Farcaster - The Fall of The Farcasters

The Fall of The Farcasters

In 2852 the AI TechnoCore's treachery was uncovered: they had been using the Farcasters as part of a giant computer; connecting each human who passed through a portal to their neural net to increase its processing power as needed. The Hegemony CEO Meina Gladstone was also told that the TechnoCore resided within the WorldWeb itself; the dimensionless space between Farcaster Portals. When it was revealed that the supposed invasion by the Ousters was actually being perpetrated by the TechnoCore, CEO Gladstone decided to destroy every singularity sphere in the WorldWeb - supposedly severing the TechnoCore's link to humanity.

The TechnoCore were also revealed to be plotting to kill humanity with the use of a large Deathwand device and the destruction of the Farcasters was timed to allow for the destruction of this weapon as it passed through a Farcaster Portal to Hyperion. Because of the necessity of destroying the Deathwand weapon the Farcaster network was destroyed without much advance notice. Thousands of people were killed while stepping through a Farcaster portal which suddenly closed mid-step, slicing them in half; hundreds more were lost to the gap between Farcasters. Parents working on different planets from their children suddenly found themselves separated by light years instead of a single step through a Farcaster portal.

Riots swiftly followed the destruction of the WorldWeb but it was the long term effects of this action which devastated the Hegemony of Man. Worlds were so dependent on the Farcasters for importing foodstuffs that many planets began to starve; essential medicines might only be available on a single world, which was suddenly years away. Some planetary systems suffered more than others: while Renaissance Minor was mostly agricultural land and capable of supporting Renaissance Vector, worlds like Heaven's Gate and Sol Draconi had their populations decimated and their terraforming efforts reversed over the next few hundred years, making the worlds uninhabitable again.