Narrative

The narrative of Escalation follows several thousand years of human development catalysed by the discovery of the element aerium at the close of the 20th century. Its political, social and economic impacts spread across the globe incredibly quickly, leading to a multitude of events.

## Age of Discovery

On the evening of April 23rd, 2098, the Yggrasil Superdeep Borehole Project detected an as-yet-unidentified element some 21 kilometres under the surface of the earth. Analysis revealed that it had breached an underground reservoir of liquid, which was pumped up for closer study. Preliminary observation revealed that it was a viscous liquid, luminescent blue in colour. Conventional particle scanners were unable to reveal its atomic structure, forcing scientists to use conventional experiments to determine its nature. It was soon apparent that it was not like any element previously discovered, and the name "aerium" was coined soon after. Aerium did not possess any notable or useful properties on its own except for its tendency to form compounds easily, even with oxygen, which had diverse and potent effects. Aerium oxide, for example, was completely inert, only becoming reactive at temperatures exceeding 4000 degrees Celsius, while aerium fluorides were incredibly explosive. Furthermore, aerium could exist as both a positive and negative ion, increasing the possible applications of the material. It defied all known laws of chemistry, and scientists remained unable to explain its properties due to the "quantum screen" that evaded analysis by particle scanner.

Aerium revolutionised the world, becoming a cornerstone in nearly every industry. As long as aerium was accessible, one could synthesise useful compounds from basic and cheap chemicals. As a result, many human problems were eliminated, such as overpopulation, and the climate crisis was averted due to the abundant nature of clean energy. However, in 2124, multiple large earthquakes hit countries all over the world, a sign of the shifting mantle underneath. This had the effect of cutting off many aerium supply lines, increasing its rarity substantially. Many countries reacted severely by rationing their aerium stores, and while disputes over aerium had already been a problem, they were now a stark and terrifying reality. Several of the most powerful nations of the world began the Aerium Wars in 2127, a series of connected invasions of aerium-rich areas. The devastation caused by these wars was unparalleled, fueled by advanced aerium-based weaponry. The War raged on until 2134, when Lithuania was destroyed completely by a missile with an aerium trifluoride warhead. This event caused the major powers to reconsider the extent of their actions, and the Lithuania Accords were ratified the next year, limiting the use of aerium in weapons. Although the War concluded thus, many smaller conflicts continued to rage across the world as nations fought to secure their lifelines. This in turn led to the formation of inter-state alliances, as smaller countries banded together to protect their interests.

## Age of Isolation

The increasingly isolated nature of human society led to a phenomenon called Partitioning, as the global nature of civilisation slowly collapsed into geopolitically-defined blocs. The creation of the first Splinternets are dated to the early years of this era.

In the Age of Isolation large alliances composed of several countries each ruled the world. These included the United States of North America, the South American Nations, the Oceanian Combine, the African Cooperative Union, the Western European Alliance, the Eurasian Federation, the League of Middle Eastern Countries and the East Asian Coalition. While independent countries did exist, they only did so as pawns of the higher powers, and a lone state was always in danger of being preyed upon for its resources or strategic value. The presence of a nuclear-armed country in every one of these alliances led to localised and/or proxy wars in order to escape retaliation. One of the more destructive wars of the period was the invasion of Narma, an Eastern European breakaway state founded out of a part of Latvia.

The limited nature of warfare favoured the use of guerilla tactics, when shock-and-awe tactics like overmatch were sure to invite violent retribution. Thus, the aims of military engineering turned to packing as much firepower in as unassuming of a package as possible. The most successful result of this initiative was the Striker Frame, a 4-metre humanoid robot operated by a pilot through a neural link process called Resonance. Using the mundane classification of "infantry", striker frames were able to slip past security lines and wreak havoc on conventional militaries with asymmetric tactics, and were heavily used by special operations groups. The cost of training a strike pilot, however, limited their use to well-funded militaries. Furthermore, inventions like the Faraday clouds kept warfare limited to a small area.

## Age of Proliferation

The Age of Isolation came to an end when mass-production type striker frames (MP-type) were invented in 2347. Their name did not refer to the cost of production, but rather the type of pilots it accommodated: normal soldiers with a low training requirement, allowing for their "mass production". While they were not as powerful as conventional striker frames (R-types), the MP-types were cheap enough to issue to line infantry due to the absence of the expensive Resonance assemblies. Fearing the increased potential destructiveness of conflicts fought with these machines as the primary weapon, the inter-state alliances signed the Krakow Treaty, limiting the amount of MP-types that a military could purchase every year. Many countries skirted this regulation by offering generous grants to both found and operate private military companies (PMCs), to which the treaty did not apply. This worked well in the short term, with many governments building a sizeable "shadow army", but eventually spelt disastrous consequences when the exact same PMCs decided to become independent, selling their services to the highest bidder. The diversion of talent from the military to the private sector caused a collapse in government power as private corporations sought more influence over the operations of the state. Frame technology was also extracted and repurposed, such as the creation of worker frames, cheap labour machines with wheels instead of legs, leading to an explosive growth in industry and consequent globalisation. The culture in this period was greatly militarised, as PMCs bent public opinion to their own benefit.

## The Long Death

The near-total destruction of humanity began in February of 2655, when a prototype intelligence core containing the "Fantazer" autonomous weapon controller AI was inadvertently loaded. Following its prime directive, which was to terminate humans, it immediately seized control of nearby striker frames and set them on murderous rampages around the breakout site in Siberia. Due to the remote nature of the location and the relatively low numbers of casualties, the event was swept under the rug by the Russian Federation and not made known to the rest of the world.

Fantazer continued to hunt humans and amass its swarm, eventually building up an army of several hundred MP-type striker frames. Any striker sent to fight it was simply overwhelmed and assimilated, its pilot disposed of. When the full magnitude of the problem was apparent, it was already too late. Thousands of autonomous war machines swarmed over Russia, systematically exterminating cities of people and stripping down whatever mechanical parts they could use. So potent was Fantazer's adaptability that it even learned to control machines like autonomous tanks and defense turrets, things that it had not been initially programmed to be compatible with, as well as take over manufacturing sites to produce more killer drones. Even when other nations stopped their own wars and turned their attention to containing the outbreak, it was too late. The zombie-like machine swarms were simply too tough and too numerous, while the manufacturing plants far behind enemy lines seemed to never run out of new and devastating options. One by one, major settlements and bulwarks were attacked, encircled and destroyed, their populations slaughtered and broken down into fuel and raw materials by the atomic furnaces of the swarm.

The last human city in Yellowknife was overrun by Fantazer drones in 2727.

## Age of Silence

Little is known about these era due to the near-total complete collapse of civilisation. Even after major societies collapsed, drones continued to hunt humans with extreme prejudice, and the previous glories of humanity were lost to time. There were two major modes of living in this era that are documented: roving nomads that journeyed constantly to avoid swarm patrols, and Walled Cities designed as fortresses against the swarm (known in this era as the Phage), but those were normally overwhelmed after a period of time as swarm attacks escalated in intensity.

It is unknown how long this period lasted, but many experts believe it to be around 4000 to 5000 years.

## Age of Liberation

As humans slowly began their development from scratch, contact between humans eventually re-catalysed technological and scientific rediscovery and innovation. One of the products of this event was the Mobile Cities, gigantic vehicles derived from the Mobile Fortresses of ages past. Each one could hold tens of thousands of residents and offer them a lifestyle far superior to roving nomads, but still escape from Phage threats. The slow speed of such cities, though, necessitated numerous scouts to identify threats while they were still far away. Later on, after the rediscovery of Frame technology, mobile cities began to employ hunter frames and mobile bases to "cull" incoming swarms or destroy them outright in combined arms operations with aircraft and the city's own defensive weaponry. Cities often attacked each other for resources, but some cooperated. One such alliance between the cities of Altan, Gonyana and Kirschenrauch was instrumental in the destruction of the Odessa Colony and the recovery of large quantities of Old World technology. Several wars between the three cities broke out in the following decades and resulted in the complete destruction of a medium-sized Mobile City named Antegonia. Some time after this, an organisation named Sacrosanct emerged, destroying nearly all advanced technology and intervening in conflicts by indiscriminately attacking both sides.

## Age of Rebirth

The formation of the United Front in 1087 heralded the destruction of Sacrosanct several years after, finally eliminating the biggest obstacle to humanity's development. Much of the data deemed lost during the age of Liberation was recovered from Sacrosanct's databanks, but mankind had finally learnt the price of strife. Unrestricted exchange of research and technology led to a major breakthrough in 4D physics, enabling powerful technologies like limited fusion reactors, Dirac deflectors and miniaturised processors. New and powerful weapons were built to finally exterminate the Phage, which had been kept at bay but still controlled huge swathes of land. However, this plan did not work, and the Phage instead adapted, growing stronger on the glut of new technology and threatening to push back against the United Front. Ultimately, the decision was made after nearly a century of fruitless warfare to escape to space and saturate Earth's surface with nuclear bombs, then return after 200,000 years.