Gelecek - History

Background Briefing for Trusted Clients
Addendum 1: Historical information
Cypher Key #TI-428BY101EGY587#
Security Level: 3
Last Updated: 7.22.2422
Access granted by: EDL (FA-SE)

Gelecek was founded in 2222, as part of the Terran start-up initiative in the early 23rd century. Funded by the Lunar Directorate in an effort to reorganize Earth's financial institutions and more fully integrate it into the galactic economy, Gelecek quickly became one of the project's standout successes.

The company originally focused on information technology and computing, specializing in AI systems contained within singular, self-determining robotic units. Gelecek’s big break came when its Tulip-type androids were selected for standard use in long-term interstellar programs. The company was the recipient of a major Directorate contract and heavily promoted as a Terran success story.

Over the next few decades, Gelecek began to invest heavily in uplift projects, focusing on promoting rising Terran talent through a series of research grants, and eventually expanding to include extrasolar colonies. At the time, working for Gelecek was considered one of the hottest opportunities for young intellectuals and self-styled geniuses.

However, the late 2200s proved to be a period of major struggle for the company. Despite their massive expenditure in research and development, the majority of Gelecek's experimental projects proved to be commercial failures. The company’s android lines barely kept it afloat until the sale of “neuro-boosters” began to supplement the income stream. These genetically-modified enzymes were derived from alien plant toxins. They were marketed to the Terran masses as a means of enhancing the escapist form of entertainment known as "surrogate lifestyles," where users downloaded real-life experiences directly into their own consciousness.

This period, known internally as the “lean decades,” came to an end in 2305. The newly founded Atlas Syndicate bought out a major part of Gelecek’s neuro-interfacing licenses for an undisclosed but no doubt extravagant sum. These patents ultimately became part of the foundation for Atlas’ cutting-edge scanning technology, and the sale enabled Gelecek to upscale their facilities.

Desiring a more legally neutral location to continue its varied and sometimes legally dubious research projects, Gelecek used a large part of the Atlas windfall to begin construction on a linked cluster of research stations. Dubbed “Bizim”, this mega-structure provided the company with a new base of operations in an uninhabited system on the edge of the Mirzam tunnel. After the station’s official launch, the company promptly renamed the system Coldest Blue in reference to an obscure poem by 21st century literary icon Ysbel Arraiz-Gavas.

Given the reduced role of neuro-interfacing technology within the company’s portfolio, Gelecek proceeded to turn its collective fascination towards “living” Androids and machine consciousness. They were driven towards perfecting artificial consciousness, a concept they saw as distinct from “simple” artificial intelligence, capable of claiming true sentience. To achieve this goal, Gelecek began to experiment heavily in xenobiology, selecting and breeding some of the strangest and most extreme forms of life in the universe in order to incorporate biological elements into their machines.

Around the year 2315, one of the company's side projects discovered an applied principle that radically changed both faster-than-light communications, and Gelecek's fortunes. Dubbed "Entanglement Communication" by project leader N. H. Ilas, this discovery led to the development of Ansibles, devices that enable near-instantaneous communication between any two points in the galaxy. In no time at all Ansibles became ubiquitous, revolutionizing both military and civilian operations, and fueling Gelecek's rise as one of the largest corporations in human history. Today they are considered only a small step behind independent factions like Atlas and the MPL.

Propelled by the company’s newfound wealth and influence, a major construction phase began on Bizim, bringing the structure closer to the colossal proportions for which it would eventually become famous. During the same period, Gelecek began to expand its operations across the Frontier, focusing on a two-pronged approach of biological and technological development. Ever more heavily modified humans worked alongside increasingly biological androids, so much so that the distinction between the two began to blur. What’s more, Gelecek’s experimentation with biological principles resulted in the creation of semi-organic vessels with artificial consciousness. The apex of these experiments were the twelve ‘siblings’ of the Lotus line, incredibly advanced beings which, according to the company, have attained their dream of true artificial consciousness.

While participating in the period of Sector Selection known as The Beta Program, a team of Gelecek researchers discovered and began to look deeply into the structural phenomena known as “the mechanisms”. This investigation resulted in tension between the company and Binderburg, as the conglomerate accused Gelecek of disturbing their research, while Gelecek in turn maintained that Binderburg was deliberately concealing the mechanisms' potentially alien nature and monopolizing access. However, this conflict proved worth it in 2420, when Gelecek revealed the fruits of its research in the form of the Translocation Drive. Derived from the mechanisms' mysterious abilities, the Drive allowed the near-instantaneous teleportation of matter across the vastness of space, with only a few limitations.

The main drawback of operating the Translocation Drive is not its energy requirements, but rather the incredible complexity of the computations necessary for its specific method of space-time manipulation. Due to what is known as the “bidirectional field effect”, the computational time increases exponentially the shorter the distance is between the start and end point. Given modern computing power, Translocation can only be used over extreme distances.

In an effort to keep up with the so-called “Sovereign Six”, Gelecek made the audacious decision to demonstrate their newfound capabilities on Bizim itself (which by this time had become truly gargantuan). Against a backdrop of raucous celebration within Bizim’s superstructure, Gelecek’s leadership streamed the launch of its Translocation Drive live via simulcast. Viewers across the galaxy were treated to the spectacle of the colossal habitat instantly winking out of existence, only to reappear thousands of light-years closer to the galactic center. Not only did Gelecek unveil its newly minted slogan “At the Center of it All” in outrageous fashion, but given the vast distances involved, Gelecek was now poised to instantly translocate from Bizim to any point in the colonized galaxy. In a split instant, the company established itself as a sovereign power in waiting, one with a frightening strategic advantage.

In recent years Gelecek has continued to flaunt its exclusive tech, moving research stations instantly from one side of the galaxy to the other, and effortlessly bypassing Binderburg's continued efforts to keep them away from the mechanisms. In addition to their smaller scale staples of android development and personal modifications, the company has continued to pursue its research into the galaxy's most unexplained phenomenon, an obsession that has steadily led them further towards the Spiral Expanse, and the edge of the known Frontier.