seaQuest DSV - HISTORY - 1990s - 2018
NOTE -
White text indicates canon facts established on-screen
Blue text indicates canon facts established in documents such as the Writers' Guide and the official book that accompanied the series as well as other backstage sources
Red text indicates extrapolation and speculation based on the current geopolitical situation and events described in canon facts, usually my own ideas
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The dawn of the 21st century. As natural resources dwindled across the planet, and the Earth's ecological survival grew ever more worrying, the realisation began to dawn that the world's oceans could hold the key to that survival. Consequently, mining, harvesting, and homesteading colonies sprung up almost over night.
Increased fanatic nationalism in the late 1990s, accompanied by the chaotic events following September 2001, had led to the development of large economic and military confederations, similar to the European Common Market, to cover the expense of developing the necessary technology while maintaining a strong external defence. However, those confederations soon grew increasing antagonistic towards each other, usually along pre-existing grievances, as well as clashes over rival claims to mineral deposits. Pre-existing treaties were abandoned as the world's geopolitical map changed every day. NATO was wound up in 2005, as it broke up into confederations. The EU suffered a similar fate a mere six months later.
The flashpoint, as had been long anticipated, was Kashmir. India and Pakistan, now members of opposing confederations, continued to attack one another throughout the first decade of the new century. When that erupted into all-out war, the other confederations rapidly took sides. First, the East Asian confederation, led by China, a long enemy of India, sided with the Pakistani government. Then, the NORPAC confederation, led by the United States, launched a pre-emptive strike on Chinese forces in the Indian Ocean as they approached NORPAC territory there.
Unable to prevent further bloodshed and bring the warring confederations to the conference table, the United Nations found itself in the same position its predecessor had over 70 years ago. In March 2006, Executive Order 29987 was drawn up, to dissolve the General Assembly, putting an end to the UN.
With the UN's dissolution, the Law of the Sea Treaty was cast aside, water based international borders were ignored, and underwater anarchy reigned. State confederations emerged dominant in the new multi-polar global/political environment that dawned as the end of the war was in sight. Well-financed industrialists and megacorporations, independent of any nation or confederation, began their own unregulated exploitation of the sea.
With the war gradually deteriorating into panicked skirmishes, the NORPAC confederation began Project seaQuest, a plan to design the ultimate seagoing war vessel. It was supervised by one of NORPAC's young hopes, Captain Nathan Hale Bridger.
Finally, the warring confederations were brought to table in 2010, in Reykjavik, where a tentative peace treaty was signed. Tensions remained high, however, particularly when NORPAC unveiled the new seaQuest in 2013. Border disputes became an almost everyday occurrence, and there is a constant threat of war covering the planet.
The turning point in this early stage of global expansionism came in 2017. A small dispute between rival mining claims led to a standoff between forces from five confederations, including NORPAC and the seaQuest. The situation was safely resolved, and the confederations realised that all-out war was a distinct possibility without an international, independent body to keep the peace.
As a result, the United Oceans Treaty was signed in early 2018, which created the United Earth/Oceans Organisation (UEO), a new United Nations, dedicated to creating and maintaining a lasting peace. New undersea borders were drawn up, and the 200-mile territorial limit was reestablished, freeing up the oceans for exploration and scientific research. The UEO also established new guidelines for utilisation of the ocean's resources, to allow the people of Earth to launch itself into the twenty-first century working with the world's ecology in a more responsible way.
To solidify their links to the UEO, and to demonstrate their support for the new peace, NORPAC donates the seaQuest to the new organisation, as a peacekeeper, not a warship. After an extensive refit, the seaQuest re-launches in 2018 as a science vessel and deep ocean explorer, her defence technology and weapons bays now used in the exploration and discovery of deep-sea regions that remained a mystery.
-Michael "seaWolf" Warren
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