Timeline

Mostly what In-game sources would let you know. Only events that should be referenced in more than a single place are listed.

Earthbound Epoch and Early Space Age ( ???-2080 )

Most historical records of the Early Space Age existed in digital archives and did not survive the Discontinuity. Careful reconstruction of what little physical archives do remain, both on Earth and its oldest colonies, allows the patient researcher to put together a very rudimentary and often contradictory timeline.

Most of this information is considered largely irrelevant to the majority of the population, Most spacers live in places and situations far-removed from historical Earth, and only well-learned academics and the occasional eccentric care enough to know the gritty details.

Its safe to assume that the mod timeline split from ours somewhere during the early XX century, but the fragmented historical record makes it impossible to determine how or when things started to deviate.

The Hyperspace Expansion (2080-2152)

Orbiting Space telescopes discover a seemingly stable spatial property that allows the hyper-luminal transfer of information. Starting a golden century of unheard political social and technological advancement that is unlikely to ever be replicated.

• 2105 The Soviet Union launches its first jump-capable factory fleet, in an all too ambitious plan to create an interstellar civilization. Other nations are quick to follow, and generally more successful on their colonization endeavors.
• 2110 Incredibly powerful strong AI systems are created by leveraging the principles of FTL communication.
• 2115 An unknown concern of biotechnology companies buys the exploration rights of Salus IV, quoting interest in studying the native lifeforms.
• 2140 Exponential growth in the capabilities of Hypercomms AI leads to unheard advances in all levels of human existence, although little of these transformations manage to assert themselves outside of the solar system before the discontinuity happens.

The discontinuity (2152- 2375)

The hyperspace anomaly, once thought a fundamental property of space suddenly disperses. With humanities' interstellar civilization dissolved alongside it. Billions die when their ships are stranded in deep space or when vital resources fail to arrive, suddenly irreplaceable infrastructure is damaged in the near immediate struggles for self-sufficiency. When the dust of conflict finally settles humanity is left to live in the squalor of its own ruins.

This is bad for the economy.

• 2152 The bulk of human knowledge is lost when most of the hypercomm dependent internet, computer systems and decentralized storage media are rendered inaccessible.
• 2170 Most extra-solar colonies die out, unable to maintain themselves without imported resources or technology. The Salus IV colony among these.
• 2170 The industrial infrastructure of the solar system is devastated, either rendered inert by the discontinuity or destroyed as surviving governments and corporate factions viciously fight for survival.
• 2200 Earth governments collapse or are otherwise transformed into recognizable forms.
• 2200-2350 Whatever horrible thing you can imagine probably happened during these years, feel free to write about it.
• 2360 First public mention of the Ganymede Project, a research alliance whose goal is the replication of the FTL technology built during the Hyperspace Expansion.

Reclamation and Present (2375-2430)

Under a much more stable solar political reality, the Ganymede project successfully recreates a FTL engine. A lesser version of humanities interstellar civilization is restarted, powered by equally lesser technology. Earth's hegemony over human space is rapidly restored by the greatest military campaign in history.

• 2375 The Ganymede Project successfully recreates a new FTL engine. However, the FTL communication technology of the Hyperspace Age proves impossible to replicate.
• 2382 Seeking to quell flaring conflicts during the recolonization of Alpha Centauri, the Ganymede Project is formalized into a deeper alliance. UICA is created.
• 2382-2425 Reclamation wars and expeditions.
• 2425 Internal political friction within UICA leads to a suspension of official reclamation efforts. Although by this date only the systems in the very fringes of human space remain uncontacted. The Salus system among these.
• 2428 A minor exploration company arrives to the Salus system. It confirms the total collapse of Hyperspace Expansion era colony within Salus IV, and in accordance with UICA reclamation protocols the rightful owners of the colony: The Whately Corporation, are contacted to pay the survey fee and reclaim the system.
• 2429 Uninterested in actively developing the Salus system, The Whately Corporation begins leasing development and exploitation permits and allows the establishment of minor UICA outposts within Salus IV.
• 2429 Salus IV is quarantined. Rumors about the well preserved ruins and exotic bio-weapons circulate and garner limited interest between scavengers in nearby sectors.
• 2430 The player accidentally or deliberately lands on Salus IV.