ArcBuilder Universe© Time Line Page

2163 CE: The Inner System Commonwealth is founded, largely through negotiations mediated by the New Church, as the founding nations of the United States, the European Union, China, and Amtech recognize the need to repair their relations and allow for the healing of the Human species. The New Church itself is granted status as a new nation, and will continue to play key roles in international affairs. Other nations quickly join the Commonwealth, including the Independent State of Hermes, the six different Lunar colonies of the Shackleton Corporate (largely US ancestry), Da-luo-tian (Chinese lineage), Grimaldi (Russian ancestry), the Free Colony of Daedalus (Indian ancestry), Crisium (European ancestry), and the Apenninus House (primarily Japanese ancestry); the remaining ten Stations; and several Earth nations, the strongest of which are Russia and the Mesopotamian League. Most terrestrial nations, however, remain occupied by the IMPF, which is now directly controlled by the Commonwealth Congress.	What's New June 19, 2007 Reformatted and tweaked the data for this page. September 18, 2006: I've completed the revamp of this section. September 17, 2006: I've begun the updates to this section.
2172 CE: Hermes begins construction of the Helios Super Collider. This project is both an update and a replacement for the older Equatorial Antimatter Collider, which has been aging poorly. The Helios Collider, however, will provide vast amounts of antimatter, and will ensure Mercury's place as the power plant of the Inner System, and in time, the rest of the inhabited Solar System. Because of the sensitivity of both the construction and the operation processes of Helios, ship-to-shore travel to Mercury becomes restricted, and will be facilitated by Hermian shuttles only.
2180 CE: Nanotechnology, in its many forms and applications, has become a major tool for Humanity by this year. Nanotech applications range from medical to construction technology, and are even used in many everyday applications. However, Commonwealth regulations regarding the usage and construction of nanotechnology is very strict, and the technology itself remains limited due to power source restrictions.
2195 CE: The Chinese Lunar nation of Da-luo-tian announces the birth of the first genetically created Human sub-species, specifically adapted to the Lunar microgravity environment. Indeed, this genetic adaptation will breed true and spread across the Moon over the next few centuries. However, the species will also further adapt itself to even more extreme microgravity environments, and in a host of other ways as well, so that eventually a multitude of Human sub-species will inhabit the Solar System.
2204 CE: The Helios Collider is completed. Within only a few days of the end of construction, it is powered up, and begins supplying antimatter within the year. While the entire construction is beneath the surface of Mercury, its presence is easily detected through the absence of any surface solar collectors. From space, Mercury is neatly bisected. This marks the beginning of a distribution of power to the Solar System that will initiate an explosion of new constructions, new expansions, and further exploration of the Solar System. The Earth benefits greatly as well, with the New Church directly overseeing the import of power to the planet's beleaguered nations.
2210 CE: While Amtech has long had mining operations in the Jovian system, it finally establishes the first permanently manned outpost in orbit of the giant planet. Located on Pasiphae, and called the Pasiphae Outpost, it will serve as the administration and population center for Amtech's activities in the Jupiter system. It also marks, at this point, the furthest manned outpost in the Solar System.
2212 CE: The first of the thirteen planned New Hope Sleeper Colonies is launched, this one towards Tau Ceti. These extrasolar colonial efforts are performed with the hope that viable populations can be established off world, just in case the Homeworld cannot recover from its massive warming period. Many in the Commonwealth believe that if the Homeworld falls, the rest of Humanity must follow, despite their apparent prosperity elsewhere in the Solar System. The Sleeper Colonies, utilizing an advanced method of genetic hibernation, are capable of speeds up to 0.25c, and are sent towards stars that have had presumably habitable planets detected in orbit of them. These colonies are sponsored by various Earth governments, although most aid and resources come from Amtech, Hermes, and a few other non-Terrestrial governments.
2221 CE In the southern hemisphere of Earth, a record cold year is noted, with snows falling which will not melt until late in the following summer. This is the rough beginning of a new swing in Earth's chaotic climate, and at the time many believe -- correctly -- that the world is heading back into a new ice age. In orbit above Mercury, Station Daedalus is completed. A cylindrical habitat designed to withstand the intense solar radiation, it will become the major egress and ingress point for all traffic to and from Mercury. It will also attract a population surge as many emigrants from Earth are drawn towards a new and relatively empty Station maintaining near Earth normal conditions.
2243 CE: Amtech establishes an outpost on the asteroid 22 Kalliope in preparations for a mining colony that has been approved by the Amtech Board. At the same time, a communications array is placed on the asteroid's moon, Linus. There is little to indicate that this outpost will be any different from the dozens previously established elsewhere in the Belt.
2253 CE: The Cronus Project is launched. An Exploration Society program, with substantial funding by Amtech, this is a major manned expedition to Saturn and its moons for scientific and possible economic investigation. During the course of the mission, methanogenic microbes will be discovered on Titan. Along with the Earth and Mars, this will be the third place in the Solar System that life has been discovered. Coupled with discoveries on extrasolar worlds, many in the scientific community believe that the universe must be filled with life.
2265 CE: The communications center on Linus, moon of 22 Kalliope, is upgraded and becomes the Orpheus Administration Center, which oversees all mining operations on Kalliope. Kalliope is fast becoming one of the most lucrative centers of activity for Amtech in the Belt, thanks to surprise deposits of dense materials found beneath the surface.
2269 CE: A small Amtech ore carrier is hijacked and its cargo appropriated while traveling through the Belt. This is the first known instance of piracy in the Belt, and it signals a new black market for materials gathered by Amtech and other organizations, which are often redistributed to the smaller or less financially capable nations and companies within the Commonwealth.
2276 CE: After a drilling accident opens up a previously unexplored subsurface chasm on 22 Kalliope, investigators discover the body of a space-suited woman who had apparently been trapped beneath a collapsed section of the chasm wall. At first thought to be some sort of independent prospector from a few decades past, the so-called Kalliope Woman is quickly determined to date back nearly 10,000 years. Turning the scientific community on its head, the Kalliope Woman is the first concrete piece of evidence discovered that is recognized as belonging to an ancient and technologically proficient Human civilization. In time she will be recognized as perhaps one of the last examples of the Lost Civilization, before its ultimate collapse 9,500 years ago.
2280 CE: It is officially announced by the Exploration Society that the Earth is slowly moving into a new ice age, and that a new geological age, the Neocene, has begun. Seasonal snows are becoming common in the mid-latitudes, and polar and mountain glaciers have begun to form. Much of the population fears a sudden and catastrophic appearance of this ice age, while much of the scientific community believes that the ice will not truly begin to arrive for another few hundred years. Regardless, the planet's economy suffers in the face of these fears, and the Earthly nations' reliance on off-world resources increases substantially.
2285 CE: Piracy is recognized as being a substantial danger to under-protected interests in the Belt. Amtech continues to be preyed on, but a variety of smaller corporations are being hit heavily by this new epidemic, and some economic ripples are beginning to make themselves felt throughout the Commonwealth. Various lines of evidence indicate that the pirates operate in several small troupes, independent of one another, but that many actually reside on Mars. An increase in Red Fleet patrols of the Belt is mandated, and the larger and more valuable shipments often have military escorts now.
2300 CE: A consortium of medical scientists announce that, because of various limitations within the Human body, there is a finite point to which the Human lifespan can be extended, at approximately 180 years. Called the Lazarus Ceiling, it is believed to be insurmountable, an attitude fostered by New Church researchers as well. Many still dream of other methods for prolonging life, such as intellect uploading or nannite infusions, but these remain very much theoretical.
2305 CE: A major migration from Earth is initiated, a concerted effort between the Terrestrial governments and non-Terrestrial ones. Conditions on the Homeworld are deteriorating rapidly as the climate begins to swing violently into its new ice age, far faster than any climatologist had predicted. As a result, the New Exodus is performed in order to thin the population on the surface down to sustainable levels. Many peoples pass through the various Stations and Lunar Colonies. Some are granted colonization rights on the Moon, or are able to finance the construction of their own independent Stations and habitats. Many more become the dregs of life on pre-existing colonies, and while there is some easement over time on Earth, the rest of the Commonwealth shudders under the impact of this mass exodus.
2320 CE: After years of piracy problems in the Belt remaining at levels that keep the Commonwealth Congress from taking overt action, a leader unites the various outlaw troupes. Known by the unlikely moniker of Altair Jones, he is believed to be a Martian native and thus an Amtech national. As such, accusations immediately fly towards the Amtech Board, suggesting that the pirates are now in their employ, explaining an apparent unwillingness to do anything about the problem in previous years, beyond relatively passive cargo ship escorts. Tensions, already high under the weight of the New Exodus, grow even greater between Amtech and the other nations.
2322 CE: Amtech establishes its first manned outpost in the Saturnian system. Called Cronus-Hab, it is a large habitat constructed in orbit just beyond Titan, and will serve as a center of Saturnian exploration and resource utilization. As of this period in time, Cronus-Hab is the furthest outpost of Humanity in the Solar System.
2333 CE: The Commonwealth Congress authorizes the IMPF to begin a campaign of pursuit and arrest of Belt pirates. However, the IMPF utilizes its broad discretionary powers to randomly board any vessel even remotely suspected of having ties to piracy, having their crews arrested, and their cargoes and the ships themselves impounded. Because of this, tensions arise within the Commonwealth Congress as several affronted nations claim that they have lost valuable and legitimate resources in this war on piracy. The IMPF itself refuses to ease off of its heavy-handed tactics.
2350 CE: By this year, habitat construction has become a lucrative and competitive business in the Commonwealth. New habitats of varying designs are beginning to appear in all regions of the Inner System, while a few are even showing up in the Jovian and, to an extent, the Saturnian systems. It is estimated that the total population of Humans dwelling on Stations and habitats is hovering around 15 billion. This contrasts sharply with the depleted population of Earth, which is at some 1.3 billion.
2360 CE: An official release by Amtech details the presence of a shirtsleeve environment in lowland areas of equatorial Mars. While the atmosphere still dictates the use of rebreathers, and weather can be extreme, it is still hailed as a triumph for the terraformers, as well as for Humanity in general, who is in desperate need of new lands to inhabit.
2361 CE: A pirate enclave is discovered and raided on Mars by the IMPF. While it is a minor settlement, it nonetheless resurrects the charges by many Commonwealth representatives that Amtech is somehow responsible for the pirate problem, either directly or through ignoring the situation. The IMPF institutes a blockade of Mars, forcibly searching all vessels bound to and from the planet and its orbiting facilities. In protest, Amtech withdraws from the Commonwealth, a move that sends shudders through the entire Congress.
2363 CE: Amtech's Red Fleet engages the IMPF blockade of Mars after two years of high tensions and near military incidents. In this engagement, the Red Fleet suffers minor damages as they drive the IMPF task force out of orbit. Soon after, all commerce with the Commonwealth ceases, creating an almost instantaneous economic crisis.
2365 CE: Several Commonwealth nations begin to gather desperately needed resources from the Earth, regardless of whether or not they have been granted the rights to do so. At the same time, immigrants begin to return to the Homeworld, seeking to escape failing habitats that suffer from resource depletion. The Earth nations soon after begin a program of attacking all incoming unauthorized vessels. In response, many resource gathering missions from off-world turn violent, and become little more than piratical raids. The Earth is effectively under siege from her colonies.
2368 CE The New Church Primus is on route to a Lunar colony, his purpose to mediate between the highly fractured Commonwealth and Amtech in the hopes of resuming the vital distribution of Amtech-supplied resources, when his ship is destroyed by a bomb. One side blames the other for the atrocity, while the New Church itself retreats to Earth, establishing a central enclave on the Isle of Man, newly emerged from the sea as global ocean levels continue to fall in the face of the new ice age. The assassination has thrown the Commonwealth into complete discord, and the Congress soon after dissolves as anger and recriminations overrule common sense. Dozens of minor wars begin throughout the Inner System, while the IMPF, now operating on its own, attempts to put these brush fires out by any means necessary. All Martian terraforming efforts are abandoned as Amtech, caught up in the war with the IMPF and a few other concerns, can no longer afford to dedicate their resources or efforts to that project. The Martian habitat remains largely stable, but a noticeable cooling does settle in during this crisis.
2369 CE The IMPF sends a massive fleet to bombard Mars from orbit, devastating the infrastructure of the planet and crippling Amtech. The pirate threat, the original excuse for the Mars campaign, is virtually eliminated, along with with thousands of innocent Martian lives. It is only because of the shirtsleeve environment around the equator that more lives are not lost. Most of the members of the Amtech Board manage to flee to the Belt, where they establish a provisional governmental center on Ceres. Many Martian survivors are rounded up and shipped to Earth orbit, to await processing for relocation to the planet surface itself. No Earth nation, however, will allow their entry, even in uninhabited regions. The result is the IMPF secondary invasion of Earth itself. The Russian Tower is invaded and occupied, and much of Europe is swiftly overwhelmed. Within the month, however, IMPF forces are mysteriously overwhelmed and disappear, and the Russian Tower is retaken. It is quickly learned that the New Church has been building its own military, and that they are highly trained. It was this Holy Guard which retook the tower, and which now effectively guards the Earth. Holy Guard forces drive the remaining IMPF presence from Earth Orbit, and liberate the Martian orbiting gulags. These prisoners will eventually be returned to Mars. The Church announces that Earth is now the inviolate territory of the New Church, and that no further aggressions will be tolerated. On the heels of this ultimatum comes the offer for peace, and for the other nations of the former Commonwealth to accept talks of reconciliation.