In 2335, the destruction of the Lucifer superdestroyer collapsed the Sol jump node in Delta Serpentis, severing all contact with Earth.

The fate of the Terran home planet remains open to speculation, though a number of scenarios are possible. As the center of an interstellar community, Earth could not survive in isolation without a radical transformation of its political and economic structures. On this point, there is no disagreement. However, the question remains whether this transition occurred peacefully or whether Terran society collapsed into anarchy. Strong arguments have been advanced for both sides.

For generations, Earth had been the political, economic, and cultural center of Terran civilization. Humans still measured time in hours, days, months, and years. They named their ships after the mythological figures of ancient Terran civilizations, and systems were still identified according to the constellations observed from Earth. The planet served as capital of the GTA, and the bulk of the Terran industrial base was located in the Sol system. Offworlders identified their nationality according to the old Earth boundaries, though nation-states dissolved after the discovery of subspace and the emergence of an interstellar Terran society.

Radio signals from Sol were allegedly detected by amateur astronomers in Alpha Centauri at many points during Reconstruction, but if this is so, no unclassified records survived. Any such contact in more recent years - if it has occurred - has remained classified by the GTVA.

After Capella's hammerblow to the human psyche, Earth has become an almost messianic beacon for the Terran elements of the GTVA. Its vast industrial and population base - larger than the entire Terran half of the GTVA - suggest that it could become a breadbasket for economic regrowth. Earth may offer technological or military assets that will assist the GTVA in any future encounters with the Shivans.

More critically, however, Earth offers hope. With the outside universe apparently a hostile and unfathomable place, Earth represents a chance to return to past glory, a time when human ingenuity and drive could conquer any obstacle.

Some GTVA political elements have suggested that this creed of salvation-by-assistance represents a failure of self-reliance. Nonetheless, the return to Earth currently enjoys considerable popular support. It has proved particularly divisive, however, in relationships with the Vasudans, who have repeatedly criticized the vast expenditures of the Sol Portal Project as a drain on economic recovery.