Imperator Augustus Caesar Marcus Porcius Aquilinus Minor
By early 2030, the Classis Imperialis (Elysium Imperial Navy) was composed of Five Grecis (High Fleets). Each Grecis equipped with eight Aircraft Carriers making a total of forty Aircraft Carriers at the service of the Imperial Classis, the Grecis were divided into Atlanticus Borealis, Europa Borealis, Atlanticus Antarticus, Pacificus Borealis and Pacificus Antarticus: North Atlantic, Northern Europe, South Atlantic, North Pacific and South Pacific, respectively. In terms of naval power projection, Elysium held the top spot, followed by Europe, Japan, Scandinavia, India, China, and Russia. Elysium was in competition with Europe who fought in all spheres: economic, military, technological and diplomatic. Still, while Elysium lacked close enemies on its continent, Europe saw increased hostilities with the Ottoman Socialist Federal Republics, which experienced increased militarization while presenting a greater image of danger to Europe. For reasons such as the proximity of Elysium to Europe and the O.S.F.R., Europe had one of the largest armies in the world, which had the best equipment, training, and vehicles possible, including their own models of Lorica Bellator which were called Powered Exoskeletons, the first model It was called "Crusader", which had strong inspiration from Bellator. The first deployments of the Crusaders were ironically in the territories of British Arabia, which saw a strong focus of religious-social insurrection. While the communist leaders of Istanbul supplied weapons to groups in British Arabia. In the Balkans, the Austrian Empire began a campaign of religious-social agitation to start a process of rebellions that would allow an advance that would culminate in the restoration of the ancient Christian kingdoms of Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia and others. The Austrians supplied the Hajduk with supplies, weapons, and military advisers.
While these events were occurring, the new Emperor of Elysium was Marcus Porcius Aquilinus Minor, son of the previous Emperor. Aquilinus Minor was an influential Conservative senator. His conservative principles focused on the preservation of what he saw as ancient Roman values, respect for traditions, even scrupulous honesty, these facts earned him the son, being considered a remarkable speaker to the point that in his youth he stood out for being an actor. who gave him more fame than other politicians. His political influence was closely related to his moralistic principles, his embodiment of Roman traditions that appealed to both the senators and the Elysian populace, conservative in nature, along with his reputation for closeness to the people. Aquilinius Minor was a promoter in the automation and improvement of the quality of life of the Elysian citizen. But perhaps the biggest controversy was the act of Manumission of slaves, although the fact generated strong controversy in the rural sectors, the advantages of automation made the rural landowners silence their complaints, managing to implement the absolute freedom of the slaves. Even so in many places the masters refused to let the slaves go peacefully, but the deployment of professional military forces ensured that the "reluctants" ended up freeing them while the Masters were rewarded with monetary bonuses. But while Aquilinius was publicly seen as a liberator who protected slaves and advocated a civilization that abandoned slavery, he actually feared the threat of global annihilation. This concern was shared by the top leaders of the Empire. In preparation for the possible destruction of the planet, Elysium began construction of a facility on Mons Olympus (OTL: Mount Elbert). Key members of the Empire: politicians, military, scientists, artists, and celebrities would be relocated to Olympus during a global catastrophe to protect the most valuable members and to rebuild with the sharpest minds. Because of this, the bunker was designed as a luxurious resort, with the latest technology available.
On the other hand, in Scandinavia, an anonymous group of people working within the government emerged consisting of pragmatic politicians who believed in solving problems without regard for ethical or moral intervention. Due to the resources at their disposal, they were able to perform various tasks without the King's authorization or knowledge. The group had the Scandinavian state in its best interest, but believed that moralism prohibited true progress and achievement, even to the point of being significantly involved in political and military affairs. One of these affairs was the Einherjar project, a military project in which a group of orphaned babies would be selected at birth and raised as highly disciplined soldiers understanding nothing more than military routine. While they would be trained to be obedient and ruthless soldiers, and all those deemed physically or mentally unworthy would be executed. The expected results would have the survivors considered impassive and dedicated fighting machines with no exposure to or understanding of the outside world. These methods included the observation of violent fights between animals, be they trained dogs against boars or other beasts, including a series of endurance tests where any child left behind by breaking formation is executed on the spot. This training was mostly conducted at the "Valhalla" Military Research Center, officially built as Karoliner Base on the Varanger Peninsula, while to the public, the base was the subject of light weapons or robotics testing. Which ensured that people would stay away in case of any encounters with the Einherjar during training runs. This project came would not be demonstrated until years later.
But the incident that would cause the greatest repercussion would be in 2037 AD, at the Castra Nautica (Naval Base) on the Isle of Mann, when a explosive exploded destroying five capital ships, while killing or wounding countless sailors, soldiers and soldiers. other staff on the island. The perpetrators of the attack were Her Majesty's Most Loyal Resistance, who were supported by agents from the European Empire. This attack served as an opportunity for the OFSR to gain the support of Elysium to wage war against Europe. Unfortunately for Europe, the brutal bloodshed was something Elysium craved. On April 21, 2038, the coasts of France and Iberia were suddenly surprised by the arrival of Elysian troops while Austria and England were surprised by the invasion of the OFSR. Although the British expected an attack at some point, they did not expect a mechanized offensive of such magnitude and by the week of the start of combat operations, Arabia was considered an area under Ottoman occupation with British elements such as the Desert Rats and the Devil's Brigade. as guerrilla rearguard forces.
On April 21, when a coastguard on the Spanish coast detected the immense fleet that was approaching, he quickly communicated the discovery and in half a minute, the Armed Forces of Europe were moving to face an invasion of Elysium. The Elysian legions were a well-oiled machine. Despite valiant efforts, the Elysian legions flooded the shores of Normandy and Portugal. Bombers flew over Lisbon and Paris, and within four days the Eiffel Tower suffered severe structural damage from cruise missiles. On April 27, the tower collapsed, collapsing over the city. On a road paved with roads littered with charred vehicles and fleeing refugees, legions of mechanized infantry and heavy support vehicles advanced in brutal combat against the Europeans, including two legions of Orbital Shock Commando who landed in the vicinity of Seville and they advanced under heavy fire towards the city. As they advanced, homeless citizens wept in the streets as tanks from both sides were destroyed in the streets, burning and sending plumes of black smoke into the skies as soldiers fought from house to house with no show or show of quarter. The waters near Rouen and Seville became literally red with blood, and the smell was horrible beyond words.
As soon as news of the landings broke, the Empire began preparing to strike back. The Holy Emperor began preparations to field an army of 1,000,000 men. He had to hit hard and fast and overwhelm his Elysium enemies. For in the Balkans and Africa, the Ottomans had begun to attack and invade the Austrian and British possessions respectively. Thousands of European soldiers marched to France and Spain while several squadrons of aircraft began to be sent to provide air support. The Elysian forces advanced, but Europe made them pay for every inch they advanced. Europa applied scorched earth tactics to negate the strategic positions, stretching their thin lines and slowing down the Elysium advance as much as possible. The impact of the orbital attack on the outskirts of Cordoba, the desperate fight for Ruan and the meat grinder of the Battle of Toledo that dragged on for two months.
Despite these conflicts, Space actually saw relatively little action during most of the war, with only a few locations engaging in open combat, and the war was divided into two separate regions that had little to do with each other: The Moon and The Orbit. More than 200,000 European soldiers stormed the Elysium facility on the Moon in one of the bloodiest campaigns of the war. About 50,000 Elysium soldiers fought back mercilessly. Huge nests of automated armored machine guns created zones of death and destruction on the lunar surface, while orbiting dropships unleashed company after company of soldiers on the Moon. Therefore, the Europeans had to fight the Elysians by engaging in brutal hand-to-hand combat all the way, under heavy machine gun fire, and facing off against hordes of robots that did not have the same handicaps as humans in the vacuum of space. Entire defensive installations were blown up remotely when they fell into enemy hands. But on December 17, a computer virus called "RED_FLAG" penetrated Europe's communications and control network. Within minutes, the European combat robots switched their IFFs and almost automatically viciously turned their weapons on their allies. Thousands of European soldiers began to be massacred by robots when this virus began to penetrate their code. Although the invasion of the Moon supposed an initial blockade of lunar goods to the Earth and Elysium. For by depriving Elysium of its most immediate source of helium-3, the Elysium war machine would be severely hampered. Luna's forces were only able to limit Elysium but with the deployment of RED_FLAG, the European fleet lost almost 80% of the invasion force. The European Fleet was decimated when it came under a daring attack at the hands of Lunar Space Defense Force elements in the form of starfighters and bombers. The situation in Orbita remained with little fighting. The European and Elysian space battlegroups fought each other until a middle ground was reached. The fighting included assaults on orbital defenses and the destruction of space fleets. The war saw the destruction of 2 attack groups on both sides.
After Elysium relayed the news of their invasion to the Ottomans, they began an invasion of the northern Balkans. This invasion required only a few hours to prepare, given the heightened state of alert in place. OFSR launched a simultaneous attack on Imperial European Air Force Austria and Command and Control centers, destroying all but 2% of military air assets in Austria and other Balkan territories. During the Turkish invasion, the Empire launched a massive counterattack against the Ottomans by amphibious invasion of the largely undefended shores of Durrës. The defenders were outnumbered more than six to one by the Imperial troops. The battle ended a series of crushing Communist victories. Despite this setback, OFSR continued its advance towards Vienna, launching a campaign through Romania into Hungary. The remaining Imperial forces attempted to hold Hungary, but were forced to withdraw after the fall of Budapest. As the Turkish forces advanced into Austria, Imperial air forces from the Italian Peninsula launched a massive air counterattack against the Ottomans, suffering heavy material losses. After the Imperial counterattack, and their advance slowed by Austrian guerrilla tactics, the Ottomans began conducting orbital bombing campaigns against strategic military centers in Italy in an effort to destroy the Imperial war industry and terrorize the population. While few hundred civilians were killed in these attacks, the psychological impact of orbital weapons striking urban centers was powerful. But the most brutal effect was the use of small nuclear explosive devices colloquially known as nuclear landmines or atomic demolition munitions (ADM), used on the Sinai Front by the Ottomans in scorched earth tactics to deny strategic positions.
However it would be in 2045, after seven years of war, the conditions in Imperial Europe had become unbearable, the government faced food shortages and uprisings throughout the territory, but the Imperial European army never relented. But due to the uprisings, the Holy European Empire was forced to accept the terms of surrender imposed by Elysium where France and the Iberian Peninsula, territories under complete Elysian occupation ended up being ceded to Elysium. Iberia and France renamed after their Roman territories: Hispania and Gallia, were in an almost anarchic state. The Elysium robots were doing most of the actual police work to keep the peace and put down any kind of rebellion or partisan activity.
In 2046, the Holy European Empire was facing a period of political instability in which civil unrest escalated into succession movements and civil wars. Iberia saw its capital change to the city of New Madrid (OTL: Johannesburg) but at the same time, it faced several armed conflicts between tribes such as the Tuareg, Berbers and other African groups. This at the same time was fueled by the supply of advisers and military weaponry from Elysium under the guise of abandoned weaponry from the war. During this time, the Mars colony had successfully started Japan's most ambitious project: the terraforming program. From the first landing, the colonies began spreading a cocktail of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) across the planet via disposable drones. These organisms, little more than bacteria, spread across the planet's surface by processing toxic dust into a usable soil base and extracting greenhouse gases from the soil. When a certain condition of these organisms were met (O3 levels increased to a certain point, the selenium content of the soil, etc.), a security mechanism in their genome would trigger their disappearance, depositing more vitamins in the new soil base. . Meanwhile, orbital mirrors, built with next-generation nanoprinters, were deployed on the moon to heat the planet's surface. Additionally, the new spaceport allowed asteroid mining companies to head out into the asteroid belt and start peppering Mars with asteroids to generate more heat and, by 2050, even expand the size of Mars' moons by moving several large asteroids into the martian orbit. From this continual addition of heat and a thicker atmosphere to contain it all, Mars rapidly developed oceans over the next several decades. The red planet now had a base from which to develop a biosphere, and although it would take decades, Mars was now well on its way to habitability.
At the same time, India's colonies on Mercury at the south pole grew to house a population of 6 million people who controlled and maintained a fleet of tens of millions of drones, all dedicated to stripping Mercury's surface of usable materials. with the ultimate goal of building a solar power system that would become a Dyson Swarm. By the time the true purpose was revealed, India had successfully deployed enough solar power satellites to double the total power of Elysium. At the same time, India used permanent space colonies as heavily armed military installations to build and maintain a larger and more agile space force. While on Saturn's Titan Moon, Asgard's nanodome was the largest in the solar system, covering the entirety of the mountain and extending to the floor of the Methane Sea over a kilometer from its shore. The shoreline of the Methane Sea was drained and exposed due to the construction of the elevator. Nitrogen from the massive dome was drained and pumped into space where it froze into a solid block. What nitrogen remained was used as 70% of the colony atmosphere to serve as a buffer. Fusion reactors and small solar mirrors heated the interior of the colony to a balmy 19 degrees C, melting the water ice that served as a surface for much of the planet. The same nanotech industry was crucial to building tents. of Titan to begin paraterraforming and secure the nitrogen atmosphere, and establish successive generations of colonies. Most of these early colonies were built at the foot of space elevators and had to constantly work to keep their interiors warm enough due to the extreme cold of Titan's surface. The Titans' methane and nitrogen economy supported the creation of orbitals near Saturn and the Saturnian shipbuilding industry.
