The Sol system is notable as the birthplace of humanity and the capital of the Federation, one of the galaxy's three superpowers. Mars, which was terraformed in 2286, is the primary residence of the Federal president, and the seat of Federal power. The system is characterised by a widespread reliance on technology and the prevalence of monolithic corporate entities. The permit for this system can be obtained from the Federal military.
— In-Game Description
Sol, also known as the Solar System, is the capital system of the Federation. It is located at the centre of the Core Systems in the Inner Orion Spur region of the Milky Way galaxy, at galactic coordinates 0/0/0. Access to Sol is restricted, and requires a permit that can only be obtained by achieving the Federal Navy rank of Petty Officer.
Olympus Village on Mars has served as the political and financial centre of the Federation since the 24th century. It is home not only to the White House and Federal Congress, but the headquarters of major corporations such as Core Dynamics. The planet Earth, the birthplace of humanity and the Federation's previous capital world, has become a popular tourist destination due to its historical and cultural importance.
History
Rise of the Federation
Humanity made its first steps into space from Earth in the mid-20th century, and began deploying automated probes to study the worlds of Sol. More extensive manned exploration of Sol in the 21st century for the purpose of resource exploitation and colonisation was delayed for decades when World War III broke out in 2044, but the conflict effectively unified the human species under a single government, the United States of the Americas, which then evolved into the Federation. Beginning in 2097, humans launched thousands of Generation Ships to travel among the stars and colonise distant new worlds, and the invention of the hyperdrive by Li Qin Jao in the 22nd century accelerated the human diaspora even further.[1]
In the 23rd century, the Federation implemented the Earth Environmental Recovery Programme to restore Earth, which was heavily polluted and still partially irradiated from World War III, to a more pristine state. The Federation also grew from an Earth-based global government into an interstellar federal union and superpower following the signing of the Federal Accord in 2242, which recognised colonies in the systems of Tau Ceti, Delta Pavonis, Altair, and Beta Hydri as equal members. At the time, the Federation's capital remained the city of Washington, D.C. on Earth. In 2290, however, the terraforming of Mars was completed, and there was an exodus of people and corporations from Earth to the former "Red Planet".[1][2]
In the 2325, the Federation suffered its first major military defeat in the Battle of Achenar, which resulted in the rise of the Empire as the second superpower. This fueled a wave of discontent among the Federation's member systems about Earth's continued role as the Federation's capital. The Federal government selected Mars, already a burgeoning economic hub, as its new capital world, and relocated the White House, Federal Congress, the Federal High Court, and other offices and departments to Olympus Village. While Mars was not a frontier colony, the Federation's other members were placated by the move because the selection process fairly considered other locations outside of Sol. Earth remained a place of great cultural and historical significance, and by the time its environment was fully restored, it had become a major tourism destination for travelers across the Core Systems.[1][3]
34th century
Imperial Senator Kahina Tijani Loren of Prism made a highly publicised visit to Sol in March and April 3301.[4][5] She toured the system's gas giants, the Mars High starport, and Cambridge and London on Earth.[6][7][8][9]
On April 23, 3301, the Buckyball Racing Club selected the starport Galileo in Sol as the starting point for one of its most ambitious and memorable races, the Buckyball Run A*, which terminated at Sagittarius A* at the centre of the galaxy.[10]
The starport Li Qing Jao was one of several stations that reported technical malfunctions and were forced to partially suspend services on November 19, 3301.[11] It was later determined that the malfunctions were caused by Thargoid Sensors and other Thargoid objects which were being illegally traded through black markets.
Independent pilots exploring the outskirts of Sol in December 3301 discovered the ancient probes Voyager 1 and Voyager 2.[12]
Astronomers in Sol reaquired the signal of another probe, the long-lost New Horizons, on April 13, 3304, and it was quickly located by independent pilots.[13]
On August 30, 3304, President Zachary Hudson announced that Aegis Core, the main department of the interstellar Thargoid research organisation Aegis, would be relocated from Socho to Sol in response to Socho's deteriorating security conditions. The relocation process was completed on July 4, 3305.[14][15]
The Sol-focused newsfeed Mars Tribune was shuttered on November 22, 3304 after the Federal Security Service uncovered an illegal surveillance operation that used Achilles Corporation PA912 administrative assistant robots to spy on their owners.[16] The Mars Tribune's role was eventually assumed by another newsfeed, Sol Today.
Between January 25 and February 8, 3307, the high-profile trial of Federal Navy Fleet Admiral Lucas Vincent was held at the Federal High Court in Olympus Village. Vincent was convicted of treason and conspiracy to commit murder for his involvement in the Starship One disaster of 3301, in which hundreds of Federal officials were killed and then-President Jasmina Halsey only narrowly survived.[17][18] The trial also exposed Jupiter Rochester, the CEO of Core Dynamics, as the second mastermind of the assassination conspiracy.[19]
The starport Li Qing Jao was bombed by the Neo-Marlinist Liberation Army on March 11, 3307, along with starports in eight other major systems. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed in the Nine Martyrs attack, and many more were injured. The coordinated attacks occurred during the Galactic Summit in Sirius, and caused the conference to be cancelled.[20][21] Among the tens of thousands who died at Li Qing Jao were Vice President Brad Mitchell and several members of President Hudson's Cabinet.[22]
System Layout
- Sol (Class G star)
- Mercury (Metal rich body, landable)
- Walz Depot (Surface Port)
- Ehrlich City (Surface Port)
- Furukawa Enterprise (Surface Port)
- Daedalus (Orbis Starport)
- Venus (High metal content world)
- Burnell Station (Civilian Outpost)
- Earth (Habitable world)
- Capital Ship (Signal Source)
- Abraham Lincoln (Orbis Starport)
- Li Qing Jao (Orbis Starport)
- M.Gorbachev (Orbis Starport)
- Moon (Rocky body)
- Galileo (Ocellus Starport)
- Mars (Earth-like world, terraformed)
- Mars High (Orbis Starport)
- Starship One (Signal Source)
- Asteroid Belt (Rocky belt)
- Jupiter (Class I gas giant with rocky rings)
- Io (Rocky body)
- Columbus (Ocellus Starport)
- Europa (Icy body, landable)
- Chargaff Reach (Settlement)
- Fung's Claim (Settlement)
- Haberlandt Survey (Surface Port)
- Illy Enterprise (Settlement)
- Ganymede (Rocky body, landable)
- Durrance Camp (Surface Port)
- Callisto (Rocky body, landable)
- Schottky Reformatory (Surface Port)
- Daimler Camp (Settlement)
- Io (Rocky body)
- Saturn (Class I gas giant with icy rings)
- Uranus (Class I gas giant with icy rings)
- Neptune (Class I gas giant with icy rings)
- Triton (Icy body, landable)
- Barycentre of Pluto and Charon
- 90482 Orcus (Rocky ice world, landable)
- Vanth (Rocky ice world, landable)
- (307261) 2002 MS4 (Icy body, landable)
- Salacia (Rocky ice world, landable)
- Actaea (Rocky ice world, landable)
- Haumea (Icy body, landable)
- Hi'iaka (Icy body, landable)
- Quaoar (Rocky ice world, landable)
- Makemake (Icy body, landable)
- (225088) 2007 OR10 (Icy body, landable)
- Eris (Icy body, landable)
- Sedna (Icy body, landable)
- Persephone (Icy body, landable)
- New Horizons (Signal Source)
- Voyager 1 (Signal Source)
- Voyager 2 (Signal Source)
- Mercury (Metal rich body, landable)
Minor Factions
- Aegis Core (Cooperative, Independent)
- Mother Gaia (Democracy, Federation)
- Federal Congress (Democracy, Federation)
- Sol Workers Party (Democracy, Federation)
- Sol Constitution Party (Democracy, Federation)
- Sol Nationalists (Democracy, Federation)
Notes
- All Alpha and Beta backers were automatically granted the permit to Sol.
- The Sol System in Elite Dangerous is different in various ways to its real life counterpart:
- Mars has two small moons in real life - Phobos and Deimos. These might have been destroyed during the terraforming of Mars in 2286 in Elite Dangerous. In real life, Phobos is slowly spiralling towards Mars, adding another theory that both may have impacted Mars - though this is unlikely, as Phobos is not supposed to collide with Mars for at least 30 million years. Alternatively, it may be torn apart by tidal forces - however this has not occurred in the game, as this would leave a planetary ring. This also does not explain the disappearance of Deimos, as it maintains a further, stable orbit.
- The system in real life has two asteroid belts - the Main Belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and the Kuiper Belt beyond Pluto. There is also a cluster of "Trojan" asteroids around each of the two Lagrange points on Jupiter's orbit, and "Near-Earth Objects" (NEOs) that are constantly being monitored.
- The rings of Jupiter and Neptune are extremely faint and cannot easily be seen with the naked eye. The rings of Saturn and Uranus, on the other hand, are more visible.
- The real Sol system has numerous "dwarf" planets - Ceres, Eris, Sedna, Quaoar, Makemake, Haumea, Ixion, and much more. Pluto is one of these, but is included in the game since it was considered a planet historically and at the time of release of Frontier: Elite II.
- Jupiter and Saturn in the real-life Sol system both have almost 70 moons, Uranus has 27, and Neptune has 14. Most of them are tiny.
- Pluto has 5 moons - but all except Charon are tiny.
- At a distance of 2.07 million light-seconds, Voyager 2 can be found. Voyager 1 can also be found. Their recorded messages are played in various languages. Additionally to the original lines, David Braben can be heard saying "To all our friends in outer space, may you have a wonderful time exploring it.". This line plays after the German message.
- Burnell Station and Titan City seem to have the best weapon outfitting selection in the system, while the stations around Earth seem to have the best internal outfitting.
Videos
Gallery
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Elite Encounters RPG
- ↑ Tourist Spot 0171, "New Leadership"
- ↑ Tourist Spot 0178, "Relocation"
- ↑ GalNet: Prism Senator will not be late, not even slightly
- ↑ GalNet: Prism Senator Returns to Empire
- ↑ GalNet: Prism Senator Continues to Woo Federation Residents
- ↑ GalNet: Prism Senator in Illegal Parking Row
- ↑ GalNet: Alliance Shines Light on Prism Senator
- ↑ GalNet: Prism Senator in Illegal Smuggling Sting?
- ↑ GalNet: Race to Center of Galaxy Starts in Sol
- ↑ GalNet: More Malfunction Reports
- ↑ reddit: This is the "Secret" that was in the changelog (spoilers)
- ↑ GalNet: Signal Could be Ancient Probe
- ↑ GalNet: Aegis Core Relocates to Sol
- ↑ Frontier Forums: AEGIS Core faction sighted at Sol
- ↑ GalNet: Mars Tribune Closes
- ↑ GalNet: Trial of Fleet Admiral Vincent Begins
- ↑ GalNet: Fleet Admiral Vincent Pronounced Guilty
- ↑ GalNet: Federation Damaged by Corruption and Conspiracy
- ↑ GalNet: Nine Starports Hit by Terrorist Bombings
- ↑ GalNet: Galactic Summit Cancelled – NMLA Attacks Superpowers
- ↑ GalNet: Starport Bombing Casualties Include Federal Vice President