Legacy of the Confederation Episode I: Past Purposes
EPISODE 1: PAST PURPOSES
Earth, having colonized
the habitable celestial bodies within its own solar system strove to cross another
plateau, cultural refinement. With the majority of our nations merged into a ruling
council known as "The United Powers League (UPL)," old ideas long since buried
emerged with renewed vitality. Just as the Nazis deemed genocide a logical means to
'purify' the human race in earth's second world war, so did Edmond Routhe, co-founder of
the UPL, deem genocide a reasonable course to remove 'inferior' humans from our genetic
pool.
With cybernetics and gene-splicing standards of the time, Routhe
felt that humans born sick, or with a genetic aberrations such as anemia or colorblindenss
needed to be 'cleansed.' Routhe dispatched UPL shock troops around the globe with
orders to terminate any and all persons on UPL's deathlist. (A database of hundreds of
millions of people born with any form of genetic abnormality.) UPL's ruling council,
facing stiff opposition from its constituency on this matter, overruled Routhe, and
created the "Great Expansion Draft.".
UPL had desired to colonize planets outside of earth's solar
system for some time, so they drafted millions of individuals to embark on this
journey. UPL specifically called upon those on Routhe's deathlist however, thereby
accomplishing Routhe's goal of removing them from the earth sector directly, while not
upsetting the general populace with systematic genocide of our own population. UPL
constructed dozens of colony ships or "Super Carriers" to house those deemed
'worthy' to expand human-kind into the stars.
The super-carriers
(pictured above), capable of only sub-light travel, would not reach the nearest star
systems for over a generation, and the more remote systems would require 100-200 years of
travel at least, though Routhe cared not if they ever arrived at their charted
destination.
After all, he would be dead of old age long before they touched
down, so it mattered not to him one way or the other, so long as these 'undesireables' no
longer remained on earth. On November 9, 2077, thirty-six super-carriers
departed the earth, each in a different direction. (Only one of these ever arrived
at its destination, the Argo, in the Koprulu sector, whose colonists would rise to form
the Terran Confederacy and eventually, the Terran Dominion.)
Several years into its journey, one of the super-carriers'
guidance systems malfunctioned. The computer's emergency navigational program then
plotted a course for the nearest gravitational body upon which the ship could hopefully
land. The nearest source of gravity however was a black hole. And as the
ship entered the event horizon, as it met anti-matter and was blue-shifted to
inifnity, it exploded, with more force than a hydrogen bomb. Sensors had
indeed detected that event, though not earth's. As UPL would soon learn, other
forces explored the cosmos, forces which would herald our apocalypse.
They remained in our
orbit for a week undetected, watching us, scrutinizing us, gathering information on our
culture, our species. Soon after, Ambassador Elandrea introduced herself, claiming
to represent the Protoss Conclave of Aiur and offering UPL officials a proposition.
The Protoss could remain in orbit undisturbed to continue their studies and in return, UPL
would be given cures to every known disease and learn about advanced technologies then
unknown to us. Without hesitation, UPL accepted. Shortly following this
arrangement, the new Soviet bloc seceded from the UPL, claiming that it wanted nothing to
do with the Protoss alliance, saying that the Protoss were deceiving us in some way and we
were allowing it to happen.
With significant nuclear and conventional arms at its disposal,
the Russian Republics represented a great threat to the UPL, and needed to be
re-integrated into the fold, or destroyed. UPL's combined armed forces have levied
war against Russia for several months now, gaining little ground. YOU, admiral, have
been given command of this campaign. Whether Russia remains sovereign or accepts UPL
rule depends on your prowess as a military strategist and tactician. Good luck.
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