Ascendancy of Man

The Ascendancy of Man. A story of survival, struggle, expansion and glory. This is the story of human civilization as a species, and its future amongst the stars. But it is not only the story of humanity, but it is the story of our Galaxy. This is our story.

The Story So Far.....
Earth......just a cold speck up in the vast darkness of space. Home to thousands of plants, animals, fungi, and microbes. It is also home to an intelligent civilization, known as Homo Sapiens, also known as humans. This species developed over the course of 100,000 years, in a region of space largely unexplored by most interstellar civilizations. This region was known as the Sol Sector. Within this region, there were many civilizations that have risen and fallen over the years. One of them in particular, would eventually become a major interstellar power, and would bring the sector to prominence. That species was Homo Sapiens. And so, here it begins.

The Cold War
The Cold War was a time of economic, social, political and technological change for the humans between 1949 CE and 2023 CE. However, it was also a time of nuclear buildup, placing the planet closer and closer to danger. It was also a time period in which the human race began to take its first steps outside of Earth and into the vast void of space. The Cold War then entered a state of détente, and began to cool down, as tensions planet-wide calmed down (for a time). Then, another stage arose with the 1979 Invasion of Afghanistan and tensions renewed again, and Mikhail Gorbachev did not make things any better. While he could have had been more liberal in his reforms, he simply decided to maintain the political status quo, while reforming the economic face of the Soviet Union. The result, along with the advent of the Internet was the advent of a new stage in the Cold War: Cyberspace. This not only allowed them to fight in cyberspace, but the rise of information technology and robotics, allowed them to fight with combat drones as well. At one point early in the 21st century, the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact entered the short-lived "Eastern Renaissance", with the results being a slight decline in Western influence, and an intensified period of the Cold War. Then in the year 2023 CE.....everything changed.

The Two Hour War and the Post-Nuclear Horror
The Two Hour War changed the course of human history forever. The world was forever changed and thus began a dark period of human history. It started with a glitch on SAC-NORAD's computer systems, when they detected several nuclear strikes heading for American soil. The resulting war ended in the complete devastation of the Earth's Northern Hemisphere as well as parts of the Southern Hemisphere. While the old powers declined and new nations began to form out of the ashes, the new powers: Brazil, the South African Union and the Oceanian Commonwealth began to rise to prominence. The remnants of the United Nations eventually reformed themselves into a reestablished League of Nations, with their new headquarters in Brazil. The European continent was reduced to city-states while North America collapsed into anarchy and new nations formed in the region. In Asia, new nations states began to form around the former USSR, the Far East and Southern Asia. The war resulted in the initial deaths of over 1.1 billion human lives, with the subsequent deaths of over 450 million more humans in the aftermath, bringing the total number of casualties to an estimated 1.55 billion. The planet suffered from a 15 year long nuclear winter, followed by a 100 year long nuclear summer before the environment stabilized, while no new technologies or attempts to reinvent old technologies were done until 150 years post-war. Since then, Earth began the gradual process of recovery, and around the mid 26th century, a new space race began. The 3 major superpowers began a race to colonize the Solar System and the nearest stars, and a new age of technological innovation began.

The New Space Race
The 3 superpowers began constructing large orbital infrastructure, and spacecraft in order to achieve their goals. Over the course of half a century, the major superpowers began to lay claims on Luna and on Mars, followed by the Asteroid Belt and the Jovian Moons. The colonies began to grow thanks to investment from both governments around the globe, and large corporations interested in the new race to colonize the stars. Around the late 27th century, the major superpowers began to become increasingly interested in settling nearby star systems, but because of the lack of the energy required to create a wormhole for near-instantaneous travel, they were forced to rely on nuclear pulse propulsion, particularly those based with nuclear fusion. However, in order to compete in space, the superpowers realized that in order to compete with each other, they must militarize space, and militarize it, they did. Though journeys between distant stars often took years, they regardless, were able to reach their destinations and settle their respective systems. Here is where it all begins, as we begin our journey into the future.

Stellar NewsHour
This is the section for all your Galaxy-wide news, and one of the ways the story of the Ascendancy of Man is driven in addition to the short stories.

Sections
Short Stories

Historical Records

Planetary Database

Technologies

Extraterrestrial Races

Politics

Economics

Science

Religion

Culture

Current Date
WARNING: The current date is prone to change over time.

3156 CE