Setting out something of a homebrew setting for a fairly heavily moddified game of Traveller. I'm currently running the setting with an off site group, but figured this would be as good a place as any to post the setting, both as reference for that game, and to get feedback from others in order to refine it further.
Just getting the backstory in now, and saving a couple of posts to fill in with other stuff later as I'm free to work on it. Without further adue
In June 1921, the Martians invaded. Thus began the nearly 50 year Battle for Earth that would see humanity pushed to the brink of extinction. For the first 20 years, humanity stood alone against the martian menace, fighting hard against a vastly superior enemy for every step. For 20 years they fought bravely, for 20 years they lost. Humanity was pushed back to the Chicago line in the Americas, isolated fortress cities of Europe, and the Mongolian steps of Asia. All the remained of the rest of the world were isolated pockets who the Martians simply had not gotten around to destroying. Humanity was now outnumbered on its homeworld.
Then, man's salvation came from the planet of Venus: Hornor the Driven, a great Venician, had united enough of the proud and independent denizens of that shining, burning world to bring forth a fleet and smite the Martians from Terra's skies. The Venician fleet was utterly superior, crushing the Martian forces in Orbit with ease, and easily turning back many Martian counterattacks.
However, while the Venicians reigned supreme in orbit, they were too few to engage in any sort of major ground invasion. Or at least, were not willing to. And even with Martian reinforcements stopped, the Martians already on the surface were more than enough to, eventually, overwhelm the remaining humans. Instead of troops, the Venician fleet instead turned its massive firepower from the Martian fleet, to the surface of the earth.
As part of the opening move, they targeted Yellowstone to trigger an irruption, covering North America in inches of burning ash. The general bombardment continued for five years. Entire continents were burned. The humans had been informed of the plan, and had been given some time to prepare, but the global devastation was hard. Many more died as a, collateral damage of the Venician's burning out the martians. The world grew colder. And throughout it, the Martian attacks did not stop: they knew now there was no point in delay, in caution. In August 25th, 1945, humanity came the closest it had ever come to extinction, as the last grand Martian offensive of the Battle for Earth came within hours of overwhelming the army of the Holy League in the battle of the Aral Sea. But, the line held, and the Martian War machine on Earth was broken.
Over the next five years, the sky still hazed with dust, the Humans were able to make major offensives, reclaiming the British and Japanese Isles from which mankind had been driven some 20 years before, as well as many other locations. In 1951, after 50 years of life and death struggle, Victory was declared: Earth reduced to a burned husk, but a burned husk firmly in human control. While some martians remained (in fact, millions of them), they had been reduced to mere feral swarms, little more than slightly more dangerous wild animals, and at their best, isolated “tribes” too weak to do much but hide in the remotest parts of the world.
Humanity began to rebuild: themselves, their cities, and their world. In very short order, with Venician aid, they did more than rebuild, but even began to push outward, beyond the cradle of earth. Both to mine its wealth, and bring the war to the Martians. Every year brought a new campaign, a new Crusade against the Martians: asteroids were taken, more remnants were hunted down and destroyed on earth. All the while humanity continued to grow. This war footing was maintained for nearly 50 years, as humanity grew from barely more than a hundred million from the lowest point in 1948, to nearly a billion by 2000.
However, will to maintain the war footing was wavering. The Venicians had always been restless, and Hornor was getting old, and he did not believe his son would maintain commitment to the League of Sol, not with the Martian threat seemingly contained. Human unity and commitment to the cause was also wavering, as the humans on earth increasingly were coalescing into four major power blocks, who were also increasingly concerned about the goings on of each other, rather than the Martian menace.
Sensing a need to end the war, Hornor pushed through a plan to do just that: a direct assault upon Mars. The martian campaign lasted from 2004 to 2016, consisting of 6 major waves. It was a disaster. The main assault upon Mars cost over a million human casualties, and broke the Venician fleet, taking Horner and his flagship in the second wave. Without Horner to hold them, the Venician captains simply, left the humans to fend for themselves.
The League nearly crumbled then and there, with the departure steady departure of the Venician fleet, as the Venicians lost interest in their promises to man. It was only saved by the Martians, who were also tired, if not of war, then at least total war.
On the sixth campaign, a strange meeting was held on Demos, the second moon of Mars, between Hornor's successor, representatives of the major human factions, and the God Mothers of Mars. In the council of Dread, as the nearly 6 month meeting came to be known, the order of the solar System for the next century would be determined, though those present probably had no true idea of the full significance of the event. The exact negotiations, and even the details of how they were carried out, remain a secret to this day, but some of the major outcomes are public knowledge.
1) The remains of the Human and Venician fleets and the armies that survived on the surface of Mars were allowed to leave Mars without harassment.
2) The Martians were admitted into the League of Sol, turning that organization from the Alliance to defeat the martian, into a forum for the maintenance of “peace” and “order in the solar system.
3) While combat did not stop, certain limits to War were agreed upon. While the defenses of Earth and Mars would be maintained, the two vast fleets staring each other down, never again would either side launch a major, direct invasion of the other's homeworld. While campaigns and counter campaigns remained a near yearly occurrence, the was was now limited in both means and scope.
However, while the league nominally contained all three races of Sol, the Venicians in practical sense ignore it. A Venician, Horner's chosen successor, remains the nominal head of the organization. However, the successor among the Venicians wields virtually no respect, and thus power. The Martians rarely even bother to provide a representative to the League's “Capital” on Luna. This leaves the League a primarily human operation, with only the thinnest (and extremely unpredictable) Venician support, and the Martians barely restraining their hostility. Naturally, many humans have a great distrust for the league, seeing it as a dangerous vector of alien influence upon them, or worse, a means for the other major powers of earth to interfere in other human's business.
However, despite its shaky support, the ever shifting alliances and plots within the League, and it incredibly weak ability to enforce the peace and order it has been tasked to do, it has yet somehow managed to maintain something like peace, with only relatively minor skirmishes and wars on the frontier, for a hundred years.
This is the world into which you were born, and which you set out to leave your mark.
Just getting the backstory in now, and saving a couple of posts to fill in with other stuff later as I'm free to work on it. Without further adue
League of Sol
In June 1921, the Martians invaded. Thus began the nearly 50 year Battle for Earth that would see humanity pushed to the brink of extinction. For the first 20 years, humanity stood alone against the martian menace, fighting hard against a vastly superior enemy for every step. For 20 years they fought bravely, for 20 years they lost. Humanity was pushed back to the Chicago line in the Americas, isolated fortress cities of Europe, and the Mongolian steps of Asia. All the remained of the rest of the world were isolated pockets who the Martians simply had not gotten around to destroying. Humanity was now outnumbered on its homeworld.
Then, man's salvation came from the planet of Venus: Hornor the Driven, a great Venician, had united enough of the proud and independent denizens of that shining, burning world to bring forth a fleet and smite the Martians from Terra's skies. The Venician fleet was utterly superior, crushing the Martian forces in Orbit with ease, and easily turning back many Martian counterattacks.
However, while the Venicians reigned supreme in orbit, they were too few to engage in any sort of major ground invasion. Or at least, were not willing to. And even with Martian reinforcements stopped, the Martians already on the surface were more than enough to, eventually, overwhelm the remaining humans. Instead of troops, the Venician fleet instead turned its massive firepower from the Martian fleet, to the surface of the earth.
As part of the opening move, they targeted Yellowstone to trigger an irruption, covering North America in inches of burning ash. The general bombardment continued for five years. Entire continents were burned. The humans had been informed of the plan, and had been given some time to prepare, but the global devastation was hard. Many more died as a, collateral damage of the Venician's burning out the martians. The world grew colder. And throughout it, the Martian attacks did not stop: they knew now there was no point in delay, in caution. In August 25th, 1945, humanity came the closest it had ever come to extinction, as the last grand Martian offensive of the Battle for Earth came within hours of overwhelming the army of the Holy League in the battle of the Aral Sea. But, the line held, and the Martian War machine on Earth was broken.
Over the next five years, the sky still hazed with dust, the Humans were able to make major offensives, reclaiming the British and Japanese Isles from which mankind had been driven some 20 years before, as well as many other locations. In 1951, after 50 years of life and death struggle, Victory was declared: Earth reduced to a burned husk, but a burned husk firmly in human control. While some martians remained (in fact, millions of them), they had been reduced to mere feral swarms, little more than slightly more dangerous wild animals, and at their best, isolated “tribes” too weak to do much but hide in the remotest parts of the world.
Humanity began to rebuild: themselves, their cities, and their world. In very short order, with Venician aid, they did more than rebuild, but even began to push outward, beyond the cradle of earth. Both to mine its wealth, and bring the war to the Martians. Every year brought a new campaign, a new Crusade against the Martians: asteroids were taken, more remnants were hunted down and destroyed on earth. All the while humanity continued to grow. This war footing was maintained for nearly 50 years, as humanity grew from barely more than a hundred million from the lowest point in 1948, to nearly a billion by 2000.
However, will to maintain the war footing was wavering. The Venicians had always been restless, and Hornor was getting old, and he did not believe his son would maintain commitment to the League of Sol, not with the Martian threat seemingly contained. Human unity and commitment to the cause was also wavering, as the humans on earth increasingly were coalescing into four major power blocks, who were also increasingly concerned about the goings on of each other, rather than the Martian menace.
Sensing a need to end the war, Hornor pushed through a plan to do just that: a direct assault upon Mars. The martian campaign lasted from 2004 to 2016, consisting of 6 major waves. It was a disaster. The main assault upon Mars cost over a million human casualties, and broke the Venician fleet, taking Horner and his flagship in the second wave. Without Horner to hold them, the Venician captains simply, left the humans to fend for themselves.
The League nearly crumbled then and there, with the departure steady departure of the Venician fleet, as the Venicians lost interest in their promises to man. It was only saved by the Martians, who were also tired, if not of war, then at least total war.
On the sixth campaign, a strange meeting was held on Demos, the second moon of Mars, between Hornor's successor, representatives of the major human factions, and the God Mothers of Mars. In the council of Dread, as the nearly 6 month meeting came to be known, the order of the solar System for the next century would be determined, though those present probably had no true idea of the full significance of the event. The exact negotiations, and even the details of how they were carried out, remain a secret to this day, but some of the major outcomes are public knowledge.
1) The remains of the Human and Venician fleets and the armies that survived on the surface of Mars were allowed to leave Mars without harassment.
2) The Martians were admitted into the League of Sol, turning that organization from the Alliance to defeat the martian, into a forum for the maintenance of “peace” and “order in the solar system.
3) While combat did not stop, certain limits to War were agreed upon. While the defenses of Earth and Mars would be maintained, the two vast fleets staring each other down, never again would either side launch a major, direct invasion of the other's homeworld. While campaigns and counter campaigns remained a near yearly occurrence, the was was now limited in both means and scope.
However, while the league nominally contained all three races of Sol, the Venicians in practical sense ignore it. A Venician, Horner's chosen successor, remains the nominal head of the organization. However, the successor among the Venicians wields virtually no respect, and thus power. The Martians rarely even bother to provide a representative to the League's “Capital” on Luna. This leaves the League a primarily human operation, with only the thinnest (and extremely unpredictable) Venician support, and the Martians barely restraining their hostility. Naturally, many humans have a great distrust for the league, seeing it as a dangerous vector of alien influence upon them, or worse, a means for the other major powers of earth to interfere in other human's business.
However, despite its shaky support, the ever shifting alliances and plots within the League, and it incredibly weak ability to enforce the peace and order it has been tasked to do, it has yet somehow managed to maintain something like peace, with only relatively minor skirmishes and wars on the frontier, for a hundred years.
This is the world into which you were born, and which you set out to leave your mark.
