The World Before The path of a cosmonaut is not an easy, triumphant march to glory. You have to get to know the meaning not just of joy but also of grief, before being allowed in the spacecraft cabin. – Yuri Gargarin When humanity began to enter its golden years as a species, the world came across a sudden and desperate realization that war was no longer something that could continue if the human race wanted to survive. Treaties began to form between the nations that were and superpowers that had once dominated the world through their military strength began to slowly fade away in the back of everyone's mind as relics of an era long past. With the fall of Russia and China to democracy the rest of the world spurred into a new era of peace and prosperity; shedding aside old feuds to work together. Under this era many technologies flourished; namely medicine and transportation. Mars was colonized in 2034 and a fledgling nation began to arise amongst the cosmos. When the Nell arrived, however, things took a turn for the worst. Without FTL technology, which had yet to be invented, humanity had no way of striking back against them on their home turf; leading them to fight an increasingly desperate defensive war which their current doctrines did not support; such as rapid deployment. Their foes came with weapons that obliterated the already very limited human fleet and soon enough the colony on Mars was wiped out. On Earth, human forces scrambled to come up with a defense and settled on a plan of desperation; nuclear weapons. They proved marginally effective on the exterior of the Nell starships but proved effective inside when kamikaze attacks managed to breach the hull of a vessel and set off the nuclear weapon inside. The attack was, however, very costly and the thousands of soldiers sent all perished in either the detonation or the initial landing inside the spacecraft. The United States was a primary target due to its significant role in air superiority when the two sides clashed from control of the skies. Russia, India and Germany seemed to also be targets of preference for their relatively sizable militaries with the UK soon following with the bombardment. Entire cities were leveled in the conquest and some captured as the aliens used a combination of special operations to sabotage key defensive positions as well as conventional warfare though these cities were most often left desolate afterwards to be torn down and rebuilt in the image of the invaders. Humanity fought a long and bloody war for almost a decade using weapons cobbled together from scrap. No one truly understood how they worked until long after when the war was over. From the wreckage humanity pieced together scraps and eventually found the secrets of faster than light travel (FTL). At the advent of a new golden age; humans rose once more into the stars to seek expansion and new understandings. Some sought to the skies to find the Nell homeworld and obliterate it in retribution. Others sought a new, better life than they had in some of the desolate areas of Earth. Others still sought fame, fortune and glory amongst the stars. “Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.” ― Carl Sagan The Golden Age As humanity ascended to the stars they spread rapidly. Worlds fell before their seemingly unstoppable expansion and new flags raised as old ideologies resurfaced and found themselves popular amongst their own populations. Nations rose and fell, rivalries formed, alliances and more seemingly in the blink of an eye. The Sol Republic rose to prominence after much delegation and a few skirmishes. They became the seat of power for anything economic; producing more and creating more and expanding more than their opponents. They quickly seized worlds such as Passchendaele, Mars, Luna and other such places. The Virginian Empire rose to prominence as a trading giant and, due to many wars that threatened to take Virginia, developed an exceptionally powerful Navy and Marine Corps. Boston Station, Altair and a few other planets managed to remain independent though are largely inconsequential to the galactic scheme of politics. Technologies such as Faster than Light drives became commonplace. The Credit became the universal currency. The nations that were agreed all citizens upon reaching maturity in their bodily growth were to be implanted with a small device that would act as a bank card, phone and more. It united their economies in ways previously unknown. Access to the Network (a space age version of the Internet) allowed information to flow faster than ever before and faster than light communications allowed the communication of ideas and concepts more than ever before. The Universe Now... Now the age of the golden era is at its end. But there are new wonders, new sights, new species to be found amongst the cosmos. Humanity has not yet found itself amongst its galactic neighbors... but it has left the Cradle of Humanity to walk amongst the stars. If you are interested in a play by post MMO with this as its setting, message me privately. We're only accepting folks who're eighteen or older.
