This is part of my personal timeline for Traveller, Worlds Beyond, and Star Frontiers rpgs.

Feel free to use this material, just

give credit. I can be reached at dw_ewing@yahoo.com. Include Star Frontiers in the subject so I don’t think you’re spamming
me.

♦ 2087 Terrans discover Jump Drive

♦ 2096 First contact with Vilani
♦ 2110 First Interstellar war ends
♦ 2314 Rule of Man
♦ 2519 Aslan develop Jump Drive
♦ 2538 First Aslan contact with Humans
♦ 2742 Collapse of Ramshackle Empire, begin the Long Night
♦ 3007 Solomani contact the Darrians

Terran Humanity, frightened by the size and power of the Ziru Sirka, determined to expand and grow strong, beginning a dark
path. Genassist was created to genetically alter Terran and alien lifeforms for food, later expanding operations to create altered
Humans and uplifted animals. Genassist pioneered artificial wombs and Tuber colonies. On worlds with hostile environments,
test-tube colonists were altered to thrive; on benign worlds, colonists were normal. In either case, they were educated by tapes
feeding the subconscious mind, teaching what was desired. A side effect was a lack of cultural sub-divisions. The colonists saw
themselves as Terrans first, last , and always. The complex interweaving and varying loyalties, friendships, and interactions of
a full culture was bypassed, creating ‘tuber zombies’
Other colonies were set up, of various types:
1) Military colonies – bases permanently staffed by non-transient personnel, partly as a garrison, partly as
bureaucratic/political administration.
2) Economic infrastructure – mining, agriculture, etc. Usually sponsored by the UN, sometimes companies.
3) Émigrés – dissidents, would-be pioneers, and cultural sub-groups seeking to protect a cultural identity, or to create a new
one, refugees, relocated ghetto dwellers, and so forth. Some were voluntary colonists; many were not.
4) Prisons/Gulags – Criminals, homeless, ghetto-dwellers, and occasional political prisoners (defeated politicians, protesters,
activists, lawyers, etc.).

Many colonies were founded in what later became Magyar, Reaver’s Deep, and Iwahfuah sectors, before the rise of the Aslan
Heirate.
As the Terran Confederation consolidated it’s hold on the former Vilani Imperium, atrocities and abuses piled up. Eventually,
Admiral Hiroshi Estigarribia was forced to create the Rule of Man, usurping power from the Terran Confederation. This
reduced the pace of war crimes and tyranny, but by no means ended it.
Several colonies in Magyar sector, of various types, fled in hastily converted habitats, rightly fearing slavery, purges, and
pogroms.
Meantime, the Zodia colonies – primarily of North American, Australian, and Japanese extraction, with a smattering of other
nationalities – had been founded in soon-to-be Aslan space. The newly formed Aslan Heirate eventually contacted them.
Intentionally far from Human space, and with little to no contact with Terra, the Zodian colonies befriended the Aslan, some of
whom chose to settle in the colonies.
Many Zodian Humans became culturally Aslan, and others formed a fusion of cultures.
The Zodians had access to the GenAssist technology, and, as the Aslan culture became more prevalent, many desired to be
more like them. Thus a Human/Aslan hybrid project developed. While DNA modification of extant creatures is very limited,
requiring surgery rather than gengineering, succeeding generations could be modified to a larger degree, until the final form
came to fruition. The project took approximately 500 years to result in a viable form, capable, by design of dominant inter-
fertility with Humans. Unfortunately, inter-fertility with the Aslan was quite limited, producing only ‘mules’, when it worked
at all.
The hybrids were named “S’Wai’yorh”, Trokh for ‘thought-shaped’, frequently mispronounced as “Swarr”. The majority of
volunteers for conversion were of Japanese extraction or culture, but many Zodians, of all heritages adopted and raised
S’Wai’yorh children, acted as surrogate parents, or donated genetic material for testing and production. This allowed a larger
and safer gene pool.
The S’Wai’yorh were a bipedal felinid form, with humanoid legs, rather than the digitigrade legs of Aslan (For those who have
seen Frank S. Shewmake’s Worlds Beyond RPG, look up the Swarr, they were the inspiration. WB is a Traveller knock-off
with a lot of interesting material, much of which I am adapting for use in my SFU).
A’rKa’durr was selected as the ‘homeworld’ of the new species, and they began colonising it some 65 years before the
gengineering project was completed.
About 10 years after completing the S’Wai’yorh project, the Zodians found that they had new troubles. The refugees arrived,
bringing word of events in the (unknown to the Zodians) Second Imperium. Nonetheless, the Zodians welcomed their brethren,
settling them with the S’Wai’yorh on A’rKa’durr, as it had the greatest capacity for the influx.
Elements of the Terran Confederation Navy, operating under illegal orders from Terra, had begun rounding up colonies,
building slave labor pools and taking children to raise as soldiers. This was all part of a conspiracy of various elements of the
UN to retake “their” empire back from Estigarribia’s successors. When they found that several colonies had gotten wind of
their operations and fled, they determined to find them, prevent word getting back to Dingir and Hub, and carry out their
original mission.
Eventually finding A’rKa’durr and the refugees, they attacked. Naturally, their victims lacked sophisticated military
technology, and so were hard-pressed to resist. Out of 3 million refugees, 1.5 million Zodian Humans, 800,000 S’Wai’yorh,
and 93,000 Aslan, only 2.7 million Humans, 450,000 S’Wai’yorh, and 27,000 Aslan survived. The planet was reduced to near-
un-inhabitability due to liberal use of nuclear weapons.
Aid from the Zodians arrived just in time to prevent complete genocide. The Terran fleet was destroyed, but at great cost to the
rescuers. The Zodian economy suffered great upheaval due to the losses, both in combat, and in aid to the A’rKa’durr
survivors. Since no one was certain if couriers might have escaped, the Zodians decided A’rKa’durr had to be evacuated, and
the planet abandoned. Any returning terran expedition would find a dead world, hopefully with no trace of fleeing survivors. In
order to further the deception, the planet was bombed further, reducing it’s biosphere to complete un-inhabitability by any
complex organism.
The Zodians offered refuge, with some trepidation, but the survivors declined, preferring to get further away from the Imperial
madness. Most of the survivors of A’rKa’durr, including 15,000 Aslan chose to go.
2 years were spent repairing, rebuilding, refurbishing, and replenishing the colony ships, mostly by those going, while the
Zodian colonies began a military buildup which ultimately proved unnecessary, as the Zodian worlds were not recontacted by
Humaniti until after the renaissance of the Third Imperium.
Eventually, provisioned and ready, the colonists left, heading coreward.
Before reaching the Rift, they precipitously discovered a point singularity at a jump point. 2 ships are known to have survived
the misjump, which took months to complete and stranded them so far from known space that no recognisable stars could be
identified. Even known extra-galactic quasars could not be found, leading to great speculation (never resolved) as to their new
whereabouts. Unknown to the colonists, much of their travel was also spent at high-sublight velocities, leading to extreme
time-dilation effects, further muddying the waters.

Part II – A New Home?

The local star density was unexpectedly high, and a number of inhabitable worlds were easily located within a 10-ly radius, so
the colonists chose a particularly lush world to debark on. They named it Tara 2, after their original homeworld (many times
removed, of course).
Naturally, disputes arose immediately over priorities. Some felt that setting up an industrial base should be the first priority, in
order to maintain their technology, and that the habitats could continue to provide food and living space until the factories and
maintenance facilities were online. Others were tired of living in habitats and wanted to set up an agricultural base first, leaving
industrialisation for later.
While the arguments raged a small group quietly moved to push their agenda. Calling for a “new direction”, after years of
sterile “tech-box” living, they persuaded the colonists to pursue an agricultural path. Acting as “advisors” and “agricultural
experts”, they worked to impose a central authority, ostensibly to coordinate farming efforts, with themselves in charge. The
major thrust of their “help” was to reduce reliance on technology, allegedly for long-term survivability, but the real intent was
to divert public attention to manual labor, and deprive the majority of tools, thus easing their control over the masses.
Calling themselves the Preservation and Sustainment League, they gained considerable influence, but failed to achieve the
degree of control they desired, although they had been successful in preventing the majority of Aslan and S’Wai’yorh from
being woken upon planetfall.
Using their access to the ships’ resources, they then staged a bloody coup, taking control of the habitats, and with them, the
high hand. Enslaving the majority of the colonists, the PSL proceeded to build a feudal society with themselves in charge.
Using the tuber techniques, they created an army, and added new, compliant slaves to build their society.
The enslaved colonists redubbed their new masters “The Directorate”, both as a play on history, and a jab at how the PSL
achieved power.
Some few colonists had already settled remotely enough to avoid the initial power grab. One of these, a secretive woman
answering only to ‘Radeaux’*, wandered into a Directorate farming collective one day. Feeling out the community, she finally
approached Anatoly Raskov and Ivan Grisichev ( add an umlaut over the ‘e’, which is 2 dots. Thus his name would be
pronounced ee-von greeseechyove), and proposed a revolt. Working quietly, they built a cell network and laid plans.
Eve Radeaux was the assumed name Meantime, Ian McPherson and Hirao Jizaoen (S’Wai’yorh male) had launched a
of an immortal woman, who, similar effort elsewhere. Both groups scouted out, reconnoitered, and surveilled.
unknown to others, also went by In that process, they learned that the PSL had built a bunker with a main archive
Anne, and later Marie Ravenault, and computer on Tara 2’s larger moon an various caches of useful technology on
Cheri Radot, among others. She another continent, thought to be uninhabited. It was actually the home for several
disappeared during the final battle in
order to protect her secret, although
she resurfaced later, under other
names, when she felt a situation
needed righting.
 colonies of tuber zombies and their production center. The PSL had been building
this alternate site since the original planetfall.
McPherson, being a smith by trade, was turning out simple handmade firearms,
based on sten guns and liberator pistols, while Radeaux had shown her cells how
to make black powder weapons. Both groups, Radeaux’s L’Resistance and
McPherson’s Partisans, fortuitously met while planning a strike on the same place.
Combining efforts, they coordinated an attack on a PSL munitions depot, killing
many
zombies, and, more importantly, making off with a supply of modern weapons and ammunition.
Naturally, the PSL retaliated for the raid, by executing a number of civilians and posting more soldiers. This only raised
sympathies for the rebellion. The abuses of the PSL continued to mount, along with the colonist’s anger. On a side note:
freedom fighters frequently wore hats of various types, usually midnight blue, sometimes black. This gave rise to the unofficial
name of “Black Berets”, and many non-members wore them as well, as a sign of support, and also to obscure the presence of
rebels. Later historians thought that the hats were a sort of uniform, when, in fact, it was actually a group imitation of Radeaux,
who wore a midnight blue beret most of the time (this item caused me some consternation when Gen. Shinseki decided all
soldiers in the Army would wear the then-Ranger’s black beret).
Since most of the tuber soldiers and slaves ( and many non-tuber PSL members, including the ruling clique) were of Chines,
Indian, and other Asian extraction, the public quickly came to see those ethnicities as inherently evil, and prejudice swiftly
arose. Many Asians (largely innocent) were snubbed, shunned, and occasionally lynched. Radeaux is said to have thought it
regrettable, but unfortunately necessary, while Raskov and Grisichev grimly approved. McPherson deplored it, yet recognised
the impossibility of stopping it while running a rebellion.
The revolution ground on for 20 years, gaining and losing ground, before the freedom fighters were able to retake the ships. In
the process, many Asians were killed, and afterwards, many more executed, some on trumped up, spurious charges of
collaboration, war crimes, and profiteering. For centuries after, Asians would be reviled and held down, and personal weapons,
voting, and political participation seen as civic virtues. Tara 2 became a libertarian’s paradise.
While Radeaux disappeared, McPherson, Raskov, and Grisichev elected to use the habitats, while it was possible, to colonise
other worlds.
Tara 2’s industrial base was too small to sustain the level of technology the colonists had arrived with, so the PSL caches were
expanded upon, and more archives built, then the habitats left to colonise 2 other worlds.
First, a S’Wai’yorh/Aslan colony was set up on a world they named Kra’durr. Few Humans chose to join this colony, and those
who did were absorbed into the population over the generations. The other colony, harking to both history and hope, was
named Novaya Amerika
Use of the tuber techniques allowed enough colonists and a sufficient gene pool, but in order to prevent the zombie issue,
archival information on cultures and nations was used to create ethnic identities. This allowed newborn tuber colonists to have
binding culture to belong to and forge personal identities from. Databases were duplicated on all 3 planets, providing history,
technological information, and so-forth, in both computer and hard-copy formats.
Since manufacturing had been a low priority initially, all 3 societies fell back to an early industrial level, although they knew
about more advanced technology. Computers were limited until economic growth spawned enough time, wealth, and effort to
rebuild industry the requisite level. Airships, gliders, sailing vessels, and horses replaced airplanes, subs, and cars, etc.
All 3 planets also effectively entered a period of isolation, where they knew about their cousins, but were unable to contact
them, and so, developed alone.

Dialect shifts also occurred. Standard (also known as Terran
Standard English, Anglo, Terranglo, and T-Standard, among
other things) had been developed as a common tongue on the
original homeworld, with efforts made to keep it standard
throughout the Terran Confederation, and later, the Second
Imperium. Understanding the importance of a common frame
of reference, the 3 colonies made efforts to maintain it, with
varying degrees of success. Everyone was taught to speak and
read it, in addition to any cultural languages. This would
eventually pay off upon recontact, as less work was needed to
Tara,
correct linguistic drift and rebuild Standard, although it did,
naturally, evolve somewhat from the form spoken at
planetfall. Because of this, and Humanities wide variety of
languages, Standard and other Human tongues had a
disproportionate impact on Pan-Gal, later. Some 65% of Pan-
Gal would be based on Standard and a panoply of other
Human speech. Standard itself, further evolved, would also be
a common tongue on the Frontier, second only to Pan-Gal, in
years to come. This is also why the metric system is used in
the Frontier.
The Isolation lasted 238 years, when Novaya Amerika
recontacted Tara 2 by means of a sublight cold-sleep
ship, the NAS Columbia, which also set up light-speed
Comm relays. A 50-year round trip was a major
obstacle, but sporadic contact was maintained for the
next 72 years, when a Novaya Amerikan researcher,
Tora Mbuto, working from the theories of Carter
Tarleton (a Taran physicist), built the first FTL Comm
device. Within 6 months, 10 units were enroute to
and within 10 years, the 2 systems were fully laced
together by an FTL network. A major projects to build
very large freefall rectennae in the Trojan orbits of
Novaya Amerika was near completion, which would
allow clearer comms with Tara, when an unexpected
consequence of the system appeared, in the form of
Alien transmissions. In what would later be referred to
as 350 PF, Novaya Amerika made contact with the
 Vrusk and Dralasites, who had only recently made
such contact with each other (and were still getting
acquainted). 6 years later, the first STL ships, the NAS
Nina, Pinta, and Leaf Erichsohn were launched toward
Vrusk/Dralasite space, and NAS Magnetos was sent to Kra’durr. Contact with the S’Wai’yorh was rocky, taking many years to
Smooth over. Meanwhile, efforts to rebuild jump drive technology were expanded enormously, but success continued to elude
the researchers. They had no working models, and the preserved databases had never included enough of the working
knowledge required to build it. Finally, help from Vrusk engineers and theorists provided the knowledge that enabled
Humanity to complete the drive, testing their first one in 310 PF. The first production series built, the Venturers, were used to
solidify contact with Tara. Finally, in 300 PF, the Venturer class vessels, Marko Polo and Vasco Dai Gama arrived in what
would eventually become the Frontier, 2 years after the Dralasites discovered the Fromeltar system, and 4 years before the
Nina, Pinta, and Erichsohn would arrive. The diplomats aboard Marko Polo met with the Vrusk and Dralasite representatives,
while Vasco Dai Gama explored. The Vrusk and Dralasites were deliberately not informed of the Dai Gama’s existence until
much later, adding to the initial diplomatic unpleasantness. Unfortunately, while the Human FTL network had sufficient
bandwidth for visual transmission in their home region, there had not been enough for visuals with the aliens, and so the
Humans were unprepared for the shock of giant, talking bugs, and walking, sentient silly-putty.
Treaties between the 3 races were still being negotiated several months later, in 299 PF, when Dai Gama discovered the
Theseus system and laid claim to it, thus establishing a Human pattern of ‘getting over’ on the other races. When the STL ships
arrived, Dai Gama sent them to Theseus to set up initial survey and pre-colony teams. A small but viable colony was in place
by 282 PF. Desultory trade and exploration continued, mostly at the negotiation level, as well as modest development.

Part III: Forging a New Frontier, and more skullduggery

Vasco Dai Gama began charting the Theseus system for resources shortly after the Nina, Pinta, and Erichsohn arrived. Several
months later, she transmitted a distress signal and was never heard from again. Background conversation in the transmission
indicated that she was performing a run to jump before contact was lost. Later historians theorise that this may have been an
early Sathar encounter. It was not. The Dai Gama encountered an abandoned Clikk waystation hidden in an asteroid, and came
under fire from the automated systems. The wreckage was retrieved by drone, and is still stored at the Clikk base, along with
the evidence in her data banks to prove the deliberate deceit practiced at the first meeting with the Vrusk and Dralasite. Should
she ever be found, the ramifications could undermine inter-species trust and cooperation. Why the Clikk chose to hide a base in
the asteroids instead of build openly on the planet is unknown. Dai Gama’s disappearance undoubtedly prevented her from
conducting further land grabs, which avoided complicating negotiations, as the other races had some difficulty swallowing the
tale that the colony in the Theseus system had been sent before contact. With no evidence to the contrary, however, the claims
had to be accepted, and all parties finally agreed to a Settlement Compact.
Several years later, in 270 PF, the final players arrived. Several Yazirian STL cold-sleep ships entered the Frontier, the
majority at Hentz/Araks, and the vanguard continuing on the Athor/Yast. They laid claim to both before being discovered by a
joint Vrusk/Dralasite/Human exploratory vessel in the Athor system. After contact was made and solemnised, and the
Yazirians claims to both systems agreed to by all parties, negotiations to add the Yazirians to the Settlement Compact were
surprisingly swift. The Yazirians were aggressive negotiators, but also canny and shrewd enough not to appear as if they were
greedy. After all, they had 2 worlds to settle already, and future colonisation could always be re-negotiated. This event was the
official Founding of the Frontier.
Part of the agreement stipulated that stars in a described region would only be explored jointly, which resulted in the joint
survey and charting, ten years later (260 PF), of the Prenglar system. In accordance with the provisions of the settlement
compact, the inner inhabitable planet, dubbed Gran Quivera, was selected as the site of the first fully integrated colony.
Developed on common ground, it will eventually become the Hub of the frontier, although not without a rocky start. The
initial colony site, optimistically named Junction City by the Vrusk lead negotiator, settled all 4 races cheek-by-jowl. Junction
City failed, due to multi-species group “cabin fever”, and eventually became a ghetto. A Dralasite commentator remarked that
it had become more of a “Junction Village”. Humans shortened the term to J-Ville. Today, J-Ville refers to any multi-species
ghetto. When it became apparent that the Junction City scheme wouldn’t work, Port Loren was founded, based on separate
quarters for each race. Over the years, the quarters broke down under integration and cross-migration, but provided the buffer
needed for the races to get comfortable living in close proximity to each other.
The other inhabitable planet was as then unnamed, so far as official frontier records show. However, since the planet was not
considered a good prospect for colonisation due to it’s high gravity, the governments of Tara and Novaya Amerika decided it
would be a good site to surreptitiously send certain groups to. At the time, partly due to the prejudice following the revolution,
and partly to the tuber colony cultural background packages, there were a number of Human cultural sub-groups seeking a
place to live apart from others, so that they could develop in peace, and pursue their own ideas without defending them to other
people. Hence, Tara and Novaya Amerika sent several small enclaves to the world they named Aventure. Part of the charter of
these colonies was that they would be forbidden air and space technology until recontact. The kingdom of Frahsai, the
Hibernian’s Haelander Confederacy, the Kitai Monarchy, Eirse kingdoms, and Nihon-gi Empire were settled on the northern
continent of the western hemisphere, with a suitable distance between each other. A group of S’Wai’yorh from Tara were
joined by some landless S’Wai’yorh from Kra’durr, who brought with them the secret of their crystal swords, settling the
smaller of the 2 southern continents and pursued seclusion from all outsiders. A later group of Ozzians and Merikhans settled
the coasts of the larger southern continent, also in the western hemisphere. They settled the coasts because there was more than
enough land to live there, and they had no desire to suffer the interior high desert of that continent. This may have been
unfortunate, as the Yazirians had also had clandestine designs on the same planet. The one colony ship they sent, however,
crashed in the high desert, and the colonists were stranded without tools. They soon reverted to savages, living in primitive
conditions, with no outside contact.
These various groups, and an unknown number of others that died out or disappeared, lived in seclusion for many years before
being recontacted when the Council of Worlds named the planet Morgaine’s World and officially opened it to colonisation.
Shortly after the dispatch of colonists to ‘Aventure’, the S’Wai’yorh began expanding to other worlds near to Kra’durr. Within
a year, they bump into another alien race, and attack. After the aliens show themselves willing to defend what is theirs, the
skirmishes cease, and a relatively peaceful coexistence begins. This started a period where the Tarans, Novaya Amerikans, and
S’Wai’yorh become more involved in local colonisation and commerce and interaction with the species in their region of
space. Fewer ships, colonists, and materiel are sent to the Frontier, while the Human hearthworlds focus on matters closer to
home. Eventually, an incident with the S’Wai’yorh flared up and caused a brief war. In the process of rebuilding, contact with
the Frontier was broken, leaving only legends of other worlds.

Part IV : Clean Up Your Own House First

Considering that the STL vessels took 50 years to reach Theseus, I assumed that they averaged 50%C ( bussard ramjets), and
started 25LY from Theseus. They were equipped with a modified Subspace radio, which the Dai Gama and Marko Polo also
carried. Much like today’s nuclear subs use ELF ( extremely low frequency) radio, where the message is broken down into a
loooong signal, unintelligible to anyone without an ELF set, they carried a Subspace coomm set capable of altering the signal
to account for relativistic effects on either the sender’s or receiver’s part, a technology that has never been mentioned to the
other races, or declassified, although it would be a straightforward engineering problem in the modern frontier. Just another
piece of evidence of Human perfidy, for those looking for clues to scatter around their campaign to brew a little trouble from.
Of course, the only place to find this out, aside from Novaya Amerikan classified records would be the wreckage of the Dai
Gama….
Or is it? Anybody remember Proton Fire? Matri ring any bells?
Let’s set the Way Back Machine for 335 PF. Having been in contact with the Vrusk and Dralasites via subspace
communication for 15 years, now, some in the government of NA ( Novaya Amerika) took thought to extending secure
coomunication methods to subspace. Since the Aliens were apparently quite intelligent, encryption would not suffice. A
project was commssioned at a prestigious University, which studied the idea, and finally came up with the ELF analogy, and
contributed a great deal to the engineering. Before the prototype could be built, however, an idealistic young student named
Cheri Radot, assisting in the project, found documents she was not cleared for. Realising the real intent of the ‘secure comms’
was to allow the coordination of military action in a backstabbing move against the aliens, she took her concerns to some
fellow students and selected faculty. Sabotaging the work, they took passage on a pioneer ship leaving NA. While the NA
government as a whole knew nothing about their escape venue, they were, unfortunately tailed by government agents
suspicious that these might be their fish. The ensuing struggle rendered Matri a ‘lost colony’, eventually developing into the
system described in the Proton Fire article of Dragon. The University might still have some records of the ‘secure comms’
project, if the system could be found and recontacted…
And of course, the only reason Matri managed to remain so isolated is the chaos back home at Tara and NA.

Part V : (Alpha) Dawn of a New Era

Starting to look more like a Timeline, now. Negotiations and diplomatic summits continue, with no real aim or goal, other than
to keep dialog meandering along. Meantime, life happens elsewhere.
Approximately 256 to 248 PF, piracy begins to be a problem in the Frontier.
254 PF Pan-Universal Corporation is founded at Gran Quivera, as the first fully multi-racial joint business venture.PUC is
backed by 3 major Vrusk Trade Houses, giving it rights to trade in their areas of business, the NA gov’t, 3 Yazirian clans, and
various Dralasite business beings. This allows it to begin with an inordinate amount of capital for a start up. It’s backers look
on it as a means of binding the Frontier closer, until the diplomats get around to figuring out that everyone belongs together.
249 PF Triad and Rupert’s Hole founded. Frontier Universal Corp founded as competition for PUC.
Records are unclear, but it is believed to have been 247 PF when PUC’s leading biological researcher, Dr. Astrin Vega, lost her
son to a premature aging disease. Her great loss drove her quietly insane, and PUC invested heavily in anagathic research.
5 years later, she succeeded in developing a DNA retrovirus to rewrite the longevity sequence – theoretically extending
lifespan as much as 5 to 6 times. PUC’s board backs the CEO, who orders further testing before releasing the product on the
market, being unsure of the quality of the data. Furious, Dr. Vega smuggles out time-release vials of her virus in many
outgoing cargo shipments to points all over the Frontier.
Unfortunately, the virus was not perfected, after all, and had unintended consequences. Of those humans past menopause, or
the male equivalent, 64% died within weeks. Some genetic defects caused the virus to kill the host, and new mutations crept in
when cosmetic details were re-written (mostly skin, eye, and hair color, although varying digits and other modifications did
occur). Further, while less lethal to non-humans, many aliens were affected as well, although usually to a lesser degree.
All told, 650,000 humans and 115,000 aliens died, and many more suffered debilitating mutation. The number of persons
suffering non-debilitating or cosmetic mutation has never been recorded. Dr. Vega killed herself in horror over her
handiwork,by deliberate exposure to her virus.
As a result of this debacle, PUC went bankrupt, and it’s assets were purchased by Frontier Universal. FU avoided the name
PUC, but found the corporate assets a millstone around their neck. Investing heavily in developing a treatment, FU foundered
within 3 years, only to be purchased in turn by the fledgling Galaxy Corp. GC had studied their predecessors, and waited to
enter the market until they had a workable treatment for the virus. Access to the PUC and FU files refined their work, and,
within 2 years, they were able to contain the virus and reliably treat surviving victims. This treatment more safely extended
lifespan to a range of 175 – 225 years in Humans and comparable amounts for others. GC gambled heavily on the purchase and
buying more PR than they could afford, and especially renaming themselves Pan-Galactic Corp when the final treatment was
announced, in 230 PF (by which time they had finally consolidated their position as PUC’s successor in volume, distribution,
and assets). PGC officially incorporated on Gran Quivera, and soon rose to eclipse all rivals, becoming a de facto government.