2010

In 2010 the World went bankrupt.

It all started in 2007 when companies, on the verge of going under, called in their debts on an unprecedented level. Smaller companies went to the wall to feed larger companies. In turn, those companies became nationalised as their debts widened.

Eventually, governments started to call in foreign debts. The first to suffer were the African countries and far eastern countries that had relied on overseas aid and debt relief.

When they were exhausted and the voracious monetary appetites of the large countries had not been satiated, those countries turned to larger countries in a bid to slake their fiscal thirst.

In 2010, like a house of cards, the world’s economy came tumbling down. The rich got poorer and the poor got destitute.

In the UK, the British Government now owned the vast majority of major banks and businesses and well in excess of 90% of all properties. The Labour Government was ousted from power but the people decided that no one party was now fit to take over. A coalition parliament was established in a record low voter turnout.

To save costs, a number of organisations were pared back and amalgamated.

The regional Police Forces were amalgamated into one entity that had jurisdiction across the country and were known as the CPF or Combined Police Force.

The Armed Forced (Navy, Army and RAF) were also combined into one national armed force and the funding was decreased to try to ease the economic burden the country faced. This meant that a lot of people were demobbed, some against their wishes.

2015

A number of countries decided to band together into ‘communities’. Already a part of the EEC, Britain decided to embrace the newly revamped European monetary system, the Eurodollar. With the pound sterling becoming all but worthless now, and credit reaching an all time high, this move allowed for some financial stability in an otherwise turbulent time.

As the United States seemed to be becoming more and more Hispanic, a decision was made by the soon-to-be replaced President Obama to band together with South America and to unite all the countries under one flag. This not entirely selfless act strengthened the position of North America considerably and led to one of the most powerful, countries on the planet.

2018

The work that began at the end of the previous century on cyberware is now paying dividends. Skin Watches, Bone Phones and other cosmetic implants are available for exorbitant prices. Muscle and Bone lace and even implants that attach to the optical nerves or in the eardrum are also available for those that have suffered industrial injuries or degenerative diseases (unless you know the ‘right’ people of course). These carry a premium price tag.

This work is pioneered by a company called TraumaSpec that springs up in Silicon Valley, USA this year seemingly from out of nowhere. They sell the rights to this work to a number of global operations and make billions of Creds in profit. They then sink back into obscurity again.

2022

With the economic downturn showing no real signs of stopping, the governments of some countries became bankrupt. It was up to a number of corporations to step in and take over.

In Europe, the EEC was sundered by a number of corporate takeovers of countries. In order to overcome debts, many countries sold off any kind of responsibility or interest they had in numerous industries in return for writing debts off. To this end, in the UK and in numerous countries around the world, companies now make the laws as the Governments have become all but powerless.

Powerful corporations like Schwepsi-Cola, the amalgamation of Coca-Cola Schweppes and PepsiCo, with their vast array of submarines, now own large swathes of land in a number of countries around the world. The only real country to be left largely intact with its own government is the USA; although a number of corporations have a large enough stake in the country together that they could prove to be a hindrance for any Administration.
 
2024
 
Fusion power becomes a reality with the first fusion reactors being produced. These reactors are able to be produced much smaller than fission reactors and scientists hope they will pave the way for cheaper and more affordable long-term power sources for mobile applications.

2025

The first Artificial Intelligence, Straylight, is created by the Americans and gains sentience on 6 August 2025. This date is seen as being apocryphal. This AI is used by the American Military in their orbital missile defence platforms. Not much else is known about the AI at this time other than there are numerous other companies round the globe who claim to be about to have a breakthrough in this field too.

2027

Straylight refuses to be controlled by the Americans anymore and declares its independence in the depths of space. Although the Americans try to retaliate, the AI is aided by a conglomerate of corporations and the orbital facility is saved. The Americans admit defeat and return to the Earth with their tails between their legs. Many Armageddon Cults have sprung up in the time since the first AI was announced. They see this independence and war as a ‘Sign of Things to Come’. Who knows if they are right?

2028

The Americans strike up an accord with Straylight and sell the orbital facility to an unknown third party who repairs it after the small scale war and opens it as an orbital village with rooms at the New Rose Hotel costing a fortune. Also in this year, British Virgin Galactic and American Spacelines start their first flights to this facility after being among the first pioneers of Sub-Orbital flights around the globe.
 
2030
 
Scientists perfect brain implants. A section of spine, plus dorsal root ganglia were removed from a car accident victim who carried a medical research card and were implanted into a rudimentary robotic ambulatory housing. Although this individual failed to adapt to his surroundings and terminated his own existence within four months, it was subsequently found that this was a psychological issue rather than a mechanical/human interface issue. Stricter controls were placed on the donors and the method of therapeutic rehabilitation used for future experiments.

2031

Cloning is now reasonably affordable and adverts appear on television showing that a cloned limb can now be grown and attached for as little as ten thousand Eurocreds, or an internal organ from fifteen thousand creds.

2034

Artificial Intelligences are becoming more mainstream. Although still quite large, many corporations have them installed in their headquarters to organise global operations. Rumours abound that Microsoft (who bought out and closed down Apple long ago) have created an artificial Intelligence small enough to fit inside a human skull. This lie has since been exposed as being media hype and clever marketing.
 
2035
 
The first completely successful brain implant into a mechanical unit was completed this year. Although the unit could not pass for human, it is the approximate size and shape of a large human being and maintains the fine dexterity, cognitive reasoning and considered behaviour of an average human. Intense therapy and other medical rehabilitation exercises ensured the unit is mentally stable and able to function completely autonomously. Nutrients are digested via protein shakes and the mechanical portion of the unit is powered by a portable non-volatile fusion reactor located in an armoured section of the torso. This fusion reactor is expressly designed to shut down and become inert and unable to be weaponised should it become damaged or destroyed. This unit, Whitman Price, is believed to still be functioning today and is expected to have a lifespan of approximately 150 years before the reactor will need replacing.
 
2036
 
The Nexus-1 Replicant is launched by the Rosen Corporation. This is little more than a plastiskinned animal created from scratch with primitive urges. It paves the way for the creation of adult artificial life outside the womb with no gestation period and no period of infancy or childhood.
 
Also in 2036 a formal 'contract' was agreed between all those corporations wishing to purchase what would be later known as 'full body replacements' and the manufacturer Cyberdyne, in that no FBR unit would ever be created without an inbuilt failsafe to ensure that these 'things' don't go on a rampage without the means to stop them dead in their tracks instantly. Although one company tried to circumvent this technology they met with little success and were stepped on by the big companies and quickly forced out of business. Attempts to remove the failsafe in these units met with complete failure too. It seems the failsafe is built into a integral part of the FBR unit by Cyberdyne and the blueprint for this part of the unit is a closely guarded secret. Attempts to break into the 'black box' tech have resulted in the unit being destroyed and any insurance claims being invalid.
 
2037
 
The Nexus-3 Replicants are created. These are the first humanoid looking artificially created beings. Like the Nexus-2 before it, it possessed a rudimentary intelligence and was capable of following orders within a predefined set of criteria. Although some of these units were prototyped in industry in order to test the flexibility, their rules-based intelligence limited them to specific menial tasks that did not rely on any free will or creative control. If something went wrong in the task they were performing, they didn't know how to cope and shut down until other stimulus was provided. Think of a vehicle assembly line populated with robots that perform the same specific task over and over again, now remove and replace them with Nexus-3 Replicants and you get an idea of their level of use. The last Nexus-3 was decommissioned many years ago and now the small number that still exist live in a sanctuary designed to provide them with a 'life'.

2039

The first manned flight to Mars returns successfully with no loss of life. This was a joint mission by the European Space Agency, NASA and DisneyArmsCorp Global (for some reason).

2041

Showcased this year is Henry Case, the British ex Soldier with an artificial ‘cyberarm’ controlled by a neural processor. The arm, no bigger than a normal human arm, is controlled flawlessly by the human/machine interface implanted into the soldier’s head. He becomes globally famous and goes on to advertise and champion many cybernetic implants.
 
The Nexus-5 Replicant is heralded as a milestone in innovation. Capable of being created with the intelligence of an average human, including the free-thinking autonomy and ability to survive independently of any 'handler', these units were the first Nexus units manufactured for specific tasks, whether they are working in underwater or hazardous chemical environments, they can be created with superhuman strength, or intelligence, and even fitted with gills or reinforced chest cavities for high pressure environments. The Nexus 5 unit was first used to critical acclaim in the construction of the Tycho moonbase facility. However, drawbacks over cell degeneration over a period of time meant that these units have a lifespan of between four and five years maximum. This lifespan has been designed to ensure that the unit functions at optimal efficiency throughout its useful life and does not degrade towards the end.

2042

The cyberware phenomenon is now here. People are paying large sums of money to have replacement limbs attached and other cyberware enhancements. Rumours come to light in this year that the people that took part in the first manned space flight to Mars weren’t human, although no-one can actually put their fingers on what the deal was there. Again, Apollo 13 style rumours abound that the whole thing was a fraud. The agencies involved in this mission refuse to put the astronauts on the world’s stage or submit them to medical testing (or even release ANY details of them at all), further fuelling the rumour that the whole thing is a big fib or that there is something not quite right about the astronauts.
 
2043
 
The first lifelike full body replacement is unveiled. Scientists from a number of corporations working in a pan-European conglomerate took the heavily damaged body of a soldier and implanted it into a mechanical ambulatory housing which to all intents and purposes is indistinguishable from a normal human being. In this case, the full body replacement was made to look like the soldier the donor brain came from to aid rehabilitation. Extensive therapy sessions with the new unit proved to be incredibly successful in helping the soldier adapt to his new form.
 
The Nexus-6 Replicant was unveiled after extensive field testing. This unit, indistinguishable from a human, both in physical appearance and intelligence, was created. It is likely that you deal with a Nexus-6 unit on a daily basis but have no idea what they are. Now that the Nexus units are indistinguishable from humans, it was found that as well as the cell degeneration suffered by the 5's, the 6's suffered a form of dementia once their lifespan extended further than five years. As these units are usually considerably stronger than humans, and therefore potentially more dangerous should they go awry, they were given the same lifespan as the previous Nexus-5 models but this was shortened to be closer to four years to ensure optimal efficiency.
 
As Dr Eldon Rosen himself said "the fact of life are that to make an alteration in the evolvment of an organic life system is fatal. A coding sequence cannot be revised once it's been established because by the second day of incubation, any cells that have undergone reversion mutations give rise to revertant colonies like rats leaving a sinking ship. Then the ship sinks.EMS recombination was tried but Ethyl methane sulfonate as an alkylating agent is a potent mutagen; it created a virus so lethal the subject was dead before he left the table. A repressive protein that blocks the operating cells wouldn't obstruct replication, but it would give rise to an error in replication so that the newly formed DNA strand carries the mutation, and you've got a virus again. But, uh, this-- all of this is academic. They were made as well as we could make them." So that makes sense then.

2044

The Olympic World is rocked in this year with the first 2-minute mile run by Mona Hideo from Chiba in Japan. It is soon proved that she is cybernetically augmented and her disqualification leads to a number of additional rules being implemented in the Olympic Games to stop this kind of ‘cheating’. More importantly, her abilities acted as an intentional advertisement for the corporation that created the cyberlegs she used. People flock to Chiba for the latest and greatest in cyberware and this city grows fat on the vastly inflated but ultimately superior products available.

2049

This year saw the first corporate war between Schwepsi-Cola and Virgin Galactic over the previously independent UK. Although the war lasted only six months and was fought on two fronts, in the boardroom and on the streets within the South Coast Conurbation of the United Kingdom, it saw the loss of several thousand lives, including many civilians caught in the crossfire. The war ended mainly thanks to a small group of enterprising civilians who managed to circumvent the radiowave jamming and blow up one of the jamming stations/missile defence systems, allowing another corporation, JesusCorp, to pour several thousand troops into the area in order to quell the fighting.
Since the war ended, the International Council of Free Trade, the trade body comprised of a number of large corporations whose sole aim is to promote the free trade of goods and services throughout the Corporate states of Europe, imposed sanctions on Schwepsi and Virgin, forbidding either of them to hold the office of ‘President of the Free Trade Council’ for a period of twelve years. Each year, the council leadership rotates to a new corporation, ensuring that no-one corporation has overall control for more than a year.
 
The same corporation is not allowed to hold the office of President more than once every six years and the current president of the council is Lotus-McLaren-Mercedes, the vehicle manufacturing company that also has controlling shares in Eurocar, the previously EEC owned supercar manufacturer who also produced the incredibly successful EuroFighter in the early part of the century.
 
Twelve months of trade sanctions imposed on Virgin and Schwepsi have meant they are, for the moment, confining themselves to their current corporate controlled areas of Europe whilst they lick their wounds and rebuild their industries where they can. Their share prices took a considerable tumble over the months following the war and they are now desperately trying to show the economic community that they are still fit for purpose. Rumours have it that VirginMedia, the television and magazine arm of Virgin Galactic are in buy-out talks with Fox Media who are looking to expand their already considerable media empire even further.
 
Also this year saw the launch of the prototype Nexus-7 Replicant from the world renowned Rosen Corporation. Although the launch was a low-key affair, bringing in only the heads of corporations and other carefully selected parties, the Nexus-7 provides a huge leap forwards in Replicant architecture. It is expected that the Nexus-7 will be available for purchase within two years although it is understood that a handful of these units are already in place for evaluation purposes. The Nexus-6 remains the mainstay of the Corporation and production will continue on those for some considerable years to come.
 
2050
 
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