Timeline (Future)

Events AD

 * 2600 AD : Faster than light travel is proven to be impossible by any means, and experimentation into wormholes proves dangerous at best. This comes as disturbing news to the governments of the world, which has now become dangerously overpopulated and had hoped that colonisation of distant worlds would alleviate population problems..
 * 2634 AD : The governments of the world unanimously announce the large-scale colonisation of the Moon, which is renamed Terra Luna. It is hoped that by offloading a portion of the world’s population to Luna, the vast problems of mass starvation and over-population can be relieved.
 * 2650 AD : The first Luna colonists make Luna their home. By the end of the year, the Lunar population soars from a few thousand to more than 50 million. Constant construction is occurring, forever expanding the living quarters of the Lunar cities.
 * 2700 AD : The population of Luna stands at an approximate 157 million, whilst the population of Earth – renamed Terra Prime – has reached approximately 100 billion. The population of Terra expands so rapidly that construction on Luna cannot hope to accommodate the numbers needed to bring balance to the growing population.
 * 2705 AD Lunar governments close their borders to Terra to prevent a destabilisation of their resources due to excessive and uncontrolled immigration. The Terra governments respond by refusing shipments of raw foodstuffs and materials to Luna. As state of cold war effectively exists between the two worlds as the first Lunar Military regiments are raised, officially to ‘police’ Lunar interests and ‘discourage’ population smuggling by Terra.
 * 2719 AD : Mass riots on Terra, followed by full-scale war within the African nations. Asia soon descends into anarchy as well. The British and American governments raise a combined army from their populations to quell the violence and bring order to the world. The British and American governments secretly use the war as a form of de-population in the most crowded parts of the world, killing billions with viral and genetic-based weaponry.
 * 2730 AD : Though the war lasted but 11 years, an estimated 50 billion people died. The wastelands of Africa are largely uninhabitable, and most of Asia is now an endless interment camp. The American and British Governments formally unite into one nation, The Eternal Republic of Terra. The Republic preforms sweeping changes to law and society, brutally enforcing levels of population and instigating mass sterilisation of dissident nations. The Lunar Government announces an amnesty to all Terra inhabitants wishing to escape the oppressive state.
 * 2750 AD : To ‘celebrate’ the hundred year anniversary of the mass colonisation of Luna, the Republic of Terra declares a state of war against the orbiting world. They ignite the artificial atmosphere of Luna, incinerating untold millions within seconds. The elements that survive are bombarded with countless orbital ordnance. The Lunar Government goes underground and what remains of the Lunar Military retaliates immediately. Hidden Lunar cannons rain fire upon Terra and scatter their fleets. Casualties are countless as each world fights each other to a standstill.
 * 2762 AD : The fighting still continues as the newly created Lunar Navy engages the Terran Navy daily. Though the Terrans have the numbers, the Lunars have kept them at bay for 12 long years. The Lunar military employs vast numbers of hyper-grown clones to preform suicidal attacks on Terran interests, and have sometimes broken through all defences and blockades to directly attack Terra itself.
 * 2773 AD : The war is ended with no winner, but rather a radical suggestion that would forever change the human race. As much of 99% of Terra’s and Luna’s population would be relocated in vast, hundred-kilometre colony ships. They would power on for countless generations towards worlds suspected of sustaining life, and once there would settle the world. Those left behind on Terra and Luna would never see them again. It is hoped that this mass displacement of people will finally bring population problems under control, and bring an end to the conflict.
 * 2806 AD : Construction of the last of the massive Colony Fleets are finished. Each ship is capable of supporting a population of more than one billion people, some far more, others far less. The exact number of fleets and ships therein can only be guessed, but each is filled. The Colony Fleets set their courses to worlds most likely to be habitable, and in many cases the voyages would take hundreds, if not thousands, of generations. But all those seeking to escape the violence and torturous existence back on Terra and Luna leap at the chance to perhaps found a world of their own.
 * 2810 AD : The last of the Colony Ships leave Terran orbit and begin their journeys. The Republic of Terra and the Lunar Government combine into a government known as the Immortal Empire of Sol.
 * 2823 AD : Contact with the Colony Fleets is now sporadic at best. The Empire of Sol declare that Luna is forever off-bounds to all non-party members, and relocate their headquarters there. The population of Terra is constantly monitored and controlled, keeping it at sustainable levels. The only true presence that the Empire of Sol has on Terra are the many garrisons of their troops, who occasionally foray from their fortresses to preform campaigns of genetic cleansing and population stabilisation.
 * 2831 AD : Contact with the Colony Fleets are lost. A largely symbolic ceremony is preformed in their memory by the Empire of Sol. The Hayes Protocol sets the world population at a sustainable level of 10 billion humans.

Post Colony Years (PCY)

 * 1 PCY : Contact is severed with the Empire of Sol, due largely to distance and irrelevance. Each generational ship within each fleet is largely without incident in these first few years. The rich and elite have chosen spend their fortunes to spend the journey in suspended animation, using a combination of cryogenics, genetic modification and alteration, and experimental time distortion. The regular population live normally in clustered communities, spread throughout the ship.
 * 5 PCY : Crime becomes an issue on the Ships. The first generation born onto the ships become largely dissatisfied with the decisions of their parents to attempt the endless voyage. Rebellion and unease fill the ships. Added to this is the sudden and unexpected loss of the Forever Valiant, a ship within the Fare-Ni Fleet. Its loss is dismissed largely as an unfortunate accident. 400 million lives are lost.
 * 7 PCY : Total ships lost now number into the dozens. In response to the constant atmosphere of doom and depression, a movement known as the White Star begins, initially as a religious movement preaching peace and calm amongst the populations. It quickly supersedes and incorporates many religions carried amongst the population from old Terra and Luna.
 * 17 PCY : The Church Of The White Star gains formal recognition as an established religion. It creates the Living Army, at first a simple militia, to defend and protect its growing assets from non-believers. It also begins to display more and more political power, even coming to control of the local governments in some ships.
 * 21 PCY : The source of the seemingly random and unstoppable ship-wide explosions were found. A fatal design flaw that prevented the release of radiation from the engines created massive overheating and subsequent detonation. Lacking the resources to reinforce the radiation shields to their required thickness, the Colony Fleets immediately drop to half speed, lessening the radiation build up. The White Star suggests a radical plan – to further prevent the radioactive build up, the radiation shields should be removed and the radioactivity be released through the ships. The radiation shields would go to reinforce the front compartments of the ships, where the wealthy and officer classes dwelled, whilst the lesser classes would bear the brunt of the radiation. It is a radical plan, and with no suitable alternative, it is implemented (largely due to the  White Star’s now political dominance)
 * 26 PCY : Rogue elements of the White Star, calling themselves the Forever Inquisition, denounce the re-population movements instigated by the White Stars, and escape to live amongst the relocated population. Rather than announce the truth of their condition to the population, knowing that it would bring mass riots and panic, they combine medical and religious doctrine to ensure that the radioactive damage done to their charges is minimal. They too form a militia, largely to protect themselves from retribution from the White Star, known as the  Confessors.
 * 32 PCY : The first effects of the inevitable radiation poisoning begin to take place. A program of genetic therapy and crude shielding instigated by the Forever Inquisition has lessened the predicted impact and most mutation and corruption is minor. Various classes of the population, relative to their occupation and position, display different mutations.
 * 45 PCY : Presented with irrefutable evidence of growing mutation and genetic corruption amongst their ward populations, the Captains of their ships immediately cut off the engines and unfurl the solar sails, the secondary means of propulsion onboard. Whilst this does stop more radiation flooding the ships, the damage is largely done and nearly all persons onboard display or carry the traits of mutation. The White Star denounce the Forever Inquisition as heretics, claiming they deliberately tainted their populations to frame and revile the Church.
 * 56 PCY : Due to uncontrolled and rampant mutation, many of the Environment Decks are closed. The wildlife within them was evolving at a rapid rate, and proved to be uncontrollable.
 * 70 PCY : Anarchy descends on the Colony Ships.