Does anyone have a link to the canonical timeline for this strange violent universe?
The big bad motd holds the timeline
I added a bunch of history and lore stuff to motd.txt, but I don't think the game uses that file since I never see it when I join in the game. You might need to copy it to the motd-auth.txt and motd-noauth.txt files to get it to display.
For now, though, I'll paste what I've got on my computer (It may have been modified a little in one of the later updates, maybe):
-The year is AD2550. Mankind has begun to leave its cradle in the Sol System and travel beyond the stars thanks to remarkable advances in faster-than-light travel.
-Cloning of chimpanzees has been perfected, and has produced a viable way to experiment on human-analogs with efficiency. Human cloning, however, is still a controvercial subject.
-The old religions, which place extreme importance on the Earth, have slowly started dying as humans have seen the vastness of the universe, but many smaller religions have cropped up in their place. Chaplains are still recognized as important to the morale of space colonies and stations.
-Humans have set up many space stations in many different systems; some for habitation, some for research, and some for exploration.
-Planet terraforming is a new science, and most off-Earth planetary colonies are still self-contained research facilities.
-Alien lifeforms have been discovered on many planets - most of these have been microorganisms or simple plant-like structures, but some small animals have been discovered. The search is still on for intelligent life.
-Scientists have discovered a highly-combustive and unstable chemical substance has been dubbed "plasma" in several gas giants.
-NanoTrasen, your employer and the largest plasma-mining corporation in the inhabited galaxy, authorized the construction of twenty-some plasma mining and research stations orbitting gas giants several decades ago. Yours was the twelfth.
-Deep-Space Plasma Research Station no. 12 was designed for extended crew stays of up to half a year. Many other stations have been equipped for much longer habitation cycles.
-Your station has been dubbed "Bay Station 12" by the crew, after the first captain's home town of Bay City, Texas, USA.
-The station is powered by heat-differential engine fueled with plasma. Despite plasma's incredible properties, your station's engineers have been requesting a more efficient engine model for years.
-Your station was, in its time, supplied with an early model Artificial Intelligence satellite, cabable of uplinking to the station remotely and running much of the station itself. Needless to say, some bugs have been found.
-Along with the plasma research lab, your station is equipped to handle more conventional medical research, such as chemistry and genetic modification.
-You left NanoTrasen Central Command, or CentComm, some time ago. You probably won't be making it back any time soon.
-NanoTrasen is rumored to have had very shady dealings in the past. NanoTrasen vehemently denies these claims.
-NanoTrasen has a very relaxed hiring policy.
-Many of your crewmates have shown erratic behavior, much of which they displayed on arrival.
-The Syndicate are a group of terrorists intent to destroy the station and ruin NanoTrasen's shit. Their "uniform" is a red spacesuit.
-Sometimes you've noticed a mysterious ship travel by. It never stops at the station, and there's nobody else here within several parsecs, but you've learned to ignore it.
-There are several reports of espionage perpetrated by NanoTrasen employees on other stations. These reports are generally taken to be the ones NanoTrasen has failed to contain.
-There are reports of a "Wizard Federation," neo-luddites with magical powers; these are too rediculous to be taken seriously.
-Zombie media has become a big fad on Earth, to the point where several people have reportedly "witnessed" walking corpses.
-Microorganisms have been found to inhabit the gas giant you orbit. They grow rapidly in the presence of human biomatter, and are capable of eating a hole in the hull if left unchecked.
-"Space Fever" is a strain of Influenza commonly found on extended-stay deep-space stations and ships. It spreads rapidly, and induces fevers and dizziness, but NanoTrasen doctors have insisted that it is not deadly.
Most of it's based on the "official SS13 canon backstory" provided by the goons over at the wikistation, or just extrapolations from the setting/game mechanics. It's not necessarily absolute, though; I just felt the old MOTD was rather sparse on IC knowledge and so I threw a few things together for the time being.