The stars weep as the cycle turns once more.
Ruin is delayed, but fate is unbroken—chains forged in war and wretched ambition drag the world into a darkness of its own making.
The Architect of Fate casts Earth adrift, a wandering graveyard of memory and regret.
And yet, beyond the void, the Witch of Infinity whispers her dirge... and the wheel turns again.
World War II ends in a nuclear stalemate. Following a general armistice, the Second Treaty of Versailles is signed by all of the war's participants, signalling a permanent end to hostilities. Earth is divided between the capitalist Western Bloc 🦅 and the communist Eastern Bloc ⚒️, constantly at each other's throats.
Following World War II, the Allies formalised the re-occupation of Indochina, putting it in The German Empire's hands as The Imperial Domain of Indochina. Viet Minh guerrillas began an insurgency that resulted in their victory nearly a decade later, with a crushing German defeat at the Battle of Bien Dien Phu.
War breaks out in East Asia once more as troops from The Democratic People's Republic of Korea cross the 38th Parallel, invading The Republic of Korea. The world's superpowers intervene, particularly The United States of America and The People's Republic of China, whose troops fight a number of bloody battles on the ground. In 1953, with the threat of nuclear escalation looming, peace is made.
The First Indochina War results in the breakup of the region between The Imperial Domain of Indochina and The Socialist Republic of Vietnam, alongside the independent states of Cambodia and Laos. Viet Cong guerrillas aligned with the north perform irregular warfare against the South, forcing German troops to stay. In 1964, MACV-SOG performs a false flag attack known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, thrusting The United States of America and a few of its allies into direct combat with Vietnam's communist forces. Eventually, all western powers retreat from Indochina, allowing North Vietnam to invade and annex its southern neighbour in 1975.
The United Arab Kingdom, increasingly preyed upon by German, British and French commercial interests, and resentful that all of its former allies had turned a blind eye to the Israeli War of Independence, closes naval traffic to these nations and The Republic of Zioniam through the Suez Canal. They respond by forming a coalitional force that invades the Sinai Desert and forcefully opens up the canal. Wary of a war in the region, and apathic to western European imperialism, both The United States of America and The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics put pressure on the coalition, helping achieve peace. The UAK becomes diplomatically isolated.
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics places nuclear missiles within the territory of its ally, The Republic of Cuba, in response to NATO's installation of nuclear missiles in The United Kingdom of Scandinavia, capable of reaching Moscow and St. Petersburg with ease. An international crisis develops in the Caribbean that falls short of nuclear warfare, but quick thinking on both sides leads to de-escalation.
The Caliphate of Sadati Arabia begins Operation Taqwa, a large-scale invasion of The United Arab Kingdom. The war quickly devolves into a festival of war crimes and crimes against humanity, most notably the Second Razing of Baghdad. A United Nations (UN) coalitional force is assembled, pushing Sadat's troops back into the desert, but societal collapse across the region occurs, and Sadat's threats to launch chemical missiles towards Europe forces the UN to stand down. Sadatland becomes the heart of global terrorism.
Across the world, students and labourers gather to protest against political stagnation and belligerent policies. Not even The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and The People's Republic of China, remarkably more authoritarian than the West, are able to stem the tide. One of the most unexpected results of these protests are the 1968 Mexico City Terrorist Attacks, which directly result in the international effort known as the International War on Terror.
Beginning on the aftermath of the 1968 Mexico City Terrorist Attacks, the IWOT represents a truly international effort to curb down on global terrorism, primarily that by the Children of God. Although an endless number of military and police forces participate, it is the United Nations Counter-Strike Force (UN COSFOR) that takes the crown, for its numerous counter-terrorist operations across the globe, and for being the only force directly under the UN's command.
An Awakened Precursor Remnant is captured alive and brought to sanity by the Federal Special Research Division and interrogated. He reveals himself as the Engineer, a Precursor with a vast understanding of their technology. He is brought into the team as an FSRD scientist, helping rediscover many of the principles behind Precursor technology, and replicating them once more. Oceanyka's ancient past, the Ancient Hyperwar, as well as the nature of the preceding Enigmatic Impact Event, is finally made clear.
The SDI program is an American national project to develop orbital anti-ballistic missile (ABM) capabilities. Of all proposals, the nuclear-pumped laser would stay, giving the United States certain resilience against a nuclear strike. Shortly after, the world's powers would develop their own versions, employing different technologies for the same purpose.
In an unprecedented act of detente, the world’s great powers stop space militarisation and form the United Nations Solar Fleet, which coordinates international efforts in space.
Planet Alice, one of the greatest secrets of the world's superpowers, which competed for influence within it, goes dark. All warpgates towards it now lead to an empty, black void.
As tensions down in the surface escalate, key figures in the United Nations Solar Fleet conspire to cut Earth off in case of war. Conspirators are drawn from across every orbital warship, spaceship and station in the system. Back on Earth, with the help of UN influences, the media derides leaks of this conspiracy as something pulled straight out of the popular movie franchise "Star Wars".
Able Archer 84 is a yearly exercise scheduled to take place in November 1984. Inevitably, a clique of paranoid KGB officers in Moscow spurs Gorbachov to authorise nuclear launch, interpreting the exercise as preparations for an invasion. Thousands of nuclear warheads fly over the planet's skies, killing hundreds of millions within minutes. Despite the carnage, a great number of anti-ballistic missiles stockpiled over the years are successful at intercepting a significant number of warheads. From here on, Earth becomes a dark, cold abyss.
Starships, installations and satellites controlled by the United Nations Solar Fleet defect almost wholly; those that do not are shot down. The UNSF declares all planetside authority as illegitimate and enacts a total planetary blockade. In an effort to prevent further mass bloodshed, all subsequent nuclear missiles launched from Earth are shot down in ascent, as are cruise missiles and long-range bombers in transit.
Unable to recapture Earth in any realistic timeframe, the United Nations Solar Fleet instead endeavours to colonise the Solar System: stations, outposts, starship yards and colonies are formed as far out as Saturn. Over many years, the UNSF becomes master of Sol.
In an effort to spare Germans from the worst of nuclear fallout and famine, The German Empire begins putting their citizens' brains into biomechanical bodies, thus turning them into the Synthetischvolk, or Synths in the remaining English-speaking world.
The Soviet Union perfects flash cloning. In the battlefield, its nuclear-powered war machines and power armour infantry is supported by nearly endless hordes of vat-grown conscripts, neurologically imprinted only with basic tactical thought, an array of combat abilities and a faultless commitment to obedience.
American psi-biotechnology experiments in Africa result in the creation of Viral Biomass or VIBO, thinking flesh that assimilates living matter into a vast macro-organism, hell-bent on becoming one with all life in Earth. By the late 1990s, VIBO would assimilate all of Africa, with sporadic outbreaks all across the world.
American businessmen assassinate the President and Vice President of the United States, installing a puppet Congress that nulls the Constitution and redacts a new one. The US officially becomes an oligarchy led by its biggest corporations. After this coup, American commitment to the war dwindles. Only second-hand, cheaply made materiel and shoddily trained conscripts (primarily immigrants and undesired groups) are sent to fight in Europe.
The People's Republic of China activates the Iron Emperor, the world’s first advanced general intelligence. It proceeds to genocide humanity across most of East Asia. Japan and the Soviet Union wage a gruelling war against the machines, with the latter becoming even more strained than it was with just fighting in Europe.
Facing mass starvation and in a war that is undoubtedly not their own, the Oceanykan people lynch President Alan Redfort. The new Oceanykan Government negotiates a white peace with the western powers. It also exposes and dissolves the decaying Federal Special Research Division, outlaws Anti-Paranormal Secret Societies and ends the masquerade. Mass panic begins across Oceanyka’s cities; witch hunts, paranoia, and the popularity of conspiracies are at an all-time high. The Australian Emergency Committee officially announces its existence and confronts the Oceanykan People's Army in open warfare.
Thanks to the internet, knowledge of sorcery and psionics spreads rapidly across Oceanyka. Amateur sorcerers and psychics cause a myriad of incidents. Most remaining nations in Earth, and the UNSF, ban this practice entirely.
Millions of German synths topple the Kaiser’s government, execute the royal family and institute a socialist government; the People’s Republic of Germany (DDR) arises. World War III continues in Europe.
A Cestlep-based religious cult attempts a mass ritual to bring forth an Avatar from the Dreamspace. This results in the city’s complete destruction and the arrival of an otherworldly political entity known as the All-Empire, which enslaves and twists man’s form to orient it towards conquest. The Australian Emergency Committee is declared by the remains of the Oceanykan Council as the only legitimate authority of Oceanyka.
Hundreds of non-human starships are detected close to entering the Solar System in years-apart waves from far beyond. The UNSF is placed on full alert. It is quickly discovered that these are not peaceful visitors, as human installations and starships begin to suffer from mysterious attacks and raids. Facing an enemy unknown with much greater conventional technology, the Solar War represents a desperate attempt by the UNSF to bide time.
While the voidborne possess incredible conventional technology, they know nothing of psionics or sorcery. The UNSF has one last ace up its sleeve: Project Wonderland, a grand plan to send Earth tunneling through the Dreamspace. Over the course of a decade, knowledge and constructions are prepared for mankind's grand finale. In 2001 the project is deemed as complete, and an enormous warpgate is summoned, swallowing our home whole. Earth, at least in some way, is saved.
The UNSF's remaining starships fight a losing battle against the voidborne, lasting no more than a few months. In a way they won... but the Great Blue Jewel is gone forever.
The psionic currents of the Dreamspace profoundly scar and warp the surface of the Earth, turning it into something unrecognisable, and killing the vast majority of its population. Mankind’s cradle arrives at a compatible dimension in a strange solar system with only a few thousand humans remaining, holding on to scraps of the Old World's knowledge and eking out a neolithic lifestyle.
The Oceanykan People's Army crosses the White Rabbit Trail, a stable passage through The Underdown that leads towards Planet Alice, a strange world unlike ours and yet so very similar.
The Witch of Infinity completes her grand ritual, sacrificing the entirety of Planet Alice to a Dreamspace entity that promises humanity’s salvation. Contact between Planet Alice and Earth is lost.
END STATE - CYCLE RESET