Entropia Universe/Storyline: Difference between revisions

As interplanetary travel grew the space frontier quickly shrunk because it was limited to the inner boundaries of the solar system and the early ways of space travel. New resources became rare and conflicts between rival corporations grew more violent in their desperate struggle to claim any new resources. The fear of a global economical collapse due to a slow stagnation of the interplanetary market, and the threat of an open armed conflict between the leading national corporations would soon compel Mankind to find ways to reach even deeper into space, far beyond their own solar system. To solve the growing economical problems the leading global forces within politics, market and science moved together to embark on the greatest enterprise in human history: the Odysseus Project. As this huge endeavor was set into motion the gathered forces within this new global body also took the final step towards a world union. Though the market industry was to be the main beneficiary from the Odysseus Project, the public also had to be convinced that they were part taking in a great historical enterprise as well. Many conservative emerging nations worried that they could be left out so the plan to increase the industrialization and knowledge of space would also include a mission to expand the whole human civilization beyond its own solar system and to secure the survival of Mankind in the future. This would be Mans Greatest Quest". Taking advantage of a project of such a grand scale it was used to give a feeling of new hope to the world, and calm the masses. As a result the New World Project was founded along side the Odysseus Project and its main goal was to find a new planet in a nearby solar system that could sustain human life. But to send humans beyond their own solar system and directly into the unknown infinite voids of space was still too dangerous. The journey was far too long, the search extremely difficult and the construction of life-supporting spacecraft made the enterprise both technologically and financially crippling. Instead combined efforts and resources were focused on the development of new technology, such as the Jump Rail, Shield Generators and the creation of Antimatter. The first step towards the development of teleportation technology was the invention of a linear way of teleportation using a construction called a Jump Rail, which was capable of sending matter light-years away straight across space. However, construction and usage was extremely costly and the journey far too inaccurate and risky to be of any real practical use. The amount of material, special constructions and energy consumption needed to create a Jump Gate were not available at the time to make it viable. With the creation of antimatter and prototype antimatter reactors it was possible to construct the first functional Jump Rail, though it was still far from practical. The mere fact that the Jump Rail would be torn apart by the violent forces released at each launch did not help its case. For a vessel to survive the immense stress of a launch it seemed natural to focus on the construction of small , compact vessels. The first tests were performed on so called nanoships, and even though the stress tests proved minimal during launch, the smaller vessels did not survive the actual journey. These tests proved that the target matter needed to be contained within a powerful energy field to prevent its atoms from dissolving. As a result the technological development of energy shields also took a step forward. All new technology at this early stage of development was quite crude in both size and functionality. The task required a vessel with a much larger and sturdier hull, allowing it to be equipped with all the devices needed as well as the massive surrounding construction that could emit a stable energy field to protect it. Worried about loosing political momentum the new global political body changed project requirements so that all the new bulky equipment would have enough space onboard the new vessels: the giant Odysseus Probe. A total of seven large Odysseus probes were assembled on orbital space stations. Jump Rails was then used to launch the probes into space towards carefully selected planetary star systems in the galaxy. These star systems had proved to be the most suitable candidates according to prior astrological research with the most advanced space telescopes and equipment. The probes had to be completely self-reliant and were therefore equipped with the most advanced and expensive technology available at that time. Each probe was controlled by a virtually sentient AI quantum super computer, which made the probe capable of its own progressive development and self-reproduction. The AI had several objectives and two primary missions. One was to find and utilize new resources, launch new probes and prepare a communication network for Mankind in space. The second mission was to find a planet capable to sustain human life and initiate a terra-formation to prepare it for human colonization. When a probe had reached its target destination it launched drones to make a survey of all nearby stellar constellations, in search of potential resources to exploit in order to continue its own reproduction and primary mission directives. When enough data have been gathered on a potential planet the probe would send down a Base Matrix that was to land on a strategic place on the planet, set up a base platform and begin to construct it's own robots. Well adapted to the environment these robots would in turn find and extract necessary resources from the surrounding areas and produce material to build new facilities. To expand the base and increase its technological capabilities, the Odysseus probe would monitor the progress to a certain point before it would continue its journey towards a new destination. The base would continue to expand and eventually launch a new generation of Odysseus Probes into space to continue the primary missions. The further development of Quantum Technology led to the construction of the first functional teleportation units, which allowed all matter to travel virtually instantly from one place to another. It also meant that organic matter could be transferred from one point to another, creating an instant form of human travel. From being just scientific experiments the new technology needed stronger financial support from the market to reach up to the next levels of development. The Global Alliance saw a great potential in the system and financed the next step in the development: the creation of the first global teleportation network. With financial benefits in mind the scientists introduced the idea of creating an open doorway through space that would save a lot of travel time between colonies and remote outposts. Since the large "Quantum Leap Generators" in each system required vast amounts of energy to function it ultimately led to the increased research and development of antimatter reactors and refineries. With practical and profitable use in mind the technology would later be used to create the first operational Space Gates in the future. All Odysseus Probes had been built and launched within the period of a decade. During this time the newly formed global alliance had to deal with arising conflicts in order to protect their goals towards a unified world. But with new technology at their fingertips the alliance was able to end all major conflicts as quickly as they arose, and not always by the use of force. To add more strength to their agenda they made the teleportation technology available to the open market. When teleportation became the new way of public transportation it made daily trips and global travel quick, easy and available to everyone. As a result the national borders begun to gradually fade away and merge together, increasing the human tolerance and slowly erasing the cultural barriers that had kept mankind apart. Ethnical groups, political factions and a strong sense of cultural heritage still remained within human society but as Earth was becoming one world it was each individuals affiliation to one of the growing global mega-corporations, which replaced the old human view of having different nationalities on Earth. Meanwhile the people on the expanding interplanetary colonies gradually became more socially integrated, slowly forming a stronger bond to each other and the planet they lived on.

The people of Earth were about to unite under one single form of leadership. But the corporations were growing weary from waiting for the new resources and profits that the Odysseus probes would bring them. After nearly a decade there had still been no response from any of the Odysseus Probes and people feared that the probes had been destroyed. With each year passing by without a message from any of the probes the conflicts in space increased and before long escalated into corporation wars. The battles took place in space far away from Earth where the Global Alliance had no means of control. With the lack of response from the Odysseus Probes and the brewing conflicts in space beginning to spread to the Mars colony, it increased the official demand for answers as well as the need for new leadership. Scientists came up with the conclusion that the probes had been caught in some sort of a temporary abnormality that became known as a Time Flux, probably due to the form of travel provided by the use of Jump Rails. Half teleported and half travelling at several times the speed of light it would change the reality of time from both standpoints. What would appear like a short moment of travel for each probe could pass by like ages for the people back on Earth. Still, it was only a matter of time before the project command central would receive the first signal of arrival from one of the Odysseus Probes. In the meantime corporation conflicts had to be dealt with using a stronger power than what could be issued out by the Global Alliance. The Global Alliance was determined to take control of the situation before the conflicts escalated on Mars and stop them before they could spread to the Lunar Colony and finally the Earth itself. To gain enough power to take action the Global Alliance gathered to form a whole new government. This new form of leadership would gain political power to rule the Earth, including all the planets in the solar system and all regions of space in-between them. But most important, it would also stretch as far as human civilization went, no matter how far away into space it would take Mankind. The Federal Empire of Earth had been born. The newly formed Federal Empire used political tactics and increased mobile military capabilities in space to gain control over the interplanetary colonies. This was done in order to prevent the corporation wars spreading down to solid ground and into populated areas. Time was short and the Federal Empire wished to put an end to the corporation wars before the first signals from the Odysseus Probes were received. The first elected Supreme Imperial Chancellor did not intend to give the corporations the chance to slip away and take their conflicts with them to any new colonies in the future front regions of space. When the corporations lost control of the public markets their armed conflicts quickly came to an end. For a short time the corporations thought about forming their own alliance, which threatened to turn against the Federal Empire in an attempt to overthrow its new government. However, during the very same period the first signals from one of the Odysseus Probes reached Earth. The growing threat from the corporations quickly faded away as they turned their interest towards the new potential resources that were beginning to emerge across space. This first signal was the start of a new age in the history of Mankind: the era of interstellar travel and conquest.