Red Zone - 28
A Novel
Appendices
Appendix I Brief History All dates Old Calendar (OC)
2035 Constitution Party reunifies with the Republican Party. 2036 Republican Party, now completely controlled by its “Constitutionalist Wing” separates from the Democrats to contest election. Wins power.
2037 PRC officially overtakes the US as the world's largest economy.
2040 Democratic Party wins power but is paralyzed between its radical, and incremental wings. Economic conditions continue to be poor in most of the developed world.
2047 Human landing on Mars.
2048 Republicans win power, promise to “get tough on the world.”
2048-2057 The Great Wars
2048 The cyber-war: attacks by bots, viruses, and other computer means to cripple the global financial system and power systems. The war is nominally over the Chinese declaring a puppet “Republic of Antarctica” that lays claim to the mineral wealth. The United States and China their escalated their war of words. It is unclear which side launched the cyber attack first
2049-2051 “The Blitz War” Strikes as C&C systems and short incursions with ever-escalating consequences. Each side seeks to avoid occupation at all costs.
2053-2056 “The Hot War” Major invasions of key oil areas by both sides, grinding to a bloody stalemate.
2050's More and more people “merge” with the net and machines, maintaining a physical body, but otherwise jacked in almost all the time.
2056 – the Maldives are overrun by the tsunami, re-inhabitation is impossible as they are essentially permanently swamped.
2057 – Treaty of Mumbai. Hostilities cease. India, as the largest power that did not become involved in the war, became the “first among equals” to some extent backed by the United States and Europe as preferable to Chinese hegemony. China is given Taiwan, Korea, much of Turkic Asia, Mongolia, South East Asia, and Indonesia, as its sphere of influence, and rapidly begins integrating them into the “People's Republic.”
2060s Genetically engineered human beings begin conceived, discrimination against them rises, and ghettos are created for them. More and more humans “upload” to the net. However, uploaded life is found to generally only be for about 20 years, before there is a death of personality or the incompatibility of old uploads with new simulations.
2065 – The Great Ganges flood. Wipes out large areas of Bangladesh setting off a mass migration. India annexed Bangladesh and offered confederation to Pakistan. 2070s – Human cloning has become common in many societies, in preference to ordinary reproduction. Nonhuman AIs achieve sentience but are often hunted if discovered. Transhuman communities begin forming and establishing themselves at the margins of society. Some super long-lived humans are engineered. They move through society carefully, taking on serial lives. Only a few would be alive by the 24th Century. 2071-2130 “The Inner Diaspora” People begin colonizing the sea, and Antarctica to escape the devastation occurring on the rest of the planet. This turns out to be insufficient, and the first launch to Ceres is made, which is the first “cube,” for an ice cube body, to be inhabited permanently.
2073 – A failure of the dikes leads to the swamping of Amsterdam. The Dutch pump out and build a massive wall around the city. Other major urban centers react similarly.
2076 – Canada USA confederal treaty. “Candusa” is not the official name, but widely used.
2078 – Intelligent apes engineered.
2079 – Australia joins the Confederation.
2080's – Dirty fusion becomes common. Elections are virtual rubber stamps, as polls and simulations are regarded as so accurate that other candidates drop out. This is termed “virtual democracy.”
2085 Intelligent dolphins engineered. 2085 Permanent colonization of Mars begins. 2087 Republic of Antarctica declares independence from any foreign power.
2093 Ceres declares independence.
2091-2112 “The Cataclysm” A rapid release of methane modules causes a series of dramatic storms and rising sea levels. Major cities are swamped, reduced in size, or abandoned completely. Wars over migration and water are endemic, including the use of nuclear and biological terrorism. Roughly half a billion people perish.
2119 “The incident” a solar-powered energy satellite wobbles or “wobs” and bakes a 500-mile stretch of earth, killing or maiming millions. Solar-powered satellites are duly outlawed and “clean fusion” begins to proliferate.
2120 Intelligent cephalopods – octopi, cuttlefish, squid – engineered for use in water environments. The use of JD (Julian Date) becomes common, and AD or CE becomes increasingly called “OC” for Old Calendar.
2120-2145 “The Water Wars” cascading conflicts over water, engulfing virtually every area of the world.
2131-2170 “The Middle Diaspora” Moons of Jupiter are colonized. They declared independence in turn. Mars colonization accelerates and a slow terraforming policy begins.
2141 Europa colonized.
2142 Ganymede colonized.
2144 Callisto colonized.
2145 Io declared common ground to all three colonies, which declared the Federal Republic of Jupiter.
2148 “The Dominion” formed led by India and China. It creates a world directorate based on corporate principles, and abolishes the United Nations and all other world bodies.
2149 The Dominion cuts off all exports to the FRJ.
2150 The Dominion declares the “Garden World Imperative” or “Yuan Imperative:” a plan to remake the earth into a geo-engineered garden world.
2151 “Treaty of Phobos” FRJ effectively surrenders to the Dominion. Dominion gives priority to maintain “the garden world.”
2152 Colonization of even farther bodies begins.
2160 Metallic Hydrogen allows for huge fusion generators’ power generation. Jupiter's economic development begins to rapidly grow afterwards.
2175 Julia Azari born.
2180 Io granted state status within the Republic.
2190 “Purity Rules” promulgated on degrees of allowable trans-humanity. Usually regarded as the beginning of what would be called “The Terran Norm.” 2190-2198 Last major Dominion-nation state conflicts. ~2200 Ecological stabilization is reached.
2204 “Yuan Epoch” is declared.
2205 Zhang Wu begins incepting personalities.
2210 “Terran Norm” declared: no physical action by an intelligence that is not human enough. Race laws codified by the Dominion. Engineering of new non-human biological entities was outlawed, formal caste system was promulgated, though it had been growing for some time.
2213 Julia incepts to being a kami on the sphere.
2218 Saturn creates a “Union” dominated by Titan, Iapetus, and Rhea.
2230-2260 Two factions within the Dominion government began a protracted political conflict over whether to clone large portions of the human population. This would run for 30 years, until the intervention of non-human AIs, “the dragons,” which side against cloning. By this point advances in genetic engineering have largely obsoleted cloning anyway.
2230's The golden age of the Yuan epoch socially and economically. Population grows, terraforming of the moon, Mars, and even Venus, accelerates with large-scale cometary bombardment.
2233-2237 Jovians insurgencies and conflicts between the main states led to a reformed constitution.
2240's Genetic engineering of super long-lived humans, secretly and in direct violation of Terran Norm laws begins for the upper classes of the Dominion. This has been long suspected, but it is not visible at this time.
2248 Jovians economy larger than Terran economy. Anti-matter generation started to reach economic practicality as a storage or ignition source for fusion drives.
2250's Agitation for greater autonomy for non-earth colonies. Gradually this is granted, but with controls and restrictions. Neptune's small colonies are de facto independent, with Saturn having its own “special administration.” Jupiter, however, is kept under control, with the result being an extensive underground resistance to the Dominion. Increasingly space society becomes broken into Doms, who are loyalists or conservatives, Feds, who seek a balanced polity, Libs who do not conform to the law but are embedded in the colonies, and Spacers, who constantly seek to move one step farther from the reach of the dominion.
2260-2290 “Reform Era” in the Dominion, formal re-codification of laws.
2260's The sphere is increasingly used for people to “incep” into, living stable meta-lives. Most people have some form of conversion to a virtual self at death, with the hard rule that only those with no children may have control over their bodies for extended periods. Festivals where the deceased inhabit a body begin, generally around Carnival/Mardi Gras/Hungry Ghost Feast.
2261 Jovians Revolt, Dominion swept from power in a bloody putsch. Jovians marines easily defeat the Terran occupation forces. Since these are primarily contractors, the ground forces ignore this as an actual defeat. In reality, many of the contractors were Sen – regular military.
2264 Jovian Republic granted full sovereignty.
2265 Dominion began developing heavy infantry, the “Black Elephants” to avoid a repeat of the Jovians Revolt.
2268 Deeshandir Venkatesh born.
2270's Interstellar probes begin reporting back on extra-solar planets in growing numbers. Plans for a hibernation-driven colonization plan are floated, and a ship is designed, but not built. Oversoul movement begins growing among humans taking a hexagon as its symbol.
2271 “Troubles” begin, with weather features and other growing disasters.
2272 Tycho Mutiny: long stationed crews mutiny. Lt. Commander Kumar takes command from his own Captain, who is ready to mutiny as well, and defeats the other three destroyers.
2277 Saturn Union takes advantage of troubles to assert and is granted, sovereignty.
2278 Uranus and Neptune follow suit. They signed the “Tripart Treaty” and began moving towards full union.
2281 Arranged marriage between Venkatesh and Pritha. She comes from a diplomatic family that is in deep trouble with the government for over-running their liberties balance significantly.
2285 Tensions between mining settlers and those wanting an acceleration of the “White Mars” program, to form an ice-ocean over Mars and create a “hydroforming” environment below.
2286 Venkatesh enters the War College
2289 Venkatesh and Pritha's immortal child was created.
2289 The light of the Pegasi Supernova reaches Earth, setting off a series of climatic disasters in the increasingly neglected geo-stasis system. Belief that the supernova is an engineered event is common, with the idea that “solar engineers” would mine such events for “super-metals” exotic creations that a supernova makes possible, including neutronium for spaceflight, etc.
2289 Venkatesh graduates, is assigned to the Cavalry and elects the dangerous drop duty.
2291 Annex to Treaty of Phobos signed, between FRJ and the Dominion, it changed the relationship between the governments. The “Young Immortals” took political power in the Dominion, ending the reform era.
2292 The excitation of the supernova makes a highly inclined Neptune-sized planet at 2000 AU visible enough to be detected. Finally named “Minerva” it becomes the focus of intense speculation and maneuvering. Probes are launched but never returned or reported back.
2295 United Nations is reactivated from near oblivion to be used as a means of dealing with the different governments. Calls on various sides to loosen the stranglehold on power the Dominion has.
2297 Treaty of Phobos suspended by FRJ, but negotiations continue.
2298 FRJ and the Dominion exchange military and diplomatic attaches, in an event to slow the growing rift between the governments. Paranoia and suspicion expand rapidly, and the intelligence services are given yet another round of expanded powers.
2299 The novel opens.