Homeworld of humanity and capital of the Stellar Consortium. The government headquarters building can be found in New York City. Vanguard military headquarters is located in Colorado Springs.
In 2550, a team working for a combined enterprise of Spark and the Vanguard developed the Tilsworth-Cooke faster-than-light drive. The first FTL starship from Earth – the Fort Clatsop – departed for Alpha Centauri under the command of Captain Tolliver Grange. The prototype proved successful, although too expensive to maintain for widespread use.
Ten years later, explorer Eduard Ocartus discovered the planet Sagittarius and made first contact with the Il’ri’kamm Hive Mind. Those transdimensional aliens offered OtherSpace drives for FTL applications back home. The catch: Any ship equipped with an OS drive required a tendril of the Hive Mind, known as a Hiver, for operation and maintenance. In 2650, it was discovered that the Hivers used their control of OS drives to kidnap vessels to another universe – the Ancient Expanse – for their long-running war against the spider-like B’hiri.
Some stolen warriors allied themselves with the B’hiri to defeat the Hivers, rendering OtherSpace drives inert. In exchange for the aid, the B’hiri provided tweaks to the old Tilsworth-Cooke drive designs to make them for affordable and efficient.