The Man-Bug War

By the 23rd century Humankind was aware they were not the first spacefarers in the universe. Relics of an ancient, long-gone federation of sentients - the Open Palm Federation - spoke to a galaxy that had once been host to many sentient species. It gave humanity a vision of future greatness; more prosaically their technologies improved that of the various human states by centuries, perhaps even millenia.

And then in the middle of the 23rd century, it all came to an end. Disputes, grudges and contradictions finally spilled over into the Collapse that left the cradle of mankind a smouldering cinder, the Solar System plagued by automated weapons and half a hundred colonies large and small to fend for themselves.

A century and a half later, much of this has been put right. Earth remains a husk inhabited by a few tens of million techno-barbarian scavengers but the Martian Unity State has become first among equals on the Human Grid. The feral weapons and rogue AIs have been - mostly - eliminated. Outside the Grid the various worlds of the Demimonde had become players in their own right.

And then in 2402, Humankind learned that it was not alone in the galaxy. First contact with the TKK - the Bugs - went poorly but for a decade both the TKK Imperium and the combined states of Humanity grappled diplomatically with each other. Impassioned calls to aid the beleagued Chelonians have seen an undeclared war sputtering along in the Chelonian Reaches while wealth and weapons of the TKK have filtered into the Demimonde, giving 100-octane fuel to demagogues looking to settle existing grievances against the Jewels.

It is now 2412, one year away from the Year of Maxium Danger when both the TKK Empire and the Martian-led Solidarity Organization have forecast that the other is expected to finally tear away the veil and launch a general war.