The Polaris Charter / POLARIS

Preface

The Polaris Charter is an exploration and research organisation, our mission statement is “to discover and expand human knowledge via the stars, further progressing man’s evolution within them”

Origins (2322 – 2379)

Founded at Polaris House, Swindon, the organisation was set-up by the NERC (National Environment Research Council) with an aim to research and monitor environments of celestial bodies of our solar system on behalf of the British government; named the Planetary Environment Survey. In 2328 it received a Royal Charter and was renamed the Polaris Charter after the Headquarters of NERC. The guild could now go freely; collecting valuable scientific research across the solar system as well as the newly discovered Croshaw system helping scientists understand and expand our knowledge of the universe.

The formation of the UNE and cease of funding (2380 – 2396)

With the founding of the UNE, the British government dissolved many of its departments and governmental bodies, investing in the newly established departments of the UNE rather than trying to integrate older organisations. Upon this decision many of the leading scientists within the guild purchased its remaining assets including the Royal Charter which allowed the guild to go about its business without hindrance or delay. Now as an independent organisation the Polaris Charter continued to survey planets but with no funding the guild was forced to complete contracts for businesses and government bodies mainly interested in terraforming newly discovered planets however none of these ever resulted in long-term funding.

Buy Out and Private Ownership (2397 – 2438)

Despite the persistence of the scientists and personnel of the guild, the contracts which supported the Charter soon dried up as businesses had no interest in environmental research instead establishing their own surveying agencies bent on terraforming newly discovered planets and harvesting the valuable resources deep beneath the crust. The guild was once again facing its end when an ambitious entrepreneur emerged, he had a simple proposition “funds for tours; believing wealthy citizens would be willing to pay for the best views in the galaxy”. Francis Halifax, the entrepreneur had already been successful with his first business venture, “an interplanetary removal company” specialised in helping citizens not only move house but move planet, exploiting the mass exodus of earth which had started in 2460, having left Earth himself at the age of 5. He had recently tried expanding into cross system nature tourism but had been struggling as newly discovered planets and systems were being terraformed and developed faster than he could set up tours for the natural sights present. The UNE government refusal to allow scientists special access to systems before terraformers moved in, to research the system beforehand and give access to tourist companies to exhibit the natural environments present, prevented a level playing field between the terraforming and tourism. Halifax decided the only way to beat the terraformers was to beat them to the system. It was when he was leaving a court hearing against a particular terraforming company that he bumped into the director of the Polaris Charter who was also leaving a trial involving another terraforming company. Realising that they shared the same issues and that the other had the solution to their problems, a deal was signed in which Halifax bought the Polaris Charter and would supply funding allowing the Charter to once again explore and research the endless void of space, provided that the scientists would be willing to take tourists aboard for guided tours of newly discovered, untouched systems. With the bank account topped up, the guild set out to discover new planets and establish a foothold and jurisdiction before terraformers could move. With the seemingly endless resources available to the Human race, people had more wealth than ever before and Halifax’s tourism took off with more citizens than ever looking for new thrills and sights out among the stars.

The Golden Age (2439 – 2529)

2438 proved to be a momentous year as humanity made its first contact with an alien civilisation, the newly discovered Banu were the interest of the UNE which could only mean tourism would be on the rise. Halifax now in his 80s had passed ownership to his son who saw the potential in exploiting humanity’s interest in the Banu. The charter immediately began travelling into Banu space establishing good relations with many of the planet-states; learning about each the other’s culture and collaborating on scientific research. Banu tours were the most popular human holiday choices for almost the next hundred years. With business booming, the charter found itself in a golden age, for the first time since its founding the guild could send out dedicated exploration ships and inject sufficient funds into their research.

The Xi’an Stand-off (2530 – 2540)

In 2530 humanity met its next neighbour among the stars, the Xi’an, however this meeting didn’t fare as well as the previous one with the Banu. This resulted on a stand-off between Humanity and the Xi’an, the UPE forbid any travel into Xi’an space, to hinder any espionage by the Xi’an and protect precious human technology or research the UPE deemed a liability if in the wrong hands. This xenophobic mentally toward alien races spread throughout the UPE, people no longer wanted to see and interact with alien species. The charter’s golden age came to an abrupt end, Francis Halifax IV, great grandson of Francis Halifax who had bought the guild back in 2397, sold the Charter in 2535 to RSI’s research division who set about using the Charter’s expertise and personnel as field researchers for new RSI technology; in particular deep space military craft which had received substantial funding with the looming threat of war with the Xi’an.

The Age of Imperialism (2541 – 2597)

In 2541, war broke out, but not with the Xi’an. Humanity had recently discovered the Tevarin, which were a warring tribe culture who were around 150 years behind humanity in technology, the UPE tried to establish diplomatic relations in 2541. With a desire for man’s worlds, the tevarin refused this offer and war ensued. This was good news for the Polaris Charter. With fear of a war on two fronts if the Xi’an attacked, the UPE government enforced a draft and began contracting independent businesses with military contracts. Ships of the Polaris Charter suddenly found themselves deep behind enemy lines testing the latest in stealth and reconnaissance technology with the scientists of the Charter being key in every technological or military break-through. In 2546 with humanity victorious in the first tevarin war and the Xi’an threat looming greater than ever, the young ambitious officer Ivan Messer, the UPE’s face for the war with the tevarin is elected Prime Citizen and reforms the UPE into the United Empire of Earth, anointing himself Imperator. Having played a key part in the first Tevarin war and its expertise in research and explore, the Polaris Charter was bought by the government from RSI for an undisclosed amount. For the next 50 years the Polaris Charter served the UEE as an exploration and research guild, thriving off Messer’s call to expansion and colonisation. In the early 2590s, the UEE assigned a highly opinionated ex-military officer called Oliver Harlow to be director the Charter. He immediately sets about arming and enlarging the Charters fleet and issuing ship captains bold and daring missions deep into Tevarin and Xi’an space the Charter was transformed into a spy agency of the UEE used to keep tabs on the Tevarin and Xi’an. Despite objections from some politicians, Harlow aggressive espionage was supported by the Imperator and reconnaissance operations continued in Alien space.

Dissolvement (2598 – 2943)

However this rash and bold approach couldn’t last, Harlow had discovered that the Tevarin were rebuilding their military and was sure that they had formed an alliance with the Xi’an and together were plotting humanity’s downfall, although lacking any evidence to support a Tevarin-Xi’an alliance, he did have reconnaissance proving that the Tevarin were rebuilding their forces. But the UEE dismissed this believing that the Tevarin wouldn’t dare attack the UEE after the result of the first Tevarin war in which they had suffered a crushing defeat and the loss of their capital; this rearmament was merely them recovering after their military had been utterly destroyed 50 years prior. However this suspicion drove Harlow to increase the number of missions carried out but this only resulted in disaster. During a reconnaissance operation into Xi’an space, a craft suffered severe damage from a poorly calculated jump, despite successfully arriving in the desired system the ship was in no flyable condition, radio had commenced before making the initial jump, the automatic distress signal began sending out a message for help, within minutes a military Xi’an ship had arrived at the scene to aid the crew. The Xi’an evacuated the crew and provided medical treatment to those necessary. The Xi’an immediately demanded what the ship was doing in Xi’an space and refused any retrieval of the ship. Knowing that if the Xi’an searched the ship and found anything about the Polaris Charter, which would lead them to the UEE and the risk of all-out war. The government decided to disband the Polaris Charter immediately and erase any history of the organisation. All members were forced to sign a secrecy act and all assets seize and disposed of. After this the Polaris Charter faded into myth and any evidence of its existence was lost until…

The Revival (2944 – N/A)

The Polaris Charter has been revived and is once again ready to makes its mark on the galaxy. With new threats and enemies to face and conquer, new adventurers and explorers will be needed to achieve these goals. Are you up to the task?