December Universe

The December Universe and Prime Universe are forked timelines, a fork that occurred comparatively recently.

The December Universe is named for the December Offensive, the battle that destroyed much of the Star Navy, pushed mankind out of the frontier, and ultimately resulted in the razing of Earth and the extinction of humanity at the Battle of Earth. This universe was the early setting of the game "We Happy Few," where the December version of the ERS Valkyrie, heavily damaged, encountered the Prime universe's version of the ship after every other Star Destroyer was destroyed at the Battle of Earth. The surviving December crew gave medical care to their unconscious counterparts and used the ship's open hyperspace hole in order to follow its path back to the Prime Universe.

The December Universe was identical to the Prime Universe until the year before the December Offensive, in 2153. In the December timeline, the ERSN focused on Star Destroyer production, which is the slowest class of ship to build, and their production capacity was dwarfed by the Praezorian Empire. As a result, the Star Navy was decimated at the Offensive and during its last stand against the Praezorians, and the Republic Sector fell. According to December Universe characters who survived into the Prime Universe, the Cetians abandoned Earth in the eleventh hour, falling back to Tau Ceti.

Thanks to the warnings and advice of the December Universe characters, the Prime Universe ERSN focused instead on Escort-class ships, which are quick to build and represent mobility, warp shields and missile launchers, in order to fire large numbers of phase missiles in case of Praezorian attack. This allowed the Earth Republic to turn the tide of the Second Praezorian War. Several December versions of player characters continue to exist and operate on ships in the Prime Universe; they are necessarily a year older than their Prime counterparts, and tend to stick together.

The ERS Valkyrie returned to the December Universe in "Only Ash," when it rescued a small contingent of surviving humans. They are reportedly the final survivors to make it out of the December Universe. Many December characters may continue to survive at Tau Ceti or in parts unknown.