History of the Human Alliance

A brief history of mankind
Disclaimer: Work in progress

Early history (pre 10000AD)
Prehistory

Very little is known of the early history of mankind, since most of the records were destroyed during the Great Jihad. It seems that man had reached a technologically advanced and prosperous society somewhere around AD2000, succeeded in mastering inter-planetary space travel by about AD2090, and began to form colonies around the Solar System by AD2200. By AD2500, colonies had been established on Mars, many of the moons of Jupiter, all the larger moons of Saturn, and on Pluto. In addition, man had finally developed ships capable of crossing the vast gaps between stars in realistic time periods. By 2630, a colony had been established on the largest world in neighbouring Alpha Centauri, on the newly named planet of Antan (the reason for the name is lost).

The Great Jihad

However, despite the massive gains in science and technology, all was not well on Earth. Increasingly radical religious sects were gaining in popularity, playing upon people’s fears of the new machinery. As has been the case for centuries, fear of the unknown triumphed, and huge sections of the population rose up in what was to become the Great Jihad. From the start, the Great Jihad was against technology and its apparent evils – unless, strangely, it was the technology needed for spreading the Jihad. This anti-machine bias meant that most of the colonies sided against the jihadists, as did the crews of the interstellar ships, but Earth’s population was too massive and the fervour of the fanatics too great. The Great Jihad rolled forwards, crushing all before it, until finally the last remnants of the colonists were evacuated on the remaining ships while their forces made a last stand on Pluto. The colonists fled to Antan, while the Great Jihad, lacking any ability to pursue, left them to rot. It is at this point that humanity branches for the first time. Under the jihadi rulers, humanity’s progress in the Solar System was slow indeed. Research was effectively halted, in favour of religion and mysticism. Finally, in around 5000AD, the (by now very corrupt) jihadi government collapsed under its own weight, and suddenly the Solar System was free of control. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a massive civil war broke out.

Civil War

The leaders of the Great Jihad had always understood that Earth, with her greater population and resources, was the key to the system. As a result, they had concentrated what little research they had done on earth, and imbued the Earth people with a strong sense of their on superiority. When the civil war broke out, it was between the (new) colonies on Mars and elsewhere, and Earth. The Earth faction had much better technology, but their armies were generally over-cautious and less motivated. Life on Earth had been too good for too long. Nonetheless, the civil war raged on to no particular conclusion. The Martian fleet was significantly bigger, and they rapidly established control of the system outside of Earth, but their lack of forward bases meant that the Earth fleet could concentrate itself in one place to stop them, and prevent them from making a landing. The deadlock was finally broken when billions of colonists were dispatched by the Martians to Venus. Venus had never been colonised before, and the incredibly harsh climate killed millions, eventually a working colony existed. With two bases to work from, the Martian fleet was now able to split the Earth craft to such a point that they could be destroyed. Nevertheless, any landing on Earth itself was going to be a bloodbath, and the Martians simply did not have the manpower for it. It was at around this point that a young general known only now as the Great Leader came to prominence.

The Wars of Expansion
The emergence of the Great Leader

The early history and the name of the man known as the Great Leader are lost in the mists of time. However, Martian records show his incredibly rapid rise through their ranks to the point at which he was placed in command of the team preparing the assault on Earth. At this point, the Great Leader succeeded in doing what no other man had ever succeeded in doing – negotiating a ceasefire between the two sides, and bringing the generals of Earth to the table.

The Great Reverse

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20000AD