Though many colonists are dissatisfied with the Imperium's overly zealous role in their lives, none are so bold as to defy them directly. All new planets are tightly controlled by the JDA, renamed the Imperium in this time period, with water in particular being rationed closely, and any surpluses being jealously controlled. The initiative proves to be extremely successful, producing a hundred colonized worlds within a generation, and a thousand within two. Labeled the Exploratory Corps, Earth's inmate exploratory group is given the equipment necessary to traverse the galaxy and to develop worlds that can support life. Edward Dalen, head of the JDA, strikes a deal with the inmates of Earth's prison worlds, offering them their freedom in exchange for their cooperation in exploring and colonizing new planets. Though rioting is quelled, the disaster greatly raises overall interest in off-world colonization. Famine soon sets in, which further exacerbates class tensions, as the food stores of those within the wealthier closed communities were largely unaffected. In 2447, however, Earth is faced with another crisis after a nuclear incident in India unexpectedly kills four million people and contaminates food supplies across the continent. Though many question whether the JDA was created merely as a thinly-veiled means to control population growth, and the hasty nature of their trials are criticized, the initiative to expel deviant individuals from Earth is met with a great deal of support, and over time the JDA comes to wield a tremendous amount of political influence while also boasting the largest single army on the planet.īy the middle of the 25th century, the JDA has become Earth's primary government, and relative stability is achieved. The governing body created to oversee the process of trying and exporting criminals to Io, the Jovian Detention Administration, or JDA, quickly becomes one of the most influential organizations in the world, and by the year 2400, more than one million persons per year are sentenced to live out their days on Io or other extra-terrestrial penal colonies created in the following years. By the early years of the 24th century, criminality has reached such a level that the leaders of the free world agree to establish a prison colony on Io, one of the moons of Jupiter, so that those deemed "dangerous and irredeemable" can be imprisoned there for the remainder of their natural lives. Areas outside of these highly controlled complexes grow to become increasingly lawless, as discontentment with the increasingly inhospitable planet and the ever-widening divide between the well-to-do and those below them creates palpable tension across the globe. Those at the upper echelons begin to build closed communities for themselves, complete with advanced air and water filtration systems, living in relative comfort apart from the rest of mankind. Struggling to cope with the challenges of gross overpopulation, including prodigous food production and large-scale waste disposal, society begins to stratify. Background Earth in Declineīy the middle of the 23rd century, the population of Earth has begun to reach unsustainable numbers. In January of 2012, an enhanced version of Dark Reign developed by Magnetar Games, dubbed Dark Reign Redux, was released as an Xbox Live Indie title, featuring improvements such as full widescreen resolution. The original title has also seen a limited number of rereleases in the years since its introduction, including a GOG.com release in January of 2011, which presents both Dark Reign and its expansion as a single package. Neither game would be developed by Auran, with the former being produced by Activision, and the latter by Pandemic Studios. The Dark Reign franchise would go on to include two additional releases: an expansion pack for the original game, 1998's Rise of the Shadowhand, as well as a sequel, 2000's Dark Reign 2. The final product would include a full single-player campaign, multiplayer, an "instant action" skirmish mode, and a fully-featured in-game construction kit, which allows players to create custom multiplayer maps as well as single-player missions and scenarios. At some point in its development, Corporation was rechristened Dark Reign, though the Tactics engine would still be used as its foundation. This period saw the creation of the Tactics engine, the real-time strategy game engine Auran had hoped would be the basis for further RTS titles. Dark Reign was initially conceived as Corporation - Off World, and twelve months of development were completed with the title under this name. Released by Activision in the latter half of 1997, Dark Reign: The Future of War is a science-fiction real-time strategy game for the PC and the first game developed by Auran (presently N3V Games).
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