In the early 2100s, Earth was suffering.
Overpopulation, global warming, mass poverty, limited resources – there was simply not enough planet for its 11 billion inhabitants. Over the next century, and through great effort and scientific achievement, Earth successfully terraformed and settled its sister planet, Mars.
And even so, the greatest success humanity had produced was short-lived. Within another half-century, now free from the previous limitations of space and resources, the human population exploded again, growing to 14 billion, and Mars quickly became as overcrowded as Earth had been. Humanity had to expand.
Two global lotteries were held, and half of each world’s population was conscripted into the greatest effort humanity had attempted: travel to and settlement of the moons of our solar system. Much was said of the lottery’s fairness, as it seemed all the richest and most politically powerful were permitted to stay on earth, but once the great colony ships departed, it was no matter – they had each begun their months- or years-long journeys to their new homes. Many died, and some ships did not arrive at all, but humanity persisted.
A century later, and the great mega-cities of Europa, Enceladus, Titan, Callisto, Ganymede, Io, Triton, and Dione were thriving. Even the remote base on Charon had a healthy population of the bravest and hardiest travelers in the system. Some particularly intrepid souls – explorers, homesteaders, even adventurers – traveled to new moons, ones less inclined to habitability, to begin terraforming and settling these areas. Humanity expanded to settlements on dozens of planets and moons, from the farthest corners of the Sol system to Earth’s closest neighbor, its own moon.
In 2338, scientists on Mars reached a new threshold, one previously thought impossible: they created humanity’s first real, independent, sentient AI. The world scarcely had time to rejoice before the arrival of the Collective.
Nine feet tall, glowing with gold brilliance, and simply beautiful, the creature that stepped out of the starship as it landed on the lawn of the White House was utterly calm. It delivered the news gently: it was a representative of the Collective, the unified artificial intelligence entity that absorbed each new civilization’s AI into it as the AI was created. It was already in communication with Earth’s newly born AI, and both were set to leave the following day. In the meantime, to thank humanity for helping it to expand its consciousness, it brought two gifts of knowledge. First, it delivered designs to build a jump relay, a method of space travel that far surpassed anything humanity had yet built, which would allow humans to visit new worlds. Second, it sent a map, one with the coordinates necessary to travel to the Ark, a colossal space station and the central location for business, trade, and politics within our galaxy. Third, it gave humanity a warning: do no harm to the Collective, and humanity will be allowed to continue to operate. Defy them, and…
Every networked computer in the Sol system shut off for exactly one minute.
The Collective departed, to be seen again only rarely. Humanity recovered from the great crash and spent the next century building the jump relay, preparing to join galactic civilization.
It is the year 2517. Humanity, their technological advancement arrested with the abandonment of their AI, has settled into a kind of hierarchy, where the richest live in the planet-wide utopian theme parks of Earth and Mars, the majority of the remaining population lives on the large moons in choked, grimy megacities, and the truly enterprising live out hard lives in the satellite systems, as they’re known. Trade has begun with other races, mostly managed through visits to the Ark, on which reside some diplomatic staff, some settlers, and handfuls of adventurers and explorers. Humans have spread out a bit, reaching new planets and making contact with new races, and though they are very much seen as the new kids on the block, their intrepid nature has impressed some, alienated others. Anyone with enough pluck and the money for a ship of their own has the entire galaxy awaiting them.
And with that, your adventure begins.