2. Solar Expansion

Solar Expansion [2090-2160

General Description

The Solar Expansion was a period overshadowed by the renewed intensity of the space exploration, with Mankind reaching every corner and world of the Solar System... and staying permanently on some of them. it was also a period that once again teached the powers of Earth that only befriending, a successful compromise or a total destruction of the enemy can offer a lasting peace. And defeating enemy without destroying him will only came back to bite the victors down the road. It was, after all, the time of Alliance total hegemony of Earth... and its painful end.

Events

Third Cold War starts

2091, Inner Solar System

Pact and Alliance had no love for each other. In fact, Alliance hated the Pact with passion much larger than the one fueling its hatred towards the Union. And the Pact hated the Union only slightly more than it hated the Alliance. The 'deal with the Devil' that the Alliance signed was purely temporary, as the Alliance needed a distraction to stop the European Federation and the Soviet Union from conquering the Euroasia. As the Union of Progress and Freedom collapsed, the cooperation ended almost instantly. In fact the Alliance seriously considered invading the Pact and get rid of it once and for all right after the Union's surrender. Especially the Visehrad Alliance supported the idea, however in the end the wartime casualties were too large. With the APD' population wanting peace, the invasion plan was scrapped. Pact quickly prove that it was a mistake. Basque Country and Catalonia were reabsorbed by the Republic of Spain, now a member of the Pact. What's more the Pact also invaded the Great Britain, seizing majority of the British Isles in the process. Neither of these actions were a part of the Alliance's plans, however in the end Pact's calculations were correct and the APD did nothing. It was simply too exhausted after the war. The result was an another period of the de facto cold war, this time between the Alliance and the Pact. It was later on changed back into a three-sided Cold War when the Union of the Progress and Freedom reformed successfully. it was a period much less active than the former two cold wars, mostly due to Iron Pact's lack of presence outside of Europe. As a result, the Third Cold War was an economic competition and extraterrestrial rivalry between Pact and Alliance - until the reorganization of the Union, which heightened tensions.

Midwest Reclamation Project

2092-2104, United States

Sixty-seven years have passes since the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. The ash was long gone, but the real problem was the decimated biosphere, and general poisoning of the soil and water due to lack of human oversight over the collapsing infrastructure in the region. Chemical plants, storages of toxic materials and even two nuclear power plants ended up becoming a major source of poison that drained life from lands that used to house tens of millions of people. Before the Third World War the central United States remained untouched for political reasons. Two governments were in tense rivalry over being the legal successor of the United States. Any attempt of either of them to expand onto the no-man's land was bound to cause furious protests of the other side. At least on two occasions mere talks of such initiatives were enough to cause international scandals which could have become the Third World War if the side responsible didn't back down. The Third World War changed that. There was only one United States government, and even the Texas returned to the fold. This together with the 'free' labor force recruited from political enemies of the new United States made the reclamation project a feasible prospect. The first phase focused on the western half of the US' Midwest, started right after the war. It was an astounding success, despite repeated sabotages of the disgruntled work force and multiple accusations of violation of human rights accompanying the project. These accusations - and the fact that the Alliance at large and the United States in particular ignored them - greatly contributed to the reorganization of the Union of Progress and Freedom few decades later.

Council of Nations established

2093, Worldwide

The United Nations ended in the same way as its predecessor, the League of Nations, in the darkest days of the Days of Fire. Unlike the LoN, however, no successor was established. The remains of the UN vegetated here and there, mostly focusing on small-scale humanitarian efforts and preservation of human heritage. In a way, it lost so much of its already weak pre-Days of Fire authority that nobody even bothered to officially dismantle it. However with the Third World War ending, the need for a new international assembly become apparent. It was initially composed of the members of the Alliance for the Preservation of Democracy and a number of formerly neutral secondary countries (including the Israel, India, Indonesia and Mexico, and a number of lesser countries). While it remained dominated by the Alliance and its interests until the very beginning of the Fourth World War, it was eventually joined by the former members of the old Union of Progress and Freedom. Iron Pact members were never invited. Council of Nations proved instrumental in stabilizing the political situation on Earth. Unlike the League of Nations and United Nations, CoN possessed the full authority of the Alliance for the Preservation of Democracy behind it, offering it certain level of universal respect.

First Full-Immersion VR

2094, Worldwide

The neural interface was the necessary first step in creation of a true connection between man and machine. The real holy grail of this research field was creation of a two-sided connection, allowing a computer to project sound, sight, and even smell and taste directly into one's mind. The breakthrough allowing that was achieved in year 2094, creating the first true full-immersion Virtual Reality. It was first used not for the games, but as a powerful tool for psychiatric and psychological help for the veterans of the Third World War. Soon after that its uses expanded to general psychological care, and then, finally, the first games were created. The VR films follow suit. Before the year 2100, the VR technology expands onto numerous fields. Unfortunately, the growing phenomena of people losing connection with Reality and retreating into increasingly complex worlds forces world's governments to enforce the limit on the immersion level, to ensure that he real world remains more real than the interactive VRs (non-interactive, so for example the VR films, remains unlimited). Obviously the result is an addition of full-immersion interactive VRs to the long list of things prohibited, yet possible to obtain through contacts with criminal underworld. The VRs intentionally 'more real' than Reality are even more prohibited.

Italy Reunified

2095, Italian Peninsula

Italy remained decimated ever since the Phlegreian Fields eruption. The devastation was much lesser than the one caused by the Yellowstone supervolcano, but still substantial enough to break the country into a number of smaller and struggling communities, with the Italian population dropping from sixty millions to twenty, with further ten millions leaving on exile overseas. The situation, however, was slowly improving overtime, and the various small countries of the Peninsula were slowly developing back from the state of decimated third world. The great help on that field was international aid, originally provided mostly by the Catholic Church who had a lot of vested interest in Italy. With the Iron Pact suddenly growing stronger, italian countries felt threatened. This forced them to reunite, with the helpful mediation of the Church and offers of large scale aid from the Visehrad Alliance. The result was the reunification of Italy and creation of the Italian Federation. The Visehrad Alliance provided the aid, its scale improving overtime as the Alliance's economy recovered after the damages and casualties of the Third World War. The result was a successful reclamation of the most decimated territories. By the year 2110 the Italy become a relatively stable country, poorer than its regional counterparts but not by a large degree.

Extraterrestrial Agriculture begins

2096, Worldwide

A number of technological breakthroughs allowed for a sudden expansion of extraterrestrial agriculture. On one side, it was caused by a boom on efficient aeroponics, requiring a minuscule fraction of water needed for traditional agriculture or hydroponics. On another, by the diamagnetic technology becoming cheaper and cheaper, allowing the farms to be constructed away from Earth in a state of simulated gravity. While far from inexpensive, the food produced on craft and stations was more economical and easier on the interplanetary logistics. The result is the opening of the Outer Solar System for exploration, and the swift multiplication of Inner Solar System' traffic. The even more important change is the increasingly fast expansion of the extraterrestrial settlements, starting from the ones on Earth's Moon - every one of them could now easily replenish the food supply of a ship passing by them, allowing vessels to carry more cargo. Without being restrained by the need to deliver a majority of food in order to feed the population of the colony (while feeding it in the most austere way, naturally), the extraterrestrial settlements could finally expand into something worth being called a 'city'. Of course, there was also a downside - the prospect of self-sufficiency in space let to a slow growth of separatist movements throughout the Solar System.

Aurora Disaster

2097, Earth's Orbit

The issue of trash littering the Earth's orbit was a problem for decades, however it was never pressing enough to warrant a major action. The lack of orbital activity during the bad years of the Days of Fire delayed this problem from blooming. The later space race changed a lot, as with major presence in space, recycling of parts of deactivated sattelites become an option. However ships still suffered small damages from fast-flying trash from time to time. Each such event added a bit more trash. The destruction of three spaceships on the orbit during the Union assault on the Alliance' orbital station worsened situation further, and rather drastically so. The slowly progressing development of Kessler' Syndrome (a scenario where Mankind's is confined to Earth's surface due to fast flying trash on the orbit destroying any spaceship attempting to leave the planet) was brought to popular attention in year 2097. It was, obviously, caused by a disaster large enough to draw people's attention. The APD's passenger vessel Aurora was hit by a large chunk of trash while approaching the Alliance's orbital station. The resulting decompression (and general structural failure of the ship) killed thirty seven people, and forced Mankind to finally take a stance. The result is a major clean-up operation lasting almost a decade which, together with a much more strict regulations on keeping Earth's orbit clean, managed to stop Kessler' Syndrome scenario from fully realizing.

Hephaestus Station Constructed

2098, Moon/Luna's Orbit

The Third World War proved that focusing your starship manufacture on Earth's orbit is a potentially dangerous idea, with enemies being capable of visiting you when you don't expect that. The result on the Alliance for the Preservation of Democracy's side was the creation of new space shipyard. The Hephaestus Station was assembled on the Luna's orbit. The entire complex for a while remained the largest Mankind's extraterrestrial construction effort. It included three main elements. First one was the Hephaestus Station itself, a large modular construction easy to expand in the future but already capable of constructing four starships in closed docks at once. The docks were only constructing the ship's framework, with the finishing work typically done outside - the demand for new ships was simply that large. The second element was the planetary installation acting as massive storage area, and a processing facility for minerals and metals mined from the asteroids together with a growing number of factories producing parts from said materials. Later on this part also included a small city, and a growing aeroponics farm. And the third element are not one but two space elevators (much easier to construct on low-gravity world such as Luna) - one used to lift parts and other resources from the planetary installation to the Hephaestus Station, and the other used to efficiently transport ore from the cargo vesels. The result was a sudden expansion of the Mankind's presence in the Solar System. This is the true beginning of the large scale exploration and settlement of the Solar System.

New Berlin base established

2102, Jupiter Subsystem

The Iron Pact failed to participate in space race prior to the Third World War due to being contained in a small part of a single continent of Earth, and due to being embargoed by absolutely everyone. This changed to a limited degree when Pact expanded, making it slightly more self-sufficient. As the hyperradical politics of early Pact grew lax, the entire bloc slowly switched from genocidal neonazism into militaristic and imperialistic fascism. This slowly weakened its international isolation. It was still hated by the Union and in fierce competition with the Alliance, but for the first time in its history it was capable of projecting it power outside of Earth. Pact decided to expand into space in one, powerful sweep, while simultaneously moving into the only place that wasn't yet claimed by the Alliance. The result was a one-way journey, as the small colonization fleet of the Pact had enough of fuel to reach Jupiter, but not enough to return safely. If the colonization failed, they would have to ask Alliance for help or send more ships. However it didn't fail. The result was first permanent settlement in the Outer Solar System, with the Iron Pact establishing the New Berlin colony on Europa, the moon of Jupiter. With the Europa's orbit being a bit unstable, the outermost Jupiter moon of Himelia was also settled and changed into the combination of shipyard, refueling station, and transport hub. The Pact began funnelling a lot of funds and people into the Jupiter subsystem, establishing new settlements on Ganymede (2104), Io (2106) and Callisto (2107). With limited ability to resupply the colony from Earth, Pact does everything it can do to keep its colonies as self-sufficient as possible. As the result, the entire Jupiter subsystem changes into the Pact's domain.

Treaty of Dublin

2104, Ireland

The process of mining asteroids was steadily intensifying for decades. Alliance held monopoly, but now the new competitor arrived in the form of the Iron Pact. What's more, the Union wasn't fully annihilated, as while it lost its lunar colony, the Progress station on Earth's orbit remained active and still serviced whatever remained of the former Union members' space programs. Alliance decided to establish an internationally-recognized legal framework for the space exploitation, resulting in the signing of the Treaty of Dublin - officially under the auspices of the Council of Nations, but also including all space-capable countries from those existing outside of the Council. The asteroid belt is divided between the signatories, the Iron Pact receiving disproportionately small part of it - causing yet another small political crisis. Besides the crisis the treaty also opens a new age of mass asteroid mining. The resource import quota stabilizes the Earth's planetary economy, which kept being (often violently) rocked by every new asteroid mine and every sufficiently large shipment. The last part created a longterm program of moving especially dangerous or polluting industries outside of Earth, initially mostly to the Moon. Naturally it was a very limited program that only worked for industries producing sufficiently valuable products, however as the space presence of Mankind expanded, the program did just as well.

Missile War

2104, Europe

The Iron Pact wasn't happy with the Treaty of Dublin, or at least the size of its share of the cake. With the Visehrad Alliance counted among the most active opponents of the Pact during the negotiations, it should be no surprise that the political crisis resulting from that that issue was mostly focused on the border between the Pact and the Visehrad Alliance. A small artillery strike on a military installation near the border quickly evolved into a prolonged military engagement throughout the entire Pact/Alliance border. No ground forces participated directly. Alliance responded to Pact's provocation with artillery counterstrike, and so the Pact responded with more artillery and missiles. Soon aircraft were involved. The result was a two weeks long indirect warfare resulting in large devastation of the area surrounding the border between the two alliances, few thousand dead civilians and military personnel, and seventy-two shot down aircrafts. It was also one of the last cases of a aircraft used for ground assault, as the steady improvement of atmospheric laser AA batteries began outperforming the steady improvement of anti-laser armor materials that were light enough to be used in atmosphere. The Fourth World War is narrowly averted by diplomatic means, but the Pact's share of the asteroid belt is expanded by twenty percent. The Visehrad Alliance officially severed diplomatic relations with the Pact, changing the border between the two alliances into a heavily fortified hotspot on the world's map, with military incidents and skirmishes occuring regularly for several decades.

Treaty of Pekin

2106, China

Seventy years of political split and internecine warfare between warlords has decimated the former People's Republic of China. The pandemics, famine, warfare and successful secessions reduced the China population from the 1,4 billion in 2025 to six hundred million in year 2100. Naturally, this had to stop. Treaty of Pekin was a truce between a number of non-communist warlords and both the Taiwan and Henan governments. It calmed down and stabilized a significant part of China, opening the possibility for future reunification or at the very least rebuilding what was destroyed and attempting to make China internationally relevant again. The most important result of the treaty was a slow process of an integration of warlord domains' into the three major competing powers of the former China: the two Republics of China in Henan and Taiwan, and the slowly merging group of communist warlords in the north, which were planning to reorganize the People's Republic of China. The biggest weakness of this group was its revanchist plans, making countries such as Tibet, Sinciang and Mongolia funnel funds into the warlords fighting against the communists.

Pacific Northwest Reclamation Project

2106-2112, United States

The Midwest Reclamation Project ended as an astounding success, with the large territories of the United States restored to life and filled with idyllic, ideal and arcology-based settlements. Of course, this was built on the back of slave labor of political prisoners, causing inexhaustible ammount of scandals and political issues. In the end, the political prisoners were officially decided to be 'successfully rehabilitated' and moved away, with the future Reclamation Projects based on work of decently paid professionals. What's more, the new goverment of the United States decided to try to appease the disgruntled West by focusing the second stage of the Reclamation there. The Pacific Northwest is successfully reclaimed by the end of 2112, and repopulated mostly with surplus population of the former Western United States. This fails to appease the WUS' loyalists while simultaneously strengthening them by doubling the territory controlled by them and causing a decade long economic boom that brought the former WUS lands back to its pre-WW3 economic and political power.

Second Treaty of Dublin

2110, Ireland

The First Treaty of Dublin failed to fully quell the political troubles surrounding the ongoing space expansion. The result was the need to establish a second treaty, this time one much more straightforward. While the first one tried to establishing asteroid mining zones and laws concerning the transport of resources back to Earth, the second one cut the Solar System into a number of spheres of influence. MERCURY was a place that interested absolutely noone, resulting in the entire planet being set as an 'mandate' of the Council of Nations. A number of small settlements were placed there, almost uniformly scientific bases focused on observing the Sun from close distance. Recurrent gossips suggested some of these bases to be secret research labs or even prisons maintained by the countries of the Alliance for the Preservation of Democracy, however no conclusive proof was ever published. VENUS was handed out to the former countries of the Union of Progress and Freedom, mostly as a consolation prize. It was also hoped that keeping them relatively happy with their international position would stop them from contesting the post-WW3 world order, with the Alliance not sure if it could face right-wing and left-wing radicals at once. Soon a number of outposts was established on Venus, changing the planet into a central hub of post-Union space presence. LUNA saw notable changes. A number of less important areas of the moon are handed to the still remaining countries of the Union. The largest part goes to the New Soviet Union, but Canada, Australia and even the Socialist Republic of Greece receive at least some small parts of the Earth's natural satelite. In the end, 1/5 of the Moon was ceded to the former Union, but its colonies were to remain demilitarized. 1/20 of it was handed to the Basque Country and Catalonia' governments in-exile. MARS remained the bastion of the Alliance. While the Hephaestus Station remained the focal point of APD's extraterrestrial activity, Mars wasn't far behind. It was divided between the United States, Republic of Brazil, Visehrad Alliance, Japan, South Korea, and joint colonies of the Siberian and Far Eastern Republics. JUPITER was to become the stronghold of the Iron Pact in the years to follow. No country attempted to confront the fascists over that, as the territories of the Outer Solar System were of little interest to anyone. Alliance was in fact genuinely happy that the accursed Pact kept its space exploration far away from Earth. The general idea was sound, and in fact succeeded in negating a number of international issues - enough to be considered by future historians as the last part of the post-WW3 clean-up and stabilization of the Alliance-dominated political system. However the situation began steadily worsening as time went on. The biggest problem was the long period of relative peace and development on Earth. The economy grew - in a much more equal way than in the past - and the technologies developed. Soon more and more countries achieved ability to join the space exploration, for example Indonesia, Italy, United Shia Republic, South Africa, Argentina, and Mexico. Other countries changed their long-term priorities and started looking into space (for example Israel and India). All this countries found no place for themselves in the Solar System, causing the problems the Alliance was facing to multiply. In fact the Second Treaty of Dublin was one of the major reasons behind the Fourth World War starting, as disproportionately large part of the raising powers sided with the enemies of the Alliance.

Cerebral Implants

2112, Worldwide

Cybernetic technology continued improving in the meantime, finally resulting in a creation of the first cerebral implant - a 'deep' brain implant capable of doing more than just simulating outside stimuli. Implants were already a thing, however Mankind encountered numerous setbacks with creation of true cerebral implants. The earlier full-VR worked on the basis of a small network of implants located in nerve clusters approaching the brain (for example the optical nerves for simulating view). Finally, however, first successful cerebral implants were created. The first usage was, obviously, medical. A number of cerebral implants capable of altering one's thought patterns were developed, opening a completely new field in the psychiatry. Then a slightly stranger ideas were developed, such as memory alteration of the terminally ill patients, allowing them to pass away without remembering bad parts of their life. Then the ethical issues and the fear of the cerebral implants' ability for de facto brainwashing sunk the entire technology. By the year 2120 the cerebral implants were almost completely banned, save for a few key mental diseases that were seen as terrible enough to warrant a small exception. It was one of the few cases when the Alliance and former Union members actually agreed. Pact had more doubts and it was believed to still use this category of implants for interrogation and occasional brainwashing.

Mountain West Reclamation Project

2114-2137, United States

With the Pacific Northwest successfully restored to the fold, the time has come for the most troublesome part of the United States' reclamation project - the Mountain West. It was where the Yellowstone erupted - in the north, but the ash choked the south part of it almost as bad, due to winds blewing that way. The United States was finally ready to tackle that problem, establishing a proper connection between the West and East halfs of the country. The initial focus was the southern, less destroyed part - this process was essentially over by 2020. The real problem was the northern part, especially the lands surrounding the former Yellowstone. The numerous setbacks caused by growing internal dissent between the two halfs of the US delayed the second half of the project until the outbreak of the Fourth World War, leaving the Mountain West Reclamation unfinished until the Solar Commonwealth's era.

Electromagnetic Breakthroughs

2115-2119, United States

The magnetic force was already employed in a number of ways, forming the backbone of the space expansion for decades. The technology was however primitive, extremely power-hungry and generally all but efficient. It began changing in the 2110s, when a number of major breakthroughs massively improved the technology. The result of the technology was a number of lesser developed. First Non-Nuclear EMP was created in year 2115, improving the arsenals of the various countries of the world. First generation of anti-starship railguns was developed in year 2117, offering a massive improvement in firepower - the breakthrough finally made the rounds fast enough to actually make them accurate on such distances without melting the ship's reactor. In 2118 the recent developments allowed the creation of first true inertia dampeners, allowing ship to maintain a cohesive and long-term acceleration of around 2,5g, with short burts approaching 5g, without any effects on people in items in inertia-proofed decks. And finally, the first magnetic shield capable of deflecting solid rounds was created in year 2119. The result was creation of first dedicated warship, which left the Hephaestus' station in year 2123. This also allowed the expansion of simulated gravity areas in extraterrestrial settlements, improving quality of life in the colonies.

Siberian Civil War

2120-2121, Russia

The Siberian Republic was the sick man of the Alliance for many years. The Third World War decimated it. What's more, the question of whether Siberians were Siberians or Russians was still unaswered, causing an increasing strife between the siberian nationalists and the russian loyalists. The result was the slowly brewing conflict that finally erupted in year 2120. The civil war was relatively short and not particularly bloody - in fact it was often seen as civil in more ways than one. The result was a victory of the loyalists, as the nationalist support' waned quickly. The result was a political crisis that began the starting point of the decline of the Alliance' hegemony. Loyalists weren't fully happy with the current Soviet government, resulting in no serious talks of reunification - at least not yet. However the Alliance reacted adversely to the very idea, alienating the new government (especially the Visehrad Alliance and the eastern republics - South Korea and Japan were hostile to it). The even worse move was the Alliance' acceptance of the remnants of the siberian nationalist government in its extraterrestrial colony. The result was the sudden weakening of the political image of the Alliance for the Preservation of Democracy (and the Council of Nations) resulting in growing political instability.

Korea Reunited

2122, Korean Peninsula

North Korea was in a precarious situation for decades. It lost the support from China when the People's Republic of China self-annihilated in the wake of the Red Death Plague. It remained in the state of perpetual collapse for several decades, saved from conquest by South Korea only by the fact that their neighbour wasn't faring particularly well. With ailing economy, attempting to reabsorb territory as poor as the North Korea was a suicide. Overtime the North Korea' regime was forced to change. By the time of the World War III, the North Korea was slowly developing itself towards much less self-isolated country that it was in the past. In fact, it attempted to join the Union of Progress and Freedom, and wasn't accepted only due to rather bad background and how poor it was - it was seen as an attempt to get more international aid. It saved the North Korea from being squashed during the war. By year 2120, the North Korea was pretty much a severely outdated and poor socialist country on the verge of becoming a democratic socialist country. The economy was slowly developing, as its self-isolation ended together with the Kim dynasty (now reviled as totalitarian madmen) and the global economic situation. Finally, the decision was made to finally reunite Korea, on both sides at once. The result is the United Republic of Korea, which is a country in two widely different halves but with joint military and government. Economic ties grew, however the Korea's participation in the Alliance was limited from that point onward, as the North half of the country felt more connection with the former Union.

Eastern Russia unites

2124, Eastern Russia

Following the Russian loyalist victory in the Siberian Civil War, the Far Eastern and Siberian Republics turned back to their Russian roots. It was still part of the Alliance and a democratic (if slightly authoritarian) country, feeling no connection with the ailing and slowly collapsing Soviet regime in the west. However, they were Russians stills. The result of this was the Far Eastern and Siberian Republics uniting into the Republic of Russia. Soviet Union, obviously, doesn't like it but can do little to stop it at this point. Especially as members of the Alliance' welcome the new political change, seeing it as a counter to both the Soviet Union and the potential threat of the slowly reorganizing China. The post-WW3 political was slowly but surely changing, with majority of the changes thus far being favourable for the Alliance... which was going to change soon enough.

August Revolution in the Soviet Union

2125, Russia

The creation of a completely new Russian state was a final straw that broke the camel's back. Soviet Union was recovering economically from the devastation of the Third World War, but the political recovery was nowhere to be seen. It was utterly humiliated by both the APD and the massive pillage of art pieces in the aftermath of the war. And now, a completely new Russia was created. The frequently changing (due to schemes and changes in power) neocommunist governments failed to receive any public trust. The process reached its peak in 2124, with seven short-lived governments coming and going in the span of a single year. The results were mass riots. Military step in to restore order... only to instead storm the governmental buildings. The result of the August Revolution is the Soviet Union remaining Soviet Union, but switching from hardline neocommunism into a hardline militant socialism. The political switch was swift and mostly painless, though the resulting reforms weren't so. However the new governments regain the public trust and the Soviet Union economy was already mostly restored to its pre-WW3 state. As the result, the Soviet Union returned to position as a major power in the world.

Marx Station constructed

2126, Venus Subsystem

The Venus was handed to the former Union members as a consolation prize. And while they lacked the drive and political cohesiveness of the Iron Pact, the former Union decided to take full-advantage of this gift. As a result, the construction of the Marx Station on the Venus' orbit was initiated. Marx Station was finally finished in 2125. It was the largest orbital station, surpassing even the Haephestus Station (though mostly because of Venus' surface being less welcoming and everything having to be built on the orbit). It is a military fortress, shipyard, massive storage area and a small orbital city with close to 10 000 permanent inhabitants. The fact that it was built from the scratch with newly found powers of magneticism in mind was a great factor in making its construction possible. The construction of Marx Station changed the space part of the Solar Expansion era into a three-side rivalry between the former (and soon to be reanimated) Union, Pact and Alliance.

Union of Progress and Freedom Restored

2127, Solar System

Countries of the former Union of Progress and Freedom were slowly reorganizing themselves ever since the conclusion of the Third World War, taking advantage of Alliance' attempts of reconciliation hopes of establishing an anti-Pact coalition and of the Alliance' newly-found complacency. The process was lengthy and complicated... and then the Autumn Revolution started. With the Soviet Union quickly regaining its power and with its politics aligned with slightly more relatable socialism (rather than highly divisive neocommunism) it has become a perfect focal point of the UPF' attempts of reorganization. Soon an official conference was called, and to horror of Alliance' and Pact's leadership it resulted in reorganization of the Union of Progress and Freedom. The Soviet Union was swiftly joined by the former members of the Union - the Socialist Republics of Greece, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The UPF however also gained a number of new members, replacing those lost permanently in the wake of the Third World War. The list of its new members included Argentina, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, and the United Shia Republic - while not socialist, these countries were increasingly left-leaning and decided to take advantage of the Union's ability to expand into space, with the Alliance denying them the option for that.

Blocs Expand

2127-2137, Solar System

With the sudden Union of Progress and Freedom reappearance and expansion, the Alliance and Pact were forced to rapidly adapt to the new geopolitical situation. With the space exploration being a powerful bargaining chip, all three power blocs engaged in desperate efforts to persuade as many secondary powers into joining them as possible. Alliance for the Preservation of Democracy managed to persuade Italian Federation (in 2128), despite fierce competition from the Union's side. They also gain the cooperation from the Israel and its puppet regimes (in 2130), the Central American Alliance (2131) and the Pakistan (2132). Iron Pact succeeds in persuading the increasingly totalitarian New Islamic Caliphate into signing an alliance (in 2131), the Central African Federation (in 2132) and the revanchist Republic of Turkey (in 2033). The Union of Progress and Freedom succeeds in adding the Republic of India (2129), and the Carribean Federation (2130). The last changes to the rooster before the Fourth World War was the Korea withdrawing from the Alliance and announcing its neutrality (2136), changes in the China following the collapse of reunification negotiations, and the Equador signing military alliance with the Union of Progress and Freedom in hopes of regaining control of its coast strip housing the orbital elevator (2136).

Wall of Reason Theory created

2129, Solar System

The technological progress regained its speed after the first half of the Days of Fire, which continue on until the end of the first half of the Solar Expansion. Now however an increasing ammount of scientific researches were getting stalled, with no obvious reason for that - and even the steadily growing funding didnt' seem to change a lot. Numerous theories were made to explain it, from coincidence to secret pact between world's scientists in order to coerce larger budgets for the research in all of the world's countries. The theory of the 'Wall of Reason' was created as well, explaining the problem with the increased dissociation between the Mankind's intelligence level and the intelligence level needed to comprehend further technological developments. According to the Wall of Reason theory, the Singularity wasn't going to occur without Mankind somehow improving itself. The difficulty level of future discoveries grew faster than Mankind's intellectual capabilities, essentially slowing the development down. The idea of constructing smart robots to create smarter robots to create the smartest robots that could create an even better technology beyond human intelligence also wasn't an option, simply because Mankind wasn't smart enough to create sufficiently smart robot to start the robotic chain to Singularity.

Russia Reunites

2132, Russia

The Russian Republic and the Soviet Union were both Russian countries. One was a militant socialist authoritarian regime, and one was a vaguely socialdemocratic and regime. Alliance didn't expect anything more to happen on that front, as the both countries were still notably different. Instead, the Russian Republic decided that it was more Russian than democratic, and suddenly started strengthening its ties with the Soviet Union. Of course, the process wasn't a true annexation - it was something that was expected to happen within several decades at best. However the Republic officially left the Alliance, entered a two-sided military alliance with the Soviet Union. Both sides began to prepare for the longterm project of making themselves more similar to each other. In the end, the former Russian Republic was to become an autonomous area (actually autonomous, unlike various autonomous regions of the old Russian Federation), mostly self-governed but with its armed forces dismantled once the reunification process is finally finished. The result of this event was a total panic on the Alliance' side, Korea leaving the Alliance, and the fact that the explosion of the Fourth World War become an obvious thing to absolutely everyone. With the Russia reunification happening, all three power blocs ramped up their fervent military preparations.

Chinese Reunification Halts

2134, China

The talks of reuniting China intensified right after the reunification of Russia. To a (slight) surprise of the world, the talks suddenly broke due to political differences between the successors of the People's Republic of China and of the 'old' Taiwanese Republic of China. The result is a prolonged cold war between two main competitors. The northern China was controlled by the remaining communist warlords. Their alliance has recreated People's Republic of China under military junta-style government, their forces soon receiving support from the Soviet Union to the north. The PRC eventually joined the Union of Progress and Freedom soon after their competitors joined the Alliance, making their allegiance officials. The southern China was born of the alliance between the two governments calling themselves the Republic of China - one in former Henan province of the PRC and one from the Taiwan. Once joined with a number of remaining southern warlords, the result was the creation of the Chinese Federation. With the PRC receiving almost open support of the Union, the Chinese Federation decided to eventually join the Alliance for the Preservation of Democracy, which occured in the year 2136.

Fourth World War

2137-2145, Solar System

Forth World War happened due to several crucial miscalculations of the Alliance. The first one was that it allowed the Iron Pact to grow in strength too much - had the Alliance invaded the weak Pact right after the Third War ended, it could have cause its early demise. In fact, some members of the Alliance proposed that (especially the members of the Visehrad Alliance that weren't rolled through by Soviet tanks), but most of the members preferred to focus on rebuilding. The second one was that when the Pact began growing in strength, Alliance attempted to counter that by rehabilitating surviving members of the Union. Rather than making them suddenly like the Alliance and cooperate with it against the Pact, it made the Union resurface. The third mistake was not leaving space for emerging powers in the Second Treaty of Lisbon, which in turn made them much more likely to pick the alliances that contested the post-WW3 world order. The war started due to a political crisis caused by Union of Progress and Freedom deploying a large air force and a numerous missile systems in Equador, overlooking the orbital elevator controlled by the Alliance. The demand to stand down and remove this forces resulted in regular military engagement, which escalated into an open war. The Alliance possessed a massive superiority in industrial power and financial situation due to wealth gained during the long years of the interwar period. Their technology was much better as well. Eventually, however, the casualties and sheer number of opposing countries began to whittle down Alliance' might. SOLAR FRONT was dominated by an early all-out assault of the Pact's fleet that took the Alliance and Union' forces offguard. The Pact's military build-up in the Jupiter subsystem turned out to be much larger than anyone expected. For the first two years of the war Pact had an initiative in space. Eventually, however, Union and Alliance' decided to cooperate temporarily in space. Pact's invasion on Mars was repelled, its fleets were scattered, and finally the Alliance attacked and occupied the Himelia station, essentially knocking the Pact out of the war in space. The extraterrestrial hostilities between the Alliance and Union were resumed, but the Alliance' assault on Marx Station ended with Union' victory. What's more, the ground invasion of the Pact colonies in the Jupiter subsystem would be hell. In the meantime, the Union lacked space presence significant enough to push the Alliance out of Mars and Luna (where the Union' colonies were quickly subjugated once the war started, despite them possessing entire arsenals of weaponry and equipment that shouldn't be there). Alliance dominated the Solar System, but failed to achieve the final victory there. WESTERN EUROPEAN FRONT saw confrontation between the Visehrad Alliance and the Iron Pact. Fierce battles were waged on the ground, in the air, and on the Baltic Sea through the entire war, with no significant successes on either side. Both sides have spend the entire time that passed since the Third World War on digging in, changing the whole area into a heavily fortified border zone. With numerous AA batteries keeping aircrafts at bay and shooting down missiles, the forts had to be assaulted with only the artillery as a support. This front saw what was de facto first positional warfare ever since the conclusion of the First World War. The fortifications allowed the Visehrad to focus majority of their force in the east, preventing it from getting squashed. SOUTHERN EUROPEAN FRONT saw the Italy successfully hold against the forces of the Pact... for a while. The mountainous region wasn't enough of a trump card, resulting with the Pact essentially occupying majority of the Italy before the end of the war. In the very same time the Socialist Republic of Greece was engaged by the forces of the Republic of Turkey, an ally of the Iron Pact. Greece' eventual defeat was staved off by the Visehrad focused on its western and eastern front, and the Turkey also being engaged in heavy fighting on the Middle-Eastern Front. This couldn't remain forever, and before the year 2139 the Constantinople fell, and by the year 2142 the Turkey succeeded in seizing the Greek Islands and landing on the continental Greece. By year 2142 the SRG was essentially kept alive only by the Russian reinforcements arriving through nominally neutral Bulgaria. By year 2145 the entirety of Greece was occupied, as Russia was forced to pull out of the region. EASTERN EUROPEAN FRONT saw a slightly less destructive repetition of the events from the World War III. Soviet Union attempted to steamroll the Visehrad Alliance with masses of tanks, infantry and airplanes. Once again, this failed, but without a decisive victory such as the Day of Judgment. The whole campaign was a war of attrition, with Alliance' central position allowing it to juggle reserves between the western and eastern frontlines. Majority of Ukraine and Belarus fell, and so did the Baltic States (again). Union's armies were also forced to bolster the Southern European and Chinese fronts. What's more its demographic and industrial might was also severely limited by past wars and at best moderate demographic trends lasting ever since the end of the First Cold War. Eventually, the war ended. ASIAN FRONT was a mess. Alliance domination of the region crumbled before the war even started. Union maintained the initative for majority of the war, as a result. The fiercest battles were waged in Japan, China and Southeast Asia. Pact lacked any sort of presence in the region, making the whole area being fought by the Alliance and the Union. Soviet Union' invasion of Japan was eventually repelled after three years of constant military engagements. It left Japan drained and economically devastated, and was also responsible for draining a notable part of military assets of the United States, as without the US intervention the Union would have defeated the Japan. In China the Soviet Union reinforced the People's Republic of China in its attempt to march south and reunite the China. The Chinese Federation replied in force, holding ground thanks to the reinforcements from the United States and, later on, Japan. This war was waged simultaneously to numerous naval engagements between the eastern Alliance members, and combined fleets of India, Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia. The casualties were horrible on both sides - it was in Asia that the fiercest and bloodiest battles were fought. What saved the Chinese Federation was the Soviet Union's participation in the east waning as its reserves were bloodied out, and the Pakistan engaging majority of India's ground armies. This together with growing infighting had the People's Republic of China de facto collapse by the year 2143. With this, the Alliance victory in the region was certain, however ruinous to all of the victorious countries. NORTH AMERICAN FRONT saw the United States fight Canada, Mexico and Alaska. It would normally end with swift victory of the United States, which while no longer a superpower was still a notable power, however the situation was slightly more complicated. The USA was forced to reinforce Alliance' members in the Asia, Central America, Southern America and, to a point, Africa - it was, in short, the source of the Alliance' strategic reserves. What's more, the sheer length of the borders it had to cover made defense a complicated issue. The successful US offensives seized large territories early on in the war, while simultaneously forcing the country to send more and more soldiers in order to suppress the guerilla warfare. And if that wasn't enough, the riots bordering on open revolution kept drawing the US attention to the former territories of the Western United States. In the end, United States won the war against Canada and Mexico, but failed to win the resulting peace. The United States collapsed soon after the war ended. CENTRAL AMERICAN FRONT was a secondary battlefront, where the Cuba-led socialist-communist Carribean Federation engaged the Central American Alliance in a prolonged war filled with naval engagements and the occasional landing on various small isles of the region. What eventurally crushed the Central American Alliance was the fact that it was bordering with the Union member to the north (the Mexico). Mexico send only a relatively small amount of forces south, but it was enough to have the CAA collapse around year 2142. SOUTHERN AMERICAN FRONT saw Brazilia face Argentina and continue winning, until a number of other countries in the region (including Paraguay, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Venezuela) decided to curb the Brazilian' obvious growth into the Southern American hegemon. With these countries already sympathetic towards the Union, the process of joining the UPF was swift. The Brazil managed to delay the offensive with the United States' support, successfully collapsing the Argentina, occupying Uruguay and Paraguay, and weakening the other coalition members, but eventually Brazil' war effort collapsed due to economic crisis and wartime casualties. The Union forces stationed in the Ecuador succeeded in seizing the orbital elevator early on in the war. Alliance attempted to retake it thrice, each resulting battle counted as one of the most fierce battles of the war. All attemps failed, allowing Union to retain control of the elevator. However the UPF also failed to take full advantage of their control over the elevator, due to the Alliance' base on Luna allowing it to control the space surrounding Earth, essentially blockading it from the Union's space traffic. MIDDLE EAST FRONT was a relatively fierce battlefront between the Union-aligned United Shia Republic, Pact-aligned Turkey and Islamic Caliphate, and Alliance-aligned Israel and its sattelites. The first phase of the war was the Caliphate fighting the United Shia Republic in the east, and the Israel fighting the Turkey in the west. The result of the first stage of this war was the United Shia Republic' collapse, and a bloody stalemate in the west. The Pact's victory in the region would be certain if the Caliphate assisted the Turkey - but instead, the Caliphate officially left the Pact's rooster and assaulted both the Republic of Turkey and the Israel. The battle was long and bloody, and saw the Israel and Turkey actually cooperate. In the end, the Caliphate crushed Turkey (rendering its victory in Greece moot) but the Israel managed to maintain its territorial cohesiveness - mostly because the Caliphate's war fatigue reached its peak. INDIA FRONT saw Pakistan and India engaging in a conventional repetition of the Kashmir War. India succeded in defeating the Pakistan (opening it to Caliphate's influences after the war), but it took it several years. India was drained, and the Indian Front made it unable to seriously assist the Union's war effort in Asia.

Fourth World War Ends

2145, Solar System

The Fourth World War has ended - but not officially. By the end of the 2145 very few of the participating governments maintained an ability to continue their war efforts. The war ended, because there's no one left to continue it. Casualties, public dissent and the economic drain has succeeded where the armies and diplomats didn't. With the leadership of the Alliance, Union and the Pact in the state of the collapse, the member-states of the three alliances quickly began signing separate peace treaties with the countries they were fighting with for last several years. There was a number of territorial and political changes that happened immediately after the end of the war, but the largest problem (and source of largest changes) was the subsequent general collapse. The era of relative stability brought by the Alliance for the Preservation of Democracy's domination after the end of the Third World War has come to an official end.

The Solar Crash

2145, Solar System

The Solar Crash was the grandmother of all economic and financial crises. It was caused by the war and the financial drain that it was on the countries and companies participating in it. It's arrival was obvious at least since the later 2144, however rather than cease hostilities in preparation for it, most countries made last desperate attempts to achieve victory before it was going to hit. Obviously it only worsened the resulting crash. Financial crisis happened because countries fighting the war spend so much money on expensive military hardware and payouts for the soldiers. Debt swiftly spiralled out of control, and with the only slightly less painful debts from the Third World War still mostly unpaid the results were terrifying. Country after country went bankrupt. What's worse, the the bankruptcy of countries also began bankrupting companies, especially those who kept doing things for last few years while geting paid in notes indicating a share in post-war reparations paid from the defeated enemies (the very fact that such methods were used says a lot about the late-4WW desperation of the war participants). This expanded the financial crisis into a general economic one. In the end it was an absolute disaster... however a temporary one. After merely two years the situation reached its deepest point, and after four years it started improving. However, it was already too late for many countries. And even then, Earth didn't reach its pre-war production level (and GDP) until around 2160.

Autumn of Nations starts

2145, Worldwide

Autumn of Nations was the result of the process that continued on ever since the end of the Culturcide. One long-term enough for most to not notice it. With the World Wide Web increasingly fragmented and a revival of national cultures, majority of the countries got increasingly decentralized. Culturally, that is, as the political changes failed to adapt to that properly. As a result for example Gasconians or Occitanians saw themselves as French to only a limited a degree, and one secondary in standing to their regional identity. The process finally reach its conclusion in the aftermath of the Fourth World War, as the powers of the world weakened to the point where suppressing separatist movements that seem to show up anywhere was simply impossible. The result was the Autumn of Nations that successfully sunk numerous old countries, replacing them with vastly more numerous (and small) countries, their borders often set accordingly to the borders of relatively small cultural differences. This process was long-termly beneficial, as it successfully quelled majority of military adventurism, as countries were simply too small to achieve a lot on that field. However the collapse went too far, and many fragmented regions ended up reorganizing themselves as a form of various, often large, federation or confederations - each of them typically incorporating minicountries of vastly different political and economic system. Such federations were by necessity decentralized and with extremely limited central governance. In a way, the significant part of Mankind returned politically to the times of feudalism. But with typically democratically elected feudals.

United States Dissolve

2146, North America

The Great Crash was the final nail to the United States' coffin. With the US bankrupted and the economy skydiving, the socialist riots escalated into frequent clashes between the remnants of military and various militias (socialist, fascists, libertarian, secessionist etc.) armed with heavy weaponry. Rather than start regular civil war that would last for years, the president and the Congress announced the dissolution of the United States and called the warring groups to cease the on-going violence and instead decide the future via regional elections. Said elections continued for next four years and happened in parallel to (slowly fading away) violence. It wasn't easy, but eventually the regular civil war was averted. The result of the dissolution was creation of two-digit number of lesser countries, raging from neosocialist eco-utopias to anarchocapitalist oligarchies, with countries resembling old United States in the middle. The resulting political entities include the Socialist Republic of California, and Cascadian Socialist Federation in the West, with the Republic of Texas and reborn Eastern United States in the East. Unlike many other countries falling apart in the aftermath of the Fourth World War, United States of America had mostly adapted to the growing regionalisms, making it mostly unaffected by the Autumn of Nations. Its collapse was mostly caused by different factors, though the regionalisms certainly didn't help the US Government.

Iron Pact Collapses

2146, Western Europe

Pact was slowly dismantled internally by the internal dissent for years before the outbreak of the Fourth World War. Times changed since Delacroix and Hauser reigned supreme, their remorseless and heavy-handed approach keeping the Pact's population in line with a combination of fear and ideology. Leadership of the Pact was slowly losing contact with Reality and its population was losing any sort of cohesiveness, with more and more people merely paying lip service to the dominant neofascist ideology. When it went to war, it was like the old Warsaw Pact few years before its dissolution. Giant on paper, with massive army and reserves - but a giant slowly broken by corruption and death of its ideological basis. Its leadership still believed in the ideals, at least mostly. But its contact with reality was... incidental. Numerous battles were lost because the the leadership failed to understand that a single Pact's division is worth half of what it was worth two decades earlier. Massive wartime casualties were the last straw. When Pact's defeat in the war become apparent, riots broke in almost all major cities of the Iron Pact. Some of them were brutally suppressed by police and military units still loyal to the government. In other cities the rioters were suprised to see the police, army or even the political police members join them. The downfall of Iron Pact was certain from the very second the Fourth World War ended. The Autumn of Nations merely helped guide the results. Four months later the last vestiges of the Iron Pact disappeared from Earth. Former territories of France, Germany, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Nederlands and Belgium were divided between sixty-seven internationally recognized countries. Thirty more failed to be internationally recognized due to being too radical or weak. Regional warfare of typically low intensity lasted until 'merely' fifty-five countries survived (including none of the previously non-recognized), their political ideologies scattered along the entire spectrum. The Iron Pact's territory was limited to its enclaves in the Jupiter subsystem, where the remaining loyalists and old government evacuated hastily.

Third Russian Civil War

2147-2151, Russia

Following a series of failed coups and barely suppressed regional revolutions, the Soviet Union is finally decapitated when slightly better group of revolutionaries storms the govermental buildings and summarily executed majority of the Union's leadership. The result is an another civil war, though much shorter and less bloody than the past two (due to country being too decimated to field significant armed forces). Soon four major groups emerge. Resurgent neocommunists, claiming that the recent disaster was due to incompetent and weak socialist government. Socialists and socialists-democrats, who were technically the 'legal' governments or at leasts its remains. Market democrats, seeking a political system more akin to the APD'. And the tzarists, who were radical reactionaries (and highly religious, with the orthodox faith undergoing major resurgence for few decades) seeing all the civil wars and lost wars as God's punishment for communism, socialism and godlessness that the Russia fell into. What decided the war was the compromise between the democrats and the tzarists, and the former Russian Republic supporting the resulting coalition. With communists and socialists fighting ferociously with each other, the result was the total defeat of both groups. In the aftermath of the war, the Russian Empire was 'restored'. It wasn't an absolute monarchy, as the Emperors were 'merely' heads of the military and law enforcement, while acting as the head of state. Numerous vaguely democratic checks on the emperor's power were established, but the market democrats failed to make them work in the long-term. The end result was a slightly more clear and less oligarchic Russian Federation with nominally monarchic leadership and numerous actually autonomous regions - a movement which helped mostly quell the still developing Russian regionalism. The Empire was, however, too devastated by recent wars and remained mostly isolationist.

Solar System Splits

2147-2152, Solar System

With Earth in post-war turmoil, the extraterrestrial colonies were forced to stand on their own. At this point, population of Mars and Moon counted in millions - both relatively self-sufficient, and capable of further growth as long as they possessed access to asteroid mines and the ability to trade the ore with Earth in exchange for various goods that couldn't be (or couldn't be yet) produced in sufficient quantities in colony. Unsurprisingly, talks about going fully independent grew in intensity with every new revolt and riot shattering their Earth' homelands. First Martian colony announced independence from their Earthbound 'owner' in 2147. By 2148 both Mars and Moon were essentially independent. By 2149 - due to needs of rather ascetic colonial lifes and to increase their own political power when negotiating with Earth - both Republic of Mars and United Lunar Republic were proclaimed. Both the Union colony on Venus and Pact strongholds among the Jupiter moon go similar way. Jupiter decides itself to be sole successor of the ideals of the Iron Pact, essentially inheriting the name. Venusian atmospheric habitats were soon united under the Free Republic of Venus, a combination between another bid for 'democratic socialism paradise' and free love Las Vegas of Solar System. Asteroid Belt and rights to many other asteroids were essentially privatized, together with a sizeable part of crumbling space fleets of various collapsing nations. This move - while it was necessary to offer the newly rising political entities some manner of economic stability - has caused lasting enmity between them and at least some of Earth countries.

Visehrad Alliance Declines

2147, Central-Eastern Europe

The end of the was a disaster for the Visehrad Alliance. The APD lost (or at least failed to win). Global economy was in shambles, and the debts decimated the Visehrad' economy and finances. The Visehrad's power declined significantly. In fact, the Alliance would probably collapse after few years, but recreation of the Russian Empire and the mess in the western Europe reminded the members of why the alliance was useful for them. While no territory seceeded, the VA lost its internal cohesiveness. Economic treaties with outside countries began being sign without caring about the Alliance' opinion. The heated debates about many issues (regionalist decentralization or centralization, role of religion in politics, smaller ethnic groups and their representation etc.) have further weakened the Alliance. In the end it lost its ability to play in the first league of the international politics for a longer while. Twenty-five years later the process of member-states regionalist dissolution went so far that the Alliance de facto become a confederation of federations. This also ensured the political dissolution of the Alliance for the Preservation of Democracy, as the Visehrad was the only major member of it that has survived more or less intact. With it unable to project its power outside of its own borders, there was no one over which the remains of the APD could gravitate towards.

Western Europe Reunites

2149-2150, Western Europe

The former european territories of the Pact have broke hard. Too hard, in fact, to remain like that for long. Countries were too small, their mutual politics too complicated. The result was the drive for a limited form of unification, one that would leave the european countries with as far autonomy as possible while establishing a necessary political framework for the day-to-day cooperation between them. There was also the part about rebuilding and attempting to organize a non-neofascist form of government where few people really knew anything else. The result was an establishment of the European Sympolity, a loose association of numerous smaller, regional communities with their political systems ranging from socialism to libertarianism and with everything in-between. The Sympolity lacked cohesiveness necessary for imperialistic politics, and was generally fairly content with just existing. Its decentralization went so far that the Sympolity failed to establish anything resembling a joint ground army, with only the much more resource-hungry Navy and Airforce being truly joint. The most important result of the European Sympolity's establishment was the stabilization of the region. While post-Iron Pact clean-up was going to take a decade more, the process could finally start properly. What's more, with the Polity placed where it was, the Visehrad was no longer mostly 'landlocked', opening new options for its long-term development.

Bosporus Crusade

2150-2153, Asia Minor/Middle East

Forces of the New Islamic Caliphate were mostly outdated, yet decent numbers and fanaticism are a form of quality on their own. During the Fourth World War it has succeeded in overwhelming the United Shia Republic. Its betrayal of the Iron Pact resulted in the melee-a-trois between the Caliphate, Israel and Turkey - that resulted in Turkey's collapse. Caliphate was too tired to take advantage of right away, but things changed. Caliphate's push into the Turkey met with limited resistance and small ammount of internal interest. When the Caliphate attempted to seize the Bosporus Straits from the collapsing Socialist Republic of Greece, the Visehrad felt called to the table. The result was the low-intensity war between the two tired powers who really had better things to spend money and people on. It was also the Europe's last religious war, as both sides attempted to boost their soldiers' limited morale with religious motivation (with some successes). The Alliance succeeded in halting the Caliphate's expansion. With the Socialist Republic of Greece collapse, the Visehrad forces were there to ensure the establishment of the Republic of Greece, with its political system resembling the one of many Alliance' members. During the next ten years, the entire Balkans become part of the rather anemic Visehrad's sphere of influence. The war wasn't finished, as in the year 2152 a part of the European Sympolity decided to send reinforcements to the on-going Visehrad's war effort. The result is the creation of the Republic of Western Turkey, a de facto protectorate of the Visehrad (with Polity receiving various trade benefits on the Black Sea in return). The war is finally ended in 2153, when the Russian Empire and the Greater State of Israel joined the war, in a similar low-intensity way as the rest of the participants. Israel seized majority of Syriac Coast and the Cyprus, establishing itself as a dominant power over the entire Levantine Coast. Russian Empire strenghtened its grip over the Caucasus muslims (vassalized by the Soviet Union before the Fourth World War) and establishing its protectorate over the Georgia and Armenia. While the Bosporus Crusade seemed like a reactivation of old imperialistic politics of the local powers, it was in fact their death throes. The war was fought with a splinter of pre-Fourth World War military power, with armies at least partially composed of local sympathizers armed in outdated equipment that was merely taking up space in the arsenals. It also failed to break the Caliphate, who underwent a period of major internal reforms at least partially due to humiliation it received during the war.

North American Trade Union established

2152, North America

The collapse of the United States paved the way for a large number of countries to emerge - it also succeeded in replacing relatively united US economy with a complicated maze of anarchocapitalist, libertarian, market liberal, democratic socialist, socialist and neocommunist economies. Numerous regions fell into poverty not because of the Solar Crash but because their neighbours switched into an utterly different form of economy, severing crucial economic relations. Something had to be done with that. The result was an establishment of the North American Trade Union. It was originally a trade treaty, establishing a legal framework on the basis of each post-United States countries agreed to open their borders for the trade and cooperate during the recovery from the effects of the Solar Crash. It evolved into a defensive alliance against threats from outside of the former United States territory' following the 2154's shortlived Cascadian War that saw the Cascadian Socialist Federation clash with the Socialist Republic of Canada over border incidents. As the regionalist principles grew in strength among its population, the NATU was slowly centralizing and becoming a much more politically diverse and decentralized United States of old. It was never truly united, and member-states retained ability for some foreign relationships and treaties. It was possible mostly due to how abnormal US situation truly was, as single of its' regions' was several times larger than the largest one from the European Polity or the Visehrad Alliance.

Treaty of Phobos signed

2153, Solar System

While the extraterrestrial colonies recently proclaimed independence from their Earthbound-metropolies, their situation was precarious. The powers of Earth were in decline, but the entire process was still a secession, at least partially done to avoid being forced to pay the price for the war. Earth's governments were utterly furious. In order to safeguard themselves from any reconquests attempts, the extraterrestrial colonies decided to sign an anti-Earth and anti-Iron Pact's Jupiter enclave coalition treaty. The result was the Treaty of Phobos. Besides organizing a coalition directed at the two potential enemies, the treaty regulated the diplomatic, economic and political relations between the United Lunar Republic, Federation of Mars and Venusian Republic. It also served as a basis for intense negotiations with terran governments, with their recognition of colonial independence being the goal. From the history's point of view, the Treaty of Phobos was merely the prologue to a much more important Treaty of Deimos that followed after few years.

Iron Pact collapse

2155, Solar System

While the Alliance and Union ceased to exist after the war end, the remains of the Iron Pact technically still existed. Its goverments and remaining loyal element of its secret police, military and law enforcement (together with their families) has mostly relocated to the Iron Pact's colonies in the Jupiter Subsystem. Due to their numbers, this process reached its conclusions in year 2154, eight years after the officiall end of the terran' Iron Pact. Few months later a coup occured, and the Iron Pact was officially replaced by the Jovian Coalition. Coalition was a democratic republic that was interested in following the Pact's policy of militarism and roughly fascist internal politics, but without its imperialism and with no political enemies left to persecute. The Coalition signed the Treaty of Phobos in 2156, essentially joining the mainstream extraterrestrial human politics. With its internal politics mostly isolationists, it took other countries a while to start suspecting that there was no coup. The Jovian Coalition was, essentially, a rebranding on the Iron Pact, with all ties to its horrible past gently swept aside.

Gabriel Newman announces creation of an FTL drive

2156, Solar System

In the general chaos of the years following the Fourth World War, a certain event remained almost unnoticed. In year 2156 Gabriel Newman, a largely self-taught astrophysicist and a starship engineer by trade, has announced creation of a working FTL drive. Majority of the reactions are, of course, laughter. It's seen as nothing more but one more parascience and an attempt to gather mody. To a surprise of absolutely no one, Newman launched fundraising efforts on numerous webpages, in order to construct a ship capable of reaching the edge of the Solar System in order to properly 'test' the Newman's Drive. Through his personal charisma and some viral memes Newman succeeds in gathering sufficient ammount of money to - after seeling majority of his possessions - launch the construction of the Discovery. The complete bankruptcy doesn't happen to him, as once the ship's construction was confirmed, Newman received further funding - mostly from various people that decided that Gabriel apparently seriously believes in his drive, which should make the failure of his attempt into something worthwhile. This allows the Discovery to be finished (despite some setbacks) within three years.

Second Orbital Crisis

2158, Solar System

When the colonies throughout Solar System went independent, they seized a sizeable amount of interplanetary 'traffic'. It was a sensible move, as most of the major Earth countries lost (temporarily) the capability to sustain their own ships. Earth's orbit was mostly underdeveloped due to threats of orbital bombardment and political problems surrounding such development, making the competing powers of Earth focus their space presence on bases away from Earth. However, this act of theoretical space piracy caused a lasting enmity, only worsened by the secession of the colonies. The Second Orbital Crisis happened when the Treaty of Phobos signatories reacted badly to the gossips of the new ships being constructed on the orbit being military ones, assembled by Terran countries with action against the rebellious colonies in mind. The end result was a fleet sortie to Earth orbit which almost sparked a war. It was narrowly averted, mostly due to the 'Phobosians' deciding to back down (as war between several planets, but with at best 7-8 million people, and one planet, but with close to 7 billion people, could end only in one way). This event, together with how easy it was for the colonies to bombard Earth (and how hard it was for Earth to respond to that) forced the Earth to the negotiation table. The results were visible almost immediately.

Treaty of Deimos

2158, Solar System

Following the theme of negotiating and signing the treaty in an otherwise unimportant moons (that then are used to name said treaties), a Treaty of Deimos is signed. Visehrad Alliance, European Sympolity, Russian Empire, North American Trade Union, East Asian Treaty, Chinese Federation, Republic of India, Federative Republic of Brazil, New Islamic Caliphate, and a number of smaller countries and organizations (like the Greater Israeli Republic or the Southeast Asia Trade Zone) recognize the independence of the Free Republic of Venus, Republic of Mars, United Lunar Republic and the Jovian Republic. It wasn't a cheap independence. Significant part of the seized ships was to be returned to their countries of origin. Massive reparations were to be paid for the planetary infrastructure taken over by the colonists - however with low yearly interest rates set to no more than 5% of the colonies' expenses. In exchange, countries of Earth officially relinquished their rights to every permanent settlement and installation in the Solar System beyond the Earth's orbit. First talks about creating a successor to the Council of Nations (which lost its entire authority after the collapse of the Alliance for the Preservation of Democracy) began during the Deimos conference, however they failed to lead anywhere. The progress was visible, and so was the international interest in such a thing being created.

Blackout

2160. Solar System

Discovery, the ship of Gabriel Newman with his 'experimental FTL propulsion system' reaches its desired location at the far end of the Solar System. Many people watch it through the telescopes and other sensors, if only to be able to watch the rather significant failure of what is commonly seen as a bunch of parascientific nuts flying a very complicated machinery to the very edge of Solar System. To surprise of almost everyone systemwide, rather than an explosion or humiliating silence, the onlookers end up seeing the Discovery suddenly vanish from the sensors in a cloud of high temperature visible on the thermal scanners (but much too low to be an explosion). Before the nearby research ship can scramble to investigate, a Blackout occurs. Every single human being Systemwide loses consciousness for several minutes. While people afflicted by it woke up without any side-effects, it is estimated that fifty-two thousand people die or suffered severe injuries. This happened due to doctors fainting during surgeries, falling off the ledge they happened to leaning on as the Blackout struck, vehicle accidents etc. When the Blackout ended, people became aware of the presence of the Sidhe fleet in the Solar System. This started a few weeks long nervous stand-off which concluded with establishing communication with the aliens, who claim to not be responsible for the Blackout and being as surprised by their presence in the Solar System as its native inhabitants. Around the sam time, Discovery returns to the Solar System with data confirming that they reached another star system. Despite claiming it to be Alpha Centauri, the data doesn't line up to astronomic data of the system. This discrepancy is answered some time later, where it's discovered that none of the nearby systems fit the pre-Blackout data.

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