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Glad to see the Korinth and Humanity become buddies
 
Never found so much mining drones ever! They are literally everywhere!

I've had quite a few in my latest game myself, and they really hemmed me in early on until I could build a specialized fleet to blow them up. I wonder if Paradox changed some spawn settings.
 
Never found so much mining drones ever! They are literally everywhere!

They can crop up a lot.

That encounter with the kidnappers, ugh, I always hate that event. And just when things seemed to be going well for humanity for once. :(
 
2238-2240
2238

The USV Kepler discovered in the U7502 system battle wreckage belonging to the Grand Navy of the ancient First League. Most of the debris were orbiting around the second planet of the system so it was hypothesized that wreckage could also be found on the surface. The team mounted an expedition that successfully found several starship hulls that crashed around the equatorial region of the planet. These massive ship hulls belonged to the 2nd and 3rd Fleet of the First league, along with hulls belonging to the “Rikim”, an equally ancient and nomadic warrior species from the galactic rim. It was estimated that the battle took place 2 million years in the past.

Throughout the rest of the year, three new systems became part of the federal space:
  • N4997, renamed Ghandi (Zephyr Station)
  • Wolf 3517, renamed Wright (Georgia Station)
  • Gliese 7806, renamed Jefferson (Freeport Three, the third federal commercial trading hub)
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2239

In February, Supreme Leader Rhethan of the Korinth Republic announced that they planned to “wipe out the Chimm monsters” as soon as an opportunity arises. President Paquette contacted the Korinth leader as she wanted clarifications on the matter. She expressed concerns, stating that the Chimm have been “unexpectedly” quiet and that their threat have been more theoretical than real since their discovery. She further requested Rhethan to keep her informed on any decision regarding the Chimm as any Korinth movement towards Chimm space would potentially involve the moment of the Korinth Fleet across space belonging to the United Systems.

The USV Scout, commanded by Science Officer Adila Msibi, discovered while studying the pulsations of the white dwarf 34 Theta Geminorum that the composition of the star was mostly crystallized carbon. This effectively made the star a diamond of cosmological proportions, glinting behind a white veil of oxygen and helium. It was hypothesized that the reason behind this phenomenon was the cooling of the star over time that fused the gases in its core.

Alarming reports came from the Doorway Outpost on Sirius Prime, the location where contacts with the “other dimension” humans took place. In the last decade there were exchange of trade materials and knowledge between the two realities but this flow suddenly stopped on May 15th as a human on the other side, apparently someone from the team managing the portal, informed the personnel of the Task Force Vagrant that they had to evacuate the facility and stop any communications because the “star beasts were coming”. It seemed like the battle that the alternate dimension humans were waging against these mysterious aliens was taking a turn for the worse, but there was no possibility to investigate further.

Amongst scientists there were concerns about this, as an open portal on a planet potentially occupied by monsters was very much a negative thing, especially on a planet populated by billions of humans in the center of the Federation. However, the portal itself and the way it interacted between the dimensions were still very difficult to comprehend.

The portal has been demonstrated to function like an old tv that had issues receiving a channel through the antenna, essentially disturbing the very atomic composition of everything that passed through. For most of the goods shipped between the portal, this was something not even detectable, but for anything organic this could have potentially led to very serious issues: certain food stuff could potentially become venomous and living beings (as tested using lab mice) either immediately perished or received sever injuries. This frustrating behavior however also served as security as anything hostile would be blocked if it tried to pass through.

During the final months of the year, three interesting discoveries were also made:
A highly advanced drifting starship in space, of unknown origin, that was completely abandoned, save for an individual of a long-eared, amphibian biped species that had been stabbed repeatedly and left dead on one of the ship’s corridors. Attempts were made unsuccessfully to understand the owners of the ship and the ship was towed to a nearby human research outpost for further study.
The remains of an ancient medical complex that was orbiting the fifth planet (a gas giant) of the Lambda Velorum system. The technology used were similar to the one found on the L-Gates, leadin to many hypotheses that both were built by the same unknown alien civilization, nicknamed for the first time as the “Gatebuilders”.
The massive skeletal remains of an unknown species on the seventh planet of the U7502 system. Studies noted residual energy readings near the rear of the skeleton. It was speculated that the creature somehow “crossed a dimensional portal”, similar to the one found on Sirius Prime, ending up in a hostile enviroment that was not suitable for its survival.

Most of the discoveries in the past decade were credited to Haruna Yamazaki and her crew on the USV Kepler. The science officer was among the most illustrious and popular figures in the Federation at this point, receiving several awards and medals for her explorations and discoveries. While continuing to lead her ship through the stars she was promoted as Director of the Scientific Exploration Flotilla, replacing the retiring Allison Baxter. At the time of her promotion she was located on the Galactic North of Korinth space.


2240

During the first quarter of the year, Hope, in the Armstrong system, became a fully fledged colony of the Federation. Like Celestia, it was defined as a “Frontier” planet, subject to different regulations to provide an economic stimulus. However many in the Senate proposed the creation of an ad hoc sector that would cover the planets located to the galactic north of the United Systems’ space.

The main event of the year, of course, was the election campaign season for the presidency of the United Systems. There were no changes in the parties nor in their leadership, and the survey saw further distribution of votes with the CHT of Maksimushkina and the DRM of Patil gaining a point each. At this time, Yamazaki’s Free Election Committee was ahead by 3 percentage points to Paquette’s National Stability Lobby. Many wondered if the same situation of a decade could repeat itself, where a significant number of undecided voters ended up backing Paquette.

The election drifted towards the end of the year, as the mandate of 10 years was counted in days (this way, every election cycle shifted three months), and in December all the citizens of the Federation went to their respective voting stations.

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Paquette was elected to her fourth term as President. With her first mandate taken at 44 years, she was now taking the leadership of mankind at a venerable 84 years of age. Yamazaki was astonished again seeing that for a small amount of votes the presidency were neglected. The two parties had only received 22% of the votes but on the second ballot, which was between her and Paquette, both the DRM and the CHT stood alongside Paquette ,allowing her to reach the 58% of the votes.

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A new federation-wide festival took place on Earth for the first time. It was called the GEX, standing for the Galactic Exposition. The GEX was designed to be a place where companies, planets, individuals and any organization operating within the United Systems could showcase their products and achievements. The GEX host planet would rotate between the colonies of the federation every ten years, and the inaugural event saw an enormous attendance with millions of people flocking from planets and space stations. At the GEX 2240 two major technologies were presented:
A sophisticated computer simulation aimed at the agricultural sector that, depending on weather patterns and environmental parameters, would help in determining the crop outcome as well as recommending innovative techniques to maximize the yield. Presented by Solaris Group.
An innovative laser emitter that was capable of a massive increase of energy output. Thus technology was named as the “Blue Laser '' since its emissions wavelength appeared to human eyes as blue or violet. The technology massively benefitted the military sector with the introduction of more powerful turbolasers. It was presented by Caleston.

In late October, the Grand Admiral of the Federal Navy, Feng Gao, passed away at the age of 88. His figure was crucial in the early organization of the starfleet: he was the first Admiral of a human starship fleet, appointed in 2201, and was later appointed the Grand Admiral of the Federal Navy (essentially the commander of all fleets) after the retirement of Martin Develey.

A state funeral was held on Earth where high ranking officers participated along with Gao’s family. Gao was replaced as commander of the Federal Navy by Liam Vincent, formerly Admiral of the 21st Recon Flotilla, that was later assigned to the newly promoted Admiral Harriet Sterling.

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The year ended with the construction of the Infinity Station, privately funded by ExaCorp, in the U 8317 system, later renamed Bismark.


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Text corrected and revised by @ChaoYang
 
Last edited:
Folks, you will probably notice a better "flow" of the narration from now on. I was contacted by @ChaoYang that proposed me to revise the text before publishing. Needless to say I found his revision 100% better than mine, so thank you @ChaoYang for you help!
 
I really like that tribute to Admiral Gao. Aside from honouring a fine officer it gives a nice insight into the deeper history of the setting, with intriguing background details like pre-hyperspace 'orbital corvettes' that logically must exist even if they don't have an in-game presence.

It also feels very much as if the early, pioneering generation are on their way out even if President Paquette is still going strong!
 
I agree - a very nice graphic for the Admiral. It makes me wonder what Pacquette's memorial will be, when her time finally arrives.
 
A very fine update, although it was a poor performance for my beloved Council of High Technology in the election. They fell short of the January predictions. I do hope there were no hanging chads. :p
 
The tribute for Gao was pleasant. Going to be a real shame for when Paquette ultimately passes away, Humanity needs more people like her
 
I really like that tribute to Admiral Gao. Aside from honouring a fine officer it gives a nice insight into the deeper history of the setting, with intriguing background details like pre-hyperspace 'orbital corvettes' that logically must exist even if they don't have an in-game presence.

It also feels very much as if the early, pioneering generation are on their way out even if President Paquette is still going strong!

Yeah I was trying to figure out how a career would have evolved considering that his 40's would have been at the very same start of the FTL era.

I agree - a very nice graphic for the Admiral. It makes me wonder what Pacquette's memorial will be, when her time finally arrives.

She probably need a full chapter just for her!

A very fine update, although it was a poor performance for my beloved Council of High Technology in the election. They fell short of the January predictions. I do hope there were no hanging chads. :p

Yeah that's unbelievable, each election preview gave them leading for the presidency then.... Paquette!

Hint for the future: name one starfort Verdun and the second one Gettysburg.

Noted! Really like your suggestion!
 
Sorry I’m taking quite a bit but this update will have a very big “infographic” or some sort of... text is already done and reviewed but that graphic is quite big to do, I believe it is very important to do it well!
 
Sorry I’m taking quite a bit but this update will have a very big “infographic” or some sort of... text is already done and reviewed but that graphic is quite big to do, I believe it is very important to do it well!

There's no need for apologies, wait 'till you're happy with it, we'll be there. :)
 
Yes, take the time you need. :)
 
2241
2241

The second planet in the Bismark system, located in northern federal space, was confirmed as a survey to be continental in nature. A rocky world with nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, suitable for colonization by humans. It was discovered that the planet was showered by meteors after observations of numerous craters on its surface. Despite the noted risk, the planet was deemed suitable for colonization due to its strategic position to expand the human presence towards the borders of the Xeltek League. Earth’s relationship with the aliens to the north were gradually improving, thanks to the impressive work done by ambassador Durston. The ambassador communicated back to Earth that there were promising signs for diplomatic agreements in the near future. The relationship with the Xelteks was quite different compared to the Korinhts. The Xelteks’ anthropoid biology caused communication problems, especially in the sphere of the non-verbal dialogue: a gesture from a human would be seen as threatening by a Xeltek and vice-versa. Nonetheless, minimal issues were reported from the human envoy’s outpost on Xel Mirus.

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In the Kepler 57 system, Adila Msibi, the commander of the USV Scout, discovered a massive asteroid that yielded fascinating results once scanned. The asteroid’s core was composed of a network of conductive crystals capable of carrying a weak electric charge. The crew of the science ship believed it was some sort of intelligence, that is somehow able to “think” in a very primitive way. To further analyze the core, a small drill was placed on the asteroid surface, with the science ship using it to try to connect to the network to perform a reading. However, as soon as the link with the USV Scout system was in place, a sudden spike of energy was reported followed by the vanishing of the electric charge network. The final report to the Directorate of the Scientific Exploration Flotilla was that somehow the connection had killed the primitive, electrical organism.

A surface scan of the moon of Bell V (fifth planet of the Bell system) identified the remnants of an ancient installation. Most of the facility had been wiped out in a massive explosion approximately two million years prior, but a few buildings had survived the blast. All evidence recovered suggested that the complex was a research base built by the First League and the USV Hawking was sent to the moon to investigate.

In May, a human vessel met an unidentified ship on the southern outskirts of the federal space. Having faced this situation before, the Federation took only two hours for the First Contact Department to connect and establish a video channel to the ship. On the other side of the screen were massive wildebeest-like life forms. The alien identified itself as an ambassador of the Bothrians, a species living on the opposite side of the Chimm Swarm space, and organized as a spacefaring Republic. President Paquette was connected to the Bothrian Republic leader four hours later. The leader introduced himself as Bur B’Torak and identified his position as their Republic’s Prime Minister. This marked the first time that mankind came into contact with an alien race that was both cooperative and living under a democratic government similar to the United Systems.

Paquette spoke with B’Torak for nearly two hours and during the conversation, aided by universal translation AI, the leader of the Bothrians mentioned his nation’s willingness to introduce mankind to the larger galactic community. The term "galactic community" seemed strange to the United Systems’ President. After all, mankind had only encountered three other major space faring races and none of them was thought to have had knowledge of other civilizations. B’Torak continued to mention more than “twenty star nations” within the galactic community. What happened in the upcoming two weeks was simply incredible, a milestone in human history and the beginning of a new era.

The Bothrians connected the United Systems to a multitude of different civilizations and species. The suddenly full galaxy was sprawling with star empires, republics, and monarchies, all interconnected by an intricate web of relationships, rivalries, trade agreements, alliances and, of course, wars.
The citizens of the federation were astonished, having caught pretty much blind, by the quantity of information they received in a very short amount of time. Media agencies struggled to stay updated and endless “live reports” with continuous streams of information ended up being transmitted 24/7 across the United Systems.

The government itself was nearly stopped by the overwhelming amount of meetings, status updates and briefings regarding all the newly encountered civilizations.
On June 2nd, President Paquette addressed the federation in a unified broadcast:


=============================================================================

Citizens of the United Systems,
The galaxy that we once thought as empty and unexplored no longer exists. The era where our spaceships navigated and explored the unknown is coming to an end.
As you all by now know, we are just one of dozens of spacefaring civilizations within our galaxy. There is a community out there that is waiting to welcome and establish relations with us. As we did with our friends the Korinth and the Xelteks, we will enter the galactic stage with our ideals of prosperity, respect, and the sacrosanct value of an individual life.

As a human being, I am excited to see that our galaxy is full of sapient life. I invite you all to join me in my excitement to be part of this interspecies galactic community and unravel more the mysteries behind humanity’s existence and origin.

As you always did, bear with us in this enormous endeavor to ensure the peaceful prosperity of humanity among the stars. A new era awaits us, let’s not wait any longer and embrace it together.

Thank you

=============================================================================


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The Bothrians acted as ambassadors for mankind, explaining the history of the galactic community from its inception. Humanity encountered a galactic community in relative peace, which simply meant that no active wars were happening. Of course many civilizations kept hostile attitudes against each other. Both governments were also joined in their wariness and fear of the Chimms which bordered both of their controlled spaces.

It was understood that most of the species in the galactic community had developed spacefaring capabilities within the past few centuries, similar to mankind. Astonishingly, another “human” race was known to live in the galactic Northwest. This second human species organized themselves under the banner of the “Sovereign Human Dominions” and further research found matching DNA between both races.

This discovery shocked the human scientific community that wondered how this was even possible. It was theorized that the most likely scenario was that an unknown alien species had visited Earth in the past millennia and “relocated” a part of the Earth’s population. This was confirmed by the fact that humans from the Dominions had no biological similarities with local life forms on their planets (unlike Earth humans with deep biological similarities with primates).

The alien species which filled the galaxy had very diverse biologies, such as arthropoid, molluscoid, mammalian, avians, human-like and reptilians making up the majority. There were also more exotic life forms which shared biology with fungi, plants and even mineral-based lifeforms, called lithoids. The most impressive, however, was an alien species that was a fully functional artificial intelligence network, called the “Dekrons”, who resided in the northeastern galactic space in a dominion called “The Grid”.

The Federal Information Service, analyzed all the data available through the Bothrian and concluded that all of the species in the galactic community, apart from the ancient Alvanians, were roughly equal in development to the United Systems. Further independent investigations concluded that while humanity were on par with the rest of the galaxy in terms of technology and economy, it held a slight edge in military power.

This edge was attributed to two factors: human culture itself that inherently understood the value of “deterrence” from the myriad of conflicts mankind endured throughout the pre-FTL era, as well as the rapid military buildup of the past few decades.

Competing with human in terms of military power were three civilizations:
  • the Cyggans, a molluscoid species organized in a military junta called the Republic of Cyggia
  • the Zelvans, a humanoid species that populated the “Zelvan Citizen League”, and operated as a sort of citizen stratocracy
  • the Akkanos, a humanoid species united in a direct democratic republic, named the “Akkano Republic”

President Paquette was also informed by B’Torak about the decision of a majority of the galaxy’s species to join a permanent multi-species congress called the “Galactic Community”, abbreviated as GALCOM, which allowed diplomats and leaders of the various civilizations to meet and discuss important matters as well as to avoid misunderstandings.

The decision to join the Galactic Community was delegated to the Federal Senate that voted in favor of joining with more than 80% of the vote in favor. The only party that voted against joining the Galactic Community was the DRM (Defensive Readiness Movement), which wanted to have the decision delayed to better assess the situation.

In late September a meeting between Warlord Xabbaverta, the leader of the Xeltek League, and President Paquette was held on Sirius Prime, in the same location where the president had met Supreme Leader Rhethan. It was another success by ambassador Laura Durston who had managed during her diplomatic mission to improve the relations between the two civilizations and put the United Systems in a positive light to the eyes of the Xelteks. The meeting went extremely well and Xabbaverta agreed to establish not only a defensive pact, but also a commercial and a research agreement. With another civilization deciding to peacefully coexist with the United Systems, both the northern and southern borders of the federation were now secured, with only the Chimms remaining as a threat to the west.

The agreements with the Xelteks were of particular importance in this moment in time as not all of the species that the United Systems were suddenly introduced to were friendly. In fact, the Avarrian Empire, the Republic of Cyggia, the Akkano Republic, the Empire of the Shrub, the Alliance of Dabulan Suns as well as the Themlar Collective informed the United Systems that any trespassing of their sovereign space by any United Systems vessel would be considered a declaration of war.

In better news, however, the Republic of Tarraska, the Sovereign Human Dominions and the Bothrian Republic agreed to sign a non-aggression pact with the federation. The Bothrian also further deepened their collaboration with humanity through a research agreement.

As noted by President Paquette, humanity’s “Age of Discovery” in the galaxy was coming to an end. The United Systems were now about to enter into a new era of galactic diplomacy. Mankind’s continued prosperity will no longer come from exploring the stars but through continued effort to ensure its ongoing existence and relevance in the Galactic Community.

(click to enlarge - full resolution link below)
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Full resolution version of the galaxy map: https://i.imgur.com/BZavTpY.png

Text corrected and revised by @ChaoYang
 
I really like the Galactic map.