Story background
Spoiler (click to show/hide):
For a long time, it has been theorised that an infinite number of Earths exist out there, each nestled within its own reality, separated from out own by the thinnest of subspace membranes, phased universal vibration, or a mere second ahead of Human perception. Irrespective of the theory, there is one reality in which the course of Human history remained the same as our own, right up until the second world war. It began, as it did in many realities, with the Japanese invasion of the Chinese mainland, followed by the reunification of the Prussian empire, and the expansion of the Italian protectorates. Between them, they claimed more and more land, until the invasion of Poland in 1939. France and the British Commonwealth stepped in to defend, but were pushed off the European mainland. Everything from Western France to Eastern Romania either fell to them, or joined voluntarily. The British leadership petitioned the United States to get involved, but they refused, remaining staunchly isolationist.
To the east, the Soviets built up their forces while spending time improving their civilian and military infrastructure. The pact they had with the Axis kept them safe enough that they could build their people's army without interference. The Axis broke the pack and invaded from their strongholds in Europe during the winter of 1942. It proved disastrous as they were not ready for the harsh conditions and, after a brief string of victories, their armies were halted and turned back. The people's army pushed them beyond the boundaries of the Soviet Union, through occupied Poland, and into Germany itself. Two huge superpowers clashed through the middle of Europe, while the Commonwealth looked on from across the seas, their military strength almost exhausted.
1944 came, and saw the end of the Axis. The Soviet armies crushed all resistance that they came across in the north, before turning south and claiming all of Europe for itself. Being unable to politically hold onto their territory in Africa, the Commonwealth shattered as uprisings popped up everywhere in order to free their own countries once again from colonial rule. In the east, the Soviets assisted the United Chinese in pushing out the Japanese Empire, before invading their homelands and taking their Emperor hostage. Peace was secured under Communist rule.
Time ticked forward, and all those countries that had fallen were set up again with Soviet assistance, and Soviet leaders in charge. What was left of the Commonwealth signed a treaty with them, agreeing that neither would threaten the other. One did not have the manpower to fight from one side of the continent to the other, while the other needed to release the people from military service so that they could return to their lives. Thus, life continued on under a harsh regime. At least, until the death of the Soviet leadership, as a new family rose to power over the corrupt old one - the Kurganovas. They shared everything equally amongst the people, and set up organisations that could persue research into science and mysticism without interference.
It wasn't until the 1990's that the next threat emerged - radicalistic propaganda had taken root in the Americas, with the majority of the populace claiming anti-communist views. Even their president wanted to free capitalism on the mainland and, as such, began work on biological warfare. On the surface, everything was cordial but, when the time was right, agents were inserted into the Soviet heartlands to deploy their weapon.
Millions died as the manufactured virus did its work, corrupting the DNA of those affected subtly at first, but much more aggressively as time went on. The Kurganovas called for retaliation against the only nation that could have done such a thing, but with freedom from tyranny comes freedom of thought, and a significant portion of the European Communist States refused to raise their arms. Irrespective of their defiance, the USSR went to war for the third time on the 20th century, this time with the USA.
The war lasted for eight solid years. The Soviet armies invaded Alaska and quickly fortified it to act as their beachhead. As part of the Commonwealth, Canada refused to stand against the new people's army from the west, but also would not prevent either them, or the Americans, from clashing and allowed free travel through their country. Without the barriers of the seas for their fleets to patrol, the Americans could not stop more and more men pouring into the combat zone, and engaging in the largest attritional war since the first world war. What was worse for them, was that the people's army brought the virus with them back to the land of its birth. Eventually, the USA fell, and its populace was forced into indentured servitude to the state. With the threat eliminated, the Kurganovas were swift to punish those who refused to fight, exileing them to the Africas.
Of course, the new stability would not last forever. Over the next 200 years, American slaves would emancipate themselves and hide in neutral countries under their assumed mutual identity of the Jailbirds, while the exiles sat and managed their own research, forming their own faction of the Iron Empire. Both had views of once day returning to Russia and eliminating the Kurganovas, along with their own plans for how the world should then be.
For a long time, it has been theorised that an infinite number of Earths exist out there, each nestled within its own reality, separated from out own by the thinnest of subspace membranes, phased universal vibration, or a mere second ahead of Human perception. Irrespective of the theory, there is one reality in which the course of Human history remained the same as our own, right up until the second world war. It began, as it did in many realities, with the Japanese invasion of the Chinese mainland, followed by the reunification of the Prussian empire, and the expansion of the Italian protectorates. Between them, they claimed more and more land, until the invasion of Poland in 1939. France and the British Commonwealth stepped in to defend, but were pushed off the European mainland. Everything from Western France to Eastern Romania either fell to them, or joined voluntarily. The British leadership petitioned the United States to get involved, but they refused, remaining staunchly isolationist.
To the east, the Soviets built up their forces while spending time improving their civilian and military infrastructure. The pact they had with the Axis kept them safe enough that they could build their people's army without interference. The Axis broke the pack and invaded from their strongholds in Europe during the winter of 1942. It proved disastrous as they were not ready for the harsh conditions and, after a brief string of victories, their armies were halted and turned back. The people's army pushed them beyond the boundaries of the Soviet Union, through occupied Poland, and into Germany itself. Two huge superpowers clashed through the middle of Europe, while the Commonwealth looked on from across the seas, their military strength almost exhausted.
1944 came, and saw the end of the Axis. The Soviet armies crushed all resistance that they came across in the north, before turning south and claiming all of Europe for itself. Being unable to politically hold onto their territory in Africa, the Commonwealth shattered as uprisings popped up everywhere in order to free their own countries once again from colonial rule. In the east, the Soviets assisted the United Chinese in pushing out the Japanese Empire, before invading their homelands and taking their Emperor hostage. Peace was secured under Communist rule.
Time ticked forward, and all those countries that had fallen were set up again with Soviet assistance, and Soviet leaders in charge. What was left of the Commonwealth signed a treaty with them, agreeing that neither would threaten the other. One did not have the manpower to fight from one side of the continent to the other, while the other needed to release the people from military service so that they could return to their lives. Thus, life continued on under a harsh regime. At least, until the death of the Soviet leadership, as a new family rose to power over the corrupt old one - the Kurganovas. They shared everything equally amongst the people, and set up organisations that could persue research into science and mysticism without interference.
It wasn't until the 1990's that the next threat emerged - radicalistic propaganda had taken root in the Americas, with the majority of the populace claiming anti-communist views. Even their president wanted to free capitalism on the mainland and, as such, began work on biological warfare. On the surface, everything was cordial but, when the time was right, agents were inserted into the Soviet heartlands to deploy their weapon.
Millions died as the manufactured virus did its work, corrupting the DNA of those affected subtly at first, but much more aggressively as time went on. The Kurganovas called for retaliation against the only nation that could have done such a thing, but with freedom from tyranny comes freedom of thought, and a significant portion of the European Communist States refused to raise their arms. Irrespective of their defiance, the USSR went to war for the third time on the 20th century, this time with the USA.
The war lasted for eight solid years. The Soviet armies invaded Alaska and quickly fortified it to act as their beachhead. As part of the Commonwealth, Canada refused to stand against the new people's army from the west, but also would not prevent either them, or the Americans, from clashing and allowed free travel through their country. Without the barriers of the seas for their fleets to patrol, the Americans could not stop more and more men pouring into the combat zone, and engaging in the largest attritional war since the first world war. What was worse for them, was that the people's army brought the virus with them back to the land of its birth. Eventually, the USA fell, and its populace was forced into indentured servitude to the state. With the threat eliminated, the Kurganovas were swift to punish those who refused to fight, exileing them to the Africas.
Of course, the new stability would not last forever. Over the next 200 years, American slaves would emancipate themselves and hide in neutral countries under their assumed mutual identity of the Jailbirds, while the exiles sat and managed their own research, forming their own faction of the Iron Empire. Both had views of once day returning to Russia and eliminating the Kurganovas, along with their own plans for how the world should then be.
The factions
The Kurganovas
Spoiler (click to show/hide):
Three powerful sisters run the new Kurganova Socialist Republic - Kapitan Ivanka, Kommander Malinka, and Admiral Olga. Based out of Kurgagrad, between them they command the Kurganova Shock Troops, the most elite members of the People's Army. The Splinter Virus decimated the male population of the world, and so they have conscripted the best women of the Republic into their ranks. While technology has advanced under their care, they have delved into mysticism in order to boost their combat strength, having merged the essence of Baba-Yaga with one of their Matriarchs, and through genetic manipulation have managed to create specialist soldiers who can, at a moments notice, shift from their human form to that of a warewolf or, in rare cases, warebears.
Three powerful sisters run the new Kurganova Socialist Republic - Kapitan Ivanka, Kommander Malinka, and Admiral Olga. Based out of Kurgagrad, between them they command the Kurganova Shock Troops, the most elite members of the People's Army. The Splinter Virus decimated the male population of the world, and so they have conscripted the best women of the Republic into their ranks. While technology has advanced under their care, they have delved into mysticism in order to boost their combat strength, having merged the essence of Baba-Yaga with one of their Matriarchs, and through genetic manipulation have managed to create specialist soldiers who can, at a moments notice, shift from their human form to that of a warewolf or, in rare cases, warebears.
The Iron Empire
Spoiler (click to show/hide):
After their exile, those who would become the Iron Empire maintained black market trade routes so that they could keep up technologically with the Kurganovas. However, the Splinter Virus affected them just as badly as their parent faction, and they had to look to means other than just arms and armour to potentially keep them safe. Strangely, they found it in the lands that they had been exiled to, as archeologists managed to dig up a buried alien starship that had crashed thousands of years earlier. Reverse-engineering what they could, and just trusting to lck with the rest, they found that they were able to mechanically enhance the corpses of the fallen, and then return them to a semblance of life. They have kept their original Prussian-style armoured appearance, but now march not only with trikes and dune buggies, but also cyber-zombies.
After their exile, those who would become the Iron Empire maintained black market trade routes so that they could keep up technologically with the Kurganovas. However, the Splinter Virus affected them just as badly as their parent faction, and they had to look to means other than just arms and armour to potentially keep them safe. Strangely, they found it in the lands that they had been exiled to, as archeologists managed to dig up a buried alien starship that had crashed thousands of years earlier. Reverse-engineering what they could, and just trusting to lck with the rest, they found that they were able to mechanically enhance the corpses of the fallen, and then return them to a semblance of life. They have kept their original Prussian-style armoured appearance, but now march not only with trikes and dune buggies, but also cyber-zombies.
The Jailbirds
Spoiler (click to show/hide):
After America fell, most of their population were herded into prison camps and forced labour zones in order to serve those who had defeated them. In these cramped conditions, the Splinter Virus ran amok, killing far more than it would have otherwise, and leading to a far faster growth of dissent. As with any people held in captivity, there would inevitably be those would would try and escape the camps and, while few were successful, enough made it out over the 200 years after for them to unite in the neutral South American countries. With the identity of "American" all but destroyed by the Kurganovas, these rebels took the name of Jailbirds to represent their mutual existences behind bars before escape. As befits a rebel group, they have had to rely on what they can scavenge from everyone else, as well as the biological experimentation run-off from the Kurganovas.
After America fell, most of their population were herded into prison camps and forced labour zones in order to serve those who had defeated them. In these cramped conditions, the Splinter Virus ran amok, killing far more than it would have otherwise, and leading to a far faster growth of dissent. As with any people held in captivity, there would inevitably be those would would try and escape the camps and, while few were successful, enough made it out over the 200 years after for them to unite in the neutral South American countries. With the identity of "American" all but destroyed by the Kurganovas, these rebels took the name of Jailbirds to represent their mutual existences behind bars before escape. As befits a rebel group, they have had to rely on what they can scavenge from everyone else, as well as the biological experimentation run-off from the Kurganovas.
I want to say, I will probably not be running this. I've put it here for people with more time/energy/whatever then myself to pick up and run with. Unless nobody wants to, in which case I may run it.
Oh yeah, this if WIP.
