Six million souls departed Earth’s orbit on March 1st, 2159.
The Earhart Colonization Program was the largest of its kind, intended to bring a second wave
of settlers to the newly sufficient Antares Colonies.
The ships entered the artificial wormhole without incident, but when the scheduled check-ins
were missed, and 30 months passed without any sign of the flotilla, Earth and its fledgling
colonies mourned the greatest loss of life of the modern era.
But even as statues were built to commemorate their sacrifice, and choirs sung to their
memory, the colonists of the Earhart Flotilla were alive.
They had many theories as to what had gone wrong in the transition, but each was ultimately
useless in the face of their unexpected, overriding reality.
In place of a thriving, developed colony eagerly awaiting their arrival, the settlers had emerged
in an entirely unknown star system, a vast wilderness of alien worlds.
Yet some, while wholly unsurveyed, seemed promising, capable of supporting human life
– at least in theory.
In the honor and memory of their original destination, it was named Antares, and soon
after “home”.
Without the means to sustain their population in a single settlement, and fearful of alien
diseases, natural disasters or other calamities, the flotilla spread itself across nineteen
sites within the star system, in the hopes that some, if not all, might survive.
They remained in contact at first, until one by one their meager power reserves were better
spent fuelling agriculture or nascent industry.
For decades, each colony struggled in isolation, hoping that one day, they or their descendants
might be reunited with one another.
From meager settlements, grew nations, and in time, a few even managed to launch satellites
back into orbit.
The reunification was bittersweet.
Not every colony had prospered.
Of the nineteen original settlements, eleven remained.
Some had fallen to local disease or predators, others simply starved to death.
The fate of one, remains classified.
Despite their miraculous accomplishments, the nations of the Antares System, developed
very differently during their isolation, and cooperation did not come easily.
Yet through great effort, a Confederation has been formed.
With their combined resources, the Antares System can be fully developed and the means
to break beyond the confines of their refuge might be found.
Earth is still out there, and every attempt must be made to contact it.
But the general public of the Antares Confederacy is not aware of every fact regarding Earth.
In schools and universities, it is taught that no transmissions were ever received during
the scheduled check-ins.
This is not true, over a hundred messages were received before the Flotilla arrived
in Antares.
Most were garbled and scrambled beyond recognition, but not all.
Something terrible has happened on Earth, and the leaders of the Confederacy suspect
that should they ever return to their homeworld, they might do so not as sons and daughters
returning to the fold, but as liberators.
The Antares Confederacy is the second of 5 possible nations that could become the focus
of Stellaris Invicta Season 2.
If you’d like to vote for the Confederacy and find out what happened to Earth, a pledge
of just 2 dollars a month will get you access to the polls when they open this Friday.
And to learn a little bit more about how this nation could work ingame, be sure to check
out our Twitter and Facebook pages, where we’ve just posted some additional information.