Desolace

For years the war had raged on without end. The world was predicted to end on the twenty-first day in December, the year 2012. The United States had dropped the first bomb on the ninth. Seven days later, four of the world’s most dominant countries were soon locked in a nuclear stalemate. On the nineteenth, the United States Marine Corps sent a select number of troops - under the guise of “peacekeepers” – into the heart of the Middle-east, equipped with the revolutionary XOS, a powered exoskeleton, which gave its wearer increased strength and endurance; the suit allows the wearer the ability to lift over two hundred pounds with minimal strain. The suit seemed more a formality than anything, with the soldiers experimenting with a drug codenamed “Idun,” a serum developed by biological scientist Andrew Ross, in the hopes of slowing down the human ageing process, creating increased muscle development and stamina.

Two days later, a massive explosion tore through the region of Palestine. Over the course of twenty-four hours, the doomsday prophecy had come true. “Project 66” had been initiated. Sixty-six nuclear weapons, spread strategically throughout busy and important parts of Iran, Iraq, Jordan and Israel were detonated, completely wiping out all life in and around the surrounding regions. The United States government would soon deny claims of deliberate detonation, but by that time most of the world had descended into anarchy. With several countries, led by the Soviet Union, declaring war on the United States and her allies, nukes descended from bombers all over the world, obliterating most life, and within just three days, only fifteen percent of the world’s total population still remained, all scattered among the furthest outreaches of the planet; as far away as possible from nuclear fallout.

Around the world were “hotspots”: areas relatively free from fallout where respective governing bodies had taken up defenses. As sparse as these colonies were, they were the few sources of regular food and shelter. With a steadily declining supply of food, the colonies set up their own laws and defensive lines protect their diminishing rations. One such colony, Alvarez’s Landing, had been built in a rather advantageous position, and quickly became one of the largest built-up areas in the world.

With regular patrols sent through the Outlands, the town’s leading political figure, Arbiter Jean Alvarez, was secretly planning the construction of an underground metropolis, where the people of earth could have a chance at re-population.