Timeline

2020-2050 - With the previous warnings about climate change largely ignored, the Earth begins to deteriorate at a rapid pace, leaving humanity scrambling to undo the damage to no avail. Every incremental step forward makes it clear too much harm has already been done to reverse it in time. With catastrophic weather patterns on the horizon, the United Nations co-opts The Greta Earth Foundation's mission statement to 'save the Earth'- mostly to cover their own asses for being so significantly responsible for much of the damage, themselves. But with so few options left to them, the UN rallies the nations of Earth around its last best hope: Strike out into the universe and pray that they might find somewhere else to carry on humanity's legacy. And maybe, just maybe, in time they can find a way to restore Earth to its former glory.

The United Nations is tasked with working out the nitty gritty details. How to get humans off Earth, the short-term and long-term goals, and organizing funding, resources, and manpower for the massive undertaking, all fall to the UN. 

The first ships are ready within the decade, and diverse teams are gathered to man them. By 2035, stations built past the asteroid belt are made habitable - although they are crewed first by military and research scientists. Over the next few decades, waves of people are moved off Earth, leaving only a skeleton crew of those required to maintain monitoring devices and those who refuse to leave at all.

As humanity moves out into the stars, though, the UN's structure becomes cloudier in purpose - what do they need national representatives for with no more borders between them? After long and protracted debate, they rename themselves the Coalition for Human Longevity, refocus themselves around the need to come together as one to ensure their continuation as a whole. The Department of Peace Operations will eventually become the Coalition Defense Force, as much focused on maintaining order within as defending from potential threats without.

2050 - Hermes Station is initially settled as a military waystation to facilitate space exploration. The Mercury crystals discovered when carving out space for the station give a much-needed jump start to research into deep-space exploration. Within just a few years, scientists have found a way to use the crystals to facilitate travel by gate, utilizing wormholes stabilized by the crystals to move ships through space at a fraction of the time it would normally take to travel.

2053 - With the advent of gate travel, humans begin to seek new worlds to settle, as climate change causes Earth to become increasingly uninhabitable.

2058 - Uriel system is discovered. More Mercury crystals are discovered here, which allow for greater exploration. Most of the system is determined unlivable, but a moon around the planet Tenoh, rich with Mercury crystals, is deemed to have potential. Tenoh-V is the first, experimental attempt at terraforming, and because the moon is relatively small it doesn't even take a full decade to bring it up to liveable conditions.

2067 - Tenoh-V is settled.

2072 - Upon discovering the Gjallarhorn System, newly-developed terraforming technologies are used to bring the most near-habitable planets up to Earthling standards. Early terraforming attempts take about 50 years to complete, and require close monitoring to ensure that the atmosphere and planetary life develop as needed. Planets are chosen and designed by committee, around specific needs and fundraising schemes.

2105 - "Station 14" is settled.

2127 - Astraeus Corp. start what will eventually become Warden Station.

2133 - The first terraformed planets are deemed acceptable for habitation, and humanity takes flight in the colony ships designed to take them to their new homes. Some planets in the Gjallarhorn system such as Cantra are not terraformed, but made habitable using similar dome technologies initially utilized on Hermes Station. 

2187 - Second- and third-generation children of colonists on several of the newly terraformed worlds begin showing mutations.

2237 - Praxas is settled.

2246 - Hemelite, the synthetic blood now distributed throughout the galaxy, is created by Kaizen Corporation.

2253 - Tremar is settled and immediately lost.

2254 - An incident with a blood starved vampire soldier aboard a CDF ship sparks Asphodel Meadows to leave the Coalition and declare their independence - leading other planets to do the same. Some view the Coalition as inherently corrupt and drunk with power, some don't want to pay such heavy taxes or provide the number of soldiers required by mandate, etc. 

2255 - Station 14 is abandoned.

The War is mostly fought, initially, in the space above Asphodel Meadows as they push back the CHL's forces, commandeering ships to add to their might where possible. As it spreads, and other planets such as The Menagerie join Asphodel's cause, the fight is brought to the surface of various planets in proxy wars. After a few years, refugees from the planets Kinsei and Shuurg begin dispersing to nearby stations and neighboring planets, and soon their homeworlds are all but lost to the devastation. 

Six years into the war, with most active hostilities having died down and the CHL on the ropes, the rebellion begins to look towards unity and governance. Asphodel Meadows claims the right to lead, having instigated and contributed the greatest forces to the cause. This draws backlash from representatives of the other planets in rebellion, and the CHL takes notice and advantage of the resulting infighting to offer a peaceful resolution. While Asphodel Meadows balks, the others consider...

It is nearly another full year before the details have been worked out completely, but the ceasefire holds despite Asphodel's resistance. Without the support of the other planets, though, they no longer have the means to maintain the war alone, and are forced to come to the table. Given the promise of absolution and help in rebuilding, most planets in the rebellion, war-weary and worn, negotiate their return to the CHL under a noteworthy condition: Representation.

Where previously the CHL had existed to lead humanity into space as a whole, the war shone a light on the many disparate needs born of the various cultures and climes across its holdings now. Representation for each member-planet in the CHL's parliament ensures that those needs are attended to, and such incidents as that which started the war in the first place will be avoided in future. 

For many planets, this is enough and several come back into the fold. Praxas, which had declared neutrality during the war, works out its independence afterward with little upset. Asphodel Meadows, however, is unsatisfied with the Coalition's offerings, and negotiations last months after reintegration of the other planets, ending in a tense truce and tentative trade agreements. 

2261 - The Civil War ends and the Coalition government reorganizes, begins negotiating peace treaties with the Independent Planets, provides more independence to the planetary governments that remain part of the coalition, and essentially does all it can to retain membership. A few planets that initially seceded choose to rejoin the Coalition.

2265 - Artemis is settled.

2284 - Tremar is found again!

2302 - Station 14 is renamed to Heritage Terminal and resettled.

2307 - Waimarie is 'settled.'

2312 - Mori's Landing is settled.

2313 - Game Start. With the Civil War 50 years in the past, veterans of that war are generally upwards of 70 years old now. There have been minor skirmishes here and there, of course, but it's unlikely another galactic war is brewing. (No one wants to be the planet that started it, after all.)

• April, 2313 - Hiring on a new crew, Jessa Arden - Captain of the Halcyon - set course for Mori's Landing. Without explanation, she gives them each their cut when they arrive and then they go their separate ways. The crew is on Mori's Landing for two weeks, waiting for an opportunity to either find employment or book passage on another ship.

• May, 2313 - While on Mori's Landing, Rune Mahagna - Captain of the Hellion - hires the remaining Halcyon crew members for a smuggling mission. 

• June, 2313 - Cayden Smock of Asphodel Meadows goes missing after a meet-up with Seth Frost. Less than 24 hours later, Jonah Vos, a somewhat prominent modeling agent who once represented Seth during his modeling days, also goes missing. 

• July, 2313 - In early July, Rune Mahagna and her first mate, Driss Oberon, let the crew go so they can settle their debt with Daeva Dragao. While grounded on Waimarie, Seth Frost wins a ship in a high stakes poker game. He and CJ name her the Pōmaika'i a Sila  - The Sila, for short. The remaining crew members travel to Paradise for some much needed R&R while they do the necessary repairs to get the ship up and running. 

• September, 2313 - The crew leaves Paradise and makes a stop at Warden Station for the last of the parts the Sila needs. Annari Neuriko does her first job for Daeva Dragao after the Head of the Dragon Network bought out the medic's CDF debt. What Daeva didn't tell them immediately was that she expected the rest of the crew's help in paying off that debt. Days later, the CDF boards the ship and 'confiscates' the cargo they were transporting for Daeva.

• October, 2313 - To make up for losing the cargo, Daeva gives the crew a chance to earn their way back into her good graces. They plan and execute the theft of a valuable antique from an Artemis casino. 

• December, 2313 - The crew has been working for Daeva for a few months now and, though it chafes, they're learning to live with it. For now, anyway.

2314 - Current in-game year. 

• January, 2314 - The crew thwarts the bombing of a New Years Eve fundraiser on Grand Teton, though few of them make it through the evening unscathed. Only weeks later, the crew of the Sila is kidnapped and tortured by Jefferson and Katia Smock for information about their role in Cayden Smock's disappearance. 

• February, 2314 - Seth and CJ get married! Laelia-Belle goes into hiding on Tremar with Annabelle Frost and Tisha Shirley, with BZE acting as their bodyguard.