History for the Period between 2090 and 2093
--------------------------------------------

++ The Brain Flu ++

   The cataclysm that began in the latter part of 2089 - the eventual
possession of essentially 99% of the human population by extra-dimensional
parasites - caused a predictable breakdown in society. Though the possession
was gradual and not immediate, the period from the first recorded possession
in Avalon on Venus to the removal of the dimensional portal in Twilight City
on Mars is known to the populace at large as the Brain Flu.

   The reasoning for the name is due to the way the incident was spun and
manipulated by ATC and the reigning CEO thereof, the AI known as Rondure. In
an incredible stroke of luck, any memories of the possession were, for the
most part, erased when the portal was finally closed. As a result, she had
quite a bit more leeway in how she presented the evidence to the people of
the solar system.

   The story as the public knows it is this: A group of TrueMars activists
(a small but radical sect devoted to preventing the terraforming of Mars)
covertly cultivated a common form of influenza with alien biomaterial which
was recovered from a Kuiper Belt Object. Working covertly, and isolated from
each other in a system of three-person cells, the group carefully spread the
disease to most of the cities on Mars, Earth, and Venus. Due to the disease's
long incubation time, it migrated to almost every human colony in the solar
system. Unable to survive in the harsher Sleythin climate, the humans living
on that planet were spared.

   As a side note; all Sleythin in the Sol system had returned to Sleythin
due to a summons from their society's AI (who operates pseudopublicly), who
asked for them to join in a vast celebration of the Sleythin invention of 
nanites. 

   During the six months of the Brain Flu, the disease ramped up, causing
extremely high body temperatures, and fluctuations in brain wave patterns,
causing dementia, psychosis, and sociopathic behavior. If the infected also 
had SCA syndrome, the effects became more similar to dissociative identity
disorder, with a psychotic personality surfacing to take control. 

   At the first signs of infection, ATC quarantined a research team, who
developed an effective countermeasure for the diseased. However, in order to
deliver the countermeasure, ATC had to strategically place teams in every
location it possibly could, as well as destroy the stronghold of the
activists, which was located in the southern part of Twilight City. This
explained the new, rather large hole in it.

++ Aftermath ++

   Understandably, a six-month break in business-as-usual leaves a lot of
business to be caught up on. Nanonic maintenance procedures kept power and
other utilities like the Pipes functioning, but non-critical things like
landscaping or accounting fell woefully behind, and damages from looting or
vandalism ran sky-high. ATC only boosted its helpful images by supplying aid
to those who needed it, and restitution to the families of people who were
critically or mortally wounded.

   Isolationism became the spirit of the day, squashing the Minimalism 
which was just hitting its peak. For about a year, business and people alike
kept to putting their own houses in order, in part driven by the destruction
they saw when awakening, and in part by a lingering subconscious reaction to
the possession. 

++ New Romanticism ++

   The significance of the year mark is that around that time, ATC released 
the first version of what it marketed as the "Jump Drive" to the public. The
Faster-Than-Light travel system, which was intially marketed to small ships
with a slim profile and light loadweight, was met with initial curiosity,
and then enthusiastic support by the rich Earthers. Within months, they were
liquidating capital and competing to be the first to announce their funded
expeditions to the worlds beyond (not, of course, that most of them were 
going along themselves. Perish the thought!).

   Expeditions were announced, and they coincided perfectly with a rising
tide of romanticism from a populace who had decided that it was time to re-
engage with their lives and each other. While not full-blown hedonism, the
prevailing mentality became that life was to be enjoyed, and lived to its
fullest. As a result, the off-world expeditions did not lack for volunteers,
especially from lower-class Martians. 

   Around the time of ATC3, a group of explorers who had come to be known as 
the Chain Runners, or Chain Haulers (due to the fact that travelling through
Nullspace using a Jump Drive looks like racing along a giant twisting helix 
of energy), have become the folk heroes of a new generation. They chart jump
points, catalogue planets, and fight strange and weird indigenous lifeforms. 
Thus far, however, they have not encountered any new sentient alien species,
but they have spawned documentaries, TVNet series, and a whole fandom. They
embody the romanticism of the times, and are true heroes to the Martians on
the lower end of the social scale, who long to escape in the same manner
(much, funnily enough, as their predecessors longed to escape Earth). 

++ Church of Europa ++ 

   Shortly before the Jump Drive came onto the solar scene, a young 
ex-ganger from Twilight City was reinventing a religion. Europism, or the
Church of Europa, was little more than a loosely-grouped series of local
sects, more akin to Wicca than any religion prior to it. Based on a
freewheeling doctrine with a core book which read like Lord of the Rings
written by St. John while on LSD, Europism was rapidly gaining adherents
among the poorest of Martians, but not appreciably affecting culture in any
way.

   Zak Krogstad, who became a prominent civic leader during the
reconstruction of TC following the Brain Flu, announced one day that he and
a group of his fellow reformed gang members had converted to the religion.
However, they had not only converted, they had formalized the religion's
value set, edited the book for content and style, and were ready to preach
it to the world.

   Under the new prime doctrine "Be Excellent To Each Other", Zak and his
new priests unified the scattered sects of the Church and began winning
converts in earnest. The feel-good philosophy underpinning it made it the
perfect religion to match the romanticism on the upswing in the citizenry.
While not directly preaching that the Europa Team are dieties, it does
definitely claim that they are the at least twice-over saviors of humanity,
and so the godlike overtones remain.

   As of late 2093, the Church of Europa has a registered 100 million 
members, most of them under the age of 50. 

++ Other Sundries ++ 

   ATC is working to broaden the solar economy by starting incubators and
encouraging innovation in places like RNYC. 

   Terraforming of Mars continues at an exponential pace, yet large swaths
(more than 20 or so acres in one place) is still considered rather
luxurious.