Datalinks: Earth Before SMAC

[MysticWind]

Because I’m weird and wonder about these things, I’ve been making a list of facts in canon about Earth that existed before SMAC. The main sources I’m using are:

Michael Ely’s only stories
Michael Ely’s books (I only have Centauri Dawn available, sorry)
The Faction Leader Profiles on Firaxis’s site (did Ely write them?)
Anything within the games themselves (I only have SMAC)

Noticeably, I neither have the strategy guide nor the GURPS book. I’d be really grateful if anyone can help me on this project. I don’t think there are that many other sources.

In order to make this more readable, I’ll post what I have in installments. This first installment is about Russia.

First of all, I’d like to settle the issue regarding Russia. I think, based on the information from the profiles, from Michael Ely’s story, Russia is going along the same course as in our world. It’s possibly named the Russian Commonwealth, which is understandable since in our world it is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a bunch of post-USSR nations.

In the Firaxis profile, a “Russian Republic” is named. The Planetfall online story also has Zakharov described as having “the iron will formed in the latter day Russian Republic” Oh well, it’s probably just a synonym for Russia or the Russian Commonwealth. The only things of note that I’ve found out is that Russia experienced a stock market crash in 2058, though in the profile it says the word again, suggesting it’s not the first time it happened. Also, apparently Zakharov worked on speeders for skirmishes along the Bering Strait- was there a conflict with the U.S.? Dun, dun dun!
The other big questions are about China and the U.S. in the future. The rest of the world isn’t mentioned much, but I’ll post what I know. This is for posterity.

Please help, anyone. Keep the spirit alive.

[Commy]

I think somewhere the "Golden Wars" of China are mentioned, something about Yang being a General or something...I'm interested to know what that is all about...

Also, I don't think Russia actually started building the Unity, rather, it finished it and did the bulk of the project...

An interesting idea that will hopefully answere many questions...I wish you luck in your quest...

[Clear Skies]

Deirdre's 'origin' field intrigues me - 'Free Scotland'. Peaceful, or revolutionary?

[Frankychan]

I've read all three of the SMAC books.

As a fan of Yang, I say that Dragon Sun is probably the best one...followed by the last one. The last two are well written.

They don't really elaborate on the history. But if you want one different aspect on what happened, I would highly recommend "Joe"...fanfic here on Apolyton. While not necessarily canon, it gives you depth into the SMAC universe that I have yet to find.

(although I'm trying as a fan of Yang)....

[Frankychan]

---Clear Skies spotting----

[Clear Skies]

o_O

...wtf?

[MysticWind]

Okay... this is how it'll work. I'll do entries summarizing all of the info I have on a specific subject- either a country, or the notes I have from one of the canonical works.

For example, what I have next is on Michael Ely's works- the online story of Planetfall, and Centauri Dawn.

Ok, I’ve just reread the first Michael Ely novel, Centauri Dawn, and I made notes of references to pre-Launch Earth, as well as other things in the SMAC universe that are of interest:

Pg. 19- Perfects: crew members with near-perfect genetic profiles. I wonder if Earth had a serious mutant problem or something. Everyone from Unity seems pretty normal, though.
25- Putting people back into cryosleep is deadly.
29- Quicklink! A computer built into a uniform sleeve, linked to other citizens. Hope they’re waterproof.
39-40: Quicklinks have a light built in. Ho-hum, but I wonder if that’s covered in the GURPS book. Might be a good idea to jot down any info about the everyday tech in SMAC.
41: Marriage went out of style on Earth. W… T…. F?
Spouses are named Chosens. See above for comment.
67: Refrozen cryosleep subjects become decayed and blackened. I suppose you can use it once only in your lifetime. Hm, guess that discourages people from using it for immortality reasons.
89-90: Best description of Earth 2059. I’ll type it up some other time.
Oh, and Deirdre uses a memory card. They’re still in use.
103: Datalinks are “glorious sheets of multi-faceted crystal.” Makes me think of transparencies. They’re also called “optical” datalinks once.
127-130: Effects of nerve gas.
155: People were blinded in the Flash Wars.
174: Concussion hammer used as an engineering tool.
183: Flash War reference.

Now, from the pre-Planetfall online story by Michael Ely, here are more descriptions of tools used in the future:
Morgan dropped his hands and let the security escort unlock the organic restraints from his wrists. The restraints fell to the ground, already hardening into a complicated braided husk. Morgan rubbed his massive wrists and looked around the command center with an amused detachment.
a closed extensor pole with a gripping vice on the end. Where is the activation stud? He turned the pole toward her and his thumb found the Activate switch. The pole lanced open. The kickback rocked through him as the vice struck her beneath the chin, lifted her up and smashed her back into the edge of the hatch. He felt the pole move in his hand as she twisted towards him, her eyes hollow and empty, the vice caught in her throat.

He looked to his quicklink for notification of the trouble, and found it nonfunctioning, a dead flexible gray patch on his sleeve, his connection to the command center severed.

Weapons:
Psych or psyche whip
Concussion hammer
“organic restraints”
shredder pistol
submission rod

Killing hardware, from lightweight shredder pistols to more powerful machine pistols, atomic mortars, fusion drills, their dark hard forms reflecting their function -- threatening and aggressive.

As I recall, from the novel there were a few other weapons used: flame guns, a lot of rocket-propelled explosives described as “crude”, concussion grenades, one mention of flame grenades, penetration(?) rifles, and lasers mounted on the speeders and rovers. The Spartans also use a big laser cannon near the end.

[Clear Skies]

You need to read Dragon Sun. Really. It's the best of the three Centauri novels, and gives some wonderful insights into Deirdre's character in a way that Centauri Dawn doesn't for Lal. Plus there's lots of techie-speak

[MysticWind]

I might have to start a new thread to archive actual quotations from the texts. This is the part I mentioned above in Centauri Dawn that looks back on Earth in the year 2059.

Earth, 2059. Cities had grown faster and faster, covering the world with a cancer of metal and cement. These cities had become dominated by corporations and military dictators, or combined into massive governments that rose and then collapsed into smaller, more stable but more violent city-nations.
People lived everywhere, in every conceivable space and climate, in every kind of horrid living condition. “An indomitable will to live coupled with a life not worth living,” as one philosopher had described the existence of 99 percent of the human race.
People died from disease. They died from starvation. They died from being gunned down in lawless, smog-filled, vermin-infested streets. They died from cuts on rusty metal. The poor died at the walls of sleek, hi-tech hospitals that had become fortresses.
And the cycle of hate eventually culminated in a series of attacks by terrorists and by rogue nations using biological and nuclear devices.

Jahn watched, his expression hardening as the footage continued.
Footage of the first Flash War, a series of coordinated attacks launched in major Chinese cities by rogue guerrilla fighters known as the Fallen. Footage of biological attacks in the network of underground tunnels that crisscrossed the United States’ East Coast metropolitan sprawl, their effects magnified beyond anyone’s estimation when the pathogen spread to the urban rat population and got carried from Boston down to Atlanta.
Political instability tearing across the globe like wildfire. Fallout coming down like rain. The Seven-Minute War, turning India and Pakistan into blackened wastelands.
Jahn tightened his jaw against these images… he remembered the polluted, burning streets of New Delhi where he and his father had both served in the medical corps. He remembered his father assigning himself to border duty in order to tend to children and mothers who were beyond saving- blind and burned.
“The Middle East had long since gone up in flames by this time,” said Deirdre softly. “We had already seen the truth- that ancient hatreds could destroy civilizations- yet we couldn’t stop it And we watched it happened again and again.”
Children with black holes for eyes and bloody membranes for skin. Men with metal and plastic armor melted into their flesh, fused into their bone. Newborns with missing limbs, extra thumbs; stillborns with eyes in their chests.
And Jahn remembered the heat. Almost all of Earth had grown unbearably hot, from climate changes, and chemicals, and power plants, and fallout. Cool areas had become hot and dry, and hot areas like India had become furnaces, all but unlivable except for special “ice box” cold shelters. There were no trees and no birds, only insects that crawled the baking streets. Death shadowed the Earth, through every turn, through every orbit, all under an impassive sun.

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by MysticWind


Pg. 19- Perfects: crew members with near-perfect genetic profiles. I wonder if Earth had a serious mutant problem or something. Everyone from Unity seems pretty normal, though.

Doesn't necessarily mean there has to have been a problem with radiation or mutagenic materials.

There's certainly more than enough syndromes and diseases that people can be presdisposed towards having or developing or passing on via their genes.

Thalassaemia, Cystic Fibrosis, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Gaucher's....

[MysticWind]

Backstory I’ve learned from fanfiction

I’ve read two notable fanfiction on the Internet Archive of networnode.org for two faction mod sets: the Second Mission and the Juridic faction, starring Perry Mason.

I’ve discovered these things I’d like some confirmation on. They might be in the books after Centauri Dawn or referenced to in Alien Crossfire- either way, I’m unsure if there is direct confirmation that they are true:

1. Aki had neural grafting while on the Unity.

2. The fusion reactors were powerful enough to make the trip in 36 years at one-tenth light speed.

3. The ship swung around Jupiter to take advantage of the sling effect before everyone was cryofrozen.

4. The U.S. broke into several parts, for sure. The only reference to that in SMAC is that Miriam is from the “Christian States of America.”

5. The trip started in 2059 and really did end in A.D. 2100.

6. Psych whips work by striking the nerve receptors, causing pain but not harm to the body.

I'd appreciate some help in confirming if any of these are true.

[Mark123jansen]

I can confirm 1, 2, 4, and 6, not sure about 3 and 5 though.

[Illuminatus]

1. According to manual, she received the implant only during the last days of Unity (when she is awakened she does not bear the implant but she is punished for running experiments on ships computer during journey).

2. 11 percent actually, but yes.

3. No other data on this anywhere, but seems reasonable enough.

4. Christian States of America do exist, but also do the original states (as Ulrik is born and lives in 'original' states) so the CSA and USA coexist for a certain period.

5. Launch is dated July of 2060. Meteor crash is dated as late 2099.

6. Have no idea about that.

[Mark123jansen]

what meteor crash??? arent you confused with outpost?

[Illuminatus]

Originally posted by Mark123jansen
what meteor crash??? arent you confused with outpost?

When I said meteor crash I meant meteor impact, my apologies.