Lancer Timeline

Union Timeline

(C. 6000-1BU) Before Union

c. 6000bu: Apollo – the first of the Ten, a series of massive generation ships – departs for an identified Gaia world.

c. 5800bu: Apollo confirms landfall and establishment of a colony on the planet Karrakis; sequential launches of the next nine ships begin thereafter.

c. 5000bu: Catastrophic ecological collapse marks the end of the Anthropocene epoch via irreversible mass extinction and climate change. Historians typically identify this as the point at which the Fall became inevitable for Old Humanity.

c. 4900bu: The last of the Ten, Āyāt, departs for the stars.

c. 4900–150bu: A dark age. The human population of Cradle (formerly Earth) falls from a peak of around 15 billion to less than 500,000 humans. All contact with the Ten ceases.

150bu: The discovery on Cradle of Massif-A, the first of several pre-Fall vaults, prompts global societal rejuvenation. Additional vaults are identified using data preserved inside , and extant powers race to control them.

53bu: The Little Wars begin – a polarity struggle between Cradle's major powers fueled by the discovery of the Vaults. The accumulation of regional conflicts that followed hurled Cradle into a global war.

(0–2000U) Foundation Period

0u: The conclusion of the Little Wars leads to the founding of Union and the establishment of the First Committee of Union (FirstComm; retroactively named by the Second Committee).

1400u: Long-range communications systems are reactivated, enabling the recovery of countless archived, Fall-age SOS transmissions. The Union Space Program (USP) is announced shortly thereafter.

1430u: A USP expedition lands on Cradle’s moon, Luna, and reactivates ancient installations, including the Theseus shipyard.

1450u: The first Nearlight-class interstellar ships – based on plans preserved in the Massif vaults and built using Theseus – are launched, seeking Gaia worlds identified in legacy star charts.

1998u: The USP Anthem, a Nearlight C.8 vessel associated with the Boundary Garden mission, reports first contact with distress beacons from two of the Ten – the Rihla and the Armstrong – and those descended from their original crews: the Aunic peoples, organized under the Aun Ecumene on a nearby habitable world.

1700-1999u: Expansion within Cradle takes place. Union mounts expeditions across the worlds and moons of the Cradle system, repopulating old stations, installations, and colonies.

2000u: The Oracle Chorus installation is discovered under the Vastitas Borealis of Mars. The installation is reactivated, and the Five Voices – advanced machine minds capable of predicting the future with near perfect precision – are identified. This creates the foundations for what would later become Forecast/ Galactic Simulation.

(2001– 2997U) First Expansion Period

2001u: Several Old Human colonies are discovered beyond Cradle – some derelict, others inhabited. The Union Administrative Department (UAD) is created to oversee interstellar expansion efforts and the reintegration of all rediscovered exclaves.

2800u: First contact with the New Federation, which later became the Karrakin Trade Baronies.

2880u: Diplomatic friction between the Aunic peoples and Union colonies in Boundary Garden leads to the First Distal War. Hardline Anthrochauvinist elements in Union launch PISTON-1 – a mass “shotgun”-style kinetic strike – toward Aunic space. The First Committee is dissolved, replaced by the Second Committee (SecComm).

>During this time period Metat Aun appears above the Aunic homeworld, beginning the Aunic “First Dawn” period. This marks the first human contact with what would come to be called a MONIST entity, although Metat Aun remains classified as MONIST-2 (despite manifesting prior to MONIST-1).

(2998–3199U) Neo-Anthropocene Period

2998u: During the course of a forecast iteration, the Five Voices manifest MONIST-1 (also known as “RA”). MONIST-1 is retroactively classified as the first NHP.

3000u: MONIST-1 ascends, bringing about the Deimos Event – the complete disappearance of Deimos from known space. The study of paracausal science becomes possible. The disparate ships, shuttles, and force organizations of the USP are reorganized into the Union Navy.

3002u: The First Contact Accords are signed in negotiations with MONIST-1 following the Siege of Mars. The concept of “non-human persons” is defined and applied to the anomalous machine minds left behind. The shackling process is developed to constrain NHPs.

3130–3200u: Blinkspace is identified and pierced. The technology to create blink fields is developed, and the first blink station is built. The UAD is dissolved and replaced with the Union Colonial Mission (UCM).

>During this time period the Aun experience an intense civil–religious conflict, the Aunic Schism, leading to the creation of the Aunic Ascendancy. The Aun Ecumene is formally dissolved and the Ecumenical Aun flee to Boundary Garden, in Union space. Most take refuge on Cornucopia, now the capital world of the sector

(3200–4599U) Second Expansion Period

3200–4599u: The Second Expansion Period begins, as the Second Committee begins a massive, Union-wide colonization and expansion effort throughout the Orion Arm of the galaxy. The blink network is grown through rapid construction of gates, and billions of colonists are sent out to tens of thousands of worlds over this time. This period represents the single largest movement of human life in recorded history.

4500–4560u: The Hercynian Crisis. During the course of the conflict, the efficacy of hardsuits and mechanized chassis (“mechs”) is demonstrated. Union’s state manufacturer, General Massive Systems, begins galaxy-wide production of mechanized chassis.

4560–4591u: Mounting discontent with the great expansion, the growing need to address PISTON-1, and the acute criminality of the Hercynian Crisis boil over into widespread popular revolution across Cradle and some Galactic Core worlds. Union is gripped by civil war.

>During this time period Ras Shamra is settled and begins its Temperate Ages. On Karrakis, the New Federation is dissolved and replaced by the Karrakin Trade Baronies.

(4591U-) Third Committee Period

4591–4600u: The remaining Central Committee members of the Second Committee agree to terms of surrender in 4591u. A new stable government is formed in the Third Committee (ThirdComm). The Union Colonial Mission is immediately dissolved and the Union Administrative Department is reconstituted. Expansion is halted. In 4600, Harrison I and a number of loyalists flee to Ras Shamra and establishes Harrison Armory.

4630u: Harrison Armory and the Karrakin Trade Baronies engage in the Interest War; Union acts as a neutral party, ultimately securing peace. Harrison I returns to Cradle and faces justice in exchange for the Armory’s continued sovereignty; the Baronies agree to become a member state of Union.

5000u: The presence of an Aunic crusade fleet in Boundary Garden is confirmed. For the first time, a blink gate is lost to hostile state actions. The Second Distal War begins.

5016u: The year in which the events of Lancer take place.