2020, the world's economic crisis went even deeper. With natural resources slowly depleting, a huge energy crisis was on the horizon.
May 2021 – USA, Canada and Japan along with BRIC and EU states united at Bruxelles in a never before seen energy summit. Fossil fuel sources were drying up and the need for a new energy source was growing higher and higher. While wind mills and solar panels are still reliable, they are highly dependent on weather conditions and require a lot of space to function properly. Nuclear energy has been banned in most countries, especially after China’s “extensive use” of it during the “Zero hour conflict”. Finally after over 10 days of debates and lots of nerves, a new project was proposed to the world, the “Solar Furnace” project. A large number of orbital mirrors will be built to focus huge amounts of pure solar energy directly into ground based collectors.
July 2021 – Project: “Solar Furnace” is officially started. As the brains behind the idea and the main financer of the project, the European Union took the lead. Construction of the first ground collector was started in Spain, while the rest of the world was tasked of building the orbital mirrors.
March 2023 - The first mirror is sent into space by the European Space Agency with the help of their Arianne 6 project, an improved version of the already highly successful Arianne 5 rocket. After a week of intensive work, the mirrors were in place and the first solar beam was focused over the Mediterranean Sea in order to not risk any fire or damage. The first tests were a success.
May 2023 - The first ever Solar Furnace was completed. A few days after completion, the space mirror was successfully linked to the ground collector. The project was deemed a success and soon 5 more mirrors and furnaces started to be built around Europe and the United States.
By the end of 2029 the project had reached a dead-end due to political and economic discussions between the countries involved. Only 20 such furnaces were built, out of which 10 were in Europe, 8 were in USA, 1 in Japan and 1 in China. Russia was talking about retreating from the project and starting one of their own, but demanded that the plans for the project would be shared among all investors. China soon followed demanding their rights as equal contributor. However the truth was that neither the US nor the European representatives had any plans to offer full access to this technology to their allies, in hopes that with the energetic and technological advantage they could easily impose their will.
December 2032 - The situation escalated with an almost imminent military confrontation between Russia and NATO. The global political situation was a total disaster. China declared that if a military conflict would start they would support their Russian allies, most of the Muslim world declared that they would also join the eastern forces in a glorified jihad against the western oppressors. The rest of the world concentrated around NATO. India, even though a traditional ally of the United States declared neutrality in this conflict and immediately after, Japan followed. This situation was deteriorating fast with Russian forces gathering at the western borders.
January 2033 - Disaster strikes. While all their efforts were channeled on the imminent conflict, all space agencies lost focus on monitoring other important things. A huge asteroid is discovered to be on a collision trajectory with Earth. The estimated crash location: North America, estimated damage: total and utter destruction. A few hours before impact, a powerful laser blast was fired at the asteroid, in the hopes of pulverizing it. However, things didn't go according to plan. Instead of blowing up the asteroid, the laser only managed to break it into 5 smaller, yet still highly destructive pieces. With little else to do, the world bunkered down as best they could and prayed. The first piece hit US mainland, North of Wyoming, inside Yellowstone Park. The second piece crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. The third piece crashed in Peru, near the Brazilian border. Finally, the last 2 pieces hit Africa, one in the east of Mali and another on the coast of Angola.
To those who survived, the event became known as “Deep Impact”.
The Aftermath- More than 75% of the US was uninhabitable. (After the devastating effects that followed the Yellowstone crash and the tsunami from the Atlantic Ocean crash that hit the east coast)
- Over 50% of the African continent was either turned to ash or covered in a dense dust cloud.
- The northern part of South America was either turned to ash or covered by dense dust clouds. Central America was obliterated. Brazil and Argentina was thrown into a devastating socio-economic crisis.
- From 7.5 billion people estimated in 2041, the world population went to just under 6.1 billion people. Almost 35% of habitable land is gone.
- The temperature on the planet dropped by an average of 10 degrees, with large variations between the poles and the equatorial regions.
By the end of 2033 the remaining habitable regions of Earth were the following:
- Europe (all of it)
- Asia (all of it)
- The central and south areas of South America.
- South-Western areas of the African continent.
These were the only regions still capable of sustaining the Solar Furnaces. The rest of the land is either flooded, under heavy toxic conditions from dust/ash clouds or have simply been wiped out.
Thousands of immigrants from the USA, South America and Africa bombarded the shores of Europe and Central Asia in the hopes of surviving the disaster.
June 2034-August 2034 - The Western European Alliance is created, as a result of the huge immigrations. WEA eastern border is set on the Czech, Austria and Italy borders. In order to secure their borders huge walls are built along with heavy fortifications. A hard choice, but it was the only one that would not throw the whole of Europe into total anarchy. Under the risk of military conflict, WEA becomes a military hegemony, with traces of democracy. As a result of a great number of uprisings from 2018-1019, almost all GLA sympathizers or persons that were suspected of having any sort of possible contact with GLA in WEA controlled Europe were evacuated under the threat of death. Being the only remaining force with solar furnace technology, WEA had a lot to defend from.
Eastern Europe became a no-man's-land. Overpopulation brought total chaos, lack of food and social services, and a huge death rate. Most of these states became targets for WEA or Russian influence.
Predicting the total disaster, the United States army moved most of its forces to the Canadian border. Immediately after the impact and the Yellowstone disaster, Canada became the new home of the American survivors, but in the disaster they lost both NORAD and much of their Atlantic fleets as well as almost half of their ground and air forces. The US military had a new agenda. Using their superior military power and most important their political puppets within the Canadian government, they forced the Canadian government to step down, and by the end of 2038 Canada along with the few remaining states of USA formed the American Confederacy. Due to their location and weather conditions, the AC had no way to survive in the long run. Lack of food and overall resources, forced the AC government to take action.
April 2038 - a massive AC invasion force invaded what was left of Brazil. Having the superior technology and troops as well as the element of surprise, AC forces overwhelmed the Brazilian army and within 2 months, they took over. Brazil became the prime colony of the American Confederacy. Because Brazil was in total chaos after the disaster, most of the Brazilian population took the AC occupation as a positive thing, welcoming their imposed order. Using a strong propagandistic program, a still very strong military, and the chaotic situation that was there before their arrival, the AC forces managed to take out all of the resistance movements in Brazil within a year. (The fact that most of the population saw the resistance as anarchists and enemies of the state was a contributing factor) The main advantage of this invasion was that the USA gained access to harvestable land and living space, as well as enough resources to jump-start their military and infrastructure reconstruction.
By 2040 Brazil became a semi stable country. Its neighbor Argentina however was still under anarchy. Local drug lords and deluded former military generals took over and split the spoils. People we’re killed if they didn't follow orders, health care was almost non-existent and hunger was killing thousands.
October 2041 - AC forces invade Argentina and by the end of 2042 the whole country is 'liberated' and annexed to the AC.
December 2041 - The WEA deploys its first post disaster space satellite. This satellite is part of the new Space Defense Program that would secure WEA's borders from any threat. A year later 2 more satellites follow. These satellites are armed with smaller versions of the solar mirrors that are capable of focusing pulses of raw solar energy on a designated target. Having lost most of their intelligence gathering systems, AC high command had no idea of these events and the rudimentary and poorly financed Russian and Chinese space agencies were more interested in spying the eastern WEA borders than their actual space.
May 2043 - The ever growing conflict between WEA and the Asian powers reaches its peak as a massive Russo-Chinese invasion force heads towards Europe. Under the command of the experienced Chinese General Ta Hun Kwai, a massive tank force crosses into WEA controlled territory at the Austrian border. Backed up by a large air armada of Chinese J-series and Russian Su-series planes, the invasion seemed to be working. However the WEA considered this battle as the perfect opportunity to test out their new defense program. Without warning or mercy, the 3 solar satellites are fired upon the huge enemy armada. Within a few hours most of the Russian and Chinese tanks are obliterated and more than 75% of their planes are shot down by the extensive anti-air defenses grid. Kwai, along with his tank battalion, is vaporized. Both Russia and China are badly crippled after this event with almost half of their military gone.
June 2043 - After their huge military successes in South America, AC is preparing for a massive invasion of the South Asian insular area. With China and Russia greatly crippled from their failed attacks, this would be the perfect time to solidify their power within that region. With WEA under siege and trapped within their borders, AC was now free to take anything they could get their hands on.
October 2043 - A massive AC armada invades the Philippines. Immediately after, the AC invades Indonesia and Malaysia. With South Korea on their side as well as Japanese support, AC manages to take control over that region by the end of 2044. China and Russia while against this actions could do little. Old and extremely frustrated, general Fai decides that he wants to die with dignity and glory. Along with all of his forces he strikes at the AC forces located in S. Korea. After more than a month of fighting and with no support from his government, Fai loses. He is captured by AC soldiers, and executed. Officially he died of a heart attack during the capture, but inside sources indicate that the AC high command considered him a far too dangerous asset.
African Continent 2034In the aftermath of the disaster, the remaining African countries went into civil war. Governments lost the aid of their western suppliers and lost the power to face an overwhelming hateful population. Whatever was left of Africa was in a worse state.
In an attempt to escape the American and Chinese agents sent after them, being the only survivors of the GLA uprisings, Juhziz and Deathstrike run to Africa to hide. Accused of treason and used as an escape goat after the USA failures in the “Zero Hour conflict”, general Ironside is among the people hunting the 2 GLA leaders. Betrayed by his country and hunted by his own countrymen, Ironside was now on a revenge crusade, and Africa was the perfect place for it.
Asian Continent 2044With limited fossil fuel resources left (most were too deep to be accessible) both Russia and China faced a new possible energy crisis. While still rich in resources, the huge amount of immigrants as well as WEA’s massive “sunburn” left Asia crippled. On July 2044, in an attempt to take control of the situation, Russia, India and China formed “The United Asian Nations” or UAN for short.
August 2044 - January 2045 - UAN continues to expand including almost all Asian countries, reaching the borders of Thailand and Laos, which were controlled by AC forces in the south, Poland and Ukraine in the west and Iran in the south-west. With the growth of their power, UAN authorities started a more and more oppressive regime in order to control the huge population. Over the next 3 years the UAN's internal policies were getting to the point the population simply couldn't resist.
In the morning of 15th august, 2048, more than 60% of the UAN population turned on the oppressive government in a never before seen anti government rally. After 2 months of battles, with heavy losses on both sides, a truce was reached. The regime changed many of the oppressive policies and was forced to close some of the government institutions responsible for these oppressive acts, but still remained a military based one. The population was given a fake sense of freedom and safety while the government used an ever growing propaganda machine to keep an image of happiness. After the revolts, the name of the UAN was again changed to ADF - The Asian Democratic Federation.
The Arab peninsula countries were now also under the ADF influence zone. With most of their forces defeated by Chinese forces, most of the remaining GLA forces retreated to Africa. Countries like Saudi Arabia or Jordan were left undefended in the face of the Russian and Chinese predators. As a result, during the UAN conflict these countries were slowly occupied and subliminally conquered. While still maintaining their noble families as rulers, they were directly controlled by Russian and Chinese governments. When the ADF was formed, this countries stayed somehow independent (they kept their names).
East Europe 2035The situation in East Europe was worse than ever by the end of 2034. Due to the huge amount of immigrants, social and economic recovery was extremely slow. Because of the geographical advantages that many states had and the lack of an actual economic breakthrough, much of Eastern Europe turned into an archaic agricultural society. This being the only choice the majority had from starving. The old countries of central and Eastern Europe kept their names only on a formal level. With governments that had little to no control and a catastrophic social situation, borders were basically useless at this point. Civilization was kept around the great cities of these countries and those were basically the only urban and semi-civilized areas left.
The situation was also in the WEA's advantage. With the growing power of ADF in the east, the anarchic states of central and east Europe were basically a defense barrier in case of a military clash. The puppet governments of these states were bribed and semi-supported by WEA to keep things in chaos, as that would make them hard to get by the ever-growing ADF. Things however didn't go as planned.
July 2050 - ADF invades Poland. While resistance is strong, by the end of 2050 Poland is annexed to ADF.
April 2051- ADF invaded Ukraine. After 6 months the country is also annexed.
By the end of 2052 the only 'independent' central European countries are Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia. They become neutral territory between WEA and ADF, with both powers secretly trying to control them.
American Continent 2046After the 2043 invasion, AC was struggling to keep its power, especially in their South American and South Asian colonies. A new energy source had to be developed fast in order to supply the ever-growing economy and the recovery of their military forces. After almost 10 years of research (started in 2036), the arc reactor project became a success. Small Arc Reactors became the main power supply for AC infrastructure. Their energy demand was finally satisfied and as such, AC went into a strong economic and military growth.
African Continent 2045Fragments of GLA start to unify under a mysterious leader who calls himself “The Avenger”. His hatred for the western forces and his messages of war and unification gather many of the African survivors around him. Rumors suggest that he may be Deathstrike himself trying to bring back the glory of GLA, but in reality no one really knows who he really is. With a large fanatic force at his command this new leader forms the WLF - World Liberation Front. Their first act was a devastating attack on a ADF military base in Yemen in 2047 with the message that GLA is not gone, but stronger than ever. Soon after, sleeping dragons arise and join the WLF.
2055 Situation- WEA and ADF relations are tensioned, with each one trying to keep control over the remaining 'independent' countries of central Europe.
- Natural resources in the planetary oceans become a huge interest for all sides. With the whole world divided between the 3 power houses, every piece of land is a possible warzone.
- In June 2055 ADF invades Hungary in an attempt to gain an easy access to the Austrian border. The invasion fails as WEA intercepts them with what seemed to be a perfect combination of infantry and vehicle warfare strategy. The Helios Defense system is not even used.
- Faced with a possible lack of many resources WEA is forced into war. The AC is also faced with the same problem. Asia is now the continent with the most remaining resources and everyone wants to them.
- WLF continues their fight to liberate the Arab peninsula from ADF control as well as south Asia from the AC. But overall they fight for their right at the same decent life as members of the other forces do.
- By the end of 2055 all out conflict starts between the 4 factions.