Cyberpunk Timeline

1990
Start of the first Central American Conflict. U.S. engages in interventionist actions in Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador. Military forces are sent to secure the Canal Zone from an ex-U.S. puppet dictator.

West and East Germany reunited. Warsaw Pact breaks up into separate nations.

Break-up of Soviet mega-state. From this point, the USSR begins a new era of re-approachment with western Europe; by the 2000’s, the Soviets are the Eurotheater’s most powerful allies.

Soviet president Gorbachev appoints party successor, Andres Gorborev.

Fall of South Africa. For the next four years, there is little or no communication, although terrible atrocities and genocidal wars are rumored.

1991
Eurospace Agency launces Hermes spaceplane.

Gorborev regime purges last of old hardliners.

CHOOH2 developed by BioTechnica.

First arcology built on ruins of Jersey City. Sixteen more “arcos” begin construction over the next five years until the Collapse of 1997, leaving the huge structures half-completed and filled with squatters and homeless.

Artificial muscle fibers developed at Standford Research Center.

1992
The Treaty of 1992 establishes the European Economic Community. Zones of control and protective tariffs regulate the activities of member nations France, Britain, United Germany, and Italy. A common currency unit (the Eurodollar, or “Euro”) is established, based on average value in gold of all currencies combined. Trapped in paranoid isolationism, the U.S. declines to enter.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency develops and spread several designer plagues worldwide, targeting coca and opium plants.

Governments of Chile and Ecuador collapse.

A savage drug war breaks out between Eurocorp-backed dealers and DEA all over the Americas.

First use of high energy laser lift arrays in USSR.

Simple massdriver established in Canary Islands by eight member Eurospace Agency.

1993
First TRC biologic interface chips developed in Munich, United Germany.

AV-4 aerodyne assault vehicle developed to deal with increasing riots in U.S. urban zones.

Colombian druglords detonate small tactical nuclear device in New York. 15,000 killed.

1994
World Stock Market crash of ’94. U.S. economy teeters, then collapses.

Nuclear accident in Pittsburgh kills 257. Cancer deaths soar over next ten years.

1995
Kilamanjaro Massdriver begins construction under joint agreement between ESA and Pan African Alliance.

1996
The Collapse of the United States. Weakened by the losses in the World Stock Crash, overwhelmed by unemployment, homelessness, and corruption, many city governments collapse or go bankrupt. The U.S. government, snarled in a staggering deficit and the machinations of the “Gang of Four,” is totally ineffective.

Nomad riots. By now, one in four Americans are homeless. Hundreds of thousands riot for living space throughout the United States. Nomad packs spring up on the west coast and spread rapidly throughout the nation.

First appearance of boostergangs.

Lawyer Purge. Irate citizens lynch hundreds of criminal defense attorneys.

Constitution suspended. Martial law established in the U.S.

1997
Mideast Meltdown. Tensions in Middle East escalate to nuclear exchange. Iran, Iraq, Libya, Chad, and the Arab Emirates reduced to radioactive slag. World oil supply drops by half.

Toxic spill kills off most of salmon population in Pacific Northwest. Seattle economy crippled.

“Rockerboy” Manson killed in England.

Tycho/Luna Colony founded.

1998
Neo-Luddites re-established in western Kentucky. Over the next ten years, the “Luds” are responsible for bombings of airports, factories, freeways, and mass transit terminals.

The drought of ’98 reduces most of the Midwest to parched grasslands. Between agribusiness corps and the drought, the family farm all but disappears.

10.5 magnitude quake shatters Los Angeles, and the Pacific Ocean inundates 35% of the city. An estimated 65,000 are killed.

1999
Federal Weapons Statute established.

Millennium cults begin to appear, each predicting an apocalypse on January 1, 2000. Thousands migrate to isolated communes and temples to await the end.

Copernicus/Luna Colony founded. A massdriver is constructed to provide raw materials for orbital platforms.

2000
Millenium cults run amok on January 1st in an orgy of suicide and violence. Most of these cults destroy themselves.

First “extended family” posergangs established.

Massive firestorms rage over northwestern U.S., destroying millions of acres of farm- and grassland.

Construction of Crystal Palace space station begun at L-1.

The “Wasting Plague” hits U.S. and Europe, killing hundreds of thousands.

2001
The framework of the ‘Net is now firmly in place with construction of the WorldSat Network.

2002
Food crash; mutated plant virus wipes out Canadian and Soviet crops. U.S. agribusiness crops survive due to a new biological counteragent. USSR accuses U.S. of biological warfare.

2003
Second Central American War. U.S. invades Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. The war is a disaster that costs thousands of American lives.

WNS media star Tesla Johanneson exposes secret NSA transcripts of the first Central American conflict.

2004
First clones tissue grown in vitro. Microsutures, sterilizer fields developed.

Tesla Johanneson assassinated in Cairo.

First Corporate War. Twelve multinationals, including EMB and Orbital Air, battle for control of Trans-World Air.

Gang of Four is wiped out in Army-CIA counter-coup.

2005
Cybermodem invented.

EBM solos attack Tokyo office of Kenjiri Technologies, killing 18.

First Corporate War ends.

Operation Big Stick: First destruction of a corporation by national military forces. The Mantoga Corporation is wiped out by April, 2006.

2006
First human clone grown in vitro. Mindless, it only lives for six hours.

Full cyberlimbs are now in use with all U.S. military forces.

2007
Second Corporate War, involving a number of firms including PetroChem and SovOil. The dispute is over oilfields in the South China Sea.

Braindance developed at UC Santa Cruz.

2008
U.S. assault on Soviet weapons platform MIR XIII. Eurospace Agency intervenes and orbital war breaks out between the “Euros” and the “Yanks” until Tycho Colony massdriver drops a rock on Colorado Springs. An uneasy peace is reached.

“Reformation”/Reorganization of the U.S. government. First post-martial law elections are held.

2009
Joint Euro-Soviet mission to Mars departs.

Corporations eradicate mob rule in Night City.

Abortive takeover attempt of Crystal Palace construction by U.S. “terrorist group.” ESA discovers Defense Intelligence Agency plot and drops a 12 ton rock off Washington as a warning.

2010
End of Second Central American War. An estimated five-hundred thousand nomad workers, stranded in South America, begin the “Long Walk” back to America. A little over 10% are still alive when they reach the U.S. in 2011-2012.

Network 54 now controls 62% of all media broadcasting in the U.S.

Food riots in Denver kill 52.

O’Neill One construction begins.

2011
Crystal Palace is completed. ESA now has a permanent hold in high orbit zone. Construction of L-3 and L-4 colonies begins.

ESA/Soviet mission reaches Mars.

2012
Bioplague kills 1,700 in Chicago.

Concert riot in Night City kills 18, wounds 51. Old Arasaka corporate complex gutted.

First viable nanotechnology achieved concurrently by Euro and Japanese corporate labs.

2013
NetWatch established by joint U.S./Eurotheater treaty.

First true artificial intelligence developed at MicroTech’s Sunnyvale facility.

2014
I-G transformations redesign the ‘Net.

“Metal Wars” begin in Night City as gangs battle for turf.

Vatican III: Neo-Catholic Reformation.

2015
Rise of the cyber-mercenaries; Lithuania hires cyber-soldiers to repel invasions by Latvian nationals.

Nanotech becomes a commercial reality.

2016
Third Corporate War is fought in the ‘Net, as rival corporations attack each other’s “data fortresses.”

Bioware hits the streets.

O’Neill One is completed.

2017
First self-aware human clones are created.

L-3 Colony completed, named Galileo Cylinder (O’Neill Two).

NASA Mars mission departs.

2018
Brushfire wars erupt in Eastern Europe.

Second ESA/Soviet Mars mission departs.

ESA unmanned mission launched to Jupiter.

First laws that prohibit human cloning at the sentient level are passed in Europe.

L-4 Colony completed; named Paradise Station (O’Niell Three).

2019
Orbital colony at L-5 revolts. Highriders successfully repel ESA forces and announce independence. L-4 Colony placed under martial law.

2020
Second ESA/Soviet Mars mission arrives.

2021
NASA’s Chryse Base completed on Mars.

2022
First automated factories appear in orbit around Mars.

O’Neill Two declares independence.

The O’Neill War between ESA and Highriders occurs, lasting approximately seven hours. Due to numbers, and the inherent cooperation between workgangers and space pilots, ESA is forced to rescind control of O’Neill Two. They retain Crystal Palace and L-4 (O’Neill Three).

2023
Present day.