History

Notice: This page is not currently in use, and is not canon. It is a work in progress page.

Introduction

The history of the universe is vast and expansive, with every space-faring species having thousands of years of history. This page primarily focuses on the history of the universe from the perspective of the Trans-Solar Federation, which originated in Earth's solar system and is sometimes called SolGov. Unless specified otherwise, the events of the real Earth up to approx 2016 still occur within the universe of Starlight. More detailed history on specific species and events may exist on their respective pages, and will be linked to when relevant.

The 21st Century

Following multiple disastrous wars in the early 21st century, Mars rovers discovered an element forming just under the surface of Mars. This element, later named 'Plasma', sparked a renewed interest in the stars amongst humanity. It's unique crystalline structure and conductivity was of initial interest, but an accidental detonation of a crystal by the Mars rover showcased another property- a very high energy density. However, efforts to remotely mine the material were costly and often disastrous. And so, the global powers of Earth began the Second Great Space Race to be the first to establish colonies on Mars to mine this material.

The first steps of this space race had a simple objective. To establish long term colonies on the Moon as a testbed for development of sustainable, practical, and independant colonies that could sustain themselves off world for long spans of time. The first country to establish a permanent moon colony was the United States, aided greatly by the support of NATO. They were followed shortly after by Russia, who also established a permanent station which orbited the moon to support their own colony with communication and logistical needs. This station was dubbed "космическая станция 1", or Space Station 1.

While both countries ramped up their colonization efforts, there were multiple incidents which lead to an escalation of armaments onboard KC1 and both moon colonies. Russia's increased aggression and attempted seizure of its neighbors and the construction of missile firing sites on their moon colony would have been enough to tip the world to war, but China beat the west to the punch. In 2063, while the west was pouring resources into the stars, China remained grounded and focused on the Earth, more pointedly, Taiwan. Japan was swift to come to the defense of Taiwan, and inevitably NATO was drawn into the conflict, prompting Russia to join on the side of China.

The Eastern Seas War lasted only a short eight years, but the consequences were devastating. With much of the fighting taking place in the Chinese mainland, the damage to infrastructure was thorough and more than enough to kneecap the global economy. Combined with the tens of trillions of dollars spent by both Russia and the United States on their moon colonies which were both destroyed during the war, the global economy completely collapsed. Multiple nuclear devices had also been detonated in high density regions of the United States, Russia, Europe, and China, leaving much of the world in disorder. Few governments remained completely intact, with the United States, Russia, and China all shattering, albeit the pieces of the US remained closely united still in independence. It seemed that the race for Mars had ended before it could even begin.

That may have been the case, had it not been for an inspired scientist. Prokopy Morozov was a Russian scientist stationed for a brief time on KC1, before he defected to NATO during the war. He spent much of the final years of the war in hiding, taking advantage of sanctuary in the United Kingdom. It was during this time that Morozov acquired a sample of Plasma for his own research and he discovered a property that had gone unnoticed. When used properly alongside Dexalin and other chemicals, it could be synthesised into a drug that reversed rotting and could repair brain damage. This would eventually in the far future be perfected into Opporozidone, but in its current state it was capable to curing Alzheimer's and several other degenerative brain conditions.

As conditions on Earth continued to deteriorate due to fallout clouds and territorial disputes, slowly a consolidation took place over the next 10 years. In 2082, the world was unified into the Trans-Solar Federation, and Prokopy Morozov was it's first Chief Scientist. Their ambitions were worn boldly on their sleeves and their flags- to not be bound solely to this world or even this solar system. A lofty goal to keep them optimistically pointed spacewards long into the future.

Shortly before the formal founding of the Trans-Solar Federation, other entities were also born from the opportunity that the ruin of the world presented. With much of their assets only indirectly impacted by the war, as they were functionally non-military targets, several large Megacorporations thrived in this time period and grew even larger by supporting the newly formed world government. Two stood head and shoulders above the rest however. One was NanoTrasen, founded by Johnathan Nexus and Michael Trasen in the former United States. NanoTrasen pioneered efficient solar and turbine power generation which became a staple of the Trans-Solar Federation's spacefaring ambitions. The other was Cybersun, founded by Su Yongnian. Cybersun made incredible strides towards cybernetics, advanced computing, and eventually birthed the first true sapient Artificial Intelligence Programs, which were vital for the operation of the Trans-Solar Federations extremely long duration space missions, manning their ships while the crew went through hibernation periods in cryosleep.

The 22nd Century

By the year 2100, with the immense nearly limitless funding of the TSF and the technological marvels provided by NanoTrasen and Cybersun, the first permanent Mars Colonies were established. These colonies focus was primarily the mining and processing of Plasma. Condensers were created that could store the Plasma in a gaseous state, which allowed them to be stored at incredibly high pressures to minimize space needed for transport back to Earth. At this time, due to their large contributions to the effort, the largest mining operations were owned and run by NanoTrasen and Cybersun respectively, while ever true to their name the Trans-Solar Federation continued to branch out far into the fringes of space.

In 2105, first contact with extraterrestrial life was made. An alien government from a neighboring solar system, the Skrellian Central Authority, became aware of Humans and made contact, which swiftly developed into an alliance. A pillar of this alliance was an exchange of technology, with the SCA learning of the potency of Plasma and its many applications in exchange for the TSF being taught to create more efficient thrusters and Faster Than Light Engines. In truth, these engines leveraged a previously unknown phenominon known as Bluespace, and did not violate the laws of physics as some scientists initially feared. Bluespace was more compact, and when charted precisely, could be used to vastly shorten the duration of space travel.

With these new FTL Engines and the scientific prospects that Bluespace presented, the Trans-Solar Federation took it's first leaps into the wider galaxy. But disaster was brewing back home. For the sake of the bottom line, conditions in NanoTrasen's Mars Mining Colonies had degraded noticeably. Health and safety was a secondary concern to profit, and it was inevitable that this would blow up in their face. None knew just how devastating, or literal, it blowing up would be however.

In 2125, NanoTrasen's Mars Mining Colony experienced a catastrophic detonation of its stored Plasma Canisters. This incident has since been painted as an act of sabotage by the rival Cybersun corporation, a lie many believe, but in truth it was incompetence and greed. Regardless of the cause, the Mars Incident was a dark year for humanity. The detonation caused a chain reaction which detonated a deep-running Plasma vein that resulted in a massive ejection of debris and material from Mars' gravitational field. Over the next year, this debris drifted into Earth's orbit, with multiple impacts devastating historical sites on the Moon, and more tragically making landfall on Earth itself. These meteor showers caused massive devastation to the Siberian and Asian territories, resulting in untold tens of thousands of deaths.

While the political fallout of this incident should have been enough to destroy NanoTrasen, the company bounced back with a very strong misinformation campaign online, spreading conspiracies of everything from rival corporation sabotage to alien attacks to elder gods awakening on Mars. Publicly, they insisted that sabotage of equipment was to blame, while privately they lobbied and bribed their way out of most of the consequences, eventually being saddled with several multi-million dollar fines which they paid off with relative ease. A large reason for the Trans-Solar Federation's willingness to administer a relative slap on the wrist for this was due to a brewing conflict between their allies the Skrellian Central Authority, and their own rivals the Kidan. Foreseeing an armed conflict, NanoTrasen was favored as a potential weapons manufacturer, and soon after the incident began pivoting to producing energy shielding and weapons systems for the TSF's fleet.

In 2154, that war did begin, with the Kidan declaring war on the Skrellian Central Authority. The Trans-Solar Federation initially only provided logistical and technological aid to the SCA, sending them large amounts of weapons, ammunition, and shuttles however the TSF become more directly involved in 2155 after one of their shipments was attacked by the Kidan, resulting in the death of an Admiral. The Kidan War raged on until 2160, eventually ending in the total devastation of the Kidan homeworld of Aurum.

After the Kidan War, a large number of veterans of the conflict found themselves in the employ of NanoTrasen. However over the next few years it became increasingly apparent to them that NanoTrasen had little interest in increasing security measures for their operations, with NanoTrasen's new crown jewels, "Space Station 1" and "Space Station 2", having little to no regard for security or self defense. These veterans left NanoTrasen, and formed a PMC called "Stellar Vanguard Solutions". SVS operated as a private military for hire, working as security for several larger corporations but never NanoTrasen itself. Ties between NanoTrasen and Stellar Vanguard Solutions were strained to say the least due to a perception of NanoTrasen's incompetence, a perception that was not altered by how much trouble NanoTrasen's Space Stations were constantly in.

The 23rd Century

As the Trans-Solar Federation expanded deeper into the galaxy, it became quickly apparent that things were quite a bit stranger than anyone from Earth could have expected. First contact with new species was a mixed bag. In 2209 contact was made with the Felionoids, who were quickly integrated into the Trans-Solar Federation as it's first proper extraterrestrial member species. Several dozen colonies were established on habitable worlds at this time as well, seeing a great increase in economic prospects for the Federation. However with these additions came, the strangeness of space. The discovery that independent of any Earth influence, the Felionoids had also developed Clowns and Mimes as a cultural concept was odd enough. However, in 2213 when the Vulpkanin were encountered and shortly after added to the Trans-Solar Federation, and it was discovered that they had also independently developed Clowns and Mimes without any influence from the Humans or Felionoids, people began to ask questions. Questions with concerning and stupid answers.

Meanwhile behind closed doors multiple secretive organizations began to form in opposition to NanoTrasen. Those who knew the truth of the Mars Incident, those who had family and loved ones, or more importantly businesses, that were devastated by the landfall of the Mars debris. While none were at this time collaborating, many began independently working to undermine NanoTrasen's business ventures. Sabotage and corporate espionage were commonplace, and NanoTrasen's lacking security made them ripe for the picking.

In response to these issues and the growing dissent amongst NanoTrasen personnel, NanoTrasen struck a deal with Stellar Vanguard Solutions. While NanoTrasen would continue to construct and own their Space Stations, and own the lion's share of their profits and copyrights to their technological and scientific developments, SVS would be in charge of manning and operating these stations with near impunity. SVS agreed to this arrangement, much to the disgust of many of its employees, and rebranded itself to Central Command. This resulted in a large exodus of employees from Central Command, with numerous high ranking officials secretly defecting to the slowly forming Syndicate.

Central Command found much of the current NanoTrasen personnel of the time to be lacking, and many of them to be corporate spies, so contracts for the majority of existing staff were terminated, with the few stations deemed worth inhabiting being refurbished by NanoTrasen. Space Station 1 was lost previously due to a Bluespace anomaly, Space Station 2 was converted into an office complex for NanoTrasen's executives, while Space Station 3 was converted into Central Command's operating base in Quadrant Three 'Spinward'.

Between 2220 and 2280, the Dionae, Reptilians, and Mothpeople were also contacted. While the Mothpeople were quick to join the Trans-Solar Federation, the Dionae took nearly 30 years before eventually agreeing to join the Federation primarily on the promise of humanitarian aid following a disastrous volcanic eruption in their heartlands.

The 24th Century

In the early 2300s the Trans-Solar Federation continued to grow into the vast interstellar entity that it's founders dreamed it would be, but the disturbing discoveries about Clowns and Mimes continued to mount. While neither the Mothpeople or Diona had an active population of Clowns or Mimes, their historical records indicated vast Clown and Mime cults in their ancient pasts. With advanced scanning technology provided by the TSF, an ancient temple was unearthed buried deep under layers of basalt on the Dionae homeworld. A temple seemingly dedicated to some sort of Clown-like deity. Knowledge of this propagated rapidly across the TSF, with many Clowns of all species calling a vote for what to name this deity. During the Gathering of the Floppy, the High Clown Giggles-At-Crimes had a seizure in the middle of the opening freestyle rap ceremony, loudly proclaiming their deity to be "The Honkmother". The gathering erupted into a cacophony of honks and whoopie cushion farts that some claimed could be heard across the entire Trans-Solar Federation. Absolutely nobody except the Clowns were happy with this turn of events. Everyone unanimously hated it.

Over the next 50 years the Cult of the Honkmother would grow in numbers, bolstered dramatically with each new species encountered by the Trans-Solar Federation as knowledge of their shared ancient religion spread. The Arachnids, Slimes, and even Cyclorites were all found to either have an active Clown and Mime population, or to have had one in their pasts. But this raised a new question, a question many feared to find the answer to now. What about the Mimes? This question grew louder and louder amongst the growing Mime community, though only metaphorically. Everywhere that new discoveries were made, it was obvious the Mimes played some role in this strange ancient religion, but there was never any information on them to be found. They were simply there, a silent presence. Silence. Silence became their answer. As the Clowns grew more and more obnoxiously loud, the Mimes forged their new identity in silence. The silence to balance the noise. Or to some, as tensions increased, the silence to end the noise.

Despite the best efforts of the Trans-Solar Federation, peace talks between the Clowns and Mimes proved fruitless for all of the reasons you would assume. The Mimes became increasingly galvanized by the Cult of the Honkmother's behavior, with tens of thousands flocking to take the Oath of Silence in opposition to the Clown menace, until eventually the situation broke down entirely. In 2362, the Clown-Mime Intergalactic War began. The conflict was brutal, more brutal than anyone could have anticipated. Several entities, most notably Central Command, supplied the Mimes with armaments and shuttles, while Cybersun secretly funded the development of the first generation of H.O.N.K Mechs, with both sides seeking to use the conflict as a proxy war of sorts. But neither were ready for what the Clowns unearthed.

Nobody knows how, or where from, but the High Clown Giggles-At-Crimes began unleashing horrific twisted creatures upon the Mimes and soon the whole galaxy. Driven mad by his faith, he targeted anyone who was not a Clown. Clownspiders were hatched onboard Trans-Solar Federation stations and shuttles, and Behonkers besieged strongholds on multiple worlds. This caused a religious schism in the Cult of the Honkmother, as those who wished only to spread whimsy and laughter began to turn on the more radicalized followers of Giggles-At-Crimes. It became necessary for the Trans-Solar Federation to step in and force both sides to diplomacy. At the first peace summit, Giggles-At-Crimes threatened to summon a "Level 100 Gigglebeast", this was provocation enough for a Mime Assassin to shoot him through the heart three times before being detained by the TSF. The second peace summit was held with the more moderate followers of the Honkmother, and resulted in the restructuring of the Cult of the Honkmother. Hundreds of stipulations and agreements were settled within what would become known as the "Carnival Treaties", finally bringing peace to the two factions, though the scars of this conflict made relations between Clowns and Mimes troubled for a century after.

The 25th Century

While the Clown-Mime Intergalactic War raged the Trans-Solar Federation was distracted further from the injustices on their own doorstep. A band of pirates, known as the Gorlex Marauders, began picking away at NanoTrasen's mining colonies. Degrading conditions and harsher treatment of the workers, under suspicion of working with the Marauders, lead to a tense and hostile relationship between the citizens of the Quadrant Two mining colonies and NanoTrasen. In this troubled time a visionary named Malfoy Ames, himself a miner's son on one of the worst most backwater of these colonies, Cygni, found himself inspired by a mixture of tales of old and writings from the 20th century. From these influences, Ames adapted his own manifesto, a piece of writing in stark opposition of the megacorporate control of the Trans-Solar Federation via lobbying, bribery, and physical force. A distinctly Socialist manifesto, draped in the aesthetics of Communist Russia.

Ames' Manifesto released in 2404, though it took several more years for the seeds of his labor to sprout. The book was almost immediately outlawed, which only added to it's allure and the ideas contained within, until eventually after multiple failed uprisings, the Cygni Rebellion began. The citizens of Cygni overthrew the corporate enforcers on the planet, establishing their own government based on Ames' Manifesto, with Malfoy Ames himself as its Leader. The Cygni Rebellion inspired dozens of similar revolts in Quadrant Two, culminating in the formation of first Human government besides the Trans-Solar Federation in over five hundred years. The Union of Soviet Socialist Planets, or USSP.

Tensions between the TSF and USSP are understandably high during this period, with the TSF refusing to recognize the USSP as a legitimate government and instead classifying them as a terrorist movement. The TSF has little time to focus on this issue however, as soon another enemy makes themselves known. In 2452, Viktor Iavarone, the CEO of the Hephaestus Megacorporation, is assassinated. The Trans-Solar Federation initially accuses the USSP of this crime, threatening to go to war, however one week later the leader of the Gorlex Marauders, Euukho Zek'huil, claimed responsibility on behalf of "The Syndicate". This marked the first public action of the shadowy Syndicate, formed from the various defectors from Stellar Vanguard Solutions, disgraced and criminal leaders of rival Megacorporations taken down by NanoTrasen over the years, as well as the victims and descendants of the victims of the Mars Incident so long ago. Chief among these is Cybersun, though this is unknown to all by the Inner Circle. To the public, Euukho is the face and leader of the Syndicate, with his Marauders as the Syndicate's elite enforcers.

Viktor Iavarone was far from the last victim of the Syndicate's assassinations. Over the next 5 years the Syndicate claimed responsibility for over 4 dozen other high profile assassinations, ranging from CEOs of megacorporations to political leaders within the Trans-Solar Federation itself. In 2463, this culminated in the assassination of the President of the Trans-Solar Federation, Martin Dorneman, and began a three-way conflict between the Trans-Solar Federation, the Syndicate, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Planets, known as the Pod Wars.

The Pod Wars were a series of smaller conflicts, characterized by their relatively rudimentary technology. A tactic that the Marauders had success with in their days a pirates was equipping bulky modified EVA suits and assaulting shuttles from space. This worked because energy shields were only effective against energy, laser, and ballistic attacks. A humanoid in an EVA suit could leap into the exterior hull of a shuttle and begin sabotaging it with tools. Their continued use of this tactic, and developments on the part of the TSF and USSP to adopt and counter it defined this era, with smaller Pod Ships being deployed carrying small crews to attack larger shuttles, wearing EVA suits designed specifically for this type of warfare, called Ironclad Suits. These Ironclad Suits are the progenitors of the more ubiquitous Hardsuits found in use in modern times, made more durable and compact by years of development during and after the Pod Wars.

Ultimately the Pod Wars ended in very little gained by anyone involved. Small spans of territory swapped hands between the USSP and TSF, assets and lives were lost, but there were seemingly no victors when the treaties were done and signed, leaving everyone disgruntled and bitter. Everyone except the Syndicate. The Syndicate had leveraged this conflict as a testing grounds of sort, with Cybersun and Waffle Co gaining a greater understanding of their armaments strengths and weaknesses during the wars which allowed them to develop even greater weapons for the future. The Syndicate's goal was also never based around territory, but damage, and they were able to afflict a great deal of it upon the TSF and more specifically NanoTrasen and Central Command during the war.

The 26th Century

In the 50 years since the Pod Wars ended, the Syndicate has once again faded out of the public consciousness, only really being a thorn in the side of the Trans-Solar Federation, NanoTrasen, and Central Command. NanoTrasen has continued to produce more and more stations in Quadrant Three, spurred on by the discovery of massive deposits of Plasma on various lightly inhabited and mostly hostile worlds in the Quadrant, as well as a large and dense cloud of gaseous Plasma in space. The USSP continues to push its own interests in the region as well with several dozen small colonies being established in the borders between Quadrant Two and Three, and 13 total 'Space Stations' of their own, though most have been lost of destroyed.

NanoTrasen itself has now surpassed twenty Space Stations in the region, though the most infamous of these is Space Station 14. Reviled as a den of scum, where the rejects are sent to die, it nonetheless holds great value for NanoTrasen due to its Xenoarcheology and Anomaly Research divisions, being optimally placed within range of several noteworthy planets abundant in both Plasma deposits and ancient alien civilizations. And a few hostile not-so-ancient ones.

Though the Syndicate never truly disappeared for good, it was believed for many years that it had dissolved into disparate factions of it's own, and that it was little more than pirates and thieves these days. However recently, following the mysterious disappearance of Space Station 13 and all of it's crew, rumors have begun circulating that the dormant Syndicate has reawakened, and that somehow Euukho is still in charge. Speculation and rumors run rampant with everything from tamed space dragons to bluespace warfare, to even nuclear devices being the cause, but Central Command and the Trans-Solar Federation insist these are baseless rumors and fearmongering.

The year is 2525. Welcome to Space Station 14.