World War 3

**World War 3**, also the Third World War, or "The Really Great War", was a global war that lasted from 2029 to 2059; the state of war between China and the American Federation of Republics ended with Chinese victory and the signing of the Hawaiian Accord, and war between China and the Western European Allies ended with the signing of the Harriet-Tucker Treaty. Aside from this, as of 2084 there are still several other nations, both independent and those part of a coalition, at war with one another and with China and Russia. World War 3 involved the majority of the world's nations, and it began like its predecessor, with a lengthy "phoney war" taking place for the first year. No one was eager to repeat the horrors of the Second World War, especially with modern technology and weapons being as they were.

It was the most widespread war in history, directly involving over two billion people from over 150 countries; absent from it, however, was the same type of brutal aggression and dehumanization seen and experienced during WW2. It evolved into a total war, utilizing the entirety of many nations' economic, industrial, and scientific capacities; the first decade of the war marked a greater technological advancement than ever before. In 2039 an event called the *Darkening of the World* occurred: every single computer network in the world shut down, and for nearly a year humankind was left as they were before the industrial revolution. Electrical grids were nonexistent. Sky-based warfare was nonexistent. Enemy battleships merely coasted by one another, crews shaking their fists. Much of the internet ceased to exist, initiating a period immediately following the Darkening called the *Great Scramble*, where thousands of people from a slew of professions, amidst the renewing war effort, came together to salvage what information they could from the collapsed networks to *"keep the bulk of our history from just disappearing into thin air"*. After this period came to a close, about 42% of the internet's content was saved, although much of it required new technology to repair. This led to the development of new AI's, and the growth of corporations like Lavis Facilities and Hybrid ULTD into conglomerates.

The war had become a race to come back online, with the victor having potential to literally rule the world. China was the first to do so, with the development of CK Phase One(CK第一阶段) in early 2040. The Chinese government had managed to attain and utilize over 580,000 generators(most from Russia and North Korea) to allow for the development of the new network. They had a head start on the rest of the world by two weeks, allowing them time to coordinate their continued war effort. Their decision to (mostly) refrain from destroying their "helpless" enemies during that window has since cast a more positive light on the otherwise viscous superpower.

Britain was the next to come back online, with their *Lavender Underground* network. Next was occupied Norway, with the secretly developed *Freyja,* followed by the German *Pharaoh*.

In the late 2020's, construction of the Odin Orbital Colony was in full gear. The technological boom during the first decade of the war positively affected this; one member of the Odin R&D team noted *"It would've otherwise taken us fifty plus years to build Odin to the point where it could sustain any sort of populace, let alone six million, but happening when it did, it took us less than ten"*. A good portion of Allied technological priority was directed at the Orbital Colony Project. The first to move to Odin to live anew in 2036 numbered 6,112,106; this greatly affected the geopolitical landscape, and altered the course of the war, but was nevertheless hailed by many as perhaps the greatest achievement in the history of mankind.

The dissolution of the U.S. during the Darkening was perhaps the greatest factor that led to the victory of China(and by extension, Russia). Without a superpower to counter them, China grew exponentially in a short time. Considering the almost ruinous state of most of Asia was during this time, there is still much controversy on how China managed to accomplish this. Although their network was the strongest, their military wasn't necessarily so. This was known by Chinese leaders, who used Russia strategically as a chess piece.

Following the underwater detonation of an Alpha Centaurus 10 megaton warhead sixteen miles off of the coast of San Francisco on November 12th 2029 by the Chinese, the international situation rapidly dissolved. American business interests in China, and vice versa, almost completely dissolved following several months of chaos in this realm(supplemented by devastation wrought by crypto-terrorist organization, 4A). Before any state of war was declared, there were shots fired--in fact, exchanges had been taking place on and off for over a year. The "shot heard round the world" that ushered forth a chain reaction of official declarations of war was the forty-six minute airstrike on Seoul(and other targets in South Korean and elsewhere) by North Korea and China. Within the hour, the majority of the NATO member states declared war on China and North Korea. China didn't make any declarations for over two months, although North Korea responded in kind the next day. After several major airstrikes in North Korea(hampered by powerful Chinese anti-air defenses), China issued a declaration of war on NATO on February 8th, 2030. They didn't specifically mention any nation, blurring the line for strategic reasons related to the possibility of defeat.