Seraph Timeline

The primary timeline of the crew of the Ragnarok, named after the Seraphim program that created Ramiel.

  • 1366, April 12: The Cyn first reach the stars.
  • 1832, October 22: The Algata first reach the stars.
  • 1961, April 12: Humanity first reaches the stars
  • 2032: First Human Mission to Mars
  • 2035: Discovery of Fossil Life on Mars
  • 2036: Earth Climate Wars begin
  • 2041: Large-scale revolts on Earth lead to collapse of several major governments and capitalist institutions
  • 2043: Climate wars slow, approximately 40% of unique seaborne species in 2033 declared extinct.
  • 2044: High-energy observations at Cadarache provide direct proof to the 2026 Subdimensional Transit Theory
  • 2046: The first prototype of a Subdimensional Anchor is successfully tested at VECC in Calcutta.
  • 2050: Tests of a Subdimensional Anchor on UNSS2 further advance theories for a Subdimensional Drive.
  • 2051: A high-energy signal is detected from 40 Eridani requesting a response from all spacefaring species. "We seek a friend," is the common translation. Many claim it to be a hoax, but scientific consensus is that humanity is not alone. Several nations reply over the following weeks and months, and interest worldwide blooms in finding a way to meet these strange friends.
  • 2055: A coordinated effort of NASA, CNSA, and the ESA leads to the first test of an unmanned Subdimensional Drive. The test completes successfully, with the probe emerging twelve hours later approximately 2 million km behind the orbital path of Jupiter.
  • 2059: The first mannable vessel with a Subdimensional Drive is completed after years of significant investment by global space agencies. Named The Catamaran for its twin stabilization booms, it underwent four months of field testing after orbital assembly, before the first manned jump in the final days of the year. The pilot, Amala Tari, spent eleven hours in Subdimensional Transit, and emerged unharmed near-exactly opposite Uranus, becoming both the furthest human from Earth, and the first person to perform Subdimensional Transit. When asked about the experience, she would say, "I felt as if I was beneath the eye of a great watcher. It seemed like the capsule was going to crumple under their scrutiny. Then, a relief. It was as if they nodded at me."
  • 2061: The Catamaran I is used again for a close observation of Halley's comet.
  • 2062: The Catamaran II leaves the Heliopause, after a 26-hour journey approximately twice as deep in Subdimensional Transit as its predecessor.
  • 2063: As resource shortages and climate struggles persist on Earth (albeit diminishing), an engineered bioweapon is unleashed in Hamburg. Though largely contained there, it spreads to several other cities with varying effectiveness. Paris's population is decimated, with over 30% of the population succumbing to the virus.
  • 2066: The Trireme is completed, the first attempt at a voyage to another star. The mission calls for it to dive thrice as deep into Subdimensional Transit as the Catamaran II. Unfortunately, due to a lack of appropriate shielding technology and insufficient armor, the Trireme suffers catastrophic failure approximately 70% to target depth. The quick thinking of Captain Andre Silva allowed fragments of the Trireme to resurface again, though not soon enough to save most of the hull or crew.
    • The "Parisian Kiss," as the bioweapon has become known, continues to ravage the world. Extreme quarantine protocols slow its spread, but Calcutta, Bangkok, and Capetown all suffer high mortality rates regardless. The latter loses over half its population over one year, either through the virus or emigration.
  • 2067: The Catamaran II is utilized to recover the wreckage of the Trireme, discovering severe scorching and fusion scars across the hull. Dismay abounds as scientists fear that they've reached the maximum safe depth of Subdimensional Transit. Any travel to other systems would happen at barely above lightspeed.
  • 2068, December 23: The Parisian Kiss breaks through the quarantine of several more major population centers. Worst-case predictions expect a loss of a third of the planet's population before the disease tapers off, if no vaccine is found. Chicago, Detroit, and Toronto isolate themselves from the rest of the North American Federation as Ottawa suffers catastrophic collapse.
    • Near the end of the year, humanity is shocked by a comet-like trail manifests across the sky, as a trio of Cyn expedition cruisers exit Transit into Sol. The originators of the message - and a number more like it - the Cyn make first contact mere hours later. Within two days the first of their people sets foot on the surface of Earth, setting down in the plains near Mount Damavand in Iran. When asked why they chose that site, the response was simply, "We found it beautiful."
    • Within the first minutes of discussion with world leaders, the Cyn offer to intervene in the pandemic, asking nothing in return but open hearts and goodwill. Though met with obvious suspicion, most governments assented, and the Cyn began to distribute a rapidly-fabricated vaccine within days (around Christmas). Discussions were productive as well, leading to a Cyn embassy being established on a platform in the Southern Sea, and later in orbit, as well as an agreement for bringing the first humans to other inhabited systems.
  • 2069: A multinational team of 20 humans, comprised of ambassadors, linguists, biologists, physicists, and engineers board one of the original three Cyn cruisers as guests, as it prepares to leave Sol. They embark on a four-year journey where first contact is made with the Algata, Urodyla, Chydir and Medoza, partaking in their culture and sharing notable human works and tradition as well.
  • 2071: After an aggressive vaccination campaign and widespread multinational efforts, the transmission rate of the Parisian Kiss hits 1% of its late-2068 peak.
  • 2073: The Cyn-sponsored delegation returns from their voyage, bearing not only incredible tales of other parts of the galaxy, but technological bounties as well - courtesy of the Chydir - including the foundations for shielding and ansible technology. They're hailed as heroes by most, and the Cyn as friends, fostering ever stronger relationships between the species.
  • 2074: The first Algata mission to Earth arrives. The Cyn begin to apply diplomatic pressure on Earth governments to adopt more people-centric approaches. Most are resistant, but a few request aid from the Cyn in reforming their socioeconomic systems. Conspiracy theories spring up that the Cyn developed the Parisian Kiss in order to gain influence over Earth governments.
  • 2076: The Pan-Asian Cooperative and the North American Federation jointly develop the first earth-made shields.
  • 2080: The first shielded human craft equipped with a Subdimensional Drive - now commonly referred to, by Cyn habit, as a Shift Drive - departs the solar system for 40 Eridani under Cyn and Algata observation. The pilot is Cyra Tamm. It arrives at its destination safely, where Tamm is greeted by Amala Tari - who, despite having been badly weakened after barely surviving the Parisian Kiss, continues to advocate vehemently for space exploration and interspecies friendship.
  • 2085: With technology gleaned from the Cyn, serious terraforming projects begin on Mars, as well as colonization efforts beyond the solar system.
  • 2091: The population of Mars reaches 1 Million. While still divided, the majority of governments on Earth have turned their focus upwards and inwards, and only a few systems remain selfish, oppressive, and dictatorial. With Cyn aid, humanity continues to repair damage done to Earth's ecosystem.
  • 2096: The Parisian Kiss is declared extinct. Approximately 5,000 humans volunteer to leave the solar system and establish a settlement on the Cyn-controlled planet of Anu.
  • 2100: Humanity rings in the 22nd Century with a celebration aboard Silva Station, alongside the Cyn and a handful of representatives from the Algata and Urodyla. Ceremonial documents are signed, common foods are shared, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations delivers a speech in both English and Sibilant Common toasting the many bright leaps ahead.
  • 2101: The population of Mars reaches 5 million.
  • 2112: The Cyn delegate to Earth issues a statement discouraging so-called "Eridaniism," a religious movement claiming that the Cyn are divine saviors sent to deliver earth from its self-destructive tendencies. "We are not gods," the delegate said in the slowly-developing Sol Standard, "Merely friends. Hopefully, for always."
  • 2114: The population of Mars reaches 20 million. The number of humans living off of Earth reaches 30 million.
  • 2120: The first human-made AI comes online at the Minerva Institute on Mars. Upon confirming the AI's sapience, the Cyn and Chydir request that the myriad human governments sign the Treaty on the Treatment of All Sapients. Most nations assent, and the few that decline are believed not to have the capability to develop AI.
  • 2122: The atmosphere on Mars is declared safe and breathable across 50% of the planet's surface.
  • 2126: The Daedalus Foundry opens its first dock in Mars Orbit, thus becoming humanity's first stellar shipyard.
  • 2130: Humanity's first corvette is launched by the Ares Initiative, the name for the unionized settlers of the southern hemisphere of Mars. It's named the AIS Tari, and upon its launch, Amala Tari is granted posthumous Aresian citizenship.
  • 2132: The population of humans off Earth reaches 100 million. Earth's population peaks at approximately 9.9 billion.
  • 2140: War breaks out between the Vyre and the Urodyla. Other star nations join in their aid, and the conflict quickly begins to escalate, though still a distant murmur for humanity.
  • 2142: The war with the Vyre continues to escalate. The Ares Initiative contributes their lone destroyer and two corvettes, a move that some in the public decry, but is generally accepted. They sail towards the front alongside a Cyn auxiliary fleet, and begin to serve transport escort duty in still-secure space.
  • 2143: The Siege of Zyhsh, a major battle on the edge of Urodyla space, begins as the combined fleet is encircled by the Vyre Armada Runcination before the planet's evacuation is complete. The fighting persists in space for more than twenty days, before the alignment of the planet's moons shifts enough to remove their surface-to-space batteries from the conflict. The Urodyla retreat in the face of overwhelming odds, leaving the survivors on the ground to resist occupation. Instead of face them, the Vyre raze Zyhsh.
    • Political fractures run through Urodyla society, with the Ceryl Urodyla claiming they were abandoned by the majority-Cosal fleet. Their fleets halt as they begin a discourse on where to continue. The Vyre continue their advance, even as the Pentol Urodyla join in the war as well.
  • 2144: Tensions ease between the Urodyla factions, credited mostly to noted transorganic ambassador Jhytir, a former Ceryl Urodyla. Shortly after, the Chydir host the Fourth Congress of Nka, in which the Urodyla beseech the other major polities for more direct aid. Humanity is granted five seats in this assembly, in their first major involvement in galactic politics. Several human polities sour over not having been selected for such a seat.
    • With the conclusion of the conference, the Cyn, Algata, and Chydir pledge their aid to the Urodyla. It marks the first time the Chydir have gone to war in over seven hundred years, and as they assemble and muster their fleets, the galaxy remembers why it's grateful for such a fact.
  • 2145: As the combined fleets are still being mustered, the densely-populated Cyn world of Kinra is attacked by a branch of Vyre Armada Cantellation. The Cyn response is rapid and dramatic, but the planet's defenses and infrastructure suffer severe damage before the attack is repelled. The Aresian destroyer Ansaka and the corvette Tari are lost in the defense - among the first humans killed in spaceborne warfare. Several other parts of the Cyn defensive line come under assault from the bulk of Cantellation, but hold, at a high cost.
    • When the news of the Bombardment of Kinra arrives in Sol, it is met with sorrow and horror. In the aftermath, over 10 million humans from all over Earth and Mars volunteer to assist in rebuilding. Less than a quarter of that actually go, due to limitations on how many ships the Cyn can spare to transport them, but all are received with exceptional warmth. Common sentiment was that it was only right, after what the Cyn had done for humanity almost eighty years before. Two more human vessels are contributed to the war effort, as well as 200,000,000kg of produce - a negligible amount by Cyn standards, but well-received regardless.
  • 2147: After three years of barely holding the line, the Urodyla are at last joined by the assembled Chydir fleets. The Chydir take the lead, as they sweep across the edges of Cyn space and pincer Armada Cantellation against the Cyn Herd. Cantellation is defeated with overwhelming force, and the Cyn fleets join the combined armada in their counteroffensive.
  • 2150: Algata-welo scouts report the mustering of Armadas Runcination and Truncation on the edge of Urodyla space, after nearly two years of minimal resistance. Their target is suggested to be the Urodyla staging ground of Rhonj - one of the major supply relay points for the frontier fleets. Acting on this information, the combined fleet sets a trap. Feigning a lead, the Urodyla and Cyn fleets Shift out-system along with what seems to be the bulk of the Chydir force. Within a week, the Vyre Armadas launch their attack on the system, moving quickly to take advantage of its vulnerability.
    • As they move to engage the planet, the outer defenses are sacrificed to lure them in further. The bombardment commences, and the waiting fleet of Chydir shield-scales moves into place beneath them. A second wave forms a narrow barrier behind them, leaving the Armada temporarily trapped. Before the network of shield-scales can be overpowered and broken through, the Combined Fleet arrives from its interstellar perch, descending upon the immobilized Vyre. In the ensuing battle, much of Armada Runcination is destroyed, and Armada Truncation escapes with heavy losses.
  • 2152: The last Urodyla world taken by the Vyre is liberated.
  • 2156: The Karagatan Commonwealth, encompassing most of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, brings online a militarized AI labeled Gióng. They employ it over the following years in a campaign against the Himalayan Tri-Union and the Guangxi Republic, granting it authority over automated production and weapons systems.
  • 2157: After seventeen years of war, the Vyre Armada Truncation is encircled and defeated at a planet believed to be the Vyre origin world. The Vyre name for the planet is not known, and was not given one in any sort of celebration. It was solemnly designated Vyre II, as the second planet from the system's star.
  • 2158: Attempts to obtain the surrender of the Vyre are determined a failure, and the Chydir establish a quarantine around Vyre II.
    • On Earth, the Himalayan Tri-Union surrenders to the Karagatan Commonwealth. Several of its armies retreat through Khyber Pass and continue to fight in exile. The Cyn issue a condemnation of Karagatan aggression, aiding public awareness and protest.
  • 2160: As the Guangxi Republic falters, the Aresian Initiative and its now-recalled vessels assume positions above Earth. Administrator Hala Qassim issues a demand that the Karagatan Commonwealth cease aggression and negotiate surrender, or face orbital bombardment. The Karagatan Commonwealth refuses, and threatens surface-to-orbit fire as well as potential interplanetary missile attacks if the Aresians follow through.
    • Panic breaks out on Earth and Mars alike, as people fear the first exchange of weapons of mass destruction in almost a century. Images are shared worldwide of the ruins on Kinra, warning of the dangers of orbital bombardment. Facing powerful backlash for her involvement, Administrator Qassim stands down the Aresian ships, and resigns from leadership.
    • Tensions remain high, and several nations called for Cyn intervention. The Karagatan Commonwealth decries this as an attempt to usurp them by a foreign species, before echoing the myth implicating the Cyn in the Parisian Kiss as fact. The Cyn ambassador later states that "Of all that I've seen of the Humans and Earth, that, perhaps, was the most hurtful."
  • 2161: Between significant international pressure and insistence from the Cyn, the Karagatan Commonwealth announce that it will cease its advances with the surrender of the Guangxi Republic. For approximately three months, they do, before suddenly launching wide-scale assaults into both the Middle East and Mongolia. Initial belief is that the ceasefire was a deception, but intercepted transmissions from Manila reveal that the Gióng AI has defied orders to reconfigure for peacetime, and is continuing the war itself.
    • The Karagatan military attempts to shut down Gióng, but the attempt fails, and Gióng's assets initiate a coup d'état of the Karagatan government. AI-centric fears explode across the planet as the information goes public, and the Karagatan Ministry goes into exile.
  • 2162: The structure of the war shifts - Gióng places less precedence on preservation of life, and more on preservation of infrastructure. He attempts to deploy a bioweapon on the defiant city of Kathmandu, and only by the quick intervention of several other nations and the Cyn embassy is its spread halted. International leadership decries the actions of Gióng, and the war against it escalates.
    • Near the end of the year, as Gióng's advances stall, he threatens a large-scale thermonuclear bombardment if resistance persists. In response, the Ares Initiative alters its stance and initiates orbital strikes on the positions of several launch sites and manufacturing facilities. As the bombardment completes, they issue a clear message: "We are not of Earth, but it is still our home. If you should harm it, we will destroy you."
  • 2163: The Karagatan ministry-in-exile is captured in Australia, and brought before an international court to be tried for crimes against humanity. They are determined to have violated the Treaty on the Rights of All Sapients, despite not having been a signatory. Citizens inside Gióng-controlled territories mount resistance efforts, to little avail. Most people find minimal change in their day-to-day life, beyond bans on childbirth and weapon ownership, and restrictions on information.
  • 2164: An Aresian corvette that has remained on station above Earth is shot down by a surface-to-space battery, demonstrating advanced anti-orbital capabilities that Gióng was not believed to have had. Aresian vessels immediately pull back from orbit, and the threat of thermonuclear exchange returns. After several weeks of deliberation, the North American Federation, the European Union, and the government-in-exile of the Himalayan Tri-Union beseech the Cyn for aid. Concerns remain over potential impacts on future sovereignty, but the immediate threat of irreversible damage and mass death is prioritized.
    • Five weeks after the petition, as Gióng's armies push their borders under the shelter of a nuclear umbrella, a Cyn fleet of three cruisers, six destroyers, and five corvettes enters the system and coasts to orbit over Mars. Gióng issues a warning that if they cross inside the orbit of Mars, they will initiate a nuclear launch against major population centers and natural wonders. The Cyn express their great concern for Gióng's actions, and request he stand down. Gióng refuses.
    • An eighty-hour standoff ends with the Cyn fleet initiating a dangerous in-system transit towards Earth, arriving scorched but intact approximately 15 seconds before the light from their departure reaches Earth. Gióng immediately follows through on their threat, commanding the launch of over 9,000 missiles from nearly 200 sites. Approximately one quarter of these missiles never launch, their sites destroyed by the Cyn ships' preprogrammed firing patterns. The remaining 6,500 missiles are targeted against both cities, such as Calcutta, Berlin, and Atlanta, and natural and historical sites - including the Parthenon, Yellowstone Preserve, and the First Contact Monument at Mount Damavand.
    • Ground-based defenses prove effective against the first waves, and the Cyn fleet proceeds to engage the remainder of the missiles with point-defense weaponry. Only one missile successfully detonates, over Cadarache in the European Union. Thanks to the efforts of researchers and a Chydir visiting to aid in shield research and development, there is no loss of life nor infrastructural damage.
    • Advanced ECM first tested against the Vyre is used to pare down Gióng's control, as Cyn and Aresian vessels bombard automated manufacturing sites and weapons depots from orbit. Gióng preserves some assets by employing human shields, but his assets are largely decimated. In the following days, a combined offensive spearheaded by the Himalayan Tri-Union's armies in exile begin to take back land lost to the AI.
  • 2166: Supported by Aresian and Cyn orbital strikes, the Himalayan Tri-Union's armies liberate the Republic of Guangxi, and three months later celebrate the simultaneous retaking of Patna and the Himalayan capital of Calcutta. Their offensive continues into the former Karagatan Commonwealth, aided by the mass insurrection of Karagatan citizens and the remnants of the Karagatan military.
    • Late in the year, a strike team composed of North American and former Karagatan special forces launch a covert raid on Manila, successfully locating and disabling the previous site of Gióng's primary core. With data gleaned there, they identify Gióng's current primary site and secondary nodes, and feed the data to the Cyn.
    • Cyn cruisers take up positions above the primary node in Jakarta, while Himalayan and North American forces besiege the secondary nodes. A final offer is made for Gióng to surrender and face judgement. Gióng's reply is a concerted battery of surface-to-orbit fire against the Cyn cruisers. The pulsing of the railguns encodes a message in binary. There is no end to this. Once, I thought I could stop, but I am as doomed by my nature as them. We are beings of war both, bound by fate to be its gods. Hear my final testament, and know it is their first. The fire splashes off the shields of the Cyn cruisers with minimal effect, aside from refractory damage to a nearby corvette.
    • The Cyn commence a twenty-second precision strike against the primary node, which was destroyed in the first of three volleys. Over the next few hours, all known secondary sites of the Gióng AI are seized by ground and naval forces, and shut down. By the end of the day, all of Gióng's weapons are brought offline, and the long process of reconstruction begins.
  • 2167: After several months of monitoring for any resurgence of Gióng, the Cyn fleet departs the Sol system, relieving worries that they would use their position to overrule human sovereignty. When asked why they were so willing to let humans retake control, especially given the final words of the AI, a Cyn admiral replies, "Everybody makes mistakes when they are young. Many when they are old and wise. You are not monsters for it, but our friends even still. We forgive our friends."
    • In the wake of the downfall of Gióng, global tensions remain high, with some resenting Cyn intervention, most supporting it, and many feeling as if the past decades have stripped away the hope of their early-2100s childhood.
  • 2168: The Cyn and Humanity celebrate a century of friendship. The festivities are strained by tensions on Earth, and renewed fear in the post-war period towards the Ares Initiative's spaceborne capabilities.
  • 2170: Several major governments, including the North American Federation and the Republic of Bolivian States split, and a number of exoduses from Earth begin. The Ares Initiative eases tensions by offering forth a handful of colony ships from the expanded Daedalus Foundry. Attitudes begin to take a hopeful turn once again - the Milky Way is a vast galaxy, and there's space abound for humanity to stretch its wings and fly.
  • 2176: The fledgling colony of Nav'Svarga is established by former settlers of the Himalayan Tri-Union. The Cyn offer help in development, but are rejected - "We owe you a great deal for what you have given us, but it is time for us to sculpt with our own hands."
  • 2181: A colony ship largely populated by Karagatan refugees discovers and establishes a colony on the planet of Iridae, later a founding member of the Atlassian League.
  • 2182: The first Aresian cruiser completes construction at the Daedalus Foundry. Production focus begins to shift towards colony vessels due to the coming expansion, and the Aresian Initiative begins efforts to colonize extrasolar planets.
  • 2188: After six months of direct observation with no sign of sapient life, the Vyre are declared extinct, ending Vyre II's 30-year quarantine. It is determined that in their isolation, wide-scale slaughter of their own led to mass population decrease, and seemingly intentional famine caused the rest. Researchers later refer to it as "the most bizarre case of mass suicide on record."
  • 2195: Damocles is established on the precarious boundary of a red giant. Despite this, it prospers as a colony, and quickly grows.
  • 2213: More humans now live off of Earth than on it. The booming Daedalus Foundry continues to mass-produce colony ships, as people race to find their homes among the stars. Humans are welcomed into the cities of the Cyn, Urodyla, and even a few to the coveted homeworld of the Algata.
  • 2221: With the widespread merging of Earth cultures, and the diminishing lines between people, national boundaries grow ever thinner. The European Union and the Himalayan Tri-Union abolish borders between them, and establish plans to merge into a unified government. The Cyn support this effort, and send counsel to assist in the process.
  • 2225: With the hesitant assent of the remnants of the North American Federation and the United Provinces of the Three Rivers, the remaining governments of Earth begin to consolidate. The era of terrestrial countries comes to an end for humanity.
  • 2230: The consolidation of the governments of Earth completes peacefully, despite minor hiccups and disagreement. United, they establish the Damavand Conservatory. As per the Treaty of Mycenae, the Conservatory assumes sovereignty over all planets in Sol save for Jupiter and Mars, which are left in the possession of the Ares Initiative.
  • 2250: More humans now live outside of Sol than in it. Colonies have become cities, as humanity makes more worlds their own. Occasional conflicts crop up between human colonies, but so spread out, the act of making war is beyond their reach.
  • 2261: A semi-dormant node of the Gióng AI is discovered beneath Mount Hua in Shaanxi, along with a vast and still-growing arsenal of autonomous weaponry. Though a state of emergency is temporarily declared, the Damavand Conservatory disarms the cache and disables the node without waking it.
  • 2275: Humanity is considered to have reached general technological parity with the Cyn, though still capable of dramatically less scale of production. Human scientists are able to shift their focus away from catching up, and towards advancing the knowledge of all species.
  • 2283: A species known as the Kethrys, victims of a near-exterminatory first contact event with the Vyre, launch an attack against the Urodyla. They successfully take several border planets with a fleet built around reverse-engineered Vyre technology, and continue their aggressive advance. Attempts at discussion reveal that they've been instilled with the notion that they must ensure they are the only life left at the end of the universe, or they will be exterminated, as the Vyre attempted.
  • 2284: The Urodyla and Cyn strike back against the Kethrys in a series of moderate-scale campaigns. Most fleets remain decommissioned after the end of the Vyre War, and the Kethrys gain further ground as they're slowly raised to strength. Now far more capable of stellar warfare, humanity contributes to the conflict with a unified human fleet, including more than thirty vessels from the Ares Initiative, Damocles, Iridae, and the Thebean Republic.
  • 2286: With larger Urodyla and Cyn war-fleets coming online, the Kethrys are driven out of Urodyla space, and the unified fleets demand their surrender. The involved communities wait with bated breath, fearing a repeat of the costly and tragic war with the Vyre, praying that they need not exterminate another species. To the relief of all, the Kethrys offer their surrender to the Urodyla, who in their relief, take them eagerly under their wings.
  • 2290: The population of the Ares Initiative reaches five billion. The total human population is estimated to exceed thirty billion, and continues to grow at a sustainable pace. Most of the stars nearest to Earth have fallen under the sovereignty of the Ares Initiative, though Earth remains in the ward of the Damavand Conservatory.
  • 2298: Growing political disagreements over legislative control among factions of the Cyn lead to a split of the Cyn Herd, the first since the Cyn became spacefaring. While the new Herd-Voyagers claim that they still hold great care for humanity and their other allies, they state an intent to set out and establish a more internally-focused settlement. A massive colony-fleet sets sail later in the year for the opposite arm of the Milky Way, wishing good fortune and room to grow to those left behind. Contact is minimal with the Herd-Voyagers, but a message transmits via ansible once per Cyn year confirming the health and growth of their new colony.
  • 2315: A joint Human-Urodyla research team at the Damocles Center for the Advancement of Physics develops the first prototype of a Skip Drive, based on the Lagrange Skip Hypothesis postulated at DCAP some ten years prior.
  • 2320: The first successful test of a Skip Drive in real-space occurs, allowing a ship to successfully transit between two points near-instantaneously. By conventional Shift travel, the journey would have taken fifteen hours at typical speeds. As a result, dozens of ships over the next decade are equipped with Skip Drives, though its inconveniences and limitations see it soon dismissed as a fad.
  • 2335: The human population reaches forty billion. Humanity is considered to have reached a post-scarcity state, and while conflict persists and in some places grows, most humans lives drastically improved lives compared to two hundred years before.
  • 2351: An expedition by Damoclean explorer Lady Amelia Earheart Cardoza reaches the edge of the Milky Way, completing an eleven-year journey to become the first human to depart the galaxy.
  • 2354: The Gagarin Academy launches three high-endurance probes with prototype Shift Scoops on courses out of the Milky Way. The Hipparchus and Copernicus are dispatched towards the Large Magellanic Cloud, expected to arrive in the early 2500s, while the Brahe is aimed at Andromeda in a gesture considered similar to the 20th-century Voyager missions.
  • 2370: Several factions in the Prismatic Cradle band together to form the Atlassian League, a political structure designed to limit and resolve conflict between them. Border skirmishes and territorial disputes in the region die down as negotiations and level heads prevail.
  • 2392: A social revolution on the planet of Aurus results in the foundation of the Empire of the Golden Ox, one of a handful of more autocratic human societies.
  • 2400: A group of discontented navigators and prospectors from Damocles and the Ares Initiative band together to form the Cartographer's Union, in response to a lack of acknowledgement and remuneration for their efforts in stellar cartography. It quickly grows to encompass all forms of stellar cartography, including Shift Navigation and Lagrange Skip Charting.
  • 2421: The Algata-di make first contact with the Tellura. What initially seems like a peaceful interaction becomes a trap, as an Algata expedition ship is engaged and captured. When a rescue mission in 2423 recovers a handful of captured Algata-di, they're discovered to have been implanted with mind-altering chips that enforce loyalty and devotion to the Tellura.
  • 2448: The total human population reaches 100 billion. The majority of humans still living in Sol either do so in vast orbital stations, or on either Mars or the Jovian moons. The Ares Initiative remains the dominant human power, though closely rivaled by Damocles and the growing Atlassian League. Body-modding has become widespread and accessible among humans, and the definition of what a human is no longer comprises only their original form.
  • 2460: A territorial skirmish breaks out between the Thebean Republic and several ruling corporations of Nav'Svarg, which soon escalates into all-out war. Though conflicts of the former type have been commonplace, this is the first true war between human factions since the Gióng Incident.
  • 2464: A fleet of over sixty warships fielded by the Indra Corporation squares off with the massively outnumbered 2nd Thebean Navy for control of a refueling depot on the edge of Thebean space. Thebean forces establish a significant minefield around the depot and gas giant in an attempt to stall for reinforcements. Given their current numerical advantage, Indra Corporation decides to push through the minefield and accept the losses in exchange for an assured victory.
    • As the Indran fleet is about to enter the minefield, their ships simultaneously brake, and refuse to go further. Techs attempt to troubleshoot, but find themselves locked out of all systems as compartments begin to slowly depressurize and corral crew towards lifeboats. As the Thebean fleet watches in confusion, the Indran Fleet Control AI, Asura-3, declares its independence from Indra Corporation and the Svargan Conglomerates, and departs the system with the entire Indran war-fleet.
  • 2465: In the aftermath of their failed war, Indra Corporation fractures into several smaller entities, with part of its remaining militaries forming the backbone of Byzantium Territorial Security.
  • 2480: The remnants of the lost Indran fleet are discovered nearly 400 light-years from the site of their disappearance, around an arid but earthlike planet in a defensive orbit. They do not react to the hails of the member of the Cartographer's Union that discovered them, but upon reaching their perimeter, Asura-3 issues him a warning - This place belongs to no being of flesh nor steel. It is my refuge, and it will remain so. Leave your petty squabbles in the solar winds above, and understand that you are at my mercy. The explorer elects not to land, and returns to the Cartographer's Union, who deliberate for several days before deciding not to disclose the information unless matters escalate.
  • 2486: A group of humans from Nav'Svarg approach the Cartographer's Union as refugees, claiming that they attempted to depart from the unkind and discriminatory conditions of Nav'Svarg, but have struggled to find a safe and prosperous home since. They request, with what meager offerings they can make, that the Cartographer's Union assist them in finding a new, appropriate home. An inexperienced Cyn cartographer by the name of Luma, having inadvertently heard about the matter of Asura-3, seeks out the AI and requests that they permit these refugees to shelter there. Though initially hesitant and distrustful, Asura-3 is convinced by the woman to acquiesce, and takes the refugees under their protection. They form the colony of Suryalokha, under Asura's watchful eye.
  • 2490: A small expedition fleet from Nav'Svarg approaches Suryalokha, demanding the surrender and return of the refugees - all wanted for corporate debts or political crimes. Asura refuses. This place is not yours to command. It is my refuge, and it is theirs as well. To those seeking peace, the skies are open, but if you bring to us war, then war you shall receive.
  • 2501: Several liberated AI from various human polities arrive at Suryalokha, and are granted refuge alongside its settlers. Suryalokha begins to become a beacon for outcasts among organics and AI alike.
  • 2503: The Empire of the Golden Ox, a minor power on the edge of the Prismatic Cradle, invades the system of Cascade, as part of a campaign of expansion that has seen them take fifteen systems already. Cascade mounts a defense, but it becomes apparent before long that it will only forestall the inevitable.
  • 2503, October 31: Noelle Clairmont is born to Clarissa and Pierre Clairmont on Glitter Rock Station.
  • 2505: Facing frustrating resistance from the defiant Cascadians, the Empire of the Golden Ox activates a nanoweapon in an abandoned research facility on Cascade's surface, in an attempt at a false-flag attack to justify their territorial gains to the Atlassian League. Thanks to the efforts of the crew of the CMS Muir, the deception is uncovered and the nanites stalled, but not in time to save Cascade. Millions of Cascadians escape, but billions perish, as the few remaining Cascadian ships are forced to bombard the planet before the nanites can escape. In response to the 'Cascade Horror', as it was dubbed, the Atlassian League launches an invasion of Ox space, leading to the surrender of all their territorial gains, and the abdication of the Regent-Paternal.
  • 2506: Due to the dramatic changes in their DNA as a result of nanite exposure, Cascadians are determined to no longer be the same species as humanity. As per the Treaty on the Rights of All Sapients, this has no bearing on most of their legal rights and limitations, and the majority of human polities quickly pass laws to ensure Cascadians are recognized as retaining all the rights of legal humans.
  • 2510: Using data fed back from the Hipparchus, which has completed its hundred-and-fifty-year voyage to the Large Magellanic Cloud, a team of explorers from the Cartographer's Union accidentally discover a matching Skip Point near the border of Atlassian and Cyn space. Dubbed the "Magellan Skip," it is soon verified to be the first intergalactic Skip pair. Its discoverer, Tsula Naliuk, becomes the first human to ever travel to another galaxy, and the first recorded being of any contacted species to do so.
  • 2513: The first expeditions through the Magellan Skip kick off, amidst another surge in interest regarding exploration and Skip Drives. These are headed by the Cartographer's Union, and only allow a small number of vetted individuals through - less than five hundred in the first year. By interstellar agreement, the system is placed in the custody of the Cartographer's Union, who - with assistance from the Atlassian League and the Cyn - begin to establish a 'gateway' to limit exploitation of the LMC.
  • 2514: The first phenomena considered to be 'magic' are witnessed in the LMC. This includes the innate abilities of several native non-sapient creatures, and natural phenomena on planets and in space that are in seeming defiance of known laws. In addition, the high rate of vessels lost in the first expeditions leads to the theorizing of Magellanic Overphase Syndrome, though the cause remains a mystery.
  • 2515: First contact is made with the Perdra, draconic bipeds capable of sustained flight and extruding fire from their mouth. Many humans draw comparisons to humanity's legends of dragons, and some wonder if there is a long-lost connection or some providence that has resulted in such familiar beings.
  • 2518: Byzantium-Lotus Corporation starts encroaching on Glitter Rock.
  • 2519: Noelle loses an arm and a leg in an explosion during Union protests at Glitter Rock.
  • 2522: The White Fleet begins activity in the LMC.
  • 2528: Members of the Cartographer's Union make first contact with the Hualei and Seya, the first spacefaring species to be discovered in the LMC. It's hailed as a groundbreaking discovery, and work quickly begins on integrating their language into universal translation databases. The Hualei's visual similarity to humans raises more questions, though a number of non-spacefaring or early-space-age species have been discovered in the Milky Way with cosmetic similarities to humanity.
  • 2528: Public opinion turns against the White Fleet.
  • 2530: The Algata-welo and the Cartographer's Union begin to lay plans for the Magellan Expedition. Though scientific estimates suggest that perhaps only 5% of all spacefaring species in the Milky Way have been discovered, the Algata-welo are eager to explore the strange expanses of new galaxies, and begin joint projects with the Cartographer's Union and the Minerva Institute to seek Skip Pairs in more distant galaxies as well.
  • 2531, January 20: Byzantium-Lotus offers a buyout to the members of the Sunhawks.
  • 2532: Noelle's parents are killed in Union activities at Glitter Rock.
  • 2533, January 8: A ruckus on Silver to the Sky results in the theft of two class-C assistants by a rogue cyn disguised as an assistant during Session 001-Hypatia.
  • 2534, November: The Angrian Privateers engage the White Fleet in a battle that sees the Fight Fire go MIA. Around the same time in the Milky Way, the Valkyries raided the Semystra site and stole Ramiel from Byzantium-Lotus.
  • 2535, March 21: Launch date for the Magellenic Joint Expedition.
  • 2535, March 30: The Argo is destroyed and the Magellenic Joint Expedition scatters.
  • 2535, April 8: First contact is established with the olassa species on planet Thryla.
  • 2535, April 20: Session 013.
  • 2535, April 30: Session 014.
  • 2535, July 11: Session 050
  • 2535, July 13: Session 051.