Federation Timeline
These events are gathered from from GURPS Prime Directive published by the Amarillo Design Bureau and from Memory Alpha.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1993 | Start of the Eugenics Wars, a terrible conflict on Earth, brought about by a group of genetically engineered "supermen " who were the result of an ambitious selective-breeding program. The leader of the group was Khan Noonien Singh. Within a year, Khan and his followers had seized control in forty Earth nations, which totaled roughly a quarter of the planet. Terrible wars ensued, in part because the "supermen" fought among themselves. Entire populations were bombed out of existence, and Earth was on the verge of a new Dark Age. |
| 2018 | Advancements in sublight propulsion technology reduce the need for Sleeper ships for interplanetary travel. |
| 2020 | The United States of America establishes the Sanctuary Districts in an effort to alleviate rising unemployment and poverty. |
| 2026 | World War III begins over the issue of genetic engineering and Human genome enhancement. Among the major players in the war is Colonel Phillip Green, whose actions lead to some 37 million deaths. |
| 2032 | A manned Earth mission to Mars, the Ares IV, takes place under the command of Lieutenant John Kelly. However, the orbital module of the mission, along with Lt. Kelly, vanishes, stranding two astronauts on the Martian surface. No satisfactory explanation is ever found. |
| 2037 | The Earth spaceship Charybdis, commanded by Colonel Stephen G. Richey, is launched as the third attempt to explore beyond the Sol system. |
| 2038 | NASA loses contact with the Charybdis following a failure in the ship's telemetry system. |
| 2053 | World War III on Earth ends. 600 million people have been killed, numerous major cities have been destroyed or are heavily damaged, and most major governments are in ruins. One of the major combatants in the war was the ECON or Eastern Coalition. A post-atomic horror begins and will last for decades. |
| 2063 | First Contact (of public record) between the Human race and neighboring race: the Vulcans. Zefram Cochrane launches the Phoenix, mankind 's first warp-capable ship, from a remote location in the continental United States. Its brief warp flight is detected by a Vulcan survey ship, the T'Plana-Hath, passing through the local sector, and the ship diverts course to investigate. The Vulcans are already in contact with other space-faring races in the immediate vicinity (Andorians, Rigellians). |
| 2064 | Humans launch the first warp ships to explore the galaxy. |
| 2069 | The Earth colony ship SS Conestoga is launched with the mission of colonizing the planet Terra Nova. |
| 2070 | A group of North American Indians leave Earth in order to preserve their cultural identity and to find a new home. |
| 2078 | The SS Conestoga reaches Terra Nova. |
| 2079 | The post-atomic horror is underway: the New United Nations has ceased to exist, lawyers have been abolished (by execution) and martial law is still in effect in some areas of the world. |
| 2081 | Earth loses contact with the Terra Nova colony. (It turns out an asteroid struck the colony planet.) |
| 2090 | The Orpheus Mining Colony on Luna is established. |
| 2102 | The Earth survey ship SS Hokule'a is launched for deep space exploration. |
| 2103 | The first Human colony is established on Mars. |
| 2105 | The Earth colony ship VK Yuri Gagarin is launched. |
| 2105 | The Taurean system is briefly explored and a spaceship is lost near there. No satisfactory explanation is ever found. |
| 2112 | Human’s have Non-Tactical Warp drive (Impulse Engines, Maximum Warp Factor of 5.5 or 9 parsecs/day). |
| 2113 | The Earth United Government is formed. |
| 2132 | Earth encounters the Orions, a smaller star-faring culture toward the Galactic Rim border. The Orions quickly set up trade relations. |
| 2151 | First contact between Humans and Klingons (although the Vulcans had had occasional contact with them) occurs when a courier named Klaang crashes on Earth while pursued by two Suliban soldiers. |
| 2153 | The Xindi Incident begins when a prototype weapon kills over seven million people on Earth. Over the course of a year, the Enterprise (NX=01), captained by Jonathan Archer, prevents the Xindi from destroying Earth with a second weapon. |
| 2155 | The Coalition of Planets meets for the first time in San Francisco, Earth. It is a loose alliance of the United Earth, Vulcan, Andorian Empire, Rigel, Denobula, Coridan, and Tellar governments. |
| 2156 | A treaty between the Coalition and the Orions effectively brings the them into the Coalition of Planets. |
| 2156 | The Romulan War begins when Romulans invade Coalition territory. The Coalition fleet is motley as each member race has built it’s own ships. (During this war, no Coaltion member survives a face to face meeting with a Romulan.) |
| 2160 | The Romulan War ends with a cease-fire following the humiliating defeat of the Romulans at the Battle of Cheron. Orion support for the war effort had given the Coalition a major advantage. The Romulan threat drives the Coalition to rapidly create colonies and bases near the newly established Neutral Zone--an area of neutral space between the Coalition of Planets and the Romulan Star Empire. |
| 2161 | The Federation is founded in San Francisco, Earth. It is made up of Humans, Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites, Alpha-Centaurans, Denobulans, Rigellians, Coridanites, and several others. The Orions are effectively members, but manage to preserve some legal semblance of a semiautonomous zone. |
| 2182 | Federation forms Starfleet. Member races begin disbanding their 'national' fleets (which are non-tactical warp ships) in favor of the unified fleet (which are tactical warp with photon torpedoes). However, the Federation Council agrees to allow each planet to convert and control a few of their old ships. Ostensibly, this is to “facilitate training”; but in actuality, member planets do not yet entirely trust each other. |
| 2195 | First contact between the Tholians and Federation. The Tholians have no interest in suggestions for commerce and the free exchange of ideas. |
| 2199 | The Federation-Kzinti War begins with Kzinti as the aggressors. The Klingons provide the Federation with useful intelligence and tactical advice. Klingons are honored guests on Federation cruisers fighting the Kzintis. |
| 2199 | The Federation Council reluctantly agrees to allow member planets to keep a “squadron” of ships refitted with tactical warp and photon torpedoes. This legalizes the ever expanding size of the “training” units set up in 2182. |
| 2200 | Kzintis make gains against the Federation, capturing several key planets. |
| 2202 | Federation begins counteroffensive to regain territory occupied by Kzintis, and make steady progress. |
| 2203 | The Federation-Kzinti War ends. The Federation frontier is reestablished in it’s original location, creating a temporary border. |
| 2206 | Starfleet Marine Corps and the Federation Merchant Service are formally brought under the umbrella of Starfleet Command. |
| 2213 | The Federation Council (in an attempt to peacefully define a border) declares they will not attempt to control territory more than 4,750 parsecs away from their Primary Member Zone (i.e. Earth). Unfortunately, this limit includes territory claimed by both the Kzintis and the Klingons. |
| 2214 | A series of Klingon-Federation border incidents begin as the Klingons challenge the Federation imposed boundaries. |
| 2216 | Federation colony Aberdeen III (coordinates 3411) is found to be completely abandoned. No satisfactory explanation is ever found. |
| 2221 | First Federation-Klingon War begins with a Klingon attack on territory claimed by the Federation Declaration of 2213. |
| 2221 | Federation ship is found destroyed near the Romulan border. No satisfactory explanation is ever found. |
| 2222 | First Federation-Klingon War ends as the Klingons abandon their attacks and launch diplomatic protests over the new Federation border. |
| 2223 | The planet Aurora III (coordinates 2901) is colonized. It is the most coreward Federation colony at that time. |
| 2224 | The Federation Council passes the Federation Defense Act, creating National Guards for each planet. These are, officially, a reserve fleet for the Starfleet. In truth, member races are not convinced the Federation is ready and/or willing to defend their individual interests. (The Federation realizes that attempting to scrap these ships is hopeless.) |
| 2224 | Sixteen Orion ships and 9,000 skilled spacers mutiny and disappear. |
| 2228 | Orion Pirates are in widespread operation. They begin eliminating or co-opting non-Orion pirates that have been operating for decades. |
| 2236 | The Federation Council votes for a massive program of exploration toward the unexplored and uninhabited coreward regions. Aurora III becomes the staging area for the program. A Starfleet base station is built there. |