Plot: During the 21st century, following global warming, which resulted in the deviation of the Gulf Stream, an increase in pollution levels, and devastating religious wars, the conditions on Earth seriously degraded. Concurrently, huge technological advances were made for Humanity, particularly the invention of the "Benevides Transfer", which allows faster-than-light space travel. As a result, new Earth-like planets, potentially colonisable, were discovered.

Millions of dollars have been invested in these colonization projects by private companies. The first to inhabit the new colonies are selected following reconnaissance missions to the newly discovered planets, and the United Nations has put in place a charter regulating the colonization of new planets. Most notably, colonization must cease should the planet be found to harbor one, or potentially several species considered to be evolved, defined as a species which has discovered fire and can produce tools.