Solaris

2142

Humanity’s journey from 2050 to present has been wrought with celebrated accomplishments, disastrous arrogance, and a great deal of both fortune and misfortune. In 2050 humans celebrated a great many milestones of their progress from recent decades; cloning, genetic manipulation, life prolonging technologies, actual artificial intelligence, the Lunar colony, and that year, faster-than-light communication and the first large colony launch toward the stars. At this point, extraordinary humans (who sometimes called themselves “superheroes” and “supervillains”) existed but were fairly low-powered by modern standards and were extremely rare. It was an era of celebration for all mankind… at least, for those who could afford it.

The elites of the time hoarded the vast majority of the world’s wealth while more than ten billion others suffered in a near slave-like existence - whether they were conscious of it or not was a different matter entirely.

Still, this was the year where hope was rising. Then the First Rebirth happened; defining the next fifty years. Humans began changing rapidly. Whether it was evolution, government experiments, or alien influence is a matter of great debate to this day. Prior to 2050 there were perhaps 100 Homo Superius, as they would come to be classified, known to the world with about 1,000 in existence who may not have even known themselves. By 2055 there were more than 10,000 known. It was within these days when chaos seemed all but inevitable.

Significantly more than half of all Homo Superius began seizing power and control where they could. From petty criminals to individuals seizing small nations. Many of them were doing so with misguided ideas of freeing the world or humanity as a whole. And most of whom, both good and bad, were far more feared than revered.

In 2057, amidst the turmoil, humans had First Contact with the Bor’rel, an alien species not unlike a large, floating jellyfish. The reaction of the planet was one of wonderment - they arrived with little pomp or circumstance and no hostility. Their technology seemed incredibly odd and mismatched, or alien, even compared to themselves - but no one questioned it in the mainstream. The first obvious issue was communication.

A woman from China, Lum Meifang, travelled to the nearest arrival site, not far from Zhangjia Mountain. She was more an empath than a telepath truly, but was able to communicate with them and became Earth’s first ambassador to an alien species.

The following year, after months of peaceful interaction with the Bor’rel, three more alien species made themselves known - the Golle, Hee'himix, and the Chu-le. The last of which to make contact, the Chu-le, a shapeshifting alien species, had apparently been on Earth for some time - but no one truly knows how long or why.

By 2061 there were more than 500,000 Homo Superius. A man known only as the Broker, or Power Broker, took control of the Lunar colony - imbuing all those present in the colony with various powers. For reasons unknown at the time, his ability to imbue powers did not work on just anyone however.

The world was full of strife, wars, and conquest on every continent. After his coming forward so forcefully, the elites clamored for favor with the Broker. In his fortress, Lunaris, they flocked to pay exorbitant fees for his gifts, even those already counting themselves among the Homo Superius - further solidifying his seat of power.

In 2065, there were more than 50,000,000 Superius. It became known that in addition to Homo Sapiens and Superius, another subspecies of humans existed - this knowledge brought forth by the Golle. They became known as Homo Praeter who numbered approximately one billion already; marked by a different set of genetic characteristics and capable of near Superius like “superhuman” feats and abilities, though no extraordinary “powers”. These individuals were notably unable to become Homo Superius. The era of Homo Sapiens was nearing its end.

2069 marked both the beginning and the end of the Great Conflict, or World War III. As the world’s shortest and bloodiest world war, more than three billion died and the Alliance of Humans was founded at the behest of a growing number of non-human advisors and the majority of humans.

By 2070 there were approximately one billion Superius, four billion Praeter, two billion Sapiens, and the world’s first Homo Evolutis. The Evolutis was brought about by extreme genetic manipulation and marked the pinnacle of what any Homo Sapien could artificially become. Within one year, there were less than a billion Sapiens and about as many Evolutis given the reasonable cost and fairly simple nature of the procedure, as well as an individual who chose to remain anonymous and became known as the Giver, founder of the Evolutis Foundation, for his extremely generous nature.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Within the decade following 2070 Dawn’s Horizon, a massive space station, was built. It served as the first Sol space hub, manufacturing massive ships for the Alliance of Humans and Gaian Defense Force. By the end of the 2070’s there were some thirty alien species known to mankind.

At the end of 2083 the First Human Civil War began, which lasted four years and cost billions of human lives. The largest casualties were those of the faction’s enormous A.I. armies; with more than twenty billion destroyed. In this time, magic came into focus - ushered forth by the Minan to humanity. A very small fraction of humans were able to grasp some of its concepts and utilize this power; while not lacking a mystical or supernatural nature, it was essentially hyper advanced technology. The first faction of its users formed and were known as the Promethean Protectorate and consisted of less than a thousand members.

At the end of the war Dawn’s Horizon was commissioned by a private party to build a massive colony ship, which it completed by the mid 2090’s. At its completion it was revealed that an Artificial Intelligence entity, then known as Alpha-01, had commissioned the ship and led a mass exodus of sentient machines of all forms from Earth. They left rapidly,with no fuss or fanfare, and with no announced destination.

The beginning of the 22nd century marked the contact of Targhir, then the terraforming of multiple planets and moons within the solar system, paid for by various factions. The population of earth was nearing nine billion humans and one billion aliens.

Alpha-01 announced they had taken a number of moons around Jupiter, namely the four largest - Ganymede, Callisto, Io, and Europa. They rapidly colonized, began mining, and built their own space station and capital, Eniac,l which also orbited Jupiter. It was discovered that a sub-faction of AI had been exiled and had taken Alpha-01’s original ship to Mercury.

Venus was terraformed for the Promethean Protectorate and various smaller mystic societies, organizations, and factions. Pluto was terraformed, and four new planets of similar size and orbit were formed, primarily for the Unity of Solaris and Solaran Defense, (formerly the Gaian Defense Force) to serve as joint outposts for the system. It was on Pluto where the Embassy of Sol was built, marking all five planets as “neutral territory” which became known as the Shields of Solaris.

The Second Human Civil War began in 2103, marking the near extinction of Homo Sapiens. These humans still existed, but shortly after birth generally became Evolutis. The first shots were fired by a militant faction of Praeters upon an Evolutis Foundation building. The situation devolved rapidly into all-out-war with many Praeters and a previously unknown faction of Sapiens, the Purus, against the Superius and reluctant Evolutis. Many individual factions fled from all signs of conflict, but the majority of humanity were actively engaged in the conflict.

This war may have eventually wiped out humanity if it weren’t for the very urgent warning of the Rauvu, the Galactic Embassy, all hostilities on Earth ceased shortly after the Lollak arrived and assaulted the planet in 2104. That civil war ended only after four billion human deaths; more than half of all Superius perished and nearly all Sapiens were slaughtered. The enigmatic Purus returned to their refuges underground, in mountains, and in underwater ocean colonies.

After two years the Lollak called off their assault and retreated to the vast expanse of space after a successful Solaran defense with the aid of other alien allies and unity of most humans. The recently discovered and greatly diminished Sapien enclave, the Purus, were banished. They eventually claimed Mars after spending years aboard ships awaiting their new colony’s construction, sans terraforming. Earth properly became known as Solara, and humans of all human subspecies as Solarans. This period, generally from 2100 to present day, became known as the Second Rebirth or Solaran Rebirth.

The time of the Second Solaran War, or Second Human Civil War, to the present day have gone by in relative peace with little strife. Four subspecies of human Solarans exist in 2142, each thriving in their own way. The Broker, having stayed out of all wars, with the single exception of the Lollak invasion, still controls the moon orbiting Solara. The Giver is still trying to unite and aid all Solarans. Many aliens co-exist around Sol, and Solarans are beginning to reach beyond their own system toward other distant stars. Magic or hyper-tech, interdimensional travel, immortality and other Superius abilities, and so many other wonders exist. But poverty, crime, and conflict are not gone… Solarans are far from perfect.

It seems like far too long since something has gone terribly wrong. It feels as if something is brewing beneath the surface. Most can sense it, an almost palpable anticipatory tension throughout the system. No one knows what comes next, but things are being planned by any number of unknown entities, each ready to be the next catalysts in this little region of space you call home, Solaris.