Timeline

2008

  • March 23, 2008 - During a high-energy stress test, the large hadron collider at CERN suffers a catastrophic failure, apparently generating a gravitational singularity that begins to burrow towards the center of the Earth and an electromagnetic wave that blacks out most of central europe and is detected the world over. Inexplicably, the singularity collapses after only a few minutes, leaving a pit a mile across and more than 50 kilometers deep in the middle of Geneva. Over the next few hours, reports from all over the world of people displaying superhuman abilities trickle in, actually competing with the CERN story and eventually overtaking it in popularity when cell phone footage of retired firefighter Randel Portman rescuing 23 children from a school bus engulfed in flames in San Francisco becomes available on Youtube.
  • March-April - More and more superhumans emerge (commonly via cellphone camera videos uploaded to the internet) even as reconstruction begins at Cern, attempting to cap the Geneva Mohole, making it clear that the phenomenon is not fleeting. Scientists tentatively identify superhumans as subspecies ''homo sapiens novus.'' First use of 'nova' to describe superhumans. Governments scramble to deal with the 'nova problem,' the US going to DefCon 3 for several months and China locking down its borders entirely and announcing that it was unilaterally 'delaying' the Olympics until the 'present crisis was resolved to [their] satisfaction.'
  • April 8 - The first instance of a masked individual intentionally performing 'superheroic' feats; a muscular man wearing a ski mask, a leather biker jacket, and a Superman t-shirt catches an airplane suffering from electronics failures and carries it in to a safe landing. To date, this individual, who has unavoidably been termed "Superman" by the mass media (much to DC Comics' dismay), has intervened in over 100 disasters and major crimes-in-progress across the Eastern seaboard, but his identity remains a mystery. Several other novas have followed his example, but none have been so prolific or successful.
  • April 12 - The Aeon Society, a philanthropic group dating to the early 1920s, meets with representatives of several major nations and the UN, offering their financial and scientific support to identify the source of nova power and to solve the 'nova problem.' Unable to meet the demands of the issue themselves, the UN readily agrees, as do most of the G7 nations. In addition, the Aeon Society heavily contributes to the relief effort in Europe, eventually taking de facto control of the operation.
  • May 1 - The Aeon Society publicly announces their new relationship with the United Nations and invites any and all novas to come forth, anonymously if they so desire, to work with the Aeon Society to stabilize the international situation and provide insight into the 'nova condition.' Several novas do come forward specifically because of the Society's use of the phrase 'condition' instead of 'problem.' Many of those novas who do some forward agree to participate in the Aeon Society's recovery efforts in Europe as well.
  • May 14 - The Aeon Society's relief efforts in Europe have grown so large that the Society decides to spin the organization off as a private philanthropic corporation called Project Utopia, dedicated to utilizing the potential of novas for the benefit of the entire world.
  • June 3 - The final Democratic Party Primary concludes, with neither Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama possessing the necessary 2025 delegates needed for automatic nomination. Both sides make arguments for the other to withdraw in the name of party unity, but neither side is willing to back down, and the divisive campaign has resulted in a situation where a 'unity ticket' is essentially impossible.
  • June 30 - After heavy lobbying from the Aeon Society, the United Nations General Assembly passes the Zurich Accord, declaring that novas are human and therefore possess the rights and responsibilities of humans. A few nations abstain or dissent, mostly those with poor human-rights records or those governed by religious ideologues.
  • July 26 - The Libertarian Party National Convention names Ron Paul as the Libertarian Party's presidential candidate for the 2008 election. He selects former Republican congressman Bob Barr as his running mate. They quickly make inroads into the less socially conservative wing of the Republican party, disappointed by the hard-right approach that the Republican nominee John McCain has taken.
  • August 15 - After keeping the secret astonishingly well for modern politics, it is revealed that Barack Obama has chosen a nova for a running mate. Carol Philton, a state senator from Oregon, possesses an advanced intellect and a limited empathic sense. Combined with the rising popularity of novas and Philton's past as a Clinton supporter, her selection reinvigorates the Democratic party. Shortly thereafter, McCain makes the surprise choice of Sarah Palin, the embattled first-term governor of Alaska, as an attempt to shore up his hard-right base.
  • November
    • Barack Obama wins the US presidential election in a landslide, on a platform openly embracing novas. Almost immediately a ring-wing backlash begins to form, though it will be some time before it manifests openly.
    • The Geneva Mohole is finally capped, stopping the outpouring of deep core heat. Weather over Europe remains troubled for some time, but all energy worries the continent might have are quickly banished when nova scientist _ develops and deploys an extremely efficient geothermal power tap in the Mohole, eventually generating more power than the rest of Europe's energy infrastructure combined by 2015.

2009

  • January 1, 2009
    • Project Utopia announces the formation of Team Tomorrow, made up of the cream of the crop of those novas participating in the reconstruction of Geneva. It is only the first of many initiatives by the Project to use nova abilities for good around the world. The team is led by Caestus Pax, a photogenic former construction worker from South Carolina who is considered by many to be the single most powerful nova alive.
    • The first Rashoud Clinic is opened in Geneva. Satellite facilities quickly open in New York, Tokyo, and New Delhi. These clinics offer top-notch care for novas who want to learn about their powers, and more specifically how to safely control and direct them.

2010

  • Anglophones everywhere rejoice at the fact that they can now say "twenty" instead of "two-thousand" to refer to the year.

2011

2012

  • November
    • In a major upset unexpected by any serious pundit, neither Barack Obama nor the Republican challenger win the 2012 presidential election. Instead, the victory narrowly goes to independent candidate _, a relatively unknown ardent libertarian. This causes an unprecedented political crisis for both major parties, and fault lines quickly begin to form in both as a circular firing squad ensues.

2013

  • The Bread Basket Campaign begins in Ethipoa, as Project Utopia uses its scientific know-how and private force of novas to terraform the region, turning it into one of the wealthiest and most productive regions in North Africa within the next two years. Addis Ababa becomes a cosmopolitan city to match any other in the world.
  • January
    • is inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States, and Washington quickly grinds to a standstill as a majority of Congress simply refuses to work with him. Over the next few months, a massive fragmentation of the major parties occurs, resulting in a spread of smaller but much more ideologically coherent parties that all hope to become one of the new big two parties. Only one of these parties, the Libertarian party (that sees many defections to their number from the center-right Democrats and the more moderate members of the GOP) is even remotely on the same page as the president, policy-wise.
  • September 25
    • A nuclear device is detonated in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Thirty city blocks are leveled, and thousands die. Team Tomorrow immediately responds for search & rescue missions, and later for reconstruction. However, despite the largest international investigation to date, no evidence can be found linking the blast to any known terrorist group (and while many groups claim responsibility, none are found to have any real link or even capability to pull off such an operation). The Sao Paulo bombing remains one of the greatest unsolved crimes of the 21st century.
  • October 31
    • Divis Mal issues the Null Manifesto, a document proclaiming that novas are not human and therefore are not and should not be bound by laws made by and for humans. A movement springs up seemingly overnight around this creed.

2014

  • Several prominent and ostensibly Teragen-related terror incidents spark a media furor that lasts for much of the year. The militarily agressive American Eagle Party, successor in many ways to the secular conservatives of the flagging GOP, makes gains in the 2014 congressional elections, but is unable to command a majority due to the still-fractious interparty squabbling.
  • June 6th
    • Tampa mayor Frederick Rupert is assassinated by the nova Geryon as reprisal for his anti-nova policy stance, including a city order banning unlicesed novas. Twelve security personnel and police officers are also slain, and 25 are injured in Geryon's escape. Incredibly, Geryon had actually threatened violence in response to Rupert's policies some two weeks before on YouTube, but no one had seen it. Though YouTube quickly removed the video, it had already been copied and reuploaded elsewhere, quickly going viral and making Geryon perhaps the most famous Teragen-affiliated nova in the world, save perhaps Count Orzaiz himself.

2015

  • January 15 - Geryon strikes again, assassinating South African domestic security minister Chigwedere in retaliation for tagging novas with GPS beacons.
  • Present Day.
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