Planetary Lore

*This also serves as the Racial History for the Terran Race.*

*The planet was initially founded as a Human Exodus world.*

*The Player Stories take place within the city of Concordia.*

*Earth is considered uninhabitable and abandoned.*

*Starting “In-Game” Date: 2702*

## Introduction (Third World War c. 2350’s)

Subspace, humanity's last great discovery, is the means of travelling between systems at speeds incomprehensible through subspacial realms between time and space. It was discovered in the year 2487, twenty years after the final Recession Wars. But let's rewind before this great discovery to a time before these Recession Wars, just after the final World War, the Third World War. This Third World War, having gone nuclear and resulting in what would later be known as ‘hot zones’, ravaged parts of the Earth making much of it’s surface inhospitable. Ecosystems changed, weather became fiercer, and radiation bathed much of the planet. This gave way for the birth of mutations within the human race, aptly called mutants. These were minor mutations however. They developed striking properties from simple features such as pointy ears and slit irises to more prominent features such as horns and tails.

## Post-War Factions (c. 2390’s)

After the war, humans grew weary of the conflict and decided to unify borders of the planet or rather what was left of it. It split into three major groups:

### The Block

A mixture of Russia, Mongolia, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, North Korea and what was left of China. The Block formed a much better system of labor and developed a huge manufacturing sector. The capital was situated in Japan as it was furthest from the major hot zone. This hot zone was centered over Laos. It destroyed much of Malaysia taking along with it Australia in what was called the ‘fallout sweep’. These hot zones carried radiation across the land and wiped out people in hot radioactive clouds. These came to be known as Rad-tephra which caused almost as much devastation as the missiles themselves.

### The Stripe

Consisting of Canada, the United States, Central America, and South America. The Stripe became a home for creativity and culture as they advanced technologies in entertainment. They let go of their restrictions when the world went to hell. They were the first to see mutants, regarding them with fear at first. The new human variants came to be prominent in The Stripe for their exotic looks and with the new cultural revolution gave birth to new ideas.

### The Star

Europe and parts of Africa that were still intact. The middle east was devastated by the nuke that landed near Oman. Which left much of african in disarray. A skirmish for land pursued as Europe assimilated what was left of Africa aiming to improve the lives of those left after the war. They formed a new hub for resources as Africa seemed to be a veritable gold mine of precious stones and other things used for everyday life. The world was in disarray for a while after the third world war but it seems it was mostly clinging to life.

## Recession Wars (c. 2390’s - 2460’s)

Even with the formation of the ‘Big Three’ as the factions were called, peace was never a permanent thought with the Humans. With the ever-constant greed and desire for power that Humans have, and the inevitable decay of the planet Earth, tensions rose higher over the years following the Third World War. These tensions paved the way for the Recession Wars, a series of multiple skirmishes and small-scale wars between the Big Three over what scarce resources remained on the planet. These wars eventually led to the demise of the Big Three, leaving much of the planet even more hazardous to human life. As such, what was left of humanity at the end of these wars banded together once more, giving themselves a new name of ‘Terran’ to include the mutants with their race, and shared a common goal of simply trying to survive. This unification became known as the Grand Union.

## Mechanical Visitor (c. 2480’s)

Upon the end of the Recession Wars and the formation of the Grand Union, GU Militia forces detected an unidentified flying object that suddenly appeared out of seemingly nowhere. Out of confusion and lack of communication or identification from the UFO, they shot the object down and recovered the remains. The UFO was later assumed to be some type of unmanned drone sent from unknown origins, not even Human, as it was full of unknown and alien technology of which they have never seen before. The Terrans immediately began attempts at reverse-engineering the technology within, discovering the method of which the drone managed to suddenly appear from nowhere.

## Troubled Times (c. 2500’s)

The looming threat of extinction around the corner many attempted to invest in research to terraform planets in their system. To their dismay most found it to be impossible with the limited amount of resources the planet had left. All research effort was pinpointed on void tech now as they started with basic applications replacing things that would no longer require power due to the advancement in technology. This only minorly slowed the decay of the planet as Rad-tephra would still occasionally sweep out of the hot zone killing hundreds of thousands of people overnight. Acid rain would occasionally start falling melting clothes and cause blindness in those unfortunate enough to get caught in a downpour. Much of Earth was shielded from the outside towards the end as domes were constructed over towns to preserve their way of life.

## The Chalk (c. 2510’s)

Nuclear fallout gave way to a slew of problems but one problem nearly ended the world quickly. An incurable disease called ‘the chalk’. Children affected by this would start to feel numb before their extremities turned an ashy grey. Losing fingers and eventually limbs if they were lucky. The worst cases started at the head as the carbon in children's bodies destabilized causing rapid decay in the patients ultimately with a fatal turn out. At first these were labeled as ‘medical misadventures’ as cases grew exponentially wiping out the youth. The only cure was age, ironically, thus began a new governmental system called T.U.B.E. known formally as the  Terran union baby extension. This program made all people giving birth immediately give their kids to the government to be kept in a tube full of stasis gel. Babies would be grown and reared to near perfect physical fitness for their age of release. This was called the genesis term. Once the child reached the age of sixteen they were released from their tube and rehabilitated. Muscles and other physical exercise needed to adapt the body to the world. Then they were kept in a program for two years known predominantly as accelerated learning.

## Vat-Borns (c. 2520’s)

A great rift happened between the Vat born and natural born people. Vat-Borns were given better lives without any strain on their family, increasing stimulation to the economy. But, most of the Vat borns lacked free will. Most people were used to normal humans with natural society and growth; whilst now many were born into their respective jobs even if they were talented in other fields by nature. Depending on where people were born they were given jobs or education based on what jobs needed to be filled but not what the people desired. This led to a spike in depression and suicide which brought about a regulation and an aptitude test known predominantly as the STEAM exam.

## STEAM (c. 2530’s)

STEAM exams were given to vat-borns after birth and they would be tested, not the child’s skill, but their emotional response. They found even if someone was bad at a job they would keep getting better at it if they enjoyed it. This created a flourishing youth that learned and progressed quickly despite their lack of experience. The AL, accelerated learning, was given to guided children who wished to pick a field. AL is a series of comprehensive uploads from people skilled in particular fields. It contained general knowledge of the world and history, maths and sciences and express aptitude in other fields of the students choosing. But it was limited due to the cognitive capacity of the mind. Children were encouraged to seek further education afterwards but most just went into their respective fields. The only separated school was the arts. Music, art, and writing had a unique trait that they required rote teaching to progress in. So most people who went into art were inducted into colleges for extra learning. These were known as the Nightingale schools similar to older boarding schools. Young nightingales were kept in the school and took classes similar to how the youth of the past did. They were released at the age of nineteen instead of sixteen thought to be a proper age to learn the skills necessary to succeed.

## Discovery (c. 2550’s)

After many years of study they finally developed subspace travel; it was a scuffed attempt at the reality of it but it was seemingly stable. There were a number of caveats. Subspace was full of radiation and unfathomably hot. The radiation from subspace however was unlike any other radiation they’ve encountered and became known as Void Radiation. They spent years developing and testing various forms of shielding to try and protect themselves from this new radiation, seeing subspace as a means to leave Earth and start anew on another planet. They could send drones through the subspace without them instantly getting vaporized, and used these drones to scout planets, poking small holes into the subspace. The Terrans didn’t know they needed to plug these cosmic holes as they left little tears in the subspace. The discovery of Subspace travel by the Terrans caught the attention of a much older race named the Tel’Jahiir, later dubbed the Ancients by the Terrans. The Ancients, although not too pleased that this discovery was made from some of their stolen technology, decided to continue observing the Terrans and their use of this technology. The Terrans managed to find another planet suitable for habitation and rejoiced, immediately starting the construction of colony ships and strived in finding technology that manages to shield them from the harmful effects of subspace travel. They set off through subspace once all their preparations to leave the devastated planet Earth were completed, punching multiple massive holes in the fabric of space. This angered the Ancients, forcing them to put into motion their own contingency plan they prepared for an incident like this.

## Founding of Aldratis (c. 2580’s)

The Terrans made their landing upon their newly discovered and untouched planet in 2588, naming this new world Aldratis. When they finally situated on Aldratis, they lived mostly on the colony ships and slowly moved out onto the planet as they catalogued what they could about their new home. They began constructing a massive city out of parts and scrap salvaged from the colony ships, setting up infrastructure and creating a metropolis. They named this bastion Concordia, meaning Harmony in ancient Latin. Over the years the Terran would begin expanding across this new world, constructing other settlements and villages between other massive cities. The Terran would use their newfound technology to increase their travel rate across the planet, ripping holes into the void.

## The Misunderstanding (c. 2590’s)

The human race long thought they were alone in the universe and the use of void tech was in its infancy. A race of beings quite literally incomprehensible to most appeared one day. A rip of light streaked across the sky as the object hovered there ominously above. People contemplated attacking it as it obscured the sun. The rotating bits seem to move impossibly around a core and it would hum as it remained stoic and unmoving. Their new home was undefended from attacks alien to them so the human race sat there awestruck that they might be losing their new home as quickly as they had acquired it. The ship loomed there for a long time just observing. If attacked or some hostility was presented to it a shield of some kind prevented anything kinetic from striking it. Vehicles would lose all energy and be peacefully put back to the ground with a jarring low hum. Soon Terrans started to just accept it as being not able to make much sense of it as time passed and wrote it off as an anomaly as they focused on building up their new world. When they were able to gather enough resources the Terrans built a missile similar to the one that caused all their problems to begin with. They fired it at the giant ship as the missile hit the shielding and exploded away from the ship leaving it unharmed. Nothing happened immediately afterwards aside from a loud grinding synthetic sound. This later would become known as ‘The Misunderstanding’.

## The Lone Alien (2602)

After the great misunderstanding the ship was seen ‘opening’ a feminine figure stepped out with long mutant-like features as she was lowered to the ground. Upon landing she asked to speak to the most intelligent being on the planet. A scientist by the name of Yurithar Borchav affectionately called ‘Borchie’ was brought to the alien. He was well versed in most sciences and led urban development and research for most of Aldratis at the time. When approached the Alien to their voice for a bit as she started to respond in the same language. When asked how she could understand she explained her race's technology using a mixture of quantum mechanics and different dimensional space they could in theory craft anything of any magnitude and represent it in multiple dimensions. Borchie understood to an extent as he helped with the subspace project. Weaving together space made distance effectively smaller to travel. It was the fundamental reasoning for Subspace working for them in the first place. The science for void technology took many years to develop and was never perfected. The Ambassador was here to explain to them the basics of void technology and make first contact with humans. She had been spending time studying their habits and putting together reports to send back to her homeworld. When asked where the rest of her people were she responded in kind saying her people did not trust the human race and were simply here to educate them since they joined the universe as space faring individuals. Despite it being crude the terrans were seen as amicable albeit violent in nature and would not be so easily trusted. The Ambassador was sent to simply make sure they didn’t cause more trouble than they already had. The Ambassador outside of her chats with Borchie spent time walking about the metropolis. They speak to citizens of the city who venture near the nexus or venture towards them on their walks.

## The Re-Education (2603)

Borchie was taken aboard the ship as he explored impossible dimensions of space. Things felt bigger or smaller on the inside with irregularity. Everything was concealed and showed no physical components. When asked how it was possible the Ambassador explained it was how Void tech was designed to enter infinite space to compact something into usable space. The Ambassador would argue she couldn’t show it to Borchie because he lacked the ability to see into a dimension beyond his own. And explaining it would be impossible to someone who lacks the words or ability to describe what they are seeing. “It sounds like nonsense in your language.” The Ambassador said to Borchie as he seemed to understand the limitation of something created by something that lacked that perspective. The Ambassador’s main concern was the stolen void tech and use of subspace travel. They explained that the tech they were using was broken and not functioning properly. The void tech they were using was ripping holes in the fabric in space and that it was leaking void radiation in places it didn’t belong. The negative energy, and virtual energy it created was displaced causing void currents and other anomalies that threaten many space faring creatures. It had not become so bad that it had a profound impact but without education it would cause a big problem such that the Terrans had on Earth.

## True Peace (c. 2610’s)

Borchie was entrusted with information as the Ambassador sat down to discuss negotiations with Aldratis’s political figures. Aldratis was a perfect specimen of a planet all life thrived in its perfect parameters; it suited the needs of most creatures and fauna. This new jewel was massive compared to Earth though which prompted Terrans to use subspace travel to explore the areas of the surface to plot out geographical points. The problem was they were creating tears in the subspace as they were doing this. This made the Tel’Jahiir upset as they effectively had to clean up after their new space fairing friends. The Ambassador notified the Terrans of this and immediately asked them to cease Subspace travel until they can learn to use it properly. Borchie was given the theory and knowledge to do so but it meant most of the planet had to be explored in less convenient ways. The Ambassador decided it was best if they left a hub amidst the Terran metropolis of Concordia. This became known to the Terran as the Hub it served as a place to contact their new space faring friends as they established themself. The Terrans didn’t know it was not just a building meant for peaceful talk but also used to gather information about the terran. Their knowledge, how they live, and develop as a species was important to the Tel’Jahiir. This was not malice in intent it was strictly for the race’s own edification as they wished to bring forth other beings to their levels of tech and thinking.

## The Passing (c. 2630’s)

Borchie spent most of his life after his meetings with the Ambassador trying to perfect Terrans basic understanding of void tech. He was ultimately Terran and succumbed to old age leaving behind a daughter and a son while the Ambassador lived on. Borchie’s children went on to other careers but were given a book of all his meetings with the Ambassador simply called the Void Tech Manual. It was a thick book detailing their chats and Borchie’s attempts at explaining what he saw and understood of the Ambassador. The front cover had two simple quotes. ‘Bring the Terrans to a better future but remember the past mistakes so we do not repeat them’ followed lovingly by ‘Read the fucking manual’. Two things Borchie said to people working with him. This prompted a series of successors who studied Borchie’s work and had to pass a difficult line of tests to be considered for the final phase of the honor to be the one to speak with the Ambassador on the technological advancement of the Terrans. This became known as the ritualistic ‘passing of the manual’ shortened eventually to just ‘The passing’ as it was also to remember the man who started it. Each successor adds a quote of inspiration to inspire others to follow in their path to create a better future for the Terran.

## Conclusion (c. 2680’s - Present[2702])

With the new world to explore and many places needing resources, businesses were set up. Many companies became focused on scouting, resource hunting, expansion of the Metropolis and searching any planetary anomalies. Science thrived as a working profession as people tried to unravel the secrets of void tech. The group efforts of the Terran were the only thing to bring them together. What they didn’t know however was that there were other occupants on this planet. How will your story unfold?