Explorer Society / EXPSOC

The following is the most current draft of the history of the Explorer Society. It is currently still being actively edited:

While the actual founding of The Explorer’s Society is up to debate, it has been active since the early ages of scientific discovery on Earth. Some of the Society’s early members include Galileo Galilei, Nicolaus Copernicus, Isaac Newton, and Ferdinand Magellan. These scientists are famous for fostering and promoting humanity’s early understanding of topics including Mathematics, Physics, and Astronomy. Unfortunately the Society’s early days were riddled with strife. During this era, Earth was primarily under the control of an organization which tended to discourage ideas that did not fall in line with their own. They even exiled famous member Galileo for theorizing that the Earth revolved around Sol. This put the Society in grave danger of persecution from the Organization and forced it into secrecy. Like the Masons and Illuminati, the Society openly accepted members from the greater population but its inner workings were kept secret from the general public for its members safety. The Society operated in this method for hundreds of years. Some of history’s greatest achievements were accomplished by society members and driven by the open and free communication and cooperation between members.

The late 20th and early 21st centuries brought about massive changes in the Society. At that time the members occupied themselves scanning the cosmos and the vast depths of Earth’s oceans. This era brought about the Societies greatest asset, the internet. With their new ability to communicate reliably and instantaneously over vast distances, the possibilities for information sharing and discussion increased exponentially. While exploration was not a distinct possibility at the time, (The planet had, by that era, been completely cartographed) the Society turned its focus to furthering the development of technology with the hopes of one day getting to chart the stars. The Society silently pulled on the strings of humanity guiding them through the developments that would lead to the space age we know today. One of the most famous Society members from this era is Jim Keller, one of the greatest microchip architects of his time. He traveled from company to company sharing his brilliance, staying long enough to continue processor development but not so long as to give one company the absolute monopoly over the market.

Advanced computing technologies led to the development of the Societies proudest asset; The Library. The Library has become the center of all operations within the Society. It is a database run by volunteer members known as Librarians. All members of the Society are welcome to commit to the Library’s vast data-banks as they please. The Library has two facets. An online, always open version of the library where all contributed data is held for members to peruse at their leisure. The secondary facet is a physical storage of scans and other data within the universe, access to which can be requested and is never denied. ((Breaking Character) My understanding is that data will require care within the verse and will be almost physical like cargo)

The work among Explorers, Librarians, and the Library spurred incredible technological development, and when the technology was ready, the Society returned to its roots and for the first time in centuries, true explorers again ventured out into the unknown. The first explorers left the earth and reached into the stars. The societies members were numerous among these first intrepid adventures, one the most notable being Neil Armstrong, the first human to set foot on luna.

The society was not satisfied however. While their scientists had made incredible strides they could not push their devices to other stars, it may be hard to believe, but back then they could not even push a human from earth past Luna. More than a century following mans first steps on the luna, the society’s scientists were finally ready to announce a major breakthrough. The morning of May 3, 2075 Dr. Scott Childress and his team appeared on the morning news to announce that they had successfully completed the first quantum engine capable of 1/100th the speed of light. This breakthrough foreshadowed a new era of exploration for the society and humanity as a whole.

Given the incredible possibilities of the coming centuries the societies librarians made a controversial decision. They secretly turned the society into a business. Calling themselves “Roberts Space Industries” they acquired funding and began to work. This new structure increased progress tenfold, leading to the RSI terraforming patent in 2113, the beginning of the terraforming of Mars in 2120, and ultimately the Mars Tragedy of 2125. This massively tragic event brought great shame to the society and its members. While progress had increased in their new business format, pushing the scientists to work more quickly had led to the type of careless work that resulted in the minor mistake causing tragedy on Mars. All of the librarians resigned in disgrace, their names forever removed from society records. As a form of apology to humanity as a whole the society decided to perform one last action as RSI, taking the next 15 years to develop, test, and produce the RSI Zeus. This was the first consumer grade, short range, exploration minded star-ship. Following its release the Explorer’s Society cut all ties with the business RSI and swore to never undertake another society operation for purely monetary purposes again.

The society returned to its low key operating practices and resumed gently pulling on the strings of humanity to guide it through the stars. The societies first major venture following the tragedy on mars was the launching of the 1st Colonial flight in 2232. The flight was crewed by many society members, but the majority were indeed civilian. It was known that nothing would be heard from the flight’s crew for at least 200 years, but given it has been 700 years since their launch hopes are low for contact from the descendants of the original crew.

Another major point in the societies history was the discovery of the first Jump Point in 2271. This is accredited to famous explorer Nick Croshaw. The system he visited is the first ever visited by humanity, and it now bears his name as the Croshaw system. His fearless dedication to exploration and the furthering of the human race spawned a new career known as Navjumping. This is the art of not only finding new jumpoints, but also fearlessly entering them with no knowledge of what could be on the other side to chart its path. Through this practice many members of the society make their living. Another famous society member was Antoine Lebec, discoverer of the Nul System.

Inevitably, according to Fermi Paradox, first contact with another species was made in 2438. Regrettably, this was not made by a society member. However, many of General Neal Socolovich’s delegates were indeed society members and their efforts helped hammer together the first intergalatic peace treaty. Following this momentous occasion many society members picked up xenobiology, xenosociology, and xenoarchaeology. Through their efforts we have learned much about alien civilizations, both current, and long extinct. Later, in 2530 a society member made first contact with what we now know as the Xi’an empire. Unfortunately, the military, one of the few government branches with almost no society influence, acted far too aggressively; starting a sort of cold war between the races.

Nearly a century passed following the societies contact with the Xi’an wherein almost nothing notable happened. Rather regrettably, given the cold war with the Xi’an and the Tevarian Wars the UEE had transitioned into a militaristic society. This militaristic mindset placed major dampers on The Societies progress. In 2638 Society member and Senator, Assan Kieren decided she had had enough. She began to speak out against the government but Imperator Messer XI used the UEE’s propaganda machine to discredit her. She quickly disappeared and is presumed by society records to have been murdered. This led to one of the few times in history during which the society choose to work as a whole unit. They all wanted to see change and thought there was no other option than to work together to cause it. The Librarians knew however, that the time was not right and that the societies political aspirations would have to wait.

By 2715, Librarians saw that perhaps the time was right to begin the society’s work. Members who chose to help began the spread of new ideas, the possibilities of a world without Messers. From the shadows they whispered and over the next 70 years the people began to realize the flaws in the system. The military was stretched thin fighting too many wars, and the Imperator’s power was beginning to fade. In 2757 a boy was shot by a guard while working in a factory. He became a martyr for the cause.

Finally in 2792, after The Massacre of Garron II, the people rise up against the Imperator and a new one is put into place. Luckily, Society Member Erin Toi was chosen and he promised a new era of enlightenment and social consciousness.

With a Society member finally at the helm of humanity great progress is made. The Fair Chance act was a major accomplishment during this era, and in it all lifeforms were given a chance to fend for themselves. The most major accomplishment however, was the construction of the Ark. This is the publicly accessible portion of the societies own Library. Through the ark the society gives knowledge to the greater public of both humanity and the universe as a whole. Upon its completion a gala was hosted and many delegates from each of the other races were invited. This was one of the Societies grandest displays of its peaceful intentions.

Upon completion of the ark the society again faded into their regular information sharing, project organizing, and knowledge finding ways. While it’s been more than a century since the ark was completed there has not since been an event in which The Society has felt the need to get involved in a large scale. In fact, aside from the Historical Truth Act of 2941, which declassified millions of pieces of government archive, no historical event in recent history can be attributed to purely The Society’s Influence. To this day The Society’s members pursue their own individual interests, either by themselves, or in groups.