Earth

Earth, often called Old Earth by the terrans of the Koprulu sector, was the homeworld of humanity. It was the cradle of the United Earth Directorate and the source of the exiled prisoners whose descendants would settle the Koprulu sector.

The decline of Old Earth#

Through its history, humanity on Earth developed an international power structure defined by military superiority and the acquisition of capital. In the 21st century, radical new technologies brought advanced computers and information to even the poorest nations, but reckless progress followed. Genetic experimentation, cybernetics, cloning, and gene-splicing rose into the public forum, and humanist and hard-line religious factions clashed with the private corporations that profited from them. As cybernetic implants and slight mutations such as heightened senses and advanced telepathy spread, civil chaos grew. By 2301 the population had reached an estimated 23 billion, strained by pollution and a lack of resources, and the balance of world power ultimately collapsed into international pandemonium.

The United Powers League#

On 22 November 2229, the United Powers League was founded on the basis of enlightened socialism, accomplishing the unification that the defunct United Nations never could. The UPL encompassed close to 93 percent of Earth's population and often resorted to fascist police actions to maintain order. It designated English as the common language, banned many ancient languages, and outlawed religion, while holding an almost zealous belief in the divinity of mankind that called for the eradication of non-vital prosthetics and mutations among the pure-strain human gene pool.

The UPL leaders set Project Purification in motion, rounding up dissidents, hackers, the cybernetically enhanced, tech-pirates, and criminals of every kind. Nearly four hundred million people were executed, the violence hidden from a populace served by a controlled world-media. With warp-space travel developed, Doran Routhe used his political connections and fortune to secure fifty-six thousand prisoners slated for execution. He catalogued their mutations and enhancements, fed the data into ATLAS, and loaded the forty thousand deemed viable onto four supercarriers bound for Gantris VI. The ships veered off course and crash-landed in the Koprulu sector. For generations the UPL studied the slow advancement and hostile infighting of the distant colonies without interfering.

The United Earth Directorate#

News of the discovery of the protoss and the zerg in December 2499 spread like wildfire across Earth, and the resulting panic brought the dissident countries into the UPL's fold, expanding its powers and prompting its renaming as the United Earth Directorate. When it became clear that the Koprulu colonies were losing strength, the UED Council saw the perfect opportunity to establish control. In 2500, on word that a new Overmind was growing on Char, the Council formed an expeditionary force under Admiral Gerard DuGalle with orders to enslave the Overmind, every member briefed on the objective to conquer the sector. News of the fleet's defeat reached Earth shortly before it was eradicated. Through the infestation of UED personnel, including Alexei Stukov, the zerg became aware of Earth's location for future infestation, though for the time being they remained focused on the Koprulu sector.