-A 24th-century poster featuring the GS ship of the class, GS-1 Blixthammar.
The year was 2188 - the colonies of the solar system and their mother nations had for over eight years become embroiled in a war of unprecedented scope and scale across terrestrial space. The two sides of the war stood at stalemate, threatening to escalate into a full-blown conflict on Earth.
It was in the 2157 prelude to this war that Project DARKSHOT, the Union of Fennoscandia's 2120s project to create interstellar colony ships reached an accelerated, successful conclusion after being revived twenty years prior. Three large, self-sufficient ships were launched from Jovian orbit, containing European, British, Alanian, and Fennoscandian volunteers and refugees who, more than anything, were fleeing from what they perceived might be violent end of civilization.
The War In Heaven, as it came to be called, would not end human civilization, but the ships had already sailed long ago when it reached its conclusion in 2190.
The aftermath of the war reshaped the geo-political and economic landscape of the world, marked by the tumultuous dual hegemony of the European Federation and the Peoples' Republic of China, held together by the glue of new international political organizations and a resurgent third party in the Russian Federation.
Life would largely go on in this two-sided world until on one starry night in June of 2285, researchers at the Stockholm Observatory in Fennoscandia received a peculiar signal.
Though it had been a long time coming, the Fennoscandians already knew what to expect - the errant signal came in dated, foreign dialect, but it was indeed Fennoscandian. The three colony ships sent just under a century ago to the nearest theoretically habitable starsystem had arrived, and were reporting their success. The arrival report had already been over fourty years old by the time it arrived to Earth, but it was nonetheless revolutionary - not only had Fennoscandia proven that manned interstellar travel was feasible, but that there existed other habitable planets in the universe.
Over the years, analysis of the transmission became a hot topic in the scientific research - Fennoscandian scientists, using info provided by the Fennoscandian expeditionaries, made a myriad of advancements to scientific theory, much to the excitement of the world, and indeed the solar system at large. Interest in further endeavors skyrocketed. However, rising tensions on Earth over solar territorial disputes cut-short any attempts to pursue interstellar expeditions. With the reply fourty-years enroute, Fennoscandia's space agency could do nothing more than wait.
The interstellar achievements of Fennoscandia faded into history, as all things did. As the world churned along into the 24th century, optimism would be replaced by discontent and unity replaced by division. The next hundred years of human history would see the evolution of new, solar ideologies as human identity became wholly separate from Earth.
...
Our story begins in 2312. Faced with political injustices, poor economic performance, and a dark past marred by the grey flu, trans-solar humans across Sol have begun to rise up and demand independence from the nations of Earth. With growing solar nationalism threatening to cut off vital colonies and resources, Earth's eminent governments have become increasingly militarized, building fleets across the solar system. What started with the violent overthrow of India's colonial government on Mars would spread further across the solar system, sparking a string of revolutions and rebellions the scope of which has never been seen before. Colonies from Pluto to the green jewel of the Moon - China's Baixing, would be devastated by military crackdowns.
By 2315, humanity faces down the greatest refugee crisis in human history, as millions live in exile across the solar system, starving and dying in disparate 'flotillas' floating along in the empty spaces between the colonies. Those 'refugee-camps' which gain the ire of authorities are scuttled and forcibly relocated to ghettos on poorly-developed asteroids and moons, while the rest are left to starve, blocked off from shipping lanes by military patrols.
A glister of hope would shine through the darkness in 2320, following the European Federation's recognition of the Saturnian and Jovian colonies' independence. However, these concessions came at great cost, and the newly-christened nations of Jupiter and Saturn refused to take on the brunt of displaced trans-solars. For the more well-off and socially significant, a home could be found in these European colonies. For the rest, a brutal existence in orbit was all that the colonies would allow.
Following the integration of many independent colonies into the solar political establishment, solutions to the refugee crisis would become a lasting political point of the 24th century, and would come to culminate in the 'New Worlds' doctrine espoused by leaders of the refugee flotillas.
For both the foolhardy colonies and the ancien regimes of Earth, the displaced peoples of the solar system were a burden, and 'New Worlds' was the solution - the poor, the hungry, the tired had to leave.
Forever.
But, some saw it differently - it was a true glimmer of hope, to build a new society, far away from the civilization of old which built this dark reality - a chance to start anew.
The year is 2325. Seven admirals in a multi-national, Fennoscandian-led fleet of colony ships now set sail for the TRAPPIST-1 system, where long ago Fennoscandian pioneers sought to find refuge from war and pestilence.
-Excerpt from "When We Reached for the Stars: The Amazing Story of The New Worlds Solar Endeavor"
The New Worlds Solar Endeavor (NWSE) was a multi-national, Fennoscandian-led program to send seven interstellar generation ships to the potentially-habitable planet of TRAPPIST-1. The seven ships, led by war heroes and famous names of the 24th century, carried several hundred thousand people and their eventual progenity into interstellar space in the hopes of colonizing a new, habitable world.
Generation ships
The New Worlds Solar Fleet was composed of seven interstellar-capable generation ships, built and designed to make the 100 year journey to TRAPPIST 1. GS-1 through GS-7 were the second generation of interstellar ships designed and fully put to use. Much of their design was owed to the lessons learned from the first generation GS ships of Project DARKSHOT.
Owing to advancing technology and design, the second-generation GS ships were much larger, and capable of extended post-journey operation. The first to be built was the GS-1 Blixthammar, upon which the other six GS-class ships were based.
The seven second-generation GS ships were:
The GS-1 Blixthammar, a primarily Fennoscandian ship captained by Lieutenant Jannika Spjuth of the Fennoscandian National Space Agency.
The GS-2 Belayev's Redemption, a primarily Russian ship captained by Podpolkovnik Boris Oshankobich, of Roscomos Naval Command (VKR).
The GS-3 Saint Joseph Labre, a primarily Plutonian ship captained by Rear Admiral James Oligon, of the Pluto Orbital Defense Forces.
the GS-4 Gaia, a primarily British ship captained by Vice-Marshal Monica Hawkins of the United Kingdom Royal Aerospace Force.
the GS-5 Britannic, a primarily British ship captained by Wing Commander Samuel Peasbody of the United Kingdom Royal Aerospace Force.
the GS-6 Future of Russia, a primarily Russian ship captained by Polkovnik Dmitry Sharonov of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS).
The GS-7 Xwytsau, a primarily Alanian ship captained by Director-General Ashkar Gazdanty of the Solar Commerce Organization Office of Solar Military Oversight.
Further Efforts to Colonize TRAPPIST-1
After the launch of the New Worlds Solar Fleet, work immediately began to expand the program, and several nations and groups joined in - Brazil, China, Japan, Korea, India, and even Iran commissioned their own ships, while Fennoscandia, Pluto, and several private groups commissioned new ships as well. This would lead to the third-generation IV (Interstellar Vehicle) class of generation ships, which, while considerably larger than the second generation GS class, some still argue were poorly built and wracked with design issues.
All in all, 10 IV-class ships were constructed and launched just 16 years after the departure of the New Worlds Solar Fleet:
The IV-1 Carl Sagan, commissioned by NGOs and corporations in the Federal Republic of America.
The IV-2 Xuefeng, commissioned by the Peoples' Republic of China.
The IV-3 Ashcroft, commissioned by the Interstellar Exploration Society, an NGO with national funding from nations such as the European Federation, United Kingdom, and Australian Commonwealth.
the IV-4 James R. Oligon, commissioned and crowdfunded by the populace of Pluto, who, via the Ashcroft, would go on to embark on the Plutonian Exodus.
The IV-5 Lakshmi, commissioned by dissidents from the Olympus Mons Federation, with funding assistance from India.
The IV-6 Hayashi, commissioned jointly by Japan and Korea.
The IV-7 Al-Furat, commissioned by Iran.
The IV-8 Jannika Spjuth, commissioned by the Union of Fennoscandia, with assistance from the Planet-State of Titan.
The IV-9 Roque González de Santa Cruz, commissioned jointly by Brazil and Colombia.
The IV-10 Ibrahimov, commissioned by the Russian Federation.