During the early 21st century on Terra, conspiracy theorists asserted that a secret society was working to create a New World Order. Widely regarded as crazy, they were ignored by society even as it slowly transformed into exactly what they claimed it would. Global organizations and corporations manipulated governments as citizens gave up privacy in exchange for convenience. Corporations competed to controlling public opinion and the economic arms race tore apart the natural resources of Terra.
By 2112 AD, a race to the stars was underway, as corporate interests began exploration and colonization of the solar system, each looking for an advantage over the competition. A cabal of corporate leaders established “Utopia”, a colossal space station in orbit of Earth, and became the de facto leaders of an inter-planetary corporatocracy that managed virtually all aspects of its citizens’ lives.
Within a century and a half, the Corporate Cabal had solidified its control on the solar system, having erect corporate colonies and industrial operations on virtually every planetary body.
In 2500AD the leaders of the Corporate Cabal went dark. Attempts to locate or contact them failed, and local governments and corporate managers were left to their own devices. Within a few short months, critical services, infrastructure and technology began to fail. The leaderless space program fractured as local leaders sprung up across the solar system and the period of civil war began.
2590 AD, decades of unification attempts and nuclear war, had devastated Terra, leaving the population decimated and military powers exhausted, fractured into hundreds of local governorships, and warbands united under regional super-alliances. Into this maelstrom came Captain Felix Heinz Muller, a Eurussian captain from Berlin. During a failed mission, he stumbled upon a secret Cabal bunker, filled with hyper-advanced technology, hidden in the Ural Mountains. Using it as a base, he seized control of the tattered Eurussian forces and began his unification of Terra.
He declared himself the Terran Emperor in 2629AD and imposed a new fascist-style order within his domain. A military revival was undertaken to incorporate the advanced technology he discovered, and within 5 years the Chinese and Indian superstates had been utterly defeated. With new resources at his disposal, and his armoured Stormguard legions leading the assaults, the Emperor turned on his allies in the TransAfrican alliance and Union of Americas, and by 2640AD he had unified Terra under his powerful dictatorship.
Emperor Muller put the best scientists in the world to studying the Cabal technology as he resurrected the space program and undertook the effort of reunifying all of Sol. The fractured and dying colonies readily joined the new Empire over the following decade.
Imperial scientists began installing Cabal Hyperdrives on exploratory ships, scouting nearby stars. They quickly discovered that they were not alone in the galaxy. Their perceived superiority and propensity to lay claim to everything they came upon led to numerous conflicts, including the sacking of the Matrix Vault in 2673, Tau Cygnan Separatist Movement in 2702AD, and the Brunneran Stand-off in 2727AD.
In 2750AD, with his dying breath, Emperor Muller declared the Terran Empire united, and called for a Grand Expedition to unify the galaxy.