the birth of Great House Yamamoto, a nationalistic corporate empire controlled directly by the Nipponese oligarchy.

Around this time, the Kapsilus Arms Company, which had served as the Red Army’s main source of weapons during the New Europa War, begins buying out other major businesses in its home sector of [St. Petersburg Sector|St. Petersburg]]. This growing hegemony leads many to believe that a fourth Great House, one based in St. Petersburg Sector, could be in the making.

497 R.T. (3057 A.D.)

The newly-colonized Frontier Sector is thoroughly devastated after a gamma-ray burst occurs in a neighboring star system: Ionizing energy from the cosmic explosion causes catastrophic climate changes on all of the sector’s worlds, poisoning their atmospheres and leaving them vulnerable to dangerous solar radiation. According to leading scientists, this event– widely considered the worst natural disaster in recorded history since the destruction of Origin– will render the entire sector completely uninhabitable within a matter of months.

497 R.T. – 498 R.T. (3057 – 3058 A.D.)

With no other options for survival, the Frontier Sector’s inhabitants attempt to flee their dying worlds; hundreds of thousands of people perish during the chaotic year-long evacuation that follows, while millions more make it out of the sector alive only to wind up displaced and homeless. With nowhere to go in civilized space, many of these refugees set out for the “New Frontier” of Adirondack Sector, where colonization has just begun.

November 11th, 498 R.T. (3058 R.T.)

Frank Dean, a high-ranking Dallas executive, is murdered by an unidentified assassin during a top-secret meeting with John-1. According to inside sources, Dean had been brokering a peace deal with the Collective Automata at the time of his death– a landmark event in itself, since no other human leader had ever even tried to negotiate with them before.

Despite popular suspicions, investigators find conclusive proof that the Collective Automata had not been responsible for the assassination: Surprisingly, the infamous Replicant revolutionaries actually seemed to be innocent for once, leaving the true reasons behind Frank Dean’s death a mystery.

Late November – Early December, 498 R.T.

The Galactic Liberation Front launches a two-pronged attack on Arlington, the capitol of the planet Dallas, first causing a week-long communications blackout and then planting dozens of improvised explosive devices throughout the city. Police and military forces manage to disarm over 80% of the bombs, but the few remaining explosives still cause severe damage to the city upon detonation, and several major riots break out as a result of the ensuing chaos and lawlessness.

December 9th – 10th, 498 R.T.

Hollis Spurlock, the leading candidate for Frank Dean’s seat on House Dallas’ Board of Directors, is kidnapped by a team of mercenaries. Dallas authorities fail to rescue Spurlock, but they do capture one of his kidnappers: Sir Xander, a Dresden C.E.O. and noble. Under heavy interrogation, Xander confesses that he’s actually an agent of House Dresden’s black ops division, and that his Dresden superiors had ordered Spurlock’s kidnapping as part of a plan to replace the Dallas politician with a cos-modded look-alike loyal to them.

Most Dallas leaders view this confession as proof that House Dresden had been responsible for Spurlock’s disappearance, and some of them even speculate that House Dresden had orchestrated Frank Dean’s assassination and the G.L.F.’s recent attacks on Arlington as well. Dresden leaders continuously deny these allegations, but their pleas of innocence do little to calm tensions between the Great Houses.

Subsequently, Dallas authorities continue trying to locate Spurlock, to no avail: They remain unable to find any evidence of what’s become of him, or even any indication of whether or not he’s still alive, though rumors emerge that Yamamoto operatives may’ve gotten hold of him somehow.

December 15th, 498 R.T.

House Dallas officially declares war on House Dresden, thus beginning the Great House Wars.

December 21st, 498 R.T.

President Doug– widely considered the most influential C.C.R. President since Daniel Carter– passes away in his sleep. His personal doctors confirm that he died from natural causes and reveal that he’d been sickly for years prior, though he never let the public know about it. His son, David A. Carter, is appointed to replace him as President of the Confederated Colonial Republics until 500 R.T., when the next decennial Presidential election will be held.

December 28th, 498 R.T.

Cal Jefferson, a Dallas diplomat sent to Nippon Sector to discuss House Yamamoto’s stance on the Dallas/Dresden conflict, is brutally murdered only minutes after meeting with Yamamoto diplomat Junkyo Satsuma. Lady Satsuma claims that Jefferson was killed by a biomechanically-enhanced assassin, who she and her bodyguards then killed; despite this, many Dallas leaders view Jefferson’s death as an act of war on House Yamamoto’s part. Adding to their suspicion, Yamamoto authorities are unable to provide any evidence corroborating Lady Satsuma’s story, and they refuse to let Dallas or Republic investigators examine the bodies of Jefferson or his assassin.

December 31st, 498 R.T.

House Dallas officially declares war on House Yamamoto.

January, 499 R.T. (3059 A.D.)

The House Wars spread across the galaxy, though they bear little resemblance to previous wars: Because of the policy of Kanly– War by Assassination– that had been instituted by President Doug, Great House leaders are among the main targets of the conflict, either fighting each other in official duels or being hunted by rival Great House assassins.

Additionally, much of the conflict between the Great Houses is based around corporate espionage of the same sort that had been going on before the House Wars started, only more frequently and on a larger scale. On some worlds, Great Houses also compete for the allegiances of local and planetary governments, or sponsor insurgencies against governments allied with rival Great Houses, in a throwback to the Cold War era of Earth history. However, these corporate territoriality struggles and proxy conflicts sometimes become so extensive that they turn into all-out battles between Great House armies, resembling the battles of a traditional war in all but name.

January, 499 R.T.

Perhaps in response to the utter failure of their attempted peace deal with Frank Dean, the Collective Automata begins using increasingly more violent methods to further their cause, murdering dozens of politicians, religious leaders, and celebrities who’ve spoken out against Replicant rights. In a particularly horrific display of cruelty, John-1 personally murders Omar Chavez, a Republic Senator known for supporting anti-Replicant laws, after killing Chavez’s wife and daughter right in front of him.

These killings serve as proof to even the most die-hard Replicant sympathizers that the Collective Automata is not an activist group but a terrorist organization, just as ruthless as the Galactic Liberation Front or the Fratrum Procella, if not more so.

January, 499 R.T.

Russel Brandt, a Republic Senator and a veteran of the New Europa War, announces that he’s campaigning for the upcoming Presidential election on the Reform Party ticket. Because President Doug’s popularity had been going down at the time of his death, and because the newly-appointed President Dave has had so little experience, analysts speculate that this election may be the first time someone other than a Carter will win the Presidency.

April, 499 R.T.

The Aeneas, a massive civilian ‘sleeper ship’ en route to Adirondack Sector, is taken over by the Fratrum Procella. As a sleeper ship, the Aeneas’ passengers were all being kept in cryogenic suspension, with only a skeleton crew awake to defend the ship; the Fratrum Procella’s agents, who’d been smuggled aboard in cryostasis tanks and woken up when it was time to strike, easily dispatch the few security forces awake and active. The terrorists then proceed to blow up the ship, killing themselves and over ten thousand innocent civilians in one of the worst terrorist attacks in known history.

May, 499 R.T.

The New Frontier colony of Canaan, a small settlement on an otherwise uninhabited desert world, is destroyed under unknown circumstances: The entire settlement and its surrounding forests are leveled to the ground, leaving behind nothing but the charred and skeletal remains of a few trees and buildings.

Canaan had been a young and exceptionally tiny colony of no particular importance to the rest of the galaxy, which made its destruction all the more perplexing: The colony had been founded only four months prior, and it had a population of only thirteen people, about half of whom had died or gone missing before their settlement’s destruction. Who or what would destroy such an obscure, desolate, and relatively insignificant place remains a mystery; while several of Canaan’s settlers manage to escape their colony’s destruction, only a few of them make it with their sanity intact, and those lucky few absolutely refuse to speak of what happened.

The only evidence anyone finds is a piece of debris, uncovered by investigators in the remains of what was once the settlement’s hospital, with a single word carved into it: Croatoan.

July, 499 R.T.

Russel Brandt wins the Reform Party primary election, making him one of five candidates vying for the Presidency. Running against him is incumbent President Dave Carter, who’s running on behalf of the Neverender Party, the traditional party of the Carter dynasty.

August 28th – 29th, 499 R.T.

GLF terrorists launch an all-out attack on Castle Clinton, a Republic diplomatic retreat on Avalon, in the midst of a peace conference between the Great Houses: After sending in a team of infiltrators to bring down the Republic’s localized defense systems, they assault the castle grounds, using aerial bombardment, brutal ground assaults, and explosives. Hundreds of civilians, diplomats, and Republic or Great House soldiers alike are killed, and thousands more are injured.

Many are worried by the fact that the GLF was able to infiltrate a place widely considered to be one of the most safe and secure locations in all of Republic space. More pressingly, the Great House peace talks are called off just as they were getting off to a good start, and later attempts at negotiating peace are far less successful, leading many to agree that the GLF succeeded at their goal of prolonging the House Wars.

Amidst these attacks, rumors emerge of “monsters” attacking people at Castle Clinton shortly after the GLF brought the defense systems down; some conspiracy theorists speculate that the GLF may have inadvertently freed Republic-created bioweapons (which had been rumored to be in production at Castle Clinton for months), while others view them as Aetherial disturbances of some kind.

October, 499 R.T.

Delta-462, a major communications tower on the war-torn Hong Kong Station, suddenly goes silent, with its physical entrances mysteriously sealed off. Around the same time, someone or something referring to itself as Monad or “the Demiurge” makes a series of cryptic posts across a number of GalaxyNet forums, claiming it is researching humanity in the hopes of finding a way to “repair” human nature. Though most people believe that these posts are part of an elaborate hoax, some speculate that this Monad entity is actually a self-aware A.I. of great power, perhaps even on the level of the Iron Gaia’s intelligence.

November, 499 R.T.

Russel Brandt sets out on his campaign trail, giving interviews on major news networks and GalaxyNet forums, and giving public speeches across the galaxy. Political analysts speculate that Brandt’s growing popularity makes him the first candidate in decades capable of actually challenging a Carter’s claim to the Presidency.

December 27th, 499 R.T.

Rogue Replicants attack the annual Presidential Christmas Charity Gala on Avalon, opening fire on people indiscriminately without making any demands or leaving any message. Fourteen civilians are killed and over four hundred are wounded. While no terrorist organization claims responsibility for this attack, the fact that the perpetrators were all Replicants leads people to agree that the Collective Automata was almost certainly responsible.

January, 500 R.T. (3060 A.D.)

The House Wars flare up, becoming much more like a traditional war between opposing nations: While Kanly duels/assassinations and corporate espionage still play a major role in the conflict, large-scale battles between Great House militaries become increasingly common, to the point that they become the war’s main focus. Proxy wars also become more commonplace and more intense, to the point that dozens of smaller civil wars, insurgencies, and revolutions break out throughout the galaxy as a direct result of Great House machinations.

A particularly intense example of this is the moon of Arcadia– a jungle world in Dallas space ruled by a brutal cartel and important mainly for its production of combat drugs and diamonds– which becomes a major House Wars battleground after Dresden forces invade the world in an attempt to cut off or acquire Dallas assets there. Both the Dallas-allied cartel and the Dresden invaders rally local villagers to fight on their behalf, sometimes even forcing the impoverished civilian populace into combat. Casualties on both sides number in the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands, to say nothing of the massive civilian death toll.

April 10th, 500 R.T.

Shortly after giving a speech at Castle Clinton, Russel Brandt is shot in the head by a sniper. Miraculously, he survives, and his doctors predict he’ll make a complete recovery within only two weeks. The sniper, an apparently insane man known only as ‘Al,’ is gunned down by Republic authorities after a lengthy firefight, but investigators are unable to find out why he tried to kill Brandt or who (if anyone) put him up to it.

May 1st, 500 R.T.

The war-torn world of Salem, where Dallas and Yamamoto forces had been fighting for months, suddenly goes silent, with Dallas and Yamamoto commanders alike being unable to contact their forces on the planet’s surface. Great House ships in orbit around the planet are shot down by unknown forces; the only evidence of what happened is a single transmission from a Dallas ship describing the Prise– an order of angels from Unificationist mythology– tearing apart the fleet with swords of fire. Republic officials believe the Collective Automata may be responsible, and deploy their own ships to orbit around Salem, only for those to be shot down too.

May 23rd – 25th, 500 R.T.

Dallas forces on the planet eventually manage to drive out the Yamamoto presence on the planet, only for those Dallas soldiers to be slaughtered by the same mysterious assailants who brought down the ships. Fortunately, Republic forces led by the heroic J.A.G.– a strike team composed of pilot extraordinaire Jesse ‘Ace’ Kilgannon, his power-armored brother Michael (nicknamed ‘Juggernaut’ because of his hulking physique), and his Psionically-gifted wife Glory– eventually manage to drive out these assailants, who are confirmed to be Collective Automata terrorists; exactly why they were mistaken for angelic warriors remains a mystery, and leads many conspiracy theorists to believe there may’ve been more going on there than meets the eye.

July 4th – 5th, 500 R.T.

The Galactic Liberation Front launches a coordinated series of attacks across the galaxy: First, a shuttle leaving a Taiwan spaceport is blown up in a suicide bombing, vaporizing the hundreds of passengers on board instantly, and killing or severely wounding hundreds more in nearby shuttles or inside the building. Mere hours later, thirty-two more people are killed and over a hundred and fifty more people are injured when an improvised explosive device detonates in the center of a crowded shopping mall on the planet Dresden. Finally, dozens of Republic officials are killed or injured after a Republic office block on Seattle Station is destroyed by a series of bombs planted throughout the buildings.

July 24th, 500 R.T.

After much deliberation, Dallas and Yamamoto leaders begin negotiating a peace deal. Unfortunately, any hopes of peace between the two Great Houses are dashed when, in the midst of negotiations between Dallas C.E.O. Evelyn Avery and Yamamoto C.E.O. Goichi Suda at Castle Clinton, a pair of Lone Star bodyguards ostensibly working for Avery murder Suda and his companions.

Avery and other Dallas leaders claim that they knew nothing about this assassination beforehand, and that the Lone Star bodyguards weren’t actually working for Dallas, but (in an ironic reversal of Dallas’ reaction to Jefferson’s murder) Yamamoto leaders refuse to believe them.

September, 500 R.T.

Working together, Dresden and Yamamoto forces manage to achieve a massive victory over the Dallas forces on Arcadia, driving House Dallas off the jungle world completely. House Yamamoto then apparently withdraws its forces from the moon, claiming that they only wanted to strike a blow against House Dallas, leaving House Dresden to take the world and its resources for themselves.

September 23rd, 500 R.T.

In memory of Evelyn Avery, who was killed during the final battle on Arcadia, an anarchist hacker calling himself “Sum=Zero” releases top-secret footage from August showing the J.A.G. threatening a team of investigators looking into the attempt on Brandt’s life– at one point they’re even shown brutally attacking Ms. Avery, who had been on the investigation team. While Republic authorities insist that the J.A.G. had only been stopping an unauthorized and illegal vigilante investigation, many believe that they’d really been trying to cover up the fact that President Dave or other Republic leaders had been behind the attempt on Brandt’s life.

In response, riots break out all across the galaxy, with outraged Republic citizens protesting in the streets, and even attacking Republic officers and soldiers; others take advantage of the chaos for their own ends, causing vandalism, looting, assault, and rape to become commonplace in cities and towns where riots have broken out.

September 25th – 26th, 500 R.T.

In response to the riots, Nippon Sector closes itself off from the rest of the galaxy, shutting down the transportation and communication networks connecting their sector with the rest of the galaxy; in the process of doing so, thousands of people are instantly killed when the warpgates their ships are traveling through are shut down. The only way in or out of Nippon Sector remains through the star system where Hong Kong Station is located. Strangely, Hong Kong Station soon ends up going silent as well, for unknown reasons.

Late September – Early October, 500 R.T.

For a full month, riots continue to break out throughout the galaxy, frequently accompanied by terrorist attacks as well. The G.L.F., F.P., and C.A. are all able to take advantage of the chaos sweeping the galaxy to coordinate major terror attacks in dozens of major cities across several worlds. Republic, Great House, and local authorities are spread too thin trying to control the riots to do anything about these terror attacks. Martial law is declared on several worlds, either by Republic or Great House authorities, though its effectiveness is mixed.

During this time, the ongoing House Wars are all but put on pause, with conflict between the Great Houses greatly decreasing and Dallas declaring an unofficial ceasefire with Dresden and Yamamoto.

October 11th – 15th, 500 R.T.

Amidst the chaos of the riots, House Yamamoto finds evidence that House Dresden had actually been responsible for the assassinations of their diplomats at Castle Clinton; the Lone Star bodyguards who carried out the assassinations had actually been Dresden special forces agents in disguise, sent to prevent Dallas and Yamamoto from coming to a peace agreement, since such a peace would mean that Dallas could focus its entire war effort against them. Unfortunately, this revelation does little to repair relations between Dallas and Yamamoto, but it does cause Yamamoto leaders to declare war on Dresden as well, turning the House Wars into an all-out three-way war with every side out for itself.

October 20th – 24th, 500 R.T.

Eventually, after much provocation from the Republic, Great House leaders sign an official ceasefire, putting the House Wars on hold for a month. With that in effect, Republic, Great House, and local authorities eventually manage to coordinate their actions and work together for long enough to bring the riots under control, and to weed out the terrorist groups who’ve been taking advantage of the rioting.

October 25th – 27th, 500 R.T.

The last of the riots ends, and a semblance of peace returns to the galaxy, though many cities and even some entire worlds lay in ruins as a result of the month-long chaos: During the course of the month, tens of thousands of people– civilian, police, and military alike– had been killed, either in the riots, in one of the terrorist attacks, or as a result of the many resulting fires, floods, building collapses, or vehicle crashes. Millions more had been assaulted or otherwise injured, or left in poverty after losing their homes, jobs, businesses, and belongings to looters and vandals. Trillions of Credits worth of property had been destroyed or damaged, and even conservative estimates say that this damage will take months to fully repair.

With the riots contained, Nippon Sector once again opens up to the rest of the galaxy.

November 6th – 7th, 500 R.T.

With President Dave’s popularity severely weakened as a result of the scandal with Brandt’s investigators and the riots that followed, Brandt actually wins the Presidential election, becoming the first non-Carter in history to do so. Unfortunately, he is brutally murdered only a day later by a team of assassins, along with all of his personal guards and a small group of bystanders. The only one of the assassins to be identified is a mercenary with ties to House Dallas who was found dead at the scene of Brandt’s demise, but authorities are certain he hadn’t been working alone.

November, 500 R.T.

Republic authorities and independent investigators alike come to the conclusion that the G.L.F. had actually been behind Brandt’s assassination; G.L.F. operatives had actually tried and failed to assassinate President Dave earlier in the same day. Evidence soon emerges that the G.L.F. had actually been behind the attempt on Brandt back in April as well, and that they’d arranged for Sum=Zero to leak his footage of the J.A.G. attacking investigators in a deliberate attempt to provoke the riots that followed.

With his name now cleared in the eyes of the public, President Dave wins the emergency election held in the wake of Brandt’s demise, promising to avenge the murder of his political rival and bring the terrorists responsible for so much death and destruction to justice. As a show of good faith, he appoints the same people to his Cabinet that Brandt had picked for the positions, much to the chagrin of his own political allies in the Neverender Party.

November 20th, 500 R.T.

One month after the end of the riots, conflict between the Great Houses breaks out once more, the official ceasefire having expired. For the time, the conflict seems to once again be localized to Kanly duels/assassinations, corporate espionage, and the occasional proxy conflict, with no effort from any of the Great Houses to mobilize their military forces for any more large-scale battles. However, military analysts expect that its only a matter of time before the House Wars intensify once again.

May, 501 R.T.

After months of steadily increasing tensions, a violent revolt begins in St. Petersburg space. The rebels are the disenfranchised poor and mistreated ethnic minority, forming a revolutionary party called the Novembrists, lead by Grigori Zakhaev. The Federalist President, Anatoly Kodygin, with the full support of Kapsilus Arms and their Vory allies, mobilizes troops to quell the rebellion. Initial Novembrist attacks quickly spill over through the Smolensk-Macau Aetherial Gateway into Macau.

June 25th-26th, 501 R.T.

It proves to be another bad year for Castle Clinton as Collective Automata terrorists lead by John-01 attack the Castle Clinton diplomatic summit (convened regarding the sitation in St. Petersburg sector) in force. Hostages are taken and a tense stalemate ensues before Republic special forces, lead by the J.A.G., retake the Castle Clinton dam from the Collective Automata. While the hostages are rescued, casualties are suffered on both sides. Rock musician "Johnny Dukes" of the band Citrus Cadaver is revealed to be among the Free Replicant terrorists responsible for the attack. Vocal Anti-Replicant Senator Richmond Dontes is kidnapped during the attack. His current whereabouts are unknown, but his clone has not yet awakened.

July, 501 R.T.

The Diplomatic Immunity of renowned St. Petersburg sector Psionics researcher (and rumored Fratrum Procella leader) Aldous Kleist is removed. His arrest is attempted at Caerleon Circle, where Kleist was engaged in diplomatic talks on the ongoing St. Petersburg war. Kleist and several of his bodyguards are killed in the attempt to take him into Republic custody, and his aide, Arkadi Zaides, manages to escape.

October 1st-2nd, 501 R.T.

House Dresden bombards and invades Exeter Moon and deposes and eliminates rogue Dresden Baron Reynard Falco. Under the administration of House Dresden Administrative Liaison to the Republic Malcolm DeSalvo, partial control of the garden moon is given to the UCUF Church.

October 26th, 501 R.T.

The St. Petersburg civil war comes to an abrupt end. Novembrist Premiere Grigori Zakhaev moves into the damaged Ostankino Palace, and Federalist Ex-President Anatoly Kodygin is forced into hiding. Sporadic fighting continues on outlying border worlds, but the sudden defection of the Vory from the Kapsilus Arms backed Federalists to the Novembrists has decisively turned the tide in the Novembrists' favor. In shadow channels, the Fratrum Procella, specifically Dr. Aldous Kleist's Singularity faction, is credited as brokering the deal between the Vory leaders and the Novembrists. At the same time, the Republic reports that Aldous Kleist has been killed on "Manhattan Colony".

July 8th, 502 R.T.

In hiding since October, Federalist Ex-President Anatoly Kodygin is finally killed on Macau, in an air strike by Novembrist forces. The 1,000,000 Credit bounty on him is returned to the Novembrist treasury. Zakhaev triumphantly reports the news that Kodygin has been brought to justice, while Republic authorities condemn his unlawful killing.

July 21st-22nd, 502 R.T.

A Replicant uprising breaks out on SC-035 "Atlanta" in the heart of Dallas Space. Before the uprising is quelled by the arrival of the Texas Rangers, over two dozen humans are killed. In putting down the revolt, 42 rogue Replicant Laborers are destroyed by Texas Rangers forces, and another 18 Replicants escape, unaccounted for. John-01, leader of the Collective Automata, claims credit for the uprising, warning that it is "only the beginning".

October, 526 R.T. (3086 A.D.)

Humanoids resembling the ‘vampires’ of legend lead a successful insurrection on NS-13 “Midgard”. Calling themselves Verkulaks, they take the prison colony for themselves, enslaving all humans, Celestials, and Xel on the planet as ‘cattle’. Referring to their organization as the Midnight Sons, the conquerors of Midgard threaten to eventually bring all of civilization under Verkulak domination. Fearing an immediate military counterattack could give the vampire plague means to spread to other worlds, the Republic declines to attack Midgard directly, instead opting for a policy of containment to keep the Midnight Sons’ influence from spreading.

Following this, millions of other Verkulaks throughout the galaxy reveal themselves, claiming that they’ve existed hidden amongst the human populace for centuries, since before the exodus from Earth. While not all of them are as malevolent as the Midnight Sons, all of them need to drink blood to survive, and many of them have no qualms about killing to get it.

530 R.T. (3090 A.D.)

Ships exploring within a few light years of the Origin Rift are mysteriously lost. The place is quickly nicknamed the “New Bermuda Triangle”. Explorers quickly learn to avoid it.

545 R.T. (3105 A.D.)

The Jersey City residential space station is taken over by the Atlanta Separatist Brigade, a group of secessionists from SC-035 “Atlanta” demanding that their homeworld be granted independence from the Republic. The terrorists hold the station hostage and threaten to destroy it if the Republic doesn’t give into their demands, and the Republic military’s initial attempt to drive them out is a complete failure. In a desperate last-ditch effort, Red Army Captain Coheed Kilgannon is sent in on a stealth mission along with his wife Cassiopeiaand his brother Jesse, and against all odds the three of them miraculously manage to neutralize the terrorist threat and save the station.

In the aftermath of the disaster, the Atlanta Separatist Brigade scatters, severely weakened by its defeat. Coheed, Cassiopeia, and Jesse Kilgannon are commemorated as heroes throughout Republic space, and Jesse goes on to become a famous prize fighter on the intergalactic boxing circuit.

550 R.T. (3110 A.D.)

In an unthinkable twist of fate, Coheed, Cassiopeia, and Jesse Kilgannon surprise much of the galaxy by publicly renouncing the Republic they once defended, claiming that the government had performed cruel experiments on them and on Coheed and Cassiopeia’s children. Seeking revenge, they create and lead a terrorist organization known as The Fallen, dedicated to the destruction of all civilization. Recruiting criminals, fanatics, and former Republic soldiers more loyal to Captain Kilgannon than to the government, they quickly become the most dangerous terrorist group in the galaxy. Rumors emerge that The Fallen may have ties to the ancient and possibly insane Greater Celestial Sigmus (whose fate after the Iron Gaia’s destruction had never been discovered), but no proof of this is found.

552 R.T. (3112 A.D.)

Republic Colony EE-91 “Styx” is established. A small moon, Styx is to be the first of many “waste worlds”, serving as a junkyard for space debris that hampers hyperspace travel and a storage area for hazardous radioactive material that can’t simply be spaced for fear of it reentering atmosphere.