History of Sol

People used to joke that it would take the discovery of an alien race to unite humanity.

They were almost right.

The discovery of relics of an unknown race on the moon in the dying years of the 21st Century brought an end to the fractured governments of the past, replacing them with a Unified Earth Government, a central body with a mandate to guide the entire human race toward its rightful place in the galaxy. But it couldn't stop the fighting; Earth was too overcrowded by then, and the hatred and mistrust ran too deep to be solved by the mere thought that we might not be alone. So, even as the UEG reached toward the stars, the foundations it was built upon began to tremble. Wars, petty little border conflicts, began to erupt over the pettiest of causes, and soon began to spread, until to be brutally curtailed as the UEG stamped upon the disorder with the full force of its own military. Those with the right talents, the skills, sought refuge offworld, with the emergent Sol-Tec Corporation as it sought to harness the power of the Sun around Venus, or within the secluded science station upon Luna, whilst those with money enough bought a place upon Mars, the red planet that had preoccupied humanity for so many years. Others, seeing no alternative, signed on with the UEG, strengthening their forces still further.

Perhaps it was this last factor which pushed the UEG toward hubris. Or perhaps they simply feared that whatever had left those relics on Luna still lurked on the fringes of Sol. Whatever their reason, they commissioned a fleet of starships to sail across the void. Designed by the greatest military and scientific minds of the age, these vessels ranged from agile destroyers to behemothic battleships, and each was outfitted with the very best earth could offer.

In a time of hardship and deprivation, it was a step too far.

Anger and resentment burned within many on Earth, and, though the forces of the UEG were enough to keep this from boiling over into open rebellion, the people of Earth were just waiting for the right spark.

That spark came with the launch of the fleet. Sent on their way at the end of a lavish celebration that saw more spent than many citizens of Earth could ever hope to see, and carrying a significant portion of the UEG forces with them, the fleet blazed toward the outer reaches of the solar system, leaving behind a world that was creeping toward destruction. It started with riots over the cost of food in what had once been central Europe, and spread from there like wildfire. The military was called in, as they always were, and thousands died, but that wasn't enough to stamp out the spark of revolution; the people rose up and soldiers died, or surrendered, or realised that perhaps they were fighting on the wrong side after all. And so it spread, entire continents rising up against a government that had taken their people from granted. Soon, open warfare raged, more terrible than anything Earth had seen in centuries.

Wanting no part in the self destruction of their homeworld, the colonies were quick to refuse the requests of aid that were sent to them by frantic emissaries of the UEG. They were neutral in such matters, as Sol-Tec were, or above such earthly matters like the denizens of Luna Dome. The courts of Mars didn't even deign respond to the pleas of uppity peons. And the fleet, well, the fleet had its own problems, for many amongst the crew had hailed from those rebellious nations of Earth, and as the commanders of the fleet discussed how best to respond to the crisis on Earth, mutiny broke out across the fleet, crews rising up to size control of gun batteries or even entire ships in order to turn them upon their erstwhile comrades. So it was that, mere light hours from Earth, a miniaturised version of the Rebellion was fought, and thousands more souls lost.

The war on Earth was, comparatively speaking, a short one, but bloody, the overwhelming numbers of the people matched by the potent weapons of the UEG. Yet even with the most terrible of their weapons, the UEG could not hope to stand against the entirety of Earth's populace. And that was when one man came to the fore.

Sebastian Delain.

Delain was amongst the leaders of the UEG, one of the handful of Consuls that ran the crumbling empire. A powerful man by all accounts, in personality as well as physique, he was said to dominate the emergency crisis meetings that sought to find some way to save the remnants of the UEG from the people they claimed to govern. It was he that presented the unthinkable option; eliminate the rebellion's advantage. Eliminate their numbers. Decimate the earth.

He proposed the usage of the UEG's nuclear stockpile, as well as the stockpiled chemical and biological agents which had been left by the precursor governments, and, cowed by his presence, the other Consuls consented.

That night, the Earth burned.

But as it burned, the UEG burned with it; the rebellion had seized more than one nuclear silo in their march upon the UEG capital, and as Delain's horrific plan became apparent, the leaders of the rebellion struck back with everything in their power, blasting the land surrounding the UEG headquarters into a desolate plain of nuclear glass.

In space, the sundered remnants of the fleet soon detected the devastation of their homeworld and, gradually, the guns began to fall silent as horrified men and women began to realise what their species had done to itself. Slowly, the fleet began to drift apart, some travelling back toward Earth, others to the other colonies. Still others pushed on toward the void, toward a fresh start far from the sins of the past.

And on Earth itself, as the fallout began to fall, the remnants began to reach out to one another. The war was over, but now came the hard part; survival.