Feedback poll in lieu of Pre-Second Space Age changes to the Timeline of Humanity

Jackboot and I worked out a few cogs and gears in the internal lore thinktank, so to speak, in terms of the timeline background for humanity. I primarily put forward the pitch that the narrative should be focused and driven towards the rise of the Sol Alliance in addition to the advent of corporations as they develop into big league factors in our universe as we see them today, in terms of the futuristic setting that our HRP simulation is set upon. Jackboot provided as a critical advisor and proofreader for certain elements that demanded critique and review, to which we amended together and produced something that turned out to be both of our liking.

Background is incredibly important even for the most standard of races that a new player would start with. Humanity itself is perhaps one of the most physically, culturally and politically diverse races that we see in the game, driving on either end of existent spectrums, and ultimately, dare I say it, one of the most important driving known intelligent species in the known galaxy.

It is important to know how humanity came to ascend from its roots as a civilization divided into squabbling continental micro-nations into larger squabbling inter-galactic macro-nations. The Alliance did not merely grow on a tree, nor did NanoTrasen. I will spoil nothing, so, with the current product that Jackboot and I invested a fair deal of time and care into, and without any further ado, I present the updated Pre-Second Space Age Timeline!

It is important for all of you to read and digest this page, and equally important to voice your thoughts and opinions in regards to what you think about the recent changes. We naturally ask you maintain a modicum of civility in voicing how much you detest or love these changes, otherwise we will be forced to sic the resident Lore Team Reputation Integrity Force ocelot on your location to rip you asunder and devour you to prevent the police from finding anything concrete in relation to your unfortunate demise by a entirely rabid animal not aggravated by mind control devices of any sort.

His name is Dave.

This was an enjoyable read. I like seeing the earlier history of this setting's Earth. It's not unbelievable, and provides good context for why things happened they way they did as humanity prepared to go interstellar, particularly with Russia.

I understand that the changes were made to the timeline specifically before the Second Space Age, but are there plans to connect the second half of the page a little more closely to the first? There's an interesting drama surrounding PMCs and terrorism and government conspiracy that seems to abruptly stop with the first colonies.

All looking good but I can't help but notice that we have a big build up of tension with the USA and the USSR which disappears suddenly when the economy mysteriously collapses.

It's not a big deal but it'd be smoother for me to see an actual reason for the crash and the Sol Alliances introduction and dominance as "the world government".

Basically what caused the crash, how did it affect the world and how did the Sol Alliance strong arm every nation in the world into their new world order.

I wouldn't mind hearing more about the PMCs, and I am a fan of the Sino-Soviet war. A lot of people always assume that they were good friends just because of communism despite the fact that they border clashed and skirmished often. It is a shame that the monumental and insane and epic post-soviet 90's of our world is decanonized, but replacing it with mecha and PMCs..

"This is just like one of my animes!" But, I like it. Maybe the collapse of the world economy was a collapse of the war economy. :^)

All in all, I think it did a good job of filling in a missing link in the evolution of humanity's space adventures. The Sol Alliance did pop up a little abruptly to my taste, but it's serviceable.

Out of all this, what I'd really like is some heroes. People that can be looked back to and referenced and commonly understood, famous people from this alternate histroy. Maybe a PMC commander who lead his company to greatness, a US president who did something politically fascinating, or the first person on Mars, or maybe even some of the first and founding members of the Sol Alliance.

And, one last thought that quickly popped up, why does no one seems to use PMCs in 2458? Did history repeat itself and people suddenly remember how terrible mercenaries were for everything or otherwise pick up copies of the Prince and read Machiavelli's criticisms of mercs? Or did they get bought out by the modern megacorporations? If so can we get some ties from old PMCs to modern NT ERT? Military institutions and tend to be proud of their history, maybe ERT units could retain their old company names.

I noticed that Luna is scantly mentioned in the timeline (and even then, it's simply referred to as "the moon.") I would appreciate it more if we learned what Luna was doing all that time during foundation of trans-stellar corporations, the schism with the colonies, and how/wen they underwent the mining operations.

Another thing I would also be interested in seeing is the return of something from old bay lore, which was the large Japanese population of Luna (they are also not mentioned in the timeline - some expansion on what japan was up to would be really cool.) Maybe making them part of UOE?

I've moved information from the sol alliance specific history section to the timeline so you can get the full picture, then added a bit about an energy company going under being a catalyst. Similar to the great depression, it was the reaction to the catalyst rather than the catalyst itself that was the biggest threat to the markets.

Heros and other individuals will be added to a new Notable Humans page.

The timeline is meant to provide a general overview of the big picture. We'll work on adding more hyperlinks to respective pages but in-depth information on specific places, people, and factions would be on their own pages.

For example for Nursie, information on the moon can be found here.

I understand that the changes were made to the timeline specifically before the Second Space Age, but are there plans to connect the second half of the page a little more closely to the first?

We will make reviews in regards to the current integrity and flow of the Timeline page and make changes if absolutely necessary. The Timeline's been given an overhaul approximately six times, not including this change.

All looking good but I can't help but notice that we have a big build up of tension with the USA and the USSR which disappears suddenly when the economy mysteriously collapses.

The number one reason as to why the Proxy Wars didn't escalate as far as they did was to avoid nuking each other. Here's an interesting article on the subject: http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb285/

There's no doubt that the Soviets thought from the mid 40s up until the 90s (in regards to modern day real world timeline) that the USA was plotting to nuke the crap out of the USSR. Every single model they used for nuclear war was if NATO had instigated nuclear attacks.

Nuclear deterrence really worked! But it only works to protect territory that undeniably belongs to your country.

It's not a big deal but it'd be smoother for me to see an actual reason for the crash and the Sol Alliances introduction and dominance as "the world government".

A result of one of the largest remaining petroleum companies in addition to the rising expensiveness of upkeeping fusion production facilities being driven up by the very corporations that own it in order to further optimize wattage output and sell said Watts for more than their initial price tag would indicate effectively caused the economy to be tied up to an anchor and thrown into the deep sea.

There's heavy implications that the PMCs in addition to their controller corporations have dealt heavy blows to the economy itself, in several ways. It's not outright obvious for the purpose that characters are not made to immediately oppose the idea of PMCs or corporations as a whole when they fit into the bill of benefiting from their existence in this particular setting.

Basically what caused the crash, how did it affect the world and how did the Sol Alliance strong arm every nation in the world into their new world order.

This is something I'd love to touch on, but as mentioned, this is something I'd not detail a whole lot on. I'd say in this particular case, the minimum amount of information to transmit as much information in regards to the conceptualization of the Sol Alliance's formation was our goal.

I'll simply say in terms of the crash, quality of life conditions were very poor up until after the Alliance's formation to which several humanitarian agencies were formed to provide support for victims of the crash and revitalize critical areas of the economy.

In regards to how the Alliance managed to persuade everyone into a single determining collective nation with a difficult-to-determine will? Who can say? Perhaps the stars aligned and humanity got lucky. Or perhaps there's someone watching over the Alliance, manipulating its actions and the nation's actions and responses at every turn.

And, one last thought that quickly popped up, why does no one seems to use PMCs in 2458? Did history repeat itself and people suddenly remember how terrible mercenaries were for everything or otherwise pick up copies of the Prince and read Machiavelli's criticisms of mercs? Or did they get bought out by the modern megacorporations? If so can we get some ties from old PMCs to modern NT ERT? Military institutions and tend to be proud of their history, maybe ERT units could retain their old company names.

Frank is currently working on a project in relation to your questions. I naturally won't spoil anything.

PMCs still exist in 2458, however, the Emergency Response Team has become the go-to for opportunistic legitimate hired guns in our local galaxy. The risk is high, so it'll attract adrenaline junkies, and the reward is as equally high for Light/Heavy Asset Protection units dispatched across systems with NanoTrasen stakes in them. It can't be said that NT holds direct control over the war economy (as full-scale war is bad for legitimate non-combat business), but it has a lot of shareholding in regards to it.

Other, smaller PMCs exist, but they are often contracted to go against NanoTrasen assets which puts them in the awkward position of having to deploy against state-of-the-art advanced RIG-suited emergency responders with orders to shoot to kill intruders, while only possessing archaic armor, outdated weapons and nostalgic tools to perform a job way over their specifications.

As you can understand, they don't often last very long. The power that NanoTrasen holds on the mercenary market in addition to every other market it has stake in is incredible and almost terrifying to fathom.

Thanks for getting back to me! I'm enthusiastic about these changes, can't wait to see how the lore will continue to shape up.