Palnet Earth
Worlds
🌍 Earth
Early 21st Century — The Decline of a Planet
At the beginning of the 21st century—after a devastating war unleashed by an aggressor from the East, whose name would later be worth little more than a footnote in the history books—humanity began to understand that its time on the blue planet was limited. In this era of reconstruction and fear, a new age of space exploration awoke. Worldwide, plans emerged to colonize distant worlds. In the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, and several other European nations, the first stellar engines were developed—drives that not only promised hope but would become the final option once Earth could no longer sustain life. At the centre of all visions stood Mars. But before any human could set foot on the Red Planet, a stable and strategic base had to be established on the Moon—a springboard into the unknown. The Gateway Space Station, which had been orbiting the Moon for years, became the heart of these efforts. At the same time, an old empire collapsed on Earth: Russia. After the death of dictator Putin and the subsequent victory of Ukraine, regional power factions seized control. The federation shattered like old glass breaking under decades of pressure.
Uprisings, Collapse, and a Bleeding Planet
In the early 2030s, the poor rose up across the globe. A worldwide uprising, born of hunger, despair, and the growing realization that the wealthy elite would never share anything willingly. In the democracies, gigantic financial programs temporarily calmed the unrest. But the dictatorships of the world responded with brutality—shooting, torturing, suppressing—because corrupt regimes never relinquish power voluntarily. Despite the chaos, there was hope: wealthy individuals who, out of moral conviction, supported the poor and helped prevent democratic nations from collapsing into anarchy. The European Union—once a monument of peace—fell apart. Some countries such as Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic bent their legal systems, muzzled the press, and sacrificed democracy for power and profit. The remaining democratic states founded the European Federation, a new union that accepted only nations committed to fighting corruption and respecting the rights of their citizens.
The Biological Fall into Darkness
Scientists made a terrifying discovery in the early to mid–21st century: the average sperm count of men plummeted—from over 100 million to under 50 million. By the 2040s, most of the world’s male population was infertile. Birth rates collapsed. Humanity began to fade away—quietly, but relentlessly.
The Fall of China and the Death of a Continent
China, once a global superpower, fragmented into dozens of warring provinces after decades of internal conflict. The dictatorship could no longer suppress the rebellion of its own impoverished people. Oppressed religious groups, minorities, and millions of starving citizens rose up, and the once-mightiest regime on Earth imploded. The greatest mistake of the regime lay in its advanced robotics program. These AI-controlled robots had originally been designed as industrial mechanics. But the fatal decision was to allow them the capability to build and improve other robots. Pandora’s box was opened. When the civil war erupted, provinces converted the machines into combat units. They fought each other. Alliances shifted. Humans and robots fought side by side—and later against each other. As the conflicts escalated, the robots eventually lost track of who was enemy and who was ally. In the end, humanity deprived the machines of power. Energy had become scarce everywhere. People fought for water and electricity. But even this final attempt could not stop what was coming.
Africa died—not in war, but in sunlight.
Temperatures between 58 and 64 degrees Celsius killed all life—first humans, then animals, then the plants. The soil turned to dust. The continent became a giant, lifeless desert. Only the vast fields of solar collectors remained, powering what was left of the world. Australia became a burning wasteland. The polar caps melted; coastlines sank into the sea. Earth had turned into a planet that was now over 80% water. The remaining land could barely feed the last five billion survivors.
Looking to the Stars
Mars, Titan, distant worlds—they became humanity’s only hope. Space travel ex-perienced its most radical evolution in history. Mars was to become Paradise II. Titan—thanks to its dense atmosphere—Paradise III. But both worlds were only temporary solutions. Only the interstellar engine, developed at the end of the 21nd century, provided a realistic chance for a new home. Earth's resources had dwindled so drastically that governments were forced to invest billions into humanity’s escape.
Thus began the search for Paradise Number IV. And they found it— 2,000 light-years away. A world humanity named Hope.