Considering that the era we are simming in is somewhat different to the other eras of Trek, and given that we only have four seasons of the TV show to go off of, I thought it might be a good idea to put up a bit of a guide as to how things are and how things work in the 22nd Century.

I'll put each category of information in a separate post so as to better split things up. If you have any ideas of anything to add to this thread, please send me a PM and I'll update the appropriate post. That way we can keep this thread as information-only.

Human and Starfleet History

Rising from the ashes of the Eugenics Wars of the mid-1990s - a covert hidden battle between genetically engineered "supermen" that was successfully hidden from the public until the later half of the 21st century - the era of World War III was a period of global conflict on Earth that eventually escalated into a nuclear cataclysm and genocidal war over issues including genetic manipulation and Human genome enhancement. World War III itself ultimately lasted from 2026 through 2053, and resulted in the death of some 600 million Humans. By that time, many of the planet's major cities and governments had been destroyed.

The Eugenics Wars were also at times referred to as World War III - likely due to the fact that the Eugenics Wars were classified until after the end of World War III, but nevertheless was critical in the issues that began the War.

The war was fought in an era where various factions were known to control their military with narcotics. Among the parties involved was the Eastern Coalition (also referred to as "the ECON"), whose direct attacks included those against the United States of America. In 2026, at the start of the war, Colonel Phillip Green led a faction of eco-terrorists that was responsible for the loss of 37 million lives. Colonel Green's activities during the war were often cited as "genocidal" and treacherous. He and his troops personally killed hundreds of thousands of individuals affected with radiation sickness and other "impurities," using as a rationale that it was necessary in order to prevent their passing on such traits to later generations.

The war culminated circa 2053, when several of Earth's governments met in San Francisco to declare a cease-fire, effectively ending the war. As a result of this world war, like the two before it, whole generations were nearly wiped out. The use of nuclear weapons engulfed Earth with an immense dust cloud, resulting in numerous nuclear winters. When it was over, Earth's atmosphere was irradiated with a detectably heightened amount of radioactive isotopes.

In 2063, a short time after Earth emerged from this global war, First Contact was made with the Vulcans, leading to increased recovery from the war for parts of the world. When news of this event reached Vulcan, some Vulcans, including V'Lar, were fascinated by humanity, but also worried, believing the idea that Humans had deemed themselves ready to join the interstellar community, so soon after the war, seemed premature. Indeed, for several years after first contact, various parts of Earth were still affected by what became known as the "post-atomic horror." In 2079, one such culture reverted to a state of near-barbarism that followed the credo "Kill all the lawyers," and "Guilty until proven innocent." Due to these and other factors, parts of Earth continued to be in "chaos" well into the early 22nd century.

By the early 2100s – less than two generations of the post-atomic horror – humanity was finally able to eliminate most if not all poverty, disease, war and hunger. Along with it, a lot of other things disappeared from humanity, including hopelessness, despair, and cruelty.

The post-atomic horror gave way to the stirrings of new attempts at establishing various unified world alliances, including the European Hegemony in 2123. These alliances were eventually instrumental in the establishment of the United Earth Government in 2130.

Starfleet was chartered in the 2132 as the primary space defence and exploration arm of United Earth. The primary authority of Starfleet was referred to as either Starfleet Command or UESPA (United Earth Space Probe Agency) under the command of the Command Council and was located in the city of San Francisco on Earth. The primary purpose of Starfleet from its infancy was to "...seek out new life and new civilizations, and to boldly go where no one has gone before." This quote is attributed to Zefram Cochrane, the father of Earth warp drives. Some Starfleet personnel worked in conjunction with the United Earth Diplomatic Corps.

One of the primary projects of Starfleet was to develop a viable and fast interstellar engine that would allow Earth to cross huge distances in reasonably short time. Despite some allegations of interference - or at least, a refusal of assistance - from the Vulcans, Earth had made notable progress in developing the warp five engine by the 2150s, largely due to Henry Archer, father of Captain Jonathan Archer.

When Starfleet was founded, the writers of the United Earth Starfleet Charter included Article 14, Section 31, thereby creating an organization of the same name that was allowed to bend certain rules in times of extraordinary threat. This organization operated completely autonomously for the following nearly 300 years.

In 2151, the Romulan cold war started with the assistance of the Enterprise NX-01 to the Andorians and the Vulcans. The Romulans, angered by the interference of the humans, began to place them higher on their list of threats to the Romulan Empire. With the status of the humans somewhat increased on Romulus, the Romulans began to attack the human colonies, started what became known as the Earth-Romulan War. Though it began in 2155, the war continued until 2160, when the Coalition of Planets eventually defeated the Romulans and began the talks of what would be the founding of the Federation.

In 2153, following a Xindi attack on Earth and numerous firefights that the Enterprise NX-01 had been involved in since its launch in 2151, Captain Archer requested a detachment of United Earth's elite military unit, the MACOs (Military Assault Command Operations), be attached to his vessel. Starfleet did not require one of these detachments be attached to their vessels until the outbreak of war with the Romulan Empire in October 2155, though captains were permitted to request a detachment from General Casey be assigned - a right that a number of captains took up well before the outbreak of war.


Key Dates:
2026 - Beginning of the era referred to as World War III.
2032 - First manned mission to Mars, the Ares IV loses its command module and pilot when Lieutenant John Kelly disappears into an unknown anomaly.
2036 - United Nations is replaced by the New United Nations, likely in an effort to prevent World War III turning into a nuclear cataclysm.
2053 - End of World War III with a ceasefire signed in San Francisco. Beginning of the period known as the post-atomic horror.
Between 2036 & 2060 - United Earth Space Probe Agency (UESPA) formed; likely an evolution of NASA, the ESA and other space agencies into a global entity.
2060s - UESPA launches numerous unmanned probes into space, including the Friendship 1 probe sent towards the Delta Quadrant.
2063 - First Contact with the Vulcans in Montana, North America.
2079 - New United Nations ceases to exist in the post-atomic horror following the Third World War.
2103 - Humans establish the first colonies on Mars.
2119 - Zefram Cochrane, aged 87, disappears from his home on Alpha Centauri.
2120s - The actions of the European Hegemony, which existed in the 2120s, would lead to the formation of United Earth. This is likely why the seat of government is in Paris. The Hegemony was likely an evolution of the European Alliance, which itself was likely the evolution of the European Union.
2130 - Earth's first planetary government, United Earth, is created with the signing of the Traité d'Unification in Paris.
2132 - United Earth Starfleet Charter ratified; Starfleet comes into existence, likely an evolution of the UESPA, which had existed since at least 2060. However UESPA remained a separate entity; perhaps within or working alongside Starfleet until
2150 - The last of Earth's nations joined United Earth, making it truly global.
2151 - Launch of Earth's first Warp 5 Starship; Enterprise.
2154 - Launch of Earth's second Warp 5 Starshipl Columbia.
2155 - Initial talks begin for the formation of the Coalition of Planets (January). NX-03 Challenger and NX-04 Discovery launched in January and May, respectively.


Future dates not yet reached in the sim:
2155 - Earth declares war on the Romulan Star Empire (October)
2160 - The humiliating defeat of the Romulans at the Battle of Cheron effectively ends the Earth-Romulan War. This victory was achieved by an alliance comprised of Earth, Vulcan, Andorian and Tellarite forces. Captain Archer's command of Enterprise comes to an end as the ship is slated for mothballs (Archer likely promoted to Commodore)
2161 - The United Federation of Planets is officially formed (treaties signed and ratified) in San Francisco by representatives from Earth, Vulcan, Andoria and Tellar. Starfleet becomes the combined service of the new government, and previous institutions are merged into it. This is counted as the official beginning of Starfleet Academy (previous institution has been referred to on this sim as Starfleet Training Command). MACO ceases to exist and is merged into the new Federation Starfleet.
2168 (or later) - The Prime Directive, or Starfleet General Order 1, is introduced.

Technology of the 22nd Century

Starship Technology

• Earth starships of the 22nd Century do not possess any form of energy shielding. Outer protection of the ship's hull is provided by hull plating that can be polarized and absorb a limited amount of weapons fire. The polarisation does not offer any additional protection against radiation beyond that provided by the physical hull plates. Hull polarisation is achieved through the application of electromagnetic power to the polarisation matrix incorporated into the hull plates, which has the effect of making the metal hull of the ship become harder by several orders of magnitude than it is in a non-polarised state.
• Unlike with deflector shields, transporters can be used by a starship even when its hull is polarised.
• Instead of phasers, Earth starships are equipped with phase canons; essentially large, turret-like guns which extend from ports on the ships hull. They are able to rotate in order to adjust the aim of the weapon. Their power output can be varied, but they are not as powerful as phasers. Phase cannons were preceded by plasma cannons.
• Until 2153, additional weaponry was provided through conventional or spatial torpedoes, which were rocket-propelled. By the time of the Xindii attack on Earth, Starfleet had developed a form of photonic torpedoes similar to those used by the Vulcans. These torpedoes utilised an antimatter warhead which could have its destructive output varied by the ship's tactical officer to achieve the desired effect. Antimatter to the warheads on NX-class starships was provided by the ships antimatter reserves. It is perhaps for this reason that starships still carried spatial torpedoes even after being fitted for photonic torpedoes, so that a ship could still fight if its antimatter reserves were depleted.
• Photonic torpedoes are an earlier derivative of the photon torpedo; the more powerful weapon variant used by the Klingons during the 22nd century, that would later become standard on Federation Starfleet vessels.
• Earth ships utilise a horizontally-mounted warp engine (they are not referred to as a 'warp core' until the 23rd century), and NX ships have a stated speed of warp 5. The maximum speed attained to date by an NX class starship is warp 5.2, but it could only be maintained for a short period of time. The maximum sustained speed of an NX class starship fitted with the post-2154 plasma injector upgrades is warp 5.06, but standard cruising speed is 4.5.
• The speed of travel at warp under the warp scale used in the 22nd century can be determined by cubing the warp factor and then multiplying by 1.6. E.g. Warp 3 = (3x3x3)x1.6 = 43.2 times speed of light. (This is based off evidence on the Enterprise TV show, rather than either the TOS or TNG warp scales. For ease of use, this is what we will stick to on this sim, as it equates warp 5 to be 200 times the speed of light.)

(More to come soon)

Alien Races and Encounters as of 2155

(Coming Soon)

Apocrypha

• Starfleet is not a militarised organisation in 2155. It is an evolution - either directly or indirectly - of national space agencies such as NASA, the ESA and so on. As such, there aren't as many protocols or behavioural conditions within Starfleet - there are no salutes (though officers do still stand at attention in formal situations), and interactions between members of the service are more closely analogous of those one would see within a government agency. The military force of United Earth are the MACOs - a separate entity to Starfleet.
• As a result of the civilian evolution of Starfleet, its ranks are - at least as of 2155 - much simpler than the ranks of the Federation Starfleet. Enlisted personnel are confined to three grades of crewman, whilst officers are restricted to four basic ranks; Ensign, Lieutenant, Commander and Captain. Admiralty ranks go through Commodore, Rear Admiral, Vice Admiral and Admiral. There are considerably fewer Admirals in Starfleet as a whole than one would find in later eras; all Admirals are based on Earth.

(More Coming Soon)