After the 4th World War, the remaining states on Earth founded the United Federation, a truly global government. Though there were protests, riots, and even small conflicts over this new government, the UF forced itself upon the planet, and unified its people. Though the government was sometimes confusing, it worked for a time.
People started to expand out into the solar system, some trying to escape the Earth government, others to exploit the resources out there, and some simply to explore. But where explorers go, bureaucrats follow. Eventually the government of the UF spread to gain control over the colonies on other worlds. This led to conflicts, and the creation of space navies by every side.
No one was quite sure who would win, the Inner Planets Alliance (Mercury, Venus and Earth, plus the moon), the Federation of Martian Republics (Mars), or the League of Moons (moons of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus). But then scientists, neutral to the conflict but with connections to the LoM, found an anomaly near the edge of the system. A 'void' in space which nothing would seem to be able to affect it. Then another group of scientists working for the IPA found the same one. Soon after the FMR found it as well. Information about this anomaly quickly spread between the three factions and their people, and a race was on to see who could find out what the anomalies were.
Each faction sent out probes, and conflicts generally abated until a ceasefire was called to explore these strange structures. However, after years of studying them and unable to understand where they came from or why they were there, the conflicts of humanity started again.
Soon the pressures of population growth and the wars that followed took a toll on people, and with the newest in cryogenic technology, people decided to go exploring in "Sleeper Ships", where they are put in suspended animation until such time as they arrive at another star system.
Eventually these ships arrived at their destinations, and their sleepers started waking up and building life on other systems. Some planets were lush and good like Earth, others were rougher, but in general they found that many systems had planets that were habitable, if not generally very hospitable. And strangely every system with a habitable world had a Void Gate as well.
Soon impromptu communications were set up, with gravity comms sending messages faster than the speed of light. This made messages clearer, and they arrived in months instead of years. However, there was no way to enforce a government across such distances, and eventually the forces in Sol gave up their fighting and made peace. Soon the whole Sol System was under one government, the United Sol Federation.
Around this time, almost 100 years after the first discovery of the strange structure near the edge of the Sol System, A briliant scientist named Dr. Hamid Zarkov published a paper showing that the structures were actually portals to something, stating how they were at a place of near infinite power in each system. Within a few years a working theory was produced which activated and opened up a portal. A cruiser was sent through and returned through the same gate.
Eventually news spread to the outlying systems of this Zarkov activation which make the Void Gates open up. Everyone started placing beacons near their portals, and the first interstellar travel using a Void Gate took place only a decade after Dr. Zarkov's paper was published. Soon trade followed, and thus this game begins.
People started to expand out into the solar system, some trying to escape the Earth government, others to exploit the resources out there, and some simply to explore. But where explorers go, bureaucrats follow. Eventually the government of the UF spread to gain control over the colonies on other worlds. This led to conflicts, and the creation of space navies by every side.
No one was quite sure who would win, the Inner Planets Alliance (Mercury, Venus and Earth, plus the moon), the Federation of Martian Republics (Mars), or the League of Moons (moons of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus). But then scientists, neutral to the conflict but with connections to the LoM, found an anomaly near the edge of the system. A 'void' in space which nothing would seem to be able to affect it. Then another group of scientists working for the IPA found the same one. Soon after the FMR found it as well. Information about this anomaly quickly spread between the three factions and their people, and a race was on to see who could find out what the anomalies were.
Each faction sent out probes, and conflicts generally abated until a ceasefire was called to explore these strange structures. However, after years of studying them and unable to understand where they came from or why they were there, the conflicts of humanity started again.
Soon the pressures of population growth and the wars that followed took a toll on people, and with the newest in cryogenic technology, people decided to go exploring in "Sleeper Ships", where they are put in suspended animation until such time as they arrive at another star system.
Eventually these ships arrived at their destinations, and their sleepers started waking up and building life on other systems. Some planets were lush and good like Earth, others were rougher, but in general they found that many systems had planets that were habitable, if not generally very hospitable. And strangely every system with a habitable world had a Void Gate as well.
Soon impromptu communications were set up, with gravity comms sending messages faster than the speed of light. This made messages clearer, and they arrived in months instead of years. However, there was no way to enforce a government across such distances, and eventually the forces in Sol gave up their fighting and made peace. Soon the whole Sol System was under one government, the United Sol Federation.
Around this time, almost 100 years after the first discovery of the strange structure near the edge of the Sol System, A briliant scientist named Dr. Hamid Zarkov published a paper showing that the structures were actually portals to something, stating how they were at a place of near infinite power in each system. Within a few years a working theory was produced which activated and opened up a portal. A cruiser was sent through and returned through the same gate.
Eventually news spread to the outlying systems of this Zarkov activation which make the Void Gates open up. Everyone started placing beacons near their portals, and the first interstellar travel using a Void Gate took place only a decade after Dr. Zarkov's paper was published. Soon trade followed, and thus this game begins.
