Editing Blue Giant:History (section)

==The Wonder Years==

Rockets existed in the 20th century, Ion drives and Fusion drives came in to their own in the 21st. A few long-range space probes were sent out, the solar system was fully explored, Mars and Titan were colonised for a laugh. Everything you would expect to happen, did.

Thing kicked off around 2268 with the invention of gravity wave generators in India. Before the end of the 23rd century there existed working anti-gravity devices. Inertia was finally proven to be the combined effect of the gravity waves from the surrounding universe. The anti-gravity drive could reduce the effect of inertia allowing ships to travel at up to half the speed of light. The first deep space probes were built in 2285 and the first manned ships left earth in 2289. The [[Blue Giant:Starship Attributes#Inertialess Drive|inertialess drive]], which allowed objects to come within a hairsbreadth of the speed of light, was developed within 32 years and the first colony ships left earth soon after. The light barrier was still thought to be impossible to break until a bunch of Dutch cosmologists discovered subspace.

''[[Blue Giant:Starship Attributes#Subspace|Subspace]] is another universe formed at the same time as normal space (and [[Blue Giant:Starship Attributes#hyperspace|hyperspace]] , but more on that later). Subspace is very similar to normal space except that it contains far less matter and energy and as a result the speed of light is considerably faster.''

The subspace theory languished in the journals until some bright spark decided to try to measure the speed of light in subspace by reproducing it on Earth. After a couple of accidents, the experiments were moved into interstellar space. Eventually, in 2391 it was discovered that a field that matched the characteristics of subspace could be reproduced and that if you made a strong enough field you could break the light speed limitations. In 2392 all the cosmologists became immensely rich and the first Dutch FTL spacecraft left Earth.

There was a brief and exciting period of mapping and charting, soon followed by a somewhat more exciting period when all the other nations ganged up on the Dutch and took the secrets of the FTL drive for “the good of all humanity”. As humanity began to expand across the galaxy there were a few territorial disputes and a couple of wars (including the famous 24/7 war in 2407). Then a few treaties got violated, there was another couple of wars. All the usual stuff that happens when people get rich and nations try to take their cut. Eventually, by 2440, the core worlds had been defined and for the next 140 years things settled down to standard imperialist expansion.