History

2060-2200 AD
After the oil reserves ran dry in the Middle East, the EC was reduced 'almost to ruin', and was led primarily by the United Kingdom. Being in a state of near ruin in 2060 Northern Europe was not a target or origin of any nuclear exchanges in the Great War. However, large chunks of Southern and Eastern Europe were destroyed or reduced to wasteland due to their proximity to the Middle East and Russia respectively.

By 2060 the European Commonwealth as a political organisation had totally collapsed. The largely independent nation states could not work together in the face of such adversity.

In 2066 Britain sealed it's borders and started requisitioning resources, land and even work forces from the private sector. Riots began to break out in all major cities in 2067, a State of Emergency was declared, the police force became a branch of the military, hundreds died as paratroopers were sent in to quell protesters around Parliament. Images of the massacre were leaked into the media, the Prime Minister vowed to never again use traumatised war veterans and automated curfew drones to put down riots.

By 2070 millions of refugees from S. and E. Europe, Africa and Russia began flowing into Central Europe. France elected a Communist President, the German government collapsed while the Netherlands and Belgium, by now both under Fascist rule, ceded their sovereignty to the United Kingdom in exchange for military protection.

Within a year the President of France started annexing vast swathes of S. Europe, all industry was nationalised, all immigrants were welcomed - and then sent off to dozens of forced labour camps in Spain. France signed a pact with Communist China. The French President along with the puppet leaders of Spain, Italy and Portugal declared the creation of 'The Second European People's Commonwealth'. In 2073 the Second European Commonwealth started massing troops in Normandy, Britain was offered a place in the Commonwealth pending the embrace of Communism. Britain was given a week to respond by the French President. There was in fighting in Britain's government, the troop numbers Britain faced were vast. Within two days power was seized from the Prime Minister by a charismatic veteran General and leader of the fascist 'Empire League' using the support of the British King. During this period of constitutional crisis, and before order could be restored, General Alexander Becket unleashed Britain's entire remaining nuclear arsenal against strategic targets all over France. An attack of this magnitude was totally unexpected, the Communist government was wiped out, Paris was consumed by nuclear fire, and the Second European Commonwealth descended into anarchy while Great Britain was transformed by Becket into a fully militaristic Fascist state. Britain took full control of the Netherlands and Belgium, the small fascist states happily complying in exchange for their own security. China is too busy fighting the US to pay much attention to European affairs.

In 2076 British troops began 'The Great Raid', resources, technology, art, historical artefacts and slaves were brought to 'Camp Calcutta' in Normandy for processing. By now Central Europe was rife with plagues, diseases and nano viruses. Advanced air purification systems, heavy armour and special weapons developed to quickly wipe out large numbers of unarmed and unarmoured 'targets' became standard issue for raid units. Slaves were scanned for infections and disabilities at Camp Calcutta. In what proves to be a harrowing but effective way of dealing with the vast numbers of immigrants attempting to enter Britain, captured refugees and inferior or diseased slaves were turned into food and a form of fuel with qualities similar to petrol. No word of this was leaked to mainland Britain. So called 'Soylent' food products became part of the average citizens diet.

It's 2077. In March Britain received intelligence about elements of the US government moving to remote areas in preparation for a nuclear or biological attack. Britain declared itself the head of a new European Commonwealth. While there were still fairly large populations of people in central Europe - Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Scandinavia were the only remaining nations with sufficient infrastructure to maintain national administrations, all these remaining nations quickly declared themselves members of this new European Commonwealth, further ceding their sovereignty to London. Looting, raids and war had ravaged the other European nations, although unknown to Britain numerous vaults across Europe existed, all full of previous government members, the rich, and leading scientists. In June, in light of the impending Great War, the European Commonwealth issued a statement of complete neutrality to all remaining national governments and organisations around the world - including China and the USA. Before the end of June, all key government, military and scientific personal were moved to remote parts of Scotland, Ireland and Scandinavia. All citizens are warned of the impending war, and drills took place once a week. The 'cry wolf' effect is reduced considerably by the fact that the police had orders to execute those who didn't evacuate to the vast city shelters with a 'convincing sense of urgency'.

October 23rd 2077. Great War takes place. Wales, Finland and numerous locations in Eastern Europe are accidental targets of large warheads. Casualties of tens of millions experienced by the USA and China, while combined deaths in Europe due to accidental targeting and nuclear fallout thought to only be about 5 million by 2087, casualties in Britain number at only a few thousand, although various conflicts and diseases have already decimated the population.

By 2080 mutations start occurring, crops fail, animals die. The vastly decreased population and use of slaves prevents the starvation of citizens in the European Commonwealth. Strange and hostile creatures emerge from the fallout of the bombs, Wales is particularly affected. As the EC government returns to relative normality, they hear news of human "ghouls", strange mutated humans that show no mental degradation.

2081-2276
The next couple of centuries passed without incident for the EC. Slowly, bit by bit, the government tried to rebuild. Low fertility rates prevented significant re-population. Disease slowly subsided and people across Europe emerged from their vaults and places of refuge to form new societies. By 2200 successive chains of benevolent dictators, their tyranny kept in check by powerful military officers and scientific elite, had created a very insular union of city states across Europe, although the majority of these cities were in England. The EC was in effect ruled by a small elite of scientists, soldiers and academics... their power protected and sustained by the constant need for technology, protection and learning in the new hostile post-apocalyptic world. From 2200 until 2270, the EC central administration made contact with various organised societies across Europe, a grand alliance was slowly forged, those societies that rejected the call of the EC were slowly marginalised. They fell foul of starvation or raiders, or were simply wiped off the map by the European Defence Agency (EDA), which, although still primarily composed of British troops, now contained members of numerous nationalities. By the end of 2270, most of the known technology and societies within Europe had been consolidated, and those that remained independent posed no apparent threat to the union. While the total population of Europe stood at far less than the population of one pre-war European nation, and population centres existed in total isolation except for satellite communication and occasional visits by government aircraft, the European Commonwealth was starting to show real signs of progress and prosperity in amongst the wasteland. Slavery was abolished for all except criminals, and the people began to adopt a sense of European national identity.

In 2276 the EDA created a number of special expeditionary forces. They would be tasked with the re-exploration of the planet. Their primary role was to simply observe, scout for advanced technology and resources and make contact with national governments, if they still existed.

One of these expeditionary forces was sent to the East Coast of America. Travelling by nuclear submarine, the unit establishes a base in an old secret military base and submarine facility deep underground.