Introduction

The wars will come. They always do. --Enclave of the Bear Proverb

In 2128, after years of global warfare, theoretical physicists joined together with astronomers, engineers, and particle physicists to announce a breathtaking breakthrough: the ability to create new Earths. Instead of warring over ever-scarcer resources and everdiminishing supplies, factions and populations could transport to a verdant Earth, untouched by humans. With great fanfare, the colonists departed for the first earth clone created, ready to leave war behind. It took two months for the first battle to take place. It turns out that factions werent so ready to share, to give up past grudges, or to forgive trespasses. As future Earths were colonized, future wars followed.

Chapter One: The Factions Prepare

Solar System #00020080 was brought into existence amid great fanfare on January 1, 2130. Three months later it would be torn apart.

As the first successful creation of the Terran Creation Institute, it represented a new leap forward in human survival. The ability to extend the human race to as many worlds as could be created without the need for costly terraforming could pave the way for a human species free from the constraints of a single world and its depleted resources.

20 days after its creation, the first inter-planetary ships touched down on the surface of Earth Two. They were carrying the first wave of a colonization force that would, it was hoped, turn the world into a productive and peaceful source of resources. In some circles, it was hoped that the example of Earth Two would provide a means by which the seemingly endless wars on Earth Prime could be brought to a peaceful resolution.

By the end of February of 2130, only five colonial factions remained. All others had fallen, either to natural causes like starvation and disease or to human factors; infighting, voluntary union with another faction, or conquest. The Saharan Republic, with its capital in East Africa, controlled Egypt, Central Africa, South Africa and Madagascar. Imperial Balkania under Caesar Johnus Glennanus ruled all of Europe from its capital in Great Britain. The Enclave of the Bear claimed dominion over all of South America and held council in Brazil. Khan Industries held all of North America and was headquartered in the Eastern United States. Die Mechaniker, based in Southeast Asia, controlled all of Oceania.

Attempts to salvage a peace failed. Diplomacy broke down as old grudges and new concerns about control of resources and territory divided the factions. Tempers rose. Angered by the formation of several small Enclave settlements in North Africa, President Kristo of the Saharan Republic warned the Enclave that any attempt to press formal control on the African continent would be grounds for war. The Enclaves High Chieftain Sammiller responded by expelling all Saharan citizens from Enclave lands.

On March 15, 2130, an internal memo was circulated through the high ranks of the Khan Industries leadership. The CEO of Khan Industries at the time was Arvell Torrent, a fervent believer in pan-American unity at any price. Torrent informed his shareholders that Khan Industries would back the Enclave of the Bear in any conflict with the Republic. The memo closed with this simple statement:

We must take responsibility for the wars that are about to start, the decisions we will make, and the history we will write. Everything that is going to happen is going to happen because of us.

The war started on March 20, 2130.

Opening Moves

The first battles of the war took place in Africa. High Chieftain Sammiller landed with an army and took control of North Africa and true to their word the Saharan Republic declared war and sent its armies marching to meet the Enclave.

The first battle of the war was a disaster for the Republic. The genetically enhanced Enclave warriors were far more dangerous than they had seemed, and they shrugged off the bullets of the Saharans while killing men with their bare hands. Chastened, the survivors of the assault withdrew back into East Africa.

In Asia, Die Mechaniker under Commander Chamberlain was able to convince China and India to agree to a series of treaties that in effect signed over power in those countries.

At the start of the war, Khan Industries was positioned to strike into either Europe or Asia. Torrent had a vision of a combined pan-American/European Atlantic Coalition that would eliminate Die Mechanikers Asian bloc. Instead of cooperating, however, Caesar Johnus forged an alliance with the Saharan Republic and used Khan Industries alliance with the Enclave of the Bear to justify a declaration of war. Imperial Balkania launched a surprise attack on Greenland and took control of the island.

The Khan Industries counter-offensive, hastily launched with whatever forces could be marshaled on short notice, was hurled back with heavy casualties. It seemed that both halves of the Atlantic would be warzones.

Hoping for a second front against Balkania, Torrent made a desperate appeal to the Enclave for an assault on the Empires soft underbelly in Southern Europe. With the Saharan Republic still licking its wounds, the Enclave of the Bear was able to shift its forces and successfully invade Southern Europe. Here, as in North Africa, Enclave soldiers proved to be ferociously capable on defense as well as offense, and the Imperial counterattack failed to dislodge the invaders.

In Asia, Die Mechaniker continued to expand, using the widening conflict as encouragement for joining the faction. Mongolia, Japan and Kamchatka all raised the Mechaniker colors.

The Big Switch

The Enclave was enjoying considerable success in its wars by this point. From North Africa and Southern Europe its armies marched further, seizing resource-rich Western Europe from Imperial Balkania and driving into Egypt. However, their rapid advance had left their lines thin, and combined Saharan-Balkanian counterattacks drove the Enclave from the entirety of their European holdings and North Africa, leaving the Enclave armies in Egypt completely cut off from their homeland.

In North America, the moment of crisis came. Die Mechaniker, now in control of all of Asia and Oceania, announced their entry into the Grand Alliance and seized Alaska in an amphibious assault. Caesar Glennanus delivered the Grand Alliances ultimatum: repudiate the alliance with Enclave of the Bear and side against them, or face a full-out assault from east and west.

This was the final straw. Torrent had been able to hold onto his position as CEO despite the continuing Balkanian occupation of Greenland, but he could not justify away this new situation. In an emergency vote, the board approved a vote of no confidence in Torrent and removed him, replacing him with Ike Makos, the Head of Development. Makos immediately ordered an offensive across the DMZ, which succeeded in conquering resource-rich Venezula and placed Khan Industries troops in a position to seize the Enclave capital in Brazil, which was taken in a second offensive that also conquered Peru. The last survivors managed to fight Khan Industries to a standstill on the border of Argentina. In accordance with the agreement, Balkanian forces returned Greenland to Khan Industries.

The Saharan Republic expected the Enclave forces in Egypt to attempt to fight their way back to South America, through North Africa. They had not expected an assault on their capital in East Africa, but that was what occurred. Enclave forces brushed aside the Saharan troops guarding the capital and occupied it. The Saharan government managed to escape, and were able to marshal enough troops to not only drive the Enclave from East Africa, but liberate Egypt as well. As troops massed in North Africa, Saharan President Kristo made the Republics intentions clear: the ultimate objective was the eradication of the Enclave of the Bear.

Die Mechaniker had other plans. Commander Chamberlain had watched as the Saharan Republic and Imperial Balkania exhausted themselves against the Enclave, and now Mechaniker troops were massed along the entirety of their border with Balkania and Sahara. Without warning, the forces in the Middle East launched a surprise assault on the Saharan capital, which was still reeling from the Enclave occupation.

In a miracle some attributed to various deities, the Saharan forces were able to hold the line this time. Die Mechaniker were more suited for defensive warfare or short assaults like Alaska; a massive battle of attrition in East Africa was the exact opposite. The survivors withdrew and the assault on Balkania was called off. The Balkanians fortified their borders for an assault that was never to come.

Endgame

The Enclave of the Bear now faced total extinction. Its capital was occupied by an allyturned enemy, and its collective back was to the wall in Argentina. High Chieftain Sammiller summoned all able-bodied Enclave citizens and promised a fight worthy of song.

The Saharan Republic was happy to oblige.

Under the personal command of President Kristo, a massive Saharan Army crossed the southern Atlantic and engaged the Enclave in battle. When the dust settled, the entirety of the Enclave army was destroyed.

In a meeting amid the ruins of the Enclave capital in Brazil, President Kristo agreed to transfer ownership of Saharan-held land in South America to Khan Industries. This allowed the Republic to move its armies via airlift to Africa, and from there launch a successful invasion of the Die Mechaniker-controlled Middle East in retaliation for their previous assault on East Africa.

Driven from the Middle East, Die Mechaniker fortified its borders and waited for the Saharans to crash against their defenses, but no further assaults cameit appeared that Saharan honor had been satisfied.

It was now that Imperial Balkania revealed its trump card. Balkanian armored divisions, readied in secret during the period, struck out into Africa and overran North Africa, Egypt, and the Saharan capital in East Africa. Another force crossed the Atlantic and seized Brazil, establishing a foothold in South America.

Caesar Johnus Glennanus made his offer: Balkania was refreshed and ready for war. Khan Industries and Die Mechaniker, while still strong, were overstretched. The Saharan Republics armies were now cut off and their capital was occupied.

Imperial Balkania, Glennanus told the assembled leaders, is now prepared to accept your unconditional surrender.

He got it. Khan Industries voted to transfer a controlling majority of shares to Glennanus. The Saharans and Die Mechaniker bent the knee as tributary states. At a grand review of Imperial forces in the new capital of Victoria, Glennanus took the name Maximus and announced the formation of the Grand Balkanian Empire.

For now, Imperial Balkania reigned supreme.