- 3470's — A century and a half after the end of Apocalypse Eternal, a continuous stream of medical breakthroughs extends the human lifespan well-beyond a hundred and fifty years. Using regenerative genetic recoding, the elderly test subjects not only stop aging, but utilize cybernetic implants to regress to middle age adulthood.
- 3520's — The oldest generation of cybernetically augmented men and women become stricken with dementia, often killing others, or themselves. Attributed to the effect of multiple cybernetics, the practice of age-reversal is outlawed, leaving many seniors captive inside crippled bodies. Some choose to die a natural death rather than spending eternity at 'half-value.'
- 3550 and beyond — Now a readily available, if expensive, medical practice, the wealthy begin conventional Longevity Treatments as young as thirty years old, suspending their prime years indefinitely. Those who cannot afford sustained LT's slow their progression though the years, but are forced to accept mortality after two-to-four centuries. Artificial lifeforms take as well to the treatment as natural humans, and require much less attention. Classic cyborgs are destroyed or exist as studied anomalies without human rights.
- 4000's — Billions of lightly or unaugmented middle-and-poverty-class humans (ninety percent) still live and die naturally--median age of living adults: one hundred.
- 4004 — Three ancient men and two women, all born in 3339, die in their sleep, cause of death: unknown. These were the first known cases of Mortality Shock, though the condition was not recognized or acknowledged for decades after. The following year, thirty elderly citizens born in 3340 also did not wake. Autopsy, blood work, genetic scans, and brain maps offered no answer as hundreds from the Sol-Union's Dawning turned 665 in the next fifteen years.
- 4005-4020 — Those hundreds also died in their sleep, equally with no health issues. The only pattern was they year of their age. Doctors and scientists denounced the obvious number as preposterous, though theologians had already made conclusions about proof of God. The medical community stated it was either a genetic trigger unfound, or a psychosomatic expectation, though most victims who had been monitored had no prior knowledge of this 'illness.'
- 4020 to present — Dubbed Mortality Shock by the press, the name took root over an unwieldy medical acronym. Full generations of old-bodied humans also perished during their 665th year, the condition's death toll surpassing a thousand, ten thousand, and at present day, two hundred thousand. The next generation will be the wealthy millions who embraced LT's back in the thirty-sixth century, some still as comely as they were in their youth.
Commentary
A non-public Sol-Union committee is devoted only to MS research, though they spend more time deflecting criticism within congress than they do offering their progress. Sympathy for the privileged dead isn't exactly a public clamor, most of whom still exist within the confines of standard mortality. While it's created a social problem among the Sol-System's youth, most expect the mysterious illness to be cured within their demi-millennial lifetimes.
The ancients surviving their sixth century are the main driving force for answers, the quincentennials behind them nearly as loud.
Dethist gurus still offer their unpopular stance, citing Original Sin and humanity's recent pursuit of DETH technology as the source of their woes—a punishment from God. It remains to be seen if any religious theory can explain these widespread and unrelated deaths.
In summary, to present day, no humans other than heavily outfitted cyborgs have surpassed the age of 665. The hybrid-inhumans seem to be immune, supporting all speculation from genetics, psychological, to religious. No clear answer has been accepted.
Mortality Shock is humanity's seventh leading cause of death. Unless cured, or war breaks out, it will become the third within the next century.
Articles
- Anatali Academy — The largest university on Anatali Station.
- Anatali Corp — The history behind the future's most influential superpower.
- Anatali Station — Humanity's first Exodus-class Star Station.
- Apocalypse Eternal — This popular VR game hosts four million subscribers.
- Dark Energy Theory — The science that altered modern history.
- Gangs of Anatali — Background on Anatali's most infamous vigilantes.
- Mortality Shock — The end of immortality.
- Jensen-Almay Disaster — Part 1, Lead-up to Apocalypse Eternal. *new*
- Apocalypse Eternal (war) — Part 2, Humanity's most deadly war. *new*
- AE Aftermath — Part 3, how the war impacted the future. *new*
Coming Soon
- Dethism, the religion
- Politics in the future
- Science and technology