For what came before this, see the Overman 1994 top page, or go to the start of the Overman 1994 Timeline.
The old Soviet Union breaks up into its constituent republics under the umbrella of the Confederation of Independent States (CIS). After their populations have adjusted to their change of status (in some cases after large amounts of strife) they settle down to rebuilding their economies. Minerva invests heavily in their new industries.
In the wake of the Spasm a number of religious and secular anti-war groups spring up and begin campaigning.
Many problems are caused by terrorists who somehow obtained advanced Minervan weapons during the Minervan civil war.
As the decade goes by thousands of people move to new Japanese and Minervan colonies in the Asteroid Belt (in particular Hamada Landing on Ceres, named after the first person to land there). Towards the end of the decade the USA, the SAU and the CIS also begin to colonise the Asteroid Belt.
Israel becomes hated across the Arab world for its destruction of Baghdad by anti-matter bomb in 1990, and the target of almost continuous Islamic terrorism.
Two nuclear explosions and a series of maser strikes from orbit devastate several areas of Zaire, killing thousands. UN relief teams discover that the areas all contained major DEMON bases. Further investigation reveals that the entire Zairan government are the pawns of DEMON. A popular uprising, led by the country's clergy, sweeps them from power and replaces them with a new dictatorship. The source of the attacks is never discovered.
Neoterian medical researchers market a cure for the AIDS virus.
Genetically engineered varieties of plants capable of growing different types of plastics within themselves are introduced on the open market. They are soon followed by other plants producing other types of complex organic chemicals.
The first medical cryogenic suspended animation systems are introduced.
True virtual reality systems which provide almost as much detail as real life are marketed for the first time.
As a result of the presence of Dr Hiroshima Reborn in the body of the female superhuman Flashlight, over the next few decades most of the far east takes major steps towards providing true equality for women.
A dragon, identical to the one formerly in the Guardians, who was killed ending the Minervan civil war, appears working with the Horsemen. This dragon is assumed to be a clone of the original.
China regains possession of Hong Kong from the UK. Led by its new possession, Chinas economy begins to integrate with that of the rest of the world.
The first commercial holovision stations go on air in Japan.
The New Protectors, who rule Somalia, change their name to the Justicars.
Several former Warsaw Pact nations join NATO.
Continuing tensions in the CIS lead the superhuman Glasnost to become more and more a politician rather than a superhero. Fortunately, he seems up to the task.
Close diplomatic and economic links build up between the nations of Minerva and Neoteris, with Neoteris making use of many of Minerva's advanced space facilities.
As the Millennium approaches irrationality, hysteria, and cult activity grow greatly.
Several former Warsaw Pact nations join the European Community.
A group of cyber-enhanced ex-Afghan war veterans and street people calling themselves the Children of Steel emerge into the public eye when they take control of the city of St Petersburg in the CIS, sealing it off from the outside world. They hold off the CIS military with threats to blow up the reactor cores of the many nuclear submarines docked in the city for decommissioning. Their leader, Novay Chyelovyek (New Man), preaches that their way of cybernetic enhancement is the destiny of humanity - the next stage of its evolution. St Petersburg is where this next stage will be born. To this end, the Children of Steel begin to cybernetically enhance everyone in St Petersburg, with or without their consent. An initial assault by the New Guard, led by Glasnost, is driven off, and negotiations fail - the Children of Steel are adamant in their beliefs. Many of the poor and dispossessed of the CIS start to move towards St Petersburg to join them.
After some weeks, a covert assault on St Petersburg, consisting of a group of the elite Filitov Guards, led by Glasnost, retake control of the nuclear submarines which are the main bargaining tool of the Children. A full-scale military and superhuman assault then retakes control of the city. Novay Chyelovyek gives his life in martyrdom so that some of his inner circle can escape and carry their beliefs elsewhere. This they do, vanishing underground. Some of their thousands of followers also escape. The rest are captured and imprisoned. They and their many victims have to live with their enforced cyborgisation.
Several techniques allowing the accurate prediction of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are developed in the USA. As time goes by they more than prove their worth in lives saved due to warnings being given in advance.
The Children of Steel become a group which exists almost entirely within the virtual world of the world-wide computer web.
Chinas increasing economic freedoms lead to (often Hong Kong-led) calls for matching political freedoms; these are ignored or crushed, increasingly violently.
After years of campaigning, Germany gains a seat on the UN Security Council.
Several pro-suicide groups begin to argue for potential suicides to instead have their minds wiped and donate their bodies to cripples and the terminally ill for use in mind transferral operations.
The Indonesian government reveal their own government super-force, the Ksatriya (Warriors), made up of crippled volunteers who have been turned into super-powered cyborgs.
DEMON attempt a major black magical ritual at sites around the world. Many superhumans fight to stop them, and although they are successful, several superhumans die in the attempt.
The new millennium is greeted with world-wide celebrations and expressions of hope for the future from most world leaders.
The first of many new illicit drugs derived from genetically engineered organisms arrives in the marketplace.
The Minervan C-Jammer starprobe is launched from the Minervan ship construction facilities on Ceres.
The superhuman Parallax appears for the first time in New York.
The Justicars invade and take control of Ethiopia. Their forces are spearheaded by the Justicars themselves and their fanatically loyal Somali shock-troopers.
Techniques for the cloning of replacement limbs and organs are developed by Minervan scientists. This technique is used mainly to complement the already existing medical limb and organ re-growth technology. A modification of this technology can also be used to grow meat without the rest of the animal, a process welcomed by many animal rights activists, but condemned by many others.
After years of terrorism, Israel expels all non-Jews from within its borders, becoming a virtual armed camp in the process. Many Jewish citizens go with them, in protest. A series of reprisals by surrounding nations lead, by the end of the year, to the start of an Arab-Israeli war.
Over the first fifty years of the 21st century manned exploration teams visit all the major planets and moons of the Solar System, occasionally aided by Solar Angel and other superhumans.
The number of settlements and factories around the Earth tops one hundred. The moon acquires ten such orbital facilities, mostly built from Lunar materials.
The UN begins to recruit superhumans for non-military purposes - disaster relief, information gathering and the like. Although the UN becomes more streamlined and efficient with time, it does not become any more effective. Because of pressure from most of its member governments the UN never gains any independent military forces.
Interpol also begins to recruit superhumans, guaranteeing their identities in return for their assistance.
The number of superhumans begin to rise steeply as super-cybernetics and cloning technologies become increasingly cheap.
Minervan, an artificial language mixing Esperanto with de-gendered French and Spanish begins to be taught in Minerva, with the eventual aim of replacing French and Spanish as the nations official language.
An Islamic terrorist group releases a genetically engineered virus created to attack only those of Jewish genetic heritage which becomes known as the Holocaust Plague. Thousands die of it, plus tens of thousands more in the panic it creates, before it is contained by the efforts of several superhumans.
The huge, and increasing, population of India leads to increasing religious and ethnic tensions and violence.
Scientists begin to warn that pollution of the Earth's atmosphere could lead to a rise in global temperatures, with possible major consequences. However, this is not considered a very serious threat due to the widespread use of fusion power and other clean technologies.
Monsters occasionally appear from highly polluted areas of the world.
Puerto Rico becomes the 51st state of the USA.
Another asteroid is moved into Earth orbit by a consortium of Japanese corporations.
The super-mercenary Ghost Wind leads the army of the Burmese Karen people to overthrow the ruling Burmese military Junta, and installs herself as leader. In spite of several attempts to remove her, especially by the USA, she proves to be a fairly capable ruler.
The war between Israel and the Arab states reaches a UN-negotiated end. The tensions which began it, however, have not been defused.
After the particularly violent suppression of a pro-democracy movement, there is an attempted coup in China. Although the coup is eventually suppressed, taking advantage of this, and aided by local superhumans, much of the south-west (centred on Hong Kong) and north-west of China, plus Tibet and Manchuria secede from the central government in bloody revolution. The numbers of dead in the coup attempt and its aftermath are never fully established, but are estimated by be over one hundred thousand.
After a year of spiralling violence, India declares a state of emergency and hands the government over to the military. To the surprise of many, the Indian junta are harsh, but seemingly fair, just and very pragmatic.
The Horsemen vanish from the public eye.
The US state of Alabama becomes the first place in the world to use implanted cybernetic tracking/monitoring/punishment devices to control persistent criminals outside of prison.
A coup in North Korea leads to the re-integration of North and South Korea for the first time in over fifty years.
The economic growth of the EC is hindered by constant internal struggles over sovereignty.
Genetic engineers in Japan produce modified sponges which are capable of extracting various different elements from sea water in commercial quantities.
To eliminate one source of internal stresses, the Indian junta allows the formation of an independent Sikh state, Khalistan, in what was the Kashmir region.
The weakened Chinese government is overthrown by the military, a puppet Emperor installed, and a dictatorship established. Former leader Deng Xiaoping vanishes in the fighting. The new government attempts to re-integrate all of the secessionist states, including Taiwan. In most cases they are successful, although it is estimated that the total casualties are well over a million. Only Tibet and Taiwan remain free, after "incidents" lead to near world war as the US takes their side, and Solar Angel is seen in the vicinity.
Fidel Castro, ruler of Cuba, dies of old age.
Civil war breaks out in Cuba over the direction the country should now take.
The first Earth-Moon solar sail ship race is held as part of the Olympic Games.
The former Soviet state of Khirgizia begins to screen its people for superhuman abilities, drafting any found into government service and selling clones to (reputable, of course) foreigners for cash. They will also clone anyone from outside, if they are paid enough.
Lady Blue is appointed leader of Starholmes 1 and 2.
The Justicars invade and take control of Kenya. Once their control is established they rename the whole area they control (now consisting of Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya) the Judicial Federation.
The first of many long-duration balloon-supported explorer robots is dropped into Jupiters atmosphere from a Minervan probe. The same probe drops exploration robots onto all the major Jovian moons, including one which drills through Europa's kilometres-thick ice sheet to the ocean beneath.
A multinational research base is planted on Mars. Despite plentiful evidence of long-ago water no evidence of life, past or present, is ever found on there.
US forces invade Cuba, ending the civil war there and restoring democratic government.
Several of the anti-war groups founded in the wake of the Spasm are found (by one of their superhumans members) to be backed by DEMON as a means to weaken the world for a take-over attempt. This discovery discredits all anti-war groups in the public eye, whether they were implicated or not.
Piotor Vatutin, the superhuman known as Glasnost, is elected President of the CIS. Despite his efforts the CIS economic growth is hindered by the infiltration of organised crime into all levels of society, especially as they seem to have developed links to the oriental Triads and Yakuza groups.
The Judicial Federation invades and takes over Uganda after a coup there.
Greater Bosnia joins the EC.
Soviet-originated technology to boost a persons physical or mental abilities without surgery, drugs or cybernetics is marketed by Chelony Medical Systems AG.
All the Earth (apart from the Chilean Empire) becomes integrated in a single computer network, which also extends to most facilities in Earth orbit.
The Indian junta begins to use social engineering techniques to maintain stability and control within the country.
Another major black magic ritual by DEMON at several sites in Central America is halted by the efforts of PRIMUS and several local superhumans.
A multinational task force begins to move asteroids whose orbits cross the Earth's (and which might endanger it by collision) into safer orbits, usually into the Earth's L4 and L5 points, 60 degrees ahead and behind of the Earth in its orbit. As these clusters get larger, the leading one becomes known as the Praxis Archipelago which the trailing cluster gains the name the Tailchaser Islands.
The C-Jammer probe enters the Barnard's Star system.
Force field technology, derived from studies of several superhumans with force field powers, is invented.
A long-duration Minervan probe is dropped into the atmosphere of Saturns moon Titan. Another is dropped into the atmosphere of Saturn itself.
The CIS launches its own starprobe, the Bright Ranger.
The 2003 cease-fire ends and another Arab-Israeli War begins after clashes on Israel's borders, and terrorist activity within them.
The first Israeli settlements in space are founded, in the asteroid belt, to provide resources and living space for Israel outside the hostile Middle East.
Several nations begin small scale mining operations on the planet Mercury to exploit the heavy elements which surveys have shown are present in greater concentrations there than anywhere else in the Solar System. These and other later settlements on the planet are greatly aided by the presence of ice on the planet, found in permanently-shaded craters at Mercury's poles.
After years of increasing economic and political ties (mainly brokered by Neoteris), and in the face of the increasing threat from the Judicial Federation, most West Africa nations band together into the West African Economic Community (WAEC), centred on and headquartered in Neoteris.