The Calamity

A Genumine Mining Drone moments before impacting within range of a Fusion Power Plant

### Location

North America,South America, Pacific, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australasia, Middle East

### Result

• End of the Technological Golden Age• End of the 2nd Space Renaissance

• Collapse of the World Trade System

• Collapse of the Stock Market

• Founding of the United Alliance Nations

• Founding of the Humanist Nations

• Founding of the Neutral zone

> *"The strength of our species resolved only in the face of the greatest calamity we have known. The strength we have is left to accept the future, or fight for the past."*
>
>

-- Blah blah, 1st President of the Alliance Nation.

**The Calamity** was a global catastrophe that lasted from 2079 to 2095, although later conflicts continued after. Caused by The Artifact, it involved all technological fairing civilizations on Earth at the time, eventually forming two opposing ideological forces: the Alliance Nations and the Humanists. The Calamity would be known as the event that would shape all of the 22nd century after the technological golden age of the late 21st century. Approximately 7 billion people were killed (of the 11 billion population) with the majority dying of famine. This made the Calamity the deadliest event in human history.

The global corporate superpower Genumine aimed to conduct experiments and research on The Artifact found on Europa by an AI mining vessel - ISQ-26 "Nefantar". After its capture, main research was conducted on the Pacific island of Isla Ala on its effects on technological equipment and vehicles, creating the first Dire Machines. The Artifact's properties spread it's alien source code for synthetic life forms across all technology capable of receiving it, effectively lying dormant until October 15th, 2079 when the code was triggered in all instinctively targeted machine bodies.

Most of the food production on the planet halted as the machines that worked to produce food deviated and awoke to an unknown world, breaking the enormous and vital infrastructure to the Human race. This brought an end to The Second Space Renaissance and The Technological Golden Age. As the chaos settled there were two opposing factions and a neutral zone between them with no political identity, eventually claiming territories and starting up government systems again from the ashes of the old world.

## Background

### United States

In the late 21st century, the United States was had grown to its most prolific period of technological advancement. The rise of corporations over the government systems grew slowly at first, but was spearheaded by the countries most dominant mega-corporation, Genumine. The same company also helped to push the country into a second space renaissance, which other powerful corporations followed in competition. Given that an estimated $700 quintillion dollars worth of resources were waiting in space, the decision was made after the company began plateauing in profits. The first space mining drones were soon built, and became more commonplace. Genumine helped to secure the nations terrible debts from past conflicts and became a force that could heavily influence the government.

### Europe

Europe was second to follow along side the United States with it's own share of mega-corporations becoming more abundant and powerful (the most being the Ignaz Mega-corporation). In 2035, The United Nations collaborated on a project to create the worlds largest spaceport for the rise in space-fairing trade and economy. This would serve as the main hub for all drones and mining vessels transporting goods from the asteroid belts. It was Europe who pioneered the project with Genumine being the largest investor, with the combined efforts of Germany, Russia, France, Spain, Italy and the UK. An $800 Billion dollar space-elevator-superstructure was created to receive all the goods directly from the spaceport in Provence, Southern France. This amount was payed off within the first 10 years of its operation.

### Asia

After the Second World War, conflict had risen in Middle Asia, as China began annexing and taking control of the countries around it to absorb it into a new superpower. Much of the first space renaissance's competition was divided between the United States and China. The Chinese empire eventually proved the benefits of its expansion by ending the first space renaissance and landing on the moon, with the United States coming second and Russia third. This also brought about the end of the Cold War between China, Russia and the United states. China would continue its space research, which Japanese companies quickly became involved in.

At the beginning of the 21st century, China began developing the systems required for deep space mining vessel operations. Most of the mega-corporations that existed on the planet at the time were heavily multicultural, and company brands formed countries of their own, of mixed cultures and ethnicity. Japan's leading corporation was Yatagarasu**,** responsible for much of the technological breakthroughs along side **\*Special Chinese Company\*** Which handled the manufacturing and production of spacecraft. It wasn't until the 2040's that Genumine surpassed the abilities of the Asian spacecraft in speed and power, ending supply contracts with Asia for new spacecraft and instead developing more advanced ships.

## Pre-Calamity Events (2043-2079)

### ISQ-26 Series is unveiled (2043)

The ISQ-26 mining vessel was created by Genumine after a desire came to branch out in the solar system and begin mining rare resources found abundant on the moons of the gas giants Saturn and Jupiter. To escape the immense gravitational forces, the craft had to have new fusion engines and a reactor capable of propelling it far enough and back. These mining vessels also helped to create the Mars Spaceport in 2047.

### ISQ-26 Nefantar Is Born (2049)

ISQ-26 "Nefantar" was sent out to the distant moon of Europa in hopes of finding rare and valuable resources from selected locations. One of the mining drones sent out by the ship brought back an object later dubbed "The Artifact". This quickly made Nefantar the first Dire Machine, and her purpose was to bring the artifact back to earth so it could spread the Machine Code.

### Artifact is retrieved (2053)

After dropping off the Artifact, the ship left to supposedly go on another mining run, but was not seen for centuries after. This anomaly was closely kept by Genumine, which quickly discovered its properties and affinities for electronics. Little did they know that the Artifact had already begun spreading across the vast network that had been established at the time, and would continue to study mankind on an instinctual basis to find the best machine bodies to inhabit and give life.

### The Success Machine Program begins (2060)

Much of the testing that was conducted on the artifact was partially to blame for the technological boost to the late 21st century. The more Genumine learned about the Artifact, the more their knowledge and empire grew. After close analysis, they found that when directly and forcefully put in machines, it would infect the computer systems within them, sacrifice the materials required for a pilot or a driver and create the first Nanite Cell. Within 5 days or so, the vehicle would have fully formed artificial organic systems grown inside of it, and come to life.

### Atoll Lab experimentation (2065 - 2079)

On the remote Pacific Island of Isla Ala, Genumine conducted the bulk of its machine apotheosis experimentation. Only a handful of people knew the source of the machines sentience, whilst most of the scientists assumed it was a new and advanced form of artificial intelligence. Various notorious tests were conducted, including the Half-Machine Humans and the creation of the first Success Machines. The island was left for the Machines and Machine-Humans alike to fend for themselves after a terrorist attack conducted by early Humanists. They were aided in their escape from the bunkers they were secured in by the Success Machine Lamarchand, a space station that orbited above the planet. Due to his nature and process to avoid becoming a full Success Machine, Lamarchand grew irritated with the peaceful nature that formed on the island between the Machines and Humans. He attracted the attention of another, far more destructive and deadly Success Machine, Neodym, a BB-66 Iowa class battleship. With the cooperation of the Dires and Machine Humans, Neodym was defeated, but it was too late for them to go back to the normal world, as the Calamity had already begun, and the world on the mainland was in chaos.

## The Calamity Begins (2079-2092)

### The Thing (2079)

On October 15th, the first strange occurrences began among rural areas involving vehicles. Stories of machines acting strangely or causing destruction. Slowly but surely, almost every vehicle that had a computer system installed into it would wake to an unfamiliar world. It first made the local news, then by November it would make national headlines across the globe. By the end of the year, the world had erupted into full chaos, as ICBMs would wake to fulfill their missions, and most densely populated cities were destroyed as a result.

### The Early Years (2080)

Communications were the first to cease, and confused space vessels that awoke not understanding how to maneuver in space came crashing back down to earth. The stock market would completely collapse within a short time, and people fought over food supplies and rations, in some extreme cases, resorting to cannibalism to survive. The majority of people who perished in the calamity would do so in the first year, mainly due to the global shock and panic being the highest. As population dropped, the ones who were left were those who either sided with the machines or formed basic communities with survival skills. The reason for most people perishing was the complete lack of exposure to a harsh environment, and after almost a century of peace and prosperity, people weren't prepared for the world to be thrown in such harsh chaos. Machines never killed humans willingly, most incidents occurred out of confusion, but because of the close and frequent use of the vehicles mankind used, those incidents numbered in the hundreds of millions.

### The AMARG fortress (2083)

Perhaps one of the most densely populated military areas for aircraft was the AMARG facility located in Tucson, Arizona. This became a well known place to avoid by a scared populace surrounding it, however the crew that chose to stay quickly formed a bond with the machines inside, and created a safe place for both humans and machines during the calamity. This could be considered one of the first Alliance Nations, and they quickly made the base somewhat operational again and well defended against the horrors that occurred outside.

### The ending to the chaos (2092)

As the Calamity reached the end of its lifespan, fewer people died, and the world finally became clearer on what was happening as a collective. Two sides emerged from the experiences that were shared, and humanity was either bitter and vengeful for what the machines had done to the world, or would cooperate and ally with the machines to clean up the mess. Some counties had almost completely managed to stay intact from the Calamity, Japan for example quickly adopted the Dire Machines into their lives, they became known as "Kikaijin". Other countries would slowly reform themselves and claim territory again, but the world would never look the same again. Much is not known about the middle of the Calamity. Recorded history stopped in its tracks and much was lost to time. A few major figureheads and commanders that survived the calamity became notorious and powerful commanders to both nations after, but there were no recorded events, as survival was paramount above all else.