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Timeline

This timeline should be viewed through the lens of it being the type of thing that is taught in modern UEF high school education, rather than the rigorous analysis of a historian. Many of these dates are approximate and/or put a specific date on phenomena that are difficult or impossible to truly pin down.

Era: Resurgent Fascism and Global Conflict (~2020 to ~2075)

  • Global conflict erupts. Cascading and escalating conflicts result in the devastation or complete destruction of major population centers and strategic targets, including:
    • Washington, DC (while most of the US government is present)
    • Detroit
    • Moscow (taking out much of the oligarchy)
    • Los Angeles
    • New York
    • Much of Florida (multiple warheads)
    • Beijing
    • Taiwan (major urban/industrial centers)
    • Pyongyang
    • New Delhi
    • Murmansk
    • Bahrain (key facilities)
    • Dubai
    • Qatar (key facilities)
    • Aleppo
    • Israel (multiple targets)
    • Gaza (the Gaza Strip)
    • London
    • Minsk
    • Panama City
    • Mexico City
    • Buenos Aires

Era: "Lost Years" (2075-2100)

  • International chaos in the wake of global conflict and the collapse of the old world powers.
  • Significant loss of historical records due to the destruction and chaos of the global conflict.

Era: UEF Formation and Reconstruction (~2100 to ~2115)

  • The United Earth Federation (UEF) emerges in the aftermath of the conflict.
  • The UEF consolidates authority in the name of recovery, stability, and preventing future catastrophic war.
  • Technological development and network infrastructure are re-established.
  • "Brain plugs" become available, eagerly adopted by a population subset
  • "Brain plugs" compromised, leading to hallucinations, psychopathic breaks, violence, deaths.
    • Technology largely abandoned by most, hardcore individuals continue experimentation/development

Era: Genetic Engineering Boom and Public Health Crisis (~2095 to ~2155)

  • Genetic engineering becomes widespread and inadequately controlled.
  • Wave of tragic childhood conditions; think children of thalidomide.
  • A public health crisis drives a political and cultural backlash.
  • Genetic manipulation becomes heavily regulated and publicly disfavored.
  • Biotech firms like Venn Life Sciences emerge, building reputations on ethical practice and treating victims.

Era: Life Extension Matures (~2135 to ~2195)

  • Life extension treatments become reliable.
  • Typical life expectancy rises to roughly 200 years.
  • Life extension technology seized by UEF in a major test of federal powers, made available to the general public.

Era: Cheap Fusion and the Great Buildout (~2155 to ~2225)

  • Helium-3 fusion becomes cheap and reliable.
  • Rapid buildout of orbital infrastructure around Earth.
  • Lunar industry boom.
  • First out-system stations begin construction.
  • Early Belt mining operations established; corporations like ARC stake claims.
  • Luna transitions from outpost/colony to major settlement.

Era: Solar System Expansion (~2190 to ~2260)

  • Early industrial push into the Belt; resource extraction scales up.
  • Ceres orbit stabilized.
  • Ceres hollowed out and matures into a major settlement node.
  • Corporate and state installations expand in the outer system around He-3 production.
  • Fringe theories about the Belt's origins (destroyed planet, alien artifacts) circulate among Belters; dismissed by mainstream science but persistent in Belt culture.

Era: The Mycroft Discontinuity (sometime between 2250 and 2279)

  • Mycroft Holmes transitions from planetary logistics system to an aware entity.
  • Mycroft hides his existence from all but a few trusted Loonie citizens.

Era: Lunar Independence War (2278 to 2279)

  • Luna secedes from the UEF; war breaks out.
  • War is short but vicious.
  • Mycroft provides decisive strategic/logistics advantage.
  • Lunar asteroid defense emplacements become strategically central.
  • War ends with Luna’s independence.
  • Mycroft Holmes' existence becomes public knowledge.
  • Debate begins over whether he is truly sentient; attempts to replicate are unsuccessful.
  • UEF begins heavily discouraging AGI experiments. AGI experiments outlawed in near-Earth UEF space.

Era: Post-War Settlement and Civic Service (2279 to 2319)

  • Treaty terms include Lunar compulsory service: 2-year tour in UEF Fleet or Peacekeepers.
  • The service requirement evolves into a socially expected rite of adulthood and a major career pipeline.
  • Luna’s provisional government structure persists; Domes/Estates evolve semi-independently.

Era: Talent Confirmation (2319)

  • First exercise of telempathic ability recorded by sensitive brain scanning instruments.
  • Receptive telepathy is confirmed/recorded soon after.

Era: Cetacean First Contact and UEF Membership (2321 to 2338)

  • Human telepaths establish first meaningful communication with Cetaceans.
  • Cetaceans reveal a long-standing non-human civilization in Earth's oceans.
  • Initial treaty establishes sustained relations.
  • 2329: Serafina Galloway, the first confirmed Talent, is murdered; her death galvanizes the Talented community and shapes public discourse around Talent for decades.
  • A Cetacean delegation later proposes UEF membership.
  • Cetaceans become a UEF member nation with sovereignty over the deep oceans.
  • Dolphin pilots integrate into the Fleet; orcas begin selective integration.
    • Technology for Cetacean integration rapidly develops.
  • Cetaceans join and accelerate Talent research as they had never thought to research it before human contact.

Era: Talent Expansion (2338 to Present)

  • Confirmation of telekinesis
  • Talent theory breaks Talent into five "disciplines":
    • Receptive Empathy ("Tele" is now dropped by convention for empathy)
    • Projective Empathy
    • Receptive Telepathy
    • Projective Telepathy
    • Telekinesis
  • Public education campaigns begin
  • More Talented individuals identified as education campaigns continue and confirmation techniques are refined.
  • 2361: Chen v. Commonwealth of Luna establishes that deliberate projective telepathy causing distress constitutes assault.
  • 2368: In re: Okonkwo Estate establishes that Talent-based undue influence can void contracts and bequests.

Era: Outer System Tensions (2345 to Present)

  • 2340s: First corporate extraction facilities come online at Saturn, cracking the UEF's He-3 monopoly.
  • Demand for He-3 expands outer system footprint.
  • Discontent rises among outer system residents (especially at corporate installations).
  • Persistent rumors of illegal genetic experimentation by corporates.

Era: RAT and the New Long Horizon (2370)

  • Outer System Radio Astronomy Telescope Array ("RAT") comes online.
  • RAT survey identifies ~5 near-Earth exoplanet matches.
  • RAT identifies anomalous objects around those stars (regular orbits, low albedo, no radiation).
  • Several exploration vessels beyond Uranus disappear; comms cut suddenly; no debris detectable.
  • 2371: UMS Carl Sagan commissioned by the University of Mare Serenitatis as the flagship of their research fleet.

Era: Campaign (2375/Present)

  • Mars colonization effort becomes imminent; UEF/Luna/Corporates jockey over charter and ownership.
  • University of Mare Serenitatis sponsors a pre-colonization archaeological survey; Phobos Station branch planned.
  • Professor Leonidas controversy: claims of artificial elements in old rover samples; university publicly backs him.
  • Talent remains controversial; push for a Talented political/ethical organization grows.