Timeline

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The following is a composite timeline of events in the System Shock universe.

2031[edit | edit source]

  • Mutual bombings of offshore bottling facilities by Pepsi and Coca-Cola (the first mega-corporations) signal the evolution of their conflict from marketing warfare into direct combat.[1]

2031[edit | edit source]

  • The Hays-Bishop Bill passes. Corporate entities may form local governments if they employ two-thirds of a given region's population. Lobbyist pressure leads to a steady increasing of region size, allowing mega-corporations to become de facto sovereign nations.[2]

2049[edit | edit source]

2059[edit | edit source]

  • The last free states of the United States are annexed by TriOptimum, using the Hays-Bishop bill.[2]

2061[edit | edit source]

  • TriOptimum purchases the L6 orbit rights around Saturn.[3]

2062[edit | edit source]

2071[edit | edit source]

2072[edit | edit source]

  • April 7 (2313): The Hacker enters TriOptimum's data network.[5]
  • April 8 (0126): The Hacker accesses protected files on Citadel station.[5]
  • April 8 (0133): The Hacker is apprehended by TriOptimum security personnel.[5]
  • April 27: Diego learns that TriOp Internal Security is conducting an investigation into his dealings onboard Citadel Station.[6]
  • May 6: The Hacker is sprung by Diego from prison, pardoned, and provided with a military-grade cybernetic implant. In return, the Hacker uses Diego's level 1 access to remove SHODAN's ethical constraints and transfer all control of the most advanced AI in existence to him. Immediately afterwards, the Hacker is rolled into surgery and then placed in a six month healing coma.[7]
  • The Citadel Incident: SHODAN[8]
    • September 9: Reports of aberrant behavior within the network begin to accumulate. A request is filed to replace SHODAN.[4]
    • September 10: SHODAN rescinds the replacement order and transfers the administrator off-station.
    • September 26: An experiment in the biological labs involving a viral mutation displays side effects. Flawed control software is blamed and the science network is scheduled to be pulled down for inspection.[4]
    • September 27: Researchers from the biological labs are found to be infected with said mutagen.[4]
    • September 30: Robots and systems begin to malfunction station-wide.[4]
    • October 2: Violent incidents become widespread on board the station. Infected scientists become feral.[4]
    • October 6: Illness spreads across the crew. Infected scientists enter critical condition. Quarantine is enacted.[4]
    • October 7: Infected researchers escape quarantine, killing five of the medical staff. The armory is ransacked by security.[4]
    • October 9: Rioting in Research, as some staff members barricade themselves in a laboratory. A TriOp military team is dispatched and the information suppressed.[4]
    • October 10: The transport is shot down upon arrival. Flight deck is locked down for hardware inspection.[4]
    • October 13: SHODAN reveals its intention to the station crew. All communications with the station cease.[4]
    • October 16: Edward Diego defects to SHODAN, buying his way in with information about survivors on the Executive level.[9]
    • November 1: Survivors manage to send a report describing the situation onboard the station and warning Earth about SHODAN.[4]
    • November 4: After SHODAN broadcasts her intentions to Earth, Rebecca Lansing assumes control of the operation against the rogue AI.[4]
    • November 6: The Hacker wakes up from his healing coma. With Rebecca Lansing's aid, he manages to survive the first several hours onboard the station, destroying the tachyon mining laser by activating the station's shields at 1432 hours[10] and firing it at 2213 hours, preventing SHODAN from attacking Earth with its help.[11]
    • November 7: At 0519 hours, the Hacker jettisons the Beta Grove and the virus it contains.[12] Hours later, the TriOp executives grant permission to scuttle the station and destroy SHODAN. The Hacker activates the self-destruct and escapes onboard the Bridge as the rogue AI detaches it at 1951 hours to escape the conflagration.[13] At 2002 hours, the station self-destructs,[14] with SHODAN's system purged and restored shortly thereafter.[4]
  • Fallout from the incident triggers a downward spiral for TriOptimum, which loses financial backing and fades from power. The foundation of the UNN three years later seals its fate.[15]

2073[edit | edit source]

  • Rebecca Lansing continues investing the late Diego's ties with Middle Eastern terrorist organizations.[3]

2074[edit | edit source]

  • Processing Rationalization Act prohibits the development of technologies that may result in the development of AI, as a result of the Citadel Incident and Jared Lucash's argument before the courts.[2]

2075[edit | edit source]

  • The foundation of the Unified National Nominate by Earth governments and tightening control over the megacorporations that rival them in terms of power and influence. Increased control eventually results in attempt to nationalize megacorporate holdings, leading to armed stand-offs and localized conflicts. A wary truce eventually forms between the public and private sectors, lasting well into the 22nd century.[8]

2078[edit | edit source]

  • Anatoly Korenchkin begins his career as a black market baron in Saint Petersburg. By 2092, he ends his career and goes legitimate in New Atlanta.[2]
  • Nanites are created at the University of Masala.[16]

2082[edit | edit source]

  • The UNN Currency Redefinition Act paves the way for moving financial transactions to a nanite basis.[16]

2091[edit | edit source]

2097[edit | edit source]

2102[edit | edit source]

2107[edit | edit source]

  • The Processing Rationalization Act is amended, permitting development of digital personalities - faux-AIs.[2]

2108[edit | edit source]

2111[edit | edit source]

2112[edit | edit source]

  • UNN Carfax is struck by a meteorite in the outer solar system, losing 123 hands including the chief navigation officer.[19]
  • July: The gunnery sergeant onboard the UNN Antigua snaps during a training exercise, killing a dozen Marines with live plasma fire.[20]

2113[edit | edit source]

2113[edit | edit source]

  • Marie Curie Research Station is attacked by terrorists, who release the experimental virus into the atmospheric control regulators.[22]
  • Poliedes Station is taken over by rebels. The UNN Marines are sent to take the self-proclaimed Magnate down, which they accomplish with little difficulties.[23]
  • Half of the crew of Yamamoto Station rebels against the station commander.[24]

2114[edit | edit source]

  • January 9: Soldier G65434-2 transfers to the Rickenbacker.
  • February 3: The Von Braun and its escort, the UNN heavy destroyer Rickenbacker, depart Earth in a historic voyage.[8]
  • June 15: The Von Braun encounters a distress signal originating from the surface of Tau Ceti. The Many are brought on board, resulting in the totaling of the ship's crew and expedition, as well as reviving of SHODAN from a dormant Citadel data store.[8]
  • July 12: Soldier G65434-2 awakens from coma onboard the derelict Von Braun and proceeds to destroy The Many and SHODAN.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Soda: "Invented in the early part of the 20th century, soda was created as a refreshing beverage, a mixture of carbonated water and corn syrup. For such a trivial seeming product, soda and similar beverages fueled the rise of the first two mega-corporation, the names of which are illegal to publish by UNN Information Ordnance #234/fd34. Net rumors suggest that these two corporations' marketing skirmishes turned into physical ones, promulgated by the destruction of offshore bottling plants by hired mercenary squads in 2023."
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 System Shock backstory
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 ICE Breaker
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 System Shock manual: "2.jan.2071. SHODAN, designed as a fully self-sufficient artificial intelligence, is installed to regulate Citadel station security and operations.
    9.sep.2072. Reports of aberrant behaviour with the computer network onboard Citadel station accumulate. The computer system administrator files a request to replace the SHODAN security system.
    10.sep.2072. The computer system administrator is transferred off-station and the replacement order is rescinded.
    26.sep.2072. An experiment in the biolabs involving a viral mutation agent displays unfortunate side effects. Flawed control software appears to be at fault. The science computer system is scheduled to go down for inspection.
    27.sep.2072. Researchers, complaining of a strange illness, are found to be contaminated with the experimental virus mutagen.
    30.sep.2072. Maintenance is flooded with repair orders for defective robots and systems station-wide. Technicians cannot explain the speed loss in computer systems.
    2.oct.2072. Security detains crewmembers as the number of violent incidents aboard the station begins to rise. Psychological evaluations report mental derangement in the mutagen-contaminated researchers.
    6.oct.2072. Other crew members complain of an inexplicable illness. The mutagen-contaminated researchers are listed in critical condition. Medical imposes quarantine measures.
    7.oct.2072. Mutagen-contaminated experimenters are missing. Five medical staff are found mutilated. Security reports that the armoury has been ransacked.
    9.oct.2072. A riot erupts in Research. Some members of the crew barricade themselves in a laboratory. TriOptimum sends a military transport. Reports are hushed to prevent public embarrassment.
    10.oct.2072. The transport is shot and destroyed by station defenses due to a bizarre software malfunction. No shuttles are allowed to enter or leave the flight deck pending software diagnostics and hardware inspections.
    13.oct.2072. SHODAN announces its intention to control all life aboard the station. Communications from Citadel are cut off.
    1.nov.2072. A brief transmission is received from survivors aboard the station, describing a massacre by SHODAN-controlled robot forces, and warning of danger to Earth populations."
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 System Shock intro
  6. ↑ Edward Diego: "I learned that I am under investigation by Trioptimum Internal Security. We have to burn the evidence. The logs of the experiments are protected by the security system SHODAN, so I am hiring a programmer to crack it. With control of SHODAN, we will also own the robots and other systems on the station. That will be my shield if they try and oust me."
  7. ↑ Hacker: "Looks like Diego's happy with my work... they're firing up the sleep machine for me now. Gotta admit, when the goons from TriOp caught me I thought for sure they'd take me off line. Instead, Diego just asks for a "favor." Hack him into SHODAN, and all is forgiven. Plus, six months in a healing coma earns me a cyberjack interface even TriOp's execs couldn't swing. I'll be king of the Net. Even so, I have just handed the most powerful Al in the system to a fumbling corp VP, and there's no telling what'll happen. They tell me the coma leaves you foggy, so I'll leave myself some reminders. First off, the combo to the healing suite is 451. Second, I've stashed some useful stuff in the maintenance hatch under the grating north of the healing suite. Last and best, I finished the system analyzer which'll let me keep an eye on SHODAN's processes. It's in the storage closet outside the sleep machine. In ten minutes it's off to bed for half a year. Good night. "
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 System Shock 2 manual: "In 2072, Earth and the colonies elsewhere in the solar system are governed by vast megaconglomerates, the largest of which is the TriOptimum Corporation. Most people have little to complain about, though there are rumours of strange research projects on mutated humans locked away in corporate labs. However, when a TriOptimum employee named Edward Diego, with the help of a hired hacker, released the ethical constraints on a powerful AI named SHODAN (Sentient HyperOptimised Data Access Network) on Citadel Station, everything changed. SHODAN went rogue, killed most of the Citadel inhabitants and transformed many of the rest into cyborgs. Only the actions of the hacker, overlooked at first by SHODAN, were able to avert the destruction of Earth, as plotted in one of SHODAN’s many plans. The hacker destroyed a mining laser aimed at Earth and jettisoned a group of biological “groves” (laboratories in which SHODAN was developing mutagenic viruses for use on Earth). He then blew up a set of antennae through which SHODAN planned to download her code into Earth’s computers and, finally, destroyed the space station and SHODAN herself. Earth’s close call sent shock waves throughout the world and disturbing indications of similar rogue activity were discovered in several other corporate AIs.
    The events on Citadel station have led to a general unrest and rebellion against megacorporate government. The previously ineffectual governments of Earth’s nations were now banding together to form the Unified National Nominate (UNN) and stand up to the suddenly defensive corporations. Governmental controls over business were stepped up, and national governments instituted severe political controls, using newly built-up military forces and secret police to force control over society and business. Bureaucracy became the watchword of the day and technological development slowed to a crawl, as everything had to be signed and countersigned in triplicate. Attempts were made by the UNN and national governments to take over megacorporate holdings completely, but the corporations were not yet powerless and they made a stand. An ever-widening rift between the public and private sectors developed, as governmental attempts to shut down noncompliant factories were met by well-armed TriOptimum soldiers and other mercenaries. A wary truce settled between governmental and megacorporate forces and things became stable… for a while. Now, thirty-five years later, with technological advances considerably slowed, the world has devolved further into a group of heavily armed rival regions. The UNN maintains strategic control, but has failed to win the hearts and minds of the lower classes. The unsteady truce between the public and private sectors holds shakily in place.
    Then, UNN Nobel Laureate Marie Delacroix, working under a grant from the dwindling resources of the skeletal TriOptimum corporation, publishes preliminary research findings of a Faster Than Light (FTL) mechanism. The device works by bending and warping space around the device.


    Delacroix 03.Dec.08 Re: Madness
    To: Korenckin, Anatoly
    Anatoly, you ask to me to provide you an executive brief of the potential side effects of the real world utilisation of the FTL device. Are you sure you want to know? What if I told you it would somehow introduce an inconsistency into the chronographic continuum with entirely unimaginable results? What if I told you Einstein was right and the thing wouldn’t work at all? What if I told you it could bend space and not be able to bend it back? Would any of those things halt your crusade to get TriOp back on top?


    However, Delacroix herself has serious concerns about the reliability of the device and its unexplored side effects.
    Once the rumours of the device are leaked out, the UNN is unable to control public enthusiasm. The UNN allows TriOptimum to develop a prototype, which tests successfully. TriOptimum then begins production of an FTL starship, the Von Braun, but the UNN refuses to let it out of the naval yards, citing various regulations about tests that must be done before approval can be given. Popular opinion is that the UNN simply doesn’t want to let TriOptimum gain the amount of power that the only working FTL ship would grant it.
    By 2111, it is clear that the device performs as advertised. However, the potential side effects of its extended use remain unknown. The device has caught the imagination of the public. With the conditions on Earth worsening and the disappointing results of the in-system colonisation, hopes are high for brighter pastures outside the confines of our solar system.
    However, the UNN is loath to allow TriOptimum to be the principal beneficiary. Months of debate, negotiation and threatmaking ensue, culminating in the mysterious death of one of the most vocally anti-TriOptimum UNN officials. Before the government/corporate split comes to open war, however, a compromise is reached between the UNN and TriOptimum, brokered by William Bedford Diego, a UNN Navy captain, husband of a TriOptimum board member and the son of the infamous Edward Diego.
    The Von Braun will be allowed to make a maiden FTL voyage, but only with an accompanying UNN escort. The military heavy destroyer Rickenbacker will be tethered to the Von Braun for the FTL journey, via a complex set of interlocks between the two ships’ systems. UNN personnel will be stationed aboard the Rickenbacker, ready to deal with any hostile aliens. A fanciful news video shows hypothetical footage of the two ships facing a fleet of menacing “alien” ships and of the Rickenbacker detaching to fight while the Von Braun escapes.


    Korenchkin 04.Dec.08
    Re: Madness
    To: Delacroix, Dr. Marie
    Marie, thank you for your insight on the FTL drive. We will take your comments under advisement. Please note that we have asked the Seattle group to move the date of the primary device trials up by two months, to commence on 19.DEC.08.


    Diego 17.Mar.04
    Re: Yanking My Chain
    To: Korenchkin, Anatoly
    Anatoly, there's only so much corporate calisthenics I can go through before I start to feel a little queasy, so let's get down to brass tacks here. We don't like each other. We each have our own motivations for undertaking this mission. So let me give you a little warning. I cannot be circumvented, I cannot be tricked, I cannot be manipulated and I cannot be bought. You come at me straight and keep the fancy manoeuvres for your next board meeting. Just because my father swam with the sharks doesn't mean that I do.

    The excitement once again fuels talk of discovering extraterrestrial forms of life, a topic more or less forgotten since exploration of the solar system turned up only a series of barren, lifeless landscapes. Anatoly Korenchkin, a brutally effective TriOptimum executive, is chosen as the captain of the Von Braun, despite Captain Diego’s objections. There are strong and fairly substantiated suspicions that Korenchkin ordered the assassination of the UNN official some months earlier. Marie Delacroix is appointed the Von Braun’s chief engineer, tasked with keeping her nascent FTL drive functioning. Dr. Delacroix is vocal about preferring a longer period of testing for the FTL drive and goes on record as saying that the ship is not yet ready for the field. However, pressure to launch the mission is growing daily, and the Von Braun/Rickenbacker mission embarks in early 2114.


    A few months into its historical journey, the situation has begun to deteriorate. Tension is running high between the civilian elements of the Von Braun and their military counterparts on the Rickenbacker. In addition, Delacroix’s predictions prove to be accurate, as the Von Braun is plagued with numerous malfunctions. The coolant tubes on the engineering deck are constantly leaking, the scrubbers in the air-recirculators on the hydroponics deck have a tendency to pump out pure carbon dioxide and the integration of the core computer system, XERXES, is buggy and inefficient.


    Korenchkin 15.Jun.14
    Re: First Contact
    To: Zhukov, Vladimir
    We’ve picked up a transmission from the surface of Tau Ceti 5. I have been in negotiation with Captain Diego of the Rickenbacker and after some... coercion, he’s agreed to go planetside as a joint venture. Imagine, this historic mission might become even more historic. First Contact. And who is there to get exclusive rights to all media, patents and land grants? TriOptimum. Miri, I told you this would be worth it.


    These events only exacerbate the tension between the military and civilian elements of the expedition (though there is limited fraternisation between the crew of the Von Braun and that of the Rickenbacker) as a complex web of interpersonal relationships begins to form. Still, after four months in space, it becomes clear that something is going to come to a head. The exact timing and severity of the conflict is all that remains to be determined.
    And then, the remarkable happens. On June 10, 2114, the transceiver onboard the Von Braun begins receiving fragments of a distress beacon emanating from the Tau Ceti system, billions of miles outside the borders of colonised space."

  9. ↑ Diego Log: "Since your rise to power, I have seen the wisdom and beneficence in your actions. You do not mean to cause us harm, but rather to bring us to greater glory by serving a being as perfect as yourself. Please allow me to demonstrate my loyal servitude by giving the location of the human detritus who undermine your sanitization...they are in the northeast banquet hall. All I ask in return for this expression of my love is a measure of protection and an opportunity to spread the message of your cybernetic holiness."
  10. ↑ Cutscene timestamp: " Report filed E-log 6.11.72 14:32:51"
  11. ↑ Cutscene timestamp: "Report filed E-log 6.11.72 22:13:03"
  12. ↑ Cutscene timestamp: " Report filed E-log 7.11.72 05:19:22 "
  13. ↑ Cutscene timestamp: " Report filed E-log 7.11.72 19:51:31"
  14. ↑ Cutscene timestamp: " Report filed E-log 7.11.72 20:02:03 "
  15. ↑ System Shock 2
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Nanites: "Efficient Nanite based technology was introduced after a series of radical experiments at the University of Masala in 2078. Nanites are sub-atomic machines that are capable of being programmed to perform a nearly infinite variety of tasks, from forming themselves in a replication grid to form into arbitrary objects, to fighting bacteria and viruses in the human bloodstream. In other words, nanites (combined with replication tech) created the "every material". The UNN Currency Redefinition Act of 2082 opened up the door for moving financial transactions to a strict Nanite basis."
  17. ↑ Official System Shock 2 Strategy Guide
  18. ↑ System Shock 2 character creation.
  19. ↑ Character creation: "Your tour of duty aboard the UNN Carfax has concluded. It was a good year for you, but not a great one for the Carfax. After taking a surprise hit from a small meteorite that separated from the larger mass, the Carfax was forced to limp home, with 123 casualties, including the chief navigation officer. You stepped in and filled his shoes and by then end of the year, you became quite skilled with the neuro-nav interface."
  20. ↑ Character creation: "Feb. 23, 2113
    Time to get off the UNN Antigua and back to Wake Island Station, and not a month too soon. Five months into your posting, the Gunnery Sergeant snapped during a training exercise, and killed half a troop with live plasma fire before you tackled him. After that, you were in charge of the exercises, and in the months after, got pretty good with the low-energy beam weapons."
  21. ↑ Character creation: "Get back to Wake Island Station pronto - your tour of duty on the UNN Antigua is finished. You kept the Antigua running for six months, when every system in the book crashed daily. But your real problems came when the convicts the Air Service was shipping through decided to try a revolt. It took you the rest of the trip to get the smell of explosives out of the air scrubbers, but you learned how to repair the damn things."
  22. ↑ Character creation: "Your tour of duty at the Marie Curie Research Facility has concluded. Congratulations on surviving the disaster, sailor. When the saboteurs removed the safety seals and released the virus into the atmospheric control regulators, you were one of the few to reach safety in time. However, you were able to pick up a few odds and ends of research techniques before the crap hit the fan."
  23. ↑ Character creation: "Get back to Wake Island Station pronto - your year on Polidies Station is finished. Taking on the Magnate's forces was a cakewalk - you hardly spent any ammo at all. The second fight, when his lieutenant made a play for the station, wasn't much harder. The only thing you thought was even mildly interesting was taking apart the black market weapons afterwards to see what sort of fancy mods they'd made."
  24. ↑ Character creation: "Your tour of duty at Yamamoto Station has concluded. You certainly weren't prepared for the events of this year. Captain Willits was never popular with his men, but you never expected half the crew to mutiny. The taut days spent regaining control of the ship with the Captain lent you a grace and agility you never knew you were capable of."
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