Humans face a variety of challenges today. No longer confined to a single planet, we now dwell in a variety of places and under a variety of conditions.
Humans have spread throughout near space, starting lives on Luna, Mars, Jupiter’s moons, in the asteroid belt, and in a handful of deep-space colonies. We have also unleashed the power of the mind and explore true human potential through the psions.
Knowledge discovered by the psi orders is used for human purposes, to comprehend our place in the order of the universe.
It was stated previously that humanity has a tendency to repeat its mistakes. But humans have another trait: We pull together.
We join forces when threatened by outside forces. In spite of the problems and differences we face, we can take a long view and consider the consequences of our actions. Now is the time to gather our resources and prepare for the future as an entire race — unified
— not merely as single nations, corporations, groups and individuals. Now more than ever, our goal is the unity of all.
ÆON TRINITY
HOPE • SACRIFICE • UNITY
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1921 — First public incidents of super-normal acts.
Events continue sporadically over the next few decades, but their influence on culture and politics proves minimal.
1923 — Maxwell Anderson Mercer establishes the Æon Society for Gentlemen.
1998 — So-called “novas” appear in a variety of places and demonstrate incredible powers. Normal human society is amazed by the achievements and aghast at the actions of unusual individuals.
2021 — A dramatic increase in super-normal events. Novas proliferate globally. Their activities, struggles and depredations increasingly endanger and harm normal humans.
2022 — Dr. Soguk Birlesme invents viable hyper-fusion.
2024 — The United States unveils a versatile, fusion-powered orbital craft.
2024–2032 — Various nations launch orbital defense satellites. By far, the most advanced is the United States’ Orbital Military Network (OMEN) defense system. It is used increasingly to monitor and, when necessary, counteract intensifying nova activities. The term “aberrant” sees increasing use when referring to “novas.”
2031 — The United States establishes the Olympus Lunar base.
2046 — The group Allah’s Legion seizes control of the African island Bahrain. The event initiates widespread conflict between humans and nova/
aberrants.
2049 — The United Nations declares war on nova/
aberrants.
2049 — Aberrants calling themselves the Space Brigade take over Olympus Base. This group destroys 75% of OMEN satellites. Olympus remains under their control until the war ends.
2049–2061 — Various major cities (mostly in North America and Europe) suffer destruction at aberrant hands.
2052 — Aberrants destroy Jerusalem.
2053 — China launches Xingyang Sujia, the first manned interplanetar y exploration craft. Its destination: Mars.
2054 — Aberrant Calvert Wycoff explodes over the North American Great Plains in a flaming ball of radioactive plasma. The detonation is blamed for the devastating blight that follows, which destroys North America’s grain belt.
2055 — The United States invades Canada (with Quebec’s assistance). Ostensibly, this is done to claim Canada’s marginally healthier farmlands, but it boils down to U.S. need for Canada’s resources (geographic and financial) in the ongoing war.
2061 — The aberrant Mungu Kuwasha destroys the OpNet, setting back communications technology 100 years.
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The war ends. The Chinese fleet stands down.
2061–2070 — The Crash. Millions are dead. Half of the world’s arable lands are infertile. The world’s financial and ecological resources are drained. The world economy collapses. Conflict erupts between nations.
The Comm Crunch hits. The Urban Schism occurs.
Orbital expansion is attempted to revitalize the world.
2067 — China reconfigures its economy on a platinum standard. Other nations follow. This is a significant step toward revitalizing the world economy. International commerce changes from a dollar to a yuan base.
2071 — The “pseudo-graviton” is developed;
gravcrystal grids make artificial gravity possible on spacecraft and in other microgravity environments.
The discovery heralds an end to global strife; warfare diminishes and nations become culturally and technologically progressive.
2103 — Eight humans are bestowed noetic powers.
These proxies learn about the impending return of aberrants and set about developing orders of psi-using individuals who shall defend humanity against aberrants and other hostiles.
2104 — Aberrants attack intrasolar colonies.
2106 — The Legions reveal the existence of psions when members fight off aberrants in Sydney. The orders and psions are met with mixed feelings. The orders begin extensive public-relations programs.
2106–2120 — The psi orders integrate themselves into human society and assist or become involved in the development of technology, commerce, travel, exploration, medicine and even entertainment.
2107 — First contact with aliens, who are named
“qin.” A Chinese deep-space explorer encounters an alien patrol craft in the qins’ home system. Though initial interactions are cautions, things go well.
2108 — The qin establish an embassy on Luna.
Humans establish one on Qinshui, the qin homeworld.
2109 — Evidence emerges that the Chitra Bhanu are in league with aberrants. Forces from the other orders unite to bring the Chitra Bhanu under control;
its members resist and the order is destroyed.
2113 — First contact with the alien chromatics, who stage a raid on an African mining colony.
2114 — Aberrants attack the Esperanza orbital station. Forces respond, but are unable to prevent the station from crashing to Earth, destroying France. Afterward, the teleporters are discovered to have vanished.
2119 — The orders create viable biotech jump ships that interface with clairsentients, making interstellar travel possible without the Upeo wa Macho. First contact occurs with the Coalition after one of the first test jumps of the new ships.
2120 — Expeditions venture to the interstellar colonies and to contact the chromatics and Coalition.
Deep-space probes continue to search for aberrants.
2121 — The Upeo return.
22ND CENTURY EARTH
can control, such as affiliations, academic standing, gender preferences and even employers.
But we also create groups based on dif fer ences beyond our control, such as skin color and place of birth. They’re “not us.”
Yet in spite of cultural dif ferences and long-standing political conflicts, humans still unite against external threats. Old conflicts are set aside; disagreements are tabled until the outsider is vanquished. Aberrants are the ultimate “them,” the epitomé of everything that is not human. In the face of the aberrant threat, humanity’s ability to set its own differences aside may be the one thing that can save the Earth.
Although aberrant raids began erratically, the beings seem to be organizing, hitting strategic targets, and striking in ever-increasing force.
If humanity and the psions cannot pull together, we may not survive this twisted Second Coming.
All nations, corporations, industries, orders and individuals in the human race therefore have something in common. Despite their differences, they all must confront their own destruction and find the common ground to face it together. Distant and disparate societies in the 22nd century thus become one society: that of frail but resolute humanity.
The dawn of psionic capacity and the birth of noetic science are the greatest human events of the 22nd century. Psi is the fifth universal force and the final piece of the true Grand Unification Theory, providing the key to humanity’s understanding of the universe itself.
The secrets of the universe are at our fingertips. All we need to do to grasp them is understand noetic energy. This is why psions are so important. Even aberrants and hostile alien races, while deadly menaces to humans, are insignificant compared to the universe itself. By understanding all Creation, we understand even our enemies. And then, are they truly enemies at all?