Note this is a fairly true timeline, and included a lot of gritty details your character probably doesn’t know.
Remember the Corps have been meddling with the education system for years now, so anything that paints them or America in a bad light (or Europe in a good light) will have been edit out.
1996
The Collapse of the United States: Weakened by losses in the World Stock Crash of 1994, overwhelmed by unemployment, homelessness and corruption, many city and state governments collapse or go bankrupt. Thirteen high-ranking U.S. politicians, including the president and vice president, tragically die or are killed in a variety of “incidents.” Beheaded, burdened by a staggering deficit and snarled in the machinations of its own bureaucracy, the U.S. government is totally ineffective. Many small businesses are swept away, as only megacorporations and multinationals are large enough to weather the troubles intact. Unemployment soars as the value of the U.S. dollar plummets.
The Nomad Riots: By the end of the year, one in four Americans are homeless. Hundreds of thousands riot for living space throughout the U.S., as nomad packs spring up on the West Coast and spread rapidly throughout the nation. Boostergangs begin to appear in urban areas. The Constitution is suspended, and martial law is established by the Secretary of Defense, Jonathan Seward.
The European Economic Community (EEC) provides a stable home for multinational corporations who use the Collapse as an opportunity to move into Third World countries as well as establish puppet offices in the floundering U.S.
1997
Mideat Meltdown; Tensions in the Middle East escalate Into a nuclear exchange Iran Iraq, Libya, Chad, Dubai and the United Arab Emirate are reduced to radioactive slag and the world oil supply drops by half.
Amid the domestic chaos, Wyoming becomes a socialist state, and Hawaii is declared a military preserve.
The European Space Agency (ESA) manages to establish a Tycho/Luna colony.
1998
The Drought of ‘98 reduces most of the Midwest to parched grasslands. Between agribusiness corps and drought, the family farm all but disappears. Corporations buy up North Dakota land in the disaster’s wake.
A 10.5 earthquake shatters Los Angeles, as the ocean inundates 35% of the city. An estimated 65,000 are killed .
Neo-Luddites are re-established in western Kentucky. Over the next ten years, the “Luds” are responsible for bombings of airports, factories, freeways and mass transit terminals.
The Hermes spaceplane is released by the ESA.
1999
Federal Weapons Statute established allowing personal firearms widespread distribution. Many people arm themselves in the face of chaos and social breakdown, butthis gunslinger attitude only contributes to the decline. Texas declares its independence from the U.S.
Millennium cults begin to appear, predicting an apocalypse on Jan. 1, 2000. Thousands migrate to isolated communes and temples to “await the end.”
The Tycho colony massdriver is constructed to provide raw materials for orbital platforms.
2000
Millennium cults run amok on Jan. 1st in an orgy of suicide and violence, most destroy themselves.
Massive firestorms, collectively caIled “the Brushfire”, rage over the Northwestern U.S., destroying millions of acres of farm and grassland.
The Wasting Plague hits U.S. and Europe, killing hundreds of thousands. Legal measures are instituted that severely restrict the rights of those with infectious diseases.
The Senate is forced to recognize Texas as a “Free State.” Alaska soon becomes a Free State as well.
Construction of the Crystal Palace space station is begun in low orbit.
2001
The framework of the Global Computer Net is firmly in place with construction of the WorldSat network. Computer systems around the world are linked via a vast telecommunications grid.
Domestically. martial law continues. The U.S. legal process is streamlined to handle the number of arrests currently being sent through the system.
In the UK, the army seizes power, creating the Martial Law Authority. King Charles III, his brother Andrew, and most of the Royal Marines are killed in an anti-MLA coup. Operation Cromwell is immediately launched by D.I.5 and agents begin locating and terminating all possible heirs to the throne. The plan succeeds in eliminating all but two of the most legitimate heirs, Beatrice and Eugenie Ferguson who have vanished.
2002
The Food Crash : mutated plant virus wipes out Canadian and Soviet crops. U.S. agribusiness crops survive due to new biological counteragent U.S.S.R. accuses U.S. of biological warfare.
California joins Alaska and Texas, becoming Free State. The Coprenicus/Luna colony is established by the U.S.
In the UK D.I.5 begins to purge any mention of the Monarchy from libraries and universities. The purge is (luckily) incomplete, with citizens and corporations hiding away a large wealth of information on the Monarchy
2003
The Second Central American Conflict (the first being in 199): The U.S. invades Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela. The war is a disaster that costs thousands of American lives. It is later revealed to have been largely engineered by the National Security Council and the CIA. During the conflict, some soldiers are equipped with experimental cyberware to enhance their combat effectiveness.
Nevada becomes a Free State and the state of New Jersey goes bankrupt as domestic unrest continues.
2004
The First Corporate War: Twelve multinational corporations, including European Business Systems & Orbital Air, battle for control of Trans-World Air. Armed raids, computer sabotage, and terrorist tactics characterize the conflict
The CIA and NSA are purged after being linked to a series of independent and questionable activities, including the 2nd CAW. Both organizations are gutted. The militarythen helps re-establish some semblance of federal control in the United States. The State of Emergency continues.
The first cloned tissue is grown in vitro. Microsutures and sterilizerfields become some of the first of a wave of high-tech medical breakthroughs.
2005
The Cybermodem invented. Direct neural interface with computers becomes possible.
EBM Solos attack the Tokyo office of Kenjiri Technologies, killing eighteen. End of the First Corp War.
Operation Big Stick: U.S. military destroys the Mantonga Corp as an example to others.
2006
Cybernetic implants come into common usage by First World elite military units. Corporations startto follow suit with their in-house security forces.
The base plan for workshacks is developed by Mitsub-ishi/Korydanshu. Low Orbit colonization begins in earnest.
2007
The Second Corporate War. A number of firms, including Petrochem, dispute control of oil fields in the South China Sea. Some governments actively support both sides in the conflict.
The state of North Dakota is incorporated by a consortium of agribusinesses after a program of buyouts, tax leveraging and outright graft. While supposedly a democratic process, the government is really a consortium of corporations which runs itself like an executive board. It is to become the pattern of development for many states over the next twenty years.
2008
The First Orbital War: U.S. assault on Soviet weapons platform MIR XIII, and the Eurospace agency intervenes. An orbital war breaks out between the “Euros” and the “Yanks”, until the ESA Tycho colony massdriver drops a rock on Colorado Springs. An uneasy peace is reached.
First U.S. eating contests since martial law declared in Aug. 1996. The U.S. civilian government undergoes reorganization. State governments demand autonomy almost to the point of balkanization as federal power wanes. Street violence, rampant poverty and extreme income stratification characterize the post-Collapse society. The country will teeter at the edge of anarchy for the next ten years.
2009
Corporations begin to methodically and ruthlessly eradicate mob rule in many U.S. cities. Corporate security forces gain greater autonomy of action as state forces prove ineffectual.
Abortive takeover attempt by U.S. “terrorist g roup” of Crystal Palace construction. The ESA discovers that it is a Defense Intelligence Agency plot and drops a twelve ton rock off of Washington as a warning.
The Second Central American Conflict ends. Thousands of disillusioned and hardwired veterans come home to a country racked by violence and economic upheaval. Food riots in Denver kill 52. Corporate consolidation of power continues. Network 54 now controls 62% of all media broadcasting in the U.S.
The ESA begins work on the O’Neill One orbital colony.
2011
Despite social and fiscal chaos, technology is made continually more accessible to the public. Cybernetics and direct neural machine interfacing become common fashion and style elements of American culture. Many people voluntarily have portions of their bodies replaced with cybernetic equivalents and enhancements. Net traffic continues to grow as direct neural processors and cybermodems become more common.
The Crystal Palace is completed, and the ESA now has a permanent hold in the high orbital zone. Construction of L-3 and L-4 colonies begins as an ESA/Soviet mission reaches Mars.
2012
A mysterious plague kills more than 1,700 in Chicago. The city is quarantined and blockaded for an indefinite period.
Northern California (NorCal) separates from Southern California and forms it’s own state.
Johnny Silverhand’s concert riot in NightCity, NorCal, kills 18 and wounds 51 in an assault that guts the Arasaka Complex. He is not in time to stop programmer Alt Cunninghams mind being transferred into the Net by her own creation, the Soulkiller Program. Everyone believes that Alt has been killed.
First viable nanotech developed by both Euro and Japan
D.I.5 discovers evidence of “the Cartel,” a group operating to hide the princesses and their mother. All attempts to trace back rumours of the group’s activities were stymied, however. In reality, the Cartel is the result of secret cooperation between Imperial Metropolitan Agriculture, (IMA) and the Hillard Corporation, to protect their profits. Based in the Caribbean, Cartel members brief Princess Beatrice, later known as Queen Victoria II, on events in the U.K.
2013
The Netwatch cyberspace police organization established by joint U.S./Eurotheatre treaty to monitor “criminal” activity in the Net. First Net patrols are sent out to watch for “cyberspace crime.”
The first true artificial intelligence is developed at Micro-tech’s Sunnyvale, NorCal, facility.
Scottish uprising begins; the Martial Law Authority (MLA) tightens its grip, only to find resistance increasing. British citizens begin to conscientiously dodge the military draft
2014
The lhara-Grubb transformational agorithms redesign the Net into a virtual reality matrix User traffic explodes as Net access becomes easier and more entertaining.
The “Metal Wars” begin in Night City as gangs battle for turf. Other cities also face hordes of well armed, cyber-enhanced thugs establishing urban territories. Local attempts at control vary in effectiveness. Cybersoldiers are hired by corporations and others to bolster their use of force as a standard tool of business.
The Cyberpunk Movement Simultaneously, a counter-movement starts, made up of a coalition of ex-cybersoldiers, Net operators, media performers, and Nomads, all dedicated to fighting the growing corporate control of money, material and, most importantly, information. They call themselves Cyberpunks.
2015
The presence of hundreds of out-of-workcyber-soldiers leads to the rise of international cyber-mercenaries. Lithuania hires cyber-mercs to repel invasions by Latvian nationals. The first basic nanotech is marketed commercially.
2016
The Third Corporate War is fought entirely in the Net as rival corps attack each other’s Datafortesses. Hundreds of bystanders are killed by collateral damage.
The O’Neill One Orbital Colony is completed
2017
The U.S. economy gradually stabilizes with strategically placed (and minimal) federal intervention.
The Cyberpunk movement is in full swing, but corporate power continues to grow. Anarchistic and paranoid by nature, the Cyberpunks are too disorganized to keep the multinationals from acting with total authority across the face of the world. State governments try to exert more local control over corporate activities, but with little success. Many are bought out Most of the public is apathetic or, due to corp propaganda, view the Cyberpunks as dangerous criminals.
The first self-aware human clone is created, but dies after a few weeks.
2018
Scottish nationalists meet the English forces two miles north of Buckton. The battle starts at 6 am, February 21 and finishes 23 hours later with 2/3 of Scotland’s 32,000 resistance fighters dead. All but one of the movement’s leaders are captured and executed for high treason. Colonel Malcom Douglas-Campbell, the sole survivor, flees to Belfast and receives asylum among the Irish. The nationalists resort to terrorist hit-and-run tactics while Douglas-Campbell liases with the IRA.
Brushfire wars erupt in Eastern Europe, The EEC supports some factions while trying to keep the wars from spreading. Eventually, they co-opt many Central European corporations and retool them for the space industry.
President Blair begins to flex federal power again, starting with a committee to monitor corporate activity. Blair falls ill and dies later in year and VP Elizabeth Kress is sworn in. She continues to pursue Blairs policies.
Unmanned ESA mission is launched to Jupiter as the L-4 orbital colony is completed.
The MLA collapses; Victoria II is crowned Queen of England.
2019
Cyberpunk Johnny Silverhand is almost killed in a Biotechnica assassination. Seven months later, he comes out of hiding and releases Clone Wars.
EBM office at Balsam N.C. has dispute with head office in Europe. The first serious friction between the multinationals and their U.S. offices begins. Many protest that they are supposedly being sacrificed in favour of the EEC’s development of space. Their concerns get no response.
President Kress consolidates a faction in the Senate to provide a permanent watch committee limiting corporate powers and investigating abuses.
The Orbital colony at L-5 revolts. In response, the ESA places the L-4 colony under martial law. The NASA Mars mission arrives in Mars orbit.
The Buckton Treaty is signed in Buckton, Scotland. After a month of debate, Scotland is finally independent and agrees to elect its own national assembly to govern the newly independent land. The English, in turn, agree to withdraw all troops except those designated as reserves, who would follow in a period not exceeding 10 years.
2020
Agribusiness concerns incorporate South Dakota, following the plan set in North Dakota.
Rache Bartmoss, Cyberpunk Netrunner, is killed but soon afterwards his posthumous memoirs, Rache Bartmoss’ Guide to the Net are released. They reveal his state of semi-suspended animation.
Pro-Corporate Republican Gerald Hastings elected to the presidency after a massive corporate backed media campaign against incumbent Kress. The Pro-Corporate movement gains momentum. The Senate corporate watch committee is disbanded.
The second ESA/Sov Mars mission arrives at its destination.
2021
The Council for Economic Prosperity is created in September by the executive branch as an advisory group. David Whindam of Biotechnica is Chairman, and initial membership consists of twenty corporate representatives. The CEP first oversees the corporate purchase of Connecticut. Corporations and the military alike work on rebuilding the state. The Neo-Progressive American Citizens’ Party forms, throwing the corporate hat into the political arena.
Second American Revolution: Starting with the domestic offices of Euro Business Machines, American offices nationalize themselves, declaring themselves independent of their European parent corps. Hastings has the military support their bid for autonomy, and an economic war with the EEC ensues. Europe boycotts the U.S. and the US strengthens its links to Japan and the Pacific Rim, A propaganda war erupts between the two and the U.S. erects an “electronic curtain”, banning unauthorized transmissions from EEC satellites and othersources. USAF sat-killers establish control of U.S. orbital space.
After several Euro Netrunners attempt to crash the U.S. Netgrid, it is declared a national resource, partially isolated from the global network, and placed under martial law. Euro-Netwatch runners are banned and the U.S.-based AIM Over-watch is installed. The Neo-American Corporations pool their reduced security forces and form the Corporate Security Service (CorpSec), which now works with all the local corps as well as the federal government
2022
Agribusiness concerns incorporate Montana.
Now in competition with the ESA U.S. space efforts are accelerated. NASA’s Chryse Base is completed on Mars.
The Corporate Rebuilding of America gets underway. Carried with the media tide thirty-three states elect corporate party governors, as well as many elf-lords to Congress. Federal power backs business as they move to purchase and avenge the countryside. Corporate buyouts of urban combat zones begin, with teams moving into bulldoze. The current residents are forcibly displaced, which often results in firefights.
Agribusiness concerns incorporate Nebraska. Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio are reformed as cooperative incorporated states, reaching a compromise which most remaining independents view as nothing short of selling out
Automated factories are built in Mars orbit. O’Neill Two declares independence resulting in the “O’Neill War.” ESA Soy Isidis Base completed.
2023
Gerald Hastings, in an unprecedented party shift, is selected as the Neo-Progressive American Citizens’ Party candidate. Dave Whindam is chosen for his running mate. Hastings wins the Presidential eating contest, burying the opposition beneath a massive tidal wave of media hype, advertising bling/tactics, and infomercial entertainment spots. Accusations of vote fraud fill the underground press.
Hastings repeals the Federal Weapons Statue and enacts the Gun Bounty. The government and corps offer cash rewards to anyone turning in illegal weapons (most weapons are now declared illegal). As police and CorpSec patrols grow in number and visibility, the general public cooperates with disarmament Cyberpunks, Nomads and other fringe elements continue to hold out, but pressure begins to drive them underground. Overall employment increases, if at minimal wage levels. New Jersey is purchased by the CEP and incorporated. The Bureau of Relocation and Housing Security Services is formed from its CEP nucleaus to aid in the “handling” of indigents and squatters. Their tactics quickly turn draconian as they round up whole neighborhoods and haul them off for “re-education.”
NASA begins regular Mars flights as manned NASA Jupiter probe, the DSS Pathfinder, leaves for the outer solar system.
2024
In January, Hastings is sworn in for his second term. After a failed assassination attempt at the ceremony, CorpSec and the FBI round up several prominent politicians, activists, and CE0s. The underground press terms them “political prisoners.”
In March, Hastings dies when the presidential aerodyne is hit by a missile. VP Whindam is sworn in as president.
More political arrests by both the police and CorpSec are made in the wake of the assassination. A Federal Law Enforcement Division (LEDiv) investigation into the assassination is terminated at Whindam’s order. Whindam establishes the CEP as an executive department, Corporate federal interests are cemented. Laws allowing greater corporate freedom of action as well as greater control of employees’ lives start passing Congress. Membership in a Neo-Progres-sive political party becomes a “recommended” prerequisite for many jobs.
As the CEP machine gathers momentum, more States fall into incorporated status. Corporations gain more and more control over their employees’ lives, and supply housing, special schools for the children, and off-work activities, all carefully segregated by job and status classifications. Public opinion supports these moves as they promise employment and apparent economic security. In September, Whindam and the new Congress rename the US the Incorporated States of America, the ISA is born.
Janice Grubb begins to experiment with the Virtuality Net interface. Net ICON transmitters the size of matchbooks
2025
The new federal government builds a popular power base with the CEP wielding executive power right alongside the president BuReloc and CorpSec activities escalate as “vocational training camps” are established across the countryand thousands of the unemployed or homeless are shipped into them, never to leave. LEDiv begins an hives-tigation into BuReloc methods.
In May, LEDiv suffers a major purge as most of its top officials are linked to “drug-related corruption” and many are “shot while resisting arrest” Re CEP gives many LEDiv duties to CorpSec, which is then made part of the Dept. of Justice.T he BuReloc investigations are terminated. Corporate police now patrol CorpZones instead of standard cops.
The FoxRun Incident occurs on Dec.l9th: An aerodyne carrying a corporate intrusion team crashes in Night City. It is later believed by some to be the source of the nanotech virus known as the Carbon Plague.
The Pathfinder arives in Jupiter space in August as the ESA places three deep space explorer craft into service.
Langley Microsystems develops static grid. V-trodes are first marketed.
2026
In January, a pathological disease tentatively named “Genetic Metabolic Disruption Syndrome” starts spreading. Victims are left as half-dissolved mounds of flesh and a carbon compound called Hexite. By February, cases show up in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, El Paso, Richmond, and New York City. GMDS (nicknamed the Carbon Plague) is declared a threat to national security, and the CDC is brought in. Over the next month the disease moves across the country and into Canada and Mexico. Fatalities are numbered in the thousands. The National Guard is mobilized.
In a panic, most of the world stops travel to and from the ISA, but by May, cases appear in Western Europe, Japan, and Central America. The orbital colonies cut off all traffic to and from Earth. This severely strains the EEC’s economy as they have leveraged heavily on orbital developement. Denial of orbital resources combined with an impending epidemic pushes the EEC to the edge of their own Collapse. ISA corps and agencies work to surreptitiously tip them over that edge.
It is noted that some children seem to have survived activation of the Carbon Plague. After time, some seem to demonstrate unusual and inhuman abilities. ISA authorities start having these children “detained for medical observation.” Many appear to die while under the ISA’s care.
By June martial law is declared by the ISA. Whindam assures that freedoms will be restored as soon as the infection has been contained. California (both North and South) and Nevada are brought back under federal jurisdiction. Texas declares itself an independent republic, and quickly proposes an alliance with the ISA which halts a military attempt at forcible reintegration. Alaska resists less successfully as Petrochem and other corporations increase their presence in the state.
In August, the Carbon Plague is discovered to be nanotech-based. The CDC determines that the contagion rate is almost certain, but that the gestation period is indeterminate. Computer models project that the nanites might befound in some quantity everywhere on Earth. The orbital colonies are soon reporting plague cases, but maintain their quarantine.
The ISA passes the Emergency Powers Act in September, allowing the president (and thus the CEP) full authority to send military forces wherever necessary without Congressional approval. The CDC declares plague survivors to be disease carriers and threats to the national health. A campaign of persecution begins against these “cyber-evolved” children as media propaganda is manufactured, state bounties are posted, and police actions are mobilized. Both corporate and government groups start actively hunting the kids: Some for research, others for containment and elimination.
The Domestic Security Agency discovers the existence of the Eden Cabal, a group of former Cyberpunks who are sheltering CyberEvolved children and training them in anti-ISA tactics. Active elimination of this organization is begun. Johnny Silverhand is reportedly killed by an ISA hit team while preparing his next album called Tomorrow’s Children.
2027
Plague panic slowly stabilizes along with th e fatality rate, but corporate and federal groups continue to use the situation to exert more and more control. A state of paranoia is maintained that allows the authorities to rationalize any action “in the interest of public health.” The State of Emergency is maintained. Efforts to round up potential plague carriers are intensified.
The Carbon Plague has killed about 5% of the global adult population by this time. It is estimated that between 5% and 20% of the juvenile population of the Incorporated States has been Evolved.
Eden Cabal activities escalate as the number of CyberEvolved children grows. A low-key civil war begins with the Guerrillas and CyberEvolved on one side and the ISA authorities on the other. After several ISA-backed attempts on his life, Solo Morgan Blackhand kills CorpSec’s director and assorted staff in Washington, D.C, then disappears.
JUNE, 2027: The Present