An antique photograph of a human soldier holding a Reclamation Society SMG from the Renaissance Period, dating it somewhere between 2121 and 2299. Note the lack of a formal uniform, which indicates that she likely lived in the then-chaotic wastes of Sichuan, China.

The human species is incredibly diverse biologically, with countless races, many of which have histories stretching back to before the invention of a written language. In ancient times, such races were generally distinguished by skin color first and cultural identity second (due largely to the influence large-scale imperialism had on ancient human society). The transition from the the Classical period to the Dark Ages, however, brought upon the seclusion of such races. New mutations, however, continued to appear throughout the Dark Ages. This has left the human species with so many different individual races that, in humanoid-dominated parts of the galaxy, one could easily mistake them for entirely different species. However, races deviating so much from the "Baseline" pre-Dark Ages humanity are much rarer compared to those present before the end of the Classical period.

Human culture is equally diverse as human genetics, and perhaps more so. Classical practices, religions, and arts are still largely practiced alongside countless new cultures that arose in the eras following the collapse of Classical civilization. Going against the trend towards globalization in the Classical period, human cultures have remained largely independent throughout modern history. Despite the presence of a global constructed language, countless local languages remain, with Classical and modern tongues being spoken in massive numbers across the Earth. The cultural exchanges brought about by the end of the Dark Ages created modern cultures, which once again grew alongside re-emerging Classical ones to bring about an unprecedented level of coexistence never before seen in human history.

Of particular note in this Modern/Classical contrast is the difference between Lander and Seafaring cultures. Though such such a categorization is extremely broad, the massive dissonance between cultures found in both groups is too large to ignore. Lander culture tends to be more Classical, and is unique in the fact that religion is almost unanimous within it, while Seafaring culture is largely atheistic. Furthermore, Lander cultures are significantly more different from each other, as Seafaring cultures have engaged in more cultural exchange, which has made them closer in terms of traditions and values.

As a final note, humans are a durable species despite their appearance. Though a bullet that wouldn't pierce the scales of some alien monster could pierce through to a human's internal organs, they can take a lot of punishment before finally dying. Many species could be killed almost instantly by the trauma of losing a limb, but humans are known to take such an injury and continue to be fully active. In fact, in far too many events to count, humans have voluntarily chopped off their own limbs and survived. Their endurance is also exceptional, to the point that when put in primal conditions humans will simply follow their prey until it dies of exhaustion. Even some of the least physically fit members of the human species can bring about bursts of speed and power when threatened, and said bursts can allow them to completely ignore pain. In some situations, humans have lost one of their arms and continued to use weapons which generally require both, going on to defeat the enemy attacking them and even taunt them. Never, ever underestimate a human.

Modern human history of generally considered to have started in the year 2021 CE, the year that marks the end of the classical civilizations. The period before that point (known as the "Classical Period" or "Classical Era") was the waning golden age of humanity. A consistent march towards progress after the collapse of one of the world's superpowers in 1991 CE ended unfortunately quickly, with a terrorist attack on one of the remaining ones which sparked over a decade of conflict in a particularly economically valuable region of the planet. Resource scarcity and economic instability led to a major confrontation in the same region around 2016 CE, between a successor-state turned superpower and a massive coalition of various other nations. A nation within the region made a move against an opposing regime supported by one of the major global players, sparking a war between the two. Due to a web of alliances, the nations of the coalition began their own attacks. Half of the planet erupted in war.

An unrelated territorial dispute between two nations on the other side of the planet erupted over into war, due to pressure being put on both to assist in the other war (on separate sides, of course). That conflict ultimately connected those nations to the other war, merging the two wars into one, which would later be known and the Third World War. It raged for five years, and claimed the lives of countless soldiers and civilians alike until it ended on October 23rd, 2021 with a simple computer glitch. Early-warning systems used by the de facto leader of the coalition forces falsely detected a nuclear first strike, and not wanting to risk giving up their chance at revenge, the coalition launched their arsenal without verifying the report first. Of course, opposing forces detected the launch and retaliated with their own nuclear weapons. Within mere minutes, civilization on Earth was destroyed.

The only survivors were those lucky enough to make it to underground shelters, military and civilian personnel at sea or in the air, and a few unlucky people who couldn't make it underground but still survived the blast. Three days later, dust and ash launched into the stratosphere by the apocalypse had covered every part of the planet, a phenomenon known as a nuclear winter. And thus began the Dark Ages. Sunlight was scarce, and in some places, day was as dark as night. Most of the survivors put aside their differences and lust for revenge in favor of living another day, while some took to raiding any settlements they could find. It would be a hundred years until the Dark Ages would end.

That end came, of course, with the return of the Earth's atmosphere to its previous state. Agriculture became possible for anyone, and not just organizations with access to the right technology or locations. The availability of easily produced food brought about a period of relative peace, and it was around the end of the Dark Ages that the underground shelters opened up again. The remnants of Classical civilization, their cultures preserved from before the war, emerged from their safety and entered the world once again. Due to the similarities to the earlier period of the same name, this era was dubbed "The Renaissance".

It was a time of reconstruction for humanity, with the world being repopulated on a scale never before seen. Cities were reclaimed from overgrowth and radiation, while factories sprung up everywhere there was a sizable population. Art saw a massive change in the floating cities of Enterprise, Liaoning, and Izumo, which fueled a fusion between Classical and modern culture which resulted in entirely new styles as well as the revival of older ones. The three cities quickly grew far beyond their original populations, with many of the underground survivors flocking to them. Structural overhauls were made to all three, with Enterprise adding two new hulls, Liaoning adding multiple new decks on top of what was once its flight deck, and Izumo growing outwards into a more conventional city full of waterways. All three remain major cities today, and are popular tourist destinations for any human.

Deeply intertwined with the Renaissance was the colonization of the Americas by the significantly more developed Lander nations of Africa. After the apocalypse, coastal nations quickly managed to force themselves to stand on two feet while the poorer, landlocked ones fell into a state of anarchy. As a result, much of the resources of the major African nations had become focused on expanding into the center of the continent and heavier industrialization projects until the sun returned and large-scale natural farming became possible again. The successes of such African nations were closely tied to those of the Seafaring nations and city-states, as floating cities would often come into African ports for trade.

Though the African nations colonized the Americas, they took great care to preserve both the modern and Classical cultures of the lands, as well as draw more intelligent and less arbitrary borders. Having survived the war relatively unscathed, the memories of imperialism were still very much with them, and they utilized those memories to ensure that no other continent would fall to the same fate again. Over the years, many American colonies were granted independence, as the main goal of the colonization initiatives had always been to repopulate and re-industrialize the regions.

However, as much as the Renaissance has come to be idealized, there was a great deal of underlying problems in society. First and foremost, of course, was the hatred of Non-Baseline Humans (known at the time as "mutants", now a highly offensive term). Throughout the era, attempts were made to remove them, mostly through mass sterilizations and initiatives that punished interbreeding. In 2733, this hatred finally boiled over in the Nilotic Republic, where John Kiplagat was elected and reformed the government into a military dictatorship by harnessing the hatred of Non-Baselines.

The formerly mostly rural nation quickly industrialized, and began to be seen as a larger and larger threat by the more moderate nations of the world. Having formerly been a militaristic empire cut down to size through multiple wars, Africa and the world as a whole saw the reformation of the Nilotic Empire as something to be feared. Tensions finally erupted into war when the Nilotic Empire invaded Somalia, at which point much of the world declared war on them in retaliation. Of particular importance in the war were the Seafaring nations and Madagascar, which were made up largely of Non-Baseline populations. The war lasted for six years, and by the end of it, its affects had reached every corner of the Earth.

It was after the defeat of the Nilotic Empire that the societal standard against Non-Baselines began to change. Terrible war crimes were carried out against them by the Empire, which had vowed to "cleanse" Africa of Non-Baselines in order to ensure a "pure" humanity. It had been known that they had harsh policies against Non-Baselines, but it was only after the war that the extent of their unholy crusade was uncovered. Lieutenant General Patricus, the leader of Neo-Brazil's 1st Armored Division, said of the Empire that "They have created and perfected an industry of murder".

The logical extreme of anti-mutant policies that the Nilotic Empire had displayed turned public opinion in favor of Non-Baselines, and within fifty years, only the despised fringes of society held beliefs against them. After the dust of the war had settled, the Second Golden Age began. The world had finally recovered from what humanity had done to it, and resource wars like those of the Classical era were made obsolete thanks to new water purification, agricultural, and power generations technologies. An international organization was formed in order to prevent another war, and was dubbed the United Nations after its Classical counterpart (the more successful of the two, that is).

It was around then, in 2859, that humanity returned to space. Mankind's first artificial satellite since the Dark Ages fell upon the world was launched into space, the sky finally having been made safe again by the natural orbital decay of countless pieces of space debris. With proof that space travel was once again possible, the United Nations formed an internationally-funded space program. Within a couple of years, footprints were once again placed upon the moon.

With the advent of space travel, the United Nations voted to tighten restrictions on member countries. They were to place their militaries under UN control, and submit to the UN as a state would to a federal government. War between member states was also banned entirely. There was very little opposition to the plan, after all, humanity had already come close to destruction once. Common opinion at the time was that a unified humanity would prevent another such disaster. As time went on, dissenting nations were slowly absorbed into the UN due to their own circumstances. Economic problems that would be solved by membership, an outside enemy that couldn't defeat on their own, whatever the reason was, the rest of the world slowly pledged allegiance to the UN.

All the while, the United Nations Space Directory continued to send out expeditions. For the first time in human history, a man set foot on mars. Probes from the Classical era were revisited and reactivated, giving modern humanity a better understanding of the universe around them. The benefits offered by UN membership grew and grew as each new mission gave the world new technologies, and in 2891 the last fully independent nation joined the UN in order to combat increasing economic instability. It was also at this point that the United Nations was renamed to the United Nations of Terra, a logical choice considering that it now controlled the entire planet. The following year, a discovery was made that would change human history forever.

A team of international scientists gathered in the Reclamation Society city of Baikonur, working on alternative space propulsion techniques, measured space-time fluctuations in one of their experiments. Further experiments were conducted, and the result was always the same. They had stumbled upon a way to produce negative energy. It was the dream of Classical scientists like Alcubierre and White, the key to faster than light navigation. Amazed and enamored by the discovery, the President of the UNF challenged the world in a now famous speech. The exact challenge was to "Reach the nearest star before the 900th anniversary of the end of the war that destroyed our world."

Now, just a year before that date, humanity stands ready to launch their first manned expedition into deep space. Above the Earth, the hull of the TSS Enterprise-named for a starship from one of the most famous Classical works of fiction-awaits its crew.