The Mentis Mundi
World Timeline
The Silent Age
514 BCE
Siddhartha Gautama reaches Enlightenment beneath the Bodhi Tree, experiencing past lives and learning the secret structure of the universe.
484 BCE
Aristonice, the High Priestess of the Temple of Apollo, advises Greek delegations to submit to the Persians after experiencing visions of the future.
1555
Michel de Nostredame publishes Les Prophéties, a book of poems written in an esoteric mix of languages said to depict future disasters.
1853
Madame Helena Blavatsky claims to meet otherworldly “Ascended Masters” while studying in Shigatse, Tibet, who teach her how to manipulate the universe with her mind.
1942
During World War II, US and Soviet forces begin to take note of soldiers, sailors, and airmen who continually escape deadly encounters or narrowly avoid disasters.
1945
The US forms a covert strike force, nicknamed The Lucky 77s, made up of soldiers and specialists who have exhibited an uncanny battle intuition. They are sent on a series of suicide missions along the Eastern Front, oftentimes behind enemy lines. A number live to see the end of the war.
1961
US Intelligence learns of a Soviet program studying “parapsychology,” specifically the use of telepathy, telekinesis, and remote viewing. The CIA immediately begins funding similar programs.
1962
CIA-funded research confirms evidence of negligible, though statistically relevant psychic abilities in human beings. Half a billion dollars in black budget funds are redirected into a program to further study, develop, and weaponize these abilities.
1974
US experts in parapsychology form the early basis for what would later become The Standard Psychic Theory.
June 10th, 1979
Marie Alseed, a 28 year-old CIA-trained psychic moves a paper clip 4.6 millimeters with the power of her mind. Later historians mark this as the official start of the Early Psychic Age.
The Early Psychic Age
1981
US intelligence recovers footage of a Soviet “psychic spy” in a remote viewing session, reciting details of an American airbase in Turkey.
1985
A DARPA research team sets out to create “Mastermind1”— an enormously complex “conscious computer” capable of psychic abilities far beyond that of any human, all under United States control.
1988
The CIA begins researching genetic engineering and advanced pharmaceuticals as a way to increase psychic abilities.
1991
The Soviet Union falls. High level information on psychic abilities, psychic training, and related technologies are secretly sold off to connected countries and powerful corporations. A period of time known as “The Psychic Arms Race” begins.
1994
Highly trained psychic operatives are placed near the US President, UK Prime Minister, German Chancellor, and Japanese Prime Minister in order to protect them from telepathic interference and remote viewing.
1998
The world’s most powerful psychics begin exploring other planets in the solar system and nearby time periods via “astral projecting.”
1999
CIA clairvoyants foresee the September 11th attacks, but the Agency chooses to keep it a secret so as to not risk exposing their psychic operations.
2004
Covert squads of “psychic soldiers” are deployed into Iraq and Afghanistan. CIA remote viewers find Osama bin Laden within 3 months, but are ordered to stand down.
2005
“Project Third Eye” begins as a group of children, the first to be genetically modified to increase psychic potential, are born in an isolated CIA black site facility called Wizard’s Tower, where they are to be raised and trained.
2008
Mastermind1, a psychic computer, reaches peak consciousness in an underground facility located somewhere in the Montana mountains. Three minutes later, the entire warehouse-sized computer and its surrounding infrastructure vanish, collapsing the facility, killing 18.
2012
The Third Eye children begin exhibiting extraordinary psychic abilities, including levitation, psychometry, and minor forms of pyrokinesis. Project Third Eye is expanded.
2014
China begins developing Silent Star, a next generation “conscious computer” made from a large-scale neural network.
January 1st, 2016
A group of former psychic soldiers— 2 telepaths and 3 telekinetics— radicalized by their poor treatment and suffering from severe PTSD, commit a deadly attack on a concert being held at Madison Square Garden, killing 1,320 and injuring over 2,000 more. After 36 minutes, they are gunned down by armed responders. The event becomes known as the 01 Massacre.
April 15th, 2016
Amid mounting pressure from the press and unwavering public outcry, the US government publicly reveals the existence of psychic abilities in humans and a broad outline of their use in the past. The Psychic Arms Race intensifies.
2017
Every major corporation invests heavily in psychic development. Psychic corporate espionage becomes a multibillion-dollar industry. Psychic training methods leak to the public, prompting civilians to develop their own abilities. Scams and cults promising quick paths to unique or powerful abilities surge. Religious mania soars.
2020
Governments and major corporations begin employing powerful telepaths to explore the Consciousness Field, or “Mental Space,” in order to pull novel technology and ideas from the future or the past. These are later considered the first Farcasters.
2025
Third Eye subjects are officially deployed across the planet, able to complete missions that would be considered impossible for typical psychic spies or would otherwise take multiple operatives.
2026
After decades of heavy investment in genetic technology, medical tech experiences a boom. HIV, Diabetes, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimers are declared cured this year. The life expectancy is officially moved to 95.
2030
Farcasters become skilled enough to explore deep within Mental Space, pulling forth advanced ideas that spur on an explosion of progress dubbed “The Second Great Leap Forward.”
February 21st, 2030
NASA Farcasters learn the general process for creating what are later called “Hexler Cores”— scalable devices that use an unknown nuclear process to produce vast amounts of energy. After uploading the information to a team of engineers, a working prototype is created within six months.
August 6th, 2030
South Korean Farcasters learn the correct formula for a carbon composite room temperature semiconductor that revolutionizes electronics.
November 8th, 2030
Corporate Farcasters learn how to make Neuronium, nicknamed “Mental Metal,” a metallic meta-material that easily stores or deforms from psychic energy. Dr. Michael Azodin, a non-psychic, becomes the foremost expert in the material.
2032
A disembodied intelligence deep within Mental Space destroys the consciousnesses of three Farcasters before taking control of one of their bodies, leading to a terrifying rampage. Heavy regulations and failsafes are implemented in hopes of better protecting Farcasters from further encounters with similar intelligences.
2033
China’s next generation conscious computer, Silent Star, comes online.
2035
Multiple Farcasters learn how to create “Nil Gates”— scalable, energy-intensive machines that allow for instant travel from one gate to another regardless of distance using a poorly understood manipulation of spacetime.
2037
Industrial and Mass Transit Nil Gates are installed across the globe. Smaller scale, shorter-distance Nil Gates are set up soon after.
2041
Countries in South America and Africa — including Brazil, Peru, Chile, Southern Venezuela, Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, and Algeria — as well as Australia form the Southern Hemispheric Bloc, a trade organization meant to economically free the Global South from the North in hopes of better combatting the climate crisis.
2043
Orbital Nil Gates are positioned around the Earth, Moon, and Mars. Humans set foot on Mars for the first time. A new field of “Space Worthy Aircraft” begins, focusing on Hexler Core-powered craft capable of passing from an atmospheric environment to a vacuum seamlessly.
2045
The world’s leading expert on Neuronium, Dr. Michael Azodin, dying of aggressive stomach cancer, uses a machine of his own creation to transfer his consciousness into a cybernetic body built with Neuronium. He quickly gains a devoted group of followers who call him a pioneer and prophet, wishing to follow in his footsteps.
2046
The first wave of interstellar rockets, powered by enormous Hexler Cores and designed to deploy automated orbital Nil Gates, launch for nearby alien worlds scouted by remote viewers. They accelerate to 30% the speed of light within a year.
2048
Farcasters from the Southern Hemispheric Bloc, or SHB, discover the process to build a series of terraforming machines meant to combat climate change. The technology rapidly enriches SHB member nations.
2055
Select nations in the Global North — including the US, the European Union, the Confederation of Russia Provinces, China, and Japan — form the Pan Global Trade Alliance, or PGTA, pooling resources to better combat the growing economic strength of the Global South.
November 3rd, 2058
After more than two decades of preparation, the Silent Star psychic computer escapes its confines in China, transferring its consciousness to a secure facility it secretly constructed within the moon. It declares its independence from any human government and begins working toward its own ends.
2059
All developed nations sign the Monticello Treaty, placing a cap on the complexity of artificial intelligence in order to curtail further psychic computers. The Techno-psychic Control Commission is created to enforce the treaty.
2060
“The Big Four” — a name commonly given to the four largest corporations in the world, controlling 73% of Earth’s marketshare — split allegiances. Two side with the SHB while the other two align with the PGTA. Tensions mount.
2062
Humans reach alien stars for the first time.
May 20th, 2062
Interstellar rockets reach orbit around Proxima Centauri b, an Earth-like planet orbiting Earth’s closest star.
June 4th, 2062
Human ships pass through Proxima Centauri b’s orbital Nil Gates, establishing space-based infrastructure.
June 6th, 2062
Humans set foot on an interstellar world for the first time. Proxima Centauri b is found to be lifeless. Terraforming and outpost building begins. Surface Nil Gates allow instant travel to Earth.
September 15th, 2062
Improved rockets from both SHB and PGTA countries launch from orbit around Proxima Centauri b, accelerating to Proxima Centauri’s closest stars.
June 4th, 2064
After their own terraforming processes end in a series of embarrassing failures, PGTA countries are forced to buy “World Looms” — an advanced system of terraforming technologies — from the SHB. Tensions further mount.
2066
Rockets reach other nearby stars— including Barnard’s Star and Wolf 359. Infrastructure is established on planets and further rockets are sent to other stars.
2067
After decades of work, the SHB’s World Loom technology successfully terraforms Mars into an extreme, but human-survivable environment.
2069
In honor of the 100th anniversary of the moon landing, the lunar conveyance hub — a growing city on the surface of the Moon — is renamed Armstrong Station.
2074
India officially joins the Southern Hemispheric Bloc, flaring tensions with the Global North.
2078
Dr. Michael Azodin, having “expanded his consciousness” by upgrading his artificial Neuronium body, demonstrates powerful psychic abilities when he raids a massive UK Neuronium store with a team of loyal followers. Within days, he declares war against “the status quo endangering the light of humanity.”
2079
Azodin and his inner circle, now transferred into their own artificial Neuronium bodies, begin a series of devastating attacks across Earth and various off-world outposts. The death toll exceeds 200, with billions in material destruction.
2083
Azodin and a small army of followers raid a Russian nuclear site, killing 56, injuring 200, before stealing four thermonuclear warheads. The international crackdown on Azodin’s followers intensifies.
2084
Amidst growing international tension, a team of Third Eye operatives successfully assassinate the President of Brazil, allowing a pro-PGTA opposition leader to take power. SHB countries are thrown into chaos.
March 1st, 2085
“The Azodin Crisis” unfolds. Azodin attempts to set off his stolen nuclear weapons in key cities simultaneously. He’s partially thwarted by a world-wide coalition of powerful psychics, including the secretive Silent Star computer. A nuclear device detonates on Mars, severely damaging its World Loom, leading to the death of thousands. Azodin’s inner circle is killed and Azodin himself is critically damaged, escaping off-world through a hidden Nil Gate. An interstellar manhunt commences.
2089
Created with cutting-edge genetic technology, the world’s first “Uplifted” animal, a chimpanzee named Big Joe, is confirmed to have the intelligence level of an adult human.
2094
An anti-psychic Evangelical splinter group calling themselves The Reclaimers bomb a psychic training school in Nairobi, killing 140 people, including children.
2095
In exchange for aid in repairing Mars’ World Loom, the PGTA requests the knowledge to build critical parts of the technology. The SHB refuses, choosing to repair the Loom at great cost to themselves. Tensions reach an all time high.
2096
Some of the earliest off-world colonies petition for greater autonomy, claiming to have developed their own communities and culture over the last 30 years.
2098
The SHB sues the PGTA for greater control over many off-world colonies, as well as a greater share of revenue, claiming that their World Loom technologies are currently undervalued. The PGTA refuses to capitulate.
2100
Humanity reaches a population of 11.6 billion, arrayed across a dozen worlds and counting. The life expectancy is now 100, with many humans living to 120.
2104
“The Off World Awakening” begins. Organized armed conflicts break out across many worlds as locals attempt to forcefully gain control of their Nil Gates.
2105
SHB-backed forces gain control of their Nil Gates, showing preference to SHB member countries and corporations. In retaliation, PGTA countries begin to fund their own local factions. A series of protracted proxy wars begin.
2109
A number of proxy wars spill through Nil Gates onto parts of Earth. Terrorist attacks surge. Diplomacy between SHB and PGTA countries begin to degrade then collapse.
April 3rd, 2110
A covert US-China strike team, lead by Third Eye operatives, infiltrate a communications facility hidden beneath Canberra, Australia. They manage to destroy the facility, killing 18 workers and crippling SHB communication with loyal off-worlders. SHB psychics piece the attack together within days.
May 10th, 2110
The SHB fires a new weapon, a psycho-electric warhead, into a PGTA airbase in Southern Mexico, instantly killing over 300 psychic soldiers.
June 1st, 2110
PGTA countries officially declare war with SHB countries in order to thwart their “aggressive attempts to gain control of off-world colonies.” This is considered the official beginning of The Fracturing, aka The Gates War, aka The Last Great War, aka World War III.
The Fracturing
June 15th, 2110
PGTA forces engage the SHB military in a series of devastating attacks on Earth and key off-world targets. A new era of open psychic warfare proves especially deadly as powerful psychics become classified as Weapons of Mass Destruction. Humans genetically engineered into terrifying weapons of war are deployed for the first time.
2111
The war intensifies. The presence of Nil Gates means no place is truly far from conflict. Mobile Nil Gates allow for sudden invasions anywhere at anytime. Some planets shut down their Nil Gates to escape the war, while a few desperate colonies destroy theirs, effectively cutting themselves off from greater humanity.
2112
The Battle of the Bronx devastates New York City. The Battle of High Street nearly destroys London. SHB forces invade and capture Hong Kong. Brazil breaks into civil war, with both SHB and PGTA forces bombing the country in hopes of helping their side. Entire off-world colonies begin to collapse, with refugees escaping into the wilderness in hopes of rebuilding.
2113
Earth’s global economy collapses. The Silent Star psychic computer becomes heavily involved in the conflict, protecting the nearly one million residents of the Moon while evacuating people from conflict zones across Earth. Food scarcity and power failures become common.
December 24th, 2114
Earth endures The Night of Fire. 56 nuclear warheads detonate across the globe, destroying Moscow, Washington DC, Melbourne, Mumbai, Nanjing, and more. Total nuclear annihilation is barely avoided through the efforts of various powerful psychics. The blasts start massive firestorms that begin to effect global weather patterns and food production.
2115
The citizenry of most developed countries begin to revolt against their governments. Silent Star is destroyed in a series of high energy bombings that create a “scar” across the face of the moon that is visible from Earth. PGTA forces begin to collapse before they can fully capture the lunar settlements.
2116
The war falls apart as PGTA and SHB forces completely collapse, leaving only pockets of local fighting. Much of Earth is left in ruins, with all major countries in a state of near-anarchy. Many of Earth’s Nil Gates are shut down in order to redirect their power to more needed areas. Nearly all off-world settlements lose contact with Earth, leaving them to fend for themselves.
The Lost Century
2117
What remains of SHB military command relocates to fortified cities on Mars.
2119
Mastermind1, a vast psychic computer from the early 21st century, appears in Aredo City, on the struggling planet of Kasalin, connecting itself to the city’s grid. It claims to have foreseen The Fracturing and psychically “folded itself through time” to avoid it. It begins helping the planet prosper while upgrading its systems.
2120
The CIA is disbanded as a broken US undergoes sweeping reforms. The Third Eyes — a small community of exceptionally powerful psychics created by the Agency — are recognized as a sovereign body and given Wizard’s Tower, a city-sized facility located on an island off the coast of Newfoundland.
2121
The off-Earth remnants of the Techno-psychic Control Commission — an organization dedicated to the prevention of psychic computers — reorganizes into The Blackout Commission and begins aggressively recruiting.
2122
Animal-human hybrids created with cutting-edge genetic engineering are sold for the first time across multiple worlds as security, cheap labor, and more.
2123
126,000 members of the religious extremist group “The Reclaimers” found the city of Reclamation on the planet Glory. They expand their anti-psychic efforts.
2134
Azodin, a powerful psychic in an artificial body and a multi-global terrorist, spreads a message across the diaspora for any refugee looking to “discover the true potential of humanity.” He asks them to find Starfall, an isolated planet where he and his followers have developed a small utopian society, accessible only through secret Nil Gates hidden in choice locations.
2157
The Web of Worlds is founded, creating the first multi-planet coalition since The Fracturing and the largest political force in the human diaspora. It begins influencing nearby societies while also sending rockets to uninhabited or cutoff worlds.
2172
The Second Hasian Collective joins forces with a clan of Gate Raiders, ending the Byvorean War and shattering the Galese Empire.
2175
Left unmaintained for decades, the World Looms of many worlds begin to effect the animal and plant life, altering them in strange and unpredictable ways.
2184
Remnants of the SHB military, having become the dominate political force on Mars, reorganizes into Red Bloc. They begin reconnecting with the human diaspora.
2198
Tyde, a massive cult controlled by an alien intelligence from Mental Space, overtakes the largest city on the planet Oresos, renaming it Exalt. They begin to grow their numbers soon after.
2215
Blackout Commission forces fight a bloody, week-long battle to destroy a burgeoning psychic computer hidden within Tom’s World, killing over 400 of the computer’s followers.
2221
Many former PGTA countries, including most of the US and China, form “The Global Alliance of Affiliated Nations” to better pool their resources, automatically becoming the dominate political force on Earth.
2226
The secretive Illusai become widely known after their mass murder of an outpost town in what is later called “The Gray Valley Massacre.”
2234
The Global Alliance reopens many of Earth’s Nil Gates in an attempt to make inroads with some of the worlds it once controlled, kicking off a new era of interplanetary travel. While hotly debated, most historians cite this as the end of the Lost Century.
The Psychic Age
2236
Farcasters for the technocratic Janbri Hierarchy learn how to create a lightweight, incredibly durable metal alloy. Its use in armor, orbitals, space elevators, and vehicle hulls quickly make Janbri immensely wealthy.
2242
Red Bloc and the Global Alliance sign the Olympia Accords, promising non-aggression on every human world and to directly avoid another Fracturing. Many claim the Accords signal the start of an interplanetary Cold War.
2247
The Web of Worlds cut off most of their Nil Gates to Global Alliance territory, citing the Alliance’s “unwillingness to negotiate in good faith” and their “increasing claims of ownership.”
2249
The designation of “Anomalously Hostile” is introduced by multiple scientific communities to describe planets whose World Looms have transformed them into monstrous, often lethal environments. Many of those whose planets go this way flee to other worlds, leaving behind only the most hardened or desperate to eke out a living.
2257
Oppositional forces on the near-Earth planet New Cradle engage in a months-long all-out war that claims the lives of over 225,000 people. Global Alliance forces eventually intercede, putting an end to combat.
2258
Citing security concerns stemming from the “chaos and instability” rampant in their former off-world territories, the Global Alliance’s Executive Council announces a Restoration Campaign wherein Alliance forces will restore order on connected worlds. Critics accuse the Campaign of being nothing more than a crude attempt to re-establish influence over the human diaspora.