Overview
The war began during the springtime of 2162.
Trained military specialists in Ukraine and Kazakhstan vanished where recent meteors had touched down. A UN investigation prompted a ceasefire, unceremoniously halting the conflict in Brussels. The investigation would very quickly reveal the unnerving truth: A Xylopod colony had sprung up where the meteors landed. Unbeknownst to the investigators at the time, their discovery would lead to the largest conflict humanity had ever seen. For the first time in history, all the world's powers would come together under the Berlin Convention--when four peace treaties were signed--to combat the Xylopod threat. From the onset, it surpassed World War 2 in scale alone--directly involving more than 7 billion people across 100 countries and severely hampering the solar system's economy.
The First Mutagen War, as it is dubbed, would prove itself to be the deadliest conflict in the history of mankind. Up to 14 billion casualties were dealt to both civilians and personnel, many of them sourced in countries like China and South America. Fatalities against the human population was found predominately around rural and lesser developed areas such as the nations of Africa. In the face of total annihilation, major participants in the war, including NATO, fused their entire economies into the war effort, reducing luxury and civilian resources and increasing sheer military might. Many deaths also came from the use of anti-matter and nuclear weapons and light Xylopod-Human conflicts.
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The Kazlauskas-Schmit European Geography Investigation proved vital in detecting Xylopod populations during the winter of 2162. War had not been declared on the extraterrestrial species as of yet; this was changed in late January, after an unsuccessful attempt to parley with the neighboring species. In response to this human contact, the Xylopods invaded Donetsk Oblast when night fell on February 5th.
Immediately the UN Council of Planetary Defense decreed the mobilization of the 1st Mechanized Infantry Division (also known as "The 1st Division") into Xylopod-infested Donetsk Oblast. This was also the first human venture into a Xylopod hive. The division routed the Xylopod foothold into Rostov, but military presence in the region would get overrun one month later, succeeded by yet another meteor shower touching down around the Moroccan coast. With joint efforts made by American and Russian Space Forces, most of the meteors were successfully intercepted before entering the atmosphere, but a few stray meteors managed to enter and land all across Southeast Asia. More Xylopods were hives through 2162 and into late 2163. The aliens emerged from caves and hollows in Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, swiftly and brutally bringing them under occupation, while militaries around the world struggled to keep up with the swelling threat.
Two Leahy-class galactic ships, the Lincoln and the Washington, were obliterated under Xylopod-ordered orbital bombardment. Media around the world dubbed this horrifying event "the Molotov Incident." This marked the end of the the UN's Space Protection Force, and by then it truly dawned on the representatives and councilors that they were dealing with an advanced extraterrestrial civilization. What little ships remained were reordered to orbit the Earth and serve as overwatch.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, Xylopod brigades surged into Europe, just barely being halted by the Nordic Confederation and a UN-buffed Coalition. The coalition's members--namely France, Germany, Ukraine and the United Kingdom--formed a defensive curtain around Spain and parts of France, creating a network of walls and stationary defenses. The most notable of these was the Musegg Wall, a fortification spanning across the entire Pyrenees--a new Hadrian's Wall. It would all come to nothing, however. For an aquatic Xylopod invasion emerged near Marseilles and roared northbound like a tsunami, overtaking all of southern France in 4 months. Spain soon followed, the Xylopods fanning out across the surrounded lands.
In Asia, things were just the same. With China's southern provinces totally infested, the Chinese military sought aid from the UN, as the barren lands to the west proved difficult to keep check on, while the lack of technology in less developed areas stressed logistics. Despite an aid of 15,000 men, China's military eventually--some say inevitably--lost its western front a few months into its war, despite some minor victories. Those victories, too, were useless, with UN and Chinese air superiority challenged by the might of airborne Xylopods, sending hopeless ripples across the entire standing army. Everything seemed totally lost until Chinese orbital ships finally entered Earth's atmosphere, led by Zhu Shilai, whose successful efforts in staying further airborne invasions would ensure his legacy as an eternal hero of the people.
Though most Xylopod advances were somewhat halted throughout Asia, the movements in the Americas were different. Xylopods first emerged on the border of Chile and Argentina. The poverty of both nations would had served as a bad omen. Their scarce resources made it near impossible to keep the Xylopods in check. The UN installed the USSC Stalwart over South American orbital space as a way for UN forces to retain control of the skies, allowing the ship to utilize its firepower once given the go-ahead by the leaders of Argentina and Chile. The Xylopod population in South America was thus totally annihilated, but it came at the cost of hundreds of millions of innocents caught in the blast radius. It was a pyrrhic victory, but it was the first major human triumph in a long, long time.
Meanwhile in Europe however, things would not go so well. With France and Spain totally overrun, the European front had reached the doorstep of many countries, most notably Britain. The fall of the Musegg Wall left the British preparing for an aquatic invasion.
The victory in South America was fleeting and useless in the end. Xylopod bombardments lanced the continent in retaliation, demolishing Argentina, Brazil and Brazil-occupied Bolivia. Argentina's president, Esteban Vidal, would commit suicide in his office afterward. The United States fortified its wall with Mexico and also ordered a wall build across the Canadian border, effectively boxing itself in. Coastal defenses were also made, braced by airborne groups. This philosophy was colloquially dubbed the "Combat Box". Battles all across the world raged onward, spanning late 2170 to 2184. Xlyopod victories while human forces--and manpower--began steeply declining.
Eventually, the United States' southern border was breached in the year 2197, just as the United Kingdom got swept into Xylopod occupation.
The war for Europe was lost.
Besides the loss of human life, the Xylopod Invasion brought with it the genetic alteration of wildlife and heavy doses of radiation. Strange, grotesque creatures began emerging from abandoned underground metros. Though most battles were fought above ground, the creatures spawned inevitably brought the war underground as well. By this point most of the remaining militaries were scarcely divided among fallen countries and what remained would be parts of the United States.
The northern states had for the most part repelled the Xylopod invasion, but with the fall of the US government under crippling pressure from all parties there came the rise of small organizations to fill the vacuum left. Some of them came in the form of large corporations, while the rest emerged in still smaller communities.
The most notable of these was Crossfate: A large, walled-off organization centered in what was once Wyoming. It was comprised of people from all over the world, from America to Russia and even China. Ethnic groups were often separated by district, but English managed to become the primary language of the corporation.
The United Nations as a whole disintegrated. Thus the nations of the world and, indeed, Earth itself, buckled under the Xylopod menace.
Trained military specialists in Ukraine and Kazakhstan vanished where recent meteors had touched down. A UN investigation prompted a ceasefire, unceremoniously halting the conflict in Brussels. The investigation would very quickly reveal the unnerving truth: A Xylopod colony had sprung up where the meteors landed. Unbeknownst to the investigators at the time, their discovery would lead to the largest conflict humanity had ever seen. For the first time in history, all the world's powers would come together under the Berlin Convention--when four peace treaties were signed--to combat the Xylopod threat. From the onset, it surpassed World War 2 in scale alone--directly involving more than 7 billion people across 100 countries and severely hampering the solar system's economy.
The First Mutagen War, as it is dubbed, would prove itself to be the deadliest conflict in the history of mankind. Up to 14 billion casualties were dealt to both civilians and personnel, many of them sourced in countries like China and South America. Fatalities against the human population was found predominately around rural and lesser developed areas such as the nations of Africa. In the face of total annihilation, major participants in the war, including NATO, fused their entire economies into the war effort, reducing luxury and civilian resources and increasing sheer military might. Many deaths also came from the use of anti-matter and nuclear weapons and light Xylopod-Human conflicts.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
The Kazlauskas-Schmit European Geography Investigation proved vital in detecting Xylopod populations during the winter of 2162. War had not been declared on the extraterrestrial species as of yet; this was changed in late January, after an unsuccessful attempt to parley with the neighboring species. In response to this human contact, the Xylopods invaded Donetsk Oblast when night fell on February 5th.
Immediately the UN Council of Planetary Defense decreed the mobilization of the 1st Mechanized Infantry Division (also known as "The 1st Division") into Xylopod-infested Donetsk Oblast. This was also the first human venture into a Xylopod hive. The division routed the Xylopod foothold into Rostov, but military presence in the region would get overrun one month later, succeeded by yet another meteor shower touching down around the Moroccan coast. With joint efforts made by American and Russian Space Forces, most of the meteors were successfully intercepted before entering the atmosphere, but a few stray meteors managed to enter and land all across Southeast Asia. More Xylopods were hives through 2162 and into late 2163. The aliens emerged from caves and hollows in Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, swiftly and brutally bringing them under occupation, while militaries around the world struggled to keep up with the swelling threat.
Two Leahy-class galactic ships, the Lincoln and the Washington, were obliterated under Xylopod-ordered orbital bombardment. Media around the world dubbed this horrifying event "the Molotov Incident." This marked the end of the the UN's Space Protection Force, and by then it truly dawned on the representatives and councilors that they were dealing with an advanced extraterrestrial civilization. What little ships remained were reordered to orbit the Earth and serve as overwatch.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, Xylopod brigades surged into Europe, just barely being halted by the Nordic Confederation and a UN-buffed Coalition. The coalition's members--namely France, Germany, Ukraine and the United Kingdom--formed a defensive curtain around Spain and parts of France, creating a network of walls and stationary defenses. The most notable of these was the Musegg Wall, a fortification spanning across the entire Pyrenees--a new Hadrian's Wall. It would all come to nothing, however. For an aquatic Xylopod invasion emerged near Marseilles and roared northbound like a tsunami, overtaking all of southern France in 4 months. Spain soon followed, the Xylopods fanning out across the surrounded lands.
In Asia, things were just the same. With China's southern provinces totally infested, the Chinese military sought aid from the UN, as the barren lands to the west proved difficult to keep check on, while the lack of technology in less developed areas stressed logistics. Despite an aid of 15,000 men, China's military eventually--some say inevitably--lost its western front a few months into its war, despite some minor victories. Those victories, too, were useless, with UN and Chinese air superiority challenged by the might of airborne Xylopods, sending hopeless ripples across the entire standing army. Everything seemed totally lost until Chinese orbital ships finally entered Earth's atmosphere, led by Zhu Shilai, whose successful efforts in staying further airborne invasions would ensure his legacy as an eternal hero of the people.
Though most Xylopod advances were somewhat halted throughout Asia, the movements in the Americas were different. Xylopods first emerged on the border of Chile and Argentina. The poverty of both nations would had served as a bad omen. Their scarce resources made it near impossible to keep the Xylopods in check. The UN installed the USSC Stalwart over South American orbital space as a way for UN forces to retain control of the skies, allowing the ship to utilize its firepower once given the go-ahead by the leaders of Argentina and Chile. The Xylopod population in South America was thus totally annihilated, but it came at the cost of hundreds of millions of innocents caught in the blast radius. It was a pyrrhic victory, but it was the first major human triumph in a long, long time.
Meanwhile in Europe however, things would not go so well. With France and Spain totally overrun, the European front had reached the doorstep of many countries, most notably Britain. The fall of the Musegg Wall left the British preparing for an aquatic invasion.
The victory in South America was fleeting and useless in the end. Xylopod bombardments lanced the continent in retaliation, demolishing Argentina, Brazil and Brazil-occupied Bolivia. Argentina's president, Esteban Vidal, would commit suicide in his office afterward. The United States fortified its wall with Mexico and also ordered a wall build across the Canadian border, effectively boxing itself in. Coastal defenses were also made, braced by airborne groups. This philosophy was colloquially dubbed the "Combat Box". Battles all across the world raged onward, spanning late 2170 to 2184. Xlyopod victories while human forces--and manpower--began steeply declining.
Eventually, the United States' southern border was breached in the year 2197, just as the United Kingdom got swept into Xylopod occupation.
The war for Europe was lost.
Besides the loss of human life, the Xylopod Invasion brought with it the genetic alteration of wildlife and heavy doses of radiation. Strange, grotesque creatures began emerging from abandoned underground metros. Though most battles were fought above ground, the creatures spawned inevitably brought the war underground as well. By this point most of the remaining militaries were scarcely divided among fallen countries and what remained would be parts of the United States.
The northern states had for the most part repelled the Xylopod invasion, but with the fall of the US government under crippling pressure from all parties there came the rise of small organizations to fill the vacuum left. Some of them came in the form of large corporations, while the rest emerged in still smaller communities.
The most notable of these was Crossfate: A large, walled-off organization centered in what was once Wyoming. It was comprised of people from all over the world, from America to Russia and even China. Ethnic groups were often separated by district, but English managed to become the primary language of the corporation.
The United Nations as a whole disintegrated. Thus the nations of the world and, indeed, Earth itself, buckled under the Xylopod menace.