NGM

DISCOVERY OF THE SURROGATE
Nearly five decades ago, a small UTF exploration vessel homed in on an odd, but somewhat readable signal. At the source, they found a large, lush, and curiously inhabitable planet. Bewildered scientists studied it and reported their findings. Research team after research team rushed to the planet, soon uncovering the mysterious source of the terraformed planet. Standing by silently in a high orbit was the Surrogate, a gigantic ship capable of transforming a hostile planet into a nurturing environment. After boarding the ship, the teams found three gigantic libraries. The first library contained books and files on the history of mankind on planet Earth. Complementing this find was the second library, the literature library, which offered myriads of books written during Earth's greatest times of learning. The most important find, however, lied in the third library. Scientists and genetic engineers were astounded when they found a library of DNA records of hundreds of thousands of species from Earth.

THE VEHERAN RENAISSANCE
After these momentous findings, the UTF government rushed to keep them secret. However, the information leaked out and spread rapidly across the settlements of the UTF worlds. UTF officials could do little to manage this explosion of information. With the new foods introduced by the DNA samples, the economies of the planets completely rebalanced, with new wealth being put into the pockets of those who capitalized on the new DNA. Also, the Veheran Renaissance had a huge impact on the multiple environments in the UTF domain. The simple ecosystems of the planets were rocked as new plants and animals were introduced. Swarms of insects attacked crops, new plants choked waterways, and wildlife populations spun wildly out of control as new predators and prey were brought into the planets. Aside from facing these disasters, the UTF government had to deal with revolutionaries who had been enlightened by the new literature from the Old World. These revolutionists set up a new government on Vehera, establishing independence from the UTF. They met no opposition from the preoccupied government, and soon even other planets followed Vehera's example, eventually leaving the UTF in control of only 5 of the 9 inhabited systems.