TIMELINE | [application] singularity
TIMELINE
2052: THE EVENT. Once upon a time, there was a dude in Illinois who decided that the Mississippi River would work a whole lot better if he just moved it about ten feet to the left. This wouldn't be so remarkable, except this guy was a wizard--and just crazy enough to do what he said he would. Unsurprisingly, things… didn't really work out how he planned. Sure, the river moved, but he ended up accidentally killing seventy-five people to fuel the spell. As if that wasn't bad enough, the magical aftershocks spread to the world's other major river systems. Hundreds of thousands of people died as a direct result of this incident, and the property damage totaled somewhere in the trillions. Once people accepted the fact that magic was, in fact, real--which didn't take all that long; it's amazing how quickly people can adjust to things when guerilla footage of the world's major river systems spontaneously moving themselves appears--they immediately started analyzing it to see how it worked… and if it could be useful. As it turned out, the theoretical basis for magic greatly resembled computer programming, except it affects the entire universe. Handy! Technological development was completely enmeshed with magic from this point forward, and society is now driven by magitech rather than technology. Development in either pure magical theory or pure technological development is seen as something kind of along the lines of theoretical physics; it's nice that someone's doing it, since we'd like a greater understanding of the world and all that, but is it ever going to be useful? Probably not.
2136: NEW SOLAR SYSTEM DISCOVERED. This was amazingly good timing on humanity's part, since Earth has been unsustainably overcrowded for almost a hundred years at this point. Terraforming planets in our solar system would have been a solution to this problem, except for the part where it's much easier to adapt planets with existing atmospheres that closely resemble Earth's own and orbits that are conducive to stable life-sustaining temperatures. So, the solution? Build a bunch of generational ships and head to a solar system where they can terraform lots of planets and moons!
2174: HUMANITY LEAVES EARTH. PEOPLE. IN. SPAAAAAAAACE. Those generational ships head for the hills at a decent fraction of lightspeed, making their way towards 18 Scorpii. Although some people choose to remain behind on Earth, most of the Earth's population ends up heading into space with hopes of making a better life.
2307: HUMANITY ARRIVES AT 18 SCORPII. 18 Scorpii is a star approximately 45 light-years from Earth, with characteristics that are very, very similar to Sol. (18 Scorpii is promptly renamed Hemera, after the Greek personification of the day, since 18 Scorpii isn't a very catchy name.) Hemera is orbited by nine terraformed planets, eight of which are several times Earth's size, with a total of thirty-one habitable moons between them. The moons are generally considered independent political bodies rather than part of the planets they orbit.
2339: UNITED PLANETARY GOVERNMENT FORMED. After giving the colonists time to settle down on their new homes and get the planets set up satisfactorily, the temporary governments of the planets and assorted moons decide that hey, now would probably be a good time to unify and get everyone on the same page. It's a nice idea, in theory!
2343-2357: SPACE CIVIL WAR. Unsurprisingly, though, this whole "united planetary government" thing doesn't go over so well with a bunch of people. Three planets (Demeter, Orpheus, and Chiron) reject the proposed government outright, with several more moons agreeing with them. The brand-new United government does not take kindly to this, and a navy is hastily raised in order to show the rebel planets and moons that joining up with the United government is a really good idea. War ensues. The Insurrectionist planets put up a good fight, using tried-and-true guerilla tactics and relying heavily on intraplanetary production to keep themselves fed and supplied, but the United forces have the advantage of numbers and technology. The war "officially" ends in 2357, with the United government declaring itself the winner and the Insurrectionist planets nominally agreeing to join the United government, but fighting between Insurrectionist and United forces continues until at least 2380. It's an ugly, ugly war, and tensions will keep running high for a very long time.
2349: ANTJE STENGER BORN. Antje is the daughter of two Endeisian colonists (whose families are originally from Germany). This is only relevant because Ismene will eventually be created from Antje's brain. Moving on!
2355: CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON THE ISS HESPERIDES. The ISS Hesperides will be about a mile long when finished, fitted with ion cannons for ship-to-ship combat and an engine capable of dragging a ship weighing thousands of tons at a fairly decent fraction of lightspeed. It's destined to be a training ship, so it's not necessarily top of the line, but it's solidly made and can hold a truly staggering number of naval cadets. (It's also ridiculously huge, even by spaceship standards.)
2368: FIRST AIs DEVELOPED. The initial development of AIs was an accident, believe it or not; the first development facility on Eris was unfortunately close to a cemetery, and government cost-cutting meant that the psychic shields on the building were… lackluster, to say the least. One very determined spirit forced his way out of the cemetery's shields and into the government facility, latched onto a supercomputer destined for use in a cargo ship and refused to get out. The new supercomputer-and-spirit combination was self-aware, passed every sentience test the scientists could throw at it, and was absolutely resistant to all attempts to get the spirit out of the motherboard. After a battery of tests and a seemingly-endless round of exorcisms, the scientists just threw up their hands in exasperation and told him he could stick around inside the supercomputer if he agreed to go with the cargo ship and make sure their automated processes ran smoothly. He said "sure, what else have I got to do with my time", and thus the very first AI was born! The process was further refined, and government facilities began the delicate process of smashing fragments of dead people's personalities into motherboards. They're not really artificial intelligences, as their self-awareness actually comes from the "soul" of a deceased human, but cultural awareness dictates that the term AI will be used regardless. They're also called "ghosts" or "ships' ghosts" colloquially, although not all AI operate ships and not all ghosts are AIs. Confusing? You bet, but when most people say "ghost"? They really mean "AI".
2373: ANTJE STENGER DIES. She dies at the age of 24 in a hovercar accident, leaving behind a husband and a class full of kindergartners. Since she was listed as an organ donor, the United government uses a loophole in the hospital policies on Endeis to essentially confiscate her body for science. Her husband is... upset, to put it mildly, but there's not much he can do about it.
2374: ISMENE IS CREATED. By this point, AI creation is much more standardized. Find a dead body and extract whatever fragments of consciousness are left; it's easiest to use the recently deceased, since they have the most consciousness left, but AI creation is theoretically possible with any dead body. Strip the memories from what's left of that person but keep most of the personality, shove that aspect of their consciousness into a supercomputer, give him or her a new name, and voila! One babby AI! This is obviously a highly controversial process, but 90% of the AI created come from volunteers; the other 10% comes from creative interpretation of organ donor laws, and the government maintains that it would never force someone into donating their bodies to science against their will. Whether or not you actually believe them seems to be dependent on whether or not you're an Insurrectionist, but that doesn't change the fact that most people think AI are creepy as hell at best and abominations who should all be destroyed at worst.
2375: ISMENE IS ASSIGNED TO THE ISS HESPERIDES.
EARLY 2378: EVANDER IS CREATED. This is relevant because a: he is not created by the government, and b: he does not belong to a government freighter or warship, instead taking over the automated processes of a small, fraudulently-registered cargo ship. Basically, he's a pirate AI! This… well, it seems like a good idea at the time.
LATE 2738: EVANDER TAKES OVER THE SPARROWHAWK. Evander decides that really, it would be nice to be treated like a person for once--and that the best way to do that would be to take over the ship himself. He kills the ship's old captain by "accidentally" spacing him, and becomes progressively less subtle as the captaincy works its way down the chain of command. Eventually the crew decides that hey, they don't really want to die, and they cede control of the ship to Evander. Evander is now Captain Evander! This is... definitely a Bad End for everyone involved. He and the remaining crew of the Sparrowhawk then start zooming around the outer rim of the solar system, picking up extra crew members (mostly ex-Insurrectionist mercenaries) and the beginnings of a rather terrifying and preparing for their very first fight against another AI.
2380: ISS HESPERIDES ATTACKED. After a year or so of gathering his strength and waiting for another AI-run ship to come his way, Evander launches a full-on assault on the Hesperides. Before the fighting starts, however, Evander is polite enough to send Ismene a message and offer her the choice between switching sides and going down with the rest of her crew. Frankly, Evander is utterly convinced he's right, and that all the other AI in the universe should see things his way--by force, if necessary. Ismene politely disagrees with his methods (and his everything else, really), Evander flips a shit, and the carnage begins in earnest. Ismene puts up a good fight, but she ends up pinned inside an emergency shuttle, unable to access 95% of the Hesperides' systems and basically powerless to prevent her crew from either dying or switching sides. She can still see the fighting, though, even while trapped inside a shuttle. Isn't that nice? Long story short, Ismene sneaks her way back into the Hesperides' critical systems and essentially commits suicide to prevent Evander from taking the ship itself. Most of her crew is either dead or defected by this point, but goddamnit, no one is going to take her ship. Her plan works, and Evander and his crew leave the crippled Hesperides alone--but not before they take a good quarter of the cadets into their crew and leave the rest to try and signal a rescue before they all freeze to death.
2052: THE EVENT. Once upon a time, there was a dude in Illinois who decided that the Mississippi River would work a whole lot better if he just moved it about ten feet to the left. This wouldn't be so remarkable, except this guy was a wizard--and just crazy enough to do what he said he would. Unsurprisingly, things… didn't really work out how he planned. Sure, the river moved, but he ended up accidentally killing seventy-five people to fuel the spell. As if that wasn't bad enough, the magical aftershocks spread to the world's other major river systems. Hundreds of thousands of people died as a direct result of this incident, and the property damage totaled somewhere in the trillions. Once people accepted the fact that magic was, in fact, real--which didn't take all that long; it's amazing how quickly people can adjust to things when guerilla footage of the world's major river systems spontaneously moving themselves appears--they immediately started analyzing it to see how it worked… and if it could be useful. As it turned out, the theoretical basis for magic greatly resembled computer programming, except it affects the entire universe. Handy! Technological development was completely enmeshed with magic from this point forward, and society is now driven by magitech rather than technology. Development in either pure magical theory or pure technological development is seen as something kind of along the lines of theoretical physics; it's nice that someone's doing it, since we'd like a greater understanding of the world and all that, but is it ever going to be useful? Probably not.
2136: NEW SOLAR SYSTEM DISCOVERED. This was amazingly good timing on humanity's part, since Earth has been unsustainably overcrowded for almost a hundred years at this point. Terraforming planets in our solar system would have been a solution to this problem, except for the part where it's much easier to adapt planets with existing atmospheres that closely resemble Earth's own and orbits that are conducive to stable life-sustaining temperatures. So, the solution? Build a bunch of generational ships and head to a solar system where they can terraform lots of planets and moons!
2174: HUMANITY LEAVES EARTH. PEOPLE. IN. SPAAAAAAAACE. Those generational ships head for the hills at a decent fraction of lightspeed, making their way towards 18 Scorpii. Although some people choose to remain behind on Earth, most of the Earth's population ends up heading into space with hopes of making a better life.
2307: HUMANITY ARRIVES AT 18 SCORPII. 18 Scorpii is a star approximately 45 light-years from Earth, with characteristics that are very, very similar to Sol. (18 Scorpii is promptly renamed Hemera, after the Greek personification of the day, since 18 Scorpii isn't a very catchy name.) Hemera is orbited by nine terraformed planets, eight of which are several times Earth's size, with a total of thirty-one habitable moons between them. The moons are generally considered independent political bodies rather than part of the planets they orbit.
2339: UNITED PLANETARY GOVERNMENT FORMED. After giving the colonists time to settle down on their new homes and get the planets set up satisfactorily, the temporary governments of the planets and assorted moons decide that hey, now would probably be a good time to unify and get everyone on the same page. It's a nice idea, in theory!
2343-2357: SPACE CIVIL WAR. Unsurprisingly, though, this whole "united planetary government" thing doesn't go over so well with a bunch of people. Three planets (Demeter, Orpheus, and Chiron) reject the proposed government outright, with several more moons agreeing with them. The brand-new United government does not take kindly to this, and a navy is hastily raised in order to show the rebel planets and moons that joining up with the United government is a really good idea. War ensues. The Insurrectionist planets put up a good fight, using tried-and-true guerilla tactics and relying heavily on intraplanetary production to keep themselves fed and supplied, but the United forces have the advantage of numbers and technology. The war "officially" ends in 2357, with the United government declaring itself the winner and the Insurrectionist planets nominally agreeing to join the United government, but fighting between Insurrectionist and United forces continues until at least 2380. It's an ugly, ugly war, and tensions will keep running high for a very long time.
2349: ANTJE STENGER BORN. Antje is the daughter of two Endeisian colonists (whose families are originally from Germany). This is only relevant because Ismene will eventually be created from Antje's brain. Moving on!
2355: CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON THE ISS HESPERIDES. The ISS Hesperides will be about a mile long when finished, fitted with ion cannons for ship-to-ship combat and an engine capable of dragging a ship weighing thousands of tons at a fairly decent fraction of lightspeed. It's destined to be a training ship, so it's not necessarily top of the line, but it's solidly made and can hold a truly staggering number of naval cadets. (It's also ridiculously huge, even by spaceship standards.)
2368: FIRST AIs DEVELOPED. The initial development of AIs was an accident, believe it or not; the first development facility on Eris was unfortunately close to a cemetery, and government cost-cutting meant that the psychic shields on the building were… lackluster, to say the least. One very determined spirit forced his way out of the cemetery's shields and into the government facility, latched onto a supercomputer destined for use in a cargo ship and refused to get out. The new supercomputer-and-spirit combination was self-aware, passed every sentience test the scientists could throw at it, and was absolutely resistant to all attempts to get the spirit out of the motherboard. After a battery of tests and a seemingly-endless round of exorcisms, the scientists just threw up their hands in exasperation and told him he could stick around inside the supercomputer if he agreed to go with the cargo ship and make sure their automated processes ran smoothly. He said "sure, what else have I got to do with my time", and thus the very first AI was born! The process was further refined, and government facilities began the delicate process of smashing fragments of dead people's personalities into motherboards. They're not really artificial intelligences, as their self-awareness actually comes from the "soul" of a deceased human, but cultural awareness dictates that the term AI will be used regardless. They're also called "ghosts" or "ships' ghosts" colloquially, although not all AI operate ships and not all ghosts are AIs. Confusing? You bet, but when most people say "ghost"? They really mean "AI".
2373: ANTJE STENGER DIES. She dies at the age of 24 in a hovercar accident, leaving behind a husband and a class full of kindergartners. Since she was listed as an organ donor, the United government uses a loophole in the hospital policies on Endeis to essentially confiscate her body for science. Her husband is... upset, to put it mildly, but there's not much he can do about it.
2374: ISMENE IS CREATED. By this point, AI creation is much more standardized. Find a dead body and extract whatever fragments of consciousness are left; it's easiest to use the recently deceased, since they have the most consciousness left, but AI creation is theoretically possible with any dead body. Strip the memories from what's left of that person but keep most of the personality, shove that aspect of their consciousness into a supercomputer, give him or her a new name, and voila! One babby AI! This is obviously a highly controversial process, but 90% of the AI created come from volunteers; the other 10% comes from creative interpretation of organ donor laws, and the government maintains that it would never force someone into donating their bodies to science against their will. Whether or not you actually believe them seems to be dependent on whether or not you're an Insurrectionist, but that doesn't change the fact that most people think AI are creepy as hell at best and abominations who should all be destroyed at worst.
2375: ISMENE IS ASSIGNED TO THE ISS HESPERIDES.
EARLY 2378: EVANDER IS CREATED. This is relevant because a: he is not created by the government, and b: he does not belong to a government freighter or warship, instead taking over the automated processes of a small, fraudulently-registered cargo ship. Basically, he's a pirate AI! This… well, it seems like a good idea at the time.
LATE 2738: EVANDER TAKES OVER THE SPARROWHAWK. Evander decides that really, it would be nice to be treated like a person for once--and that the best way to do that would be to take over the ship himself. He kills the ship's old captain by "accidentally" spacing him, and becomes progressively less subtle as the captaincy works its way down the chain of command. Eventually the crew decides that hey, they don't really want to die, and they cede control of the ship to Evander. Evander is now Captain Evander! This is... definitely a Bad End for everyone involved. He and the remaining crew of the Sparrowhawk then start zooming around the outer rim of the solar system, picking up extra crew members (mostly ex-Insurrectionist mercenaries) and the beginnings of a rather terrifying and preparing for their very first fight against another AI.
2380: ISS HESPERIDES ATTACKED. After a year or so of gathering his strength and waiting for another AI-run ship to come his way, Evander launches a full-on assault on the Hesperides. Before the fighting starts, however, Evander is polite enough to send Ismene a message and offer her the choice between switching sides and going down with the rest of her crew. Frankly, Evander is utterly convinced he's right, and that all the other AI in the universe should see things his way--by force, if necessary. Ismene politely disagrees with his methods (and his everything else, really), Evander flips a shit, and the carnage begins in earnest. Ismene puts up a good fight, but she ends up pinned inside an emergency shuttle, unable to access 95% of the Hesperides' systems and basically powerless to prevent her crew from either dying or switching sides. She can still see the fighting, though, even while trapped inside a shuttle. Isn't that nice? Long story short, Ismene sneaks her way back into the Hesperides' critical systems and essentially commits suicide to prevent Evander from taking the ship itself. Most of her crew is either dead or defected by this point, but goddamnit, no one is going to take her ship. Her plan works, and Evander and his crew leave the crippled Hesperides alone--but not before they take a good quarter of the cadets into their crew and leave the rest to try and signal a rescue before they all freeze to death.