Blazing Skies: A Survivor's Guide

The Fall: 1972 - 2039

"The skies are blazing, the seas are boiling, the earth is burning.
Is your engine aflame, or are you simply more fodder?"

~ Reiji Horikoshi, Commander of the Iōtō Islands, Asiatic-Pacific Alliance, 1974 (credited)

1972 - Most humans left on the surface are deceased. By the end of the year, humans and any non-modified creature larger than a rat would be dead.

Machines that had been left behind in the aftermath of the Fall almost immediately go rogue, escaping designated airfields, bases and ports. 

Losses are still high among them, as they begin to turn on each other for food. Some ban together in packs. Most of the Royal Navy is wiped out to starvation, with other NATO powers following suit. Ironically, large battleships seem to do decently, their heavier construction allowing them to become the alpha predators of the sea once more, as aerosaurs no longer have humans forcing them to carriers.

1976 - Original formation of the New Union in former Soviet and Eastern Communist territories. Not necessarily one unified group but multiple small packs under a local warlords, at this point one leader was either unable to be identified or nonexistent.

Farther West, the battleships Iowa and Missouri take over the eastern and Western American coasts, and coordinate with local packs in what appeared to be an attempt at forming a united pack under them.

1982 - Life on earth begins to recover, plant life growing back, though it is modified, the leaves appearing reddish in coloration. Terrasaurs used for personal transport in the past take the place of wild horses and deer, and quickly populated the world. An odd ecosystem stabilizes, with more intelligent machines forming packs in former settlements, and a new pecking order takes form in the seas, battleships creating large territories for themselves. Some machines resurface under mysterious circumstances that were presumed to be dead, including the German battleship Bismarck and Japanese battleship Yamato.

Battleships Iowa and Missouri are successful in uniting lost packs under what would come to be known as the Reunited Americana Empire.

1983 - Battleship Bismarck quickly gains ground in the Atlantic after the near elimination of the Royal Navy during the Fall. News of the ship's return drags former Axis machines out of hiding, and either out of desperation or oddly placed hope, former NATO nation's machines take the knee, preferring to ally themselves with a former enemy of the soviets than those 'responsible' for the fall. The goal seemed to be a "United Europa", which would likely bring them to odds in the future with their neighbors.

1984 - Battleship Yamato allies with a small unit of renegade Japanese and American machines stationed on the Sulfur Islands, including Iwo Jima. Both factions seem to have united after the Fall after the American machines were left for dead, and jointly led by an A6M Zero and M4 Sherman. Within weeks, the battleship and Zero would head north in an attempt to recruit other rogue groups scattered across the Bonin Islands.

1987- Bonin Islands, South Korea and the Main Island of Japan brought into the Asiatic-Pacific Alliance.

1995 - Surviving humans had created an underground civilization branching from their ancestors bunkers. Still, space would inevitably become a problem. Passageways are built between them with a rail system between "capitols". Plans for returning to the surface begin to be drawn up. Both NATO and Communist forces have no way to contact each other, the surface, or have any idea on the surface's current condition. The current Human population is calculated to be less than a hundred thousand combined.

2000 - The first forward expeditions began by humans. One or two humans would be issued a small aero or terrasaur as it was easier to keep hidden for operations.

2015 - First tentative forward operating bases built by humans. These structures were directly attached to bunkers and allowed access to the surface by expedition teams and had a crew permanently stationed on them.

2023 - Hunting teams begin to be assigned to forward operating bases alongside expedition teams. Equipped with combat aerosaurs, terrasaurs and specialized weapons, they are trained specifically in the hunting of feral machines.

2030 - With humans now actively hunting them, Machine factions begin talks of uniting over the growing threat as it becomes clear that a peaceful solution was never an option.

The various New Union warbands unite under the command of a Soviet Il-2 and enter a tense alliance with United Europa. Bismarck leads discussions with his counterparts in the RAE and APA for a solution to the "Mammalian Question". Self defense was the basic protocol as long as things didn't escalate.

2039- The protocol proved to not be sufficient as humans up their number of hunting parties and begin targeting nesting sites and setting their own war machines on those already living on the surface. Now faced with only one option, the machines turn their teeth on their former masters once more, and a vicious fight for the surface begins in earnest.