History

Thousands of years ago, humans created the first truly interstellar vehicles - ships that could generate dimensional distortions allowing them to travel at great speeds without experiencing significant time dilation, able to reach nearby star systems in a single generation. The technology improved rapidly, eventually allowing vehicles - at enormous energy costs - to travel many times faster than light. As travel between stars became faster, safer, and cheaper, humanity began to spread into space, creating habitats any way they knew how. They built stations, colonized asteroids, even terraformed moons and planets. Most of the early settlements foundered and died out, unable to sustain themselves on the meager resources that could be imported, farmed, or mined.

But humans are stubborn creatures, and some colonies scraped by. Better terraforming methods were learned - ones that could almost be maintained. Better materials were invented, better methods of building and farming. . . and more controversial methods of survival, as well. As time went on, in became clear that most planets could not be reliably terraformed. They would eventually regress - the energy required to maintain temperatures, daily cycles, and orbits that were not natural to the planet was too great. Ecologies and geological processes would become dangerously unstable.

Scientists revealed the fruits of generations of classified experiments - genetic and bionic enhancements that would allow humans to adapt to an incredible range of environments. People could be bred for cold or hot climates, genes spliced and implants created to breathe underwater, withstand high or low gravities. These techniques spread - over the decades, and the centuries, they have become safe and reliable. . . almost. Genetic engineering can have unpredictable results, and technological enhancements can be rejected, or have dangerous side effects. Hundreds of years later, there are still those who believe that the risks are too great, the moral implications too deep.

The successes have been enormous. Humans inhabit planets of all kinds. Technologies have advanced beyond anything most people could imagine. Entire civilizations have blossomed that could never before have been possible. The failures have been equally spectacular. Humanity is no less fractured and fractious than it was millennia ago. War and corruption are no less common, and no less deadly. The most wondrous of worlds have risen and flourished in a matter of decades, and planets have been destroyed in a matter of days.