The Solar System during the 02100s-Solar Ecliptic era

The Solar System of the 02100-02200 era was a setting fraught with danger and opportunity. The nation-state alliances of Earth had taken their conflicts with them into space. The discovery of the Tannhauser gate near the orbit of Jupiter opened the nearest stars for exploration, but exposed humanity to great danger as well. And the fledgling outer Solar System colonies were already calling for independence by the 02170s.

So what was a spacer to do during the Solar Ecliptic era? Well, with the transition to space and the first steps out into the unknown came a chance for a new beginning. People with a regrettable personal history could start over in the depths of the Solar System, where talent and ability mattered much more than a person's background or past failings. Getting passage on a fast spaceship might take some effort, but if a spacer was willing to take a slower passage aboard a transport or sailship the odds for getting to a new life improved greatly.

The major powers of the Solar System competed constantly for the best places to plant their colonies. During much of this period, Europa appeared as the dominant power, but other supernations achieved times of relative success as well. The Panasian Sphere, Crown States, NorAm/Western Alliance,Yamato Corporate and African Union all experienced spans (albeit brief in some cases) of superiority over the other powers and all were able to plant colonies throughout the inner and outer planets during this era.

The United Colonies dispatched a two-vessel flotilla to the Alpha Centauri system during the late 02150s to settle a score with a xenoalien settlement that had killed numerous Terrans during corporate activities on their world.  The UC Solar Navy forces bombarded the planet from orbit, which turned out to be of great importance to one of the a Kentauran religious sects thus leading to the Terran-Kentauran War of the 02160s.

  As travel times shortened from decade to decade, the cultures of the Solar System became more homogenized and this would ultimately provide the foundation for the eventual development of the United Earth Commonwealth of Nations on Terra and the Solar Colonies (also known as the United Colonies) in the outer Solar System. UECON and her chief rival the Solar Navy would be responsible for the exploration and settling of many local star systems, and the two of them would eventually combine to become the major human power of the 02200s and 02300s.

With the Declaration of the United Solar Colonies in 02176 the new Solar Navy (made up of vessels from the NorAm Alliance, Crown States, New Masada, and the African Union) began branching out from both Free Aries Colony on Mars and the Jovian moon system.  Shown here are two Solar Navy colonial cruisers getting underway.

Uncharted Regions


Much of the Solar System was still somewhat unknown during the 02100s. Areas within the Kuiper Belt, the Scattered Disc and beyond the Pluto-Charon region were the location of numerous scientific missions with the hope of greater discoveries being made. And with the potential for identifying additional alien artifacts from the race that built the Tannhauser Gate, the competition in those regions was furious.

The EV-2001 Class of exploration craft played a key role in the exploration of the outer planets during the late 2000s and much of the 2100s.