I just realized that last post was not a conclusion at all... silly me. Okay I am really going to finish it this time.
2552: The retooling of the Terran sciences from purely botanical and bilogical sciences to defense systems has taken nearly full effect. Though the vast bulk of Terran development is still devoted to the restoration of the planet, the nanomachines have proven themselves more than capable of shepharding the planets forests with minimal human intervention - and the most iminent of threats looms just across the oceans. A Terran scientist by the name of Allen Ridgely develops the first true energy shield, a system using oscillating pulse frequencies on several different levels to use the construcitve interference from the patterns to create a coherent - that is, solid - barrier that can be projected from the emitter. Because the frequencies are harmless unless focused, the shield can be directed to expand or collapse, and humans can walk through the space between emitter and barrier freely. Still, because the technology is largely unknown - and many see it as dangerous - it is rarely used for many years, until the physics behind it are better understood, and the peculiar wavelengths used are proven to be harmless unless combined.
2557: Another major technological breakthrough occurs, this one contributed by a scientist named Jennifer Kornac - the first reliable and effiecient method for antimatter generation. Largely powered by the massive geothermal units underneath the fifteen remaining Terran superdomes, the new antimatter technology quickly becomes the primary choice for powering outposts and smaller cities - virtually eliminating the Terran's previous dependence on solar power and refined hydrogen for these smaller outposts. This allows for much more powerful defensive systems, and these are implemented across Terran territories in the next five years. The Splicers, who until now did not see their overly idealistic relations as much of a threat, now take a great notice, and begin to generate their own army of genetically engineered creatures, who they refer to as the Scourers, or the Crusaders, or simply the warriors. The Terrans will in later years come to refer to them as the Blight, or the Uglies (or other derogatory names or phrases), or the Drones.
2575: The Terrans begin construction on their largest project yet - the underwater city of Atlantis, beneath the north polar ice cap. Finally having advanced their energy shield technology to the point where building an underwater city is possible, they decide to take advantage of it. Atlantis, however, is constructed to be far more than simply an astehtic accomplishment. The city will be the first to utilize several brand new and theoretical technologies that have been developed since the unoffical cold war began with their Homo sapiens parabellum "brethren". Among them are a new and potent but extremely energy hungry shield system, designed not only to be able to hold back the massive water pressure at the bottom of the Arctic sea, but to withstand any assault the Splicers could mount - theoretically. It will also be the first of the terran fortress cities - not only defended by domes and shields, but massively powerful energy and magnetic cannon, as well as a modification of the age old supercollider technology, referred to as the Relativistic Heavy Ion Cannon. Atlantis will originally support only one of the massive weapons, though this will change in the furture as the technology is scaled down and refined. ((More in the Terran Technology page))
2579: The splicers, using a modified form of shark, have stumbled upon the Atlantis program - and they are not happy about it. The prospect of their only enemies having a fortress city more than capable of standing up to anything they might engineer does not sit well with the ruling Trimvirate, and the first full scale attack is launched against the construction crews stationed in domes and tunnels in the ice above. The Terrans, using their air and space superiority, are able to anticipate the attack, and it is repelled, though the Atlantis project suffers several severe setbacks - the main scaffold supporting the central dome is destroyed, and the weakened shielding system causes collapses throughout the city.
2580: It has become apparent that the shields require far more power than even the antimatter systems can provide. To combat this, a young scientist named Johnathan Altair steps up with a new plan, referred to in later years as the Geospire. A massive shaft dug by nanomachine and shield projecting robots more than six miles into the earth, and a still mysterious technology implanted to draw power from the earth never before dreamed of. Even in the present (2755) the technology behind the Spire is not understood, though the power output it can draw upon seems unlimited. The new power source takes twenty years of construction, though Johnathan never lives to see its completion - he is killed in a Splicer attack one year before the Spire is completed. The system is still completed however from preprogrammed instructions in the nanomachines, and the construction of Atlantis moves rapidly after that. The full fortress city is completed in 2607, and modifications to reinforce the rest of the Terran cities (which have been occuring since midway through the Spire project) are completed three years later. The Splicers attack several more cities, and there are Terran losses - two more of the fifteen cities (Madagascar and Isis City in former Libya) fall to assault during the rebuilding efforts. Attacks on the completed cities, however, are a miserable failure, and open hostilities cease not long after.
2615: With open war no longer in effect, the way of things returns to a state of high tension between the two powers on Terra. Bothsides continue to refine their military technology, the Splicer creating bigger and more vicious mutants, creatures no longer at all human - usually four legged, with blades on their arms and legs and massive claws and teeth, thick hides of a material stronger even the chitin, nearly totally bulletproof and resistant to all elements. The Terrans continue to refine their defenses, shield technology contines to improve, and energy weapons advance to the point of being able to blast chunks from mountains in seconds. Two massive, floating cities, Valhalla and Castella, are constructed from similar technology to Atlantis, though on a smaller scale, and serve as the forward outposts for the Terran militaries. But in 2643, the most interesting Terran devlelopment yet occurs...
2643: The Terrans have suspected for a long time that there was something more than just desperation driving their rapid advancement in technology, and in May, this becomes even more apprent - the first true and documented case of telepathy. Not a rumor, disbelieved by many, a girl named Jessie Reynolds, a nephew of Johnathan Altair, is proven beyond all doubt to be able to read and in some case even influence the thoughts of those around him. The first documented case of telekinesis follows only three years later, in a six year old by named Kenneth Vircyn. After the initial bafflement, the gifted children are seen to be something of a natural mutation, a chance evolution of the human race - but this is not so. Over the next twenty years nearly one in ten children born show signs of some sort of mental power by the age of six, and one in five by the age of 16. The percentages increase slowly as the years progress, though this is slow and not noticed until years later. The most puzzling thing to the Terran researchers, however, which becomes apparent years later, is that this does not seem to be a genetic occurance. Identical twins can be born where only one twin has the power, it is actually more frequent that fraternal twins will share the ability than identical ones. Couples where both parents have an ability, or even the same ability, can have a child with none, or the other way around. At first, these 'psi' humans, Homo sapiens intendere, as they are called, spark a certain amount of jealousy and suspicion in the 'normal' population. Before the genetic nonconnection is discovered, many suspect they could be planted by the Splicers, reults of genetic expirimentation by Splicers or rogue Humans, and it becomes common for a psi to hide their ability. The Splicers, however, discover the gifted humans almost by chance in a raid on an outpost where one human demonstrates the ability to throw objects at great speed - without touching them. This sparks a great interest in people of this sort, and the war begins anew, but this time the Splicers have a new purpose - isolate the gene mutation granting this power, and use it for their own. The terrans this time, however, are almost entirely taken by surprise at the sudden size of the army, and using burrowers, the Solicers escape the watchful eyes of Haven - the terran space city - and aircraft ((I should note at this time that the Terrans could have used their antimatter or even nuclear weapons to destroy the Splicers, but their unwillingness to harm the planet so that has stayed their hand - it is the knowledge that they have done this that makes Terrans so infuriating to the Splicers.)).
2648: The major attacks by the Splicers on human outposts has left most of the population shocked, and where there was once suspicion towards the psi humans, now there is a sort of pity. It is rapidly learned that these humans ar ebeing targeted, and the new Splicer drones are far to strong for a human to take with only handheld weapons - should the shielding of any outpost be breached, the battle is lost. The thirteen supercities, however, all manage to survive the onslaughts through their massive shields, though many humans begin evacuating to Atlantis from the outer cities - the war starts to turn badly on the terrans, who can only watch as the nature they fought so hard to restore is taken by their enemies. Nearly every Terran base on Africa or Europe is lost, leaving only the cities on the Americas, and on Paradise. A new technology again hits the Terran military, however, and the war starts to take another turn...
2650: The rise of the Terran powered armor suit begins here. These new exoskeletons can make a human being more than a match for the vicious drones, and so the Terrans begin to slowly regain their lost ground. The victorise come at a heavy price, however - the first supercity, the one that saw so many through what now is remembered as the Cataclysm, falls to an assault. Paradise is destroyed by a massive attack force of drones and genetically engineered monsters. The loss of so many, and their first city, shocks many Terrans to the core, and some descend into despair. The resolve, however, remains, and again Terran technology rises to meet the monsters their former cousins created.
2654: The first mecha is created, to the adoration of many children who have seen them in cartoons or stories since time imemmorial. The first unit is known as the Tempest, and stands seven meters high, weighing nearly forty tons. While its combat effectiveness pales in many situations compared to the much more agile armored suits, which are now in their third generation models, the Terran Titans are seen as something of a beacon - especially when the land that was once Paradise is retaken by a combined force of mecha and armor in 2656. Both forms of battle technology advance nearly together after this point, growing together rather than apart - the mecha supporting the armor with heavy firepower, and the armor moving in the smaller spaces and keeping the quick drones from getting in too close for the mecha to fire on.
2657: Reconstruction of Paradise begins, and with it, the second generation of Terran domed cities. All thirteen of the cities are nearly rebuilt, and the entire military is pulled back to support the effort. Atlantis also undergoes a massive overhaul, and though the Splicers do send an attack force to test its defenses for the first time since its completion, the assault is repelled without a single Terran casualty, and marks what seems to be the last attempt at the original - and still most powerful, thanks to the Spire - Terran city. Though Atlantis shows up little in history after its creation, since the Splicers avoid it at all costs, it has been the site of most of the technological developments since it was created, and nearly ever human on the city has at least low level telepathy - one thing that makes the massive fortress run so smoothly - even if it is still unexplained. Along with all the rebuilding, a third floating fortress-city is constructed, named New Avalon in memory of the fallen first floating city. Avalon boasts all the latest innovations, some even Atlantis does not posess, three next generation RHI cannons, three piers for launching the Defiant class attack ships, capable of submerging and of launching fighters and assault craft, as well as the newest in shielding and point defense weaponry.
2670-2734: For eighty years, war rages on and off, with ground being traded between the sides nearly every time, but the balance of power seems perfectly in check - the Terrans incredible technology, their new A-12 Centurion armor, the latest and by far the most potent weapons system, and the AM-78 Druid combat mecha more than enough to defend the humans against even the overwhelming numbers of the cloned enemies, but unable to push very far into the almost hivelike land of the Splicers, honeycombed with passages where new and nastier drones and other creatures roam freely about underground, stopped only by Terran barriers set up underground to prevent them. A new power source, the deuterium power cell, is developed in 2694 to replace the outdated antimatter generators, which though have never had a meltdown, there have been several close calls, especially in the aging systems. The Power Cells prove extremely stable and provide a slightly greater amount of power, while being far smaller and less dangerous. The Splicers continue to engineer creatures for assaults in all environments, massive, hulking creatures to combat the terran mecha, and the list goes on. By 2750, neither side seems capable of gaining any ground, both too far entrenched for either side to make a push - an odd sort of 28th century rendition of the First World War, casualties mounting but no ground to gain, a no man's land stretching a hundred miles between lines, located just east of Germany and circling around Europe, the only continent apart from the Americas where the Terrans maintain a presence even through all the wars - it's proximity to Atlantis being too important, there are already quite enough places in northern Russia for their enemies to stage attacks on Atlantis from, and the humans have no desire to give them yet another front.
2734: The Splicers make the first move to break the stalemate. East Germany is hit with a force numbering in the billions, the brand new supercity of New Berlin being the primary target. Unprepared for the sudden assault, and the newly demonstrated ability of the Splicers to break through the underground barrier systems, that have been in place for decades, New Berlin falls in only a few days - millions are lost, and only a few hundred survivors make it back to Atlantis. The Terran retaliation comes in its most potent form - the first use of their antimatter as a weapon. the fallen city of New Berlin is leveled along with a five square kilometer area of the planet, leaving nothing but a blackened scar where the newest Splicer hive was forming, meant to steal their own technology. The war halts almost in shock by both sides at the display. The Splicers now realize just what they are going to have to face, and the Terrans find themselves having to do something they swore they would never do. The planet may have to suffer to be free of these warped... former people. Though the land is again theirs, Berlin is never again rebuilt, nor do the plants there ever regrow - a memorial to the destructcion they too are capable of. Their darkness...
2755: The present. The wars have again started, after about twenty years of rebuilding, rest, and mostly rearming. The war is on the brink of starting again, and more viciously than ever before - after the Berlin incident, the Splicers know that if the Humans are not destroyed rapidly, not only will their growing psychic abilities (Now one in every three children has the gift, still a minority but an ever growing one, and a very few children have been born whose powers are without precedent - strong enough to crush enemies with their minds, or force them into actions despite all reisistance. While there are only a few, maybe five, children with such power, they are observed very carefully - such power holds as much danger as it does promise) pose a problem, but should the Terrans decide to go all out with their antimatter, the war will not be a long one anyway. Both sides have new soldiers, the terran A-13 Advent armor and AM-83B Arsenal mecha in all their gleaming glory and the drones and monsters in all their horror. Both sides belive that this could be the final war, and though it may last years, it must be fought before anyone can live in peace...
...right?
Thats all for the history of Terra. From here on out, it's all unwritten. I have a lot more to write, especially about the armor and the creatures and such, which will hopefully spring from my head and onto the page before very long. But... I hope you all like this history, anyone who reads it. I like to hear what you Strolenites think, because... if I didnt I wouldnt have put this here first, would I? Best group of writers in the world, as far as I am concerned. This world, or any other.
-Kenneth/Arminas ((Yes I named the one kid after me))
P.S.If anyone would like a mostly (I make no promises lest I shoot myself in the foot) typo-free, 14 page version of this, let me know and I'll give it to you. I think Ill be posting it on the main Citidel soon, though.... I'm not sure where to put it I guess, its not really a setting yet just a history of one... the largeness of this undertaking is starting to kit me I think. Ah well. Let me know. I didnt know I had screwed up so many words while writing this until I went back through it, gah....
