Post
by Vanya Mia » Sun Apr 15, 2012 3:32 pm
A BRIEF SUMMARY OF HUMAN SPACE EXPLORATION.
The Colonial Era (2070-2200)
The exploration of space began with the development of effective shielding from cosmic radiation and the Linear Displacement drive in the late 2070s, allowing for the first manned explorations of the solar system. Originally dependent on synthesised fuels, space travel took a giant leap forward with the discovery of a naturally-occurring isotope of Element 115, Ununpentium, in the Kuiper belt. This proved a vastly more efficient and powerful solution to the energy issues associated with long-term space travel.
It was exactly what was needed to kick-start the torpid human race into refocusing its priorities. Nations on Earth began founding colonies of their own in the 2130s, fuelling new industry. Refined ununpentium began to be used for wide-scale power generation on Earth. Through the next century, the human race pushed out into the stars, and it was during this time that corporations such as Dyson Colonial and the mining guild Fujikama-Rogers began. The Deep Space Patrol was a natural outgrowth of the International Space Agency, and served as the diplomatic bridge between colonies. When issues of banditry and ununpentium theft arose, the DSP stepped up, becoming neutral explorers and policemen.
Despite these problems, and although conditions on colonies and mining outposts was tough, and space-flight technology was still in its infancy, space exploration was buoyed up by optimism and curiosity. Suddenly, space seemed a limitless frontier, and fresh discoveries of fuel were made year by year, prompting another venture into the unknown.
Eventually, however, things hit a glass ceiling. The burden of finding ununpentium supplies forced explorers and mineral surveyors to range further and further away from what would eventually become Core Space, and the establishment and maintenance of colonies and space stations slowly rose higher and higher. After a century of gold-rush-like exploration across an area of almost 600 light years, things needed to change. And this opened the way for...
The Corporate Era (2200-2335)
The rise of the corporations began with ExiGal, originally a medical research company that had turned its hand to answering questions relating to space travel and colonisation. As advancements in genetic manipulation began to catch up to spacefaring technology, ExiGal developed the first GELFs - Genetically Engineered Life Forms - and embarked on the first successful attempts at using GELFs for terraforming in the 2210s. With cost-effective terraforming able to make settlements in space much more self-sufficient, the way was open for ExiGal - and other corporations, following suit - to simply buy up areas of space, taking the burden of cost from the shoulders of nations.
Space became increasingly Corporate. Dyson Colonial and ExiGal, especially, approached the problems of banditry and lawless space with typically mercenary attitudes; allowing independent spacefarers to work for them, or be crushed under the weight of their quickly-growing private militaries. The rate of colonisation slowed to a crawl, but as colonies suddenly became not just mining outposts and supply dumps but full-blown cities and more, it began to fill up. Suddenly, the harsh frontier was transformed into a sky full of fresh welcoming pastures.
Colonies were founded or refounded as corporate enterprises; settlers became employees or tenants. The issue of national borders in space became increasingly blurred, followed by government and world finance. As the various Corporations became the new nation-states, each marking out their territory not in terms of planets owned but in terms of market niches, Earth gradually became just one planet among a hundred, albeit a central one. Space may have been bought and paid for, and independent space travel may have been a thing of the past, but as long as it gave people a place they'd be safe and kept the ununpentium flowing, the system worked.
This came to an abrupt end in 2335, with Deep Space Patrolmen revealing the infiltration of ExiGal by parasitic alien lifeforms intent on subjugating Humanity. The confrontations between the two great spacefaring powers of the time - ExiGal's Crisis Resolution Department and the Dyson Colonial Military - resulted in high loss of life and revenue. The discovery of the existence of aliens and proof that the galaxy was still very, very big and very far from tame shook the whole of Human Space, but perhaps worse was the resulting loss of faith in the Corporate system.
The Commonwealth Era (2335-?)
The sudden outbreak of violence across Human Space had immediate effects, hitting humanity where it hurt - supplies of ununpentium. Shortages loomed, and sudden sharp drops in standards of living accompanied the onset of economic depression. With Corporate government still reeling, an attempt at new government was made; the Human Commonwealth, an elected legislative body made up of 550 officials from Core colonies, stepped up to try and fill the power vacuum in 2337. Headed by President Robert King, the Commonwealth's brief was simple - to salvage the economy of Human space, and pave the way for a new democratic galaxy.
Progress of a sort was made with the legalisation of private space travel in 2338, the result of a bill proposed by Quentin Thompson, a senator for Wolf 359. This resulted in an exodus of people from Core Space, buying up corporate surplus starcraft and supplies and temporarily re-invigorating a flagging industry in spacefaring goods and starship manufacture. But the longer-term effects were the establishment of new, independent colonies on unterraformed planets beyond the established frontier, founded by people that had no wish to live upon the decaying Core systems or find a life in Corporate service. Over the next five years, history repeated itself with a new gold rush. The reappearance of independent mining helped secure new supplies of fuel for Core Space - for anyone who could pay for it.
Before long, however, the old problems began to re-emerge. Raids began on colonies, independent and corporate alike, by a new generation of pirates. Corporate forces were simply no longer up to the task of defending all their own settlements, in the wake of their losses and in new legislation limiting the size and scale of private military forces from the Commonwealth. More disturbing were the conflicts, some armed, between independent miners and Fujikama-Rogers. This spurred the Commonwealth to sponsor the Deep Space Patrol in the role of police and peacekeepers among the unsettled colonies in 2347.
This was a job made doubly difficult thanks to the sullen resentment felt by many of the new settlers towards both Commonwealth and Corporation alike. Independent miners felt that they had the right to set their own pricing levels for their mined minerals, a position the starved Core Systems simply could not agree with. Settlers and miners began arming themselves through a thriving black market. Pirate bands continued to emerge. Forces from several different Corporations prowled the frontier, looking for markets or claims to stake as theirs. Stability in Frontier Space - an area now stretching up and along the galactic arm to a distance of 200 light years from the corporate boundary - seemed an impossibility.
The year 2351, though, saw the Battle of Arvindshome, a landmark event in many ways. A compact between four of the more threatening pirate organisations attempted an annexation of the Osram system, one of the first independent settlements in Frontier Space and an important travel and trading hub. By taking control of it, the pirates were aiming high - nothing less than founding their own kingdom. The main settlement, Planet Arvindshome, and its attendant space station were only kept out of the invaders' hands by the valiant defence of the settlers and the Deep Space Patrol. The defence was led by Sgt. Major Furnell Gorman, who lost his life in the successful attempt to board and destroy a pirate flagship at the height of the fighting. In the aftermath, a shocked kind of peace emerged.
Present
It is now 2355. The DSP's heroism won them some measure of credibility in Frontier Space, but it has slowly evaporated in the face of ever-increasing tension between armed Commonwealth officials and Independent colonies. President King's adminstration continues to try and exert any manner of control it can across Human Space, desperate for legitimacy. Many of the Independent colonies have formed alliances between themselves, intent on defending themselves against such interference or another Arvindshome - and some have become forces to be reckoned with. The Corporations continue to try to survive in a world that is beginning to leave them behind, working to enforce rights and markets that they see as theirs. Pirate activity has slowly increased, and many feel a second confrontation with them cannot be far away. The initial guerilla wars of Frontier Space have settled, but violence continually threatens to re-emerge. And, of course, with human expansion again on the rise, who knows when contact with a second alien race might occur?
But the DSP's efforts have inspired one thing - a wave of new recruits, made aware that there's a cause and a battle that needs to be fought. With Core Space stagnating, Corporate Space uncertain and Frontier Space volatile in the extreme, Humanity is in a dark place. Maybe, just maybe, there's the chance of a brand new world around the corner. And with the DSP, maybe there's a chance of keeping the lid on things just long enough for it to finally get here.
