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During the first half of the 21st Century, civilization on Earth developed advanced genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, and molecular nanotechnology. The people of Earth created furry recoms and robots to be their servants, and many other wonders. They conquered age and disease, and they expanded their civilization to other parts of Sol System, putting colonies on Luna, Mars, and scattered through the Astreroid Belt.
Then came the Apocalypse War. . . Nuclear, biological, chemical and nanotechnological weapons were unleashed, and all the wonders of advanced technology were turned into horrors of death and destruction. Ultimately the entire surface of the planet was turned into a radioactive wasteland, prowled only by war machines and runaway nanostructs. The only survivors were those who escaped into space before the devastation was complete.
The question of whether Earth will eventually be healed is open to debate. After roughly 140 years, the radiation has subsided, the chemical weapons are long dispersed, and most of the biological weapons are probably gone. Most of the war machines are probably broken down or run out of power and munitions by now. However, Earth has a new ecosystem of nanomachines and mutated creatures. . . They replicate and they consume, they fight one another, and they produce their own toxins. Anybody venturing into Earth's atmosphere risks being attacked by the nanostructs – and worse, possibly bringing some of them back to Luna, or Mars, or the other inhabited colonies of our space.
For this reason, Earth remains under strict quarantine. To go there, or to bring back any artifacts from Earth, is strictly prohibited.
Nonetheless, a few daring – or desperate – lawbreakers occasionally venture to Earth, attempting to salvage some of its legendary treasures or technology.