Intelligence Entry - History of Humanity (2010-2105) feature

Introduction

This entry covers the most important events between present day and the Alpha Centauri Civil War (2105-07). Entries that cover the events after the outbreak of the Alpha Centauri Civil War will be present in the Intelligence section of the in-game Tech Room, along with this entry.

The Entry

Human history in the 21st century was characterized by a united struggle for survival on a severely polluted and overpopulated Earth. Industrialization and global warming had irreversibly damaged the planet's atmosphere, even before space travel became widely available. Governments did their best to suppress riots and quell emotions, but failed. The extreme right had a resurgence in popular support, and soon found themselves election after election in legislative office, very often with a majority of seats.

Propaganda was spread promising a new era of civilization outside the Earth’s dying landscapes$semicolon encouraging civilian assistance to accomplish this goal. Soon after, the government cut funding to a number of state responsibilities such as maintaining cultural traditions and financing the Church. Uprisings demanding the reintegration of these old values quickly became violent, and were put down by unequal force. Clever politicians and public relations gurus of the far-right successfully brainwashed the population into prioritizing technological advancement and research above everything else.

By unprecedented cooperation, the major superpowers, which were spearheading these global advancement projects, developed technologies that allowed terraformation of other worlds, and devised a plan to leave the Earth promptly. It wasn't until twenty years later that the theory could be put into practice. When terraformation of Alpha Centauri III, later named Yartis, was successful, a new era of humanity began. Under the aegis of the Unified Earth Government, the first settlers arrived to Yartis. An organization known as the Proxima Centauri League, longed for more power in politics, and used the Alpha Centauri Civil War as a means to further their cause.

Acknowledgment

Big kudos for bigchunk1 for grammar-checking the intelligence entry itself. I avow any typos or spelling mistakes that may be present in this version.