The World of "The Terminus"

"The Terminus" takes place in a fictional future beginning in the year 2185, but a lot happened over those previous 170 years that led to Star Fleets and human colonization on distant planets.

## **The Global Exploration Roadmap**

In 2025, NASA successfully redirected an asteroid to orbit the moon, allowing astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft to explore and return to Earth with samples.  This experience allowed NASA to test new systems it had been developing to aid in preparation for the first successful manned mission to Mars, the first step in a coordinated expansion of human presence in the solar system, known as the Global Exploration Roadmap.

However, due to the geopolitical climate in the early 21st Century, governments were hesitant to invest money into space travel, so private companies began funding many of the projects and missions.  After one such company conducted a failed mission to send humans to Mars in 2026, the world became overly cautious and negative about the chances of colonization beyond Earth.

But when NASA launched a successful manned mission to Mars in 2035, America regained its notoriety as a supreme world power.

## **Colonization**

In 2046, construction completed on the Luna Colony on Earth’s moon, and it was mainly used as a transport hub where NASA could prepare items to be sent to Mars.

By 2050, the first full human colony on Mars -- the Alpha Colony -- completed construction, and civilians volunteered to begin a new life on another planet.

The late 21st Century saw many more colonies begin to spring up throughout the solar system (including one on Mars’ moon, Phobos -- the Omega Colony), thanks to advancements in propulsion and communications technologies.

## **The Council**

    By the early 22nd Century, it had become clear that with a significant human presence beyond the boundaries of Earth, a new governmental system needed to be created to maintain order and make important decisions.  Colonization had grown beyond any one single country’s political influence or jurisdiction.

It was reluctantly agreed upon that the new governmental body would be stationed in New York City, near the United Nations, and it would be made up of one spokesperson from each of the major countries that had had a hand in the journey toward colonization.

So, in 2103, The Council – made up of four persons plus a President – was created to preside over the human colonies.

Over the next sixty years, The Council would be responsible for the construction of a handful of other colonies across the solar system and beyond, and they would lead humans in the discovery of four alien races, creating a tentative alliance with one of them.

## **The Interstellar Spark**

Within the first half of the 22nd Century, amazing and unprecedented scientific advancements in space travel were achieved, and interstellar travel finally became possible.  Using the Alpha Colony (on Mars) and the Omega Colony (on Phobos) as a springboard into the rest of the solar system, within the rings of Saturn was built the Hamilton Colony, intended to be a military outpost for contractors, industrial work, and construction, with a few sectors cordoned off for suburban purposes.

Various smaller colonies sprang up on moons and asteroids stuck in planetary orbits, stretching toward the boundaries of the solar system, leading to the massive Lincoln Station, a large space station at the system’s edge, just past Pluto.  Lincoln Station was a trade port and common location for military leave for soldiers while their starships docked and, starting in the early 2160s, prepped for the interstellar jump toward Columbia Station.

    Near the red dwarf Proxima Centauri, the closest star to Earth’s solar system at 1.3 parsecs (4.25 light years) away, several potentially habitable planets were discovered, and Columbia Station was constructed to serve research and exploratory missions beyond.

It was out there, beyond Proxima Centauri, that the humans first made contact with an alien race.

## **The Rise of OmniColony**

But before that, in late 2155, the newly graduated and brilliant astrophysicist, Spencer Washington (who was only nineteen years old), founded OmniColony in New York City, informing The Council of his thirty-year plan to fully colonize past the currently known galactic borders.

Over the next decade, OmniColony’s advancements in technology launched the prospects of space travel forward faster than anyone ever had (thanks to Spencer's nuclear fusion research), perfecting interstellar travel and solidifying itself as the most successful aerospace organization in existence, absorbing many of NASA’s researchers and engineers. OmniColony was largely responsible for the successful leap beyond Earth's solar system, upgrading Lincoln Station to house interstellar ships and building Columbia Station near Proxima Centauri.

Numerous upgrades to the International Space Station had become necessary over time, but ultimately, it was decommissioned in 2160 in favor of OmniColony’s grander *Olympus* base, which would share the same low-Earth orbit that the ISS once did but would be so large that it would be considered its own mini-colony in space. It would house many prominent military personnel for the growing fleets, allowing them to more quickly navigate the cosmos to where they were needed or return to Earth for meetings with The Council.

With the help of the nearby Luna Colony on Earth’s moon, the *Olympus* base of operations was completed in 2165, further propelling Spencer Washington’s reputation as one of the most influential humans in the galaxy.

Over the next twenty years, OmniColony's Star Fleets grew larger and more advanced while Spencer worked tirelessly to design the biggest and best starship that would ever be built by the hands of man.

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