Tsiolkovsky Towers

First erected by the Titans in 2815, the Tsiolkvosky Towers were large space elevators. With their "base" platforms in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, the Towers were intended to give easier access for industries moving into Earth orbit for manufacturing purposes. The Tsiolkvosky Towers also proved instrumental in the later Race to the Stars as platforms from which space-faring vessels could be launched.
The Towers themselves were essentially huge pendulums, great cables that stretched from the earth up thousands of miles to space, where a counterweight hung in orbit. A launch using the elevators could be accomplished with much less power than would normally be required, making orbit increasingly accessible for industry.
These Towers became one of the major driving economic forces for most of the planet, and the Titans intended them to be a unifying force, as the various world powers would need to share responsibility for maintaining the Towers if all were to reap their benefits. The Indian and Pacific Towers stood for over a thousand years, but the Atlantic Tower was destroyed in a battle in 3039 between Walker and an unknown Titan.
The remaining two would become even more critical to global economics after energy companies began basing large solar arrays in orbit based around the Tsiolkvosky Towers. These corporations would consolidate powers slowly until in 3230 when they had secured exclusive rights to supply power to the Towers, and became The Guild. With the exclusive ability to supply (and deny) power to the Towers, and thus becoming the gatekeepers to space, the Guild became one of the greatest powers on Earth, a power which would not be challenged until the Guild Wars. The Guild's control of the Towers and of human expansion into space was broken in 3726 with the Tractatus Patefacio Viae, when the Guild surrendered their right to cut off access to the Towers ever again.
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