New Colonization Era
The New Colonization Era refers to the expansionistic period of space colonization in the history of the United Orcs that took place during the Second Age in Hemmoian chronology.
Background
With Aldaain fully habiformed and established as a new throne world of the revived Orceronian civilization and the V3 War at an end, the attention of the United Orcs was once again directed towards the stars. It was recognized that in order for the Hemmoian and Orcish civilizations to survive future unforeseen catastrophic events like the Great Cataclysm of Orceron, they needed to spread well beyond the Orbeus cluster and firmly establish their presence in a hostile galaxy. To this end, extensive programs of space exploration, colonization and planetary engineering were started.
First long-range colonies
During this time, the UO Royal Space Administration became a highly influential branch of the government. Thousands of probes, scouting missions and finally, self-sustaining colony slowboats were launched during this epoch, colonizing innumerable worlds and rapidly spreading the Union's sphere of influence in the Delta Quadrant. The RSA Catalogue was established, listing potential sites for potential colonies and other important resources.
Among the first colonies beyond the Orbeus cluster were Tooled Hemmo, Reel, Ameet, Zelok and Rilet. These soon became influential, independent cultural centers, which went on to build industrial bases of their own. The rapid expansion of UO offworld industry allowed for the exponential increase of colonization efforts as new worlds were conquered.
Interruption
The first stage of the New New Colonization Era was interrupted by the catastrophic events on Aldaain called the Great Chaos, which shook up the power structures of the entire Union. At that time, the Union spanned ten thousand systems.
Later, colonization projects were interrupted again by the devastating First Bacterian War, during which many of the fresh colonies established in the New New Colonization Era were lost to Bacterian aggression.
Continuation
Colonization efforts continued after the War. By the beginning of the Peace Station Project, the United Orcs had 470 000 colonized star systems. Meanwhile, the Independent Hypersentience state had grown to encompass 900 systems.
