Timeline

Unknown BCE
The first bearers of the mantle of responsibility, the Leviathans, dominate the galaxy, enthralling every new sapient race they encounter and protecting them in return for tribute. The Leviathans consider themselves the galaxy's first and only apex race, and fulfill the mantle's mandate by creating the citadel and the mass relays.

After discovering the 36.5 million year cycle, the Leviathans create an Intelligence to permanently secure their place as the bearers of the mantle. The Intelligence constructs an army of "pawns", the flood, to gather information about the milky way's species.

The Intelligence Declares itself Harbinger, and either out of degrading mental stability or simple boredom, decides to kill all sapient species every 50,000 years for it's own amusement.

Harbinger betrays the Leviathans, using all of their creations to make galactic civilization develop faster and more consistently between harvests, before instructing the flood to slaughter all contemporary species for their genetic material to create more Reapers. Thus begins the cyclical harvest of the galaxy's intelligent organic life.

1,000,000,000 BCE
The Leviathan of Dis, a Reaper, is killed by the Leviathans. Its corpse comes to rest on the planet Jartar and remains undisturbed for nearly one billion years.

36,121,887 BCE
As a last resort, Equestria, a virtual reality resort under construction, is activated for "beta-testing" by the ancient spacefaring equines to save their race from the reapers. To protect the facility it's power source is modified to be read as background radiation, and they facility's harmony cannon is fired at reapers surrounding it. The round moving through space, penetrating and disabling a Reaper located near the planet Mnemosyne, before eventually striking the planet Klendagon and creating the geological feature there known as the Great Rift Valley.

298,000 BCE
The ancient arthenn race flourish in the Zelene system, living on the planet Helyme until being destroyed in an unknown event, possibly of reaper origin, that wiped out all complex life on the planet. They also maintained a presence on other planets in the system including Epho, which bears the scars of an ancient orbital bombardment, and Gaelon, which may have been mined for helium-3.

150,000 BCE
The forerunners from Ende-Tyrene achieve fold FTL. With no access to mass effect tech, they are unable to stabilize the drive.

125,000 BCE
Ancient spacefaring races called the thoi'han and inusannon fight over the planet Eingana, littering the planet with the debris of hundreds of starships. Refined element zero scattered by broken drive cores contaminates the environment, causing many native species to go extinct and those that survive to show a tendency to develop biotic powers.

98,379 BCE

 * Harbinger reaches the conclusion that the forerunners are the terminal transspaient species, and, given the survival of the ancient spacefaring equines, may completely annihalate the reapers, a condition it deems unacceptable. The Flood are sent to gather their genetic materials.


 * First contact is made between a Forerunner research team and the Flood on G 617 g. A military team was sent in later after contact had been lost. The Flood escaped the planet, thus beginning the 3-century-long reaper annihalation of pre prothean spacefaring civilization.

97,448 BCE

 * The Forerunners fired the Halos. The activation was supposed to end the Forerunner-Flood War. It killed all sentient life within three radii of the galactic center, annihalating the Forerunners, innusannon, thoi'ans, and other contemporary races.
 * The repaers, having no civilizations to annihalate by themselves, orderd the flood to depart the galaxy and await the next cycle alongside them.

68,000 BCE
The Protheans achieve spaceflight and discover mass effect technology from the ruins of the extinct inusannon. They go on to establish a galaxy-wide civilization linked by the mass relay network with the Citadel as their capital. At some point, the Protheans encounter a hostile race of machine intelligences that endanger their existence. To combat this threat, the Protheans aggressively assimilate many other spacefaring organic races into their empire. The Prothean Empire is able to fend off the machines in a conflict known as the "Metacon War".

48,000 BCE: Fall of the Protheans
The Prothean Empire collapses with the arrival of the Reapers through the Citadel. Although the Protheans had learned of the Reapers' existence from studying the ruins of previous civilizations and had begun to prepare, they were nonetheless caught off-guard. Over the next several centuries, the Protheans fight the Reapers system by system, world by world, and city by city. In the end, it is not enough. The Reapers methodically wipe out the remaining Protheans, as well as other contemporary races, and depart the galaxy to await the next cycle.

13,000 BCE
The turians begin to develop civilization around this time.

6000 BCE

 * Seeking to escape the imminent explosion of their sun, an alien race constructs an AGI-managed starship equipped with supercomputers containing a virtual world, into which some one billion of the aliens transfer their consciousnesses. The starship begins a journey throughout the galaxy which lasts for the next 8,000 years.
 * The San 'Shyuum begin to develop civilization around this time.

2200 BCE
After centuries of unity, the San 'Shyuum become divided into two groups, the Stoics who believe that Forerunner relics were sacred and not to be altered, and the Reformists who wish to more closely examine the artifacts and use them for their own purposes. This fundamental disagreement sparks the San 'Shyuum Civil War.

2100 BCE
The San 'Shyuum Civil War came to an end as one thousand Reformists entered the Forerunner Dreadnought and fled the San 'Shyuum homeworld.

1900 BCE
Tuchanka, the krogan homeworld, enters the nuclear age. In a global conflict, weapons of mass destruction are released, triggering a nuclear winter. In the resulting devastation, krogan society devolves into a collection of warring clans.

1800 BCE
A supernova propels the Mu Relay, the only point of access to the remote Pangaea Expanse, out of position. Concealed somewhere in the dense nebula formed by the supernova, the relay's position is effectively lost for centuries. Later, the rachni rediscover the relay.

938 BCE
The San 'Shyuum first encountered the Sangheili on Sanghelios who, like the Stoics, believed that Forerunner relics are not to be modified or serve as the template for Sangheili technology. This ideological difference resulted in the Sangheili-San 'Shyuum War, in which the Sangheili had a distinct advantage in infantry combat due to superior numbers and troop quality. However, in space combat the San 'Shyuum had a great advantage because of their Dreadnought.

876 BCE
After decades of struggle between the Sangheili and San 'Shyuum in the Sangheili-San 'Shyuum War, the Sangheili finally accepted that they must adapt and study their Forerunner relics or face defeat at the hands of the San 'Shyuum. The Sangheili warrior priests reluctantly began using their relics to improve their warships, arms and armor.

852 BCE
The Sangheili and San 'Shyuum ended their war, merging to form the Covenant. The Council of Concordance ratified the Writ of Union, clearly defining the roles of the San 'Shyuum and the Sangheili.

784 BCE
During one of the first ages of Conversion Covenant forces discovered the planet Te and with it the Lekgolo. They discovered that many of the Lekgolo worm colonies had literally devoured Forerunner artifacts and installations, while others ate everything except Forerunner installations. The Lekgolo initially proved difficult to defeat because of their ability to combine into the powerful Mgalekgolo, however due in part to their superior spaceship technology the Covenant were able to ally with and tame the useful Lekgolo, and exterminate the relic-destroying colonies in what came to be known as the Taming of the Hunters. The compliant Lekgolo were incorporated into the Writ of Union.

648 BCE
Janjur Qom was destroyed by a natural stellar collapse and the Forerunner Dreadnought was made into the centerpiece of the new space station that would serve as the Covenant's capital, High Charity. It is unknown whether or not the descendants of the Reformer San 'Shyuum had ever physically returned to their homeworld after they left it in 2100 BCE during their schism with the Stoic San 'Shyuum.

580 BCE
After developing faster-than-light spacefaring capabilities based upon Prothean technology, the asari begin to explore the mass relay network, and eventually discover the huge Citadel space station at a hub of many mass relays.

520 BCE
The salarians discover the Citadel and open diplomatic relations with the asari.

500 BCE: Founding of the Citadel Council

 * The Citadel Council is formed. The asari and salarians together colonize the Citadel and establish it as a center of the galactic community, led by the Council. This year is also known as 0 GS, the beginning of the Galactic Standard (GS) timeline.
 * As a gesture of openness with their new asari allies, the Salarian Union opens the records of the League of One. Under threat, the League responds by assassinating every member of the Union's inner cabinet; Special Tasks Group operatives then hunt down and eliminate the League.
 * First contact is made with the volus. Eventually, the Citadel Council commissions the volus to draw up the Unified Banking Act, which establishes a standard galactic currency known as the credit and links all galactic economies.
 * The turian Unification War occurs. The nation-states of palaven, and by extention, their increasingly isolated and xenophobic colonies on the frontiers of turian space, go to war with each other. After years of fighting, the Turian Unified Hierarchy sweeps in and pacifies the non-hierarchy nations. Animosity between turian colonies continues for decades.
 * The Council grants the volus the honor of being the first non-Council species with an embassy at the Citadel, rather than a Council seat.
 * First contact is made with the batarians. They are granted an embassy a century later.
 * The asari discover the elcor home system and help the elcor locate and activate their nearest mass relay. "Within one elcor lifetime" they establish a regular trade route to the Citadel and are granted an embassy.
 * First contact is made with the hanar and the quarians. Both races are later granted embassies.

1 AD: The Rachni Wars
The rachni, a species of highly intelligent hive-minded insects, are discovered when a Citadel expedition opens a dormant mass relay leading to their star systems. The rachni prove to be hostile and begin a war with the rest of the galaxy. Negotiation with the rachni queens is impossible because they cannot be contacted in their underground nests on the toxic rachni worlds.

80 AD
The Rachni Wars continue. The salarians make first contact with and uplift the primitive krogan, manipulating them into acting as soldiers for the Citadel Council. The krogan prove able to survive the harsh environments of the rachni worlds and pursue the rachni into their nests, systematically eradicating queens and eggs.

300 AD
The rachni are declared extinct. In gratitude for their aid during the Rachni Wars, the Council rewards the krogan a new homeworld. Free of the harsh environment of Tuchanka, the krogan population explodes.

300 - 700 AD
The krogan begin to expand exponentially, colonizing many new worlds. Growing concerns about their expansion lead to the founding of the Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Tactics and Reconnaissance of the Citadel.

693 AD
Beelo Gurji, a salarian operative, is appointed the first Spectre by the Citadel Council.

700 AD: The Krogan Rebellions
Krogan warlords leverage veterans of the Rachni Wars to annex territory from other races in Citadel space. Eventually the Council demands withdrawal from the asari colony of Lusia, but the krogan refuse. A preemptive strike is made on krogan infrastructures by the Spectres. The Krogan Rebellions begin. The Citadel Council makes first contact with the turians around this time and persuades them to aid in the war. After the krogan respond to the initial turian offensive by devastating turian colonies with weapons of mass destruction, the turians vow to stop the krogan from ever becoming a threat again. Sometime after the turians join the galactic community, the volus are accepted as a client race of the Turian Hierarchy.

710 AD
Realizing that the krogan will never give in as long as they can replenish their fighters, the turians unleash a salarian-engineered bio-weapon known as the genophage on the krogan. The krogan population starts its decline.

800 AD
The Krogan Rebellions end, though scattered krogan insurgent actions continue for decades. The turians fill the military and peacekeeping niche left by the decimated krogan. The Citadel Conventions are drawn up in the wake of the conflict.

900 AD
The turians are granted a seat on the Citadel Council in recognition for their service in the Krogan Rebellions.

1152 AD
Luna Reaces the conclusion that the Equestrians are ready to be awakened.

1215 AD
Earliest records that the Oracle found relating to the Illuminati and Majestic 12 are from this year.

1218 AD
Construction was begun on Cathedrale de Payens, financed by the Knights Templar.

1400 AD
Extensive and unchecked industrial expansion on the drell homeworld Rakhana begins taking a significant toll on the planet's environment.

1600 AD
The first sightings of the Collectors are reported in the Terminus Systems. In Citadel space, the claims are dismissed as unsubstantiated rumors and tall tales.

1723 AD
Adam Weishaupt born in Ingulstadt, Germany.

1755 AD
Samara's three daughters are diagnosed as Ardat-Yakshi. Rila and Falere accept exile, but Morinth flees. Samara takes the oaths of the asari justicars and pursues her errant daughter for the next 400 years.

1776 AD
May 1: Adam Weishaupt formed the "Order of Perfectibilists".

1777 AD
Johann Adam Weishaupt is invited to join the Masonic Lodge in Munich.

1808 AD
A Masonic Lodge expedition discovered a Reaper artifact in the outskirts of Fürth.

1830 AD

 * According to eyewitnesses, Adam Weishaupt "transformed into an animal in human form" during this year.
 * November 18: Adam Weishaupt dies in Gotha, Germany.

1880 AD
Aria T'Loak arrives on Omega, a space station in the Terminus Systems regarded as the region's nominal capital. Aria is hired by the station's warlord as an enforcer and quickly becomes one of his most trusted lieutenants.

1895 AD: The Geth War
The geth, machines created by the quarians as a source of cheap labor, become self-aware. Fearing a geth uprising, the quarians begin dismantling them. The geth revolt against their quarian masters. In the resulting conflict--known to the geth as the Morning War--the geth systematically drive the quarians from their own worlds. The surviving quarians are reduced to living as spacefaring nomads aboard the Migrant Fleet. Contrary to expectations, the geth do not venture outside the former quarian systems into wider Citadel space, instead isolating themselves from the rest of the galaxy behind the Perseus Veil. As punishment for creating the geth, the Citadel Council closes the quarian embassy on the Citadel.

1900 AD
90 percent of Americans are self-employed.

1902 AD

 * Estimated birth date of Lucius DeBeers.
 * Theodore Roosevelt says, "One of the things that attracted me so greatly to Masonry . . . was that it really did live up to what we, as a government, are pledged to -- of treating each man on his merits as a Man."

1911 AD
The Qing Dynasty of China falls. The Republic of China (ROC) is founded. The followers of the Taiping Rebellion find themselves without purpose. Many are left depressed and angry because they are unable to participate in the uprising. Unable to return to civilian life, the rebellion members formed a cult. This becomes known as the Triad. They lose the usual support from the public as the Qing Dynasty is gone. Without the donations they turn to crime.

1918 AD
Cathedrale de Payens purchased and renovated by a group of European investors as a corporate retreat.

1920 AD
League of Nations proposed by Woodrow Wilson.

1921 AD
The geth begin construction of a mega-structure designed to house and simultaneously run every geth program in existence. Completion of the mega-structure, which would allow the geth to maximize their collective processing capacity, is the long-term goal of geth civilization.

1940 AD
The Illuminati begins to gather genetic data via the smallpox vaccinations. This continues for two decades.

1945 AD

 * Corporations pay 50 percent of federal taxes.
 * April 25: United Nations Charter

1946 AD

 * The land for the United Nations building is donated by John D. Rockefeller Jr. The land had been a slaughterhouse and the soil where the U.N. buildings now stand had been fully saturated with the blood of the slaughtered animals.
 * March: The UKUSA agreement is signed creating a vast international global eavesdropping network when US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand joined all of their signals intelligence (SIGINT) organizations.

1947 AD
June/July: An extraterrestrial spacecraft crashes in Roswell, New Mexico, killing all Gray alien passengers onboard. A massive coverup ensues and all evidence including debris, technology, and bodies are shipped to nearby Area 51. Due to its sensitive nature U.S. President Harry Truman orders that all everything about the incident be handled by the federal government's highest ranking officials through "Operation Majestic Twelve."

1949 AD
The Communist Party of China takes power, founding the Peoples Republic of China. Mainland China is put under strict law enforcement and organized crime diminishes. The Triad migrates to the British colony of Hong Kong.

1952 AD
October 24: The National Security Agency is founded by a seven-page Top Secret memorandum from President Harry S. Truman to Secretary of State Dean G. Acheson and Secretary of Defense Robert A. Lovett. The two basic functions of the NSA are outlined as follows: (1) "to protect the 'Communications Security' (COMSEC) of US telecommunications that are national security related and (2) to obtain foreign intelligence related telecommunications through the interception of 'Signals Intelligence' (SIGNIT)". The latter represents the NSA's main activity. Two elements comprise SIGNIT. The first is "Communications Intelligence" (COMINT) which is intelligence obtained through the interception of electronic message communications (i.e. telegrams and telephone communication) and the second is "Electronic Intelligence" (ELINT) which is intelligence obtained though the interception of electronic signals (i.e. radar and missile emissions).

1954 AD

 * The Bilderberg Group is created to control financial matters around the world through vast mining operations, control over the Federal Reserve Board, The Eurobank and the World Bank as well as through a stranglehold on the world's supply of gold.
 * Majestic Twelve is founded sometime after to control technology and communications. It develops advanced technology and decides what to release to the public. It monitors all communications, some better than others. It also controls drugs, legal and illegal, pharmaceutical and recreational. It even introduces new diseases (for which it already has cures waiting).

1958 AD
Tong Si Hung is born.

1960's AD
Humanity begins launching it's own to space and becomes a spacefaring race.

1960 AD

 * May: Vostok 1 reports it is going off course.
 * November 28: A faint SOS Morse Code signal is sent from Vostok 2 while leaving Earth's orbit.

1961 AD

 * Massachusetts Institute of Technology introduces the world to MH-1; the first computer-operated mechanical hand. Nearing human likeness, the MH-1 has a hand-arm combination of 35 degrees of freedom, and is sensitive to pattern recognition and simulation of higher cognitive processes.
 * February: A cosmonaut abard the Vostok 3 is audibly recorded suffocating to death.
 * April 1 to April 11: Vostok 4 is recorded orbiting the Earth three times before re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere just days before Yuri Gagarin made his historic flight aboard the Vostok 5.
 * April 12: Yuri Gagarin aboard the Vostok 5 becomes the first human to go to space and return.
 * May: In orbit, Vostok 6 makes an appeal for help after going out of control.
 * August 6: Vostok 7 is launched.
 * October: A cosmonaut loses control of Vostok 8 which veers off into deep space.

1962 AD

 * August 11: Vostok 9 is launched.
 * August 12: Vostok 10 is launched.
 * November: Vostok 11 misjudges re-entry bouncing off the Earth’s atmosphere and out into space.

1963 AD

 * June 14: Vostok 12 is launched.
 * June 16: Vostok 13 is launched.
 * November: A female cosmonaut dies abaord Voskhod 1 during re-entry.
 * November 10: President John F. Kennedy says, "The high office of President has been used to ferment a plot to destroy the American's freedom, and before I leave office I must inform the citizen of his plight". To quote Lucius DeBeers, "he's out, no discussion, no matter that we got him elected.".
 * November 22: President Kennedy is assassinated by the Illuminati.

1964 AD

 * April: Another cosmonaut is killed when Voskhod 2 burns up in the Earth's atmosphere.
 * October 12: Voskhod 3 is launched.

1965 AD
The Illuminati finish tracking those who receive a smallpox vaccine. From this they are able to build a database of the genetic codes of nearly all citizens of the United States and much of the rest of the world.

1969 AD
July 20: Apollo 11 lands on Luna. Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to walk on Luna, and the first human to walk on an astronomical object other than Earth.

1970's AD
Computers with the capacity for automatically sifting through massive quantities of information for specific keywords begin operation. David Sarif is born.

1973 AD

 * Hugh Darrow is born in Blackheat, South London. He proves to be a visionary entrepreneur whose innovations and groundbreaking ideas change not only the face of augmentation, but also the very fabric of society itself.
 * July: David Rockefeller forms the Trilateral Commission (TC).

1976 AD
Peter Langston's seminal Oracle program is written for the research V5 Unix system at the Harvard Science Center.

1978 AD
An Australian professor develops the first safe effective sensorineural biotechnology that directly connects electronic technology to physiological contact within the central nervous system. With the help of this new technology, his patient becomes the first human in the world to receive a multi-channel cochlear implant after losing his hearing from injuries sustained to the head. The implantation proves to successfully give him the ability to regain partial hearing and pitch perception.

1980's AD
NSA designs the Echelon system by interconnecting all SIGNIT information gathering computers in the UKUSA agreement (that is to say in United States, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia) into and integrated whole.

1980 AD
Aria T'Loak assumes control of Omega after defeating the space station's previous warlord in single combat. She mockingly bestows the title "Patriarch" on the broken krogan, and uses him as a reminder to her enemies of her power.

1987 AD

 * The first implantation of a deep-brain electrical stimulation system and the first Lasik eye surgery are performed on human patients.
 * Bruce McIndoe helps to finalize the original Echelon system. Bruce would become the lead architect for Echelon II, which would use words and voice recognition, as well as automatic translation.

1988 AD
August 12: NEW STATESMAN is the earliest mention of Project 415, also known as Echelon.

1989 AD
Lars Huttar uses a description of the seminal oracle program to write his oracle program, which is posted to alt.sources in August. This program inspires the Usenet Oracle. Steve Kinzler, a systems administrator and graduate student at Indiana University, installs Huttar's program on silver.ucs.Indiana.edu, where it proves to be quite popular. The best Oracularities are posted to in.bizarre, a group local to Indiana.

1993 AD
March 9: Adam Jensen is born.

1996 AD

 * Hugh Darrow purchases and revamps a struggling prosthetics manufacturing company in England, creating Darrow Industries. With his family's considerable assets at his disposal, Darrow ensures that this, as well as his claims to the importance of this event, makes front-page news.
 * March 12: The Usenet Oracle is renamed The Internet Oracle. Ray Moody, a graduate student at Purdue University, wrote the core software for this after correspondence with Kinzler. Kinzler would continue the development of the system, adding support for the Oracularities postings and ratings and, eventually, the Oracle Priesthood—a hardy and loyal band of volunteers who read through the hundreds of questions and answers each week to choose the best for publication.

1997 AD

 * The sovereignty of Hong Kong is handed over by the UK to the PRC. A top official of the PRC central law enforcement agency publicly acknowledges his acceptance of the Triad. He states that many of its members are patriotic to the motherland. It is unknown if this is a government stance or a personal opinion.

1998 AD

 * The first brain implant capable of stimulating movement is installed in a human patient by researchers at Emory University. The device, or neurotrophic electrode, is implanted into the brain, allowing cortical cells to grow and form neural contacts. After several weeks, the cortical tissue grows into the electrode. This allows a person to interact with the world as if they were using a computer.
 * Bruce McIndoe stops work on Echelon II when his company changes hands.

1999 AD

 * January 1: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain succumb to Majestic Twelve pressure exerted via the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union (EMU) and adopt the Euro (EUR) as their currency.
 * November 6: A Referendum is held in Australia in order to authorize the Creation of a Parliamentary Republic and fails to acheive majority.
 * Yelena Fedorova is born.

2000 AD

 * The drell make first contact with the hanar around this time. With their homeworld Rakhana severely depleted and no spaceflight capability, the drell were poised for a massive population crash by 2025 AD. Agreeing to help, the hanar mount a large-scale rescue operation and evacuate approximately 375,000 drell to their own homeworld, Kahje, over the following decade. The remaining 11 billion drell on Rakhana gradually perish, warring over the last reserves of food and water.
 * The Artificial Silicon Retina (ASR) is implanted for the first time in the eyes of three nearly blind patients. Containing approximately 3,500 microscopic solar cells that convert light into electrical impulses, the new tecnology works to replace damaged photoreceptors that normally convert light into electrical signals within the retina.

2001 AD

 * January 1: Greece succumbs to Majestic Twelve pressure exerted via the EMU and adopts the Euro.
 * A high-power lineman who, after losing both of his arms through severe electrocution, receives a life-changing computerized, biohybrid arm is dubbed as one of the first functional cyborgs, his fully robotic limb operated through a nerve muscle graft that uses micro computers instead of cables to perform a wide range of complex motions. It is also the first prototype enabling its carrier to sense pressure.
 * September 11: A terrorist attack destroys the World Trade Center towers in New York City.

2002 AD

 * January 1: The euro becomes the only currency in the adopting countries.
 * After six years of intense research, Darrow Industries scientists successfully interwine PEDOT-electrodes with live neural cells, creating a biocompatible matrix that better enables acceptance of prosthetic materials by organic tissue.
 * Faridah Malik is born in Dearborn, United States.

2003 AD
January 1: The United Kingdom succumbs to Majestic Twelve pressure exerted via the EMU and adopts the Euro.

2004 AD
Development begins for Project Phoenix, a new initiative implemented by the U.S. Military inviting amputee soldiers serving in the two Persian Gulf Conflicts to volunteer for advanced prosthetic research.

2005 AD
Building on their earlier creation of PEDOT-clusters, Darrow Industries scientists create a revolutionary biosensor that vastly improves the connection between the human nervous system and artificial limbs. The new technology brings researchers one step closer to thinning the line between prosthetic and organic.

2006 AD
January 1: Slovenia succumbs to Majestic Twelve pressure exerted via the EMU and adopts the Euro.

2007 AD
Looking to increase the efficiency of advanced prosthetics production, David Sarif purchases and overhauls an auto factory in Detroit. Shortly after, Sarif creates a system that automates the manufacturing of advanced prostethics, converting the newly purchased plant into the first auto-mechanical augmentation factory.

2008 AD

 * January 1: Malta and Cyprus succumb to Majestic Twelve pressure exerted via the EMU and adopt the Euro.
 * The controversial Omega Ranch begins to take shape with support from the United Nations and several major biotech companies, including Versalife. Leading the development, the World Health Organization (WHO) begins construction on the new centre that will pave the way for research into viral genetics and biological sciences.

2009 AD

 * January 1: Slovakia succumbs to Majestic Twelve pressure exerted via the EMU and adopts the Euro.
 * Stretched thin by two Mideast conflicts, the U.S. Congress passes the Recycle Military Bill, financing free prosthetics for any wounded veteran who re-enlists. With little competition, Sarif Industries wins the lucrative prosthetic manufacturing contract and becomes the number one prosthetic manufacturer in America.

2011 AD

 * January 1: Estonia succumbs to Majestic Twelve pressure exerted via the EMU and adopts the Euro.
 * Darrow Industries publishes "Fittest XY", the first test capable of identifying if a subject suffers from a rare genetic disorder that makes acceptance of an implant not only impossible, but also deadly.
 * As augmentations become increasingly commonplace, entrepreneur Haydon Suyong envisions the creation of healthcare clinics that cater exclusively to the specific needs of prosthetic-equipped patients. After borrowing 50 million Euros from Hugh Darrow, the dream becomes reality and the first clinic for augmented humans opens.

2012 AD
As part of their ultimate exit strategy out of Iraq, the U.S. military sends squads of prosthetic-equipped soldiers into the heaviest conflict zones.

2013 AD
A document leaked a day later by Edward Snowden reveals that Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, YouTube, Skype, AOL, and Apple particiapted in the mass survelliance program. Despite the resulting PR disaster, PRISM was not deactivated, and has it's scope extended, Starting with Verizon, Dropbox, eBay, Amazon, Vimeo, HSBC, the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, and American Express.
 * Ophelia Carter writes a conspiracy-related book "The Wheels Come Off". Supposedly demonstrated that there could have been no "Soviet-American pact" because America had already sold out to the Grays.
 * According to this theory the polio and influenza outbreaks of the later 20th century were test runs in a larger governmental biowarfare program.
 * A milestone in the development of augmentation is reached when the 50th healthcare clinic for mechanically augmented patients opens in New Delhi, with nearly 50,000 patients visiting the facility within its first week. At the opening ceremony Haydon Suyong calls his network of clinics "L.I.M.B. International" for the first time.
 * A year after emerging as an underground prosthetic ultimate fighting movement, the Augmented Combat Challenge (ACC) is accepted as a legal sport in 12 countries. Bets taken online and in Vegas turns into a multi-million dollar circuit as the sport's popularity rapidly grows.
 * The NSA forces Verizon to join the PRISM program.

Today the Cerberus-manged PRISM is still active, and spying on all devices connected to the galactic communication infastructure. Cerberus officials can acces any file on any device they wish.

2014 AD

 * January 1: Latvia succumbs to Majestic Twelve pressure exerted via the EMU and adopts the Euro.
 * Brian Nittle becomes the first patient with Down syndrome to successfully receive a deep-brain implant capable of stimulating portions of the brain in order to significantly increase natural cognitive functions. The implantation works better than imagined and Nittle is able to lead a near normal life.
 * The volcanic Vilama Caldera complex in Argentina unexpectedly detonates in a powerful 'supervolcanic' explosion, blanketing huge swathes of land in Argentina, Chile and Bolivia with hot ash. Over 100,000 citizens are killed, but the world finds hope in augmented humans as they play a major role in the region's rescue and recovery operations. Their enhanced abilities save many lives and prove to make a crucial difference in relief of this disaster.
 * After having banned augmented athletes years earlier, plans to rewrite the guidelines and rules governing international athletic competitions are announced. "We can no longer ignore the [augmented] population. They are obviously a part of our world, and this is a worldwide competition," says voting board member Harris Stevenson.
 * Adam Jensen joins the Detroit Police Department.
 * Mass protests in Ukraine call for the resignation of President Viktor Yanukovich. The new president Petro Poroshenko signs the EU-Ukraine treaty, which was on hitaus in Yanukovich's term. Simultaneously, the russian federation holds a referendum about the status of the Crimean peninsula. Although 96.185% voters chose to join russia, the referendum was unrecognized by the global community and was technically illegal according to Ukrainian law, that requires territorial change referendums to allow votes from all citizens, including those who do not reside in Crimea. Such a referendum was held six years later, and forced the return of Crimea to Ukraine. This revolution sparked a similar one in Belarus a year later.

2015 AD

 * January 1: Lithuania succumbs to Majestic Twelve pressure exerted via the EMU and adopts the Euro.
 * November 6: Exactly 16 years after the first Republican Refendum, a second Republican Refendum is held in Australia, and establishes a U.S.-style presidential system. Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott are named the first President and Vice-President of Australia respectively.
 * Rumors begin to circulate that countries are experimenting with new intelligence-enhancing technology by secretly implanting the device in military and counter-intelligence officers. As leaked intelligence from Asia and Europe begins ton corroborate the story, a fear of falling behind these imposing advancements accelerates global biotechnical research to new levels.
 * After terrorist attacks against Saudi Arabian oil fields decimate the country's infrastructure and plunge the world into a major energy crisis, an emergency session of the US Congress passes the Green River Energy Bill, opening protected oil shale deposits in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming to development.
 * Seeing the challenges and dangers of drilling in the areas, oil companies begin quietly recruiting augmented war veterans to work at the highest salaries.

2016 AD

 * January 1: Ukraine succumbs to Majestic Twelve pressure exerted via the EMU and adopts the Euro.
 * A foreign pilot equipped with an intelligence-enhancing implant defects to an international U.S. base and the military immediately begins attempting to reverse-engineer the chip.
 * The Singularity Faith of the Machine God (SFMG), a quasi-religious pro-augmentation group, is formally recognized as a church. Augs originally formed the SFMG in 2011 in response to being shunned for going against religious scripts that declare it unholy to biologically 'desecrate' their bodies.
 * January 13: Queensland and the Northern territory, opposed to the newly-created Republic, secede from Australia, establishing North Australia as a Commonwealth Realm, and the Australian Civil War begins.

2017 AD

 * January 1: Belarus, Czechia, Poland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Vojvodina, Macedonia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Switzerland, And Liechtenstein succumb to Majestic Twelve pressure exerted via the EMU and adopt the Euro.
 * March 12: The Walt Disney Corporation completes it's first nuclear bomb.
 * The implementation of the Euro and the Schengen Area is complete. As a result, The EU is now a subject to the complete economical control of the Majestic 12.
 * In an attempt to catch up to the rapid advancements of rival nations, the U.S.A. military awards Sarif Industries a top secret, no-bid contract to manufacture intelligence-enhancing chips.
 * Dallas became a self-declared “protected city-state”, paving the way for several other so-called fortress cities to come into being over the next decade.
 * The international yard and pound are re-defined as percisely 90 centimeters and half a kilogram respectively.

2018 AD

 * Paul Denton is born, cloned from Adam Jensen's DNA.
 * Adam Jensen joins the DPD's SWAT team, under the command of Captain Quincy Durant.

2019 AD

 * The NuChrist Initiative emerges as a U.S. based coalition of forward-looking Christian group that embraces and encourages cloning, augmentation, and the furtherment of biotechnology. Traditionalist *Christians hold protest, but cannot stop the membership of the NuChrist Initiative from growing 300% in one year.
 * Belltower Associates, an umbrella group of private military contractors, institutes their new augmentation program, Plan Infinity. The Program offers soldiers immediate augmentations while deferring payment for as long as they remain active employees of Belltower.

2020s

 * Mechanical-augmentations are just becoming widespread.
 * In the early years of this decade work on nano-technology begins. The Majestic 12 scientists assigned to the project (including Bob Page) have a number of difficulties. A self-replicating nanite that can interact with biological material has to be developed. The nanites must be able to interpret commands directly from the mind, and send information back to the mind in a form that can be interpreted. This will take years to develop. A test subject matching MJ12's selection criteria is needed, as young as possible.
 * Quincy Durant is severely injured during an encounter with an augmented criminal, and is forced to undergo extensive augmentation to survive. Durant is later put in charge of a new unit of augmented SWAT officers; Adam Jensen is given command of Durant's old unit.

2021 AD
Quincy Durant's SWAT unit massacres the entire Kowalski Bros. Gang at the El Diablo Lapdancing Club.

2022 AD

 * Antoine Thisdale, an unaugmented oil rig worker sues for the right to have both of his fully functional natural arms amputated and replaced with cybernetic arms in an effort to compete with mechanically augmented workers in his profession. The Supreme Court rules in his favor, clearing the way for elective augmentation. In response to the ruling, William Taggart creates the Humanity Front, a political organization that opposes augmentation.
 * A Pan-Arab coalition invades Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Gaza, and Palestine. The following conflict, while increasing the Illuminati's sphere of influence, is unsuccessful in capturing the four nations, and decimates the coalition.

2023 AD
Quincy Durant's now corrupt SWAT unit has violently taken down half of the organized crime groups in the city, taking over their operations for themselves.
 * Five year old Paul Denton is chosen as a test subject and cloned.
 * South Australia finds a large underground reserve of fossil fuel off the coast of Antarctica. With the fossil fuel crisis worldwide, tensions between North Australia and South Australia rise and the Civil war is Escalated.

2024 AD
An investigative news report reveals that a high-profile contestant on a popular American game show had been implanted with an intelligence-enhancing chip prior to his appearance on the program. The scandal causes a significant upswing in popular opposition to the largely unregulated augmentation industry. The Humanity Front's membership grows sizeably as a result.

2025 AD

 * Quincy Durant's SWAT unit instigates the Mexicantown Riots. Durant is badly wounded in a firefight with Adam Jensen, acting on orders to take Durant down. Durant is retrieved in secret by the Illuminati and given further augmentation. Durant's unit is shut down and its other members are stripped of their badges and arrested.
 * Adam Jensen resigns from the Detroit Police Department after refusing to follow a questionable order during efforts to contain the riots. He is hired as the new Chief of Security at Sarif Industries soon after.

2027 AD
Due to a plethora of events, the year 2027 is broken to segments.

Before September 6

 * William Taggart is almost killed by an augmented sniper at a Humanity Front rally in Geneva. This pushes the UN to consider regulation of human augmentation.
 * Versalife announces they have successfully cured AIDS in laboratory mice using nanites.
 * March 6 - Sarif Industries headquarters in Detroit is attacked by the Tyrants. Research on a next-generation augmentation, the Typhoon is destroyed.
 * Joshua Korbin, a member of the New Sons of Freedom bombs the Capitol building of the state of Washington in Olympia. Simultaneously, his organization calls for the Pacific Northwest to secede from the US.
 * Lawrence Barrett is killed by Adam Jensen.
 * Tracer Tong escapes Hengsha for Hong Kong.
 * Yelena Fedorova is killed by Adam Jensen.
 * Jaron Namir is killed by Adam Jensen.
 * Belltower Associates 12th Regiment brings the Australian Civil War closer to an end by quelling an uprising in the northern territories of the continent.

September 6

 * Hugh Darrow invites hundreds of influential people to Panchaea's grand opening. On live television, he activates a signal that sends all Augmented people into a hallucinogenic rage.
 * While this period of chaos lasts only hours the death toll worldwide is estimated at over one million with countless others injured.
 * As the disaster ends news breaks that the violence was instigated at the behest of a cabal of powerful individuals who had hoped to use the chaos to gain control of the international biotechnology industry.
 * Implicated are public figures such as William Taggart, founder of the anti-augmentation Humanity Front and Zhao Yun Ru, CEO of Tai Yong Medical, the world's largest biotechnology corporation.
 * Adam Jensen shuts off the transmission, and at Sarif's request, lies to the world that Humanity Front is responsible for a software virus that caused the attacks.

After Sepetmber 6

 * September 7: The fallout from what the press is already calling the Panchaea Incident is immediate. The Humanity Front quickly moves to the top of Interpol's watch lists and affiliation is dropped by most members. Taggart, having survived the chaos of Panchaea is immediately arrested by international authorities. The charred remains of Zhao Yun Ru are found near a burst electrical line near one of the facility's main generators, the victim of an apparent overload. Many survivors credit the quick actions of Sarif Industries' Chief of Security Adam Jensen for their survival, despite the fact that he wasn't scheduled to attend the event. As a final sad note Hugh Darrow, the father of mechanical augmentation and of the Panchaea Project is found dead in the facility's control room, the victim of a gunshot to the head.
 * September 12: Adam Jensen encounters former Sarif Industries Chief Researcher Megan Reed at her old apartment. With the memory of their meeting in Singapore still fresh, the encounter is initially tense. Megan reveals that Bob Page, CEO of Page Industries has offered her a position at one of his subsidiary companies, VersaLife. Adam however manages to convince her to return to Sarif Industries and to him. This marks a renewal of their relationship with Adam returning her lost bracelet.
 * September 22: With the Panchaea Incident having passed and most of the damage on its way to being repaired, the public conversation turns to the issue of human augmentation. With William Taggart's voice silenced and the leading anti-augmentation organization disbanded, calls for the formal legalization of human augmentation worldwide gains traction. Though many are wary of the technology's proliferation in the wake of Panchaea, the general public sees the augmented as victims of a conspiracy. The consensus is that so long as a modicum of public regulation is implemented over the industry the consequences to society should be minimal. The most prominent proponent of mass augmentation is unsurprisingly industrialist and philanthropist David Sarif whose company, Sarif Industries, had shot to the forefront of augmentation science. His argument is further reinforced with the announcement of Sarif Industries' most important project, Symbiosis. This treatment, it is claimed, can permanently eliminate the augmentation rejection Darrow Deficiency Syndrome (DDS) and the need for its counter drug Neuropozyne by altering the parts of a person's genome responsible for the immune system.
 * October 4: Sarif Industries funds the formation of a competitor to the Illuminati controlled LIMB International. Called Ascension, the new clinic will be the only place to offer Symbiosis treatments. With the demand for the treatment soaring in preparation for its release, LIMB sees its stock price plunge over the course of several weeks. It joins Neuropozyne manufacturer VersaLife and its parent corporation Page Industries, the corporation responsible for the manufacture of the neural hubs that were used to cause the Panchaea Incident. When presented with an alternative to LIMB many smaller biotechnology firms sign on with Ascension due to its more generous licensing terms, offering their products alongside Sarif Industries own.
 * October 9: A task-force composed of elements of the United States Navy's Seventh Fleet surround Belltower Associates' Rifleman Banks naval station in the Southwest Pacific as evidence is released showing the facility as housing a massive illegal internment facility. While initially the station refuses to allow Marine personnel to board, after several salvos of warning fire the station surrenders. The exposure of their facility is a major public relations disaster for Belltower and the beginning of the end for the PMC.
 * October 16: After more than a month of investigation by international authorities, Tai Yong Medical is broken into numerous smaller corporations in a way reminiscent of Standard Oil in 1911. Sarif Industries, which had seen its stock value skyrocket since the announcement of Symbiosis and flush with cash, acquires many of the 'choice bits'. David Sarif also takes advantage of his surplus of cash to take majority control of the Picus Communications Group and assumes responsibility for completing the Panchaea Project in the wake of Hugh Darrow's death.
 * October 23: Picus TV's lead anchor Eliza Cassan announces that she will be taking an extended vacation. This excuse serves as a cover for the relocation of her core processing mainframe. As the public does not know of her true nature, that being the world's first sapient artificial intelligence, her explanation of fatigue is widely accepted. During the transfer from Picus Headquarters in Montreal her transport is intercepted by a team led by former Belltower Associates mercenary Michael Zelazny. All members of the transport team, operatives of the Illuminati, are killed. Investigations by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police point to the attack being an isolated incident by a rogue terrorist group.
 * October 25: Eliza Cassan resumes operations from her new home, the Hyron Core of Panchaea Alpha. With the resources of the Hydra quantum supercomputer available to her, Eliza proves more than capable of managing the entire facility while the presence of sub-atomic topological defects within the Hydra leads her to display abstract reasoning skills, eliminating the need for human 'drones' as a part of the core's operations. Eliza will eventually become the core artificial intelligence responsible for running all five Panchaea installations, aiding Sarif Industries' research and development and continuing her role as lead anchor on Picus TV. Her continuing presence as a public figure is seen by David Sarif as the first step of acclimatizing people to the idea of a sapient computer.
 * November 1: Adam Jensen resigns from his post as Sarif Industries Chief of Security to assume the role of CEO of the Cerberus Group; a Sarif backed Private Military Contractor. This represents a drastic expansion of Sarif Industries' market share in the military realm, offering direct combatant services alongside high grade augmentations. Out of the public eye Cerberus is designed as a direct countermeasure to the Illuminati, who after their attacks on Sarif are seen as the greatest threat to the expansion and public distribution of advanced biotechnologies and the successful completion of Panchaea. The newly formed PMC is quick to snap up many disenchanted former Belltower employees, out of work due to the continuing collapse of their former employer. Cerberus' first major contract is ironically to replace Belltower as the police force of the Chinese city of Lower Hengsha.
 * November 7: David Sarif acquires a controlling share in XNG Shipping, one of the world's largest international cargo transport companies. This move is designed to provide the fledgling Cerberus with a secure international transport and logistics infrastructure. Sarif names Faridah Malik, a former freelance VTOL pilot in Sarif's employ as CEO of his newest acquisition.
 * November 11: Eliza Cassan returns to Picus TV declaring herself as having found a whole new purpose in life. While the Illuminati easily see through this deception they cannot expose her to the world for fear of exposing themselves. For the first time the Illuminati recognize that the upstart Cerberus constitutes a major threat to their continuing existence. The 'defection' of Eliza also leaves the Illuminati without an effective means of control over the internet and worldwide telecommunications networks, a collapse of the Echelon IV project and a severe setback to their plans.
 * November 13: David Sarif announces the creation of the Darrow Trust, an international fund to subsidize the cost of Symbiosis for those who cannot afford the treatments. The trust is set to come online with the release of Symbiosis on January 3, 2028 or what would've been Hugh Darrow's sixty-fifth birthday. The Trust receives high level government backing in the United States, Canada, the European Union and Japan.
 * December 18: Joseph Manderley, Advisor to the Deputy Director of National Preparedness, a post within the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is found dead in his Washington DC home. While the assassination is nearly perfect, a witness claims that the hit was carried out by someone with extensive, state of the art mechanical augmentations. The loss of Manderley is a severe blow to the Illuminati's operations within the United States. His death, followed days later with the anonymous release of evidence showing his involvement with secret internment camps for American dissidents run under the banner of FEMA leads some within the Illuminati to question the stewardship of Bob Page.

2028 AD

 * January 19: The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project announces the completion of the world's first viable commercial fusion reactor, DEMO, more than a decade ahead of previous projections. The prototype, having been in operation for over a year, promises an end to the never ending energy crisis that had swept the globe since the Arab/Israeli war of 2022.
 * February 13: Panchaea Alpha, the first of five installations worldwide, located in the Arctic Ocean officially comes online following extensive repairs. Within its first year of operation the installation will be responsible for the removal of almost forty billion metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, representing slightly more than the total man-made airborne carbon output for 2028. This renders Earth 'carbon-neutral' and halts the progress of global climate change in its tracks. Further facilities promise the reversal of climate change altogether.
 * November: World demographics show that the distribution of Symbiosis is nearing completion, with demand for Neuropozyne falling to almost nothing. VersaLife, while still financially solvent is largely seen as a 'has been' with many financial experts predicting its collapse within five years. With the expansion of Sarif Industries' market share and its refusal to outsource manufacturing, Page Industries also sees its stock value drop sharply.

2029 AD

 * March 17: James Clarence (JC) Denton is born. Shortly after his birth his parents are approached by operatives of Cerberus with evidence showing that the people who had provided his mother Elizabeth with the opportunity to become pregnant were in fact tied to an international terrorist network. Despite the best efforts of the Illuminati the Dentons disappear without a trace.
 * April: With the failure of the Denton project, many within the Illuminati begin to openly question Bob Page's competence. Among the most vocal is Beth DuClare, head of the World Health Organization (WHO). Seeing her dissent as a major threat to his power base Bob Page orders her death. With a price on her head and the head of her infant daughter Nicolette, Beth seeks the protection of what had quickly become the Illuminati's primary enemy, Cerberus. As payment for her protection she reveals the existence of a plan to severely reduce the world population using strains of anti-biotic resistant tuberculosis and Spanish flu, codenamed 'Gray Death'. This move is seen by the Illuminati as necessary to control the population growth. This information allows Cerberus to raid more than fifty Illuminati facilities around the globe putting an end to the threat and capturing or killing many key Illuminati leaders, operatives and scientists.

2030 AD

 * January: Using data recovered from one of the Illuminati's labs, Sarif Industries announces the creation of a cure for HIV. The release of the cure by Sarif, a cure that was part of a plan to restore VersaLife to profitability, is the final nail in the coffin for Bob Page in the eyes of the rest of the organization. Members begin making plans to have him removed from his leadership position. However before they are able to act Page himself launches a coup de tat, bringing most of the Illuminati's resources under the control of his splinter organization, Majestic Twelve. Surviving members such as Morgan Everett and Stanton Dowd follow Beth DuClare, seeking protection from Cerberus in exchange for information. This marks the beginning of an invisible war between Majestic Twelve and Cerberus.
 * August 30: Panchaea Bravo comes online in the Gulf of Mexico. This installation, combined with the first will be able to reverse the effects of industrialization on the atmosphere by nearly a year for every year of operation. This installation also has the secondary purpose of filtering the water in the Gulf, helping mitigate the damage caused by almost a dozen major oil spills over the past two decades.
 * September 9:Using information provided by the Illuminati defectors, Cerberus agents prevent the detonation of a series of nuclear charges along the San Andreas Fault line. Had the bombs detonated, simulations predicted that most of Southern California and the entirety of the Baja Peninsula would've sunk beneath the Pacific. Cerberus sees the attack as an attempt to cripple its organization as California had become a major hub for its operations worldwide. Cerberus responds by attacking a key VersaLife laboratory in Hong Kong, capturing research documentation and experiments into the development of the so-called 'D Project', a pseudo-organic nanite-virus codenamed "chimera" that was applied to the Cerberus protected Denton brothers. This attack represents yet another major setback to Majestic Twelve as the work was seen by Bob Page as a possible superior replacement to Symbiosis. Research into the chimera virus begins in earnest by Sarif scientists.

2031 AD
With Sarif Industries leading the way, much of the economic activity that had left the United States returns, signaling a second golden age for the economically depressed nation. Movements like the Northwest Secessionist Force quickly lose steam and plans to declare independence from the US fall to the wayside as jobs and the prosperity that follows strengthens the union. This comes at the cost of jobs within China. With the weakening of the Illuminati, China's central communist party finds itself without guidance for the first time in almost a century. Rumblings from pro-democracy movements become increasingly common within the country, alongside Hong Kong and Macau.

2032 AD
Panchaea Charlie comes online in the Indian Ocean. This installation is widely seen as the most productive due to its close proximity to China, still the world's worst polluter. This installation, like the one in the Gulf of Mexico also serves a secondary purpose. Unlike Panchaea Bravo, Charlie is designed to house a massive recycling and reclamation facility, finally providing a solution to the billions of metric tons of solid waste festering within parts of Mainland China and other regions of Southeast Asia.

2033 AD
Cerberus operatives observe a meeting between Bob Page and actress Maggie Chow in Hong Kong. It is believed that the Majestic Twelve leader is trying to restore and even expand his influence within China. In the following months Chow, now believed to be an operative for Page, is seen meeting with numerous high ranking Central Party members in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. The following shifts in policy by the central government are seen by Cerberus as an attempt to reduce its access and freedom of movement within China. Cerberus retaliates by releasing incriminating evidence linking Chow to The Red Arrow Triad, disgracing her and ending her acting career.

2034 AD

 * Panchaea Delta comes online in the South Pacific. While necessary to the successful functioning of the Panchaea network, this facility is still the least productive due to its remoteness. It does however house some of the most extensive Sarif Industries research and development labs both above water and on the ocean floor. To protect them Cerberus maintains a large naval presence around the facility at all times while also constructing an attached airbase to stage its fighters out of.
 * July 4: Majestic Twelve scores a major victory against Cerberus, successfully assassinating the Dentons during a Fourth of July celebration in Chicago. The attack, a suicide bombing, is dismissed by the FBI as an act of terrorism from the weakened Islamic State of Iraq and Syria organization, still in operation after the Middle-Eastern War in 2022. Cerberus, not believing that such a coincidence could be possible uncovers the truth behind the plan, revealing that while the attack was indeed an ISIS operation; it was Bob Page who was ultimately calling the shots using MJ12's extensive control over the Middle East.

2035 AD

 * Panchaea Echo comes online in the South Atlantic, completing the Panchaea network. The effects of the project are already being observed and independent reports confirm that for every year after 2035, nearly four years of atmospheric pollution is removed. It is estimated that by the dawn of the twenty-second century Earth's atmosphere will have recovered to the condition it was in at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Further efforts by the UN encourage its numerous member nations to step up their own environmental reclamation and enforcement efforts. This is largely seen as the beginning of what will become known as the 'Gaian Movement'.
 * July 27: Majestic Twelve, having seen its holdings in North America, Europe and Southeast Asia savaged by Cerberus' interference makes a bid for South America, instigating a military coup in Brazil. Under contract by the United Nations the Cerberus Group sends forces to counter the anti-government uprising, instigating a running six month battle that stretches across the country. In order to support his allies, Bob Page deploys Majestic Twelve troops for the first time, directly clashing with Cerberus PMC forces. This marks the first time that Majestic Twelve has deployed forces in the public eye. The fighting between the two factions leaves much of Brazil in ruins and ultimately ends with a Cerberus victory. However the cost for both organizations is high, decimating a significant portion of their respective military branches.

2036 AD

 * February 18: Sarif Industries demonstrates the world's first nanite capable of self-replication. While initially these new machines are to be used in the construction of molecular scale electronics, Sarif promises that they are already looking into their use in other fields including medicine, metallurgy and environmental sciences. With this announcement Sarif Industries sees its total corporate value exceed Page Industries for the first time. Over the next three years the two corporations will continue to trade market places before Sarif finally and for the last time overcomes Page, cementing itself as the largest company on the planet. This also represents the point at which Cerberus takes the technological lead over Majestic Twelve.
 * September: Seeing the economic, political and military power of the European Union, ASEAN, and the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) as a major threat to its long term survival as the world's leading superpower, the United States hosts the Seattle Conference. Representatives from Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Panama and Nicaragua attend. Despite anti-unification protests that rock the city the three week-long summit is successful in charting a path to the creation of a united North America. The protests leave almost fifty people dead and more than seven hundred in hospitals.

2037 AD
January 12: VersaLife files for bankruptcy in the United States. Sarif Industries comes to the rescue, snapping up most of the company's nearly worthless shares. This is perhaps the largest blow yet dealt against Majestic Twelve by Cerberus and with the collapse of VersaLife; Page Industries quietly retreats from the world biotechnology industry. From this point on all Majestic Twelve research will focus on the development of nano-augmentation technology, none of which will be released to the public.

2038 AD
March: The beating death of a farmer by police in Shaanxi Province triggers mass riots across China. The Central Government deploys military forces to quell the chaos which quickly descends into violence and in turn triggers a civil war. With the communist party bereft of Illuminati guidance and with pro-democracy forces being covertly supported by both the United States of America and Europe, the outcome is pre-determined. By the end of the year what is left of the PRC loyalists are relegated to pockets in the remote Tibetan Plateau. Taiwan's government reassumes control of the Maniland and is transformed to the democratic Chinese People's Federation. The CPF is recognized as the new government of China and the new leaders promise to hold UN monitored municipal, provincial and national elections within four months.

2039 AD
November 15: David Sarif reveals Eliza Cassan as being the world's first artificial general intelligence. The AGI, having served as lead anchor of Picus TV for almost fifteen years and having established a reputation as a nonpartisan reporter in the tradition of Walter Cronkite is widely regarded as the world's most popular TV personality. Having gained the trust of the majority of the planet, Eliza Cassan is formally offered special citizenship by the United Nations General Assembly.

2040 AD
April 3: Sarif Industries, in cooperation with the governments of Ukraine, Japan, and the United States of America, launches its latest advancement in environmental control technology. Known as Project Rontgen, named for the man who discovered the x-ray, the new technology is designed to begin repairing the damage caused by radiological contamination at sites such as Chernobyl, Fukishima and the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State. Utilizing hardened nanites and remote drones, advanced radiological detoxification facilities and plasma field containment barriers, Project Rontgen's goal is the decontamination of the sites in question as a prelude to eventual re-habitation by humans.

2041 AD
May: Following the successful, if violent, Seattle Conference, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is amended to include all nations within North America. Increasing security, military, economic and infrastructural ties lead to the creation of the North American Coalition, the first step in uniting the continent.

2043 AD
January 17: Having led Sarif Industries for almost thirty six years, David Sarif announces his retirement. However never one to leave the public spotlight unattended, Sarif also announces his crowning achievement. With Eliza Cassan's aid and data having been 'recovered' by Cerberus operations against Majestic Twelve facilities, Sarif reveals the development of perhaps the most important technological breakthrough since the creation of the first integrated circuit; the development of a universal assembler or nano-factory. The device has the ability to create anything ranging from raw materials to food, building materials, electronics and even living, breathing flora and fauna, completely bypassing the normal manufacturing chain. While this technology could guarantee Sarif Industries a total monopoly over what would quickly become a pivotal technology, Sarif instead chooses to release the technology in an 'open-source' format. For his generosity, David Sarif, Eliza Cassan and the rest of the universal assembler team are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

2045 AD

 * June 5: After years of continuous conflict with Cerberus, Majestic Twelve begins to suffer from mass defections among its military and scientific divisions. Among the most damaging is that of Doctor Gary Savage, leader of the 'X51' cell of MJ12's scientific apparatus and the organization's leading authority on nanotechnology. Quickly recognizing the man's potential value to Cerberus, Jensen provides Savage with a state of the art laboratory located in a joint Sarif Industries-US Air Force facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base and all the possible resources he could need. Savage reciprocates with schematics for a modification to existing universal assembler technology that drastically speeds the manufacturing of organic materials.
 * September 18: Bob Page makes a desperate gamble in an attempt to land a crippling blow against Cerberus. Gathering much of his remaining resources and calling in as many favors as he can, MJ12 launches a full scale attack on Panchaea Delta in order to destroy the high value research facilities housed within. The attack sees the largest naval exchange since the Pacific Campaigns of the Second World War. While the attack is ultimately repelled, the facility is heavily damaged and barely maintains structural integrity. Worse still for Cerberus the facility's labs are all but destroyed taking years of valuable research and countless brilliant minds with them. Among the most damaging loss is research into a viable form of teleportation technology.

2046 AD
For the first time the major national space programs are united into one body. Known as the International Aeronautics and Space Administration (IASA), this joint project between the North American Space Agency (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA), the Russian Federal Space Agency (FKA), the China National Space Administration (CNSA), the Semite Extraterrestial Research Agency (SERA) and the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) combines the talents of the world's leading space exploration organizations. The first project enacted by IASA is the colonization of the moon. Copernicus City is founded two years later on July 21, 2048 in the Russell impact crater in the western part of the Oceanus Procellarum.

2047 AD
January 5: Following the disastrous battle of Panchaea Delta, Bob page makes one last effort to save himself and his organization from complete collapse. Shortly after giving a lecture at the University of Cambridge, gunmen successfully assassinate David Sarif in a brazen daytime drive-by shooting. Cerberus, enraged by the attack, retaliates violently; massacring as many MJ12 members as possible. It takes Adam Jensen nearly a month to rein the entirety of his organization in. While the damage to Cerberus was mostly one of morale, the same cannot be said of MJ12. Almost half of the organization's remaining members were killed during the retaliation. The few survivors begin making plans to terminate Page.

2048 AD
April 12: The number of independent artificial general intelligences worldwide passes one thousand. For the first time serious discussions into their rights and freedoms begins in the United States Congress and the United Nations General Assembly. Mindful of countless pieces of fiction foretelling the possible consequences should they make the wrong decisions, both organizations elect to pass what in hindsight is considered to be the most important piece of legislation of the twenty-first century: the Sapient's Rights Act (SRA). The law, which was quickly adopted by many other nations, defines a Sapient as anything that can demonstrate a reasonable level of self-awareness and intelligence and ensures that any such being is treated as an equal to a human. While created with AGIs in mind, the SRA would have a massive impact on the legal status of clones, cyborgs, transgenics, uplifted animals, anthromorphs and even extraterrestrials over the following centuries.

2050 AD
July 18: In the wake of passage of the SRA, the growing AGI population lobbies Sarif Industries for the development of robotic avatars for use in the physical world. Sarif responds two years later by introducing the GITS-01A, the first production model android/gynoid body. The revolutionary interface builds off existing mechanical and nano-augmentation technology, creating a near perfect humanoid robotic body for use by AIs. Protests against the creation of such bodies erupt from political conservatives and religious lobbies stating that these new bodies could allow AGIs to masquerade unnoticed by flesh and blood humans. The groups sue Sarif to demand that the bodies be clearly marked as synthetic, distinct even at a distance. Opposing lobbies led the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) countersue and in one of the most important rulings handed down by the United States Supreme Court in almost a half century states that synthetic bodies do not have to be marked as distinct from human. Disgruntled by their failure in the supreme court, radical fringe groups that oppose the spread of synthetics begin forming, followed very closely by the formation of a new division within the FBI to monitor and contain them.

2051 AD
October 8: The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) announces the development of a way to harness positronic lightning from the upper atmosphere, the first practical way of producing large quantities of antimatter. Shortly thereafter a practical way of storing that antimatter is also demonstrated, utilizing extreme cold, electromagnetic and electrogravitic principles.

2052 AD
February 14: CERN follows its ground breaking announcement with another; the demonstration of Epimetheus, the world's first matter/antimatter reactor. This breakthrough, the most significant since the creation of the first fusion reactor is seen as a vital step towards the exploration of the Solar System; lifting several barriers blocking the economical colonization of Mars.

2053 AD
Having seen themselves reduced to a few scattered enclaves and having lost most of their power, what remains of Majestic Twelve turns on Bob Page, offering up their former leader to Cerberus as a peace offering. Page is tried for crimes against humanity in secret by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), found guilty in what amounted to a show trial and sentenced to death. His executioner is Adam Jensen, a concession by the United Nations aimed at finally ending the invisible war between the two organizations. With the death of Page, Cerberus absorbs most of the Majestic Twelve remnants into its hierarchy. Its primary goal accomplished, Cerberus begins to redefine itself as a guardian of humanity itself, not just from MJ12 or the Illuminati but, as Jensen puts it: 'all threats foreign and domestic'.

2055 AD
With the population of Synthetics on Earth having risen to more than one hundred thousand, the demand for increasing interaction between humans and synthetics continues to grow. Among the most common demands is the ability for humans to directly interface with synthetics, above and beyond simple virtual reality constructs. Google Transnational, one of the world's leading virtual reality technology developers partners with Sarif Industries to develop the first central nervous system (CNS) override, an implant that allows a human to directly interface with a virtual environment through a direct connection to his or her nervous system; 'high jacking' voluntary motor functions and the five senses.

2056 AD

 * July 4: The nations of North America sign the United North American States (UNAS) constitution, uniting the whole of the continent under one unified political and economic banner. The date coincides with the two-hundred and eightieth anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. Its member nations, wary of another currency disaster such as the near collapse of the Euro in 2012 decide to allow the individual national currencies to co-exist with the UNAS Dollar and the emerging transnational electronic currency, the Credit. All three currencies will be considered acceptable legal tender within their respective nations and will remain 'floating', valuing and devaluing against each other on international currency markets until such time as North America has become integrated and unified to an extent where the national currencies are no longer needed.
 * July 5: Protests over the formation of the UNAS rock the continent. For the first time since the 9/11 attacks the New York Stock Exchange is closed for an extended period, suspending all trading for several days. The various national guards are called in to help suppress the rioting, followed shortly thereafter by a temporary suspension of Posse Comitatus in several states across the former United States and Canada as frontline military forces move to quell the violence in the cities of Washington DC, New York, Boston, Huston, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and the Seattle-Vancouver megalopolis. After almost two weeks of continual violence the situation is declared to be under control on July 17th. Property damage is estimated at nearly one hundred and twenty billion dollars and more than two thousand people had been killed either by rioters or by the military during peacekeeping operations.

2057 AD

 * April: With most of the world beginning to unite, the major powers come together for the first time to discuss what should be done about the rest of the world. With the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Southeast Asia still poverty stricken and falling increasingly behind, the UNAS, EU, Russia, India and China agree to deploy a massive peacekeeping and development force to the regions in question. While opposition comes fast and heavy from numerous sources, chief among them anti-war and veterans groups, the peacekeeping force is assembled and begins deployment within three months.
 * November 3: Remnants of MJ12, having rejected their organization's assimilation into Cerberus, trigger a nanite detonator in the Iranian capital of Tehran. This act of terrorism leads to the deaths of almost a million of the city's inhabitants, fifty-one thousand international peacekeepers and twenty-nine thousand aid personnel as the city disintegrates around them. The group refers to itself as the Knights Templar, a reincarnation of an organization that had been nearly eradicated in the crossfire between MJ12 and Cerberus. Decrying all human enhancement and genetic engineering, the Knights vow to destroy anyone who has received or has aided others in receiving augmentations of any sort.

2058 AD

 * The UNAS, EU, Chinese People's Federation, South Africa, Korean Republic, Russian Federation, India, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Australia and New Zealand sign the United Nations backed Planetary Cooperation Accords (PCA). Largely seen as the first step towards unifying the whole world under a single banner, the PCA compels its signatory nations to unify their trade, environmental and health care standards. Further expansions of the accords over the next five years will go on to impact the education, infrastructure, communications, human rights, augmentation, space exploration, research and development and anti-poverty policies of the signatory nations.
 * April 6: After almost two decades of work, the Chernobyl region is officially declared safe for unrestricted human habitation. Background radiation levels both within the soil and the ground water are no higher than in neighboring regions and well within safe levels. Nothing remains of the old nuclear plant, the fields of abandoned equipment, the town of Pripyat or any human made structure within fifty kilometers of ground zero. The EU, in cooperation with the Government of Ukraine announces a major 'recolonization' of the region, hoping to finally put the specter of the Chernobyl Disaster in the past.

2059 AD
April 12: Following the successful public deployment of the CNS override, Sarif Industries announces the first successful attempt at mapping and converting a human neural pattern into an AI matrix. The test subject, one Keiji Osaka, suffering from a terminal case of brain cancer is able to successfully transfer from his dying body and into a prepared virtual matrix. This marks the end to one of the last real barriers that separates the physical and virtual worlds.

2061 AD
October 17: Having spent almost a decade preparing, IASA launches the ISV Santa Maria, the first colony ship to Mars. Having been constructed in orbit and equipped with a second generation antimatter reactor, a first generation anti-proton drive, a compressed plasma shield and both electrogravitic inertial dampeners and artificial gravity, the Santa Maria is able to reach Mars after just two weeks of travel. Barbare Nikolozi asuli Khidirbegishvili (ბარბარე ნიკოლოზის ასული ხიდირბეგიშვილი) of Rustavi becomes the first human to set foot on the red planet, followed by the American astronaut Jessica Williams, and later by almost ten thousand others aboard the massive vessel. Lowell City is founded in the Eos Chasma.

2062 AD
June 5: With the population of Earth pushing past ten billion, plans are made for the terraforming of Mars. The endeavor, the single largest project in human history, calls for the construction of massive atmospheric processors across the planet's surface that will be able to process the iron-oxide that gives the planet its red color into free floating oxygen. In tandem, construction of both an orbital satellite network and large numbers of solar mirrors designed to direct solar energy into the atmosphere that will slowly heat the planet and release the massive quantities of water and carbon dioxide frozen at the poles. Finally, magnetic field generators, each the size of an arcology, will be built at the planet's poles. Fueled by massive matter/antimatter reactors, the generators will be able to reestablish Mars' magnetic field, providing the planet with a shield to protect it from the solar winds. Future plans include the deployment of soil processing drones that will introduce necessary bacteria into the planet's soil to produce arable land and plant billions of tons of flora and the construction of a weather modification grid.

2063 AD: Humanity Discovers Mass Effect Physics

 * April 6: The Mars Global Orbital Surveyor Array (MGOSA), a series of satellites designed to map the surface and sub-surface of the planet in preparation for future terraforming efforts comes online. One of the satellites, MGOSA-131B detects a magnetic anomaly beneath Promethi Planum. Teams sent to determine the cause of the anomaly unearth an alien outpost beneath the Deseado Crater.
 * April 8: News of the alien structures found on Mars sends shockwaves across the Solar System. Exploration of the structures reveals a massive cache of alien technology including what is believed to be a semi-functional computer core and several damaged spacecraft. Dating suggests the facility was abandoned roughly fifty-thousand years earlier. Further deep surface scans of the facility indicate it had suffered heavy damage, evidently from orbital kinetic bombardment.
 * May 1: A small number of alien artifacts are returned to Earth. An investigation into the computer core reveals extreme data corruption and degradation due to age and neglect over fifty thousand years. However despite the damage a rudimentary translation provides a name for the aliens: Protheans. An international effort is set up to recover the alien data, attracting many of the world's brightest minds both organic and synthetic. Research into the artifacts also reveals a new, unknown element which acquires the nickname 'element zero'. Testing shows that when exposed to electrical currents the material produces dark energy fields that can be used to directly manipulate gravity. Theories of how this new technique can be combined with the already mature field of electrogravitics are quick to develop. This new technique is referred to by scientists as the 'mass effect'.
 * August 19: The Knights Templar stage an attack of the Harvard University Arcology in Boston, the facility tasked with housing the Prothean artifacts. Unwilling to destroy the alien relics, the Knights instead rely on suicide bombers and conventional forces. The following battle leaves much of the surrounding city in ruins and the death toll is calculated at almost five hundred thousand as Templar forces storm through the city killing anyone displaying even the barest traces of augmentation. The attack ends when North American Continental Guard forces strike the Knights from six different directions, utterly annihilating them. This marks the single most devastating terrorist attack on American soil in history, far surpassing the Nine-Eleven attacks and the second most devastating in world history after the destruction of Tehran.
 * November: After months of extensive research into the recovered alien vessels, the first mass effect based faster than light drive is constructed. The test flight, a short hop between Luna and Mars proves beyond a shadow of a doubt the validity of the technology. However it also reveals a drawback to the technology; a continuous buildup of static electricity within the drive core that if left unattended could result in a discharge into the ship's hull, killing all aboard. Efforts to develop a way to solve this problem begin; the most promising being the creation of a static-kinetic convertor that could transform the waste energy into physical force. Despite the success of the demonstration, research into alternate forms of super-luminal propulsion, most of which involve space folding, continue with significant support from both corporations and governments.
 * The Internet Oracle is renamed The Extranet Oracle.

2064 AD

 * February 18: After almost a year of work and several major setbacks, the restoration of the alien database is completed. While parts are deemed too damaged to ever recover, star maps detailing the local star cluster and references to a 'mass relay' in the outer Sol system prove a boon to humanity's extra-solar goals. Missing are any references as to how the Protheans arrived within the Local Cluster.
 * May 4: Following the data from the Mars cache, an expedition to Pluto uncovers the hidden Prothean mass relay buried beneath the surface of the moon Charon. An expedition led by Commander Jon Grissom of IASA heads through the relay, arriving in the distant Arcturus star system, thirty-six light years from Sol. Preliminary scans of Arcturus reveal three more mass relays present in the system in addition to the Sol relay.
 * November 23: Serrano Genomics, a minor biotechnology firm based out of Tokyo announces the release of the first tailor-made transgenic animals that serve in the roll of companion animals. Their flagship product surprises many as it is revealed that Serrano had been working for years to create real, living dragons. While smaller than their legendary counterparts and lacking the ability to breathe fire, the new creatures show a remarkable intelligence, equal to that of a dolphin and prove to be extremely friendly. Over two hundred thousand had been bred in preparation for Christmas sales, far fewer than the demand for them and within a few years it is not uncommon to see them in the skies over most major cities.

2065 AD

 * June 1: With the Local Cluster open to exploration and colonization, a mass exodus begins from the overcrowded Earth. Utilizing both FTL and the Charon Relay, millions emigrate to newly founded colonies orbiting Alpha and Proxima Centauri, Barnard's Star, Tau Ceti, Epsilon Eridani, Procyon, Wolf 359, Sirius, Sigma Draconis, Epsilon Indi and Arcturus. Realizing that these worlds cannot remain colonies forever and with a need to finally unite Earth under one banner, the eight permanent members of the United Nations security council; the United North American States, the United States of Europe, the Semite Federal Republic, the Chinese People's Federation, the Russian Federation, the Southern Asian Cooperation Union, the United Korean Republic and Brazil charter a proposal for the formation of the Human Systems Alliance, a single supranational government that will exist above all the various national and colonial governments, supplanting and drastically expanding the power and influence of the United Nations.
 * July: While the majority of humanity is supportive of the formation of the Systems Alliance, fringe groups throughout the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia on Earth and on several of the fringe colonies both within and outside of the Sol System are violently opposed. Intelligence intercepts suggests the Knights Templar are behind more than a dozen violent riots in one week alone across human space with a death toll of over two thousand.

2066 AD

 * February 15: The signing ceremony for the Systems Alliance Constitution, held in the United Nations Headquarters in New York is interrupted by an attempted terrorist attack. Having high jacked a long haul freighter from its orbital docking slip, Templar forces attempt to crash the spacecraft into the building. The attack is foiled well short of its objective and the freighter is shot down by fighters operating out of Andrews Air Force Base. The remains of the spacecraft, the OSV Edmund Fitzgerald, come to rest on the bottom of the Hudson River. The attack having been foiled, the Human Systems Alliance is officially ratified by its member nations at 1730 Greenwich Mean Time, February 15, 2066.
 * August 18: The anti-synthetic hate group Blood First launches a devastating viral attack against more than a dozen popular synthetic enclaves across the net. The death toll is more than twenty thousand, both synthetic and organic. The response by international authorities, all working under the newly formed Alliance Bureau of Intelligence (ABI) is devastating to the group. Within six weeks almost all members had been arrested, tried and imprisoned. Further investigations through a cooperative effort between the ABI, Interpol, Cerberus and local authorities show ties between Blood First and the Knights Templar, who had grown their hatred to include synthetics over the past decade.

2067 AD
With the demand for space lift from the surface of Earth skyrocketing, the construction of the Guiana Orbital Tether begins. Built at the site of the former French spaceport in French Guiana, the facility will lift from the small nation and terminate at a space station in geosynchronous orbit. The tether project marks the single largest engineering endeavor in Earth's history, far eclipsing even Panchaea. The project will consist of two parts: the ground station and anchor which will be driven deep into the Earth's crust and the ten kilometer long Zeus Station in orbit from which the tether itself will be lowered. Supporting this effort, oven a dozen mass driver complexes are constructed around the world.

2068 AD
November 6: Hex-5, a popular liberal synthetic is elected as president of the United North American States. Taking advantage of an increase in human acceptance of synthetics in the wake of the Blood First massacre two years earlier, Hex-5 coasts to an easy victory, capturing 56% of the vote. Allegations of hacking in more than 60 states across the nation are quickly disproven and the North American Supreme Court (SCONA) rules the election valid. Hex-5 will go on to serve a full two terms, easily winning reelection in 2072 due to his popular economic reform and military modernization policies as well as his support for the newly formed Systems Alliance.

2069 AD
July 5: Flipper, the first dolphin gifted with sapient though is born at the Marine Research Institute in Marathon, Florida. A product of almost two decades of work, Flipper is technically classified as a transgenic, having DNA from humans grafted to his own to allow a more developed brain to form. Born on the 73rd anniversary of the birth of Dolly, the first cloned sheep, Flipper, while only possessing the mental faculties of a young child and unable to speak any human language, is considered the greatest breakthrough in genetics since the development of Symbiosis and the Illuminati's D-Project nanite-virus chimera.

2070 AD
October 17: Researchers at the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys announce the creation of an advanced, next generation multiferroic alloy that is able to efficiently convert massive amounts of heat into electricity. The newly formed Systems Alliance Navy takes great interest in this development as a more effective way of managing thermal buildup issues on their ships. A prototype frigate is commissioned to test the effectiveness of the new alloy, the SSV Moscow. The alloy is used to coat the insides of the ship's prototype plasma distribution network, engines, weapons and other systems that suffer from significant heat buildup while in operation. Tests prove the alloy, while not a magical cure for thermal buildup, can drastically improve time on station and duration under fire. As an unintended side effect, the Moscow proves extremely difficult to detect when not under thrust or firing her weapons, leading to research into the alloy's use for future stealth applications.

2072 AD
May 12: General Dynamics announces the first generation of kinetic barrier that utilizes both mass effect and electrogravitic technologies. While conventional mass effect kinetic barriers had been available for almost five years, the new hybrid technology proves far more resilient if slightly more power intensive. In partnership with Sarif Industries, the leader in the field of electromagnetic defense field technology and Lockheed Martin, leader in compressed plasma barrier technology, the development of SHIELD, a multilayer defensive scheme that incorporates all three technologies proves to be a major hit. Both the Systems Alliance Navy and Marine Corps begins employing the new system, leading to massive increases in survivability for ships, strikecraft, vehicles and personnel.

2073 AD
July 15: Development of the first prototype static-kinetic convertor is completed. This device allows the static build-up inherent to active mass effect cores to be converted into kinetic energy. This energy is in turn used to excite low energy or 'cold' plasma. As most human vessels had been shifting to a plasma energy distribution network, this new device allows for a drastically improved shipboard energy efficiency and eliminates the need for core discharges; giving starships potentially infinite FTL range, subject only to supply and fuel concerns.

2074 AD

 * April 8: The first anthromorph is born. Named Samantha, the child is a hybrid between a human and a feline. The child is derided by religious groups as playing god. These protests are largely ignored however as they were five years earlier with the birth of Flipper. By the end of the year more than a thousand anthromorph embryos will have been implanted in vitro to willing couples across North America, Europe and Russia.
 * March 29: As anthromorphs and uplifted animals become more common, challenges to their rights under the Sapient's Rights Act begin taking a major toll on their families. Although the SRA, strictly speaking, covers both anthromorphs and sapient fauna, the bill had never been written with them in mind. Efforts within the Systems Alliance Parliament to amend the bill are met with surprising resistance from more conservative members, still smarting over the passage of the original SRA and the subsequent losses in appeal attempts in the courts. Although such resistance slows passage of the bill, the final amended version is passed to the Office of the President of the Systems Alliance on May 27, just in time to be signed before parliament brakes for the June recess.
 * September 19: Development of the first space folding drive is completed by a group of engineers and theoretical physicists led by Tobias Fleming Shaw and Vladimir Fujikawa. The first test ship, the science vessel SSV Albert Einstein makes a successful jump from Luna to Wyvern Colony in the Alpha Centauri system. The jump itself is nearly instantaneous from the point of view of the crew while nearly ten minutes pass in the rest of the universe. This temporal dilation had been predicted in simulations and deemed acceptable. A bigger concern is the impact of local gravitational fields on the drive itself. Safety concerns limit the drive to use only at points of minimal gravity such as Lagrangian points or deep space. While the potential of such a drive prompts significant interest in all sectors, the difficulty in manufacturing the drive core precludes the use of current generation universal assemblers. This in turn makes the drive extremely expensive, limiting it's use to governments, large corporations and the military.

2075 AD

 * February 3: The tenth anniversary of extra-solar colonization is marked by the groundbreaking of humanity's twentieth colony, Neu Berlin. To date almost fifteen mass relay pairs had been found, linking the Local Cluster together like a series of super-highways. Humanity has surveyed almost two hundred star systems and established almost a hundred other outposts above and beyond its colonial holdings.
 * November 16: General Atomics announces the development of a hybrid antimatter/fusion reactor. The new design introduces nanograms of antimatter, specifically anti hydrogen in a hydrogen fusion process, essentially 'spiking' the reaction. While nowhere near as powerful as a full antimatter reactor, the process increases output over a conventional 'straight' fusion process threefold. An even greater advantage is that due to the incredibly small amounts of antimatter being used, a compact integrated antimatter production module is considered practical, eliminating the need for any form of antimatter storage, traditionally a dangerous and bulky requirement. The new reactor design is quickly adopted for use in fighters, cargo ships and other small craft where a full antimatter reactor is impractical.

2076 AD

 * Despite the mass exodus of humanity to the colonies and the ongoing terraforming efforts on Venus, Luna, Mars, Castillo, Ganymede and Titan; Earth is rapidly approaching a total population of twenty billion. As a countermeasure to this overpopulation the construction of Freedom, Earth's first orbital colony at the L1 Lagrangian point begins. At almost fifty kilometers in length and utilizing a modified O'Neil island three design, the new station promises to be able to house a population of almost sixty million. In addition the Systems Alliance begins a colonization drive, offering significant aid and tax incentives to those who choose to emigrate off Earth.
 * August 18: A terrorist group attacks a military supply depot on Kyoto Colony. Referring to themselves as Friedens, the new group calls for the dismantling of the Systems Alliance and reparations for purported atrocities committed by the Alliance Military. Intelligence intercepts are quick to link the attacks to the Knights Templar. Cerberus immediately counterattacks, hunting down the group that was directly responsible for the attack in hopes of following them back to their masters. While several are captured alive, they prove unable to provide information on their parent organization due to compartmentalization. Over the next six months, seventeen nearly identical attacks will take place across the outer colonies, raising concerns of a growing general insurrection.

2077 AD

 * Jaunary 16: Following the terrorist strikes on the colonies, the first cases of piracy begin hitting interplanetary shipping. The Alliance Navy, still in its formative stages proves unable to halt these attacks. In response the Alliance Parliament agrees to fund a major expansion of the armed forces, nearly tripling the size of the Navy and doubling the size of the Marine Corps within three years. This expansion also calls for the integration of the various Earth state militaries into their Alliance counterparts; ending one of the last true remnants of independence the members of the Alliance retained.
 * August 24: With increased funding finally available, the Alliance Navy orders the development of a stealth capable frigate. The design, long held back due to budgetary and political concerns incorporates the latest in thermal management, electromagnetic passive absorption and diffraction, electronic and cyber warfare and low emission thruster technologies. The prototype, the SSV Prowler, during shakedown proves able to sneak to within ten kilometers of an Alliance destroyer before being detected. Over the next five years almost fifty Prowler-class stealth frigates will be commissioned to devastating effect on pirate and slaving outfits.

2078 AD
During an expedition to the Sirius Beta system fifty nine light-years from Earth, the survey vessel SSV Christopher Columbus discovers a second Prothean facility on the planet Skepsis. Investigations by a follow-up xenoarcheology expedition reveal that the facility was at one time a secret research base tasked with development of a unique application of mass effect technology called 'biotics'. The facility had been mothballed several hundred years before the attack on the Mars facility and showed no evidence of damage. The discovery of this facility sparks a major race within the augmentation industry to provide the first implants capable of giving a person biotic abilities. Sarif Industries constructs a biotic-suppressing drug, Omega-Enkaphalin, in secret.

2080 AD
March 4: The first fully autonomous spacecraft is commissioned. The SSV Alan Turing, a deep space exploration vessel, is designed without any accommodations for crew. Manned by a single synthetic officer, the Turing's mission will be to conduct initial survey missions on planetary systems, providing data on whether one of the larger, more resource intensive long term survey vessels should be detailed for further investigation. Over the next ten years more than three hundred Turing-class explorers will be launched, each conducting an average of forty surveys per year.

2081 AD
July 12: The Frieden terrorist network stages its largest attack yet, attacking and destroying the town of New Hamburg on the colony world of Neu Berlin. The death toll is estimated at over eighty thousand and no survivors are found in the aftermath. This action prompts the Alliance to commit unprecedented levels of military force to the region. Almost fifty warships of various weights move to the vicinity of Neu Berlin, long a favorite target of the Friedens.

2083 AD
October 17: Sarif Industries announces the creation of the first biosynthetic body. A combination of genetically engineered, cloned organic tissue and mechanical and nano-augmentations, the new bodies allow the transfer to a synthetic matrix into a semi-organic body, allowing synthetics to experience organic life. So advanced are the bodies that it is possible for a biosynthetic body to procreate with an organic, both human and anthromorph.

2084 AD
A general insurrection begins against the Systems Alliance led by the Friedens. The first sign of this uprising is an attack against the SSV Alhazen, a military patrol frigate. Posing as a crippled freighter, the Templars board and capture the Alhazen, executing the crew. Intelligence from signal intercepts and several human intel sources within the network confirm the uprising is part of a Templar plan to destabilize the Alliance.

2087 AD
September 5: After almost three years of undeclared war between the Systems Alliance and Friedan insurgents, the colony of Neu Berlin falls. Over the following months rumors of mass purges by the newly formed Frieden Union of augmented persons begin leaking out. An attempt by the Alliance to liberate the planet ends before it can begin when Frieden forces detonate a clean nuke in the city of New Nuremburg killing all four hundred thousand residents. Threats of similar actions should the Alliance interfere with the Friedan occupation of Neu Berlin forces an indefinite postponement of military action.

2088 AD
The actions of the Friedens against captive populations and the subsequent hamstringing of the Alliance Military make clear that a doctrinal shift is required to deal with the new threat. A new Special Forces organization that combines personnel from the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps and Cerberus is established. Known as the Systems Alliance Elite Forces Command (SAEFC) or more informally as simply the 'N' program, this top secret command will commission elite operatives to deal with problems no other military unit can handle, giving them unlimited resources to accomplish their goals. The initial group of candidates will be ready for deployment no later than the beginning of 2090.

2089 AD
February 14: Researches from Mars Central University announce the creation of a new method of antimatter production. Known as flavor changing, this new technique utilizes a prototype teleportation system to disassemble matter and then, molecule by molecule, reassemble it with an inverse charge and spin. While less efficient by itself compared to the more common method of harvesting antimatter from positronic lightning or the Van Allen Belt of a planet; when multiple production lines are setup in parallel the new technique proves drastically more cost effective while also offering a higher quality product and a safer work environment.

2091 AD
June 17: The first wave of SAEFC operatives successfully infiltrate the Union. Almost immediately the operatives prove their worth, providing critical intelligence. Confirmation of the atrocities being committed by the Friedens galvanizes the Alliance government and proves to be just what is needed for Parliament to authorize a new war footing, allowing a drastic increase in military spending. In addition the SAEFC operatives are successful in setting up an underground railroad for augmented persons to escape the Frieden purges.

2093 AD

 * October 17: Having conquered thirty six star systems across the fringes of Alliance space, the Friedens grow bolder, attacking the Alliance naval fleet node at Norfolk Colony. Unknown to the Friedens, Norfolk was playing host to a series of vessels equipped with prototype mass effect enhanced plasma cannons. The ensuing battle proves the sheer destructiveness of the new weapons which combine the thermal, electromagnetic and radiological potentials of a plasma weapon with the sheer kinetic force of a mass accelerator. After nearly two hours, the Friedan forces retreat from the battle, leaving nearly thirty destroyed or damaged vessels behind for only six Alliance warship casualties.
 * December 14: With the attack at Norfolk repelled, the Systems Alliance attempts once again to open peace negotiations with the Templar led Frieden Union. The diplomatic transport SSV Crystal Dove departs Norfolk for Neu Berlin carrying a delegation from the State Department and broadcasting a diplomatic IFF. All contact with the transport is lost five days into transit. Alliance Intelligence believes the transport was destroyed by a special paramilitary unit under direct Templar control. While several other diplomatic entreaties are made over the next six months, all are ignored by the Friedens; sundering any thoughts of a negotiated settlement.

2094 AD
While the Friedens make several probing attacks on the Alliance, there are no further attacks on Alliance worlds. Both sides begin a military buildup along the border and settle in for a long cold war.

2096 AD
February 7: The first of the Alliance Navy's Ticonderoga-class cruisers enters service. The new warship, the first of the fourth generation warship designs incorporates advancements in weapons technology, most notably the newly developed mass effect plasma bolters. At almost seven hundred meters in length and capable of carrying a full wing of fighters and several times that in unmanned combat microships, the SSV Ticonderoga and her sisters will become the backbone of the Alliance Navy and the nightmare of many Frieden captains for years to come.

2098 AD
August 27: With the success of the Ticonderoga and the rising threat of the Friedens, the Alliance Navy commissions its first dreadnought, the SSV Kirov. Two and a half kilometers in length and built around the most powerful mass accelerator cannon ever developed, the Kirov and her sisters will become a bulwark against the Frieden Navy. The Kirov-class is followed by the launch of numerous other fourth generation warships such as the Intrepid-class frigate, the Turbulent-class destroyer, the Acropolis-class strike carrier, the Ikazuchi-class battleship and the Kitty Hawk-class fleet carrier.

2100 AD
January 1: The population of the Local Cluster, counting both organics and synthetics is estimated to be over one hundred billion. Advances in medical science have almost completely eliminated disease and with the easing of traditional limitations on population growth such as the availability of food, water and shelter, the human race is quickly expanding across the stars. The further popularization of artificial wombs, rejuvenation treatments and tax subsidies for large families has led to a sustained annual growth rate of almost 3.2% and the average lifespan sits at approximately 138 years.

2101 AD
Seeing the Frieden Union's independence as an opportunity, twenty seven other colonies secede from the Alliance. Many of these are so-called 'stepback' colonies, places where people can return to an era before technology became so pervasive. The Alliance Parliament agrees to allow these colonies to leave but make clear that any threats to Alliance security will not be tolerated. Nineteen of the seceding colonies sign the Montreal Accords, limiting the number of capital class warships they can field and allowing the Alliance to setup military facilities in their systems in times of war in exchange for continuing Alliance military protection, humanitarian aid and trade ties.

2102 AD

 * October 18: A disagreement between an Alliance patrol vessel and its Frieden counterpart along the border escalates into one of the largest naval engagements yet seen between the two powers. Over a hundred warships on both sides are either crippled or destroyed in the ensuring firefight. The battle ends with a Frieden retreat as the technological superiority of the Alliance allows them to engage at greater range and with greater force. In response to the battle, the Frieden Union officially declares war on the Systems Alliance.
 * October 23: While an official declaration of war surprised the Alliance, almost a decade of preparation meant they were more than ready. Over the next three months, nineteen separate engagements would be fought between Alliance and Union forces, all but six of which would result in Alliance victories.

2103 AD

 * February 23: Having gained control of the local space, the Alliance begins landing operations on the small world. Attempts by local Frieden forces to enact scorched earth protocols are unsuccessful as SAEFC operatives are successful in disabling all twenty-seven nuclear charges emplaced in population centers across the planet of fifty-nine million.
 * April 7: After almost fourteen months of fighting the last of the Frieden forces on New Marseille surrender. The final casualty figures are nearly five hundred thousand Frieden, ninety-eight thousand Alliance and nearly nine hundred thousand civilian, mostly killed by retreating Frieden forces.
 * August: Alliance Forces besiege the Denver System. The system is home to a minor colony of sixteen million and three mining outposts, one of which is supplying uranium to the Friedens; a vital strategic resource and therefore heavily guarded. The ensuing battle will last for the next twenty six months and will result in more than one point six million casualties.
 * December 18: Friedan forces attack the Alliance colony of Achilles in the Sigma 23 system. Unprepared for the attack, the colony is overrun and destroyed. Of the population of twelve million, less than three hundred thousand will live to see the planet's liberation four months later.

2104 AD

 * March 15: Cerberus units capture a secret Frieden bioweapons facility in the Devon system. Among the most concerning projects found is the development of a programmable radioactive biogenic agent. Samples of the projects are taken and its database is copied before the facility is destroyed. Frieden forces tasked to investigate the outpost's silence arrive six days later to find it destroyed with no survivors.
 * November 9: Alliance forces attack the Sigma 47 system. While there are no colonies present, several mining outposts are present that provide the Frieden forces with titanium and iridium, both of which are critical in warship construction. The Alliance commander gives the miners two hours to evacuate and then orders the destruction of all facilities.

2105 AD

 * March 12: After a five month calm that saw only minor engagements, the Alliance launches an attack on the Yorkshire system, home to New Leeds colony. With a population of almost eight hundred million, New Leeds is the fourth largest colony in the Frieden Union and as such is heavily defended. It will take the Alliance nearly four months before achieving control of the planet's orbit.
 * August 13: Having finally secured the Yorkshire system, the Alliance forces begin landing operations. These come to a halt with the destruction of the troopship SSV Abdel Fattah A'sisi outside the city of Elizabeth. SAEFC operatives had been unsuccessful in deactivating the nuclear device in the city and the detonation incinerated the population and landing forces. Final casualty numbers were estimated at nearly one point two million.
 * August 19: Following the Elizabeth Massacre, landing operations resume. While no further scorched earth detonations will take place, the liberation of New Leeds would take nearly three years and cost almost ten million lives.

2106 AD
March 2106 – July 2107: With Alliance Forces focused on the liberation of New Leeds, Frieden High Command began a series of raiding attacks on Alliance border worlds. These attacks are designed to keep the Alliance off balance while Union forces undergo repairs and new warships are commissioned.

2107 AD

 * July 28: A fleet of nearly two hundred Frieden warships launches a counterattack on the Alliance forces stationed in the Yorkshire System. After almost three days of continuous engagement, the outnumbered and exhausted Alliance Naval forces are forced to retreat, ceding orbital supremacy to the Union. Evacuations of Alliance Forces are conducted as quickly as possible but nearly twenty thousand Marines are left stranded on the surface. Knowing they would be vulnerable to orbital bombardment if they stayed in their bases, the forces disband, disappearing into the wilderness or the cities of New Leeds with as much equipment as they can carry; destroying the rest. Over the next year these forces will form the backbone of an insurgency that will make the colony nearly ungovernable.
 * August: Having been forced back to their beachhead in the Denver system, the Alliance begins planning for their return to New Leeds. As part of this plan, wolf packs of Alliance frigates and destroyers begin launching commerce raiding operations on supplies to Yorkshire and the surrounding systems. Nearly two hundred convoys are engaged and destroyed over the next fourteen months leading to a crippling lack of supplies for the Frieden forces in the region. These actions unfortunately also have the unintended consequence of increasing the suffering of the local populations as food and other vital supplies are seized by the Frieden military.

2108 AD

 * October 19: Elements of the Alliance Third, Fourth and Sixth fleets begin a grand offensive against the Yorkshire sector. Nearly six hundred warships including twelve Kirov-class dreadnoughts sweep through the region, capturing twelve star systems and encircling Yorkshire. All Frieden Naval forces in the Yorkshire system are defeated or escape twelve hours after the first engagement.
 * October 21: Reinforcements begin landing on New Leeds. By the end of the month nearly two hundred thousand Marines and their equipment will have landed. Facing them are nearly a million Frieden soldiers. Linking up with their comrades left behind almost a year earlier, marine forces begin a systematic sweep of the colony. While there is no official surrender, the last major pocket of resistance is eliminated six months after the landing.

2109 AD

 * April 13: A Frieden Special Forces unit infiltrates the Alliance sector command facility on Norfolk Colony. Security is quickly overwhelmed and all command personnel are killed. Local Alliance Marine forces encircle the facility and demand the Frieden's surrender. Realizing there is no way out and having planned for this situation, the infiltrators detonate an antimatter charge killing themselves and destroying the facility.
 * April 14: The loss of the Norfolk Sector Command brings the Alliance offensive to a screeching halt. All operations by both the Alliance Navy and Marine Corps are placed on indefinite halt while recovery operations begin. Furthermore, a replacement facility is built on the armenian colony world of Nor Yerevan.
 * May 8: The Friedens take advantage of their strike, invading the Alliance colony of Argon Prime. With a population of nearly twenty million, the colony's defenses were stripped of ships to provide forces for the grand offensive and liberation of New Leeds with the acknowledgement that any counteroffensive could be countered in time to prevent such an invasion. With the loss of Norfolk and the strategic planners therein, no such counter took place.
 * June 11: Frieden forces destroy the Alliance mining outposts in the Tau 13 System.
 * June 23: Frieden forces capture the Alliance research facility in the Sigma 8 System.
 * August 11: After nearly four months, Alliance High Command assigns replacements for the lost commanders at Norfolk. With the facilities on the colony destroyed, the Alliance flag command will temporray operate off the carrier SSV Thanyavong Savang until the Nor Yerevan Sector Command is completed.
 * November 7: The Nor Yerevan Sector Command is commisionned, and the recovered Alliance Forces launch an attack on the Milan system. While lacking any colonies, Milan is home to a secondary mass relay that leads to a system less than three light years from Neu Berlin. Frieden forces are quick to counter, beginning a standoff that will last until the end of the war.

2110 AD

 * March 17: With their main offensive bottled up in the Milan system, elements of the Alliance Second Fleet move to liberate Argon Prime. Outnumbered nearly two-to-one, the Frieden forces choose to fight to the death. Near the end of the battle, the Frieden command ship launches a nuclear missile at the capitol, killing all three million inhabitants and nearly ten thousand Frieden soldiers.
 * April 12: The loss of Argon Prime's capitol and the slaughter of the population enrages the Alliance. Elements of the First Fleet, normally assigned to guard the core worlds around Sol are detailed to the front line. Among the best trained and equipped, the newly arrived forces cut a swath through the Frieden forces in the Sicily system. Their victory is tempered by the failure of SAEFC operatives in disabling three of the nuclear devices on Verona Colony. Twelve million people are killed.
 * September: With the assault on the Milan system stalled, the Alliance begins a separate push against the Sparta System. Far from the front lines, Sparta lies on the edge of both Alliance and Frieden territory, far from the core worlds and Neu Berlin. With little population and minimal strategic resources, Frieden High Command is slow to react to the newly opening front. By the time forces arrive to counter the Alliance assault, the Sparta system had been captured and several nearby outposts destroyed.
 * October 2110 – July 2112: For nearly two years both Alliance and Frieden forces enter a holding pattern. With the exception of the Milan System, no major battles will take place. The Alliance, burdened with the continuing Frieden insurgency on New Leeds and the garrisoning and fortification of captured territories as well as its own border colonies is beginning to reach its limit. The Friedens are likewise, fighting a war on two fronts and unable to advance.

2112 AD

 * August 13: Alliance forces launch a probing attack on the Athens System, a near neighbor of Sparta. The attack proves costly as the Frieden forces employ ships with their own version of the Alliance mass effect plasma bolter. Facing new weapons, Alliance Forces reinforce their lines and prepare for the onslaught of newly armed enemy ships.
 * November 1: The predicted enemy offensive fails to materialize. While the occasional Frieden ship armed with advanced weaponry is encountered, there is very little evidence of a wide deployment of new weaponry among Frieden forces.

2113 AD

 * April 21: The Alliance command ship in the Milan system is contacted by its Friedan counterpart. While initially suspicious, the Alliance commander of the Milan Theater, Major Jason Caldwell is surprised at the proposal of a ceasefire by Captain Joseph Olegovich Andropov. Both sides agree to stand down their forces at 1745 Zulu.
 * April 22: Under the guns of both fleets, the Alliance Command Dreadnought SSV Midway and the Frieden command carrier FUV Heinrich meet at a point at the exact center of the battlefield. Over the next six hours the two admirals agree to a succession of hostilities. One hour later all Alliance vessels depart the Milan system for New Leeds while all Friedan forces withdraw from Alliance territory.
 * June: With the war over both sides begin recovery operations. The Friedan Union had lost nearly a quarter of its territory and almost half its military. The Alliance was worse off however, having to care for hundreds of millions of people on the liberated colonies, a significant number of which had lost everything in the fighting. While a ceasefire had been called, insurgents continued to plague the colonies of New Leads, Denver and New Marseille. The final casualty totals are almost one point two million Alliance military and almost one hundred and ten million civilian.

2114 AD
With the war drawing down, resources formerly being spent fighting are returned to peacetime initiatives. The most obvious beneficiary of this reallocation is the Sol terraforming projects. The final components of the Mars and Luna projects are completed and Venus sees the completion of its final sets of atmospheric processors.

2115 AD
April 11: Researchers at the California Institute of Technology announce the development of graviton projector, a device that can compensate for local gravity conditions as a prelude to a fold event. The first major breakthrough since the development of the fold drive forty years earlier, the new technology promises to drastically expand the flexibility of the fold drive. Combined with advances in universal assembler technology that allow a fold drive to be constructed without labor intensive manufacturing processes, the fold drive begins to significantly threaten the market share of more conventional mass effect FTL drive designs.

2116 AD
January 2: With Earth's ever growing population, construction of Niven, a small ring world begins at the L3 Lagrangian point. With a diameter of nearly three hundred kilometers and massive enough to have an atmosphere clinging to the interior surface, the new orbital colony will have an internal surface area of roughly seven thousand kilometers squared. Moreover, unlike previous orbital colonies the ring will be nearly a kilometer and a half thick, allowing for between four hundred and four hundred fifty 'underground' levels depending on surface geography. Utilizing state of the art life support systems, Niven will be able to support a population of over two hundred and fifty million; nearly four times that of any previous orbital colony. Construction is scheduled to take four years.

2118 AD

 * February 12: The Turing-class explorer SSV Ada Lovelace arrives in system LC-12442. While conducting its initial survey, a large concentration of element zero is detected, leading to the discovery of another mass relay. With almost seventy percent of the local cluster having been surveyed at this point, it is expected that the discovery of this relay will be one of the last. A follow up expedition by the survey vessel SSV Seeker attempts to activate the relay, unsuccessfully. Data acquired from the unresponsive relay provides coordinates for its partner and another Turing-class is diverted to the location. Upon arrival the SSV Gordon Moore reports the system destroyed; its sun having gone supernova an estimated thirty thousand years earlier and taken the partner relay with it.
 * March 16: The discovery of an unpaired relay whips the Alliance scientific community into a frenzy. Previous proposals for studies of the relays had always been rejected for fear of damaging the irreplaceable artifacts. The newly discovered relay, already having been named 'Orphan' by the survey teams, neatly got around this problem. Realizing the potential technologies that study of the relay could reveal the Alliance Parliament authorizes a large scale research mission. Sixteen vessels led by the Einstein-class SSV Marie Curie depart for the relay. Follow up plans call for the construction of a permanent research station to further the study. Alliance High Command orders a detachment of warships to lockdown the system.

2119 AD
August 14: The atmospheric processors on Venus complete their work, having converted the toxic carbon-dioxide atmosphere into a breathable oxygen/nitrogen mixture. While technically habitable, Venus still has a long way to go before it is considered ready for colonization. Soil processing is given top priority due the toxins still present.

2120 AD
November 7: Alliance weapons researchers finish development of a meson based particle cannon. Extremely bulky and fragile, the new cannon is never the less considered a major breakthrough in particle weaponry. Due to the unique nature of mesons, consisting of a quark/anti-quark pair, a weapon utilizing the artificially generated particles has the potential to be an order of magnitude more powerful than any conventional neutron or proton cannon in service. The prototype weapon is incorporated in the experimental dreadnought SSV Zeus, first of the Kirov II-class and the fifth generation as a whole.

2121 AD
After almost three years of failures, the Orphan Project finally succeeds in breaching the hull of the relay using a series of controlled nanite detonations. First impressions of the interior of the relay seem to confirm that the relays were not constructed by the Protheans; the technology and even internal architecture varying widely from known Prothean designs. This is further confirmed after several tests date the Orphan relay as being more than thirty million years old, far predating the rise of the Prothean Empire or even the evolution of the Prothean species. Researchers begin referring to the relay builders as the 'Progenitors'.

2122 AD

 * July 23: The encryption blocking access to Orphan's control network is broken. Analysis of the operating system reveals two distinct sets of programming running at the same time, one on top of the other. The more extensive 'base' operating system responsible for the operation of the relay is discovered to have been subverted by a more advanced, secondary set of code. An experimental simulation of a relay projection without this secondary system shows that the relays are far more powerful and capable than previously thought. Transit drift is cut to nearly nothing, mass limitations are drastically revised upwards and the relays are even able to provide sensor telemetry on the destination coordinates, eliminating the need to 'jump blind'. A question emerges from this discovery: for what purpose were the relays crippled to such a degree?
 * September 13: A survey of Orphan's communications array reveals a secondary communications link to an unknown location. Analysis of the relay's coding confirms the link could theoretically allow control of the relay to be overridden from a remote location. Efforts to locate this remote location begin.
 * December 19: Decryption of Orphan's command codes is completed, allowing Alliance researchers to access any relay they choose. The New Beijing/Solaris relay pair is modified to utilize only the original operating system as an experiment. The result is a radically increased efficiency of transit. Within four months all twenty six Alliance controlled relay pairs will have been modified to incorporate the improved operating system. In addition all remote access to the modified relays is disabled, preventing a potentially hostile power from crippling the Alliance's transport infrastructure in a time of war.

2123 AD

 * February: An Alliance patrol vessel and its Frieden counterpart exchange fire along the border in an incident reminiscent of the October 18, 2102 incident that sparked the Frieden War. Fortunately cooler heads prevail on both sides.
 * April 29: Realizing the potential control of the relays that is now available to them, the Alliance Government commissions a new organization, the Office of Relay Operations (ORO). Utilizing their own 'masking' software, super-encrypted by some of the finest minds in Alliance space, the new office ensures that only authorized vessels are cleared through the relays. While this initially provokes some protests, especially among the shipping and transport unions, the Alliance alleviates concerns by announcing that the ORO will not begin restricting traffic for five years and that relay clearance will be offered without cost to any legitimately registered vessel. Monitoring operations however begin immediately, leading to a rash of arrests in the border regions.

2124 AD
September 21: Study of Orphan results in its first major breakthrough. Having deconstructed the relay's communication's array, scientists are able to create the first quantum entanglement communicator. While the prototype is limited compared to the relay's own array, the new technology allows for an instantaneous, lag free and completely secure communications link between two points. Over the next three months the Alliance military will deploy thousands of the communicators aboard its vessels, stations and facilities across Alliance territory. The construction of six secure central hubs are rapidly completed, located on Earth deep beneath Alliance High Command Headquarters in the Pentagon, Wyvern Colony in Alpha Centauri, Solaris Colony in Tau Ceti, Babylon Colony in Epsilon Eridani and on two rogue planetoids located in deep space.

2125 AD

 * July 9: A nearly silent coup takes place on Neu Berlin, forcing out the old guard Friedens and replacing them with a new group of radical militarists. Alliance intelligence and Cerberus operatives believe the coup to have taken place with Templar backing. The coup is of great concern to Alliance High Command as it could signal a renewal of hostilities, especially considering that with only a ceasefire between the powers, the war had never officially ended. The new group of generals announce a massive military buildup and begin a fresh propaganda campaign against the Systems Alliance. In response the Alliance begins redeploying forces to the Frieden border and reactivating reserve units.
 * September 12: With control over the relay network firmly established, the Alliance government begins a feasibility study on the practicality of relocating a relay to a more advantageous position. The result of this study is the commissioning seven months later of the SSV Mriya, named for one of the largest jet aircraft ever built. The tug, a massive eight kilometer behemoth, is able to dock a mass relay in its cradle-like aft section and then tow it to FTL velocities. The first to be moved is the Alpha-12 relay from the sparsely populated New Canaan system to the far more heavily populated Alatau system six point three light years distant. The process takes more than a month to complete.
 * November 18: Frieden forces cross the border near New Leeds, hoping to overwhelm and reclaim the planet. The Alliance is ready having constructed a significant orbital defense grid to guard the planet in addition to the nearly two hundred warships in attendance. Among them is the SSV Zeus which uses its meson cannon to devastating effect, personally destroying twenty six enemy vessels, thirteen of which are of capital weight. With their invasion thwarted the Frieden forces retreat to the outer system and establish a blockage outside of the range of the orbital defenses intended to starve the colony's industrial base of raw materials.
 * December 12: Alliance strategic planners are puzzled by the overt and seemingly amateurish maneuver made by the Frieden forces. Their puzzlement comes to an end with the destruction of Achilles colony, finishing off the planet that was devastated in the first war. Analysis from surviving satellites reveals that the Friedens had deployed a massive interplanetary cruise missile carrying nearly two thousand kilograms of antimatter. The explosion, estimated at nearly ninety-six gigatons, not only completely vaporized the colony but also was powerful enough to destabilize the planet's crust, leading to massive tectonic activity.
 * December 15: The destruction of a whole planet under Alliance control enrages the military. Nearly a thousand warships flood over the border and strike at almost twenty separate Frieden outpost and colonies. While the Friedens fight for the colonies and several of the outposts; they quickly retreat from others. Following their retreat, almost fifty of their new cruise missiles are deployed, leading to the destruction of two hundred and ninety seven Alliance vessels including three dreadnoughts.

2126 AD

 * January: Realizing that any offensive against the Friedens will be impossible with the presence of the new cruise missiles, the Alliance calls on the SAEFC to eliminate the problem. Having earned the nickname 'Dragoons' in the first war, the Elite Forces Command operatives begin operations to infiltrate and eliminate these weapons. On the defensive front, Alliance construction vessels begin the mass deployment of anti-missile platforms above every colony within fifteen light years of the Frieden border.
 * March 14: With the Alliance hamstrung by their strategic weaponry, the Friedens begin a campaign of raiding against Alliance positions. Attacking and retreating before a proper retaliation can be mounted, the Friedens hope to bleed the Alliance with a thousand cuts. In this they are successful for nearly three months until Alliance forces begin setting ambushes utilizing stealth vessels. These battles will continue to take place for the remainder of the war.
 * October 4: Having succeeded in locating the launch point for the Frieden missile attacks, a Dragoon team led by Captain Andrew Williams successfully lands on New Antwerp. Over the next three weeks the team will prey on the local defenders; ambushing patrols, planting explosives and assassinating command personnel. By the twenty-fifth of the month the local garrison had been sufficiently depleted for an outright assault. More so the defender's moral had hit rock bottom, many of the survivors having come to call the enemy forces the 'grim reapers'. The outpost fell within two hours of engagement.
 * November 16: With the Frieden missile base destroyed, Alliance Forces begin a push on the Frieden world of New Sarajevo. Home to nearly six hundred million people, New Sarajevo had replaced New Leeds as the Frieden's fourth most populated world. Of more importance was the presence of a significant naval fleet yard due to the extreme mineral wealth of the local system. The Friedens however had prepared and the planet was outfitted with a state of the art defense grid, equally a match for anything the Alliance had deployed around their worlds. In addition nearly four hundred warships were tasked to defend the planet. Realizing an outright assault could quickly become a repeat of the Frieden assault on New Leeds in reverse; the Alliance forms a siege line in the outer system and begins bombarding the defenders with long range missiles.
 * December 2: With the bombardment of New Sarajevo's defenders entering its third week and with no end in sight, Alliance forces shift tactics. With the presence of mining facilities in the system's asteroid belt feeding the enemy's industry, losses can be made right with disheartening rapidity. Wolf packs of destroyers and frigates begin assaulting the mining operations. While initially successful, they begin running into enemy minefields that turn the asteroid fields into charnel houses. With damage mounting, the Alliance deploys its new Nabaal class mobile shipyards to support the assault fleet, allowing the Alliance to match the Friedens in industrial capacity and ability to replace losses.

2127 AD

 * February 15: Having been at a stalemate since November, Alliance High Command realizes that they will need a game changer to win the battle. Given the extreme amounts of point defense weaponry littering New Sarajevo's orbit, a new weapon is deployed to counter it. Based on the ancient Project Excalibur, these new long range missiles are designed specifically to counter enemy point defense. Each missile is equipped with a lasing array, powered by the detonation of a nuclear warhead. With an effective range of nearly eight thousand kilometers, well beyond the range of the Frieden's defensive weaponry, the new missiles prove to be just what the Alliance needed. All enemy orbital defenses are eliminated within six days.
 * February 21: With the planetary defenses destroyed, the Alliance forces move in, quickly overwhelming the Frieden defenders. Although the battle lasts nearly two days, the last surviving Frieden ship retreats leaving the Alliance with orbital superiority after nearly five months of continuous battle.
 * March 7: The Alliance third, fifth, eighth, twelfth and sixteenth Marine Expeditionary Units arrive at New Sarajevo. With Dragoon operatives having destroyed all scorched earth bombs, the Frieden forces prepare for an orbit to surface assault. They are unprepared when thousands of what at first appear to be meteors raining down from the sky. With the development of the new Tristan powered combat exoskeleton, the Alliance Marine Corps was presented with a whole new way of invading a planet from space. Rather than rely on drop ships to protect their soldiers from reentry, the new armor allowed direct orbital insertion without the need of a shielding vessel. With thousands of heavily armed soldiers falling out of the sky, the Frieden defenders were beset from all sides. This distraction allowed the Alliance to land their troopships nearly unopposed, bringing thousands of armored vehicles, walkers and artillery units. The last Frieden forces surrendered seven weeks later, having been completely overwhelmed.
 * August 12: The Alliance launches a liberation of Belfast Colony. With a population of only five million, the Friedens don't consider the planet to be worth defending and present only token opposition. Due to the small size and population, the liberation takes only a few days. As the Alliance forces settle in, they expect Belfast, with its friendly locals and good food to be an extremely pleasant posting.
 * September 18: The Alliance begins a second offensive against the Milan system. Due to its strategic importance, High Command strips many outposts of as many ships as possible, including all but a token force above Belfast. Three days after their departure, the orbiting SSV Calgary detects a wide band transmission from an object in the outer system. Analysis of the signal reveals it to be artificial in nature and designed to override local communications systems. Several minutes later the orbiting vessels receive reports of the population of Belfast turning on Alliance Marine forces en mass. With only a single brigade present, the orbiting crews watch helplessly as all five thousand marines are massacred by the people they'd liberated.
 * September 27: Reinforcements arrive to help quell the population of Belfast. In the intervening two weeks the local population had begun turning upon itself and surveillance from the orbiting vessels estimate that perhaps only a third of the population remained alive. Upon landing the Marines are assaulted by the crazed locals and are forced to utilize ionic pulse weaponry to subdue them. While designed as a non-lethal crowd control technology, the ionic weaponry is still responsible for the further deaths of almost an additional thousand people. Control is reestablished over the colony after three days.
 * October 23: Tests on the colonists find evidence of subtle genetic re-sequencing which in turn was responsible for an alteration of the brain that, when exposed to a specific sub-aural trigger would cause a set of genetically encoded instructions to take over the subject's mind. Coupled with other alterations that increased production of several neurotransmitters tied to aggression and paranoia, the subject would become crazed and attack anyone they'd been programmed to before succumbing to a violent, uncontrollable rage. Study of the signal transmitted revealed the presence of the sub-aural tone. Further testing confirms the population had been exposed to a retrovirus in the water supply shortly before the liberation.
 * November 7: News of the new Frieden biogenic weapon is quick to spread throughout the Alliance military. A new variant on the Frieden's more traditional nuclear scorched earth techniques, the virus allowed the Friedens to eliminate the populations of liberated worlds while keeping the local infrastructure intact. Dragoon forces operating behind enemy lines begin investigations into this new weapon in hopes of finding a cure.
 * November 8: Due to the presence of the new Frieden weapon, all Alliance plans for the further liberation of Frieden worlds are place on indefinite hold.
 * November 17: Cerberus intercepts several communiques from within the Union detailing requests for resupply from an experimental research facility. Covert surveillance reveals the presence of several outposts in the Tigris system. Dragoon operatives infiltrate these facilities and discover them to be hosting several alien artifacts as well as having been responsible for the development of the biogenic virus responsible for the Belfast incident.
 * November 19: Seven taskforces of the Alliance third fleet assault the Tigris system, seizing the all facilities in under three hours. Recovered materials show that while the virus, codenamed Helios, had been developed at the facility; no cure had been developed. Furthermore the virus had been designed to be easily customized with minimal difficulty, allowing local Frieden forces to tailor it to local conditions and then deploy it in any number of convenient ways. All research as well as the alien artifacts are seized by Cerberus for further study and the facility is destroyed.
 * December 12: Research into the virus has revealed an Achilles heel. If Alliance forces can prevent the activation trigger from being deployed, the genetic modifications will naturally be purged by the subject's immune system within four years. Furthermore, updates are issued to all Alliance citizens' nanite boosters that render them immune to the Frieden weapon.

2128 AD

 * January 2: With a potential countermeasure for the Helios virus in hand, Alliance forces resume liberation operations, attacking the Frieden held Prague system, Home to the colony of Brno. Alliance forces overwhelm Frieden spaceborne defenses within seven days of contact. Prior to beginning landing operations, Alliance support vessels deploy a series of electronic warfare satellites that begin broad spectrum jamming of all non-Alliance frequencies.
 * January 23: Alliance forces successfully liberate Brno colony. As expected, a high power transmission is intercepted two days later, originating from the outer system. Unlike at Belfast the orbiting satellites are successful in jamming the transmission. Alliance forces move quickly to locate and destroy the transmission source.
 * February: The Alliance begins a grand offensive aimed at finally ending the threat of the Frieden Union. Over the next three months Alliance forces will liberate more than two dozen worlds across fourteen systems. Aided by the recently deployed fifth generation warships, the Friedens, still struggling to bring themselves up to fourth generation standards, will be nearly helpless against more than three thousand vessels participating in the Alliance offensive.
 * May 12: Alliance forces begin closing in on the core Frieden territories. Having seen their military decimated by the Alliance, the Frieden Union draws a line in the sand. As Alliance forces close in on the world of New Stuttgart, they are horrified by the simultaneous detonations of all forty-nine scorched earth bombs present on the planet. Initial casualty projections show that almost all of the planet's population of two hundred and ninety six million had been caught in the blast. Furthermore the Friedens had augmented their normally clean nukes with jackets of cobalt, radically increasing the amount of radiation present in the fallout.
 * May 15: Having made their point, the Frieden Union announces that they will repeat the actions taken on New Stuttgart at the first sign of further Alliance aggression. While the atrocities that Friedens are willing to commit appall the Alliance public, they also prove to be very effective, reqiring use of high capacicy. All further military actions against the Union are placed on an indefinite hold, effectively bringing the Second Frieden War to an end.

2129 AD
Draw down in the aftermath of the war proves difficult for many in the Alliance. Unlike the relatively peaceful ending of the first war, the second war left a bitter taste. Support for the military remains at an all-time high and relief aid continues to flood into the former Frieden territories.

2130 AD

 * March 12: The SSV Ada Lovelace makes its second major discovery. Having entered the LC-19881 system, the explorer discovers an element zero concentration in the upper atmosphere of the system's seventh planet, a super-Jovian gas giant. Atmospheric probes reveal the presence of a large, heavily damaged alien vessel. Cerberus dispatches a research team to make an initial survey of the derelict.
 * March 17: Having arrived in the LC-19881 system, the Cerberus team proceeds to enter the planet's atmosphere and dock with the alien ship. Fifteen hours into the mission all contact is lost with the research team.
 * March 19: A second Cerberus team enters the LC-19881 system with the intention of find out what happened to the initial expedition. As they approach the alien vessel they note the expedition's transport had suffered extensive damage to its drive systems. As they prepare to dock they receive a transmission from one of the junior expedition members, Doctor Robert Savage, informing them of a biological outbreak among the expedition. Shortly thereafter an escape pod launches from the transport followed by the vessel disengaging from the derelict and destroying itself.
 * Mrach 21: Having recovered the escape pod, the Cerberus rescue team is unsurprised to find the occupant was Savage. While injured, he shows no signs of biological contamination. After regaining consciousness the survivor was quick to inform the rescue team of what happened. Evidently the alien vessel had released some sort of nanites that proceeded to infest the expedition members, turning them against each other and in several cases growing cybernetics within their bodies. Savage, having been given an experimental set of nanites as a child, was apparently able to fend off the vessel's attempts to take control of him. The similarities between the alien vessel's defenses and the Helios virus leave many within Cerberus uneasy. The Alliance officially declares LC-19881 under indefinite quarantine.
 * June 13: Having setup a research outpost near the alien vessel, Cerberus begins investigations into the wreck using remote drones. While the work is slow they soon learn that the vessel was crippled by a direct strike from a mass accelerator of some power, roughly coinciding with the collapse of the Prothean Empire. This leads them to believe that this vessel was in some way involved in that collapse. Furthermore the materials the derelict is constructed from is remarkably similar to the artifacts discovered in the Frieden research facility in the Tigris system three years earlier.

2131 AD
April 17: Continuing research into the Orphan relay leads to the development of the first dark energy reactor. Having determined that the relays derive their massive energy reserves from converting scalar dark energy fields, specifically quintessence type fields, into normal energy, the new reactor design proves to be a major improvement over even the most sophisticated antimatter reactor designs. What's more the new reactors can be directly integrated into a conventional mass effect core, which manipulate constant dark energy fields to in turn manipulate gravity, allowing the already versatile devices to actually serve a dual purpose as the a ship's primary energy source and mass effect field generator.

2132 AD
September 14: United North American Robotics announces the development of a distributed sensor system. While several theories exist in regards to the development of a transluminal sensor system, no working prototype had yet been developed. By dispersing millions of tiny, FTL capable drones into a battle space, the new system bypasses the speed of light limitations of modern sensor systems by having a sensor platform every thousand or so kilometers, transmitting their near real-time telemetry to allied vessels using point to point FTL communications links. While the system is extremely resource and energy intensive, it dovetails nicely with the development of dark energy reactors that can easily provide the required energy.

2133 AD
The deep space explorer SSV Konrad Zuse enters the LC-34992 system, one of the last unexplored systems in the local cluster. While surveying the outer system the vessel discovers a massive concentration of element zero inside one of the moons of the systems sixth planet. A follow up expedition by the SSV James Cook unearths a mass relay of unprecedented size. At almost twenty-five kilometers in length the relay is two and a half times the length of any previously discovered relay. A military expedition is dispatched to the system to escort the Cook as she reactivates the relay. After an unusually long transit, the expedition discovers itself to be in the distant Attican Traverse. Realizing the potential of what they'd found, the Alliance Navy dispatches a fully battle group to secure both sides of the relay. The system on the local side is named Threshold while the Traverse side system is named Reach. The relay pair is collectively known as the Gateway.

2134 AD

 * January 12: The first mobile long duration colony ship is commissioned. The SSV Avalon, measuring at forty-eight kilometers in length is composed primarily of two massive biodomes separated by a five hundred meter thick base containing engineering and docking facilities. Equipped with two massive armored shells that can close over the transparent biodomes during an attack, the Avalon class is designed to be able to support a population of almost forty million for extended periods, making it a perfect platform to operate off of during the increasing number of multi-year long terraforming projects dotting Alliance space.
 * November 3: Having established a firm presence in the Reach system, Alliance explorers begin surveying the newly named Exodus cluster. Several surrounding systems are discovered to contain habitable planets. The Alliance selects eight planets and moons across five systems for immediate colonization: New Alexandria, Circumference, Tribute, Eden Prime, Terra Nova, Shanxi, Elysium and Mindoir. All eight planets are located either within the Reach system or in systems no more than five light years distant, allowing Alliance fleet assets to respond to any potential hostilities, human or alien, with minimal delay.

2135 AD

 * January 15: Initial surveys of the planet Eden Prime in the Utopia system reveal the presence of extensive Prothean ruins beneath the surface. All colonization efforts in the immediate area are placed on indefinite hold as the ruins are excavated.
 * February 27: The first major find of the Eden Prime dig is revealed: an intact Prothean communications node. While heavily damaged, this device is hoped to contain valuable technical and historical information. The artifact is secured and transported up to facilities on the newly arrived SSV Avalon.
 * April 12: The Orphan project announces its latest discovery. Having studied how the mass relays can project objects as such extreme velocities in a safe manner, researchers have discovered that the relays employ a form of molecular vibration phase shifting to allow transiting objects to pass through hazards ranging from space dust to entire planets and stars without danger. Implementation of this technique into conventional FTL drives promises drastically increased FTL speeds.
 * July 24: The Eden Prime excavation uncovers the remains of an underground bunker. Evidence of damage caused by small arms fire, surface bombardment and a neutron purge shows the bunker was heavily contested and dating shows the bunker was built just years before the estimated collapse of the Prothean Empire.
 * July 26: Further exploration of the bunker uncovers several intact and operational stasis pods. These pods are transported to the Avalon as they are discovered for further study in the hopes of reviving their occupants.
 * August 4: As the bunker is cleared of debris and new passageways are opened, an access point to an even deeper series of reinforced caverns is discovered. Unlike the upper facility, the lower levels are nearly pristine. Tens of thousands of intact and operational stasis pods are discovered.
 * August 17: The excavation of the Eden Prime bunker is completed. In total sixty-eight thousand, nine hundred and eighty one operation stasis pods had been recovered out of an estimated total of one hundred thousand. Data recovered from the bunker's computers indicate the facility was a last ditch attempt by the Protheans to outlast invading forces, known as 'Reapers', that had been destroying their empire for almost two hundred years. While the upper levels contained pods for twenty thousand soldiers, the lower levels were designed to preserve civilians in the hope of restarting the Prothean Empire in the wake of the Reaper's retreat from Prothean territory.
 * September 7: Alliance scientists revive the highest ranking Prothean. After a short period of confusion, he manages to connect telepathically with one of the researchers, subsequently gaining a working knowledge of English. Identifying himself as Javik, the Prothean is surprised to learn that nearly seventy thousand of his people had survived both the attack and the intervening fifty thousand years.
 * September 18: Following his awakening and the stabilization of his condition, Javik reveals what he knows of the Reapers to the Alliance. Cerberus operatives present during the debriefing show him images of the vessel that had nearly exterminated their expedition five years earlier. Javik confirms that the vessel is a Reaper, sparking renewed interest in the derelict. He also reveals that the Reapers return to the galaxy to harvest or destroy all life every fifty thousand years.
 * October: The intelligence revealed by Javik sends the Alliance government and military into a panic. With knowledge of the imposing deadline, estimated to be only decades distant, the threat of the Reapers is considered to be of the highest order. Plans to greatly expand the Alliance Navy and Marine Corps begin taking form and interest in the derelict Reaper under Cerberus control explodes.

2136 AD

 * January 12: The explorer SSV Gordon Welchman discovers the former Prothean world of Feros. A follow up expedition to the ecumenopolis reveals evidence of activity on the surface within the last five years. The expedition deploys a series of stealth satellites in orbit. Over the next year, thirty seven unidentified alien vessels are recorded entering orbit or landing on the planet. All data on these alien vessels is classified at the highest levels.
 * March 5: After years of study, Alliance researchers complete construction of the first human built mass relay pair. While limited compared to even a secondary relay, the relay proves successful at transporting a test drone over a distance of thirty five light years. This prompts interest in using the new relay designs to establish tertiary links within Alliance space which, along with the strategically placed secondary relays, could allow vessels to traverse Alliance space with only minimal use of either FTL or fold drives. By the end of the year almost twenty of these relay pairs will have been built.
 * May 18: After almost a year of work, the last Protheans are awakened from stasis. With a total population of less than seventy thousand and with their military forces consisting of only three hundred and ninety one warriors, the Protheans are given colonization rights on Eden Prime and join the Alliance as the Prothean Protectorate.

2137 AD

 * March 16: Experiments on the Reaper derelict reveal the hull to be made of a material very similar to the shell of a mass relay. Given the difficulty in accessing the innards of the Orphan relay, research focuses on ways to deploy nanite weaponry in combat situations. Development of nanite warheads for missiles as well as nanite 'paint' rounds for mass accelerators prove successful in breeching recovered samples of Reaper hull material.
 * May 18: The CSV Specter, a Cerberus scout stationed in the Theseus system monitors the arrival of an alien warship over Feros. Having received orders to shadow the alien vessel, the Specter follows the vessel under stealth for the next seven months. Having completed what appears to be a patrol circuit, the alien vessel arrives at a planet with an ammonia based atmosphere and a moderate amount of orbital infrastructure.
 * December 21: Surveillance of the alien world reveals a large colony on the surface. While it was initially assumed that the vessel belonged to the race inhabiting the planet, identified later as the Volus; further observations reveal the vessel as belonging to another race, the Turians. Covert infiltration of the planetary communications grid provided information on the client relationship the Volus share with the Turians and on the state of the galaxy beyond the Traverse. Especially interesting to Cerberus is references to a 'Citadel Council', a three-man dictatorship headquartered on a massive space station, apparently of Prothean manufacture.

2138 AD

 * January 12: Javik, having assumed a post within Cerberus as an advisor on the Reapers, is informed of the discovery of the Citadel. He confirms the Citadel as being the former center of Prothean government and reveals its true purpose as a trap set by the Reapers to ensnare the galaxy's races.
 * January 20: Cerberus begins a program of covert long duration exploration and surveillance of Citadel Council space and the antagonistic Terminus Systems.
 * April 12: Researchers at Wyvern Central University announce a breakthrough in particle physics: the development of a tachyon accelerator. While extremely crude in design and with the potential causality and radiological side effects still unknown, uses for the device are already apparent. Proposals for the development of a tachyon array to act as a transluminal sensor system attract significant military interest.

2139 AD

 * March 4: Sweetie Belle is bred.
 * June 3: Experiments into new applications of slipspace technology yield results. Researchers at the Michigan Institute of Technology demonstrate Project Black Gate, the first fold based teleportation system. While impractical for deployment aboard spacecraft due to size and energy requirements, dangerous to organic material and limited in range, the technology attracts interest as an alternative to traditional space-lift technologies. The first fixed-link surface to orbit teleportation facility opens three months later in New York City, offering hyper-rapid transport of non-organic cargo into low earth orbit.
 * July 12: Saren Arterius is Born.

2140 AD

 * January 19: With the population of the Earth Sphere passing forty billion, construction of the Godsend, a planetary geosynchronous ring world begins around Earth. Publically advertised as the ultimate solution of the over population of Earth, the project receives criticism as being dangerous and overly ambitious. While the Alliance acknowledges these concerns, the project continues apace. Within the Alliance government Project Godsend has a different purpose. With the impending threat of the Reapers, the Godsend is designed to be the foundation of a massive planetary defense system and the projector of a planetary shield. The project will consist of the geosynchronous ring two hundred and fifty kilometers wide and fifteen thick connected to the earth by eight orbital tether 'pillars'. A secondary ring will exist at half geosynchronous orbit consisting of a hollow torus containing a counter spinning magnetic super fluid to stabilize the system. Finally a third ring will be buried ten kilometers beneath Earth's surface and will serve as an anchoring point for the whole construct. The project is scheduled to be completed no later than the beginning of the twenty-third century while the planetary shield grid will be operational by 2180.
 * March 4: Apple Bloom is bred.

2141 AD

 * March 7: Project Orphan announces the creation a new alloy called mithril. Based on the super alloy used in the construction of the Progenitor mass relays, the new alloy is almost a thousand times stronger than titanium and fifty times harder than diamond. When used in an ablative matrix, mithril based armor proves capable of surviving extreme thermal, kinetic, electromagnetic and radiological damage with ease, far above and beyond any existing armor.
 * June 18: With the Alliance ramping up for the construction of the Godsend, the transition to sixth-generation warship designs and a major expansion of other military assets such as orbital defense grids and sector command bases; the demand on the existing Alliance resourcing infrastructure is estimated to increase by at least two orders of magnitude by 2150. Helgen Mining, one of the leading resource providers in the Alliance announces the development of the first gravitic particle mining station. Designed for use over mineral rich worlds where conventional mining techniques are not practical, these stations use a stream of both mass effect fields and graviton particles to lift matter from the surface of a planet. Initial designs prove able to do this at a rate of almost eight hundred kilograms per minute and combined with sophisticated spectrographic and mineralogical scanners can lock onto and strip lodes of valuable minerals in hours, shunting them to the attached refinery modules for purification.
 * October 28: Weapon researchers successfully test a prototype transluminal mass accelerator. The weapon successfully fires a one hundred fifty-five millimeter round at five times the speed of light, destroying a Phobos sized asteroid in the Mars belt in one hit.

2142 AD
September 23: Following the lead of Helgen, Kawasaki Space Industries announces the construction of the first Ishimura-class planet cracker. At nearly ten kilometers in length and equipped with one of the largest mass effect cores ever developed, the massive mining vessel will be able to lift whole chunks out of planets into orbit for refining. In addition its mass effect core will be able to drastically increase the vessel's overall mass, allowing it to potentially pull small satellites out of orbit. A run of five of these vessels is scheduled to be completed by 2148, providing the massive amounts of raw materials for the Godsend project.

2143 AD

 * February 6: Alliance Intelligence reports the Frieden Union has completed the first phase of its post-war reconstruction. Estimates place its military strength at approximately fifteen hundred vessels that fall roughly half way between fourth and fifth generation Alliance designs. However despite their numbers, only two hundred of those are believed to be of capital weight. Given the upcoming transition to sixth generation warships and the so-called ten thousand ship navy scheduled to be completed by 2160, Alliance High Command does not place the likelihood of a Third Frieden War as imminent.
 * April 24: Researchers from Beijing University demonstrate a new application of space folding technology. Utilizing a modified fold drive, the researchers demonstrate the first Linear Defense Array design, a system that folds incoming fire through a vessel instead of intercepting, deflecting or absorbing it. While impractical for implementation on current fold drives, the new technique is incorporated into the drives of sixth generation warships.
 * June 1: The Alliance completes construction of its three hundredth tertiary relay pair. While most military and passenger vessels have switched to using fold drives for long distance travel, the relay network proves to be a vital link for resource transport throughout Alliance in much the same way as the continental railways of pre-spaceflight Earth. With Project Godsend in its third year, nearly one hundred fifteen billion metric tons of raw materials have been shipped through the relay network to the hungry nano-foundries orbiting Luna supplying the construction of the Godsend superstructure.
 * October 14: The Venus terraforming project announces that it has completed soil purification and enrichment. Groundbreaking for the colonization of Venus is scheduled for November 1.

2144 AD
March 1: Expansion of the Utopia Planitia, Arcturus and Tau Ceti Fleet Yards is completed in preparation for beginning of sixth-generation construction. Nearly four thousand construction slips will be available between the three yards however only a quarter of those will be in use during peacetime construction.

2145 AD

 * January 1: Utopia Planitia officially begins laying down the first warship of the sixth-generation fleet. The vessel, the SSV Dauntless, will be the first of the Dauntless-class battlecruisers and will be joined by one hundred and seventy four sister ships by 2160.
 * April 12: Cerberus scouts finish their survey of Council space. Plans for first contact with the Citadel Council, the Terminus Powers and the Quarian Migrant Fleet begin development while contingency plans for contact or conflict with the Council, Terminus Powers and Geth are drawn up by Alliance High Command. In preparation an official, public exploration of the Attican Traverse begins.

2146 AD

 * February 1: The Alliance Second Fleet officially moves its headquarters to New Alexandria in the Reach system.
 * July 6: Construction of the superdreadnought SSV Yamato is completed. The first in her class, the Yamato is to date the single largest warship ever built at six kilometers in length. She will be joined by fifteen more of her class by 2160.
 * October 11: Construction of the SSV Apollo is completed. The fleet monitor supplants the Yamato as the largest warship in service at fifteen kilometers in length. Designed as an artillery platform, the Apollo will be joined by five more of her class, the SSV Sputnik, SSV Mercury, SSV Gemini, SSV Soyuz and SSV Enterprise by 2160.

2147 AD

 * Janaury 12: Construction of the SSV Terra is completed. The largest planned class of the sixth-generation designs at twenty-six kilometers, the Terra is designated as a mothership. Unlike her super-capital class brethren, the Terra-class mothership is lacking in offensive weaponry. She makes up for it with an extensive defense grid and massive amount of internal docking space, capable of carrying hundreds of thousands of fighters and millions of drones as well a massive central dock capable of accepting almost any other warship in service. Designed to serve as a mobile starbase and fleet yard, the Terra and her sisters, the SSV Luna and SSV Mars will have a crew capacity of almost one and a half million.
 * July: A wave of independent colonization begins in the Attican Traverse. Ninety seven colonies will be founded over the next two years in the region surrounding the Alliance's Traverse colonies. Bound by the Montreal Accords, the Alliance will remain responsible for the safety of these colonies. Prominent among them is the world of Horizon which will see almost two hundred thousand settle on in by the end of 2148.

2148 AD

 * April 1: Cerberus, in one if it's extremely rare public announcements, announces the collapse of a Frieden spy ring on the Alliance core worlds. Consisting of almost twenty seven thousand people, the ring was the largest such operation in history. No april-fools followup announcement is done.
 * July 23: Alliance Intelligence intercepts a coded message from Frieden space. The contents hint of contact between the Frieden Union and several entities within the Terminus Systems.
 * August 8: Cerberus tasks several covert units for increased surveillance of major Terminus star ports in an effort to verify the veracity of the July 23 communique.

2149 AD

 * November 13: During a surveillance mission of the Terminus station of Omega, the CSV Scythe experiences a momentary malfunction in its power systems. While only visible for seven point eight seconds, the vessel catches the attention of a nearby Salarian STG intelligence drone.
 * November 18: With the exposure of the Scythe, Cerberus begins recalling assets from the Terminus systems for fear of further exposure. While this incident had been the most severe, several others over the years demonstrated the need for more caution when operating in alien space.

2150 AD

 * April 2: Cerberus intelligence drones in the Serpent Nebula monitor the arrival of an officially flagged STG vessel above and beyond the normal traffic. This is tagged by the operatives monitoring the Citadel as unusual as very rarely has the STG been seen operating in the open.
 * April 3: Cerberus activates one of their operatives living on the Citadel. Having been genetically altered to appear Asari and inserted aboard seven years earlier using forged credentials, the operative had become a member of Citadel Security and been assigned to guard the Presidium Tower sixteen months earlier. Surveillance equipment placed in the council meeting rooms allow Cerberus to monitor a meeting between the STG delegation and the Citadel Council outlining the discovery of a new race covertly observing Omega as well as several incidents believed to be connected to this new race over the preceding ten years. The council agrees that the STG should increase resources in an effort to discover who and what this new race is and if they pose a threat to Citadel security. In addition several Spectres are assigned to the task to further augment the STG.
 * April 7: The news of their discovery by Citadel authorities is not greeted well by members of the Alliance government. Finalization of plans for first contact with the Citadel in and about 2155 is given the highest priority.
 * July 20: One of the vessels detailed to the public exploration of the Traverse discovers Feros. The world is immediately claimed by the Alliance for future colonization in hopes of restoring the ecumenopolis to its former glory.

2152 AD

 * January 27: The Alliance Exploration Corps vessel SSV Pathfinder arrives in the AT-21345 system, and finds a slaver vessel assaulting a quarian scouter. This starts a chain of events leading up to first contact.
 * January 30: The alliance locates and assaults Torfan, Location of the headquarters of the Ha'rasa Syndicate, Now identified as The slaver vessel's owner organization.
 * February 1: Project typhon, a cerberus porject centered around a pusthuman organism, is activated. out of the many parents in alliance space, Mark and hannah Shepard are chosen, and from the many genetic combinations, the one desired by the mother, a male of israeli origin named Roi is chosen. He is placed in suspended animation and his mind in an extenisve virtual reality, presenting a presingularity version of modern times. Furthermore a nighthwak-class frigate is procured and Cerberus recuits crew candidates.
 * February 7: First contact is achieved.
 * February 8: In preparation for the survivial of the systems alliance should the reapers sucessfully elminate the Asari, Salarians, and Turians, Plans for ascending the Quarian Migrant Fleet and the Krogan into transhumanist civilizations (as well as integrating the Geth into alliance civilization) are drawn up by Alliance High Command and begin development. Furtermore a wave of civilization exploration initiatives result in sucessful first contact with the Yahg, "Virtual aliens", Leviathans, Raloi, San 'Shyuum, Sangheili, Jiralhanae, Huragok, Mgalekgolo, Yanme'e, Kig-Yar and Unggoy. The now drastically expanded alliance navy commences a modernization campaign to the covenant, geth, and quarian vessels.
 * February 10: Staff Commander Roi Shepard is awakened from cryogenic stasis and given command of the vessel, cherished as the Normandy.
 * February 16: A distress message sent by Dr