Background
The background provides an overview of humanity's journey to the Hyades cluster, highlighting the motivations, challenges, and pivotal events that led to the establishment of the colonies.
Last updated
The background provides an overview of humanity's journey to the Hyades cluster, highlighting the motivations, challenges, and pivotal events that led to the establishment of the colonies.
Last updated
It was the dawn of the 23rd century and Earth and its inhabitants stood at a crossroads. While science and technology had advanced at an unprecedented pace, the world's political, economic, and social institutions had crumbled. Economic inequality, environmental degradation, corporate greed, and escalating conflicts between nations created a world teetering on the edge of collapse.
With extinction looming, Earth’s leading industrial nations united under a United Nations resolution, to set aside their differences and undertake a daring mission to ensure humanities survival.
The mission targeted the closest open cluster of stars to Earth that provided the highest probability of habitable planets for interstellar colonization.
The Hyades Expedition, led by the three colossal ships, the Argos I, Argos II, and Argos III were constructed and launched to find new worlds where humanity might thrive again.
The following is a timeline of events that led to the colonization of the Hyades cluster and present day.
2024 - Present Day
2024: Early-stage space exploration and significant concerns over environmental degradation and economic inequality are beginning to emerge. Space agencies focus on lunar and Martian exploration, but no serious attempts are made yet for interstellar travel.
2050-2100: Environmental Crisis and Rising Inequality
2050: The planet reaches a tipping point with climate change, environmental degradation, and mass extinction events becoming immediate threats. Economic inequality and corporate exploitation reach unprecedented levels, leading to widespread global unrest.
2060: Social unrest increases as millions protest against government corruption and corporate monopolies. New social movements emerge, demanding more equitable resource distribution and environmental action.
2070: World governments, failing to address the crises effectively, begin to collapse. Corporations step in, consolidating power into corporate-led governments. Global governance begins to shift toward the New World Order, a corpocratic democracy where multinational corporations hold dominant power, but with a focus on human rights and personal freedom.
2080: Faced with the growing threat of extinction on Earth, leading scientists propose plans for interstellar colonization. Early development of direct fusion drives begins, marking the first step toward long-distance space travel.
2100-2200: The Hyades Expedition and the Drive for Survival
2105: The formation of the Hyades Coalition—a collective of Earth’s most advanced industrial nations and mega-corporations, unified under the goal of colonizing space to ensure the survival of the human race. The coalition pools resources for research into space travel, genetic engineering, and self-sustaining colonies.
2110: Political opposition to the Hyades Coalition grows. Social movements argue that Earth’s problems should be solved first, while the Coalition pushes the narrative of "Humanity’s Survival" as its mission.
2120: The Hyades Expedition is officially announced, with plans to send unmanned ships to the Hyades cluster in search of habitable planets. Work begins on planning for Lunar Shipyard to accommodate the massive scale of the expedition.
2135: Economic inequality continues to widen, leading to an exodus of wealth from Earth’s struggling cities to corporate-controlled space habitats. Despite protests, the Hyades Coalition moves forward, seeing interstellar colonization as the ultimate solution.
2150: Breakthroughs in fusion energy, AI, and genetic engineering pave the way for constructing the first interstellar ships capable of traveling at 0.2c. These ships will carry not only genetic materials but also the AI-driven colonization systems needed for the expedition.
2155: Construction of the Lunar Shipyard begins, designed to build the massive Argos expedition ships.
2160: Social unrest peaks on Earth as the Hyades Coalition diverts massive resources to space colonization, leaving many regions devastated by climate change and poverty. The rise of corporate enclaves—heavily guarded cities where the wealthy live—becomes common. Protesters call for global resource redistribution, but the New World Order suppresses these movements.
2165: Construction of Argos I begins on the Lunar Shipyard.
2170: Ongoing environmental degradation leads to the collapse of Earth’s natural ecosystems. The New World Order pivots entirely toward interstellar colonization, declaring Earth a “lost cause” for future generations. Meanwhile, the Lunar Shipyards are nearly completed.
2180: Argos I is launched for initial test missions in the solar system. The construction of Argos II begins. The first unmanned test missions to nearby stars (Proxima Centauri) demonstrate the viability of the fusion propulsion technology.
2190: Argos II is completed and outfitted with advanced AI and genetic materials for human and biological colonization.
2200: Construction of Argos III is completed. The Hyades Expedition is officially launched with three ships (Argos I, II, III) departing for the Hyades cluster.
2200-3000: The Interstellar Journey and First Colony
2200: Argos I begins its journey, accelerating to 0.2c over several years. Argos II and III follow shortly after. The ships, each carrying advanced AI systems, genetic blueprints, and the tools for creating bio-engineered colonists, are designed to survey and colonize planets remotely.
2200-2965: The journey to the Hyades cluster takes 765 years, with the ships traveling at 0.2c. Mid-way through the journey, the expedition loses contact with Earth. No further communication is received for the remainder of the journey.
2965: Argos I arrives in the Hyades cluster. The onboard AI begins surveying planets for potential habitability, focusing on worlds in the habitable zones of stars. Argos II and Argos III arrive in the following years.
2965-2975: The AIs on board each Argos vessel survey planets, analyze environmental data, and begin genetic engineering processes to create humanoid species adapted to different planetary environments. Initial scientific and genetic research is conducted to adapt human DNA to local conditions.
2975-3000: The AI establishes the first colony, Grasond, on a planet in the Hyades cluster. The colony begins with 500 bio-engineered colonists, each genetically modified to survive in the planet’s specific environment. The infrastructure for future colonization efforts is set in place.
