The Setting of SolarLink
“When mankind first moved to the stars progress was initially slow going. That was until the discovery of Zelta. Only small amounts of Zelta were found on a now forgotten comet that had passed near Earth, but it was enough that the invention of the Core and the WarpLink proceeded in the just a decade. What followed next was an exponential explosion of galactic space exploration, the establishment of the Union of Solar States, and the development of the SolarLink.
What a period of endless optimism it must have been. Galactic historians trumpet that at one point over ten thousand solar systems were identified and cataloged every day. Mankind spread across the galaxy to such an extent that we have become uncountable. However, at the same time we began to lose the ability to trace out our own species, optimism dwindled to a grim consensus, a realization, that we are truly alone.
You see, it wasn’t just that man couldn’t find other intelligent life besides himself, it was something worse. As our swimming pool got bigger, we became smaller relative to our position in our own world. They say that Earth still has uncontacted people, small groups where every person knows every other person, but no one beyond that. To them, the best hunter in their tribe is the best hunter in the world. The best hunter to ever live in the universe is another speck in the galaxy. People were lonely in cities, how lonely have we become in the universe?
Now, you can continue your moral pontificating, but I am offering you a job. Wouldn't you rather be the richest speck?”
~ Fabergé
The setting of SolarLink is the Milky Way galaxy in the year 3501 AD. Sometime before 2500 AD, the first flight to another solar system was achieved by a human. While successful, the trip was long and the individuals who made the journey did not return. Eventually, mankind found a "small" source of Zelta, a poorly named stabilized material with negative energy density. This was enough to get humans to find Omenpath, the first large scale source of Zelta in the galaxy (but not the last). The countries of Earth experienced an explosion of space travel that led to numerous conflicts, eventually leading to the formation of the Union of Solar States (U.S.S). The first Dominion of the galaxy. Dominions are a "unified" political entity of planets, these can include Empire-like centralized governments, such as the NGRE, or even loosely aligned planets, like the free-planets of Zyn.