A Cold Galaxy
Mankind was once united, in mind and body. In those days of the long past, the whole of humanity was contained to a single world - Earth. Earth was our homeworld, the place where we were born, aged, and where many met their ends. Life on Earth was no paradise, even at the height of Human Civilization on its surface. Wars were as common as they are now, there were more poor than rich, and we still combed it's surface for any resources. It was far from ideal and one could argue that the standard of living is much higher now than it was back then, but I digress. Our Homeworld was the only world that we inhabited for the first 10,000 years of civilization. It was in our 11th Millennium of existence that we became something more than just a one world species. Our ancestors began to settle the worlds and moons of their home system, spreading out like they did from the continent where they evolved. By the 12th Millennium, our home solar system was overpopulated and had run out of easily accessible resources. Panic ensued when this was realized. The nations that claimed authority over portions of Earth and of the Solar System began to infight and cannibalize each other, until only a handful of hyper-nations were left. They were able the coexist, until the Solar System was completely exhausted of most resources.
This began the Last Great War. Records from this time are scant, but they paint a apocalyptic picture - rationing was a way of life, superweapons fell from the sky nightly, scarring the land black and burning away it's people. Each world was it's own front, any resources left were stripped from the surface, and the people were either conscripted or, if they were valuable enough, taken to a temporary safe-zone. The War itself was the most brutal affair ever recorded. Conservative estimates place combat casualties in the hundreds of millions. Every scrap of land was fought for tooth-and-nail, down to the last man. Massive machines of war - Wonder Weapons - were deployed to shorten the war, but they only succeeded in inspiring other Wonder Weapons. Even when troops succeeded in securing a battlefield, their progress was moot, as some other front had been met with total defeat.
The Last Great War seemed to drag on forever and became a full century of death, destruction, and carnage. After this century of war, Humanity fully collapsed. All the resources that would sustain a state were gone in any measurable way, the worlds of the Solar System lay black and brown from the battles that were fought, and over a billion had died. All that was left was despair, depression, death, and rapidly deteriorating High-Tech. But, out of this seemingly hopeless situation arose an escape - quite literally I might add. In the early days of space exploration, writers and scientists alike dreamed of a cosmos that was full of life, and Humanity was to have more than just the solar system, colonizing other worlds faster than the speed of light. While those dreams had long been simple ponderings or projects that were not taken seriously, they gained new meaning in the Post-Great War world. The remaining states focused on escaping the dying Solar system as fast as possible, with as many people as possible. They employed anyone with a suitable degree and an imagination to work upon Humanity's Salvation, and many outlandish projects got the green-light and bore no fruit, but in the end, Humanity's desperate plan to flee the system worked - many times in fact. The synthesis of the first Exotics, which allowed theoretical FTL drives to actually function. Before human civilization fully collapsed in our home system, thousands of the "Salvation Shuttles" had departed for systems with worlds that were compatible with Humanity's biology.
When these ships landed on their new worlds, they found vastly different forms of life and vastly different climates, but Humanity was able to adapt. Many worlds were forced into genetic modification to survive the conditions upon their worlds, changing the base human form into something new and different. On these worlds, the descendants of humanity were born, still related to "mainline" humans, but in most cases different enough to be considered a different species. During this period of human colonization of the Galaxy, we also received that answer to the oldest question - Are we alone?
While the "Salvation Shuttles" were en route to their respective worlds, they heard only the transmissions from other shuttles. No garbled signs of non-human intelligence, and when the shuttles landed, no signs of intelligent life. We were - and are - alone. Since then, a few ruins and fossilized tools have been found, but they are dated thousands to millions of years in the past. It seems that the theorized "Great Barrier" to intelligent life was far in humanity's past, around the time when super-weapons were first discovered.
Most took no notice to this, the discovery that we were alone was something minor to most, who were more focused upon developing their communities and planets than wondering why we were lucky to escape extinction. These people would lay the foundations for the present day Galactic Community, for they labored in the fields and mines and factories so that their children did not have to. Much of humanity's progress had been reduced to datalogs aboard the Shuttles and the settlers of these worlds had to essentially begin again, starting from simple agrarian settlements and developing into the high-tech society we have today over generations.
As the worlds developed into an age where they could again they could leave their worlds, Humanity began to expand as it did previously, through colonization, war, and diplomacy. The once far-flung colonies of Humanity developed into nations in their own right - some greater than others. Three have risen to the status of Galactic Power, and it is the disputes and conflicts of these three powers that define our time. Hopefully we have grown out of our past of destruction, and the War of Our Time will not devastate like the Last Great War did.
This began the Last Great War. Records from this time are scant, but they paint a apocalyptic picture - rationing was a way of life, superweapons fell from the sky nightly, scarring the land black and burning away it's people. Each world was it's own front, any resources left were stripped from the surface, and the people were either conscripted or, if they were valuable enough, taken to a temporary safe-zone. The War itself was the most brutal affair ever recorded. Conservative estimates place combat casualties in the hundreds of millions. Every scrap of land was fought for tooth-and-nail, down to the last man. Massive machines of war - Wonder Weapons - were deployed to shorten the war, but they only succeeded in inspiring other Wonder Weapons. Even when troops succeeded in securing a battlefield, their progress was moot, as some other front had been met with total defeat.
The Last Great War seemed to drag on forever and became a full century of death, destruction, and carnage. After this century of war, Humanity fully collapsed. All the resources that would sustain a state were gone in any measurable way, the worlds of the Solar System lay black and brown from the battles that were fought, and over a billion had died. All that was left was despair, depression, death, and rapidly deteriorating High-Tech. But, out of this seemingly hopeless situation arose an escape - quite literally I might add. In the early days of space exploration, writers and scientists alike dreamed of a cosmos that was full of life, and Humanity was to have more than just the solar system, colonizing other worlds faster than the speed of light. While those dreams had long been simple ponderings or projects that were not taken seriously, they gained new meaning in the Post-Great War world. The remaining states focused on escaping the dying Solar system as fast as possible, with as many people as possible. They employed anyone with a suitable degree and an imagination to work upon Humanity's Salvation, and many outlandish projects got the green-light and bore no fruit, but in the end, Humanity's desperate plan to flee the system worked - many times in fact. The synthesis of the first Exotics, which allowed theoretical FTL drives to actually function. Before human civilization fully collapsed in our home system, thousands of the "Salvation Shuttles" had departed for systems with worlds that were compatible with Humanity's biology.
When these ships landed on their new worlds, they found vastly different forms of life and vastly different climates, but Humanity was able to adapt. Many worlds were forced into genetic modification to survive the conditions upon their worlds, changing the base human form into something new and different. On these worlds, the descendants of humanity were born, still related to "mainline" humans, but in most cases different enough to be considered a different species. During this period of human colonization of the Galaxy, we also received that answer to the oldest question - Are we alone?
While the "Salvation Shuttles" were en route to their respective worlds, they heard only the transmissions from other shuttles. No garbled signs of non-human intelligence, and when the shuttles landed, no signs of intelligent life. We were - and are - alone. Since then, a few ruins and fossilized tools have been found, but they are dated thousands to millions of years in the past. It seems that the theorized "Great Barrier" to intelligent life was far in humanity's past, around the time when super-weapons were first discovered.
Most took no notice to this, the discovery that we were alone was something minor to most, who were more focused upon developing their communities and planets than wondering why we were lucky to escape extinction. These people would lay the foundations for the present day Galactic Community, for they labored in the fields and mines and factories so that their children did not have to. Much of humanity's progress had been reduced to datalogs aboard the Shuttles and the settlers of these worlds had to essentially begin again, starting from simple agrarian settlements and developing into the high-tech society we have today over generations.
As the worlds developed into an age where they could again they could leave their worlds, Humanity began to expand as it did previously, through colonization, war, and diplomacy. The once far-flung colonies of Humanity developed into nations in their own right - some greater than others. Three have risen to the status of Galactic Power, and it is the disputes and conflicts of these three powers that define our time. Hopefully we have grown out of our past of destruction, and the War of Our Time will not devastate like the Last Great War did.
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