Timeline of the Future

Well, the years start coming / And they don't stop coming

—Smash Mouth, "All Star" (24 years ago and counting)

This timeline is meant to be a grand sweep of the future. It only scratches the surface of the lore in my head! At some point I will have subsections that will explain things in greater detail. Check back in the (ahem) future.

[ Back ]

Contents

3rd millenium

21st century

  • Undated:
    • Manned American Mars landing. It is a 17-month journey, round-trip.
    • The Commonwealth of Nations sees its center of gravity shift from Britain to India, and from the developed nations to the developing ones. Eventually, it's reformed as the Community of States, without the old "dominions" of the British Empire.
    • After narrowly rejecting a republic, the United Kingdom is reformed as the Federal Kingdom. Meanwhile, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, and some smaller states that had the British monarch at the start of the century. Canada, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands are among the nations that retain it.
  • 2020s–30s:
    • Major political crises across the Western world.
  • 2040s–50s:
    • Large war in Africa.
    • Revolution in China. Formation of the Federal Republic of China.
    • Though some historians dispute the exact details, the first sapient AI comes online sometime during this period.
  • 2060s–70s:
    • The Great African War.
  • 2068: November 6. United States presidential election. Vice President Lucas Vickers (R-NJ) is elected President of the United States. He is the first president to have been born outside of the United States: he was born in England and came to the United States when he was 22. He is also the first president born after 9/11 and in the 21st century. The 2068 election is also notable for the presence of a strong third party candidate, and Vickers wins only 38% of the vote. Democrat Mason Carpenter takes 37%, and robot rights independent Hunter Hancock takes 21%.
  • 2072: November 8. Democrat George Abdullah defeats incumbent President Lucas Vickers by a wide margin, becoming the second immigrant president (he was born in Afghanistan).
  • 2070: In the aftermath of the Great African War, the Harare Conference redraws the continent's political map. (See here.)
  • 2083: First permanent settlement on the Moon, Armstrong City.
  • 2090: Economic depression.
  • 2092: November 4. United States presidential election. Former president and American Party candidate Lucas Vickers, now 90 years old, is reelected to a non-consecutive term with only 23.55% of the vote. The incumbent, President Gordon Atwater, receives 23.00%; Progressive Raley Skinner receives 20.94%; Republican Jessie Markovich receives 16.68%; and Libertarian Arthur Bauer receives 11.15%.
  • 2096: November 6. Vice President Annabeth Baker is elected President of the United States.

[ Top ]

22nd century

  • 2100:
    • World population is 11,215,142,554.
    • Global temperatures average 2.4 °C / 4.3 °F higher than pre-industrial levels (1.8 °C / 3.2 °F above 2000 levels).
    • 1 January.
      • Formation of the Mediterranean Union, a merger of the European Union, the Maghreb Union, and several states in the Middle East.
      • George VII retires as King of the Federated Kingdom and King of Canada. He is succeeded by his daughter, Elizabeth III.
    • Annabeth Baker is reelected President of the United States from a field of nine candidates with 37.1% of the vote.
  • 2104: A fabricated referendum results in the replacement of the 1789 Constitution of the United States with one that grants President Baker with dictatorial power.
  • 2106–2116: The Second American Civil War. The war ends with President Baker surrendering to rebel forces.
  • 2118: The United States is permanently divided between the Federated States in the west and a rump state in the east.
  • 2145: 5 May. First permanent settlement on Mars, India's O. Yuthinesh Base in Xanthe Terra.
  • 2150: World population is 11,576,880,867.
  • 2183:
    • 22 April. Birth of Haruka Takagawa in Ōnojō, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan.
    • 8 June. Formation of the Atlantic Union, a merger of the Mediterranean Union and the Community of States. With a population of 3.3 billion, the new union is home to 28% of the world's population.

[ Top ]

23rd century

  • 2200:
    • World population is 11,953,440,954.
    • Global temperatures peak at 3.1 °C / 5.6 °F higher than pre-industrial levels (2.5 °C / 5.0 °F above 2000 levels). International efforts (and the occasional large war) begin to lower temperatures after this. However, sea levels will continue to rise after this, peaking at five meters (sixteen feet) above pre-industrial levels in about the year 3500.
  • 2221–2229: The Chinese–Atlantic War. Despite having triple the population of China, the Atlantic Union nearly loses the war. This is in part due to the nature of war in the 23rd century, which involved hacking, special operations, spywork, and targeted assassinations rather than large movements of millions of troops. As such, training and skill mattered far more than sheer numbers.
  • 2222: 15 August. Haruka Takagawa experiences a revelation and, it is claimed by believers for millennia afterwards, meets Jesus Christ. This event marks the birth of the religion of Takagawanism, also called Shisoism (after her religious title, Takagawa Shishō, which becomes analogous to the title of Christ in later usage).
  • 2224: Manchuria and Sichuan secede from the Federal Republic of China.
  • 2244: The Atlantic Union reaches its maximum size, with a population of 4.45 billion—36% of the planet's population. At the same time, the Indian Union has a population of 2.44 billion—20% of the planet's population. (Map of the AU)
  • 2263: Manned landing on Ceres, an Atlantic Union mission using a nuclear gas core reactor rocket. The round trip takes seven and a half months.
  • 2294: Manned landing on Callisto, a Brazilian mission using a rocket of similar design to that of the AU's Ceres mission. The round trip takes an entire year.

[ Top ]

24th century

  • 2300:
    • World population is 12,830,768,959. There are also 1,277,225 people living on the Moon; 137,464 living on Mars; and less than 25,000 people living elsewhere in the Solar System.
    • Global temperatures decline to 2.2 °C / 4.0 °F higher than pre-industrial levels (1.6 °C / 2.9 °F above 2000 levels). Sea level rises to 0.8 meters / 2.6 feet above 2000 levels.
  • c. 2320: The third generation of nuclear gas core rockets cut the travel time to Mars down to 45 days and Ceres to five months.
  • 2345–2351: The Atlantic Civil War.
  • 2350: World population is 13,339,143,081. There are also 6,009,152 people living on the Moon; 434,092 living on Mars; and approximately 200,000 people living elsewhere in the Solar System.
  • 2355: The first nuclear salt-water rocket is deployed by the Indian Union, using 20% enriched uranium.
  • 2366: Signing of the Nuclear Salt Rocket and Torch Ship Treaty, strictly regulating the use of high-power rockets by governments, and banning them from civilian operators completely. (This due to their potential for use as weapons of mass destruction.)
  • 2371: Formation of the African Alliance, anchored by Congo, Equatoria, and Nigeria. The Alliance is primarily military, with a centralized command structure in the event of war. There is also a collective security agreement, ensuring that all members will come to the aid if any of the others is attacked.
  • 2374: Equatoria nationalizes the Space Elevator of Mbandaka, removing it from Atlantic Union control. The AU, under President Luna Lindsay, initially pursues a policy of “strategic ignorance” (meaning deliberately ignoring in the parlance of the time), moving traffic to other AU-controlled elevators in other countries while performing covert actions against the Equatorian government.
  • 2378–2385: The Afro–Atlantic War, which the Atlantic Union loses.
  • 2385: In the peace settlement, North Sudan, Mauritania, and Western Sahara are granted independence from the AU, as are the North American territories south of Mexico.
  • 2388: First permanent settlement in the Asteroid Belt.
  • 2393–2403: {{{a major war of some kind}}}

[ Top ]

25th century

  • 2400:
    • World population is 13,920,439,096. There are 27,618,770 people living on the Moon; 1,370,495 people living on Mars; less than 15,000 living in the Asteroid Belt; and about 700,000 scattered across the rest of the system.
    • Global temperatures rapidly decline during this century.
  • 2403: All of the Atlantic Union east of the Urals independent.
  • 2408: 11 October. The "Saturday Night Junta": General Barthélemy Bazalgette overthrows the government of the Atlantic Union.
  • 2419: First permanent settlement on Callisto.
  • 2423: General Bebi Abadi becomes President of the Atlantic Union. Unlike Bazalgette, he has no intentions of ever restoring democracy, but eventually he finds he has to at least uphold the pretense.
  • 2444: Manned AU mission to Titan. The spacecraft is a 3rd-generation nuclear salt-water rocket, the AUSC Faraj el-Hosseini.
  • 2445: Bebi Abadi retires as President, handing power to General Fabián Cazalla y Mariano.
  • 2450: 5 September. "Freedom's Last Gasp": President Fabián Cazalla y Mariano is ousted by a vote of no-confidence and replaced by Avior Zelkind.
  • 2461: 30 September. Coup d'état in the Atlantic Union: General Domagoj Kristić overthrows President Zelkind.
  • 2464: 23 July. General/President Kristić forces the Union Parliament to pass the State Reorganization Act, turning the Union into a unitary state (albeit with "sub-unions" for ease of administration). Additionally, the Union's remaining monarchies are abolished by the act.
    • The abolition of the monarchies of Norway, Scotland, and Sweden triggers the Northern Rebellion against the Union. The abolition of the Japanese monarchy leads to the Chrysanthemum Rebellion. The Northern Rebellion is crushed, but Japan attains independence from the Union in 2468.
    • The United States and the Federated States are abolished and replaced by unitary republics, East America and West America.
  • 2472: Manned missions to Oberon and Triton, launched by the Selenian Republic (???) and the Indian Union, respectively. The spacecraft are fourth generation nuclear salt-water rockets utilizing 30% enriched uranium. The trip to Triton and back takes ten months total; the Oberon round trip is eight months.
  • 2491–2493: {{{a major war of some kind}}}
  • 2498: 17 January. Zoë Kasoulidis is appointed President of the Atlantic Union.

[ Top ]

26th century

  • 2500:
    • World population is 15,191,511,143. This total does not include 105,731 people living on Callisto; 141,131 living on and around Ceres; 13,610,510 people living on Mars; and 344,597,400 people living on the Moon.
  • 2502: Beginning of the Creeping Death, a plague that will kill more than a third of the world's population.
  • 2507: 26 December. Passage of the Religion and State Act in the Atlantic Union, outlawing all religions in the union other than Takagawanism. President Kasoulidis had hoped for it to be passed Christmas Day, as an insult. Francis IX, the last Pope, is executed on fabricated treason charges the following year.
  • 2517: The virus that causes the Creeping Death is eradicated.
  • 2519: President Kasoulidis is made President for Life.
  • 2520: World population is now 9,132,310,013. Slightly over six billion people have died in the eighteen years of the Creeping Death—40% of the world's population. The Moon loses 28% of its population, declining to 246,800,658. Mars loses 34% of its population, declining to 8,936,661. The other colonies in the Solar System are distant enough from Earth that they could effectively quarantine; there are no cases of Creeping Death recorded on Callisto, and only a few dozen in the Belt.
  • c. 2520–2550: The various states of the North American Administrative Area secede as the North American Union.
  • 2531: The Fortalezan Catholic Church is founded in Brazil. Fr. Guilherme Fraga Corrêa is elected the first (new) Pope, and takes the name Peter II.
  • c. 2545: The fifth and final generation of nuclear salt-water rockets are issued. They cut the travel time to Mars down to two days, Titan to 26 days. Their release was delayed 45 years due to the Creeping Death.
  • 2553: 19 February. President Kasoulidis dies in her sleep in Rome at the age of 123. She will be succeeded later in the year by Fülöp Lőrinc; she had hoped she would be succeeded by her daughter, Anastazja Łukasik, instead.
  • 2559: First permanent settlement on Triton.
  • c. 2575:. New magnetic confinement nuclear fusion rockets reduce the travel time to Oberon to 38 days, one way.
  • 2593: Collapse of the North American Union after a brief civil war. The former country soon descends into warlordism.

[ Top ]

27th century

  • 2604:
    • 28 April. Atlantic Union President João Venâncio dies.
    • Friday 13 July. The electoral college of the Atlantic Union (now reduced to Western Europe) fails to appoint a President. The Union collapses.
    • Approximately. Second generation magnetic confinement nuclear fusion rockets reduce the travel time to Triton to 48 days, one way.
  • 2608: A cult seizes control of the city of Fargo in the Republic of America and renames it Manasseh. They proclaim the State of Mesopotamia, so named because it lied between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. However, official secession from the Chicago-centered ROA is not declared until 2621 (as the "Godly State of Mesopotamia").

[ Top ]

28th century

  • 2772: 1 January. The first practical demonstration of the Leong Antigravity Effect, caused by induced, localized distortions of the fabric of space.

[ Top ]

29th century

  • ????: The first "reactionless" drives. The term is somewhat misleading, as maintaing the drive field—which works by warping the fabric of space—takes immense power. However, no actual reaction mass is required. The tradeoff is that one must travel in integer powers of e, so no reactionless ship can travel faster than e–1 c or about 37% the speed of light. Also note that, due to the nature of the drive field, the ship is locally not moving at all and therefore acquires no kinetic energy.
  • 2819: 1 January. Formation of the United Congo Republic. (Map in 2985)

[ Top ]

30th century

  • 2985: October 26. The UCR's Nzambi Mpungu XV mission arrives in the Alpha Centauri A system, and humans walk on Hylonome.

[ Top ]

4th millenium

[ Top ]

5th millenium

  • 4545–5056: The First Stellar Empire.

[ Top ]

Distant future

These settings will eventually have separate pages!

  • c. 19,000 AD: The Supergiant Wars, leading to the total collapse of (human) interstellar civilization.
  • c. 44,400 AD: A great crisis in the Imperial Federation, an interstellar nation consisting of 7,076 settled worlds.
  • c. 86,250 AD: The period of the Seventh Galactic Empire under Ojowo IX, ruler of four million worlds. Humanity has directly explored the entire galaxy, has settlements across about two-thirds of it, and the Empire rules about half. A quarter of the Empire's population is neither human nor of Eartly origin. (Map)

[ Back | Top ]