Initiated by unresolved tensions after World War I, the rise of Fascism in Europe and the militarization of Japan. World War II began on 1 September 1939, with the German invasion of Poland, followed by declarations of war from France, then the United Kingdom on September 3rd. In June 1941, Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, invading the Soviet Union and opening the Eastern Front. The Soviet summer offensive of 1942 saw the Red Army abandon Voronezh in favor of a deeper defensive posture along the Don, trading territory for time. German forces, interpreting the withdrawal as collapse, redirected their summer offensive toward the Ukrainian and Georgian oil fields, capturing Maikop and threatening Grozny by late 1942. Though Baku remained out of reach, the campaign disrupted Soviet fuel production, slowing the Red Army's mobility and offensives through 1943 and 1944. In the Atlantic, Allied codebreakers struggled to break successive Enigma keys, and the Battle of the Atlantic extended into 1944, delaying the Allied buildup in Britain and pushing any cross-Channel invasion to late 1944. By the end of 1944, Germany remained in control of most of continental Europe, and the war had settled into a grinding stalemate on both fronts.
Through 1945, the Allies pressed forward slowly. The Western Allies landed in France in late 1944 but faced attritional warfare in Normandy and the Low Countries, while the Red Army advanced in costly increments across Ukraine and Belarus. Germany, though bombed heavily and starved of resources, continued to fight, its war economy dispersed and its civilian population hardened by years of raid. In the Pacific, the United States advanced toward Japan, capturing islands and preparing for the invasion of the home islands, scheduled for late 1945. The Manhattan Project, delayed by difficulties in isotope separation, reactor problems at Hanford, and the complexity of implosion design, fell months behind schedule. By mid-1946, the first weapons were finally assembled and available for deployment.
The atomic bombing of Hamburg, 1946
The Japanese islands are invaded by US forces in November 1945 in an effort to force the empire to surrender, the country is firebombed and the japanese troops fight even harder for their homeland.
The Allies approve the atomic bombing (Little Boy, 15kt) of Hamburg on June 9th 1946, leading Germany to surrender within three weeks due the effects of nuclear warfare and total military collapse. The Empire of Japan continues on fighting while deeming the news of such a weapon as Allied propaganda. Then on June 20th, Kyoto's resistance front is hit by a tactical atomic bomb (Thin Man, 9kt), followed by Kokura (Fat Man, 21kt) in June 23rd. In June 30th 1946, Japan and Germany ultimately surrender, bringing an end to WWII.
The League of Nations is ultimately dissolved in August 1946 in favor of the United Nations, marking the end of the 'International Anarchy' era in geopolitics.
Cold War (1946-2006)
‘The Betrayal of Voronezh’ got marked in history among war veterans and political circles in the USSR. There starts a proto-nationalist movement, lightly suppressed by the soviet regime. Meanwhile over Saratov, ethnic Tatars and Slavic-Muslims are relocated forcibly after WWII under suspicion of German collaboration, deepening bitterness for the soviet forces in the region.
Europe was then split into Western and Soviet spheres of influence.
Up until the 1960s, multiple transformations happen across Europe and Asia. Namely the US occupation of Japan (1945-1989), the founding of NATO in 1949 in western Europe, the alignment of Eastern Europe with the Warsaw Pact in 1955. The decolonisation of Africa begins in throughout the 1950s after weakened European powers partially retract their forces. The Chinese Civil War concluded with the establishment of the Popular Republic of China, and the Korean War (1950-1953) solidified the division of the peninsula and accelerated the growth of the American national security state. The American-sponsored National Reorganization settlements of 1958-1991 also created several states from prewar nationalist claims, permanently altering the political geography of Central Europe after the soft collapse of the Soviet Union.
After several soviet ultimatums, the west refuses to leave West Germany, leading to the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, the Western Allies protest but do not intervene.
With the forced resigning of Brezhnev in favor of Kosygin in 1969, the USSR invests heavily into consumer electronics, computing, and automation for civilian use. Becoming a major international player in the digital market and computer education, funds partially go to the soviet space program in favor of propaganda launches with the GAYA project. A civilian-scientific module added to the MIR, with quarterly launches sending university projects and crew to space. Political shift into pragmatic socialism. The USSR funds and supports a client regime in Afghanistan, refusing full scale deployment during the crisis. The USSR lifts censorship in technical, academic, and artistic circles — allowing a controlled form of openness. Starting with the launching of NAROSET, the soviet internet-equivalent in 1988.
In 1989 with heightened tensions in the Middle East and Europe, the US relocates the bulk of its occupation in Japan towards West Germany — from where they operated flash interventions and sponsored of nationalist groups in Yugoslavia and Central Europe — leaving behind a tri-party democratic system between the LDP, DPP, and the JCP, and minor traditionalist insular movements.
In 1990 the USSR rebrands itself as the 'Eurasian Socialist Federation' (ESF) during a soft collapse, suffering a recession due its direct involvement in the Gulf War siding with Iraq, later forcing Saddam to step out in exchange for oil concessions, the conflict ends with a divided country between the US and ESF forces. The Berlin Wall is teared down in November 1990 as gesture of openess with the West, Germany unites as 'Greater Germany' after soviet partial east territorial concessions of lower Silesia and Prussia through the Hanover Treaty — under the terms of soviet-tied industrialization and commerce of the region. Many soviet disenters leave the ESF to live in Greater Germany, which remained a mostly-neutral country throughout the Cold War, playing both the US and ESF off each other.
ESF-proxied Iraq leads to further destabilization of the region, due to insurgent supply chains. The US and the ESF both invest heavily in remote reconnaissance and semi-autonomous strike drones as a way to avoid direct escalation with each other. The civilian internet worldwide is growing, but intertwined with military research. The war has exhausted most of its foreign power and will to fight, seen with voiced will to withdraw from several member states during the gulf war. A few strong soviet foreign policies, included nuclear assistance deals signed with Brazil, Iran, and India in the early 90s in order to threaten the US and Israeli influence in the regions, setting the stage for future regional allied powers.
The US put Brazil under and threatened its south-american allies with sanctions in an attempt to disarm negotiations in 1992. In late 1993, an assassination attempt on President Itamar Franco, allegedly backed by American interests, sought to derail the Plano Real reforms and prevent Brazil from emerging as a ESF-aligned economic competitor.
The Cold War would extend well into the early years of the 21st century, dividing the world's political, technological and cultural spheres into soviet or american influences. Particularly in computer and automation systems used in weapons development, communications and satellite networks. On September 11th 1999, a highly coordinated cyberattack to the United States and British computer infrastructure causes over 9,000 deaths and billions in damages related to failure of air control and hospital files. This pushes NATO powers into the Middle East against the ESF's proxy powers.
This chaotic condition ripens the development and deployment of autonomous platforms of all kinds on both sides, a drone warfare and smartweapons evolve into a hallmark of armed conflict in eastern europe and the middle east.
In 2001 the US passes an emergency legislation that would later become the ‘Artificial Intelligence Control Act’. AI and advanced automation systems are classified as dual-use technology, just like nuclear or chemical weapons, in order to better control which agents become capable of deploying them against the US and its allies.
In 2006, the drawn-out conflicts worldwide exhaust the ESF’s economy and image, also staining further development in computing for smart-systems due the war stigma. The ESF economy crashes, and the assembly dissolves in their formative states as members withdraw. The Iraq Civil War still happens as the US is still fighting sectarian Shia and Sunni armed groups, former ESF federations and Russia’s proxies, Russia joins in to defend its buffer zones but its influence in the region decreases exponentially.
Post-Cold War (2006-2020)
By 2010 the multipolar world is under stress, China sponsors India, Brazil, South Africa, and floods the market with their ‘IBSA’ economic coalition as a response to the March 2009 American Housing market crash. Russia fades into regional power despite its strong ties with the Brazilian energy industry. Suspected capability of Brazil is widely assumed by now after failure to comply in scheduled inspections, excused as ‘too troublesome’ during a political scandal period. The US cannot justify sanctions against Brazil or its allies without losing trade with the Mercosur needed for its meat and soy, and global Warfare AI research goes dark under shell corporations and dual-use projects.
Internet presence is fragmented and tied to national identity worldwide, despite American and European efforts to connect it and surveil it, there is no unified mass social media but local ones (and Wikipedia never arises as we know it). There's the Internet in the Americas, Japan and Oceania, the russian Naroset in former soviet territories and much of Eastern Europe, the Interlink in continental Europe, the British Isles, and South Africa, and the chinese Uninet dominating much of Southeast Asia. Cyberterrorism is a recurrent event across the globe between intelligence agencies and political actors.
In 2017 after decades of attrition Russia officially invades Ukraine with support of Russian sympathizers in the country. The operation is a military disaster in terms of strategic accomplishments due the Russian army's outdated army doctrine and a public reeling for the end of Russian conflicts across the world. Yet, it managed to annex the region of Crimea for its strategic ports to the black sea. The US and European countries send incentives to Ukraine so they can fight — no one wants conflict with a nuclear-armed Russia and mainly one that can threaten European natural gas and oil lines. The conflict drags on for multiple years. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia failed to contain Yemeni rebels despite American incentives in the form of outdated bombs and semi-autonomous weapons, and they took over Yemen, becoming a dangerous state in the region with strong ties to Iran's sphere of influence.
In the 2020s, there is major isolation in economic and political spheres worldwide dealing with foreign firmware, OS, and hardware. Exporting computer platforms becomes expensive and daring endeavors, computing markets are mostly proprietary in major world blocs. The UN votes on a treaty on AI Non-Proliferation based on the guidelines of the American AICA. Further fueling the stigma of autonomous smart systems of any kind, the word itself becomes taboo, historically associated with destruction and terrorism. Civilian companies pivot towards “dumb automation”, deterministic and easily audited systems.
The Millennial Crises (2020-2133)
Around mid 2021 a flu-like pandemic breaks out in east Asia spreading from China to Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia and Japan. Ukraine is condemned internationally after war footage of drone warfare surfaces on the European Interlink (Euro-block internet equivalent, built in 1998). Conversations about the employment of chemical and electronic warfare resurfaces in the world forums, this and other war crimes being committed by both sides quickly sinks foreign support for Ukraine and Russia, quickly turning the Donbas region into a terror quagmire as the Russian forces rush to modernize and illegally test drone warfare, in an attempt to improve national PR and avoid military casualties.
In 2027, an American-British joint manned mission to Mars happens. Space-age development has never fully faded, the technology designed for weapons delivery heavily influenced delivery and maintenance of onboard systems, making it possible to put three women on Mars by October 2029 for a five-day scientific mission.
In 2030 conflicts between the US, Israel and Iran causes soaring oil prices, putting Brazil and Venezuela ahead of the oil market as alternate suppliers competing directly with US oil. US makes moves to bar Venezuelan oil through harsher sanctions but Brazil backs with a floor-price tag or else it will retaliate economically. Venezuela becomes the south-american backfoot of the Brazilian economy as China imports its oil. France and Spain pull up a joint operation in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon to relieve the pressure on Iran and try to persuade it into suspending its naval blockade, this shatters European cohesion but alleviates economic pressure, as civilians now start buying in Spanish and French goods to have access to the external market. Brazil is pushed to hold-off American plans to start a bombing campaign in Iran under peacekeeping tones, and offers a joint exploration of Venezuelan oil, but it might take the result of the 2030 elections to be officialized.
By 2047 the West returns to Mars, this time with a semi-permanent scientific facility after almost two decades of delays and planning. The first stage out of three to start a base near the landing site of the Spirit rover is due to arrive in November 2047. The east and south blocs feel excluded despite minor software and hardware compromises with the mission. Plan out their own endeavor towards the landing site of Opportunity. Europeans will play a big part in the American mission, but France and Germany both voice plans to explore Mars’ western hemisphere around Valles Marineris in the future.
By 2050, Consumer level AI development initiatives resurface. The public is skeptical but willing to experiment with its gradual implementation of tools such as LLMs and Machine Learning. The south-american bloc seems to suffer a major recession due Brazilian involvement in the Rainforest Wars in West Africa, fighting French and Belgian influence in the region, supplying weapons and naval support to rebel forces and regime changes, sealing deals in Real. Venezuelan and Argentinian economies start to crack as economic opponents start to sanction Brazil and its allies.
The ULARs as established in 2108
In 2074 the ULARs Initiative happens, a temporary alliance, the Union of Latino-American Republics (commonly "la Unión"), is created as an extension of the ALCA to save South Americans from further recession, led by Brazil and also most needed by Brazil after the Rainforest Wars. Essentially creating an EU-like bloc, with soft borders, organized international peacekeeping and freer economy.
In 2087 a domestic terrorist attack detonates a stolen 60kt nuclear weapon in San Francisco bay, California. The ongoing investigation and toll in the US economy causes a civil war between ultranationalists and moderate Americans that has threatened to split the country. This event was also used by the government to excuse extensive surveilance and political violence of and against its citizens and criminals, particularly latino immigrants and ULARs – but also lead to the increased security and further non-proliferation policies of the US and its allies from that decade forward.
Flag of the Federation of United Nations as of 2099
In 2099, the Federation of United Nations was founded as an off-world para-military and intergovernmental organization, by Russia, China, France and the United States — with aims of maintaining international and orderly off-world operations beyond Earth. Later joined by the UK, UAE, Bharat, Greater Germany, Portugal, Kuwait between 2100 and 2140.
The rise of the 'Federation' is a rupture of the third-world bloc dynamics that reigned between the later years of the Cold War and the 22nd century, and turns it into a global south vs global north attrition.
The ULARs' original expiration date arrived in 2104, but no one wanted to pull back from the interlinked system of culture and economy. Stepping back on it wasn't realistically viable without sacrificing the progress made. The regional governments of South America united into a single major state through the Treaty of Caracas in 2108, sharing borders only with the Guyanas and Panama, spearheading strong US allies in the region. The ULARs is the only country in the world with essentially three capitals, Brasília for the internal affairs, Caracas for the exports to the west and Europe, and Santiago for the east and south.
Voronesia's flag as flown since 2119
From 2115 to 2122, Russia found itself fighting a civil war in between the Russian Federation and several nationalist groups in the Volga region, a conflict which ended with the creation of two new states, Saratovia in 2119 and Voronesia in 2122, with a 60km russian demilitarized zone in between the two countries (the Povorino Strip). Both new states helped the russians to quench the remaining insurgent movements through fighting and repatriation throughout the '120s, but Saratovia demonstrated itself closer to a russian proxy than an independent republic, on the contrary of Voronesia, which strongly sought allies outside the russian sphere of influence.
The ULARs is vetoed entry into the Federation twice between 2122 and 2168 due its low-HDI and volatile nature compared to the other Federation powers. A period which saw its expansion into the african market and eastern Europe, particularly into the Kinshasi Republic and the new People's Republic of Voronesia.
In 2133, the Outer Space Treaty is rectified to accommodate space exploration and privatized enterprises for a human presence beyond Earth. This immediately expands the number of private investments into space, namely on Venus, Mars, Titan, Enceladus, and Europa — and automation seems like the way to do it, so revisions are discussed on AI-regulating treaties in the following decades. Interplanetary Epoch (2133 - 2365)
Starting with the humans return to Mars after almost a century of infighting across the globe in 2139, both superpowers, the Federation and ULARs start pouring resources in expanding their space infrastructure, launching from Equador, to Baikonour and Cape Canaveral.
The Latin Question Crises (2122 - 2300)
The economic ties between Voronesia and the ULARs throughout the remaining of the 22nd century heavily bittered the relationships between Russia and the United States against parts of the Eurobloc and particularly ULARs itself, often using its seat of power at the UN and the FUN to jeopardize security and peace measures of the latin bloc and the development of eastern european powers as tech developing hubs. Aerial and naval blockades in the region only deepened the chasm and were sustained through latin relationships with East Ukraine, which made sure to lend its ports for the Voronesi market under threat of retalliation against Russia.
Voronesia in particular became a beacon of latin computing investments in exchange for grain and food exports from Ukraine and ULARs, rapidly rising in autonomous navigation and robotics essential for off-world logistics. The rapid developments spearheaded by Samosek Systems in the late 2190s however were a recurring motif in discourse by russian and american diplomats throughout the decade — fearing that 'soon enough' the Voronesi industry would become a latin 'Cuban Missile' platform threatening several major Federation members, both figuratively and literally.
Throughout the 22nd century, ULARs and its allies such as the Kinshasi Republic have sparked over 20 regional conflicts worldwide against the Federation powers, mainly located in the Caribbean, middle Africa, the Caucasus and Volga regions — causing trillions of dollars in damages, economic and political pressures within the Federation (particularly the US, Russia and China) in an effort to destabilize and drain resources gained by them through the process of space exploration.
In 2201, Russia and Federation-aligned forces launched an invasion of Voronesia and East Ukraine, citing security risks associated with its military-capable autonomous systems as the main causus belli — the campaign lasted eight months from February 4th to September 13th and resulted in heavy devastation across the country. Despite limited support from other local powers, Voronesia was reduced to half its pre-war territory.
Although the UN formally opposed Russia’s annexations, it refrained from open confrontation due to Russia’s influence within both the UN and the Federation, as well as fears of economic retaliation in the outer colonies
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In the aftermath of the war, russian occupation in East Ukraine was swayed by ULARs forces into retreat, but there was little else that could be done by the limited number of volunteer fighters available at the time. In the decades following its reconstruction, Voronesia transitioned from a devastated state into a rising regional and extra-terrestrial power. Initially framed as a defensive policy, its growing investment in autonomous military systems gradually blurred the line between civil and military applications.
Throughout the 2250s and 2260s, political leadership in Voronesia shifted toward a more nationalist orientation, prioritizing security and sovereignty over integration with international institutions. Historians debate the extent to which these developments reflected organic domestic trends or the subtle influence of the ULARs, whose long-term economic assistance and political backing may have shaped Voronesia’s increasingly assertive posture.
The international community grew concerned that Voronesia sought to challenge Russia directly. Analysts, however, doubted its capacity to confront Moscow in open war. Instead, speculation centered on Saratovia, Voronesia’s sister republic and historic rival, which had previously expanded its territory during the early independence struggles. The United Nations considered a Voronesi–Saratovian conflict more plausible and potentially containable, though fears persisted that ULARs’ involvement could escalate the situation beyond a regional dispute.
To offset the Federation’s overwhelming conventional advantage, Voronesia’s southern allies covertly supported piracy and separatist movements within outer-colony settlements. These groups disrupted supply chains and inflamed public opinion across Federation member states, particularly Russia, France, and Greater Germany, where disproportionate responses to colonial unrest weakened political stability. While the United States maintained its commitment to Federation solidarity, China adopted a more cautious stance, providing only technological support to its allies. This restraint was partly attributed to renewed unrest among Muslim separatists within Chinese territories, limiting Beijing’s willingness to escalate overseas conflicts.
In the late 2260s ULARs further reinforced this position by deploying three carrier groups in the eastern Mediterranean, officially designated for “regional security,” but widely interpreted as a deterrent force.
The Voronesi-Federation War (2271 - 2273)
By late 2270, global tensions surrounding Voronesia reached a breaking point. The Voronesi Question had been an issue for over a century now, and the theater of more than couple regional conflicts and military unease. It was not an isolated conflict either, but what set it apart from others is that it took the reality of war back home to a Federation power, something that hadn't really happened in 70 years. And this time, with latin backup.
A series of coordinated but unclaimed cyber- and kinetic attacks on Federation surveillance networks blinded portions of its satellite coverage over Eastern Europe. Attempts to restore capacity through substitute launches were frustrated when several replacement satellites were destroyed during their ascent by the ULARs Mediterranean fleet, which later characterized the incidents as “training accidents.” Few observers accepted this explanation, and the events deepened suspicions of coordination between Voronesia and its Latin American allies.
At the same time, the Federation had introduced a series of restrictions on ULARs citizens in extraterrestrial colonies, citing piracy and terrorism concerns. These measures, sometimes described as a “soft outlawing,” significantly escalated hostility between the two blocs. Meanwhile, traffic out of Voronesia surged. Commercial flights and long-range vessels departed at unprecedented rates, with large-scale evacuations quietly relocating non-combatants — primarily to Brazil, a ULARs autonomous province. Domestic amber alerts and selective conscription ensured that only individuals deemed militarily useful remained inside the country. International observers interpreted these moves as preparations for a potential Russian first strike.
A Voronesi first strike on Saratovia's air defenses on November 17th 2271 starts the Voronesi-Federation War, as within hours, the air strikes quickly shift into Russian territory. Voronesi demands cessation of all out-world hostilities against its citizens, restitution of its territories lost in 2201, and reparations amounting to 753 billion Evros for reparations. While the UN General Assembly condemned the escalation of hostilities, Security Council resolutions were repeatedly blocked by vetoes from Federation-aligned powers. Critics argued that the UN’s inability to restrain either side highlighted the institution’s diminishing authority in late 23rd-century geopolitics.
The regional conflict was expected to die out in a period of 4 to 6 months after first engagement, but it evolved into humiliatingly long three-year conflict that would come to claim nearly ~1.1 million casualties for the Federation side (military, mercenaries, and colonial conscripts) and about 33,200 Voronesi troops, due the extremely lopsided use of autonomous platforms from the Voronesi side such as Specters, which often outnumbered Federation troops 3-to-1 - a military disaster of unprecedented scale since the drone wars of the 1990s.
The discovery of the Voronesi nuclear laboratory and subsequent investigation by the United Nations lead to an abrupt end to the war on April 2nd, 2273. The surviving conscripted martians were repatriated to their home planet with severe mental and physical scars. The Voronesi government heavily utilized the threat of nuclear war to assure its proper financial compensations for damages caused by the Federation in its homeland and outworld settlements, their borders being restored to their former 2201 delineations, all thanks to the last hour efforts made by their tactical computer cluster, known as ‘VOYNET’. The program, however, got demoted back to third-class tactician in the aftermath of negotiations.
The programming notes and technology used to construct and power VOYNET would be gathered by researchers for the Titan Academy of Computer Sciences, in New Bulgaria, on Titan (Saturn VI), the primary body behind the beginnings of Project Prometheus.
The Terran Repression (2271 - 2300)
While tensions escalated on Earth in the imminence of a Voronesi-tied conflict, on Mars, the colonial government tightened its grip around the population. Although things had already been dire during the past few decades, starting in the early '250s. Some argue the Federation's surveillance state was a response to rising separatist violence, others contend the violence was a response to pre-existing repression. One thing they can agree on is the relevance of the works by Philip Solitse, a retired police officer in Galdalkao — a crater colony north of Spirit — a book published in '258 as "Il Artsaty Raschveta" ('The Argent Sunrise' in marsi) with the pseudonym of 'Alexander Kalput'. A collection of distilled separatist analysis, rage, principles and revolt he judged essential to fix the status quo of Martian society. A book that refused to commit only one stance across the board and affirmed to choose the most pragmatic route towards the 'greatness of Martian people'.
'The Argent Sunrise' was widely adopted in the '260s and '270s by communists, fascists, liberals, and anarchist groups alike to different extents and on different issues as their foundational text, even if on practice they would later come at odds with one another. Needless to say, a very problematic piece of political writing that the Federation immediately tried to suppress. By the time the Federation started conscripting martians to fight their war on Earth, it only further radicalized the moderate colonists.
The returning veterans of war became heavily politicized and readily joined activists and armed militias in prol of the martian cause as soon as they touched down. The increase in political violence lead to the increased militarization of the police and the colonial navy, and in little over 14 years, Mars had become a surveillance state, where people rarely talked in public about anything that could be remotely interpreted as 'subversive' in tone. All while separatist movements went dark, operating under secretive cells and analog communications trying to undermine the colonial government whenever they could, taking advantage of a war-weakened and harsher Federation to take hold amongst the population.
The Martian Secession (2301 - 2305)
The growing political and social pressure of the 23rd century erupted with the opening of the new one. The fading of the post-war recession saw increased investments, cultural and social pushes of Terran presence into a politically volatile Mars, thus further aggravating the 'othering' feeling between martians and terran immigrants.
The Martian Restoration Party (left), and the October 6th Movement (right) where two prominent opposing martian separatist groups, operating on the East and Western hemispheres.
In 2301, the Gray Army, a far-left extremist group cut the powerlines between the martian cities of Bronkhorst and Mariner, leaving the entire region without its main supply of electricity - this move initiated a cascade of military incursions by the Federation that heavily deepened the opression sentiment already lived by the planet in previous decades. It also pushed several separatist movements across the political spectrum in other regions of the planet into full revolt status, such as the Metal Worker's Reformist Front and the Arean Liberty Movement - for the Federation forces would not distinguish 'active' from 'potential' rebel in their efforts to quench the insurgents.
Unfortunately, for the detriment of the Solar System colonies at large, the Martian Secession wars ended with the destruction of Betel Gateway Station around Earth, the Phobos Space Hook, and the insertion of 100,000 metric tons of steel caltrops around Earth's low orbit - making safe, commercial, and reliable space travel for Terrans (and particularly, the Federation) essentially impossible for the coming decades.
During the post-war decades, a series of civil conflicts and disputes boil over on Mars due the power vaccum left by the retreating Federation and corporate body. The conglomerate of newly instituded martian nations, the Martian Coalition, stumbled to reorganize the outer system's moon colonies under its new regime, becoming the new center of humanity in the Solar System. Meanwhile, the nations of Earth plunged themselves into World War III over who was to blame for the Martian-project disaster and how to (forcibly) redistribute whatever resources, goods, and power was left of the former Federation of United Nations and ULARs.
