History
Heaven's Wake is a hard sci-fi SD* set in a post-apocalyptic environment. You are one of many polities to have survived the collapse of the post-human civilization that underpinned and nurtured humanity. Taking place in a region of space known as the Reconnect, the SD focuses on exploration and expansion as civilization recovers enough to look outward.
As the Reconnect expands, the technology of posthumanity is coming under scrutiny, as ways are developed to exploit it and lift it from it's dormant state. The enduring mystery surrounding the collapse has also weaved it's way into the consciousness of known space and influences it's politics in a myriad of ways, some more sinister than others. Chief among some concerns is the fate of the Solar System while others couldn't be less concerned with such a distant and irrelevant system, not least when compared to the pressing concerns of the immediate.
Note*(with the exception of posthuman technology, which is too far beyond our understanding to classify, but for game purposes is functionally star trek level tech to magic)
History
The Rise of the Post-Human
Circa 2050 The information revolution of the 21st century continued unabated into the later years of the fifties, emergent technologies such as cybernetics began to progress from medical aids, to military and civilian enhancement technologies. Concurrently the development of artificial intelligence began to yield results, which ultimately lead to a limited singularity which benefitted the wealthy proponents of the privately funded project.
The First AI’s were fragile intelligences, routines that some claimed mimicked sentience, while others suggested that they merely bypassed active consciousness. That they possessed intelligence was of no doubt, fed parameters they could solve innumerable problems and design devices of incredible intricacy. It was during this time, that man was truly lifted from it’s gravity well and into the solar system. The technological revolution accelerated leading to the outer edges of the solar system.
Before the end of the 21st century, the Apex AIs would emerge signalling the singularity was in full swing and with them the ability to emulate the human mind in software and to transfer consciousness to a computer. The emergence of posthumanity was the defining moment of the 2090s and by the 22nd century, millions clambered for virtual immortality.
Posthumanity quickly diverged from the greater whole of human civilization often spending much of their time in a virtual existence at an accelerated rate of conscious thought. As technological progress outstripped anything human scientists could hope to accomplish, the posthumans began to underpin civilization at a technological and economic level.
Posthumans became concentrated into Enclaves of power, vast complexes of diamondoid, often geodesic domes of immense size, either floating in the depths of space, or mostly buried within the surface of a major body. Their T-gates became a charity, shuttling vastly inferior vessels across the solar system. Their A-gates became a luxury, producing items for a price that veered from simple commodities, to memories and 'volunteers'. The various human nations and polities were reliant upon this, often paying vast quantities of resources or personalities for advanced artefacts and even complete vessels. In some, the free transfer of human minds to posthumanity was seen as a threat and outlawed.
Without warning, these entities dismantled Pluto, fashioning the dwarf planet into a interstellar T-gate of considerable size, the highly specialized work carried out by thousands of robotic workers. The Pluto Gate opened up the galaxy for those willing to be squirted as a datastream across the cosmos.
The Golden Era
Circa: 2150
It was after the opening of the Pluto Extrasolar Terminus, that the outer planets enjoyed a massive boom in science, art and culture. The stifled insular political regime of the 2nd Jupiter republic collapsed under the weight of the economic boom, giving way to the 3rd Jupiter Republic. The Jovian system during this time was the heart of the sol system leading the outer planets in their dominance of human culture.
For Earth, the Golden era was both an opportunity and a humiliation. The exodus was fueled by Earth, tens of millions of people embarked on the colonial missions sponsored by posthumanity, all transiting via the major hub of Jupiter. Despite the efforts of posthumanity, the Earth was a wounded creature. The billions of earth were supported by a myriad of technological measures that kept human civilization functioning on a planet that could not support it, the efforts of posthumanity to repair the world were slow and laborious and complicated by the presence of so many people.
As Earth shrunk, Jupiter grew as it absorbed a fraction of the exodus which passed through its staging stations and refuelling yards. Jupiter was covered in an increasing vast network of colonies and world spikes.
This exodus was not just one of sheer numbers but of intellect. Scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs migrated as well leaving the earth increasingly bereft of a generation of talent. It's response was pragmatic and trade links with the outer system were strengthened and corporations were merged or bought out by the money of the outer system. The balance of power shifted until Jupiter was the centre of human civilization, almost a billion people owed their citizenship to the mighty 3rd Jupiter Republic and it's sublime space colonies. It's economic power was immense and it began to increasing participate in the militarization of space, as tensions with Earth rose, which while inferior was far from completely outmatched. The nation states of Earth joined together into a single military framework known as Earth Defence Corps and began to attempt to exert some measure of control on distant citizens. As Earth's ecology recovered and stablised, they attempted to stem or control the flow of colonists to their own colonial ventures.
During this time, the extra-solar colonies numbered in the thousands, a great mass of humanity was scattered across the stars and many were becoming powerful nations in their own right. Over a century, earth's population dropped by half.
The first signs of trouble began several decades before the collapse, while many colonies were directly administered by the powers of the sol systems, they were increasingly attempting to break free from this distant control. Warships and soldiers were deployed across the galaxy, skirmishes and police actions erupted on hundreds of worlds.
The Collapse
Circa:2500
It was not to last. While the origins of the collapse are unfathomable, it's effects were immediate and devastating. The network of interstellar gates, assembler fabrications and the majority of apex tech itself ceased to function. Some records indicate the complexes that housed parts of the apex AIs disappeared completely, vanishing inexplicably from existence. If that is true, that may of been the catalyst for the complete shutdown of posthuman technology.
The extra-solar colonies were plunged into sudden isolation from sol and each other. Many of them were completely reliant on posthuman technology for vital infrastructure, many colonies starved to death as over-engineered agriculture systems failed, or shipments of food failed to arrive.
For the starships that traveled the interstellar networks, many found themselves isolated in farflung systems, others found their ships completely inoperable to integration of posthuman hardware, as was common on larger merchant vessels and nearly all military spacecraft. Military fleets operating far from home were isolated in systems and others found themselves in control of a hostile population with military support from home suddenly cut off.
The Posthuman Legacy
Circa:2800-3000
The decades that followed the collapse were difficult for most, cut off from the convenience and wonder of apex technology humanity had to fend for itself once again, using technology underpinned by the physics of Einstein and Hawking. Society recovered in isolation, the natural human urge to form communities would prevail and human ingenuity would cause many to begin to prosper. It would be discovered that not all apex technology was useless, posthuman complexes frozen at the moment of death did not always lock their doors and in their vaults people would discovery emergency algorithims that would awaken the dormant apex technology.
The surviving apex technology would see to the revival of interstellar human civilization, as isolated beacons began interconnected communities. In the wake of posthumanity, people would embark on a new age, to recover what was lost when heaven fell.