5.3 - Singularity: Dev Diary #2, The Story So Far

[jammi]

Today we're going to be looking at the timeline of events associated with the upcoming 5.3 Singularity update. This will be going into some detail about most (but not all) of the narrative changes, so I recommend clicking away if you want to go into Singularity spoiler free. The below changes will be implemented through a mixture of system design, infocards, news articles and rumours.

What this timeline does not include is all of the areas where historic lore has been "backfilled". There are a number of areas where historic news articles have been included, and new or restored systems that have had their stories reviewed, expanded and documented to fit cohesively into the mod narrative.

Basically, even for those of you reading through this whole thread, there will be plenty more to find! There's probably also a bunch of other stuff I forgot to document when I or others were working on it, but we'll call that... an "intentional surprise", yeah.

Last chance to turn back if you want to find things on your own!

834 AS

• Owing to expensive and risky supply chains, BMM has begun to slowly pivot some of the heavy industrial functions on Planet Sprague towards the developing colony on Planet Carlisle. Critics claim BMM is planning to walk away from Sprague after thoroughly ruining the colony through short-sighted corner cutting; executives stress they remain committed to the settlement's success.
  
  
• A senior leader of the Marne Worker’s Union is assassinated, allegedly by Unione Corse hitmen. Violent demonstrations erupt, intermittently shutting down the spaceport and halting exports. As anti- government protests develop, the Gallic Union threatens to deploy Parisian Marines to restore order.
  
  
• The Newark Accords are agreed between representatives of the Core, BHG, GMG, IC, Liberty and Rheinland. Intended to protect and bolster Omicron resource exports to the Houses, a subsidy and investment package is agreed for Sigma-17. Liberty vetoes Kusari’s involvement in the summit.
  
  
• In the largest coordinated strike since the end of the Second Gallic Civil War, Maquis fighters simultaneously destroy multiple Border Control Destroyers posted across Ile-de-France. The Gallic Union vows reprisals against “traitors and murderers”, and places the Gallic Navy on high alert.
  
  
• The Liberty Rogues begin buying Slog from both the Gaians and Mollys, smuggling it primarily to the Junkers of Texas and Pennsylvania. The Xenos vow to destroy any Slog they encounter.
  

  Redcarr Refinery in Newcastle, a BMM-Planetform operation.

  
  
• BMM is sued by the Green Front over environmental practices at Redcarr Refinery, Newcastle. The Green Front allege BMM is on track to recreate the ecological disasters of Leeds unless stopped.
  
  
• Fearing a repeat of industrial action on Marne, EFL launches a campaign to break up workers unions in Quillan’s mining colonies, despite objections from GMS. Attempts at protest strikes are -- at times violently -- dispersed by EFL security officers, with assistance by state gendarmerie. Local Maquis recruitment is significantly boosted as dismissed workers take up arms against increasingly anti-democratic practices.
  
  
• The Eielson Strategic Reserve finishes construction in Alaska, with work to fill it with H-Fuel ongoing. H-Fuel markets remain volatile because of the rapacious buying capacity of Liberty corporations, who resell the fuel to the Liberty government. The Hawthorne administration refuses to comment of the market activity, despite the inflationary effect it is having on the other Houses.
  
  
• Debris clearance continues around FP9, with larger wrecks being towed away for salvaging.
  
  
• Working in partnership with the GMG and BHG, The Core begins construction of Bora Bora Depot in Sigma-17. This will be a staging ground for supplies bound to or from the Edge Nebula, and a launching point for BHG and GMG security ships to intercept pirates and smugglers.
  
  
• IMG demands CR withdraw security ships from around Jericho in Coronado, citing pioneer rights to mine radioactive materials. CR refuses, arguing the IMG has no rights over the moon, and that their troops were maintaining a perimeter for safety reasons.
  
  
• Narita Outpost in New Tokyo completes a major renovation project, dramatically increasing storage capacity. Kusari begins to increase stockpiles of strategic imported resources.
  
  
• The BPA launches a series of major raids on Carlisle, intending to disrupt the growing Slog problem. Dozens are arrested, including a number of implicated Planetform biochemists.
  
  
• Charges against University of Hamburg and Imperial Shipping officers are dropped over the Hamburg Blast; the MND announces the earlier Bundschuh dossier that had instigated the prosecution was faked, and blames Unioners for the “brutal attack”.
  

  IDF Shipping completes the sale of Versailles to Imperial Shipping and Rheinland's government.

  
  
• The Provincial Governor of Kyushu rescinds the planet’s state of emergency, declaring that the damage from recent storms has been repaired, and harvest yields are beginning to improve. Despite this, many farming communes were driven into bankruptcy, and government aid funding is not forthcoming. Synth Foods has used the intervening years to gain a decisive edge in the Honshu and New Tokyo markets.
  
  
• After discussions with Nevers’ Gonzaga Society fail, IDF Shipping obtains permission from the Gallic Union to sell Versailles Station in Ile-de-France to Imperial Shipping. Imperial’s bid was sponsored by Rheinland, who have ambitions to operate the facility as a permanent Sirian diplomatic enclave in Gallia.
  
  
• Despite failing in their bid for Versailles, IDF was impressed by Orbital Spa & Cruise’s pitch, and agrees to lease the operator licence for Provence’s Cannes Resort to them in an experimental partnership. Using recently raised capital, IDF begins a series of fleet renovations, and the steamroller acquisition of smaller, upstart competitors.
  
  
• A custom-built MND probe dispatched through the Gotha Rift is retrieved by a Core patrol in Sigma-17. After being sold back to the MND, Rheinland decrypts the data and receives its first scans of Earhart. Now aware of the system’s structure and nature, drone recall behaviour is adapted to improve the likelihood of recovery.
  
  
• Organised squadrons of unmarked and transponderless ships codenamed as “Wendigos” by LSF and Crayter forces in Inverness widen their attacks across the Independent Worlds surrounding Liberty. These Vagrant-controlled Thralls have recently taken up occupation of Fort Leniex in Vespucci and are now probing the surrounding regions.

835 AS

Ginza Bazaar is established in an attempt to salvage New Tokyo's damaged tourism trade.

• Ginza Bazaar opens to the public, a dramatic expansion of New Tokyo’s orbital market. The Kusari government moves foreign diplomatic staff off Planet New Tokyo and into orbit aboard a luxurious liner that is moored to Ginza’s secure wing.
  
  
• The Red Hessians launch a major counter-offensive in Dresden, exploiting the depleted garrison of the Battlecruiser Penitence. The Battlecruiser Penitence retreats from Dresden after breaking through a Red Hessian encirclement. It survives the escape thanks only to the deployment of the Petra Base garrison.
  
  
• Petra is left critically undermanned by the Penitence breakout operation; Bundschuh scouts quickly realise and report the situation to the GMG to coordinate a joint attack. After a short but fierce battle, a torpedo detonates Petra’s fuel storage, crippling Corsair activities in northern Rhienland.
  
  
• Three are killed after a firefight breaks out in a bar aboard Freiburg Station, Stuttgart. A Bretonian and Gallic transport convoy had moored at the same time, apparently clashing due to grievances stemming from the Gallic Invasion. While both sides claim self-defence, only the Bretonian crew is arrested. The “Freiburg Affair” sparks public outrage across Bretonia.
  
  
• After a long and complicated project, the Omega-11 trade lane project is complete, connecting Solarius to the Stuttgart Jump Gate. EFL uses the opening ceremony to criticize Liberty lane infrastructure as "unreliable and expensive", despite having likely caused many of the project's delays themselves through sabotage.
  
  
• The LSF drone scouts discover the location of the IKN Niyodo in Earhart. Presidential authorisation is granted for a manned expedition to recover the seemingly intact reactor section. The KOI were already preparing their own recovery operation and launch immediately upon detecting the Liberty drone. The two sides clash in Earhart, with Liberty retreating through a nearby Jump Hole. The radioactive Niyodo component is towed by a remote piloted Heavy Lifter.
  
  

  The Liberty Navy amasses in Colorado to carry out "routine" fleet readiness drills.

• The Argonaut Incident occurs in Kepler after the LSF arrives from Earhart, near Ames Research Station. The KOI pursue, with both task-forces suffering heavy casualties during combat in the dark matter clouds. A Lane Hacker squadron investigates Ames’ distress call, hijacking the Lifter drone and fleeing in the midst of the chaos. Ames suffers damage to its radiation shielding from crossfire and puts out an urgent call for resupply.
  
  
• Colorado and Shikoku both move to high alert, with the LN and KNF surging to their respective borders. Liberty imposes security checkpoints and begins stopping and searching all inbound traffic at the Colorado border. Liberty deploys the Battleship Rio Grande to Colorado, near Pueblo Station. Both systems are subject to curfews and stringent security.
  
  
• Construction begins of Titusville Station in orbit of Planet Tremont, Pennsylvania. It is speculated that the station may be a gas reprocessing plant for fuel production, puzzling market analysts who have already concluded that this would be a deeply unprofitable operation.
  
  
• The Core finish deploying replicated AI drones to Omicron Zeta, and launch their campaign against the Order. This is intended as a marketing pitch to the Houses for autonomous combat ships, and a lobbying drive to amend colony laws on prohibited forms of AI.
  
  
• Nomad infected forces influencing the KOI successfully convince Kusari leaders that a third major attack on Tohoku from Omicron Mu is imminent, necessitating a pre-emptive strike. Using Nomad awareness of the Core’s activities, the time of the assault is coordinated with their Zeta deployment.
  
  
• In the aftermath of the Argonaut disaster, Liberty commits to a strategic pivot in the hope of securing Planet Sudbury and locating the stolen Jump Drive component. The Battlecruiser Tuscaloosa is withdrawn from Inverness, leaving the Crayter Republic to hold alone against the growing Vagrant threat. The Tuscaloosa is ordered to take on deep space provisions at Los Angeles before pushing on to Ontario.
  

  Capetown and Cairo Stations in Omicron Zeta were both lost to the Nomad onslaught.

  
  
• The Order’s forces are already spread thin by diversionary Nomad attacks in Theta. They take heavy losses defending Mu and Zeta, concentrating the bulk of their might in Mu; their counter-attack routs the KOI expedition, destroying the Battleship Hakodate. Cairo Station is crippled, however the Core assault is thrown into disarray by an AI revolt aboard the Battleship Mars, which then escapes into Zeta’s nebulas.
  
  
• As the Battle of Zeta reaches its culmination and all involved are bloodied, the Nomads attack from Omicron Iota, executing their trap. Cairo and Capetown are both destroyed, however key personnel and data are evacuated from both thanks to valiant Core and Order rearguard actions. Nomad assaults into Mu and Delta sharply increase.
  
  
• During the chaos of the Battle of Zeta, Durban Station is subject to a cyber-attack enabled by Commander Atlas Brown’s credentials. While this could have been catastrophic, later investigation reveals the intrusion was limited to exfiltrating data regarding Artifact scans, DKV translation catalogues and hybridised technologies.
  
  
• Probing attacks from strange assortments of ships test the defenses of Atacama Base in Vespucci. These attacks gradually ramp in intensity over time and even include missing Gaian vessels. The handful of bodies retrieved from destroyed vessels show no obvious abnormalities.
  
  
• The Outcasts deploy an elite squadron of assassins to Newcastle to search for the missing son of a prominent Maltese Don.
  
  
• The KOI and to a lesser extent KNF are subject to vicious purges due to the failure of the Niyodo retrieval expedition and punitive Mu Incursion. In reality, Nomad-controlled commanders are removing inconvenient rivals who may challenge their authority in the event of a war with Liberty.
  

  The Battleship de Grasse deploys to Languedoc purportedly to suppress Maquis terrorists.

  
  
• Liberty begins conducting large-scale training exercises in Colorado, near the Galileo Jump Gate. In response, Kusari draws down patrols from the Taus and redeploys the Battleship Hamamatsu to New Tokyo. It is replaced in Honshu by the refitted but under-strength Battleship Sado.
  
  
• The Gallic Union deploys the refurbished Battleship De Grasse to Languedoc, purportedly to suppress the growing Maquis threat. Its marine contingent are barracked on Planet Quillan, where they assist with EFL’s ongoing purges.
  
  
• The Core begins an evacuation of Planet Gammu, fearing the possibility of a simultaneous Nomad attack on Durban, AI invasion of Kappa, and Coalition or Technocracy assaults on Dagger Outpost. To secure their Omega holdings, the Skagen Agreement is signed with the Bounty Hunter's Guild, an enhanced security contract that sees Guild aces paid a salary for patrols across Omega-55 in addition to kill bonuses. After the arrival of the Guild Liner Helsingbord, the Core dispatches reinforcements to the Omicron theatre.
  
  
• Hinsdale Refinery in Colorado is completed, and begins full scale Platinum refining. The "formal" opening ceremony coincides with a final adjudication by the Liberty Supreme Court, ruling that Galileo's Platinum deposits were the exclusive property of Deep Space Engineering. The Kusari high courts immediately object to the unilateral ruling, pointing to numerous breaches of inter-House legal protocol. Kusari refuses to acknowledge the decision.
  
  
• The Farmers Alliance launch a Roppongi-style bomb attack on Deshima Station. The attack is thwarted by LSF intelligence intercepts and post-Roppongi security measures. The pilots and bomb are captured and whisked away to Liberty before Kusari is made aware of the incident. Kusari threatens the BHG with possible sanctions for obstruction of justice and files a furious complaint with Manhattan over the intrusion into its law enforcement perogatives.
  
  
• Liberty applies sanctions against Kusari, blocking the export of Superconductors. It accuses Kusari of endorsing the FA’s campaign of terrorism against Liberty interests. Kusari retaliates with an Optronics embargo. Kishiro and other Honshu-based stocks tumble on the news.
  
  

  Dagger Outpost repels a Wild raid, with help from BHG mercenaries.

• A swarm of AI Drones from Omega-47 stream through Omega-55, headed towards the Omega-41. The Core Destroyer Hoedspruit happens to be on patrol in their path, and is immediately overwhelmed and destroyed. Based on force size estimates, the outmatched Core and BHG garrison begin preparations to evacuate Dagger Outpost. Despite this, the swarm shows no interest and proceeds to leave the system.
  
  
• Operating under the name Hesione, the Battleship Mars returns to Omicron Kappa at the head of a horde of AI ships drawn from Primus and Secundus Outposts. They launch a ferocious assault on the Core picket line protecting the evacuation at Gammu. The evacuation is largely successful, however some Core troops are left behind in the chaos, and the Battlecruiser Addis Abba is destroyed punching through the blockade.
  
  
• The Gammu AI reoccupy their homeworld; contact is lost with the remaining stranded Core personnel - they are assumed killed. Once the planet's orbit has been secured, Hesione cloaks and disappears deeper into the system. Immediately, AI sightings across the Omicrons increases twentyfold. The Zoners of Livadia track the number of logged unique drones with unease, and wonder why the AI had not attacked sooner with such numbers. Unusual energy signatures are detected across Omicron Kappa.
  
  
• The Golden Chrysanthemums enter into a covert agreement with agents representing Interspace Commerce. The GC agree to intensify efforts to capture Farmer’s Alliance and Hogosha pilots for interrogation, requesting automated agricultural machinery in exchange. Captives are exchanged for the Robotics on Furyoku Station in Sigma-59.
  
  
• Bretonia and Rheinland call for a summit on neutral ground to try and resolve the escalating dispute between Kusari and Liberty. Gallia is not invited to participate, but publicly calls for Kusari to acquiesce to Liberty’s demands, denouncing the Empire as a “belligerent and destabilizing actor”.
  
  
• Kusari passes an emergency defence budget, issuing expedited military contracts to Kure, Yokohama and Yukawa shipyards. Each facility moves to extended overtime for 24-hour production. Many civilian transport contracts are abruptly cancelled, prompting boosted orders to Alster and Scarborough Shipyards.
  
  
• Xeno clans meet on Ouray to hatch plots on how to escalate the current tensions and provoke a war between Liberty and Kusari. They hope this will result in a complete cessation of trade with Kusari and a return of Liberty’s domestic manufacturing.
  
  
• Battleship Somerset is deployed to the Dublin Staging Ground in New London, and begins preparation to launch the invasion jump bridge.
  
  

  The laser chamber aboard Ichigaya Drydock targets the R7 Rift, aided by Jump Drive modulators.

• Gallia issues a demand that Bretonia immediately relinquish the “unlawfully” held Jump Gate in Tau-23, and dismantle Scalpay Outpost. Bretonia refuses, reiterating that it will not negotiate on the status of the gate until Gallia commits to war reparations and the extradition of war criminals.
  
  
• The Golden Chrysanthemums use their newly opened Robotics supply line to strengthen their negotiating position with the Outcast cartels, who desperately need farming machinery to sustain post-Slave Revolt Cardamine production. Several cartels agree to provide technical advisors and training at Nishiara Base; the possibility is mooted of purchasing a number of Storta Destroyers that had otherwise been slated for retirement.
  
  
• The laser chamber aboard Ichigaya Drydock, Tohoku is successfully repaired, and the stabilization relays redeployed from their test fire position at The Arch. The infected KOI commanders use their greater post-purge influence to requisition the KNF’s two Jump Drive retrofitted battlecruisers. They serve as modulators while the Ichigawa laser tears open the R7 Rift, creating a permanent tunnel to Earhart.
  
  
• Bretonia re-opens a subsidy scheme encouraging Kusari and Liberty colonists to settle on Planet Harris. The frontier world is already experiencing a de facto bush war between Synth Foods and Samura security forces, who regularly sabotage one another's holdings. This scheme is likely to exacerbate those tensions. Bretonia likely hopes that these foreign citizens will motivate their parent Houses to intervene should Gallic posturing in the sector escalate.
  
  
• The Battleship Matsumoto is recalled to Ichigaya Drydock for repair and refitting. Her command staff are summoned to Aonyobo Annex aboard Heaven’s Gate for debriefing on the strategic implications of the prototype technologies being installed.
  
  
• The Battlecruiser Tuscaloosa departs from the Ontario staging area for Planet Sudbury. Despite expectations of heavy resistance, their approach to Sudbury is uncontested. Expeditionary teams are landed on the planet to begin blast excavations to try and undermine the Alpha Site's shield.
  

  The heavily damaged Liberty Rose receives repairs at Fort Ramsey.

  
  
• The Xenos wait until the Tuscaloosa's task force is too remote to assist, and launch an attack on the California Jump Gate. In the resulting fight, the Xenos experience the single bloodiest day in their movement's history, but succeed in destroying the repair ship Robert Peary, and severely damaging the Battlecruiser Lehigh. While reinforcements from the Yellowstone continue to protect the gate, it is now on an inevitable countdown to inoperability and Liberty's second withdrawal from the system.
  
  
• The Battleship Atum locates the Wyoming in Ontario, running it down and forcing a confrontation in the Georgian Ice Field. After several Vagrant heavy warforms jump in and whisk the Wyoming away, the Atum pursues through the collapsing drive rift. Emerging in Veracruz orbit, it is driven off after suffering heavy damage.
  
  
• The Atum retreats into the Sonora Ice Field to lay low and carry out damage control. Local Gaians quickly spot the damaged vessel; after an initially hostile stand-off, Gaians offer refuge near Atacama while Order officers parlay with sect leaders.
  
  
• The alien structure located deep within Planet Darlington's atmosphere in Newcastle is showing signs of further reawakening. The BIS are urgently attempting to develop countermeasures, while also experiencing increased attacks from suspected Nomad operatives. BIS agents report sightings of suspected infectees fighting in the Craster nebula, an unprecedented situation.
  
  
• The 14-year-old daughter of Senator James Woodson is killed in a bomb blast at their Denver home. The Senator had been attending Congress on Manhattan at the time, issuing an inflammatory speech calling for harsher economic retaliation against Kusari. LPI leaks indicate that authorities are investigating a potential Order link. Senator Woodson has withdrawn from public service to grieve, with knowledgeable sources claiming the devastating loss has led to a traumatic amnestic episode.
  
  
• The Bretonian Armed Forces launch the long awaited Invasion of Dublin, utilising the Jump Drives aboard the recently refitted Battleships Essex and Somerset. The Mollys are blindsided by their defensive minefields being bypassed, and are forced into bloody open battles against Bretonian cruiser flotillas. The use of ingenious Hegemon fire ships nonetheless has resulted in unexpected Bretonian casualties, with the Battlecruiser Adlington destroyed, and the Battlecruiser Bracknell's engines crippled.
  
  
• Planet Sudbury [CLASSIFIED]

---

News article library, feedback and content requests.

[Chronicron]

Like the progression so far, also really appreciate mentioning Omega-55 and Omega-47 as if they're back to their former glory. Seeing mentions of the Dagger Outpost, does it mean that the Kamchatka Base is making a return as well?

---

[jammi]

does it mean that the Kamchatka Base is making a return as well?

In... a manner of speaking.

---

News article library, feedback and content requests.

[Lolipop12]

Interesting reading... so far.

---

Rhodeia --- Unit-9467F --- K'Halaesh

--- Feedback ---

[Shoebill]

Enjoyed the read.

[Amba]

Bit sad that we're not getting into the Dublin invasion yet, that plotline needs to resolve already

[Lythrilux]

So many Core story updates after years... Brings a tear to my eye.

---

[Big Bison Bessie]

BHG mentioned

---

☆The Ballad of Bessie Bishop☆ | ☆Elizabeth Bishop LPI Records☆ | ☆Feedback☆

[Lord Caedus]

Bit sad that we're not getting into the Dublin invasion yet, that plotline needs to resolve already

It needs to at least actually start. Hopefully with the event scheduled for May 5-11 we'll see the invasion itself happen then have a small patch to change things after the event is over.

---

[Laz]

You guys called it sanctions. Should have said that Liberty applies 40% tariffs against Kusari

---