First Wave of Human Colonisation

The First Wave of Human Colonisation consists of the first humans from Tiandi to colonise the major planets in what would later become Imperial Space. Initially a scientific pursuit, the First Wave was preceded by a mass deployment of robotic probes and satellites long before humans even entered the region. The first human colonists were invariably scientists and military representatives of different nations, some of which settled on the same planets.

The First Wave is often considered to have begun with the first human setting foot on Yamatai on 11 Kisaragi, 1963. Primitive technology at the time meant that even though Yamatai is the closest inhabitable planet to Tiandi, it took 6.75 years of sublight travel to arrive. The majority of sublight colonisation ships were powered by inefficient and dangerous antimatter engines, and used cryo technology to preserve their occupants on the journey to save valuable living resources.

The first Tiandi nations to stake claims to entire inhabitable planets were the world superpowers of the time. Yashima claimed Yamatai yet allowed lesser nations to send scientists as well, while Zhonghua claimed Aoyama when it was discovered in 1983 and also permitted foreign cooperation. It took 19 years of sublight travel to reach Aoyama from Tiandi at sublight speeds.

In 1998, the Yamatai colony was able to develope a working FTL drive, allowing a mass amount of equipment and people to be brought to the colonies. This would kick-start the Second Wave of Human Colonisation, whereby more planets were colonised by lesser nations, and an increasing amount of civilians arrived in the colonies seeking a new home. The rise of FTL technology would also lead to the spaceborne conflicts in the Tiandi system that led up to the Great Silence.