WayFinder - Intro (rough draft)
[Begin Log]
Its 2255 and earth's governments are at peace. Travel within our own solar system is now common place, as numerous mining corporations have taken to the stars in search for riches. This profiteering space race led to some of the most amazing and dangerous experiments in earths history. Leading the way for clean near limitless power sources, propulsion systems that defy gravity, and shielding that can width stand the extreme conditions of both space and atmospheric travel. However, it was not without loss, over a third of the earth is now considered contaminated, and thousands upon thousands died to bring cheap and sustainable space travel to the masses. More than half of the human population have left the earth to make the solar system home.
It has been over 120 years since Venus, and Mars have been colonized. With Europa, and Io now being colonized at a much more rapid pace given what earlier colonies learned. The sheer distance from the other colonies have creating dialects and cultures as unique as their planets extreme climates, and though they all still identify as human, some have started to even reject that they were ever earthlings.
Mars was the first planet man colonized, its iron rich soil and the existence of water made it a good fit for a people needing raw material. However, it was not without loss and hardship, soon after the first colony was established an enormous dust storm engulfed the fledgling city. Though the city was self contained and self sufficient there was a failure in the protective dome that surrounded the colonies residential district. When the next shipment of colonist arrived they found only a few hundred survivors our of the ten thousand that called the colony home. Since then, the idealistic domes were scrapped and huge boring machines carved out city sized caverns marked by autonomously controlled space ports Mars has become the richest planets in the solar system. It is often said, "You haven't lived till you have seen the hanging gardens of Olympus Mons or seen the crystalline structures in the southern hemisphere."
If the Martian way is of the land, then the Venutian way is that of the air, unable to go beneath the blanket of clouds that surround the planet their cities drift weightless in sun drenched skies. Their Manta Rays, named for the earth creature, skimming raw materials from the torrents below. Venus holds the prestigious place in human history as being the first planet where humans discovered extraterrestrial life. Though it was only a single celled bacterium the discovery, which was completely on accident as Martians like to point out, led to the crucially symbiotic relationship that all Venutians have with their planet. The story goes that a Manta Ray pilot had returned from a skimming run when he removed his helmet prematurely, and took in a lung full of toxic atmosphere. In the pain and panic he tried to find refuge in his cockpit somehow hitting the emergency release of the contents of his hold. The emergency workers had to evacuate the bay before they could reach him for fear of being exposed to whatever his haul contained. It took an hour for the air to clear, and there he was, the pilot that should have been long dead sitting on the railing near the bay doors. He kicked his legs slowly, smiling child like at the setting sun. His skin was burned, from chemical exposure, but he was alive! It was later found out that there is a bacteria that exists in the upper part of the clouds that feed off of the very toxins that cause death in humans, and in their digestive process they excrete oxygen. In an amazing set of circumstances the lung full of bacteria created enough oxygen to sustain his life, but only if he continued to breath in the thin, toxic air that the planet provided. Today, all venucians are given a small colony of this bacterium at birth, and though this makes Venus their home, they can no longer live in non venucian air.
In 2220 the first conflicts formed between several shipping companies putting the colonies in their cross fire. These conflicts led to corporate civil war seeing countless deaths on both sides and ending with the fall of two of the biggest shipping companies in the system due to the brutal murder of their owners. The ships of that era were not designed for war, and it was estimated that over two million deaths were not a direct result of conflict, but the collateral damage caused by debris and arrant projectiles unencumbered by gravity or resistance. By 2245 the conflicts were over, the human race may have conquered its system but were still far from conquering there base instincts. Sectors, States, and Countries were formed on all habitable bodies, and governments were setup to protect the civilian populations. In Nov 5th 2247 the USC (United Space Command) was formed and ratified on earth. Its purpose, to further man kinds understanding of the universe through exploration, and to provide security for those within the USC's jurisdiction.
Today marks mankind's first successful test of a deep space vessel, one whose new propulsion system should pave the way for man kind to leave its mark not only on the planets surrounding our sun, but on the entire galaxy.
- Dr. Seran -
[End Log]