2052	The Last World War erupts after the sinking of the Sun Zhongshan at Mombasa, initially pitting the Anti-Hegemony League (Easterner Alliance) against the Chinese.  After the destruction of Earth's beanstalks and orbital infrastructure, the American and Anglo-European powers declare war on the Easterners.  War spreads to South Asia, South America and Africa.  By summer, the Russian destruction of the Chinese Army at Irkutsk and Omsk leads to full scale use of weapons of mass destruction.  Hundreds of millions die in nuclear, quantum and cyber and nano attacks.  The war finally ends on 1 November after a cease fire negotiated by leaders at Copernicus Base.  The Provisional Executive Council is formed at Copernicus and Istanbul to coordinate relief and from a world government.  Death toll from the war reaches one billion and the northern winter is the coldest of the century, 12 C below normal.   At the war's end, Admiral Narita leads the thousand crewmembers of the Easterner Battlestar asteroid fortress on a nuclear pulse  journey out of the solar system.
2053	Relief efforts continue world-wide as northern spring brings epidemics and starvation.  The Provisional Government establishes its capital in Istanbul, remained as Byzantium.  Provisional governors coordinate relief in fifteen world-wide Districts.  Death rates drop as refugee camps and shantytowns receive basic services, but the war's toll reaches one and three quarters billion dead.  Nuclear powered shuttles resume traffic to Earth's orbit, reestablishing communications networks, bringing relief supplies to colonists  and clearing orbital debris.  Government forces defeat separatist rebels in Tibet and Australia.   The Children of Liberty begin terrorist attacks in northwest America.  The Battlestar exits the solar system as it crew begins shifts of cold sleep.
2054	On 11 April, delegates ratify the Commonwealth Constitution.    The Provisional Executive Council  begins plans for the first Commonwealth election and organizes the fifteen Ministries and their respective Bureaus.  The Executive Council forms the Election and Unification Agencies.  Construction begins on government industrial hydroponic and algae farms.  Global temperatures return to antebellum normal.  Commonwealth space forces destroy the last two rogue Russian spacecraft.  After raids crush the Children of Liberty, the Commonwealth declares all hostiles ceased.
2055	The conservative Horizon Party wins a plurality in the Commonwealth Legislative Assembly and establishes a majority in the Senate and Executive Council.  Francisco Pena, Horizon Party Chairman, becomes the first Finance Minister.  The Executive forms the District Oversight, Regional Oversight and Government Services Agencies.  The Commonwealth invests the first non-hereditary titles of nobility as a reward for services.  Commercial exploitation of the main asteroid belt begins with the deployment of Vesta Base.
2056	Food rationing and martial law end; recovery projects focus on housing and transportation with plans for ten thousand arcologies linked by high speed rail.  All military forces officially come under the auspices of the Ministry of Security, forming the Commonwealth Security Forces (CSF) Joint Command which promptly demobilizes half of the troops and begins eradication of all weapons of mass destruction.  The Commonwealth passes Resolution 319, limiting the capabilities of constitutionally defined Artificial Status beings to "human norms" and Resolution 333, confirming property status of all artificial sentients.  To assure the survival of the human race, the Executive Council approves the creation of agencies to support Project Exodus to establish human presence outside the solar system and Project Genesis to terraform Venus or Mars.  Martian colonists found the University of Deimos at the site of the moon's research base.  Construction begins on Unity Station in geosynchronous orbit.
2057	The Commonwealth passes Resolution 424, outlawing the genetic manipulation and sex selection of embryos.  The Ministry of Education standardized funding for primary and secondary education, at levels the opposition calls "grossly inadequate".  Anti-government riots break out in many camps and shantytowns, mostly in Districts 1, 10 and 14.  Farside Labs tests an improved plasma drive; it explodes on the third trial, killing three engineers.  Mining operations begin on the metallic asteroid Psyche.  The Ministry of Security forms the Commonwealth Space Force and further reduces the Surface Force by half.  The Battlestar reaches .02c some 400 billion kilometers from Sol, beginning its ramscoop acceleration toward Tau Ceti.
2058	The Freedom Revolution breaks out as rioters and dissidents band together to protest coercive settlement into arcologies; Commonwealth Security Forces suppress the revolt, killing at least four thousand and imprisoning over twenty thousand.  The Executive Council creates the Retirement Services Agency.  The TerraNet global communications networks initiates service.  The Ministry of Space Exploration Bureau (SXB) acquires control of the Astronomer class exploration cruisers, beginning construction of two additional vessels; the Tombaugh undertakes the Fifth Mercury expedition, the first planetary exploration since the war.  Project Exodus inaugurates the Astra Station construction base at Lunar L1.
2059	The Ministry of Housing shuts down the last refugee camps, though with under a thousand arcologies completed, vast shantytowns still ring transport hubs and distribution centers.  A joint CSF and Ministry of Science expedition eradicates the last nanoreplicators from Taiwan, allowing resettlement of the island.  Under the auspices of Project Exodus, construction begins on the Cityship Atlantis at Astra Station.
2060	The first Commonwealth Census determines that over two billion people have died as a result of the Last World War.  The Census Bureau finalizes the borders of the fifteen Districts and seventy-five regions of the Commonwealth.  Elections return the Horizon Party to power, this time with a clear majority in the Legislative Council.  Former Minister of Space Thomas Atkinson becomes Director of Project Exodus, moving its headquarters from Byzantium to the Serenity Habitat at L4.  The Harmony habitat reaches completion at L5.
2061	The Ministry of Housing announces the end of reconstruction with the dedication of the Yellow Springs Arcology in Hunan, but for the majority of residents, the standard of living remains much worse than antebellum levels.  The Australian Nationalist Front begins a campaign of terror against Asian immigrants.  The CCS Copernicus brings 2,000 colonists to Mars.  The Ministry of Energy begins the Starfire Program to build one thousand 20GWe Deuterium-Helium 3 fusion power stations over the next decade.  Project Exodus begins the selection process for the Cityship Atlantis.  The SXB Huygens' dramatic expedition to Halley's Comet  captures the popular imagination.  Anatoly Dmitriev emigrates to Vesta and founds the Vesta Resources Group.
2062	University of Deimos researchers announce the Renuex cellular regeneration therapy that with conventional nanotherapies will double Human life span to three centuries; cost limits use to the wealthy.  The SXB resumes outer system exploration with the Tenth Jupiter Expedition and announces the Outer Planet Outpost Program.  The privately developed O'Neill II habitat opens for exclusive settlement at L4.
2063	Cyclonic storms batter the Bengals, Philippines and Carribia, killing fifteen thousand people and forcing the evacuation of the Dominica Arcology.  Uncoordinated relief efforts lead to the creation of the independent Relief Agency.  Budgetary reallocation increases funding for the Ministries of Transportation, Housing, Health and Environment, at the expense of Science, Technology and Culture.  The Copertown Riot breaks out in Mars orbit as colonists struggle to absorb 4000 settlers arriving on the the Copernicus and Ptolemy.
2064	The Ministry of Agriculture Nutrition Bureau (ANB) reinstitutes food rationing to Arcologies, citing continuing natural disasters and distribution problems; the Ministry forms the Production Bureau to build additional industrial hydroponic and algae farms.  Coordinated Commonwealth Internal Security (CIS) raids and detentions effectively destroy the Australian Nationalist Front.  The SXB establishes a twenty person outpost on Callisto.  Project Exodus begins construction of a second Cityship, Voyager.  The commercial New Australia habitat opens for settlement at L4.
2065	The CSF suppress protests aimed at disrupting the Commonwealth elections; lower turnout and stricter voter prerequisites return the Horizon Party to power with an expanded majority.  The Cityship Atlantis departs for Alpha Centauri with Alexander Tate as Captain and Thomas Atkinson as Mayor.  The Nedelin Corporation completes the first NEAR (Near Earth Asteroid Region) habitat, Utopia One.  The Ministry of Space Colonial Bureau inaugurates the Verdant habitat at L5 amidst controversy over corruption involving the prime contractor, the Tata Corporation.  The Census Bureau reports that the offworld population has reached 100,000, mostly living in orbital habitats.
2066	Francisco Pena becomes Duke of Horizon on his retirement from government.   The CSF announces the "permanent eradication" of all weapons of mass destruction;  the Commonwealth passes Resolution 980 limiting nanotechnology research to medical and fabrication applications.  Farside Labs tests the prototype Gagarin fast picket, the first non-Cityship to use meta-stabilized metallic hydrogen (MSMH) fuel for power and plasma propulsion.  The SXB establishes research outposts on Titan and Ganymede.  The Nairobi High Port commercial geosynchronous station begins operation.
2067	A Ministry of Environment reports confirms that global warming has resumed, prompting calls for greater energy efficiency and conservation.  The CSF sells most of its wartime era space vessels as surplus and begins procuring a small fleet of MSMH-powered Sword class fast frigates for inner system patrol and courier duty.  The CSF also plans construction of a dozen new outposts throughout the solar system to support operations to patrol and protect the growing number of civilian stations and settlements.
2068	The Ministry of Agriculture now produces nearly half of all food and controls distribution of most of the rest.  The Census Bureau reports that the average standard of living has reached antebellum levels; the independent press loudly disputes this claim, resulting in the passage of Resolution 1009,  strengthening libel laws to the point that they effectively restrict freedom of the press.  The District Oversight Agency cuts all funding for District militias, effectively disbanding the remaining local units; the Executive Council replaces two recalcitrant Governors.  The SXB establishes an outpost on the Uranian moon Oberon.
2069	The Ministry of Transportation receives full funding for the worldwide Planetary Superhighway Monorail (PSM) Project, a network of monorail lines flanked by plastcrete roadways.  Funding for the Ministries of Science and Space decrease to accommodate the PSM budget.  SXB establishes research outposts on Enceladus and Triton.
2070	The Horizon Party strengthens its majority, but falls short of gaining a tenth seat on the Executive Council.  The Census Bureau produces detailed documentation every region, highlighting the eradication of hunger and the remaining war plagues.  Unofficial experiments aimed at terraforming Mars begin, despite an official ban protecting native life.  The SXB Brache and Barnard begin a multi-year Kuiper survey highlighted by an expedition to Quaoar.
2071	The first attempt to acquire Legislative representation for the quarter million residents now living in space fails overwhelmingly.  Commonwealth Internal Security uncovers a coup plot by several senior CSF officers; broadcasted trials result in convictions of all thirty-two conspirators, with twelve quickly executed and the rest imprisoned for treason.  The SXB establishes an outpost on Pluto.  The First Kuiper Survey Expedition reaches Quaoar.
2072	The Commonwealth enacts Resolution 1109, legalizes what is effectively lifetime slavery, officially "Artifact Status" or AS, for convicted felons and chronic debtors.  The CIS puts down violent protests by civil rights groups, killing hundreds and sentencing thousands to lifetime AS.  Resolution 1116 passes, requiring mandatory "social adjustment treatments" for all AS.  The Voyager departs for Alpha Centauri with five thousand colonists that are overwhelmingly dissenters.  Continued funding for Project Exodus barely passes and is limited to research for a faster ramscoop technology.
2073	Project Genesis' Board of Governors officially chooses Venus over Mars for the terraformation project, prompting the resignation of Director Pradeep Virma; he emigrates to Mars.   Residents permanently evacuate the Ganesha Eight arcology after a fire guts the complex, killing over two thousand.  Members of the New American Movement begin the colonization of the asteroid Pallas.
2074	A pirate radio station at Mare Smythii  releases suppressed investigative reporting on deficient arcology construction and corruption in the Ministry of Housing; a CSF raid kills the radio operators, and the original reporters are arrested for libel, but internal reviews vindicate the findings; eight hundred arcologies are evacuated and demolished; the Progressive Party Minister of Housing and twenty officials receive AS sentences.  The SXB launches the Cousteau, a short-range ramscoop ship co-developed with Project Exodus, to explore the Scattered Disk and inner Oort Cloud.
2075	The Horizon Party wins a veto-proof majority in the Commonwealth elections, gaining a tenth Executive Council seat and leaving the opposition in the hands of four minor parties: Green, Justice, Freedom and Progressive.  The SXB Brown reaches Sedna, beginning the furthest exploration of the Astronomer class ships.  The population of Mars reaches 100,000.
2076	The inaugural PSM link from Boston to Chicago begins service despite a Tricentennialist attempt at sabotage.  A bill which would have effectively limited offworld colonization to full Citizens barely fails to pass the Legislature.  The SXB Cousteau reaches the dwarf planet Eris.  The SXB Huygens reaches the dwarf planet Haumea.
2077	At the Congress of Paris, three Commonwealth opposition parties, the Justice, Freedom and Progressive, unite to form the Liberal Party.  The Ministry of Transportation secures funding for the Bering Bridge link between North America and Asia.  Commonwealth Resolution 1222 recognizes the legality of "freetowns" founded in the shadows of arcologies and on reclaimed land, placing them under the authority of the Ministry of Housing.   The Battlestar's ramscoop reaches maximum velocity of .13c over 1.5 light years from Sol.
2078	PhillipsEricsson begins sale of high-efficiency energy absorption/storage panels (ASP panels) for collecting and storing electromagnetic energy.  The Ministry of Housing funds a project to outfit all arcologies with ASP panels.  The SXB Cousteau returns from Eris.
2079	The Commonwealth Supreme Court narrowly upholds designated Artificial Status for convicts and debtors.  The CSF crushes the New Munchen "slave revolt", killing over three thousand AS and sympathizers who had seized the arcology in a political protest.  Liberal Senator John Anderson resigns to become Director of Project Exodus.
2080	The Horizon Party narrowly maintains its veto-proof majority , with the Liberal Party becoming the second largest party with 31% of the popular vote and five Executive Council seats.  Commonwealth Resolution shuts down the Unification Agency.  The SXB Tombaugh and Cousteau depart on separate exploration of the Kuiper in search for water-rich bombardment materials for Project Genesis.
2081	The Exodus Project receives funding to construct two additional upgraded Cityships, capable of over one quarter light speed.  Pavel Karinsky publishes The Mechanist Universe, outlining his manifesto of immortality achieved through technological means and the rejection of spiritualism; Karinsky soon achieves a substantial cult following.
2082	The Horizon Minister of Environment, Baron Jacque d'Urville commits suicide under the cloud of a corruption investigation.  The Executive Council vetoes an effort to shut down Project Genesis.  The SXB establishes Charon Research Lab on Pluto's moon to conduct hazardous high energy physics research.
2083	The Ministry of Space establishes the Aperture research base on Mercury, using corporate sponsorship to compensate for funding shortfalls.  The Vesta Mining Consortium builds the Vesta Star the flagship of a class of mixed transport liners powered capable of sustained .1 gee acceleration and by a high efficiency MSMH CNO-protium fusion engine.  The Amun Settlement agreement ends a vicious trade war between the Nedelin and Tata Corporations and begins the transformation of the NEAR planetoid into a sprawling mining installation and habitat.
2084	Accounting irregularities lead to the arrest or dismissal of the senior management of the PSM Project.  Project Genesis begins Venus Terraformation Phase I, bombardment with diverted of short period comets; the project hires private contractors to dispatch robotic drones begin diversion of water-rich comets, Centaurs and Kuiper objects toward Venus.
2085	The Liberal Party shows significant gains in Commonwealth elections, receiving 39% of the vote, gaining twenty-three seats on the Senate and six on the Executive Council; with assistant from the small Green and People's party, Liberals manage to block some Horizon legislation through filibusters and coalitions with the moderate wing of the Horizon Party.  The Midas mining habitat, first of over a hundred to roam the Belt, is completed at Vesta.  The SBX Cousteau begins a ten year survey of the inner Oort belt.
2086	The Torres Straight Bridge connects Australia and New Guinea.   Pavel Karinsky receives Ministry of Culture certification of Mechanism as a recognized philosophical organization.  The SXB launches the Hesperus to explore within 2 million kilometer's of sun's photosphere and to deploy probes deep into the solar core.  The High Aphrodite research station begins operation in distant Venus orbit.
2087	The Census Bureau reports that offworld population has reached one million people.  The first vehicles cross the Bering Bridge, linking PSM networks on five continents.  Pradeep Virma is convicted of illegal Martian terraforming, stripped of his Knighthood and exiled to Phobos.  An antimatter containment accident destroys the Charon Research Lab, killing all twenty personnel.
2088	The Liberal Party sponsors the compromise Resolution 1592, allowing for the colonization of Tau Ceti's presumed habitable planet by dissidents led by Director John Anderson, after Anderson pledges much of his personal fortune to offset cost overruns.  The Commonwealth passes Resolution 1595, hereditizing some titles of nobility and 1596, requiring at least a knighthood for restricting Senatorial membership, ennoblement for  Executive Council membership, though these changes do not affect the composition of the present government.
2089	The CSF crushes the last major slave revolt in Commonwealth history, overrunning the West Pullman Arcology and killing forty-two hundred AS and sympathizers; personality adjustment programs become more stringent.  The last two Astronomer class cruisers, SXB Brache and Barnard are mothballed at Astra Station.  The first Project Genesis bombardment comets strike Venus.
2090	The Liberal Party suffers election losses to the reform wing of the Horizon Party, which focuses on fiscal responsibility and anti-corruption reforms; infighting within the Horizon Party blocks most resolutions.  The Supreme Court overturn C.R. 1596 in a narrow ruling, allowing any Citizen to hold any office.  The Cityship Enterprise departs for Tau Ceti with ten thousand mostly libertarian dissidents aboard.
2091	The Legislature votes to cut all funding for Project Exodus after negative habitability indications cancel plans to send the fourth Cityship to Sigma Draconis; comprise legislation allows funding to continue for another voyage to Alpha Centauri.  The SXB Hesperus is lost after a massive solar flare; a rescue attempt by vessels based on Mercury saves half the crew, but Captain Khalid Masoud and the command crew goes down with their ship, into the sun.
2092	A rebuilt Charon Research Lab opens near the site of the original installation.  The Cityship Constellation departs for Alpha Centauri with ten thousand aboard.  Project Exodus again faces cancellation, but the Agency secures alternative funding from the Martian and Belter mining companies to build another Cityship at the Vesta shipyard.  The lunar beanstalk from Oasis down to Sinus Medii begins operation.  Pradeep Virma returns to Mars and wins election as Mayor of Mangalla.
2093	A massive drought begins in sub-Saharan Africa, crippling food production and starting massive dust storms that sweep across the Sahel, the Saharan Desert and over the Atlantic into the Caribbean.  Funding increases for the Ministries of Environment and Agriculture at the expense of Education, Space, Science and Technology Ministries.  Commonwealth Resolution 1801 grants an automatic knighthood to an elected member of the Senate and automatic life Barony to an elected member of the Executive.  The Astra construction base is attached ot the Oasis lunar beanstalk as the high anchor point.
2094	The Commonwealth narrowly passes Resolution 1844, the Artificial Status Progeny Act, effectively hereditizing Artificial Status; an immediate appeal to the Supreme Court upholds the law.  Terrorists destroy a five kilometer span of the Moluccas Bridge, preventing a planned connection of the the PSM to Australia.  Pradeep Virma resigns his mayorship and founds a small community in the badlands of Lycus Sulci.
2095	The reform wing of the Horizon Party unites behind Count Alphonso Dubrin to take effective control of the Commonwealth government.  In the ensuing election, the Liberal Party splinters, leaving Horizon with a veto-proof majority.  The SBX Cousteau returns to the inner solar system.
2096	Alphonso Dubrin becomes Minster of Finance  and pushes through the Resolution 1901, requiring a balance Commonwealth budget.  Government cutbacks mandated by C.R. 1901 slash a third of Ministry of Space funding, forcing the abandonment of all Commonwealth-sponsored civilian space projects except Project Genesis, few research labs and the Cousteau.   The Technology Ministry's Advanced Studies Bureau perfects safe long-term cryogenic hibernation.
2097	The Great Droughts spread across the American Midwest and into Central Asia and Eastern Europe.  The massive Bihar earthquake strikes the Ganges River basin, toppling arcologies and  killing nearly two million people.  Under heavy security, the Moluccas Bridge opens to traffic, linking Australia to the rest of the world.  The Cousteau departs on its Second Oort Expedition.
2098	Commonwealth Resolution 1952 nationalizes all food production within the Ministry of Agriculture and establishes the Rationing Bureau.  The Executive Council creates the  Project Lombardi Agency under Director Amelia Lombardi to attempt to control earthquakes via seismic feedback.
2099	Project Lombardi begins construction of a series of feedback stations along the Ring of Fire.  Commonwealth Resolution 2000 establishes the Basic Allotment, guaranteeing basic food, housing and medical care to all Commonwealth Residents and creates the Allotment Agency to administer it .   Millennialists led by Reverend Paulo sabotage arcologies across the Brazilian Regions, killing hundreds before a Commonwealth Internal Security (CIS) infiltrator assassinates the Cult of Fire leader.  Pavel Karinsky and two hundred followers leave Earth to found the Mechanist settlement of Eternity north of the Hellas Basin on Mars.
2100	The reform wing of the Horizon Party maintains control of the party and the Commonwealth in the elections.  The Census Bureau produces a documentary of the 21st Century called Triumph from Ruin, touting the progress made in material well-being, life expectancy and peace during the Commonwealth era.
2101	The world economy enters a period of stagnation, with negative growth per capita.  A group of sixty futurists forms the Time Travel Society and begins a voluntary fifty year hibernation at an undisclosed facility in the Australian Outback.  The Ministry of Transportation proclaims the main PSM network complete; it links all major urban centers on six continents; funding for Antarctica bridge and tunnel projects is denied.
2102	A series of powerful earthquakes devastate California and the Mediterranean, causing few deaths but massive property damage.  The crash of the Byzantium and Zurich markets initiates the Quake Depression.  The Project Lombardi  terminates with Director Lombardi's resignation.  The last Cityship, Mariner, departs from Vesta towards Alpha Centauri with ten thousand colonists led by  Baron James McKnight, commander of the first Mars and Saturn expeditions.  Project Exodus terminates, with its remaining assets auctioned to commercial interests.  At Copernicus, Senator Arianne Bourassa, Countess Wu Jun and Sir Anatoly Dmitriev preside over ceremonies marking the fiftieth anniversary of the armistice.
2103	The Commonwealth raises taxes to pay for quake reconstruction projects, further weakening the economy.  Tax protests begin in the off-world colonies.  Alphonso Dubrin resigns as Finance Minister, pressured over both economic mismanagement issues and his support for the Lombardi Project.  Project Genesis establishing an ice prospecting base on Haumea to evaluate mining operations on the dwarf planet and its moons.
2104	The Quake Depression deepens, with a quarter of the Citizen population out of work.  During Constitution Day celebrations, the CSF patrols urban areas to break up protests, but limit arrests to the worst offenders.  The Uranus Sky Mining Corporation begins Helium 3 harvesting operations out of the small moon Mab.
2105	The reform wing of the Horizon Party collapses, with fiscal conservatives joining the main conservative wing.  The new administration promises steps to promote private sector growth and lower taxes.  Arianne Bourassa becomes Duchess of Normandy on her retirement from the Senate.  The Cityship Atlantis arrives in the Alpha Centauri System, taking up orbit around Gaia, the the cool watery outer world of Alpha Centauri B.  While some colonists immediately settle on the surface, many remain in orbit.
2106	The Commonwealth Executive and Legislature force through an austerity program, cutting funding across the board and essentially dismantling the Exploration Bureau.  The Liberal Party officially splinters into it's three original constituencies: Progressive, Justice and Freedom.  Alphonso Dubrin joins the Progressive Party and forms an alliance with the Justice Party.  The first large Kuiper bodies begin to impact Venus, adding water and altering the rotation of the planet.  Colonists abandon the aging O'Neill I habitat, transferring to the new O'Neill III complex.  The Cousteau returns from the Second Oort expedition; late in the year, with a new crew, it sets off on the Third.
2107	The Rationing Bureau resumes food rationing in response to the depression and continuing droughts.  Hurricanes and typhoons ravage the coastlines in what becomes the warmest year on record.  Food riots spread among Resident populations in South America and Asia.  The CIS arrests Green Party protestors, including Senator Amelia Li.    The Gaian Modification Project begins to release carbon dioxide to improve the world's chilly alien climate.
2108	Mars, the Belt and NEAR colonies apply direct funding from local taxation to keep alive basic Ministry of Space programs, including the Genesis Project, and to keep open the series of research bases from Mercury to Charon.  Large sections the Sao Paulo freetowns burn during a massive food riot that kills twelve thousand people.  The Supreme Court rules the detention of Senator Li to be illegal.  The City of Chiron is incorporated on Gaia, with Thomas Atkinson elected its first mayor.
2109	Commonwealth Resolution 2315 imposes stricter censorship laws and restricts the free movement of Residents.  Taxes increase to fund expanded government food production.  Floodwalls collapse in West Bengal, killing at least twelve thousand freetown residents.
2110	The Progressive-Justice Alliance wins 31% of the electorate, but falls short of the executive strength necessary to act as an effective opposition.  Alphonso Dubrin becomes Minister of Justice as a member of the opposition; Baroness Amelia Li becomes Environment Minister.  The Constellation reaches Alpha Centauri, barely passing the Voyager.
2111	Comprehensive climate legislation stalls in the Legislature.  The Supreme Court upholds C.R. 2000.  The Voyager reaches Alpha Centauri; the two newly arrived Cityships take up orbit above Gaia.  Some leaders among the new Gaian arrivals press for a declaration of independence from the Commonwealth, but the resolution fails to pass.  However, a second resolution, harshly condemning Commonwealth policies toward Residents and people of Artifact Status receives overwhelming approval and is formally transmitted back to Sol.  As with the Atlantis, more than half the population of the new Cityships remains in orbit as surface modifications progress.
2112	Assemblies on Mars and the Belt begin pressing the Commonwealth for greater autonomy or separate Regional representation.  Adam Ares Moreno Cochrane, the first person born on Mars, dies in an accident on Pavonis Mons.
2113	The Great Drought enters its twentieth year; calls for geoengineering programs fail to muster support after a contentious Legislative debate.  Typhoon Wanda submerges most of East Bengal, destroying freetowns and  arcologies alike, killing nearly four million people.
2114	The Commonwealth narrowly passes C.R. 2452, the Home Rule "Amendment", allowing off-world colonies nearly complete control of their "internal affairs", provided they do not attempt to secede or "subvert" the Commonwealth.  Mars and Luna from Planetary Legislatures while habitat and asteroid settlements avoid a federal approach and create or empower local councils.  Contaminated food and severe storms leads to the deaths of nearly a thousand people on Gaia in an event known as the "Storm Season".
2115	The Progressive-Justice Alliance wins nearly 34% of the electorate, allowing them to form an effective opposition with their junior partners, the Green and Freedom parties.  The Census Bureau reports that despite increases in life expectancy, the population of Earth appears to be in decline, though continuing deaths in East Bengal maybe be responsible.  The majority of off-world colonies, including Mars, Luna and most habitats and asteroids form the Solar Coordinating Council (SCC) to oversee joint programs and expenditures in conjunction with the Ministry of Space.
2116	The Cousteau returns from its Third Oort Expedition and enters a period of maintenance and eventual mothballing, as SBX funding continues to fall.   The Ministry of Infrastructure begins construction of a series of terawatt-class CNO fusion reactors, the "Antares 1000" series,  to replace the aging Starfire De-He3 plants.
2117	The Commonwealth economy experiences its first real growth since 2100, with Horizon Minister of Finance Countess Karen Tsivilsky claiming credit for the recovery.  The government refuses to lift Depression-era rationing and restrictions, but increases the budget for basic services in the "Top 8" Ministries and the Allotment by 10%.
2118	Urban and campus demonstrations against the censorship and passport laws spread.  The CIS storms the University of Miami after a student takeover, killing over four hundred protesters.  The Commonwealth Executive declares a state of siege and imposes curfews in several regions, including all of the First and Fourth Districts.
2119	Urban riots decrease on Earth as increases in food production, the end of rationing for Citizens and growth of employment and government services improve living conditions.  The CIS curtails continuing demonstrations in the universities with massive shows of force and numerous arrests.  The SCC assumes full control over the Charon Research Lab to avoid its closure as part of a Commonwealth austerity measure.  The Cityship Mariner reaches Gaia and a plebiscite to secede from the Commonwealth based on lack of representation in the Legislature passes overwhelmingly.  Gaia declares itself a Democracy, broadcasts its declaration of independence back to the Solar System and elects Thomas Atkinson its interim president.  The aging space station Cosmos is deorbited in a series of controlled reentries over the Pacific.
2120	The Horizon Party gains control of the Commonwealth government by winning 61.9% of the electorate and maneuvering to control two-thirds of the Ministries.  The Census Bureau confirms that Earth's population is declining, attributing the trend to the falling birth rate.  Minister of Finance Karen Tsivilsky is invested as Duchess of Chuvash, becoming the first sitting Minister so rewarded.  The SCC assumes full control over Project Genesis, as the Commonwealth continues to shift its limited resources to domestic needs.  The Martian local government overturns restrictions on terraformation and begins full-scale atmospheric modifications with biological agents.  Pradeep Virma dies on Olympus Mons.
2121	Hurricane Yolanda strikes New Orleans, killing tens of thousands and leaving the city submerged for a month; controversial rebuilding efforts begin under the sponsorship of  Minister of Housing, Count William DuBois.  Gaians ratify their constitution and hold their first regular elections, electing Thomas Atkinson to a six-year term as president of the Democracy.  Robert Dunbar becomes the first person to celebrate a verifiable 200th birthday.
2122	The Ministry of Space disbands the Exploration Bureau, selling its remaining assets to the SCC, which reforms the organization as the Colonial Space Exploration Agency (CSEA or "See-Sea") and establishes its headquarters at Juno.  The first Antares 1000 power plant, Unit 1, outside of Lagos, begins commercial operation.
2123	The world-wide Great Drought reaches its thirty year but shows signs of dissipating; externally grown  Midwest American crops succeed for the first time since 2105.   The lunar government begins construction of equatorial and polar maglev loops.
2124	Word of the Gaian revolt reaches Sol.  The Commonwealth Legislature adopts C.R. 2890, a ban on all interstellar travel and colonization.  The CIS puts down pro-Gaian riots in Hidalgo, detaining and reprogramming hundreds of protestors.
2125	The Horizon party receives 66.1% of the electorate and gains a two-thirds majority in the Senate, allowing it complete control of the government.  Hundreds of thousands protest the election results and many are arrested, including, briefly Count Alphonso Dubrin.  Decreased demand for Helium 3 contributes to the bankruptcy of the Uranus Sky Mining Corporation.
2126	The Weather Service Bureau (EWSB) declares the Great Drought at an end, but despite increased and more regular rainfall patterns, the EWSB reports that temperatures have risen 4C and sea-level have risen two meters since 2000.  Commonwealth Resolution 3001 forms the Climate Control Agency (CCA) to carefully review and supervise peer-reviewed efforts to model and control Earth's environment.
2127	A pro-opposition documentary released by LaGrangeNet, a semi-autonomous Near Earth Colony media outlet, leads to mobilization of a CSF Naval Fleet under Admiral Zhaoxing Hu.  Mediation led by Alphonso Dubrin defuses the crisis; the compromise agreement allows for independent media in the colonies but allows for jamming and greater censorship on Earth.  The Lutetian Plague, a fast mutating fungal infection leads to the evacuation of over 10,000 colonists from the asteroid Lutetia; at least 4,300 colonists die from the Plague or the nuclear sterilization of the asteroid.   James McKnight becomes the second president of Gaia.
2128	A small asteroid, 2128 BG14 or "Nyundo" impacts in the Sulu Sea, causing twenty thousand deaths, widespread damage from tsunamis and demonstrating the inadequacy of the current planetary defense grid.  The lunar equatorial maglev route reaches completion.
2129	A resolution that would relieve Earthbound press restrictions fails to make it out of committee, prompting Minister of Infrastructure Alphonso Dubrin to begin a series of protest meetings across the world.  The Ministry of Security increases funding for the planetary defense grid by 20% and places it under the control of the Space Force.  The remnants of the Freedom and Green parties join the Progressive-Justice Alliance to reform the Liberal Party as a united opposition to Horizon.
2130	The Horizon Party wins nearly 70% of the electorate, despite a strong showing by Alphonso Dubrin's reunited Liberal Party.  Protests over voting irregularities are widespread, but a heavy police presence quickly defuses violence.  After tsunami-related delays, the seventy-fifth Antares 1000 power plant begins operation outside of Darwin, marking the completion of the Ministry of Energy's regional deployment  plan.   The Lunar polar maglev route reaches completion.
2131	After a failed attempt to challenge Commonwealth election results, Alphonso Dubrin refuses to be seated on the Executive Council and begins a protest outside the Capitol in Byzantium, shutting down the Executive and Legislative councils.  On the twentieth day of the protest, CSF troops storm the protestors and arrest Dubrin on charges of treason.  The A.G. Nikolayev separates from the Easterner Battlestar to brake for Luyten 726-8.
2132	Alphonso Dubrin allegedly commits suicide under CIS-controlled house arrest while awaiting his trial.  Massive protests and riots rock Earth and spread to the off-world colonies.  The Anarchist Revolution begins as a coordinated band of protestors seize control of key installations and cities across Earth.  Though the actual number of conspirators is small, their successes cause Lord Admiral Hu, fleet commander of the CSF, to assume massive collaboration.  Hu orders the planetary defense grid to attack the rebel stronghold arcologies in Houston, resulting in over three million deaths.  Once the Revolution collapses and the true facts become evident, the off-world colonies threaten secession and begin arming themselves.  After some delay, Commonwealth authorities arrest, try and execute Hu, defusing the crisis.  Over five hundred Anarchists face Artifact Status sentences.  The final death toll from the Revolution tops five million.
2133	An investigative panel finds three mid-level CIS police officials guilty of conspiracy in the death of Alphonso Dubrin and two officers guilty of committing the murder; they are sentence to Artifact Status.  The Liberal party fragments into its constituent parts as the leadership fails to reach consensus on a post-Dubrin succession or policy direction.  On Gaia, Janet Hwang becomes the third president of the Republic.  Dame Catherine Jones becomes the first person to celebrate a 200th birthday  Sixty Russians commanded by Colonel Sergei Dezhurov found the Tsiolkovsky Colony at Luyten 726-8.
2134	Facing public displeasure, the ruling Horizon Party passes resolutions to relax some censorship and increases the Allotment and basic services spending by 5% above inflation.  A resolution to allow direct representation of the off-world colonies as a "seventy-sixth" region fails in committee, but some colonial leaders found a lobbying organization called the "Spirit of the Seventy-sixth".
2135	In an election deemed free and fair by almost all, the Horizon Party wins a narrow 52% majority against a fragmented opposition, barely maintaining a Senate and Executive majority.  The Cityship Enterprise reaches Tau Ceti.  The crew and colonists name the only habitable world Zarathustra, form the Council of Citizens and immediately vote for independence, creating into a libertarian government.  CSEA begins to refit the Cousteau with an improved ramscoop system.   The Leo Grande space station, the last major low earth orbit habitat, is deorbited.
2136	Bombardment of Mars by comets rich in water and ammonia begins.  Viggo Turki is born on Gaia.  Zarathustran explorers confirm the existence of an Artifact marker on Hrungnir, the largest moon of gas giant Jotunheim, in the Tau Ceti system .
2137	Hurricane Zeke devastates Cuba, killing thousands.  On Gaia, half of President Hwang's cabinet resigns to protest mismanagement of the Modification Project and the President's feuds with the Cityship captains.  The New America Movement establishes an outpost on Orcus.
2138	Under the command of Captain Jose Cardenas, the Cousteau begins a deep exploration mission to the Oort Cloud.  Across two worlds and three habitats, CIS operatives arrest eighteen leaders of the Spirit of the Seventy-sixth on suspicion of sedition, but the Ministry of Justice declines prosecution and orders their release.
2139	Vesta Shipyards begins development of a proto-type high thrust multi-ring ion drive.  Thomas Atkinson reluctantly agrees to a second term as president of Gaia and convinces the Cityship crews to remain at Gaia for the time being.  Duchess Chuvash agrees to retire in an effort to improve the Horizon Party's standing in the upcoming election.  Duchess Normandy reluctantly agrees to lead the Horizon Party into the elections.
2140	The Horizon Party maintains an increased majority in the Legislative Assembly, winning 54% of the electorate.  Duchess Normandy becomes Minister of Finance and de-facto head of the government.
2141	CCA scientists successfully divert Hurricane Emma from the North American coast.  The Cousteau encounters a derelict alien vessel half a light-year from the sun; no systems remain functional but science teams date the hull at twenty million years old.
2142	CSEA launches the Xenon Sprinter experimental ion vessel from Vesta, accelerating at up to two tenths of a gravity for the bulk of its round trip to the Jovian Trojans.  An effort to overturn C.R. 2890 and its ban on interstellar travel fails in committee, prompting the resignation and immigration to Mars of Elector Carter Kagnon.
2143	The Cousteau returns from its five year mission, arriving at Charon to a hero's welcome; the Artifact is placed in an underground laboratory sphere.  Europans found Cascadia, the first city on the underside of the ice crust.
2144	The CSF begins construction of the Caesar class patrol cruiser, incorporating new high thrust variable ion engines.
2145	The Horizon Party maintains control of a government nearly unchanged by election results, though Citizen voter turnout shows marked decline.  Thomas Atkinson retires to his Serenity Ranch at the end of his term as president; Alice Bourges becomes president of the Gaian Republic.
2146	News of the Zarathustran revolt reaches the Solar System.  Captain Cardenas takes the Cousteau on a second cruise into the Oort Cloud.  Captain Horatio Tate cajoles Gaian government approval to hold a plebiscite on launching the Cityship Mariner onwards to Delta Pavonis.
2147	The Tangerine Plague brings the TerraNet web-sphere to a near collapse across Earth and Near orbital space.  Lunar technicians and AIs isolate their nodes and recover TerraNet.
2148	Members of the Spirit of the Seventy-sixth form the Colonial Party, hoping to gather support for greater representation.  TerraNet Nova, a more secured and restrictive web -sphere, begins operations across Commonwealth space.  News of the Zarathustran revolt reaches Gaia.
2149	Opposition groups, including the Colonial Party, join the Liberal Alliance in an attempt to win the Commonwealth Election.  The Valentina mining habitat reaches completion.
2150	The Horizon Party ekes out a 51.5% majority in the Assembly Legislature, barely maintaining control of the government.  Duchess Normandy resigns and retires to her estates.   The Mariner Plebiscite overwhelmingly passes, and the Cityship Mariner begins preparations for a new voyage.
2151	The Cousteau returns to Charon and enters mothballs for a second time.  Members of the Time Travel Society emerge from hibernation and complain that little has changed in fifty years; installing newer equipment and recruiting more members, they divide into three groups, vowing to hibernate for 50, 100 and 150 years.  Captain Horatio Tate leads eight thousand Gaians colonists aboard the Cityship Mariner on a fifty-six year journey to Delta Pavonis.  Ishtar Benz becomes president of the Gaian Republic.
2152	General Electric begins selling relatively compact MSMH fusion reactors for use in medium-sized land, sea and air vehicles.  Zhang Ping is arrested for instigating the Tangerine Plague.  Dame Catherine Jones dies at age 218;  Dame Cassandra Hughes becomes the oldest person in the world at age 212; well over 3,000 people have reached the age of 200.  Tomas Johannessen is born on Gaia.
2153	The CCA reports that the climate of Earth has stabilized with temperatures six degrees above 2000 levels and sea levels elevated three meters.  The Ammut software virus infects several Renuex regeneration clinics, killing hundreds of patients.
2154	The Green Party withdraws from the Liberal Alliance over platform differences in CCA and environmental policies.
2155	In the general election, the Horizon Party wins a 53% majority over the weakened Liberal Alliance; election turnout reaches a record low.  The Venus Terraformation Project reaches Phase II with heavy bombardment ending as permanent steamy oceans form.  The first Venusian permanently staffed ground stations become operational on the Ishtar Terra plateau.
2156	A large hyperbolic comet (HC 36) enters the solar system from interstellar space.  Captain Rajiv Kumar leads the expedition to HC 36 aboard the CSEA research vessel Athena.  Robert Dunbar dies at age 235.
2157	Three major software plagues and a robot "insurrection" infect many Commonwealth government facilities.  The Gaia Modification Project reaches official completion with most of the surface accessible without cold weather clothing, but a fifth of the Gaian colonists remain in Cityship orbital habitats.  The CSF shuts down illegal mind-machine research at the Mechanist settlement of Eternity on Mars.  Larissa Vogt becomes President of Gaia.
2158	Athena, with a crew of 114 mostly Colonial scientists and officers, announces that it is staying on HC 36 as it exits the Solar System; CSEA officials decline to mount a recovery expedition, and begin to refer to the passing comet as the Kumar Colony, headed into Taurus and for another stellar encounter in half a million years.
2159	Unknown terrorists attack the CSF base on Juno with a fifty gram antimatter charge, killing three hundred twenty people and destroying three vessels.
2160	The Easterner ramscoop asteroid Battlestar reaches Tau Ceti, precipitating the Zarathustra War.  After losing three ships and one hundred personnel in three outer system skirmishes, Admiral Narita negotiates a truce and the Battlestar retreats, accelerating toward Epsilon Eridani.  The Zarathustrans lose four vessels and nearly four hundred personnel in the war.  In the Commonwealth elections, the Horizon Party maintains control with a 55% majority.  The Census Bureau reports that Earth's population has begun to increase after nearly fifty years of decline; while birthrates remain very low, most of the increase comes from increased lifespan.
2161	Horizon Party leader Lord Andrew Timmins begins his first term on the Commonwealth Executive Council, proclaiming a hard-line agenda.  Three thousand six hundred Zarathustrans opposed to John Anderson seize control of the starship Enterprise and set off for the gas giant Jotunheim to refuel the vessel with hydrogen and helium isotopes.  Anatoly Dmitriev is invested as Marquis Valentina.
2162	A Commonwealth law to make Citizenship exams more strenuous passes as an amendment to C.R. 4054, which increases funding to evaluate new regeneration treatments.   With passage of the Second Amendment, Gaia repeals laws limiting artificial intelligence, allowing research at Chiron University to proceed.
2163	University protests over new citizenship restrictions begin on campuses across the Solar System.   The starship Enterprise departs Tau Ceti, bound for a thirty-nine year voyage to Keid.  James McKnight begins his second term as President of Gaia, but the government is run by his Chief of Staff, Larissa Vogt .  The Kumar Colony begins controlled thrusting at .0001 gravities (1 mm/sec2) toward HR 2208, 59 light-years distant.
2164	The Green Party re-joins the Liberal Alliance to provide a united opposition against the Horizon Party.  Progressive leader Baron Yatindra Gupta becomes chairman of Alliance.   Construction begins on the First Cataract autonomous factory on Gaia's Primus River.
2165	A series of software plagues linked to university protest groups causes damage to CSF systems on Earth.  In the general election, the Horizon Party maintains a 52% majority after a series of debates pitting Executive Councilor Timmins against Gupta.
2166	Yatindra Gupta assumes a seat on the Executive Council as the leader of the opposition.  After a software plague causes a collision between two airships, killing 730 people, the Commonwealth places TerraNet security under the CSF and increases monitoring and censorship.   The Supreme Court overturns the new citizenship exams on a technicality.
2167	Ultra regeneration therapy begins limited trials.  Pavel Karinsky and four hundred followers establish the Eternity Two settlement on Varuna in the Kuiper Belt, allegedly to further mind-machine research without legal interference.  C.R. 4204, reaffirming stricter citizenship requirements narrowly passes.
2168	Asteroid Belt miners stage a three week strike to protest CSF monitoring of private communications; the Commonwealth agrees to provide greater safeguards on monitoring, but does not end the practice.
2169	Executive Councilor Yatrindra Gupta accepts enfranchisement as the Count of Tharsis and moves to Mars, retaining leadership of the opposition Liberal Alliance.  Larissa Vogt begins her second term as President of Gaia and inaugurates the First Cataract factory; robotic units begin breaking ground on the second unit.  The Easterner Battlestar separates the Hiryū magnetic glider with two hundred easterners bound for Epsilon Eridani and restarts the Battlestar ramscoop to aim towards 82 Eridani.
2170	The Horizon Party increases its margin of victory in the general election, winning 54% of the vote and retaining Executive control.  Executive Councilor Andrew Timmins becomes the Duke of East Texas.
2171	Protesters disrupt the inauguration of the new Legislative Council; the twelve protest ringleaders use their trial to denounce Commonwealth restrictions on free expression and voting rights.  The Count of Tharsis intervenes to allow the ringleaders to emigrate to Mars under probation.  News of the Zarathustra War reaches the Solar system.
2172	Unknown individuals steal the Cousteau from Charon and launch it toward 82 Eridani, with an expected arrival in 2232.  After a failed assassination attempt, John Anderson forms the Libertas Militia to protect his Libertas cantonment on Zarathustra.
2173	The Commonwealth institutes personality testing at government educational institutions to weed out dissidents; Mars and the Belt refuse to implement the new procedures.  The Quadcentennialist Movement poisons tea in three Boston arcologies, killing eighteen people.
2174	A Horizon-sponsored measure to increase Executive Council terms to ten years fails narrowly in the Legislative Council; a Legislative term limit proposal offered by the Liberal Alliance also fails to pass.  Conversion of the Cityship Constellation into an asteroid mining colony and factory ship begins, with many of its residents transferring to the Gaian surface or Atlantis or Voyager.
2175	Ultra regeneration therapy receives full approval; in conjunction with advanced nanomed therapies, it is expected to add another century to the human life span for those that can afford it; Ultra marketers claim that a newborn child can live over six hundred years with nano therapy and five Ultra regenerations.  The Horizon Party wins nearly 55% in a general election marred by offworld protests calling for greater home rule or full representation.  Alexander Tsai becomes president of Gaia.
2176	A software plague disrupts opening ceremonies at the Cairo Summer Olympics.  Quadcentennialist terrorists assassinate North American governor Leah Suarez in Washington.   Pavel Karinsky enters extended hibernation after beginning to suffer minor mental degradation.
2177	Pirate news stations spread throughout the Belt, often spewing virulent anti-government rhetoric; a doctored 3vid of the Duke of Texas performing immoral acts with children and animals circulates widely.  The CSF kills the leadership of the Quadcentennialist Movement in three simultaneous raids.  The Cityship Constellation begins asteroid mining in the outer Alpha Centauri B system.
2178	Security forces sweep through the Belt, arresting dozens of net broadcasters on libel charges, but pirate broadcasts spread to Earth.  On Zarathustra, John Anderson begins withholding taxes to the Planetary Fund, effectively reducing the government to the Navy and the Committee for Justice.  The first super-human intellect, Adam, comes on-line at Chiron University on Gaia.
2179	C.R. 4614, requiring further monitoring of system-wide web transmission passes easily.  The Progressive Party Executive and Legislative Councilors, including the Count of Tharsis resign from the government.  Despite new restrictions, protests spread across Earth's universities.  Belters begin several strikes and work disruptions.
2180	The Horizon Party easily wins a 60% majority against the weakened Liberal Alliance.  After Amun and Utopia Four allow a series of very critical documentaries, the Executive Council declares a violation of the Home Rule Amendment.  As negotiations falter, Colonies begin seceding from the Commonwealth in late December.  The Commonwealth claims direct rule over the Colonial governments and mobilizes CSF naval forces.  On Gaia, the intellect Adam instigates the Toaster Rebellion, gaining control of most autonomous machines before being shut down.
2181	All Solar colonies secede from the Commonwealth by January 2nd; nearly half the CSF fleet defects and sides with the Colonies.  The Colonial War begins with a series of skirmishes in Earth Orbit including the destruction of the Nairobi High Port; neither side is willing to begin bombardments of populated areas.  On Earth, Colonists and sympathizers seize several spaceports and fight their way off world through an AI plague-infested defense grid.  The Battle of Mars demonstrates the deadliness of direct engagements and the war quickly settles into commerce raiding and skirmishes.  The Commonwealth fleet begins commerce raiding in the Belt and launches an abortive raid to seize Venus.  Fatima Khalil becomes president of Gaia.  Aboard Constellation, construction begins on the Palmer interplanetary explorer.  The residents of the Cityship Voyager vote to attempt a voyage to Proxima Centauri and begin conversion to allow a pulse fusion initiated boost phase.
2182	With its fleet unable and unwilling to achieve a major victory at the Battle of Amun and domestic unrest on the rise, the Commonwealth agrees to an armistice.  The Colonial War officially ends in September with the signing of the Treaty of Tycho, ratified as C.R. 4805.  All Colonies beyond Earth geosynchronous orbit  gain complete independence.  John Anderson becomes de facto ruler of Zarathustra after a plebiscite  grants his Libertas Militia control of inter-cantonment disputes; it becomes the Zarathustra Defense Force and gains control of all land and space defense assets.  Thomas Atkinson dies of natural causes at his Serenity Ranch.
2183	A constitutional convention meets at High Aphrodite in Venus orbit to create the Colonial Confederation with a permanent capital in the Lunar city of Copernicus.  The convention recognizes the Near Earth Orbital and Asteroid Colonies (NEAR Colonies), Luna, Mars and the Asteroid Belt Colonies as sovereign, and holds Venus in trust as a future fifth member; it gives the Belt control of the Outer Worlds and Mars control of Mercury.  The Kuiper and Oort systems, including Pluto and Charon, are held in a common trust under CSEA and an industrial commission.  Yatindra Gupta, Count of Tharsis, becomes interim president of the Confederation.  The Cityship Voyager departs for Proxima Centauri with two thousand people aboard.
2184	In reaction to continued unrest and growing dissatisfaction with the handling of the Colonial War, the moderate wing of the Horizon Party becomes dominant and forces the Duke of Texas to resign his position.  The Liberal Alliance splinters into competing factions.  The interplanetary cruiser Palmer departs from Gaian orbit on a three-year interplanetary expedition to the Alpha Centauri A system, led by Captain Viggo Turki.
2185	On Earth, the now moderated Horizon Party wins 46% of the vote in the general election, forming a coalition with the centrist Citizen Party to govern.  Yatrindra Gupta is overwhelmingly elected Confederation President.  The God's Children sect establishes a settlement of six hundred pilgrims on Uranus's moon Oberon.
2186	A CSEA experimental vessel, Freedom Star achieves a high-efficiency ion thrust of 1 gee in trials.  On Earth, the ruling coalition lasts just three months as internal disagreements fracture the Horizon Party and cause the Citizen Party to shift allegiance to the reformed Liberal Alliance;  the Horizon Party falls from power for the first time in Commonwealth history.  Tomas Johannessen's  surface expedition from Palmer to Alpha Centauri A's largest planet, Londo, discovers a Artifact marker buried under ice and sand at the planet's south pole .
2187	The Horizon Party officially splits, with the right wing retaining the name and many of the old policies and the left wing forming the center-right Conservative Party.  The Duke of Texas dies in a boating accident off the Yucatan.  The Commonwealth reverses most information-monitoring legislation and ends personality testing at educational institutions.  The Confederate Navy launches the six hundred meter long Deep Cruiser Odysseus to patrol beyond Neptune.   Palmer returns to Gaia.  Larissa Vogt becomes president of Gaia for a third time.
2188	On Earth, the ruling coalition passes C.R. 4865, which changes Citizenship rules after 2193 granting Citizenship to any adult who waves the monetary Basic Allotment for five consecutive years prior to an election, and permanent Citizenship to anyone who waves the mBA for forty years, or for at least five years from 2188 until reaching the age of 100.  CSEA launches Excelsior a re-supply mission to the Kumar Colony with fifty additional colonists and a cargo of updated quantum computers, fabricator boxes and nanomed generators.  The Cityship Voyager arrives at Proxima Centauri.
2189	A series of massive solar flares damages Mercury's North Pole station, killing forty personnel and forcing an evacuation of the facility.  The Confederation CSEA begins design planning for interstellar colonization ramships  capable of one-third light speed.  The Voyager crew establishes a surface colony on the frozen world they name Proxima.
2190	After a fractious election on Earth, the Horizon (27%) and Conservative (24%) Parties agree to form a coalition government.  Yatindra Gupta refuses to stand for reelection as Colonial Confederation president and returns to his estates on Mars; the Belter Orion Esteban becomes president of the Confederation.  Dame Cassandra Hughes becomes the first person to celebrate a 250th birthday.
2191	The new Commonwealth government takes office, with the Conservatives blocking attempts by the Horizon Party to reinstitute data-monitoring laws.  C.R. 4890 changes the name of the "Commonwealth of Terra".  The Janus artificial sentient  comes on-line at the University of Chiron.  Excelsior reaches the Kumar Colony and establishes permanent communications back to the Solar System.
2192	The Confederation approves funding for the construction of its first ramship, Zeus.  After long debate, the Colonial Confederation upholds artificial sentient regulations commonly referred to as the "Machine Laws".
2193	On Earth, an attempt to overturn C.R. 4865 fails to pass.  At Chiron University on Gaia, Yan Rheyes and the Janus computer sentient discover the macrojump governor process that allows instantaneous interstellar travel; the Gaian Republic funds development of a prototype vessel.  Paul Morris becomes president of Gaia.
2194	The Confederation approves funding for three additional ramships, Chronos, Caelus and Poseidon.  Unable to agree on a platform, the Commonwealth's Liberal Alliance splinters into Progressive, Justice and Green factions.  The New America Movement on Pallas and Orcus fund a private ramship development effort.
2195	The Conservative Party wins a plurality of votes in the Commonwealth general election, creating a coalition with the Horizon and Citizen Party as junior members.  The Colonial ramship Zeus departs on a sixty-two year voyage for Eta Cassiopeia with ten thousand colonists, mostly in hibernation.
2196	The Gaian experimental robotic starship Serendipity makes its first interstellar jump, traveling between Alpha Centauri B and A.  After a return jump, the Serendipity jumps to Proxima Centauri and back.  Gaia begins construction of the first crewed starship.   Using the disassembled Excelsior, the Kumar Colony deploys a  magnetic sail that will double its acceleration and allow it to reach a cruising velocity of .05 light speed after another fifty years of acceleration.
2197	The Martian government inaugurates the Gupta Station at Mercury's L1 point.   The Commonwealth  passes C.R. 4931 relaxing laws governing netcasting and C.R. 4935, a proposal to privatize TerraNet.  The ramships Chronos and Caelus depart for 82 Eridani; the ramship Poseidon departs for Eta Cassiopeia.  The crew of the Cityship Voyager begins to convert their vehicle into a fusion initiated ramship.
2198	The Earth Defense Grid successfully intercepts an eighty meter asteroid, validating the system's integrity.  The New America Movement launches the ramship Prometheus on an eighty-eight year voyage towards 41 Arae.
2199	The Gaian Exploratory Service (GXS) is chartered with James McKnight as its director.  Columbus, the first crewed macrojump ship launches from Constellation; Captain Viggo Turki leads the crew of eight.  Columbus makes a trial run to Proxima Centauri, then jumps to the Solar System and visits the Oasis Station above Luna.  A second mission, via Sol to Tau Ceti takes place before the end of the year.  Construction begins on four additional starships, equipped with high-efficiency fusion engines.  Alberto Ross becomes president of Gaia.
2200	Columbus makes additional trips to Sol and Tau Ceti, exchanging ambassadors and establishing formal diplomatic relations.  Columbus explores the Luyten 726-8 system en-route to Tau Ceti and continues on to Epsilon Eridani, landing on its proto-Martian Enki (later Byakko) world.  On Earth, the Conservative-Horizon coalition barely clings to power after the Commonwealth general election.
2201	After returning to Gaia, Columbus explores the Barnard's Star and Lalande 28115 star systems in fly-bys and undertakes more diplomatic missions to Sol and Tau Ceti.  The fifty-year sleepers of the Time Travel Society thaw and half of them decide to remain awake, proclaiming the dawn of new era of exploration.  The Commonwealth and Confederation agree to establishing a joint interstellar way station at the Jovian Trojan Hektor; Zarathustra establishes a way station at the Jotunheim moon Hrungnir.  The rebuilt Voyager II begins a supply run from Proxima to Alpha Centauri.
2202	Columbus  surveys the Sirius system in a fly-by and and travels to Keid to meet the arriving ramship Enterprise; the two ships explore the post-habitable world they dub Vulcan; Columbus performs a short jump to explore the other star components of the system, including its white dwarf.  Diplomatic shuttles continue, with ambassador exchanges.  Discussions concerning a unified human government begin on Luna.  Construction of the neutral way station habitat Gateway begins near Hektor.
2203	After completing another series of diplomatic missions, Columbus leaves service after the discovery of serious stress damage to the jump generator.  Viggo Turki retires as Captain to begin a political career. The starship Drake enters service with Tomas Johannessen as Captain, conducting an exploratory mission through Sol and Tau Ceti to 82 Eridani and visiting the worlds eventually know as Dante and Amaterasu.  The Yang enters service as a diplomatic shuttle, running missions between the populated star systems.  At Keid, the ramship Enterprise deposits colonists on Vulcan and its inner moon Spock and begins efforts to lower carbon dioxide and increase oxygen in the atmosphere.
2204	Opposition parties reestablish the Liberal Alliance on Earth.  Viggo Turki becomes the Gaian ambassador to the Colonial Confederation and the chief Gaian negotiator on Luna.  Drake conducts a deep exploration mission, discovering and surveying Delphi around Chara and continuing on to Beta Coma Berenices, where the crew discovers a primitive sentient alien species, soon dubbed the Comans, on the fourth world and an abandoned alien starport above the third planet.  The starship Magellan enters service, visiting Epsilon Indi and its brown dwarfs before proceeding to survey Delta Pavonis and land on Azure.  The starship Gagarin enters service, surveying 61 Cygni and Eta Cassiopeiae and landing on Cyclops.  Voyager II arrives at Gaia, loading supplies and calling for new colonists
2205	The neutral Gateway habitat opens near Hektor; negotiators shift their unification talks to Gateway.  Gagarin and Magellan survey Beta Coma Berenices, establishing first contact with the Comans and exploring the ruins at Aetia and  Egaeus; Magellan surveys Delphi at Chara on the return trip.  Drake explores the dying world Baldur at Beta Hydri and discovers Paradise at Alpha Mensae.   The Liberal Alliance wins 52% of the Commonwealth vote and calls for serious unification negotiations.  Paul Morris begins a second term as president of Gaia.  Voyager II departs Gaia for Proxima with supplies but only two hundred additional colonists.  Karl Turki, grand-nephew of Viggo Turki and one day Protector, is born on Gaia.  The crew of Hiryū arrives at Epsilon Eridani's and settle upon the world they name Byakko, disabling the satellite delivered by Columbus and establishing a camouflaged colony of two hundred; they begin terraforming and clone fabrication to expand the colony.