User blog comment:Mr.Robbo/The Chaos Crisis and Me... Again!/@comment-5870856-20130904012232/@comment-1743498-20130904024944

Well, we used the 22nd century as a frame of reference during the older days, but now, there's no real present day. It's just one long timeline. The 22nd century happens to be the time period when civilizations are being introduced to a larger galactic community. Before that, they were fairly isolated.

So really, you could work with any time period you desire, though be conscious of how it will impact other user creations.