| History of Unto the Breach - An Overview (Read this first!) |
| 06/16/2009 |
|
The game of Unto the Breach takes place in AF (After Fall) 1016, which is approximately equivalent to 5120 AD. Obviously, a great deal of time passes from the modern day to when the game takes place...
While the history of mankind from now until that time is filled with countless important events, most of them have little bearing on the moon of Terranis, where our game is set, so we shall focus only on those critical events over the intervening millenia. Suddenly, a tremendous event occurs. An unusual human, known as Allerka, dies. However, his death is far from a normal one. Upon his death, shockwaves of psychic energy rip out across the world, tearing into the minds of every human on Earth. They are shown thousands of visions, detailing the life of a man who was born as an ordinary mortal, but given the chance to become so much more. Unlocking the power of his genetics, he was granted with incredible powers, as well as his lifespan being increased from a matter of decades to tens of thousands of years. With his powers, he breached the barriers of time and space, traveling to countless other dimensions and times, battling evil in numerous forms, and always staying true to the values he was tought in his youth, fighting to defend the weak and innocent. Finally, when even his incredible lifespan was drawing to a close, he returned home, so that he could share all he had accomplished. Following the visions, all the humans were gifted with a message from Allerka, at first begging mankind to not destroy itself, and giving assurances that it could easily ascend beyond its troubles, if it would but unify and transcend petty differences like race or nation. He explained that what he did was nothing special, that the potential for his travels was locked away within every human, if they could but unravel the divine mystery of their DNA. Many humans would be given small samples of his gift to help guide the way, and to prove that his visions were not merely a hallucination. He extolled the virtues of man, showing that, though he could be vicious, he could also be virtuous. Finally, he assured humanity that they had a glorious destiny ahead of them, out among the stars, and that they could not afford to allow themselves to be consumed by darkness. With that, the visions faded. No trace of Allerka's body was found afterwards. The world was thrown into upheval over the visions. In addition, hundreds of thousands of people suddenly found themselves possessing newfound powers, whether mental, physical, or magical. The major powers of the world met, and, within a month, had ratified a treaty uniting them into one global power. The people of the world, inspired by the visions and newfound powers, overwhelmingly supported the idea of mankind unifying after decades of war. The major religions of the world, which had been steadily declining in membership for decades, suddenly experience massive resurgences. Within a decade, over 80% of the world belonged to the United Coalition of Nations. Some rogue nations and other elements fiercely rejected the visions, claiming them to be mass hallucinations brought on as part of a conspiracy for the larger nations to gain even more power. Despite these protestations, the smaller nations were unable to stop the growing momentum of the UCN. Pooling the reduced resources of the world, research again began on space travel, and the first space station to be built in over fifty years soon floated above the Earth. Further funding was poured into scientific research, and countless new breakthroughs in technology, leading to revolutions in agriculture, biochemistry, pharmaceuticals, and other technology fields critical to improving human life were made. A century after the Final Ascension, mankind reached the moon, Mars, and Venus, establishing numerous colonies and facilities on each. In light of the new interstellar society now blooming, the UCN is replaced by the Solar Alliance, the largest and greatest government created by mankind.
2191: The official formation of the Solar Alliance. Over the next two thousand years, the Solar Alliance would spearhead mankind's expansion into the wider galaxy, and serve as a mighty bastion against anarchy and despair. Though humanity is never truly unified under one banner, the overwhelming majority supports and claims membership in the Solar Alliance. Though its military is largely a peacekeeping force, occasional skirmishes, or even wars, with worlds, systems, and even regions of space which chose to remain outside its jurisdiction do occur.
2881: The largest of these conflicts occurs in this year. It is widely referred to as the "Fall From Grace". By this time, the Solar Alliance has territorial holdings in nearly five hundred systems. However, almost a fifth of these systems, totaling nearly a hundred worlds, seceeds from the Solar Alliance and declares war. The conflict lasts nearly thirty years before all the worlds of the Valhallan Hegemony are brought back under Solar Alliance control. Millions perish in the conflict.
2916: A radical theological change occurs among Creationists, a major religion that arose following the Final Ascension. The different denominations of the religion convene, and agree that, in light of mankind now numbering in the hundreds of billions, and spanning hundreds of worlds often weeks or even months of travel away from each other, the denominations should unify into a single church, espousing only a handful of core tenets, and allowing individual worlds, diocese, or even communities, to pursue their own form of worship, as long as the core tenets are adhered to. This new-found flexibility causes Creationism to see a massive surge in popularity, and eventually nearly half of mankind claims adherence to it within the next two centuries.
3506: By this time, science has finally begun to decode and learn how to alter numerous portions of the human genome, allowing people to receive gene-therapy, granting them enhancements such as improved memory, reflexes, and strength, or even more superhuman powers such as limited telepathy, telekinesis, or even powers simply described as "magic", the conjuration of pure elemental energy, or the miraculous healing of injuries. Even more mundane alterations, such as a specific hair, eye, or skin color, become available as well. While the church is hesitant to fully support these alterations, they allow it under the condition that "the sacred human form is not altered", specifically they forbid the development of extra organs not native to the human body, or other similar changes (such as extra arms or eyes). Additionally, by this time, one of the main vehicles of war is the All-Terrain Suit, or ATS. The ATS is a humanoid robotic vehicle which averages about twenty to thirty feet in height, built for space, sky, and land combat. Having long since mastered artificial gravity, it is a simple matter for Solar Alliance technicians to develop an artificial gravity drive which allows the ATS to easily fly as it wants, as well as walk on any surface without fear of crushing itself. The ATS can be equipped with a wide variety of weapons and special equipment, and its sheer versatility ensures its rapid spread among armed forces of nearly every world. Despite even the formidable powers of the ATS, however, an even stronger version exists. Known as the "Savior" class ATS, these suits are exceedingly rare, and generally built with the absolute latest (and often experimental) technology, granting them performance levels far and above even other normal All-Terrain Suits. Naturally, their high-end and experimental nature means their numbers are far lower than the mass-produced ATS, but, while a single squad of All-Terrain Suits can turn the tide of a single battle, a single squad of Savior Suits can alter the fate of a planet.
4009: Despite centuries of exploration and expansion, sentient alien life is never discovered. Numerous worlds are discovered with basic animal and plant life, resembling Earth of millions of years ago, but true sentient life like man is never found. And, despite all that has happened, Earth, now commonly known as Terra, still remains the cultural and spiritual homeworld of mankind, as well as the seat of power for the Solar Alliance. However, in this year, several strange anomalies are detected in space. A fleet sent to investigate discovers a massive portal of some sort, leading to somewhere unknown. As the fleet approaches the portal, ships of an unknown design emerge. After initial scans are made, it is determined the ships are almost entirely biological in design. Nothing of this sort has ever been encountered by the Solar Alliance before. But, before further scans or attempts at communication can be made, the alien ships open fire on the human vessels. The fleet barely escapes the battle, the firepower of the alien ships is enormous. This event becomes the opening battle of a three hundred year conflict which becomes known as the Judgment War, named as such because many believed the invasion was a punishment from God for mankind becoming too arrogant. The aliens, which are commonly referred to as the "Great Enemy", are discovered to be a collective of demon-like races from some sort of alternate dimension. Their ships posses incredible firepower, and the monsters within are terrible foes to behold in ground combat. The Great Enemy invades countless worlds of the Solar Alliance, and humanity finds itself fighting its most desperate war ever. Hundreds of worlds are reduced to burnt ash in the war, and thousands more bear the scars of conflict. It takes the Solar Alliance well over a century before its best efforts to strike back begin to prove successful. Though the Alliance is bloodied, it soon proves it is yet unbroken. Another century of warfare sees the Solar Alliance victorious enough to begin launching its own invasions into the dark dimension of the Great Enemy. What they find beyond the gates is a universe of darkness and terror, almost entirely devoid of light, where the stars are fed upon by hungry beasts, and whole worlds tremble to the march of endless legions of demons and other foul creatures. Demon lords of incredible power are discovered leading these hordes, creatures with the power to consume planets in their hungry maws. Some are killed, but most prove to be far too dangerous, even for the mighty Savior Suits. After almost the third century of warfare, the Solar Alliance continues to lose ground. It becomes obvious that the Great Enemy cannot truly be defeated. However, it may be possible to at least stop them. Research on the alternate dimension discovers numerous worlds across the demon galaxy to be aligned into a specific pattern, arranged around a central nexus planet which appears to be the demon homeworld. The alignment of all these worlds appears to be what is generating the energy necessary to tear the mighty holes in reality, allowing the demons to pour forth into our universe. If the homeworld were to be completely annihilated, the pattern of the worlds would be thrown into disarray, and the portals should close. A desperate operation is undertaken to make this happen. Well over half of what the Solar Alliance still has in military power crosses over into the alternate dimension. They make their way towards the demonic homeworld, battling untold horrors. By the time they reach the homeworld, barely half of their forces are left. However, it is enough, and all the mighty guns are brought to bear on the planet. Within an hour, the bombardment causes the entire planet to shatter into millions of pieces, destroying the focal. The human ships desperately battle their way back to the portals before they close. Only a handful of ships survive the campaign, and succeed in returning to our universe. The portals close soon after, and the Judgment War is declared over. However, the destruction has been enormous. Thousands of worlds have been destroyed by this point. Trillions of humans are dead. Even the infrastructure of the Solar Alliance is all but destroyed. Many worlds still standing are cut off from each other. Furthermore, there are still the elements of the Great Enemy which were still in our universe when the portals were sealed. What is left of the Solar Alliance is dedicated towards eradication the remaining Great Enemy forces, but this leaves numerous worlds cut off. Shortly after the conclusion of the Judgment War in 4306, a large fleet of the Great Enemy is spotted heading towards the Sol system. Contact is soon lost with Terra, and its ultimate fate is unknown. With the central command of the Solar Alliance gone, the remaining infrastructure of the Alliance breaks down, and the colony worlds soon become completely isolated and left to their own defenses. This point in history becomes almost universally known as the Fall.
And this concludes an overview of the history leading from the present day to the Fall. Soon, we will begin presenting the Chronicles of Terranis, which goes into far more elaborate detail about the history of Terranis, leading from the Fall, to when Unto the Breach takes place.
|