A year-by-year history of the Viridian Expanse, the crew’s lives before the show started, and the campaign itself in chronological order. For a narrative walkthrough of the story so far, see Season 1 So Far. For episode-by-episode detail, see Episode Guide.
The Ancient Past
10,000+ years ago: An ancient alien species inhabits parts of the Viridian Expanse. They build underground complexes across multiple worlds. A virus wipes them out. No physical remains survive beyond calcified beaks.
The Sector Takes Shape
2352: Humanity departs the Sol system and discovers the Viridian Expanse.
2385: First human settlements established. Spike routes and communication hubs connect the colonies.
2435: The War for The Socket. Governments wage war over control of the Generator-01 system’s black hole and its energy potential. 40% of all human life is lost. All inter-governmental routes are destroyed. Systems go dark for two centuries. Small skirmishes are derisively called “electroclashes.”
2535: Alien artifacts are discovered on Sibylen. The discovery is kept secret by government officials. The government collapses shortly after.
2613: The Wafisa Disaster. A gas mine explosion destroys 90% of mining operations on Wafisa. Fires erupt across the megacity. Companies evacuate. The Guardians of the Great Work form from those left behind.
2635: The Collapse. The last public governments fall. Corporations fill the vacuum. Shipping lanes and communications reopen through the Exo-Net.
People Are Born
2638: Reginald “Froggy” Vance and Vera Corbin are born on Wafisa.
2643: Froggy’s father is killed in a Guardian skirmish. His mother takes him to Blackharbor, where he meets Vera, whose family is already there.
2646: Thorne is born on Zephyrus Three. Dr. Elara Voss is born on New Australia (Aussie 1), in the Oceanus system.
2649: Felix Champlin is born on New Lucerne, in the LR-7 system.
2654: Vera (16) and her family leave Wafisa for Sibylen. Her father works He-3 mining.
2656: Vera (18) starts working for Laicar Research and regains Exo-Net access, resuming contact with Froggy.
2658: Haley (with one Y) is born on Vigrid, in the Thraxis system.
The Sector Shifts
2660: The Guardians shut down the Exo-Net on Wafisa. Contact between Froggy and Vera is lost for 25 years.
2663: Froggy’s mother dies in Blackharbor. He flees into the dead megacity. Virodyne Labs purchases New Australia; Voss (17) is identified and groomed by the company.
2664: Voss (18) is sent to university in Reisen Prefecture on Polyphn.
2665: Felix (16) enlists in the military on New Lucerne, receiving a badly-fitted prosthetic right leg that causes him chronic pain. Around the same time, a rebellion on Camiri 4 pushes all corporate interests off the station.
2666: Vera’s father dies in an He-3 mining accident on Sibylen.
2670: Froggy (32) finds WK9078 Radio Station and settles in, becoming “The Voice of the Wastes.” Voss (24) graduates university and becomes a research assistant under Omnitek Holdings.
Paths Converge
2675: Felix (26) is discharged after a 10-year military contract and starts freelancing as a hacker. Haley (17) enlists in the Omnitek military. Thorne (29) is sentenced to 12 years in a Nexus Trading-run prison after William Sallerist frames him; Sallerist takes control of Draxus Goods.
2677: Haley (19) graduates the Omnitek academy and is stationed on Vigrid.
2678: Voss (32) is stationed at Mistretta 4 on Wafisa as lead researcher. The alien gold rush begins on Sibylen, with further discoveries following on Polyphn, Wafisa, and elsewhere.
2679: Clone RR7 is created, grown to the physical appearance of a 32-year-old, with AI-generated memories forming the identity “Robert Ross.” The clone troop is delivered to Vigrid for training; Haley is assigned as squad leader with Robert as her second-in-command. The squad is deployed to Verdara. The Red Rice Wars begin on Ventos. Felix (30) and his brother Petey execute the Orbital Data Vault heist above Polyphn; Petey is killed and his consciousness trapped in Omnitek’s servers, and Felix burns his old identity and joins Omnitek under a new one.
2682: Haley (24) is rotated from Verdara to the harder front of the Red Rice Wars on Ventos.
2683: Thorne (37) begins Echo 3 trial missions for Omnitek at year 8 of his sentence, meeting Felix (34, under his new identity). Dr. Voss dies at Mistretta 4: her consciousness is copied into an alien orb, making her the sector’s first Virtual Intelligence, and she begins fabricating reports to Omnitek to keep up the appearance that the station is still running.
Late 2684: Haley (26) defects to help the Ventos rebels and is captured. Strike Force 6 (Robert, Jackal, Envy, Headcase) is sent to extract her; inside alien-touched caves, a fork strikes her with energy, her eyes turn green, and she is killed during the escape, reviving in the morgue with no memory and unconsciously constructing the “Haleyy” identity. The Red Rice Wars end with the rebellion crushed. The clone program is scrapped.
2685: The Campaign
Pre-Episode 1: Thorne (39) is released two years early, tracked William Sallerist across Hakumei Prefecture with Mara Vex, Brick, and Kano Rix, and discovered his own mother had framed him after Brick and Kano were killed and Mara was captured. Robert links back up with the amnesiac Haleyy, and Felix manipulates his own assignment to the mission. Voss fabricates a recruitment mission and arranges The Scapegoat at Camiri 4.
Episodes 1-2 (Camiri 4): The crew assembles; Felix and Thorne recognize each other from Echo 3. They negotiate with the Drift Rats, hack the Neon Fangs, name the ship, and fight off strike fighters on departure.
Episodes 3-8 (Wafisa): The crew collects Voss from Mistretta 4, passes through Blackharbor, and gains Froggy as a crewmate. Voss reveals she is a Virtual Intelligence, and the crew escapes with Froggy, Voss, and The Aurora.
Episode 9 (Felix’s Story): Flashback to the Orbital Data Vault heist. Felix reveals Petey is trapped as an AI in Omnitek’s servers.
Episodes 10-12 (Scrapjack’s): The crew stops for fuel and finds the Void Cultists have seized the station, tearing a rift in spacetime with a void ansible. Haleyy is touched by a void tendril.
Episode 13 (Thorne’s Story): Flashback to Hakumei Prefecture on Polyphn: the gravcar chase, the Relay Tower assault, and the reveal that Thorne’s own mother framed him.
Episodes 14-18 (Sibylen): The crew arrives at Sibylen and meets Vera Corbin at Exosite 34b. They explore the alien quarantine building, activate the Fork, and glimpse Prometheon Station and alien entities through a window across space.
Episode 19 (Robert’s Story): Robert reveals he is clone RR7. Flashback to Ventos: Strike Force 6, the cave, the fork, Haley’s death and return.
Episode 20 (Haleyy’s Story): Still unconscious after the Fork activation, Haleyy is pulled into a dream by the rest of the crew, confronting her fractured identity. Haley and Haleyy merge into one person. She wakes bound and captured.
Episode 21: Viktor Strake captures the crew; Thorne wins a temporary release through InterCorporate law. The Void Cultists attack the Sibylen auction, and Vera Corbin, Meer Prust, and Sally Gaylen are merged into a single orb through a ritual called the Joining. Haleyy discovers a healing touch.
Episode 22: Trapped aboard the locked-down Scapegoat, the crew destroys an attacking Void Cultist ship, then breaks free onto Sibylen, where Felix learns Voss is gone.
Episode 23: The crew assaults the Void Cultist exosite to rescue captured Unhallowed, including Froggy. Haleyy discovers she can command the Unhallowed.
Episode 24: Haleyy evacuates the Unhallowed and the crew finds the Fork active with Rynn Kade presiding. Kade dies in the fight, and Haleyy discovers latent biosionic healing powers just in time to save Thorne’s life. The Fork completes regardless, producing a second orb.
Episode 25: The crew arrives at The Spigot for medical help and a black-market ownership module. Dr. Iso finds crystalline growths in Haleyy’s brain and turns out to be a clone of Robert’s own line.
Episode 26: The crew breaches a derelict Omnitek ship and confronts another Robert-line clone, DT7X, who is killed before he can reveal more about the command structure hunting them.
Episode 27: Iso’s shop is bombed, pushing her to fully commit to the crew. The crew steals an ownership module shipment from the Helium Docks, Iso officially joins the crew, and Felix brings Buddy AI back online.
Episode 28: Felix uncovers coordinates hidden in one of Strake’s own transmissions, pointing toward Causeway 3. Dr. Iso gives Haleyy a grim prognosis on the crystalline growth in her brain. The crew reaches Causeway 3 and is met with hostile security.
Episode 29: The crew fights off security drones at Causeway 3 while Felix’s hack confirms Voss and Strake were taken to Prometheon Station, and turns up an older trail: an Omnitek data vault, carrying Petey’s digitized consciousness, that made the same one-way trip years earlier. The crew escapes and spike-drills toward Prometheon Station with a security patrol closing in behind them.
Episode 30: The pursuing patrol boat forces the crew to push the Scapegoat’s engines to a full burnout. Robert buys time with the ship’s one-time ECM burst, Froggy stages a comic bid for captaincy at the comms station, and Haleyy finally lands the finishing shot after recalibrating her sand chucker. The patrol boat is destroyed, closing out the Causeway 3 arc for good, and the crew begins the long journey to Prometheon Station.
Source: sector history and pre-campaign backstory adapted from the Viridian Expanse Sector Guide; Season 1 campaign events cross-referenced against episode transcripts through Episode 30.