Earth

Earth or Sol III is the home planet of humanity, also known as the Terrans, and the capital of the Terran Confederation. It is the third planet from the star Sol, also known as the Sun. Earth is located in the outer spiral arm of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Background

Earth is over 4.5 billion years old and is home to a vast variety of species of plants and animals, with the dominant species being humans. 71% of the planet's surface is covered in water, with the remaining 29% accommodating land. It hosts a wide variety of landscapes, including forests, deserts, plains, mountains, grasslands, jungles, and arctic landscapes. The world is divided into the seven continents of North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Antarctica. The four major oceans include the Atlantic, Indian, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans. Among these oceans are dozens of seas. It is also home to millions of types of trees, plants, insects, mammals, birds, fish, and other species. Humans first appeared on the planet over 100,000 years ago, when they began as primates and slowly evolved into their modern form.

Earth is currently home to over 6.5 billion humans, and possibly millions more by 2681. It is home to 192 sovereign nations that are aligned into various alliances, including the United Nations, the European Union, the Commonwealth of Independent States, NATO, the African Union, the Arab League, among others. These nations have often come together to form cooperative economic and political policies designed to meet the needs of the nations involved, and at other times have fought major wars with each other for various reasons. The two most destructive wars were World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945). These two major wars came to dominate the manner in which politics was performed in the decades that followed.

Earth is home to one natural satellite, the Moon, also known as Luna. It was first explored by humans in 1969, and has since become a Terran colony.

Since the 20th century, humanity has slowly evolved into a highly advanced race, with new technologies enabling humanity to venture into space for the first time in 1957. Since then, they have explored the Moon and sent space probes to all outlying planets. As the centuries passed, humanity created technologies that eventually took them to planets like Mars in large numbers, and soon afterwards, beyond the solar system. They found various planets orbiting other stars and adapted them for human habitation by means of terraforming. As the Terran population grew into the tens of billions, stretching across dozens of star systems and colonies, humanity saw the need to create a government that would govern the whole of humanity as one single political body. Thus, the Terran Confederation was formed in 2416 with the signing of the Articles of Confederation. The Confederation Space Navy was formed to protect humanity's interests from extraterrestrial threats. Earth became the administrative center for both the government and humanity, with Washington, D.C. in the United States of America housing the President of the Terran Confederation.

Terran-Kilrathi War

After the discovery of the Kilrathi in 2629, humanity faced the first major threat to its survival as a race. The Kilrathi Empire was home to billions of citizens and possessed a military only rivaled by that of the Terrans. After five years of piracy and gross atrocities committed against the Terrans, the Terran Confederation declared war on the Kilrathi in 2634. It soon became clear that humanity was not going to win the war easily, so protection of Earth became a top priority of the Terran Confederation. Defenses were increased all across the Sol System, and the Terran military sent the bulk of its forces to the frontlines to ensure that the Kilrathi did not breach the Sol Sector.

Battle of Earth

The year 2668 marked the start of a disastrous time for humanity. During that year, humanity finally gained the upper hand over the Kilrathi, but the Empire would not surrender easily. They poured all of their resources into a massive strike that would see the destruction of the Terran homeworld, which would hopefully lead to the Confederation's collapse. The Empire built an enormous armada comprised of the most advanced weapons and vessels in their arsenal, and rolled towards Earth with unstoppable momentum. The Terrans learned of this attack through their intelligence network, but with their forces stretched thin and most of their military leaders assassinated in a Kilrathi terrorist attack, the Terrans were barely a match for the Kilrathi fleet. The Kilrathi engaged the Terran fleet in the Battle of Sirius, but prevailed and annihilated the planet Sirius Prime and its entire population. They then entered the Sol System, forcing every available Terran ship to make a mad dash towards Earth.

The Kilrathi bypassed Terran positions near Jupiter and Mars, and then launched their attack on Earth. Thousands of Terran pilots and about 20 ships fought thousands more enemy fighters and over 70 vessels. Although the Terrans managed to destroy most of the command ships, Earth was bombarded by nuclear warheads. Cities such as Chicago, Boston, Paris, Kiev, Tripoli, among others were annihilated, killing millions. However, humanity was reinforced at last minute by the fleet of the Free Republic of the Landreich, a separate Terran nation. This intervention overwhelmed the beleaguered Kilrathi fleet and forced them to retreat, saving Earth. However, with several of its major cities in ruins, and its defensive fleet badly weakened, Earth was now even more vulnerable to future attacks.

Final Days of the War

Earth began to rebuild from the ashes of the attack, but by 2669, humanity was losing the war so badly that the Terrans were forced to face the possibility of Earth's destruction. With colonies falling by the day and casualties climbing into the billions, there were rumors that the government was planning a so-called "Doomsday Evacuation" of the Earth, transporting a portion of humanity to a distant galaxy where it could start anew.

Earth was once again threatened that year when the Kilrathi planned a second major strike on Earth. At Kilrah, they assembled a huge armada comprised of hundreds of vessels that would destroy the Earth once and for all. If these events came to pass, there would be nothing to stand in the way of humanity's extinction.

Fortunately, the attack never came. Two days before the attack, Colonel Christopher Blair of the TCS Victory launched the Temblor Bomb against Kilrah, destroying the planet and the fleet orbiting it. With the loss of their leaders and their enormous military, the Kilrathi lost the will to fight, and surrendered to the Terrans. With the conclusion of the Terran-Kilrathi War, the Earth was finally safe from further attack.

Post-War Years

Humanity spent the next ten years or so restructuring its wartime society, focusing efforts on rebuilding its shattered economy and dismantling its surplus of obsolete warships. Earth began to adapt to peacetime and sought to rebuild the destruction caused years earlier. The cutbacks in military spending put thousands of soldiers and sailors out of work, causing an economic crisis that impeded the recovery process. Eventually, Earth's society stabilized, and turmoil across the Terran Confederation died down.

(To be continued)