Earth

Earth (Sol III) is a Class M Planet in the Sol System. The homeworld of humanity, Earth is also the Capital Planet of the Federation.

The history of Earth and her people is well documented elsewhere. Humanity's path to becoming a spacefaring, multi-world species began on October 4th 1957 with the launch of the Sputnik 1 satellite by the Soviet Union. This began a competition between the USSR and USA that became known as the Space Race. This period of extremely rapid development can be said to have ended on the 20th July 1969 with the successful landing of the Eagle Lunar Lander on Luna by the United States. The Apollo Programme lead to six successful landings on Luna between 1969 and 1972, but the rate of progress in the field of space travel slowed dramatically with the Soviet Union cancelling their manned exploration programmes of Luna and Mars. The USA also cancelled several manned Mars missions in the latter half of the 20th Century, both nations focusing on space stations and reusable launch vehicles.

Mankind next took to manned exploration of the Sol System in the 2020s, a time that unfortunately also the beginning of a great age of strife for humanity. Whilst Luna was colonised in 2020, and a Mars mission launched by the United Nations in 2024 (See S.S Enterprise), some more radical scientists proposed using genetically augmented individuals, more capable of surviving on rough, distant colonies, to further exploration and colonisation efforts in the Sol System. This proved to be a cover for experiments that had been operating, illegally and in secret, on the Indian subcontinent for 30 years or more. The outcome of these experiments was Khan Noonien Singh and his race of Augmented Humans, who in 2026 began their conquest of Asia (and ultimately, an attempt to control the entire world).

The Eugenics Wars, as they became known, ultimately lead to the death of millions. Whilst Khan was defeated, and he and his Augments forced to flee offworld in a modified DY-100 Class freighter (See S.S Botany Bay), the wars lead to the formation of two new political superblocs, the North American Alliance (or NAA) and the Eastern Coalition (or ECON). The competition between these two politically and socially disparate powers lead ultimately to a new Cold War.

This Cold War was dramatically brought to an end on the 31st July 2056 in an event that came to be known as "The Collapse". A nuclear holocaust occurs, and within 48 hours, billions have died and society breaks down. Minor conventional fighting breaks out and the entire debacle becomes known as World War III. After the bombs fell and the fighting broke down into survivors fighting merely for needed supplies, Earth entered a period known as the Post-Atomic Horror.

Out of the ashes of this catastrophe came Zephram Cochrane and his warp ship, aptly named the Phoenix. A former NAASDA engineer, Cochrane used a radical design from before the war, married to a modified Titan V Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, to produce the Phoenix; the first warp-capable vessel launched by mankind. The first test of his vessel on the 5th April 2063 caught the attention of a nearby Vulcan survey ship and lead to humanity's first encounter with an alien race, in an event that is later known simply as "First Contact".

The problems of a post-apocalyptic Earth were not instantly solved however. The Vulcans were cautious about intervening in the affairs of a then savage, violent and technologically inferior race. Their assistance to humanity was little and cautious at first, but along with the knowledge that they were not alone in the universe, mankind eventually dragged themselves out of the Post-Atomic Horror and into a new age of civilisation.

The Vulcans still expected mankind to advance with their own discoveries, and refused to provide their advanced technology to any of the emerging nations of Earth. Eventually, the New United Nations were formed, comprising most of the nations of Earth. The now Doctor Cochrane became the head of the new United Earth Space Probe Agency, championing mankind's new reach for the stars with the launch of the first warp starship, the S.S Valiant, in 2114. Unfortunately, the maiden voyage of the Valiant revealed that mankind's early colonies on Luna and Mars had fallen to an unknown and virulent plague in the 2080s. New colonies were established the following year, and in an expedition lead by Cochrane himself, mankind founded their first extra-solar colony on the planet of Eden in the Alpha Centauri System.

In 2120, mankind finally united under a single government, United Earth. Earth became the centre of a small but burgeoning interstellar republic. In 2130, Cochrane returned to Earth briefly to establish a new research complex, the Warp Five Complex, dedicated to researching and designing a starship capable of Warp Factor 5. He then returned to Alpha Centauri and lead a new expedition into deep space toward the distant star system of Achernar. Shortly after departure, contact with the S.S Conestoga was lost. Presumed destroyed, humanity mourned the loss of the man who had almost single-handedly saved them from extinction.

Alpha Centauri declared independence in 2140, the only United Earth colony to do so. In the decade since the loss of Cochrane, warp drive had become widespread, and commercial ventures in interstellar colonisation outnumbered official government efforts. The rise of commercial shipping in space resurrected a very old profession: Piracy. Colony ships, commercial freighters and even UESPA supply ships came under attack by groups of pirates using old DY-100 Class freighters and modified mining lasers. The Vulcan High Command agreed to escort vulnerable supply ships until UESPA could take over the role. This lead to the introduction of United Earth's first purpose-built warship, the UES Amarillo (C-33) (Amarillo Class).

In 2147, her military needs having grown, United Earth established the United Earth Star Navy (UESN)

In 2150, the outlying colonies of United Earth were attacked without warning by unknown ships. These attacks proved to be the beginning of the Earth-Romulan War. Over the next decade, United Earth changed from a minor galactic player to the centre of a coalition of six powers. In 2161, this wartime coalition was formed into the United Federation of Planets. Earth became the Capital Planet of the new Federation, the centre of the most powerful political entity in known space at the time.

For a further history of Earth after the formation of the Federation, please see the entry of the same name.

## Notable Cities & Points of Interest

San Francisco

Paris

Warp Five Complex

Bozeman

## Notable Stations in Orbit

San Francisco Yards

Earth Spacedock