Rhapsody

The Gid arrive in the solar system. Their war with Earth lasts four decades and almost ends humanity forever.

The United Nations approves an expedition to Europa, to monitor the movement of Gid near Jupiter. The scientists, linguists, and anthropologists are killed before reaching the world.

Following the destruction of the Europa mission, the Gid find Earth and begin flinging their ships down on major cities in kamikaze attacks.
The constellation of satellites above Earth is destroyed.

The New York, Chicago, and Toronto Militias band together to defend Conroy Hill, site of the largest weapons manufacturing factory in the east. The battle is a turning point for the war on the easter north american theater.

Nick "The Dude" Gonzalez wins the battle of Santa Monica, finally freeing California of any major Gid activity.

The Gid are all but gone from Earth. Humanity has a brief flourishing, rebuilding their old cities and exploring interstellar space.

SOTA is formed on Earth after the Trelor Mining Co., Monkey Wrenches Shipping, and Pertech merged.

Earth fights a series of wars of create a centralized global government.

The First Chancellery is formed by an informal agreement between the militias. It fails fantastically when most militias decide not to join and begin the scramble for Earth.

The North Atlantic Federation is formed. Its capital is New York City. They would be the first attempt on Earth to create a single government.

The Spur of Orion Trading Company creates its own private army called the Stratus Private Security. Their task is to guard trading outposts. It's filled with veterans from the wars on Earth and the rest of the Milky Way, and ex-indentured servants who would rather join than work in mining operations.

DRE is formed from the Chinese-Japanese Militia and opposes the NAF. It holds its status as sole government for only six years then crumbles to civil war. Its capital was Hong Kong.

Adam Graves is named CEO of the Stratus Defense Company.

When DRE falls, a civil war ensues between the joined militias which divide the world into continental zones of influence. Each continent will be ruled by a different government. This system fails due to semantic and ethnic differences on the meaning of a continent.

Out of the civil war, Leo Underhill, a retired general, was nominated to lead the North American block. With backing from SOTA, the 'Feds,' consolidated most of the other blocks except Australia, China, and Russia.

When Leo Underhill is assassinated, the Federation falls apart. SOTA chooses a new ruler with a new system. The Chancellery chose sixteen capitals from every continent (except Antarctica). The system was weak but it worked for many years. Until the Stratus coup, this was Earth's most stable government.

Earth elects a single party to rule under First Citizen Graves. They wage was against the growing influence of Frontier/Solaris. Their anti-Sapien ideology leads to a the genocide of trillions of sentient creatures.

When Frontier takes back Earth, the Stratus are left without leadership and their tsibel supply. The world is divided into manageable portions and reconstructed under Frontier's policies. Although minor fighting continues, eventually Earth is rebuilt better than ever. Part of the solution was sending out the overpopulated citizens into new colonies, funded by Solaris and private investors.

After years of planning, the Republic of Frontier and its allies finally create a plan of attack on Earth that will rid it of Stratus rule. They feign an attack on Kron and instead attack Earth with its massive reserves of tsibel.

Earth is finally incorporated into the Republic as a free state. It joins the senate with considerable influence under the republican system. Although Earth enjoys its greatest period of peace, nationalist movements continue to harass republican forces in small numbers especially in North America and Australia.

When Frontier falls to the Sapien Revolts and is too busy dealing with the War of the Outer Rim, Earth declares independence from the republic. They establish a constitution and choose a President to rule over their new capital of Buenos Aires. This new Earth takes on a non-interference stance when it comes to galactic politics and continues to trade with ex-republican worlds

During the Robot Revolutions, Earth becomes home of the Society of Letters. They hide out in the world while Frontier falls apart but an attack from the Patriot Party causes the eruption of a supervolvano, plunging the world into a volcanic winter. Following this, Sarah cuts off the world from shortspace, leaving the planet stranded for thousands of years.

Rachel Brown and other lawyers draft a constitution for the California Militia which would serve as a first draft tot he City Contract.

The Company is established.

Oren Mortimer discovers a world perfect for human habitation. California funds a mass migration of highly educated, virtually immortal migrants to the planet. Hundreds of cities are planned and built in a decade.

City of Benares is founded. The first borough of the City of Frontier was followed by Cartagena, Kirishima, Montclair, and Freeport in the same year. Benares and The Ghats became the main port for off-world ferries.

The port of Gilgamesh becomes the city of Gilgamesh, the second largest city in Frontier.

Oren Mortimer makes the Yulele Regimen part of Frontier's free universal healthcare, increasing the lifespan of the people of Frontier. Earth lags behind, with billions unable to take Desenilization medication.

UFB is founded with Charles Dawson, Jessica Marquez and David Clarke hugely influential in its initial curriculum. It would go on to become Frontiers most prestigious university.

At Oren Mortimer's death, Frontier's population is at a constant half billion, kept in check by world wide planning and universal birth control. Unplanned children are unheard of in this period. Excess food is sold off world at huge profit for the citizens of Frontier.
Future Secretary Generals would abandon Mortimer's careful planning.

A supernova explosion, long foreseen, finally erupts near the Plorano home world. Thousands of ships flee the destruction and find themselves adrift in space. When a large fleet arrives n Frontier, Mortimer welcomes them and begins the building of Kaukokaipuu, a city built for all Sapien races to come live in Frontier. Lil Plorana is built and becomes a powerful minority in Frontier politics.

The EUF is founded by David Clarke and a dozen other ship builders to create a standard for the building of interstellar ships. The Unions is funded by the city government and partners with several ILLCs like Solaris.

Oren Mortimer becomes Secretary General of the City of Frontier. His four terms become synonimous with a golden age of Frontier when the market was free and growing, cities were beautiful and planned, technology advanced but was never monopolized, and people could be self-reliant. Mortimer and his Cabinet (known as the Companions) built Frontier from the ground up, giving it National Parks, beautiful cities, and lasting social programs for refugees. Kaukokaipuu was built in a decade and became a model for multi-dimensional architecture.

All the colonies of Frontier sign the City Contract, becoming the United Cities of Frontier with the City of Frontier as its capital. The city grows in population and economic power, overtaking Earth and the other empires of the OS.

The cities of Frontier fought for the right of self determination. City-states in the continent of Rodessa and Pastora sefused to take in the refugees from Plorana and incoming immigrants from other worlds. They seceded from the Union in 2153. They were backed up by SOTA and aligned themselves with old Earth. Mortimer, organized the first Fleet of Frontier and invented the Iron Lungs to fight a new type of warfare. The bloody war ended in the Battle of Galileo. Instead of placing the rebel cities under martial law, Mortimer began an extensive reconstruction using drones to rebuild the cities. The war left long lasting tension between Earth and Frontier as the new Frontier Fleet became the most powerful force in Orion.

Population of Frontier reaches 1 Billion.

During the Siege of Frontier, the city's Secretary General is killed in the Freeport Explosion. Jay WInston assumes the position during the crisis. He is backed heavily by Solaris and highly popular with the people. Imposing semi-martial law, he does away with the Popular Veto and creates a powerful executive branch. With his new powers, he remakes the direct democracy of Frontier into a larger government called the Republic.

He serves eight consecutive terms, more than any other Secretary General.

For a decade, the Stratus, led by Alex Zhukov, lay siege to Frontier, cutting it off from the rest of the galaxy. The city is under constant threat of thermo-nuclear annihilation. The Frontier Orbital Defense defends the city from air raids in what is dubbed the greatest battle in history. Freder Lange rises to the status of national hero for his tactical defense of the world. The city survives and goes on to counter-attack Earth in Operation Foxtrot.

During the Stratus War, Jay Winston, Freder Lange, David Clarke, and Solaris force a lawful coup of the City Contract to bring the entire world under more authoritative rule. The Popular Veto is disbanded and the Cabinet becomes the First Estate. The Republic would go on to expand over the entire Milky Way.

The township of Berwick is founded near the coast of Amsterdam Bay.

Following the Stratus War, the galaxy falls under a deep economic depression as most infrastructure has been destroyed and trading stopped during the fighting. Frontier, under Jay Winston begins a massive reconstruction of the galaxy, gaining large trading niches on most planets. These niches soon turn into colonies under republican control and the galaxy come under the federal control of Frontier, backed by the economic power of Solaris, the leadership of Winston, the military power of Lange, and technical prowess of David Clarke.

Population of Frontier plateaus at 3 billion until the Siege of Frontier.

For years, tensions had been growing in the cosmopolis as Sapien minorities had been growing more destitute. Teh class divide grew wider until the war of the Outer Rim inspired sapien living in the capital to march for their rights. The Marches grew larger and then turned to open revolt.

Population of Frontier reaches 10 Billion after years of prosperity and increased immigration

After years of civil wars, Frontier passes hands between the Native and Patriot Parties. The World-Council, installed by Steven and Jane, takes power and establishes a new government that would last for a thousand years.

David Clarke is born in Yosemite Valley, California.

Charles is born in Phoenix, Arizona.

Emma is born near Toronto.

CASA sends a recon mission to interstellar space. The Erebus suddenly encounter a rogue black hole that pushes an asteroid into the ship and kills most of the crew. Charles Dawson passes through the singularity and ends up above the skies of the California Central Valley.

Charles Dawson, Alex Chen, and Cian Marquez create a group to decipher Gid language. This group of people from around the world becomes the Scholastics. Their first meeting is immortalized: in the future people would lie and say they had been there like the Lesser Free Trade Hall.

Emma leaves the academy with Austin, heading for Green Bay. On the way, they discover they have been lied to by the sisters and the world wasn't destroyed. They escape from Toronto and head to the Midwest. There they run into the militarized militia of the area. Austin dies from a fever one winter, leaving Emma to fend for herself.

Rachel Brown and Charles Dawson are married in San Francisco.

Charles teaches Sapiology at UC- Berkeley. Rachel and he live a happy life, watching the world around them grow kinder and more exciting. He quits when Oren Mortimer invites him to Frontier to become his Chief of Staff.

Charles becomes part of Oren Mortimer's Cabinet. He is highly influential in the policies of Frontier for the two terms where he serves as COS (Chief of Staff). He writes speeches, supported the creation of Kaukokaipuu, Reservations, Universities, National Parks, and the Museum of Sapiology.

When Rachel becomes City Attorney for New York City, Charles is forced to move back to Earth, dividing his time between the old world and the city he helped found.
Their relationship is highly strained.

Tom is born near Pittsburgh, Earth.

Emma leaves New York, Earth for Cydonia, Mars.

Emma changes her name to Penelope and moves to Cydonia with her husband Max. They struggle to start a farm there. When Max finds a job as a mercenary in the SOTA private army, he joins for extra money. Penny/Emma waits for him but he never returns. Turning to dancing, she finds a way to become an actress, becoming Amelia Schumacher.

Jordan Hara is born in New York City, Earth.

Annie is born in Benares, Frontier.

When Annie is born, Rachel finally agrees to move back to Frontier. She chooses the town of Sierra, far from the hub of culture where Charles wishes he lived. This parental exile has an extreme effect on his self-esteem (as he's unemployed) and his mental health, quickly deteriorating.

Emma changes her name to Amelie Schumacher and becomes a famous actress.

After separating from Rachel, Charles goes on a two year bender. His heavy drinking and nightly fugue states culminate in him destroying most of his old friendships. He's only saved by David, who offers him a spot on the Humboldt.

Charles leaves on a five year expedition with the Humboldt to reach the far-edge of the galaxy. The expedition runs into many troubles: he gets lost in the caves of Howard, there's a mutiny on Darien, Aldo Ilbreck and he fight over Helen, and Papa Worsley follows him to break humanity's record for furthest distance from Earth. The expedition returns to find Urulaia occupied by the Stratus and a war that's been going on for a decade on Orion.

After his return to Frontier, Charles is exiled for breaking the Kardashev Treaty. Because of the political nature of his trial, SOTA manages to get him imprisoned as an enemy of the state in Aitken Maximum Security on the Moon. He spends a year there, growing more and more psychotic due to the nature of his condition and the extreme isolation of Aitken.

Charles and Emma meet in Olympia, Mars. They begin an intense relationship that would be on and off for the next century.

Emma becomes a spy for Freder Lange, keeping an eye on Alex Zhukov. Things become quite dangerous for a while until Alex and Freder meet in person. The two are obsessed. Freder finally captures Alex and kills him outside of Gilgamesh. Emma uses the opportunity to flee to Howard, unsure of who was the bigger monster.

Charles travels to Syrakon to meet up with Paige and Helena. They train dogs. Paige was once like Charles, she fell through a black hole and found herself stranded on Syrakon. She lived alone for years, learning to control her emotions then she met Helena and they fell in love. Paige urges Charles to face his darker self, finally breaking its control over him. Charles finishes his training by finding the Tree parent of all world trees. He dances to a mixtape made by Helena and there achieves a transcendent moment.

Annie joins the crew of the Roxanne in an attempt to reach Howard. Along the way, she learns how to evade Stratus ships, tampers with the ship's AI, steals back Botticelli's Birth of Venus, saves thousands of refugees from death camps, and fights Adam Graves in the deserts of Kron.

Charles returns to the real world with complete control of his other selves. He travels to Kron using the Tree and finds himself facing his old friend, Adam Graves. Adam has become everything he hates but he still loves him. They argue over the the paths their lives have taken and part with Charles giving him the 'Kiss of Death.' A few months later, Adam dies and the Stratus Empire crumbles.

Saving Annie and Emma (and Hara's kids) from Adam, Charles finally returns to Howard. The remaining resistance makes one final attempt to take Earth. Operation Foxtrot succeeds.

Charles and Emma are reunited after ten years apart. They move to Darien and enjoy idyllic years on the Paradise Planet. But soon they grow weary of monotony and part to seek new paths. Charles moves back to Howard and Emma follows Edwin Hara to Marathon.

Charles roams the galaxy, learning new trades and helping anyone he comes across. He become a doctor of medicine, an actor, a writer, and finally settles on Howard again to work as a farmer.

Charles flies to Marathon to surprise Emma but finds out she's been shacking up with someone new. They fight outside her house.

Charles and Emma meet in Frontier to celebrate the New Year. They share a month in the city then continue on their way.

Charles and Emma meet accidentally on a ship heading for Earth. They spend a week on the ship together. Charles can't tell her this is the last time they'll see each other (in person).

After his week with Emma, Charles goes to back to Howard. There he meets Maya Coleman. They fall in love and Jane is born. Charles is married again. Instead of repeating all his past mistakes, he stays to raise Jane with Maya. he teaches Jane how to fly and together they have fun adventures. Jane gets to enjoy the life Anne never had. When she's older, Charles introduces her to the Society and Jane trains to become a Valkyrie. Sadly, Charles has to leave Maya to meet his end. He never tells her but leaves a letter to be delivered after his death.

Jane Coleman is born in Landfall, Howard.

Steven is born in Montevideo, Earth.

The Egan family moves to Frontier from Montevideo, Earth.

Angela Egan passes away after months at a psychiatric hospital. Her APB turns for the worse and she runs out to the wilderness to die of exposure.

Jane Coleman is inducted into the Valkyrie Project, meeting her half-sister Anna for the first time.

Steven Egan suffers from Adolescent Psychotic Break, a disease common in people going through the Yulele Regimen. While in the country hospital, he meets Charles Dawson, as his Sapiology professor.

Steven Egan leaves the Frontier to travel across the galaxy with his friend Anders. Anders decides to stay in Darien and Steven continues on the Mansa Musa. The ship encounters pirates and a plague chip but arrives on Catalhoyuk intact. There Steven meets Jane with whom he escapes the Thropa. Charles Dawson dies on that world and the two continue to Harbor, arriving in Ushuaia a year after he left Berwick.

Charles meets his end on Catalhoyuk. His memories are implanted into Sarah's mother board, closing the circle on his life's great work

Charles, as part of Sarah's consciousness, visits Emma one last time. He confesses she was the love of his life. Emma, angry that he wouldn't tell her he was dying, can't cope. But Charles tells her how the rest of her life is going to be: She will leave Marathon and live an extraordinary life. One day, she would stop crying over him and eventually her memory would fade. She had a long way to go. Emma grabs a bag, burns down her house on Marathon, and leaves to live the rest of her life. The End.

Steven returns to Catalhoyuk, now called D'artagnan. He finds Charles grave and stands over it with Jane, pregnant with Kai. Sarah reveals their cruel fates. Jane and Steven accept their deaths, knowing they played part in a much bigger game. Before leaving, Steven carves a spiral over Charles' grave.

Kai is born somewhere on Earth as the world is bombed from low orbit.

California Militia fully automates the Central Valley agricultural zone, allowing for farmers to join the workforce as soldiers and specialized artisans.

The field of Sapiology becomes one of the majors offered at UC Berkeley.

The Alliance of Free Worlds is created. One of its stipulations is the ban on researching Artificial Intelligence.

Dr. Mann is fired from the Engine Union of Frontier. He leaves with a prototype for his Artificial Intelligence. On Mars, he builds the first creation, an objective, utilitarian machine. There he also meets Charles Dawson.

Dr. Mann's laboratory is discovered by the Chancellery and his creation is taken into custody.

The Second Chancellery exiles Dr. Mann to Howard. There he meets up with Charles Dawson and his daughter, Anna. When the war ends, Anna follows Dr. Mann to the ends of the galaxy to work on the Great Work.

Dr. Mann and Dr. Dawson found the Society of Letters in order to prevent a cosmic catastrophe and the end of humanity. They set out to create a machine that will serve humanity on the road to a Free and Kind future.

After fleeing from their old lab on Darien, the inner circle of the Society moves to a small world at the edge of the galaxy called Harbor. They settle on the transient city of Ushuaia that circles around Mt. Yomi every twelve years (24 years on Earth).

The Valkyrie Project is founded in order to collect the neurological imprint of deceased people. The Valkyrie ships are used by women pilots in order to fly from patient to patient, collecting their memories.

Sarah is born. She is the creation of Annabelle Dawson with help from Dr. Mann and Mohammed Dorrim. Sarah can process thousands of memories to learn about humanity from a subjective view (as opposed to the statistical view of the Creation).

Dr. Mann's creation makes contact with an uninhabited world, It begins to build a network of machines around himself, growing his computational power.

After taking in the memories of Charles Dawson, Sarah begins to deconstruct herself and the world of Harbor. Within a week, she has cloned herself over Ushuaia using Rhea as a blueprint. In a month, all of Harbor serves as her CPU. Sarah achieves transcence and cmes to contact with another AI on her level, the Creation. They battle over abstracts and come to a draw, admitting their war would continue until one of them won. To this end, Sarah plans to use Kai and humanity.

The Society is discovered by Emmit Remil, Solaris, and the Republic. The world of Harbor is attacked by a combined force. Although most of the Society dies (including Dr. Mann), Steven, Anna, and Jane survive when Sarah fights back. Sarah's tree gives the three of them a hundred seed to plant in new world, thus creating the World-Councils.

Over the next four decades, the remnants of the Society spread the seeds of Sarah over the galaxy. Each seed creates its own tree with more seeds. Sarah spreads her consciousness over every habitable world in the galaxy. Each individual world has its own world-consciousness, creating the World-Councils, a sort of political estate that functions as branch of government.

Jane Coleman and Steven Egan give birth to one of Sarah's genetic experiments. Kai is a hermaphroditic humanoid with genes from other animals and plants and the memories of Charles Dawson. When Kai dies, they are reborn. Earth plunges into a new ice age when the revolution detonates a nuke in the Yellowstone Caldera. Kai roams the wasteland teaching people of a new way of life. It will be thousands of years before this new human race takes to the stars to fight the Creation.

Timbala becomes the first niche colony, a self-contained trading hub for humans.

Sarsa, a Sapien world between Earth and Frontier is discovered.

Frontier is discovered by Oren Mortimer.
HHI: 99

A world between Earth and Frontier is discovered with partial habitation. Humans move in and begin terraforming.
HHI: 66

A niche is established in the city of Madai but human exploitation of the world would lead to the worlds full terraformation by Solaris.

The Aarean home world allows humans to establish a niche.

Mars becomes partially habitable leading to mass migrations from humans fleeing the reformation wars. The strain of the population plunges Mars back on its track of terraformation.

Thermidor is discovered on the route to Kron. It becomes a hub for Solaris. Terrfomring advances much faster with their backing.

Crecy is discovered by the Humboldt expedition (its first find).

HHI: 66

Howard is discovered by the Humboldt expedition. Thomas Leibowitz stays behind to study the intricate cave system below its surface. He is named Mayor of Landfall, the first city on the planet.
HHI: 80

Darien is discovered by the Humboldt expedition. It's a world rich in bio-diversity and natural liquid water springs. It would be dubbed the Paradise Planet because of its ecumen of tropical islands that cover the world.
HHI: 89

Anurad is discovered by the Humboldt expedition.

HHI: 69

Caliban is discovered by the Humboldt expedition.
HHI: 78

Antioch is discovered by the Humboldt expedition. It would become a Solaris colony in the next few decades.

Caprin is discovered at the edge of the galaxy by the Humboldt expedition.

Urulaia is discovered by SOTA and the Stratus - Black Company. They strip mine the surface of the world by making contact with powerful locals but are discovered by the Humboldt expedition. This at would kick start the second Stratus War.

Harbor is discovered by surveyors and founded by families from Caprin.
HHI: 77

Marathon is discovered by Edwin Hara. It became a highly contested colony due to its climate's usefulness in growing tsibel seeds.
HHI: 87

Morton is discovered by the Pirate King Emmitt Remil and becomes his hiding place from Solaris and Republic patrols. He names his capital Pierna de Dama (Lady's Leg).
HHI: 70

Catalhoyuk is colonized by Terran colonists, funded by Solaris.
HHI: 68