I wasn't sure if it would be more appropriate to have posted this on the GDnet lounge, or in Game writing, but I figure this would a good a place as any....here's a little excerpt on my game background, more will follow: New Horizons New Horizons is a game of mechanized warfare in the not too distant future Unlike most sci-fi warfare games of recent times, New Horizons does NOT emphasize the usefulness of "Mecha". While a romantic notion, this author finds their usefulness only in limited circumstances. While such uses will come into play, they are not the be all and end all of futuristic warfare. I have attempted to construct the rules system into both a detailed tactical rules system, and a more simplified strategic rules system. In the endless balancing juggle between playability and realism, I have opted to lean in favor of the latter. Why? Because if a game situation is not covered, arguing is SURE to ensue. I also hate to have to make referee's make constant judgement calls on what should be the correct way to handle a certain situation. Also, I believe realism has it's own ability to make a game more enjoyable. When something is simplified TOO much, it loses a certain atmosphere. Also, a game too simple often is "dumbed" down, making victories more reliant on the better die-roll, or the better units. OF course, a balance still has to be maintained, therefore I tried to seperate advanced rules from the more basic rules. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Background New Horizons takes place in the year 2160, 100 years after a meteorite impacted Earth, killing well over half its population. The one-hundred years since The Impact has restructured the world into a society Earth has never before seen. It is one one hand very backwards for some, and for others, it is a virtual technological Utopia. The Impact In 2059, a meteorite was discovered by the De Gama Colony on Mars with a trajectory on a direct impact course with Earth. At the speed the meteorite was traveling, Earth had less than 8 hours to respond. Unfortunately, with time lag between Mars and Earth, the time Earth would be notified would be even shorter. The Naval Strategic Space Command on De Gama determined that the Impact was to be near Brazil. The size and the speed of the meteorite was deemed to be of a truly Armageddon scale. South America would be laid to waste, and the cloud created by the impact would create a Nuclear Winter which would last for nearly a hundred years. The Impact would also be strong enough to unbalance the tectonic plates, causing Earthquakes never experienced by any living being in Earth's history. Under such an impact, the UN decided to warn the citizens of Earth of the impending disaster. The UN realized that widespread panic and chaos would ensue, but they figured at least people would have a fighting chance of survival. Intervention At half an hour before impact, the UN received a broadcast message. The source was unknown, but the location placed it only 500miles away from Earth. It was only recently that the recorded transmission was finally deciphered, but it has remained a top secret. The stunned UN assembly had little time to worry about the nature of the mysterious warning sent to them. Although speculation ran rampant about the origin of the message, the reality of the impending impact pushed such ruminations far back on the priority-list. In the chaos that follwed, the message was nearly forgotten, but the UN council would find out its origins, sooner perhaps than they would care for. Devestation Instead several smaller meteorites impacted Earth. In a flash of energy high above Earth's atmosphere, the 5km long meteorite was smashed into many pieces. While the majority of the debris from the meteorite was vaporized by Earth's atmosphere, several pieces were large enough to wreak havoc on the planet. The first chunk impacted deep in the Atlantic Ocean in the Southern Hemisphere. The impact would literally vaporize almost 8% of the Atlantic Ocean. A tidal wave approxiametly 1500' high would scream towards South America and Africa at nearly the speed of sound. A water plume nearly 10 miles would be created, causing a secondary tidal wave, much like a ripple in a pond. While South America and Africa would fair the worst brunt, the Eastern seaboard of the US and Europe would not be spared from cataclysmic tidal waves either. Every city that lay on the coastal front was obliterated. Most cities hundreds of miles inland were destroyed as well. Washington DC was at one point under more than 300' of water. Nor would the rest of the world be spared. The second major impact occurred deep in the Indian Ocean, though not quite as powerful as its brother in the Atlantic. Still, virtually every island nation of Asia was for the most part destroyed. Japan's eastern coasts survived relatively intact, but the nation as whole was shattered. Australia's western coasts were wrecked by titanic tidal waves, obliterating Perth. The island nations of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Phillipines virtually ceased to be. While the western coast of the US did not experience the obliterating tidal waves that the east coast did, it too suffered monumental damage. The double impacts disturbed the tectonic as never had been before. Earthquakes wracked the planet as it had not since since it's geological cooling billions of years ago. While the water evaporated into the earth's atmosphere wouldn't not create a Nuclear Winter of the same type or duration as a dust cloud, the consequences were not much better. By scientists estimates, nearly 13% of the Earth's ocean's evaporated by the tremoundous explosions. Not only did Earth suffer earthquakes along fault-lines that no one knew existed, but weather patterns shifted into rainstorms Earth had not seen since the Great Deluge. The water vapor over the Earth created storms and hurricanes in places that had never seen hurricanes. For a decade, storms of unprecedented magnitude raged across Earth's surface. Aftermath The effects of The Impact were disastrous. First day casualities were believed to be approxiametly 25% of the world's population. The devestating storms and Earthquakes which followed the impacts caused untold casualties as well. Other factors included the breakdown of central governments, riots, disease, and outright bandit wars. In the chaos, groups banded together for mutual survival. Military units were split between remaining loyal to their central government, or in defending (or in some cases attacking) the local area which they were in. Within several years of the impact, many "clans", gangs, protectorates, and other groups coalesced to provide protection. These groups became the nucleus of the "Martial Houses" that exist today. While the stronger governments were able to maintain some control, for most of the world, it was LOCAL strength and government that mattered. Within 20 years, a new world existed, both physically and socially. Worldwide, a neo-feudal system was in place. Strong individuals or groups protected the many with their support. Within 20 years of the Impact, boundaries, and localized governments had settled down, often at odds with the former central government, or with rival territories or fiefdoms. No longer was race or religion barriers to communal harmony. The groups that banded together were focused more on establishing cultural unity, similar ways of thinking and acting. A xenophobia of sorts set in, with strangers not easily trusted for fear of being spies of a rival fiefdom. Survival united these clusters, even if they were made up of ethnically diverse groups. What mattered most was establishing a common principle of ruling to ensure the survival and defence of the community. The Colonies The colonies that Earth had established on Mars, Io, L4, L5 and the moon all watched in horror the devestation of Earth. The LaGrange Colonies at L4 and L5 and the Galileo Colony on the Moon were worried about the lack of support they would be receiving from Earth. Though Mars and the Io colony were both fully self-sufficient by the time of The Impact, the other colonies were not so lucky. The L4 and L5 colonies decided to move to the Galileo colony and share what facilities they could take with them. With support from both the DeGama, Hudson and Byrd Colonies of Mars, and the Igaki colony of Io, the Moon colony was able to survive. While there was nothing for the other colonies to do but watch in impotent silence, a few visionaries realized they were the only means of saving what was left of Earth from itself. Politics Both the Igaki and Mars colonies saw that to end further bloodshed and to pacify many areas of Earth, it needed to be under the protective umbrella of the Colonies. The two major colonies disagreed on the means to the end however. The Mars colonies wanted a One Government policy with itself as the designated head. The various factions would be allowed to exist but they would submit to the central authority of the Colonial government. The Igaki colony on Io however wanted a more confederated approach. They envisioned the seperate factions to be autonomous, but with the Colonial powers as a UN protectorate. The Colonial Confederacy would act as a central trade center and would maintain it's own military police force, but they envisioned far less central authority. The issue was hotly debated between the 3 Martian Colonies, the Igaki colony on Io, and the Galileo Moon colony. In the end, the Martian colonies won out, although the Byrd colony supported Igaki's solution. Indeed, the issue was a very bitter one, and alomst came to violence, and the political fallout exists to this day. Conquest 20 years, was not enough time to manufacture and mobilize an army strong enough to subdue any groups which would deny their place in the New Earth government. Although many people on Earth would have welcomed the Colonies with open arms as saviors, quite a few others would see them as yet another rival faction attempting to steal their resources. By this point, many of the local clusters enjoyed their sovereignty and would be very reluctant to give it up. The Igaki colony was well aware of this fundamental aspect of human nature. They cautioned that if there was to be a joint expeditionary force to unite Earth, they would need to understand this. THe other colonies claimed they were merely acting on the greater principle of providing relief and security through unity, which though may cause casualities with some groups, would be better in the long run for humanity. For the next 20 years, the Colonies geared up their forces to reclaim proper peace and security to the warring factions on Earth. So, 40 years after the Impact, a combined Expeditionary Force from Outer Colonies gathered their Naval Fleet several miles above Earth and gave the various political factions a general broadcast to lay down all arms and cease all fighting in over 30 languages. In the chaos after the Impact, the major governments on Earth paid little attention to the Outer Colonies. Because there were no landing facilities that survived the Impact, there was little the Colonies could have done to help Earth. With the announcement however, most of the factions left on Earth now realized they had a new rival to contend with. The Outer Colonies propsed a new government, a WORLD government with the Outer Colonies providing the central authority. The different factions would be subject to the new government and abide by its laws, but they could continue the customs and way of living they had before as long as it did not violate the Constitutional Charter of 2062. While the member states would have their own state laws, they could not go against the supreme charter of the New Earth government. Most factions asked for time to consider, while some outright told them to go back to their colonies and mind their own business. Only a handful of factions accepted the Outer Colonies solutions within the first day. With 40 years of technological advancement, while Earth had suffered a massive catastrophe and was still trying to get back on its feet, the Outer Colonies had a definite advantage in military equipment. However, they lacked any fighting experience, and though at first the Outer Colonies enjoyed tremendous success, they soon learned that 40 years of combat experience was nothing to underestimate. Indeed, the "War of Salvation",as it would come to be known, was taking far longer, and consuming far more resources than the Colonies would have predicted. Under increasing pressure from the Igaki colony to let the still free factions have their own way, the Colonies continued their attacks. ----------------------------------------------------------------- To be continued BTW, I'm going to be putting this up on a website when I find the time that will include my design docs for both a tabletop game and a computer game. It will be totally open source, in other words, I want people to feel free to take from my ideas, although giving credit where credit is due would be nice. Edited by - Dauntless on February 9, 2002 6:40:30 PM

That''s pretty cool!

I wanna'' ride on the pope mobile.

That IS cool!

I like it. And that leaves lotsa room for expansion. Nice design

Unfortunately, my Athlon XP 1600 decided to fry out on me, so I''m on my backup Linux box, and I''m still learning alot of things...like how to use some of the FTP functions. So, I think my webpage quest might be a bit delayed, but anyways, here goes.

















To be continued part Deux.

















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By 2103, although the Colonies were making headway against the remaining large protectorates and quasi governments (what some historians now refer to as the origins Martial Houses) they had taken more casualities and consumed more resources than had been bargained for. Again, the Igaki and Byrd colonies tried to plead their case that the remaining protectorates be allowed to sue for peace and retain their autonomy. Many members of the other Outer Colonies balked,smelling that total victory was at hand. On the other hand, the war effort had lost much steam and many of the Colonists had already felt they had won, as nearly 80% of the former earth settlements had been subdued and been placed under martial law. The remaining 20% were fighting not only the NEG, but their neighbors as well, and it was deemed that the remaining "Free Zones" would be allowed their freedom and independence...for the time being.





Deep down, the newly formed New Earth Government realized that the Free Zones could remain a destabilizing force. Either through threat of subversion, outright war, or worse yet, as a rallying cry for a return to the old ways. While the idealistic Igaki consortium breathed a sigh of relief with a sense of contentment, the rest of the pragmatic NEG kept a leery eye on the Free Zones lest they should get out of hand. As a term of agreement for an end to hostilities, a condition was that each prefect within the Free Zones would be sent a military ambassador who would try to "preach" the benfits of being a NEG constituent member. In some cases, the NEG even would bequeath Universities, Hospitals or other needed facilities to help the still ravaged Zones.





So, by 2119, 80% of the surviving populace of the world was under the protection and auspices of the New Earth Government. The various social lines that had been created in the aftermath of the Impact were largely kept intact so as to ease any restructuring. Consuls were elected by the populace who would act as the main legislative body of the NEG. They would also elect Governors from a pool of "qualified" candidates. The qualifications to be a Governor however were stacked in the odds of a Colonial born person, though it was not impossible for a native born Earther to be a Governor. Nevertheless, this issue did cause some friction between many of the populace, although in many parts of the world where democracy was unheard of even before the Impact, they really didn''t seem to mind. However, as time wore on, the NEG became more worried about the rapid technological progress that the Autonomous Zones had made since the relative peace. The discovery of the FTL drive in 2121 relieved for a time the concerns of the NEG, for now they would be occupied with expanding out into space and exploring hospitable new Worlds. This however did not happen until 2127 after several failed expeditions and fruitless searches. Even by 2160, only 5 other hospitable planets had been discovered and only 3 of those have any significant colonization.





But, what began to worry the NEG again was that the remaining Martial Houses within the Autonomous zones were no longer fighting among each other. While the NEG was not becoming tyrannical, they were starting to subvert funds and political power away from the prefects, and towards the NEG Parliamentary Council and the NEG United Defence Force. By 2145, some of the prefects had started to grumble about "Floaters", their term for the High Colonists and the NEG council. Some even questioned why the Parliamentary council was stationed on the De Gama colony on Mars rather than back on Earth where the majority of the human population lived. Also, thanks to "favored status", only selected individuals were allowed to relocate to the new extra terrestial colonies. A growing dissent was beginning to foment, not surprisingly by the Igaki Consuls and Legats who had feared something like this happening. They knew that the other members on the council were not evil nor tyrannical, but rather fearful of a chaos that would ensue should the Autonomous Zones decide to fight again, or should the Prefectures old nationalism being to rise. The NEG council truly believed they were acting in the best interests of humanity, since for the first time in its history, the vast majority of its people lived without fear of war or famine. The favoritism was shown for those who showed the most loyalty to the NEG way of government, but it was not barred to anyone by basis of nationality, religion, sex or any other means other than displayed actions and "requirements". As a reward for being a model citizen and showing belief and support for the NEG, these citizens were rewarded.





Despite the NEG''s fears, the Autonomous Zones had grown tired of fighting and realized that they had won, afterall they got to keep their way of life rather than submit to the NEG. They even tried to resume more diplomatic relations with the NEG, but were rebuffed at most turns. So, by 2129, the Autonomous Zones basically left to themselves, with the occasional sweet talk and offerings of the NEG to join the fold (rather than create an alliance). They envied their higher levels of technology, but were content to do research on their own.



The Fracture:


The NEG slowly watched the Autonomous Zones build themselves back up with startling speed. With their newfound peace and some still pristine natural resources, the Free Zones rebounded very quickly, too quickly for the likings of the NEG. While they knew they had every advantage over the Free Zones, they were more worried about an ideological battle. A rekindling of old nationalism vs. the newfound One Government that the Colonies had created. Begun in the early stages of the War of Salvation, an experiment known as the Human Augmentation Project was begun to help counterbalance the dreadful numerical inferiority that the Colonial Expeditionary Force would be under. While some members of the Colonial council were worried of the moral implications that would arise in the creation of genetically engineered humans, artificial intelligence and the so called "Spartans", but they had to admit that without somehow evening the odds, even their technological superiority would not be enough. The real dilemma lay in how to control these super "beings" in the real or imagined fear that they would take over the government, and how the rest of the Earth would view these "abominations". So to the council''s great shame, the truth of the genegineered humans was kept secret from the world, and the plan was to phase out the super soldiers in time, and to create a biological dependency to insure their loyalty. However, the NEG realized that they were too valuable a tool to be discarded so easily, so the project was revived in 2131 in secret to all....or so they thought.

It was the discovery of the Human Augmentation Project that sparked the rebellion of the Free Zones. In 2155, the truth was brought to light by dissidents of the Igaki District who could no longer bear the guilt of the project they had helped create and in watching the few Prefect rights the states had slowly slip into the ever growing power of the NEG Union.

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Here I will leave you with with what I have, but here''s some snippets of what''s coming next.....

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The Human Augmentation Project:
HAP was begun as a countermeasure for the vast outnumbering that the Colonial Expeditionary Forces had to face when first confronting the surviving Earth factions. The Project was broken into four main areas of study. The first was with genetic engineering in order to make humans stronger, faster smarter and enhance any latent ESP powers. The second fork of the project was called the "Spartan" project, and was made of parents who volunteered their babies to be raised in a culture geared from the outset for specialization. They were given biofeedback tests, trained in simulators and special sensory enhancement tanks and spent every waking hour on maximizing their human potential. The third project was called the "boosters". These were mechanical, electrical, cybernetic, and chemical "gear" used to enhance a soldier''s performance. The fourth was actually not related to humans, but was the Anthropomorphic Artificial Intelligence program. There had already been some breakthroughs on creating optical neural meshes in large super computers before the Impact that could create subatomic "synaptic" connections that could "learn", so it was this projects goal to create a fully functional android.



History and Formation of The Factions:


There are several several factions now at war with each other in this Civil War. The primary and largest faction is the New Earth Gov (NEG) which is attempting to forcibly return the seperatist factions back into the fold. Of the rebel factions the largest military group is McAlpin Free Autonomous Zone. It has allied with the initial dissident faction, the Igaki colony on Io. Igaki''s military infrastructure was never quite as strong as the three principal Martian colonies, but what they lack in quantity, both they and McAlpin make up for in quality.





There are however several other "independents" that have coalesced and either have some level of autonomy or have broken off of the NEG. Within the NEG there are specialized subgroups that have achieved a certain level of independence from the NEG council. Some of these are called Martial Houses, others as Ascetics





The Martial Houses:


The Martial Houses began as "protectorates" after the Impact. Following the creed of safety in numbers, people formed alliances and communities for mutual protection


and to share resources. They closely resembled feudal communities during the medieval ages. At its core was either a strong family or group of individuals, either with strong military forces, or wealth (ie food at the time). In return for the family or groups support, the local community shared their resources and contributed to


the defense of the whole. In many respects, they also resembled Communes, as most of these early groups were more concerned with the survival of the group as a whole


rather than just individuals. Status in these groups was based on how great one could contribute to the security or welfare of the entire commune. Due to the strong communal nature of these early groups, they formed a strong core of military minded people to defend their "family". Outsiders were not trusted amongst most of these early houses, and loyalty and communal spirit were praised values. Also many of the early houses had as their founders either local military units or former


police units. In some cases, early houses were made up of what anthropolgists call "septs". Septs are related units to a family group or clan. These smaller septs would provide support for the larger clan in times of need, but would otherwise remain independent.





Eventually, as time wore on, some early Houses got absorbed by others, either through outright war, or from mutual benefits to each other.

What''s up with this message they recieved? I really like your idea, but something hit me as odd so I did a little math. I, as a player, would not be able to accept the 8 hour to impact bit. At Mars''s closest point to the Earth, light takes roughly 188 seconds to get here. Escape velocity from the sun''s gravity is about 93,000 mph, or 26 miles a sec, at the distance of the Earth''s orbit. It lessens farther out.

What this means is that an object moving at greater than escape velocity is moving in-system from a place where Mars would see it to impact with the Earth. At the above speed, it would still take over 300 hours to reach the Earth. At 8 hours before impact, the thing would not be visible from Mars. The Earth itself would obscure it. My conclusion? It was pushed.

This all may seem irrelevant, but I can almost guarantee you that if I noticed it, a hardcore scifi fan (I am one, btw) would want a little explanation. Something that can move a minimum of 35 million miles in 8 hours would not happen naturally.

If this was just a number you plugged in for the story''s sake, I would suggest telling the player that the Moon colonies found it.

ShadeStorm, the Day_Glo Fish

Tell me more!

Hmmm...sounds interesting. Actually, it has a very similar backstory to a game I''m designing. I guess post-apocalyptic stuff is popular...

R.

By the way, just so you know I''m not just talking out of my butt...

Note: This text is (C) 2001-2002.
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Historical Background

The global civilizations of Earth in the late 21st century were experiencing a trend towards geo-political and socio-economic decay. After the brutal Anti-Terrorist Wars (2001-2011) and the homogenization of the global economies, the world map could be divided into dichotomies of rich and poor, healthy and sick, predator and prey. Ninety-percent of wealth was possessed by those above the equator, urban populations skyrocketed until most of the populations were found in sprawling mega-cities. The social divide between urban and rural became institutionalized when cities began enforcing their own citizenship rules, independent of the State. Mega-corporations wielded power formerly only held by governments, leaving little or no recourse to the individual. Science was the ruling dogma, and what religion that did flourish was a kind of techno-cultism that exalted the rich and denigrated the Neo Luddites.

Extreme isolationism was the reaction of the world’s major political, military, and economic power-centers. No significant progress was made in the International Space Program after 2030, at which point the majority of activity in this sector had to do with increasing countries’ defensive capabilities. This was carried out through the deployment of advanced spy satellites and prohibitively expensive and controversial ‘space shield’ systems, which effectively bankrupted the weaker of the G15 world economies. Developing and third-world nations were left in the cold, written off by richer economies as a regretful but necessary loss in the move towards a unified world economy. This increased the level of social unrest, leading to the continual overthrow of second and third-world governments through military coups, often funded by shadowy sectors of mega-corporations and political units in the northern hemisphere.

Whereas humanity’s eyes had been turned to space for the latter five decades of the 20th century, the first fifty years of the 21st were marked by a newfound focus on terrestrial concerns. Major advances in biomedical and biomechanical sciences made the cloning of a human possible, although the ethical issues were continuously debated by political groups, even while the research continued its interminable march in secret bio-pharma labs. Advances in nano-technology meant that many of our most common ailments could be cured, but treatments were so expensive so as to be attainable only by the very rich. Many black-ops military experiments were undertaken during this period, to varied degrees of success, although the military-industrial complex kept a tight lid on information (largely through the use of Echelon and Carnivore, Net-based surveillance and propaganda programs) and little is known about the exact nature or outcome of these projects.

As this tapestry of madness was slowly woven, the world ignored the voice of now under-funded spatial surveillance projects established in the late 20th century. When June 12th, 2052, a Near Earth Object observatory in South America detected a large meteor, a five-kilometer diameter ‘earth killer’, on an Earth-bound trajectory, it was too late to react. By the time the northern governments had verified the information for themselves, the only contingency in place for such an event involved using the ‘space shield’ to eliminate the threat, a response the puppet governments in North America and Europe felt, in their hubris, was sufficient.

Two volleys of nuclear weapons were launched at the meteor, with enough calculated force to either completely destroy the NEO or divert it from its course significantly enough that it would miss Earth entirely. Unfortunately, despite the intended result, the impact of the warheads on the meteor effectively split the five-kilometer diameter meteor into two smaller bodies and hundreds of smaller fragments. While a significant percentage of the meteor’s physical matter was pulverized by the nuclear explosions, enough remained to pose a major threat to the world.

Two days later, the main sections of the earth killer, dubbed Sodom and Gomorrah by religious zealots, impacted with Earth.

The first segment landed somewhere in the Pacific. Its impact created a series of mile-high tsunamis that struck the coastlines of Pacific Asian nations with devastating force. Most of Japan and Taiwan were completely destroyed, and any major populations within 100 kms of the Chinese, Indonesian, and Micronesian coasts were wiped out. Subsequent tidal waves, the ripple effect, struck the Western coastlines of North America, submerging and destroying large parts of Vancouver, Seattle, and many Californian city-centers. Thousands of major shipping lines, carrying much needed cargo and energy between North America and Asia, were destroyed in an instant. As though the massive flooding damage was not enough, what solid matter that remained of the meteor after its entry into Earth’s atmosphere, embedded itself five-hundred meters into the Earth’s crust, creating shock waves along a fault line that in turn created three major earthquakes in Southern Europe, the Indian subcontinent, and Australia. The thousands of cubic-kilometers of steam created as a result of this impact filled the skies over most of Asia and North America within a half hour of the impact. The introduction of this massive volume of moisture into the atmosphere resulted in severe meteorological disturbances including electrical storms that knocked out power grids over 60% of the globe.

Hundreds of smaller meteorite impacts resulted in thousands of casualties, as significant city-centers around the world were bombarded. Yet worse destruction was still to visit. Eleven hours later, after the initial meteor fragment impacted with Earth, the second impact followed. While the first caused widespread devastation to coastal population bases and shipping traffic, the second fragment struck land – somewhere in the southern part of the North American continent. The ensuing destruction was unparalleled by any terrestrial impact on record, since the prehistoric impact event which probably caused the extinction of the dinosaurs in the K-T period of prehistory. On impact, the meteor fragment tore into the Earth’s crust, lodging itself at the bottom of a 1 km deep crater, 20 kms in diameter. The impact caused billions of tons of superheated rock to spew in a 100km high column straight into the atmosphere. Cataclysmic earthquakes ravaged North and South America, and aftershocks leveled cities in Europe. The Middle East, and Eurasia. Globules of molten rock rained down on vast areas of North America, starting numerous forest fires and firestorms within major population centers. As the rock cooled, dust and noxious gasses emerged from the Earth’s wound and into the atmosphere. Winds carried the dust and gasses forth, so that within two days of the impact, the entire planet was shrouded in a think layer of particulate, significant enough to completely block the sun. Perpetual twilight was here.

This state of darkness continued for three months, while the majority of Earth’s indigenous plant and animal species died off from the lack of sunlight and sustaining nourishment. Without the ability to photosynthesize, most plant life was extinguished, and the biomass contained in the oceans began to slowly die off. This level of unprecedented destruction was beyond the capability of most humans to cope. No contingencies could cover this cataclysmic event. Those that were able to fled to fallout shelters left over from the First and Second Cold Wars. Those that could not either fought or died in the streets.

Within ten years of the Cataclysm, over 90% of the Earth’s human population had been extinguished. The remainder struggled to survive, barricading themselves in isolated communities, trusting no one, fighting for their very survival. In many cases, humanity reverted to an almost medieval state, relying on primitive socio-political alliances to form the structure without which nothing can exist. A truly Darwinian struggle for existence ensued, a daily fight for survival and dominance as the survivors entered a new dark age – the Age of Twilight.
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This is just a small excerpt from the total storyline document...I don''t normally post my work but at least it''s recorded here for posterity. I just hate it when people say things like ''hey that''s just like my idea'' without backing it up.

R.

Sounds interesting Tacit maybe we should collaborate

In my version, I was going to elaborate on the history of the Earth prior to the Impact, but I felt to grab the people's attention here, I needed to get to the meat of the story as quickly as possible (which I still haven't done to be honest). As a quick recap though, I thought that from the present day up to 2059, the Earth had gone through one mini nuclear war between India and Pakistan, and terrorist nukings of several merican and European cities. At this point enough was enough, and the NATO alliance determined that the Arabic nations simply could not be controlled. They therefore invaded and essentially conquered the Arabic Peninsula with help from the Persian Muslims and some of the Sunni Muslims in Indonesia that were appaled at the use of Nuclear weapons. No amount of Islamic rhetoric could justify the mass killings. With the now subjugated Islamic nations, hand picked Imams were chosen that would preach what the UN council deemed was a more pacifistic form of Islam (borrowed mostly from Sufism).

Another significant event was the overthrow of Communist China by a dissident faction within China that led to a Civil War. When the Chinese started using nukes against its own people, the rest of the world, but especially South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the United States and Australia threw in it's support for the democratic movement. Fortunately the US's efforts in ballistic missle defense paid for itself by shooting down 90% of the missles that were launched against other countries. Some people called this war WWIII since it involved two major powers against each other, but most historians dubbed it the Chinese Democratic Revolution.

As time grew, I saw a move towards economic unification amongst several countries. Namely, the European Union, the Anglian Consortium, the South Asian Trading Bloc, the Slavic Pact, the Nuevo Latino Mundo, and the Greater Asian Commonwealth. These started as economic boosts for their respective countries, but in time, they almost became confederated governments, with military lliances, trade agreements, and diplomatic relations in a very intertwined manner.

Another important factor was the increase in the power of the United Nations after the subjugation of the Mid East countries. The UN passed a charter where in all countries would be required to send a certain amount of troops that would be trained under UN auspices and be loyal only to the UN. The world had realized how diffucult it was to have "loaner" UN forces that were still essentially loyal to their founding country. IT was decided that instead of having "partisan" UN peacekeeping forces with questionable loyalty, a new UN armed force would be created that was very similar to what the French had created long ago...a new Foreign Legion. It is actually the remnants of this UN Armed Forces that made up the bulk of the McAlpin Free Autonomous Zone military forces.



Edited by - Dauntless on February 10, 2002 2:36:49 PM