Project Sagittarius

***Project Sagittarius*** is a science fiction universe created by EDStudios, the writer of the COSMOS Wiki and *The Walking Dead by EDStudios* Universe. Distinct from the COSMOS Universe, *Project Sagittarius* is a planned shared universe of short and expanded stories that feature related lore, setting and characters.

*Ad Astra: To The Stars*, set in the mid-25th century, follows the crew of *Disco Volante*, an independent prospecting company, as they end up at the centre of a conspiracy tied to the discovery of potential alien technology. The story is in active development.

*Nemesis* will follow the inhabitants of the titular city, the last megametropolis on a ruined Earth, and the efforts of the local counterculture in overthrowing their corporate overlords.

*Voyager* will follow the crew of the titular starship as they conduct a five-year exploratory mission at the edge of the Settled Systems, encountering pirates, cultists and enemy occupiers along the way.

*Andromeda Abigail: Galactic Gunslinger* follows the titular character as she hunts down bounties in-between starring in a massively-successful sci-fi Western TV show.

## Lore

The universe of *Project Sagittarius* takes place in an alternate timeline where humanity developed commercial space travel in the early 1970s after U.S. President John F. Kennedy survived his assassination attempt and repaired relations with the Soviet Union. Civilian and private interest in space travel grew significantly as a result, culminating in an international effort to colonize the Moon and subsequently Mars. Together, Earth and Mars colonized the asteroid belt and the moons of the outer planets. In subsequent years, these moons each became the headquarters of various powerful corporations.

In the late 22nd century, two scientists working on a remote space station, Cameron Hammond and Zhōu Mǐn, discovered a form of exotic matter that was dubbed "Hammond-Zhōu Quintessence", or HZQ, through a series of matter-antimatter experiments. Further tests proved that the interaction between physical space and the HZQ produced warped areas of spacetime called sagittarius fields, which when intensified formed structures called starbridges. By using these starbridges, a spacecraft could travel faster than the speed of light, or FTL travel, thus allowing humanity to leave the bounds of the Sol System and settle extrasolar worlds.

Over time, political differences between the earther and martian colonies led to a breakdown in relations between the two factions of humanity, forcing the establishment of two separate governments: the United Colonies, led by Earth, and the Herschel Nations, led by Mars. The Sol System was thus made a neutral zone, while their respective colonies became sovereign territories. A collective of corporations came together to form the Free Economic Zone, allowing them to continue trade with both governments without restriction.

Peace did not last long. A series of trade wars between the U.C. and the H.N. allowed for a separatist group, the Hanseatic League, to rise up and take over several major colonies. Under the leadership of Salen Dune, the League recruited several factions of the Spacers Legion to launch a preemptive attack, now called "The Lesson", on the U.C. and the H.N. The attack sparked a treaty of military cooperation between the U.C. and H.N., who declared war on the League as the Stellar Alliance, sparking the Great Galactic War. With financial aid from the major mining family House Izar, the Alliance decimated the League. In the aftermath, House Izar was granted significant power as well as complete ownership of their home system, Tau Boötis.