• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Lore Update #2: Hyperabridgement of Galactic History: The Earliest Years
In the beginning, all human life was existent on Old Terra. For thousands of years, humans didn’t leave the relative safety of their home planet, which had many names. The most common name, when they achieved space travel, was Earth.

It was in the 20th century Anno Domini* (as we once counted time) when humans first achieved an escape from their planet. Nowadays, this is known as the 1st century A.L. (After Luna).

Still, it would take years until Luna was colonized. From ancient folk songs and religious scriptures, we can form a vague idea about this time. The 1st century A.L. was apparently a brutal age of war - the entire planet was engulfed in war twice, and there were many smaller wars. The reason why there was not a third planet-world war seems to have been a fear of apocalyptic destruction. It seems as if this was when nuclear weapons were invented, and everybody knows how deadly those can be. Even their inventors grasped the concept - a famous quote from around this time is “now, I am become death, destroyer of worlds” (some believe that this was a quote in and of itself. If so, it must have been an extremely relevant one). It seems as if there was an ideological conflict, but neither side wished to escalate it, as that would lead to nuclear war. This doctrine was apparently known as MAD - Mutually Assured Destruction.

Eventually, the ideological conflict was resolved. We don’t know much about how this happened, and, indeed, much of our history, myths, and legends refuse to speak at length about what occurred in its immediate aftermath. The next period for which we have any information - even unreliable - is the middle of the 2nd century AL (or the 21st century AD, as it was then known).
 
  • 2Like
Reactions:
Lore Update #3: The Legend of the Ruin of Old Terra
Old Terra was humanity’s alleged home planet. Whether or not it ever existed is up for debate among scholars, but the tale of its ruin remains in the human consciousness. Old Terra had the most humans on it, although it didn’t hold the entirety of the human population by this time.

Humans on Old Terra struggled with each other on Old Terra as much as they struggled with each other after its destruction. Their constant warring did drain the planet’s resources, but it seems as if they realized that, so that did not prove to be their downfall.

Their downfall allegedly came about because of hubris. Men had realized that their struggles were draining their planet’s resources, so they had solved that problem. Still, men had grown used to living in luxury - they wanted to have what they had before they stopped draining the planet’s resources. They thought they could successfully do this - they thought that they could, indeed, have everything that they wanted.

That, in and of itself, wasn’t the problem. The problem was that they attempted to do this - without considering the consequences. Those consequences would prove to be their demise - for it was not pride that brought down Old Terra, but rather lack of forethought. Lack of forethought is still hubris, though - hubris of a different kind, but hubris all the same. That is the moral of the legend, but the specifics are all too often lost.

What was their “solution” to their dilemma? Different human civilizations believe different things - there are, however, a few key details that they agree on. The broad strokes, as listed above, are among them, but there are other common details.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions:
Lore Update #4: The Beginning of the Nova Roman War (the Saquy Theatre)
The Nova Roman settlement was very small, and it was also extremely lightly guarded. It fell to the New Greeks quickly, but the inhabitants managed to get word to Nova Roma’s capital on the planet. The Nova Romans on Saquy began marshalling their forces.

The New Greeks did the same, and the border between the two zones of control was fought over in a series of skirmishes. As this was happening, both Nova Roma and New Greece prepared their fleets. Both sides merely hoped to buy time to get reinforcements. This part of the war is famously chronicled in the Saquyiad.

Sing to me, O Muse, of that flame
That began the doom of an empire
Sing of man’s pride
And of what it wrought

Sing of the struggle on a jungle
Sing of the conflicted planet
Sing of the culmination of centuries of conflict
And the beginning of the end

The men on Saquy had done nothing for centuries
They longed for conflict
And the opportunity had been given to them
The skirmishes had begun long before the war had

But the war marked their beginning in earnest
And the end of the great frost
No longer would men merely wait to fight
No, they would finally be able to serve

All sides longed to draw blood
For their patience was at an end
And they now had their reason
So war would be begun

The land between the two empires
On that jungle planet
Was fought over
And every inch was contested…

The thirst for blood that the people of Saquy caused the skirmishes on Saquy to be far more bloody than was strictly necessary. Still, they achieved their purpose - they bought enough time for reinforcements to arrive.

Unfortunately, the arrival of said reinforcements only escalated the conflict. At first, neither the Nova Romans nor the New Greeks wanted the conflict to escalate from a minor border skirmish - both still hoped that peace could be achieved.

This hope was obviously in vain, but that wasn’t immediately apparent. Neither side actually wanted war - a cold war had lasted for two centuries by that point, and both powers were fine with this status quo. Neither side saw a need for a war… at least at first.

Still, they should’ve known that war couldn’t be avoided. The die had been cast, although no one knew it at the time. They should’ve taken the hint when even the location of the negotiations had to be changed again and again. They didn’t. If they had, perhaps the great tragedy - the destruction of an empire and beginning of a cycle of revenge - could have been avoided.

The negotiations were originally scheduled to take place on Saquy itself. That failed very quickly, as none of the factions on that planet were willing to host the others, much less the people that they answered to.

Initially, the two empires met on Saquy anyway, in what is probably one of the most stupid decisions in all of mankind’s history. Naturally, they didn’t even start before various native factions attacked the meeting place. The delegates from the two empires attempted to move to another spot, but there was no spot on the planet that was both neutral ground and not prone to be attacked by thousands of soldiers wishing to fight. Reluctantly, the delegates decided to move their meeting planet.

That quickly led to its own host of problems. Some men took it as an omen that war was inevitable. These men didn’t strictly do anything. They simply waited for war to come - and they were proven correct.

Still, they weren’t the only people interpreting what the meeting planet being moved meant, and there were men that thought that that action meant far worse things. Worse, many wanted to bring their ideas to pass - by force, if necessary.

Some blame these groups for what came next, and they believe that everything could have been avoided if there wasn’t a small minority that was very, very vocal. This idea is pure folly - the two empires had been at odds for two centuries. There was going to be a reckoning eventually.

Still, the actions of these groups might - and only might - have sped up the war. A war, however, was most definitely inevitable. The actions of these groups might even have been a blessing in disguise - it prevented the sheer horror of any more generations being forced to wait for something that was inevitable. Peace for this crisis was possible. Complete peace between the two empires was a fool’s dream.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions:
Lore Update: The Hyperabridgement of Galactic History: The First Colonies: The Very Beginning
The first colonies weren’t interstellar at all. No, in the very beginning of the Human race’s journey across the stars, they couldn’t even leave their own solar system (nowadays known as Sol Virginia). Interstellar travel was nothing more than a distant dream.

Very few people wanted to even try it. Critics, in their naivete, claimed that Old Terra was the only planet that could support human life. Some even went further, claiming that no planet other than Old Terra could support sapient or even any life. This continued even after small microscopic organisms were discovered on Mars in the early 21st century.

Still, a few men did dare to look beyond. They saw a vast untamed frontier in space, but their pleas to see it went unheard.

Oh, in the beginning, the entirety of Old Terra was interested in the vast frontier, but time dimmed their enthusiasm. They landed on Luna Virginia, but they saw its emptiness and thought that life could never exist on it. Humans needed oxygen to breathe, they reasoned, and there was no natural oxygen there. Everything would need to be brought from outside - from Old Terra. It was simply too much effort.

Of course, another reason might be what some ancient texts call the “Cold War”. Like many other cold wars since, this was simply a rivalry. It was no true war with swords, spears, and guns. It certainly wasn’t a war with nukes. Instead, it was a war among shadows - a war of spies and influence. All that survives is the very basics of it - that it was between two ideologies, seemingly named communism (or maybe socialism) and capitalism (or maybe democracy). Each ideology was led by a single country (the United States of America and a regime in Russia called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the USSR) , and both wanted to dominate the world. The missions to space and Luna Virginia were part of this - they were bragging rights, primarily. The Russian regime won the race to enter space, but America, after a few setbacks, got to Luna Virginia first.
And then interest slowly died. Space was gradually abandoned. All nations returned their interests to Old Terra alone, and the Cold War seemingly ended. Still, these early missions are important as the initial forays - they proved that space could be navigated. They proved that colonies were hypothetically viable, at the very least.

As the 21st century came to a close, interest reemerged. That century was a mess of anarchy that should at least partially be understood. While the Cold War represented at least relative stability, the 21st century was filled with chaos on an untold scale. Society went through two periods that some people outright call “collapses” - one due to human action and the other due to “Old Terra’s rage”, as one of our main sources for this period, The Twilight of Humanity, calls it.

Even so, the population continued to increase exponentially, and not even the disasters could prevent that. Old Terra was simply running out of room to store humans.

A few companies saw this, and they decided to take advantage. Some, particularly with bases in what had once been the United States, decided to fund colonies on Luna Virginia. A few other more ambitious ones aimed for Mars or the Asteroid Belt. A couple less ambitious - but more creative - companies thought to form habitats in space itself.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions:
Considerations, Part 5
Sleeping on it didn’t help at all. He did gain information from his sleep, but it wasn’t the information he needed. It didn’t seem helpful at all… merely nightmarish, so Jack tried to forget it.

Ultimately, he decided on commanding himself. Leaving the ship and the fleet without a commander was a recipe for utter disaster. The likeliest result was a gutted refugee fleet. Someone needed to decide what to do if things went sideways, and he trusted no one other than himself with making that decision.

And then the most obvious problem of all hit him. Keeping the fact that he wasn’t on the flagship a secret was going to prove impossible. Literally impossible. Everybody on the ship that he was going to was going to know about it, and they could spread the word. Drat.

Then he realized a key fact that he had forgotten. They had ways of communicating across vast distances. They had ways of communicating across star systems… and even galaxies. And the Nova Roman refugee fleet still had these. There was nothing stopping him from using them. He didn’t need to switch ships… and he especially didn’t need to do so in such a convoluted manner. He could just ask questions using a communicator - even a normal communicator - not even one of the various FTL ones - would work here.

He was in the cockpit anyway. Truthfully, he wasn’t very familiar with the various advanced technologies in his cockpit. He didn’t need to be - he preferred melee fighting to long-distance fighting of any kind. Life had taught him to do so. Still, that did make this substantially harder than it had to be.

As such, it took a few hours to find where the communicators were at all. He quickly grabbed the normal sublight one and called the NVS Explorer.

Explorer?” he asked. “This is the NVS Renewal. We need to talk. Preferably with your navigators.”

There was a crackling sound, and then the response was quick to come. “Acknowledged, Renewal. Why do we need to talk? Where is the fleet even going? How long will it take to get there? What will we do with the inhabitants of wherever we’re going? Is war an option?”

Well, most of those questions were related, weren’t they? Even if the Captain of the Explorer didn’t yet know it. He was quickly informed.

“Who do you need?” the Captain of the Explorer asked. “We have many separate groups who might be helpful in this situation. We have many separate groups of navigators alone. And I don’t know where we’re going, so I can’t just assume who you want to talk to and get you in contact with them.”

“I need the members of the Far Rim Exploratory Council,” Jack replied. “They alone know much about where we’re going. I assume that they’ve been there before, or our previous government was even more incompetent - or, worse, corrupt - than I thought.”

“The Far Rim Exploratory Council had many members that actually went to the Far Rim,” the Captain of the Explorer replied. “I’ll put them in touch with you. If we’re lucky, I might be able to put you in touch with the entire Council, but that’s a one in a million chance.”
 
Last edited:
  • 1Like
Reactions:
Lore Update: The Hyperabridgement of Galactic History: The First Colonies: Luna Virginia
Luna Virginia was Old Terra’s moon. Naturally, humans couldn’t inhabit it, but that meant absolutely nothing to them. Even then, humans knew how to change planets to suit their needs… and how to change themselves to fit the needs of planets. They settled in large domed areas with a steadily increasing supply of air from Old Terra.

This endeavor was far from a national one, though. The governments of Old Terra were still recovering from the Century of the Damned, and they had no interest in expanding into space. The people, however, definitely did.

A solution quickly presented itself. Men interested in space formed colonization companies, taking a hint from the Colonization of America. However, unlike the American colonies of yore, almost everyone who owned stock in these companies wished to eventually leave Old Terra. Their reasons varied. Many were tired of the constant war, but a few simply had the spirit of exploration.

The first Lunar colonies were New America, New Africa, and the Papal Lands. Of these, the only ones founded by companies were New America and New Africa.

New America was formed by people from across the Americas. Those lands had been devastated by war between countries, between small communities, and even between religions. The Century of the Damned had not been kind to the Americas, and the prominent countries present before it - the United States, Canada, and numerous Latin American countries - hadn’t survived it. Only the oldest could remember the glory days where America was the center of Old Terra, but everyone had heard stories. On Luna Virginia, the colonists had decided that they wanted a colony modeled after the old United States - a colony modeled after the glory days.

To that end, they created a short Constitution and three-tiered system of government. In other ways, though, the new colony would differ from the United States in its glory days. There would only be one Congress - and it would have representatives based on population alone. Also, the President and the Cabinet would be elected separately, and each would be elected by the Alternative Vote (ranking the candidates and eliminating the lowest-ranking ones, basically). In addition, if the Congress and the Executive Branch agreed, the decisions of the Supreme Court could be overruled.

New America would become a very important stellar nation, although it’s debatable whether or not it lived up to its ideals.

New Africa was formed by numerous people of African descent, regardless of where they were currently living. It had a Senate and a Shophet. Both of these positions were elected by direct democracy alone. It would also have influence beyond Luna Virginia.

The Papal Lands were effectively a colony of the Catholic Church. They were legally an absolute monarchy under the command of the Pope, although that often wasn’t the case de facto. In time, the Popes would move to their Lunar colonies, from which they would direct the creation and spread of numerous Catholic states.
 
  • 2Like
Reactions:
Lore Update: The Hyperabridgement of Galactic History: The First Colonies: The Space Colonies
Some people were more creative in where they wished to live outside of Terra Virginia. They didn’t believe that Lunar colonies weren’t viable, or they believed that they weren’t ethical. After all, to colonize Luna Virginia would require a society to change the environment.

To be fair, there were some reasons to be wary of changing environments. On Terra Virginia, most environments were changed to suit human habitation, but the things that were remembered were what had gone wrong because those were more recent. Amsterdam and Venice’s ultimate fates were well remembered. It’s easy to forget, but those were once human cities, not mere parables. The fact that they’d sunk would have worried many humans.

But there were alternatives. Even if Luna Virginia or Mars couldn’t be colonized, there was a way to live somewhere other than Old Terra. Space was vast, and it could be colonized in a way. All the humans had to do was build.

Of course, building new habitats from scratch was difficult work, but it was also a safer bet. In the past, there had been space stations, notably the International Space Station (ISS). That had long since fallen into disrepair, but parts of it could probably be salvaged. Even if they couldn’t, the station still served as a proof of concept… which was something that neither the Lunar nor the Martian colonies had.

A few companies - notably the Socialist Space Collective and the Cooperative of Scientists - funded projects to build these stations. However, the space colonies were mainly a project of individual nations - NASA created a few, as did China and the Commonwealth.

All of these projects had political aims, though. No one simply wished to build colonies in the vastness of space for no reason. The Socialist Space Collective wanted to create what they considered a “pure Marxist” state. The Cooperative of Scientists was made up of what modern humans would call mad scientists. They wanted to form space colonies to prove that it could be done. They were quite the interesting group, all things considered, but this history doesn’t have time to cover them in detail. What you need to know is that they would be pioneers in a myriad number of scientific fields, and they would lead the FTL craze once it got off the ground.

The national agencies obviously had political aims. NASA wished to create a new America according to their vision - and they would have a complicated relationship with New America proper in the years to come. They viewed Old Terran America as a lost cause, too committed to its “decadent and warmongering” regimes to be saved. Space was an escape for them. China wanted to expand their influence across space for the sheer sake of it, and they didn’t want to be left behind. If space became the new center of human civilization , then China wouldn’t let others leave it in the dust. The Commonwealth, for their part, merely wanted to recoup their territorial losses from the Century of the Damned and create a place to send their excess population - a lot of which were technically refugees.

All of these groups would surround Old Terra with stations, satellites, and spaceships. That would end in disaster.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions:
Discussing the Far Rim, Part 1
“A one in a million chance is better than nothing,” Jack replied. “Although I’d be fine with only consulting a few members - something is always better than nothing at all. And we do need to figure out some place to stay - and quickly.”

“Uh… no offense, but why?” the Captain of the Explorer asked. “Are we in dire straits?”

Were they? Jack wasn’t actually sure that they were, but he wasn’t sure that they weren’t, either. He was going to need to check. Truthfully, he wanted to find a planet to settle on as soon as possible because that meant that his revenge could start sooner. Still… choosing the first planet that came up could be disastrous.

His new capital planet needed to have good conditions, after all. It needed to have enough edible food to feed all of his refugees, and it probably needed to have breathable air. Yes, there was a lot of artificial air in the fleet, but that would likely be needed for missions in space once there was a new capital. It was best if there was edible food, as well. The planet could be terraformed, but that would require a lot of work, and, more importantly to Jack, it would require more time. It should be naturally hospitable, basically.

...But the fleet had limited supplies. It had been hastily put together, and that meant that there wasn’t a lot of food or even air in storage. These ships weren’t originally meant to be part of an exodus fleet. Only his flagship was, and even that had ended up being a rush job because the war against the New Greeks had been shorter than he had expected, which meant that he had to flee quicker than expected. It suddenly dawned on Jack why so many people had been willing to stay on New Carthage.

Still, it wouldn't do to dwell on the past. It couldn’t be changed much, so what was the point? It wasn’t like he could do something absurd and change the past multiple times in order to make the present more palatable to himself. That would be absurd.

As he finished thinking that (extremely ironic, in retrospect) thought, the Captain of the Explorer finally appeared on Jack’s screen.

“Alright,” he said. “I couldn’t get the entire council because it wasn’t in session, but I did get many influential members of it.”

What made a person influential on the Far Rim Exploratory Council, anyway? And what did that mean about their loyalties to Nova Roma? Jack recalled that there were many people who thought that the Far Rim Exploratory Council who thought that it was a useless project that wouldn’t go anywhere. Some of them supported it anyway - either out of enmity to other members of the Nova Roman elite or because they figured it could help them out in their unspoken war against New Greece.

“Who did you get, then?” he asked. “And were they actually part of the exploring or are they going off of other people’s work?”
 
  • 2Like
Reactions:
Very interesting. Poor Venice, under the sea now I guess?
Yep. Venice and Amsterdam were submerged. I'll cover that more later - but not in the Hyperabridgement.

Next update is tomorrow - and I'm starting a side story. Partially due to the need to do something for Halloween.
 
The Rip, Part 1: Bellum
There were no nights in space. There shouldn't be time in space, actually, as time is supposedly created by the rotation of planets around stars. We all thought that once - and we were all wrong. How do we know that? Because it ripped. It ripped, and the horror was overwhelming. And the worst part was that we brought this upon ourselves. We did this. May Heaven forgive us, but we didn't have a choice. Let those who will come after bear witness. This is the tale of the fate that was written for us - and how we escaped it. You can change the past... but there are always consequences. I'm not sure if I can live with those, but I won't have too. Even now, they come, an eternal monument to our pride and our folly. I'm sorry. If you're reading t, then this war is yours now.

I probably explain more, shouldn't I? Fine. I'll tell you. I'll tell you exactly how we managed to change the past and why. I'll tell you of my sins... and I'll beg your forgiveness. We beg your forgiveness. I don't know what will be left once we're gone. I can hope that some series will survive, but interstellar civilization will not. Only the primitive will live. This is their kingdom now.

I suppose... I suppose it all started with a war. Doesn't everything? But this war was different - it wasn't a mere clash between two or a few or even several interstellar nations. It was a fight between all of them. I don't why they fought - all we were told was that it was "not ours to reason why". All we had to do was fight and die, and for eons, that was my kind did. We knew nothing else, but even our ignorant kind could tell that the war was unwinnable. Our government might have been willing to sacrifice quadrillions for next to nothing, but our people weren't. Others agreed with us. The war had to be stopped, or it would destroy all who fought in it. It had to be stopped, or this galactic cluster would be reduced to uncivilized ashes. I suppose it became uncivilized ashes anyway, but this would have been worse. This would have annihilated everything in time - to primitives, the soldiers fighting must have been seen like gods... we might even have your gods. I don't know. I'm not a prophet, for I have never had the great folly to look into the Shroud. In search of victory, millions had... and many lost their grip on reality.

I loved the war in its beginning, as did my squadron - as did my friends, really. It was going to be glorious, we thought, and our race might even benefit from it. We wouldn't be viewed as intrinsically inferior any longer by others any more. How could we if we brought them down, if we turned their pride to ashes?

Reality is a harsh mistress. There is nothing glorious about killing weaklings, and there is nothing glorious about killing the defenseless. Glory is found in fighting those who can fight you on even footing - fighting those that can kill you. Only that is glory, but that carries a lot of risk as well. Death isn't pleasant - and, yes, I do speak from harsh experience.

Oh, the actual duels were glorious, but they were rare. Most of the war was mindless killing, and we weren't bred for that. We couldn't be bred for that - if we were, how would we obey our masters? Still, we were good at fighting. Taking blood brought pleasure above anything else to us. We were race bred for destruction and war, but even we had our limits.

How long can your kind go on if you were forced to witness nothing but death? The death of your enemies, yes, but also of your friends, your allies, and even your kin. That was that war in a nutshell. War is Hell, and Damnation is an endless battlefield without rules for a reason. After three centuries of serving, my regiment -my entire regiment, had finally had enough. We couldn't let the war continue. We were already almost the last of our entire species in the galaxy we were fighting in. The war would destroy everything we held dear. It had to be stopped.

And yet... for two centuries longer, we did nothing. We weren't cowards - we were simply being pragmatic. If we were even suspected of anything like treason, our fates would be worse than death. So we waited... and we hoped. It wasn't enough. Of course it wasn't enough, and we never thought that it would be. That was why planned the war's end carefully. We recruited others of like mind, across every species. All agreed that the war had to be stopped. Nobody cared about what happened after... all knew that, if this state of affairs was allowed to continue, there wouldn't be an after.

We needed somewhere to hide and plan in private, though. We chose one of the Starless Expanses - places that lacked stars. Some had never had them, but the one that we picked had its stars destroyed by the war we had resolved to end.

Of course it was far from that simple. We needed excuses as to why we were leaving the front - the million fronts. We needed a reason to band together acceptable to the authorities. It took my regiment a half-century to come up with one.

In planetary parlance, I suppose you could call the night we left a dark and stormy night. It wasn't night, of course, for space has no nights, but it was definitely dark and stormy. The star of the system we were orbiting was the only star that existed at all for more than 100 light years. The storm of battle had come there, too, and that was our excuse. Nobody would question our deaths - but, for that ploy to work, we needed bodies.

Our ascension was horrifically painful. Our souls were not meant to be ripped from our bodies, but we did it anyway. There was no other choice. From there, we snuck into the Shroud - well... I suppose I should say we snuck into the first - the original - Shroud. We used it to make our getaway, and, once we reentered real space, we began to make a plan.
 
Well, this looks nice. I hope you update soon!

Also, is The Rip a diary entry?

Well, the next lore update is going to be sometime today.

The Rip is a side story set in the same universe.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions:
Lore Update: The Hyperabridgement of Galactic History: The First Colonies: The Asteroid Belt
The Asteroid Belt had many settlers - and most of them wanted one thing. They were simple men, and they wanted to possess precious metals. Most of the inhabitants of Terra wanted this, but very few could actually act on their ambitions. They needed some way of crossing the distance between Old Terra and the Asteroid Belt, and that would require a lot of money.

Naturally, there were a few people who had enough money to fund their own ventures to the Asteroid Belt. These landed on asteroids and claimed them as private property. Most didn’t outright declare independence from the nations from which they had come, but most had declared their own regimes by the end of the Century of the Damned. These states became the “Asteroid Kingdoms”.

The “Asteroid Kingdoms” had many different governments. Some were ruled by absolute monarchs, and even these had much variety, with some being benevolent rulers and others being horrific tyrants. Others were ruled by constitutional monarchs, while yet others ruled as feudal overlords. The reasons for this variety of governments varied.

Others who wished to get to the Asteroid Belt asked for help from their governments. Sometimes, they wouldn’t appeal to single governments but rather multiple - including countries in alliance with each other but also countries that were connected by nothing other than geographic proximity or similar levels of wealth. Some of these people even succeeded. In general, the distance between Old Terra and the Asteroid Belt destroyed most government control of colonies. Independent republics, federations, and confederations emerged frequently.

Indeed, while West Ceres was the last state of the United States of America to be officially admitted, it was, in practice, an independent republic. Some of this was definitely because the United States was a shadow of itself when it colonized Ceres - controlling only 5 states, including West Ceres. A lot of it was definitely the distance, though - China’s colony on Ceres was effectively an independent kingdom, even while China itself remained a premier power on both Old Terra and Luna Virginia.

The Asteroid Belt was home to many states, and war between them was relatively common. The Asteroid Wars lasted from the Century of the Damned to the First Solar War itself, and events in the Belt, as much as events on both Old Terra and Luna Virginia, caused that conflagration.
 
  • 2Like
Reactions:
Daily Drabble 1, Marcus's Retreat, Part 1
Marcus saw a thousand ships exit hyperspace, and he knew that his cause had fallen. New Greece didn't have many warships - they had more than a thousand, of course, but not much more. They definitely didn't have two thousand warships, and he knew that the New Greek government wouldn't commit more than half of their ships to an attack on a backwater moon, even a backwater moon as central as this one.

He had been stationed on this backwater moon in disgrace, but this hadn't destroyed his loyalty to his country. He still very much wished to defend the Nova Roman Empire, or at least the idea of Nova Roma. He couldn't do that from here, though, especially not at this time. A small fleet of around ten ships - even ten battleships - couldn't defeat a thousand warships... or at least couldn't do so without taking many casualties. He needed to find a way out of this system without being followed by that fleet.

He should probably also destroy the hyperspace wormhole in this system after he left it. That had to be why the New Greek fleet was here - there was no other reason that they would be here of all Nova Roman systems. There were other paths to the various Nova Roman systems, but this was still the only path to all of them.

The Nova Roman Hypereye was the center of Nova Roma's hyperspace system. New Greece would never be able to attack her unless they had managed to destroy almost all of Nova Roma's fleets. That was what Marcus believed, but he knew that there was another option - there could be a spy for them in the upper echelons of the Nova Roman Empire. It was also possible - and even probable - that both of these things were true.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions:
Daily Drabble 2: Marcus's Retreat, Part 2
However, Marcus couldn't worry about espionage. He had a great problem now, and he needed to solve it. He couldn't fail in his duty - not again, not after he had worked so hard to end his disgrace. He finally had a way to undo his disgrace, and he wouldn't waste it. All he had to do was save his fleet and destroy this center of the portal network. If he failed, all of Nova Roma would fall. There could be no second dawn in known space. Granted, that would've still allowed a second dawn in unknown space, but that would take centuries - or even millennia, especially if they were unlucky. And it would delay their vengeance for countless eons. Marcus could accept that, but he would prefer not to have to.

He needed to get to the moon itself... without the enormous New Greek fleet noticing. That could prove... very difficult, even without considering the fact that he would need to destroy a portal network while commanding a successful tactical retreat. Considering that, his job became next to impossible.

Nothing was truly impossible, though. He would need to take an escape shuttle off of his "flagship" (as much as this small starship barely capable of entering even the Wounded Tachyonic Sphere, much less any form of safe hyperspace transportation counted as a "flagship" anyway) to get to Luna Nova, which was the name of the moon that the Nova Roman Hypereye was located on. He wanted to get off the Icarus anyway - it was giving him bad memories right now, especially with the fleet about to attack.

Why wasn't the New Greek fleet attacking right now, actually? They were just kind of hovering near his fleet... and doing absolutely nothing. Why weren't they attacking? It made no sense - did they not want the moon? If so, why were they here at all? If not, then why were they just there, not even moving? Maybe they meant to negotiate a peaceful resolution? Ha! There was more chance of Venice still reigning over Old Terra than there was of that.

Still, this was a good thing. It meant that there was nothing stopping him from making his escape, so he entered an escape pod and moved toward Luna Nova. And, immediately, things went very wrong. Missiles moved toward him very quickly, and he was forced to dodge them.

Well, Marcus thought. This could prove to be a major problem. I knew that there was something suspicious going on. Beware of Greeks - especially New Greeks - bearing gifts of any kind!
 
  • 1Like
Reactions:
Lore Update: The Hyperabridgement of Galactic History: The First Colonies: Mars
Mars was one of the first planets Old Terrans knew that wasn’t Old Terra itself. They were fascinated with it and saw potential for life on it. Despite that, it would be one of the latter planets colonized.


The reasons for that are myriad. Mars was farther than Luna Virginia and not as resource-rich as the Asteroid Belt. Many didn’t see the worth of traveling across thousands of miles for what they saw as bragging rights. One couldn’t truly get rich off of Martian land, and it was far. In the minds of Old Terrans, there was no point - they see Luna Virginia and the Asteroid Belt as vast new vistas in which to expand, but Mars… Mars was useless, except, mayhaps, as a waypoint between the two great colonized regions. In the tail-end of the Century of the Damned and even in the century that followed that accursed period, many humans called the Red Planet “barren Mars”.

Indeed, Mars was useless to conventional society even after its settlement, and the settlement was due to the uselessness. The Amish people had once lived in PA, but the Century of the Damned threatened their peaceful life away from modern technology. They managed to convince other nations to protect them and let them live their low-tech lives for most of that Century, but horrific warfare in North America proved too extreme to allow them to not choose a side, and the Amish were forced by the harsh warfare to make a choice - be conscripted to die en masse or move. Ignoring the horrific conditions in North America was no longer an option. Briefly, the Amish founded a sovereign state and fought only those that attacked them, but all of them knew that this state of pseudo-neutrality couldn’t last. They decided to temporarily break off the tech restrictions - but only to escape Old Terra and continue their primitive lifestyle elsewhere.

For the Amish, Mars was a perfect refuge. No one else wanted to move there, and that meant that they wouldn’t be disturbed by warfare.

They were right about that, at the very least. For three centuries, the Amish lived idyllically on the Red Planet, undisturbed by other humans or technology. A lush and green patch existed amongst the unforgiving sands of Mars.

But the Amish wouldn’t be allowed their peace forever. The other states of Sol Virginia were destined to run out of room throughout the rest of that system and realize that Mars was ripe for the taking, and, in time, they did.

Interestingly, though, this was very gradual and disorganized. It began with the Martian moons, as Phobos and Deimos were colonized by the Organization for Terran Resettlement, which was founded as a humanitarian organization. Originally, they moved people from the devastated areas of Old Terra to other parts of Old Terra, as well as Luna Virginia. However, this quickly led to diplomatic problems, which frequently threatened to erupt into war. The Organization for Terran Resettlement (OTR) decided that virgin lands were needed in order to transport the refugees, and these lands needed to be close to Old Terra. For the second time in history, Mars and its moons were seen as possibilities for settlement, but Mars itself was rejected due to the mysterious green patch. The OTR had absolutely no idea what could be living there and whether or not it was dangerous.

Thus, the Martian Moons were colonized, two centuries after the Century of the Damned. It would take another century until Mars itself was considered as a target for colonization - the other planets in the Inner System took priority.

When Mars itself was accepted as a target for colonization, though, it was flooded with colonists. Many people fled from the Asteroid Belt Conflicts to the Red Planet, seeing a haven from conflict. Many had one idea and only one idea. They wanted peace and cooperation. These colonists founded the Martian Collective, a single society where all people were seen as equal to one another, and there was no such thing as property. Instead of property, each person would be provided with what they wanted by an elected democratic government. It was a perfection of Marxist ideals.

Other colonists, though, saw Mars as a new planet from which to create empires. They formed the Martian Empires - a collection of small warlord states that frequently fought one another for resources.

At first, the three conflicting societies on the Red Planet weren’t a problem. They were separated geographically - the Martian Empires were in the geographic center of the planet, the Martian Collective was on the side of Mars closest to the Asteroid Belt, and the Amish were on the side of Mars closest to Old Terra.

Expansion and terraforming would change that calculus, though. The Martian Empires would make contact with the Amish in 2450 AD, and they would see a primitive people, unable to defend themselves. In this, however, they were incorrect. The Amish managed to defeat the Martian Empires and even force them into an alliance as a geopolitical block in order to keep control of their lands. By 2515 AD, things had settled down into a state of contentious peace.

Things might have stayed that way, but the Martian Collective had other ideas. They were expanding also, and this expansion would push them into contact with the Martian Empires. In the Empires, the Collective saw everything that they as a society hated. They determined that it was necessary to destroy the warlords.

In 2578 AD, the Collective launched its attack, and the Amish sensed weakness in their boundaries with the warlords. They attacked as well, and the Great Martian War began. This war would only last around twelve years, but it would change everything about the Red Planet. After it was over, the Martian Empires had all been completely destroyed, and the Martian Collective had reached an accord and even an alliance with the Amish. The side of Mars closest to Old Terra would be the area of the Amish, unaffected by most modern technology, while the side of Mars closest to the Asteroid Belt would be the Collective’s to rule.

This new status quo would last until the First Solar War.




We're back. He's some backstory to tide you over while I work on more Daily Drabbles, the main tale, and The Rip. And, yes, that is over 1000 words of how Mars came to be ruled by Space Amish and Space Communists.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions:
Lore Update: The Hyperabridgement of Galactic History: The First Colonies: The Outer System
The planets beyond the Asteroid Belt weren’t colonized very quickly by humanity. The reasoning behind this is unclear. It was well known that Europa had water before the Century of the Damned, and the moons of gas giants were seen as inhabitable. A likely reason why the Outer System wasn’t colonized for so long was because no one saw a need to. There were other planets (and asteroids) closer to Earth that weren’t colonized yet.

A few of the Martian Amish considered moving out after the Second Wave of Martian Colonization, but the majority wanted to stand their ground, and they convinced those who wanted to flee to fight on as well. As a result, the first colonies to emerge in the Outer System emerged in 2710 AD.

These were the brainchild of a few different groups. The United States - or, more specifically, the state of Ceres - was the first to consider sending colonists, but the first to actually send colonists was the Organization for Terran Resettlement, as Phobos and Deimos were completely filled with refugees. The OTR sent settlers to the moons of Saturn, starting with Titan. The US followed that with sending colonists of their own to the Jovian Moons, specifically Europa.

By 2820 AD, all of the Jovian Moons were territories of the USA, administered by the Space Administration, which was based on Ceres. All of the Saturnian Moons had been settled or claimed by the OTR, as well.

It was at this point in time that other groups - especially sovereign states - realized that the Outer System could be a lucrative investment. Thousands of the Asteroid Warlords sent ships to the moons of Uranus and Neptune, and China, New Africa, New America, and the NASA regime all sent colonists to those same moons. This wave of colonization is often considered the primary cause of the First Solar War, although things were far more complicated than that.

Interestingly, though, by 3015 AD, a vast region of space was still uncolonized. The Kuiper Belt, despite its inherent potential for conquest, remained abandoned. Even Pluto wasn’t colonized!

It would take until after the First Solar War for this area of space to be colonized.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: