“It was the 23rd Century… Mankind’s darkest hour!”
-1 AS – The forces of the Alliance, hard pressed by the Coalition, made a desperate gamble for survival, and launch five (possibly more) sleeper ships, but only four supposedly make it (actually, one is sabotaged and only makes it to the edge of Sirius, while another is crippled in the escape and arrives somewhat late). Alliance forces at the time of the Exodus included the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Spain, Italy, and France. It is likely that the Italian and French vessels were destroyed or otherwise lost during the escape, as they do not appear in Freelancer.
1 AS – The Liberty arrives in Sirius and chooses a spot in the center of the sector, claiming a planet called “Manhattan” and naming its system New York.
~2-3 AS - The Rheinland arrives. Planet New Berlin settled.
5 AS – The Kusari arrives. Planet New Tokyo settled.
10 AS - Katsuhiro Kishiro genetically modifies Earth fish species to survive in New Tokyo oceans. Kishiro begins working on genetically modifying rice genome to survive Sirius conditions.
21 AS - Sleeper Ship Bretonia arrives late due to engine damage sustained during the escape. Planet New London settled.
44 AS – Valhalla Research makes unspecified breakthrough discoveries which will eventually lead to the development of Jump Gates.
50 AS – Yokohama Shipyard constructed by Samura in New Tokyo system, marking Kusari’s first orbital construction facility.
60 AS – Discovery of the Sigma-13 system and its vast reserves of H-Fuel.
66 AS - Bowex founded, begins operations in Bretonia. Receives royal charter 224 years later from Prince Harry XXI in 300 AS.
91 AS – Kishiro scientists working aboard Shinagawa Station perfect the mass production of Optical Chips using a common Polymer base, revolutionizing the industry.
~105 AS – Planet Stuttgart established as breadbasket of Rheinland.
~180 AS – West Point Military Academy built in New York system.
180 AS – First successful full-scale Jump Gate test completed.
181 AS – Universal Shipping cements reputation as premiere Liberty shipper, signs contract to handle all shipping between Ageira Technologies and Deep Space Engineering construction sites.
~200 AS - Planet Honshu fisheries collapse as the Redfin and other modified species of Earth fish are fished to extinction. Many Honshu residents (the ancestors of the GMG) leave the planet searching for other resources in the Crow Nebula; others join Kishiro Technologies.
~215 AS – Ageira Technologies mass production of Jump Gate components in full swing.
~220 AS - Displaced ex-fishermen from Planet Honshu discover vast reserves of H-Fuel in Sigma-13 system. Beginning of the Gas Miners Guild.
230 AS – Norfolk Shipyard constructed in New York system and begins operations.
280 AS – Ageira Technologies introduces Trade Lane technology.
300 AS - Gas Miners Guild establishes Sigma-13 system as primary H-Fuel production area. Early shipments back to Kusari space take several months to complete without Jump Gates connecting to the Crow Nebula.
310 AS – Bowex receives its royal charter from Prince Harry XXI of Bretonia.
312 AS – Freiburg Station constructed as clearinghouse for produce harvested on Stuttgart.
321 AS – Sakura Festival Coup: Shogun and palace guard surrounded by Samura-backed Kusari military forces. Shogun commits suicide; palace guards, led by Kozue Okamura, fight their way out and retreat to the Chugoku system, founding Kyoto Base and the Blood Dragons.
330 AS – GMG signs exclusive agreement with Samura for distribution of H-Fuel.
350 AS – Deshima Station constructed to house itinerant foreigners attempting to enter New Tokyo space from Liberty and the Independent Worlds.
350 AS – Osaka Storage Facility constructed by Samura to hold and distribute H-Fuel shipments mined by the GMG from the Crow Nebula.
~400 AS – Daumann gets contract to develop Omega-11 system.
410 AS – Daumann completes construction of Solarius Station in Omega-11 system at cost of 87 lives.
412 AS – Alster Shipyard opens.
450 AS – Exploratory expedition headed by Franz Schulman, financed by Daumann and the Rheinland government, stumbles into the Omicron Gamma system while mapping the far reaches of the Walker Nebula. Upon planetfall on Planet Crete, the entire landing party (save for Schulman) is killed; with Schulman as a hostage, the mother ship Schiller is taken over. Birth of the Corsairs.
450 AS – Planet Harris terraforming project started by Planetform. Scheduled for colonization in 820; delayed by Gaian attacks.
500 AS – Corsairs begin guerilla raids on unprotected outposts and ships, plundering supplies and equipment.
510 AS – Kishiro selects Planet Honshu to become location of its main Optronics manufacturing facility. Planetary boom begins. Planet Honshu becomes a primary source for Optronics and Engine Components in Sirius.
512 AS – A major accident at Alster Shipyard results in the deaths of several hundred workers. Workers form the Alster Union three months later; beginning of the Unioners.
521 AS – Trade Lane Dispute of 521/Rheinland-Kusari Trade Embargo. Rheinland and Kusari default on IC’s trade lane financing terms. Under the resulting Sirius Commerce Pact, Rheinland and Kusari are forced to pay tolls, but these do not amount to nearly the full sum IC put up to fund their Jump Gates. Interspace Commerce is forced to divest itself of its holdings in Jump Gate and Trade Lane financing in foreign systems. IC shifts emphasis from finance to interstellar shipping insurance. This move either spurred the development of USI Technology or was guided by the previous development of such tools.
521 AS – The Dallas Incident occurs in the Texas system. A Jump Gate research project goes horribly wrong, resulting in the destruction of Dallas Research Station. The explosion resulted in vast clouds of debris, dark matter, and radiation, and is rumored to have caused the opening of new Jump Holes in the Texas system. The Liberty government withdraws funding for research projects in Texas system, resulting in 50% unemployment on Planet Houston.
531 AS – Crime in Texas system explodes, rising by 300%, leading to building of many prisons on Planet Houston. LPI Huntsville orbital prison facility begins to fill up.
543 AS – Terraforming efforts on Planet Los Angeles fail, culminating in the Great California Drought.
550 AS – Ames Research Station established in Kepler system to study movements of the strange clouds of dark matter in the system.
550 AS – GMG conducts initial surveys of the Sigma-19 system, determines system rich in resources, but far distant from GMG’s usual markets. GMG explores options to finance Jump Gate into Sigma-19 with Kishiro Technologies in exchange for mining rights.
~590 AS – 80 Years War starts between Rheinland and GMG. War provoked by Kruger attempting to take over Sigma H-Fuel resources from the GMG. Daumann backed the conflict due to greed for military shipbuilding contracts. Rheinland government borrows huge sums from Liberty to finance war effort. The GMG is secretly financed by the Kusari government.
~600 AS - Outcasts encounter other Houses; decide upon strategy of hooking people (especially wealthy people on major capital planets) on Cardamine and starting an illicit Cardamine trade to infiltrate and control other Houses. Cryer Pharmaceuticals eventually discovers Cardamine and begins efforts to develop a synthetic, legal version of the drug. No successful substitute has been created as of the present day. Therefore, a long-term user of Cardamine will suffer serious health effects and die within months if not able to obtain another fix.
~600 AS – Mining, smelting, shipyard industries collapse on Planet Denver. Liberty elite begin to see Denver as alternative to Los Angeles for long-term habitation (especially considering the fifty-seven year length of the Great California Drought at this time). This marks the beginning of lower-class cleansing in Liberty, resulting in the eventual formation of such groups as the Liberty Rogues and Xenos. This in turn provokes a political backlash, leading to a prison-industrial complex and the corruption of the LPI.
600 AS – LPI Sugarland built to handle overflow from LPI Huntsville.
600 AS – Fuchu Prison moved to Shikoku system to house foreign prisoners.
602 AS – Shinkaku Station built in Tau-29 to provide Samura access to the abundant ammonia, Water, and Oxygen ice fields present in the system, allowing production of Fertilizers and Terraforming Gases.
603 AS – Nago Station constructed in Tau-29 by Kishiro to harvest Hydrocarbons to make the Polymers needed to make Optical Chips.
610 AS – Alster Union grows in strength, includes dockworkers on Altona Station above Planet Hamburg.
614 AS – Detroit Munitions founded by Ed Garner, begins producing Light Arms
620 AS – Planet Kurile discovered by the Gas Miners Guild.
630 AS – Fisheries throughout Kusari face impending collapse, prompting the initiation of rapid terraforming of ocean Planet Junyo in the Shikoku system using Alien Organisms.
642 AS – First publication of “Golden Chrysanthemum in Bloom” by Yuyu Matsuda, a young poet.
648 AS – Yuyu Matsuda implicated in botched assassination attempt against the planetary governor of Kyushu, commits seppuku. An increase in attacks on government personnel and installations follows. This marks the beginning of the Golden Chrysanthemum revolutionary feminist movement.
650 AS – Full-scale mineral survey pinpoints deposits of Boron on Planet Pittsburgh. Deep Space Engineering gets a development contract.
650 AS – Jump Gate to Sigma-19 system opened. Gas Miner Ogashawa stationed in Sigma-19 to begin full-scale H-Fuel mining operations.
650 AS – Freeport 2 founded in Bering system by displaced Texas settlers, Hamburg drifters, and other individuals looking for safe haven.
660 AS – Planet Pittsburgh Boron mining operation established by Deep Space Engineering.
668 AS - Battle of the Yanagi Nebula in Sigma-13 system. GMG forces ambush and crush the First Fleet of the Imperial Rheinland Navy in several hours of intense fighting. The Heavy Cruiser Kassel and its escorts attempt to flee, but are trapped and destroyed a short distance away.
679 AS – Bundschuh founded by group of New Berlin University students, gains support amongst liberal elite of New Berlin.
680 AS – Planet Junyo terraforming completed; Luxury Food (fresh fish) production begins.
680 AS – Treaty of Honshu ends the 80 Years War. Kusari ships are barred from entry into Rheinland, and must transfer their goods at Mainz Storage Facility in Frankfurt. Economic backlash from Liberty following the lost conflict ends subsidies for Stuttgart farmers union known as the WVS. Synth Foods gains complete access to Stuttgart in return for renegotiated debt terms. WVS begins long campaign of resistance to Synth Foods buyout of the impoverished planet. More radical WVS elements eventually coalesce into the LWB and begin attacks on Synth Foods ships almost a century later.
680 AS - Original predicted date of the Dark Matter Storm of 784. Ageira covers embarrassment by blaming and firing an elite programming team and several executives. This move eventually results in the formation of the core of the northern Lane Hackers.
690 AS – Tourists begin arriving in Edinburgh system to visit Planet Gaia. Cambridge scientists voice concern over enormous ecological damage caused by even the most regulated visits.
700 AS – Dresden rebellion. Bundschuh ships supplies “liberated” from Frankfurt to the Kruger & Daumann rebels. Official beginning of Rheinland Popular Revolution soon afterward.
702 AS – Rheinland Popular Revolution in full swing.
~700 AS – Liberty Freelancer Jim Bown visits Omicron Gamma and trades Consumer Goods for Artifacts. This marks the beginning of modern Artifact trade and Corsair Artifact smuggling activity, and with steadily increasing funding, a strong increase in the organizational size and sophistication of the Corsairs.
705 AS – Emperor of Rheinland overthrown; new coalition government established in place of the Empire. Kruger and Daumann are forced to pay substantial reparations to the new government and comply with the newly ratified Workers’ Rights Convention. Both companies are allowed to remain intact and escape full investigations, thus escaping with their proverbial hides intact. Daumann forced to transition from military contracts to commercial and civilian ship building.
710 AS - Sirius Commerce Pact amended to allow Interspace Commerce to build Roppongi Station inside Kusari space.
715 AS – “Business as usual” resumes in Dresden. Bundschuh driven underground.
715 AS – Vierlande Prison stationed in Hamburg system.
720 AS – Zoners on Freeport 2 tell Unioners to base their raids elsewhere; Unioners don’t go far, found Pacifica Base in Bering system.
723 AS – Battleship Nagumo constructed.
~730 AS – Freeport 1 founded in Omega-3 system.
740 AS – Cobalt is discovered on Planet Gaia. BMM suggests putting a mining base on Gaia to exploit mineral reserves. Gaians eco-terrorist movement founded.
745 AS – Battleship Mississippi constructed. Oldest ship still serving in the Liberty Navy; set to be decommissioned in 805 AS.
750 AS – Lane Hackers depart Ageira Technologies en masse, begin their wave of mischief.
752 AS – Founders Day Revolt in Bretonia. Mollys founded; first act is assassination of Sir Edmund Graves.
752 AS - Planetform begins Phase 1 terraforming operations on Planet Ayr in the Edinburgh system.
760 AS – Freeport 10 established in Tau-37 by the Zoners.
~761 AS – Falkland Base established in Tau-37 by IMG to mine rich Niobium deposits.
770 AS – Synth Foods marks control of 60% of Planet Stuttgart’s agriculture (will rise to 90% by 800 AS/Present).
~775 – LWB begins “war” against Synth Foods.
777 AS – Battleship Rio Grande constructed.
784 AS - The Dark Matter Storm of 784 AS affects the Kepler system, swallowing a Trade Lane along with the Nikko Maru. This prompts construction of the alternate route through the Galileo system as an "insurance policy" to ensure the stability of trade between Liberty and Kusari.
791 AS – Luxury Liner Hawaii stationed in Sigma-19 system
792 AS – Liberty Navy undertakes campaign against the Xenos in the Hudson system; Battleship Rio Grande earns fame.
~800 AS – “Present Day”: Destruction of Freeport 7, beginning of the events of the Nomad War.
~815 AS - GMG projected date of non-viablity of H-Fuel mining operations in Sigma-13 system. GMG to have all gas mining equipment moved into Sigma-17 system by this date.