Timeline

2037 First dying person Uploaded.

2042 First commercial fusion reactor.

2054 First permanently manned moon base.

2066 First asteroid mining mission completed.

2093 Asteroid belt population reaches 1 million.

2104 The United Nations declares that environmental collapse on Earth is 'inevitable'. The UN Interstellar Colonisation Initiative is created.

2123 C-Jammer, the first interstellar colony slowboat launched. It is powered by a combination of multi-stage fusion rockets and a solar sail - illuminated by fixed lasers.

2124 First of the "water wars" launched by the Sovereign State of California.

2166 Centauri colony founded at Alpha Centauri-A.

2188 Procyon colony founded.

2198 Esperanza colony founded at Epsilon Indi.

2201 First contact with aliens. The xa declare that Esperanza is part of the Xa Imperium.

2209 Bessel colony founded at 61 Cygni.

2220 Hong Kong launches first human-built jump-capable starship - the C-Breaker.

2239 First Xa War. Esperanzans defeated, and accept their place in the Xa Imperium.

2239-2378 Human diaspora. Humans from Esperanza and Bessel start to push out into the Main, colonists take passage on jump ships, or hire on as labourers. Earth continues to launch slower than light colony ships, this time to more distant destinations. Jump ships from Earth remain limited to the Core worlds.

2254 Earth receives first shipment of antimatter from Esperanza.
2271 Colonists from Bessel settle on Weg.
2294 Earth Union declares environmental catastrophe averted, thanks to unlimited power from antimatter.
2302 The Combine is founded by the Esperanzan government.
2345 New Puritans exterminate last batwing alien on Esperanza.
2375 Spiders conquer the Xa Imperium's coreward Main in the "Web War". Their human allies on Weg rebel against imperial rule.

2378-9 Second Xa War. Esperanza is free from the Xa.

2420-54 Third Xa War. The Esperanzan Commonwealth captures Cassiopeia (Eta Cassiopeiae).

2521-27 Fourth Xa War ends in stalemate.

2609 Scientists on Earth perfect the jump-1+ drive.

2616 DX Cancri colony founded.

2627 Fifth Xa War. The Esperanzan Commonwealth, allied with the Earth Union, finally conquers Xa-Arrack (at Gliese 33), renames it Gateway.

2634 The Combine War, beween Weg and the Combine.

2673 Sixth Xa War. The Xa Navy launches a punitive strike against Gateway, in an attempt to suppress human piracy. Allied forces of the Esperanzan Commonwealth and the Long Republic breach imperial defences, and devastate all Xa shipbuilding yards. Long Republic seizes control of Xa-Xierru, the most populous xa world.

2692 Bol Rebellion. Xa Imperium loses the trailing half of its remaining space to its former slaves.

2705 Esperanzan telepath Illuminati proclaim Year Zero. Next Step party founded.

2714 The Emergency begins. The insurgency on Earth grows increasingly violent in the following years.

2715 Procyon Defence Alliance formed.

2718 Earth Union falls to the Next Step coup.

2719 Mars falls to the Next Step government. Outer Planets defeated.

2720 Scientists on Procyon perfect the jump-2 drive.

2721 Battle of Procyon. The Procyon Defence Alliance beats back attempted invasion.

2722 Present day.