At the dawn of the 21st Century, mankind boldly entered a new and dauntless age. For the most part, war and large-scale conflicts were rendered to the history of the past, as nations co-operated in an effort to stabilize their own sovereign states by joining the emerging global economy. With the enticement of new technologies and nearly unlimited credit, every nation hastened to the promise of a better tomorrow.
As a result, unimaginable creations proliferated the world with their commonness. Even between political opponents and former enemies, advanced scientific information and devices flowed freely and propagated in immeasurable abundance.
International corporations spearheaded this drive for this newfound fellowship of commerce. They laced the world together in networks of communication, while breaking down many social and ethic barriers as they attempted to fill every country’s desire to modernize and improve conditions for its citizens.
However, it falsely became a golden era of peace. For underneath this “team” spirit, many business entities in reality cared little for the moral and ethical dilemmas associated with their technological wares. They were more concerned with their profit margins and the need to increase their market share. In their arrogance and greed, these businessmen forgot that the universe is not a void, and any action taken always has its consequences.
Their self-serving lust for money and personal success unexpectedly opened a door of opportunity to something else: something primal that lingered in the hearts of ruthless men of baneful ideologies that preached the doctrine of hate. For these servants of evil not only desired power—but the total extermination of all of their professed enemies. To this end these canonical companions of darkness, who called themselves “God’s Chosen”, diligently worked. And from their devious minds that knew only the vilest of thoughts and the most unspeakable demons of the imagination, drew their blueprint of terror and destruction against the world.
Over time, the once harmless and beneficial devices were methodically scrutinized and legally plundered for their technology under auspices of universal trade agreements. The technology was then redesigned and married to deadly chemicals, high explosives, synthesized diseases, and generators of nuclear fission. They became what they were never meant to be—the physical embodiment of cataclysmic nightmares.
In not-so-hidden workshops, laboratories, and factories, the apparatus of genocide grew in alarming numbers. The world at large, however, cared not as it cast its eyes away from the truth, daring not to confront, offend, or provoke. This pacifism of refusing to face the obvious was then perceived as fear, and it furthered the appetites of the agents of death.
Still these artisans of apocalypse waited, for the moment of “ecclesiastical and genetic cleansing” was not yet right. But their patience was soon rewarded. An economic crisis and upheaval that threatened to topple even the richest and most powerful nations of the Earth became the finger that pulled the trigger.
The bubble of unlimited credit had burst to the pinhead of financial fraud, bad lending practices, and soaring deficits created from crippling taxes and wasteful government spending to the transfer of well-paying jobs to overseas sweatshops. The illusion of financial stability dissolved at an unbelievable pace for both businesses and individual citizens alike as markets plunged into monetary depths not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Banks failed, savings were wiped out, unemployment rose high into double-digits, and more than a quarter of the people became homeless or lived in tent cities with government welfare and charities as their only means of support.
This chaos and fear that resulted from the reckless avarice of speculation started the final countdown to Armageddon. And when the economic upheaval was at its bleakest point, the iniquitous mutations of science were finally unleashed with such savagery that they swiftly ravaged the Earth, heralding another world war.
The war, although short, was a bloody one. The weapons of mass destruction remorselessly struck their targets with such speed that only the fervor of fanatical malevolence could summon it. Country after country rapidly collapsed as their infrastructures disintegrated from the holocaust. But the cost in human life was far greater.
Many people died horrific and agonizing deaths at the hands of merciless killers or through the resulting pestilence and plagues that were spread in their wake. The number of dead was so countless that they were stacked like cordwood and unceremoniously heaped into mass graves. But the apocalypse was overwhelming, and many more bodies were just left to rot where they had fallen. A habitat for maggots and swarms of flies became the Earth as the wages of conflict afflicted the planet, choking the very air and essence of life in its bitterness.
In the end, however, the agents of death were destroyed and their scourge smashed upon the rocks of justice and resolve. For civilized men and women of adamant courage once more rose up and relentlessly struck down the modern-day barbarians in unforgiving retribution. And as the last echoes of war faded into memory, it was hoped that evil was now and forever vanquished from the human race.
The world was in total ruins, the final tally of the devastation, but still it endured. It drew closer together as it began to rebuild itself once more. In the long process, many came to agree that a “New Order” was needed to replace the old world, one that respected individual rights, and eliminated the ancient hatreds and social differences.
In the years that followed, mankind struggled towards a lasting peace. Ultimately, global unification and a one-world government became a reality, ushering in the end to all sovereign nations.
With this new era of peace and prosperity, the light of humanity seemed to shine more brightly than throughout all of its previous history. Greater leaps in technology abounded, allowing the human race to reach out further into space than it ever had before. Finally in the year 2041, the first human footprint was placed on the surface of the planet Mars.
Within a decade of the first landing, several bases were established on the distant world, opening the path for colonization. To further mankind’s presence on the planet, the newly formed Earth government called out to its vast population for volunteers to settle the red world. This was by no means an easy task, for Martian life would be hard for all those who dared to choose it. But they came anyway, the loners, the outcast, the discontented, people looking to make a better life; all came to the planet Mars. By the year 2100, a proud colony of rugged and self-reliant individuals flourished and prospered on the distant planet.
However, the timeless winds of dissolution once again began to vex the human race. Not even the most intellectual or wisest among them realized that such winds again blew through their solar system, with the foulest emanating from the Earth itself.
From the umbra of Earth's technological society, an invisible evil crept its way into the heart of the planet, contaminating everything it touched, defiling man and nature alike. So great was its influence that the Earth government itself eventually took on a darker, more sinister tone. Because global unification was achieved at the expense of unconditional disarmament, there was no one to oppose the will of the Earth's central government.
The Martians watched suspiciously as the “New World Order” tightened its grip upon the lives of the people of the planet Earth. Slowly, the Earth's population was gradually indoctrinated into a state of complacency, rhetoric, and submission.
As “The Order” voyaged deeper into space, it began to spread itself among distant worlds. This required massive resources, and “The Order” then turned to its closest and most productive colony—Mars.
At first, the demands of the Earth's central government were reasonable and drew little attention or interest. But over time, the Martians’ resources were systematically pillaged as their energies were spent on compelled labors. A new slavery arose, backed as always by intimidation and force. The Earth government justified this indignity by challenging the status of Martian citizenship within the Earth's dominion. The Martians became regarded as dependants of the Earth, removed from the prominence of full citizenship. But in the Martians' rough and simplistic view of life, this lie bred the seeds of insurrection.
New and harsh restrictions further accelerated the feelings of discontent and revolution on the red planet. Outbreaks of defiance and violent demonstrations ensued and then intensified. Finally the hostility grew to such a heated pitch against each new law of abusive constraint, it plunged the red planet into outright civil war and rebellion.
Yet, the struggle was greatly uneven as the Martians had little in the way of weapons and military training to fight back with. Even with the employing of guerrilla warfare tactics, the inevitable was only senselessly prolonged. In the end, all resistance was brutally crushed by the Earth’s security forces, leaving the Martian people to tend to a broken world, shattered families, and trampled pride.
Still there was something that the “Earthers” overlooked in their zeal for control and domination: the irrepressible longing to be free. It slowly sparked and nurtured a new determination from the despair of defeat—and fostered a new dream, uniting many of the colonists of the red planet in purpose and deed. To the risk of death, the Martians plotted, organized and waited.
An uneasy calm settled over the red world. Years passed without incident, allowing for the return of some normality to life on Mars. With this peace came some trust and added responsibilities. The increasing threat of alien military intervention loomed on the horizon, necessitating a small Martian defense force to be quickly constituted. Eventually, several interplanetary wars became a reality and the small Martian Fleet—supplied with aging warships and obsolete equipment—was called upon to aid in the defense of the human race from certain alien annihilation.
The Martians trained hard and fought fiercely, driving back all aggressors from the Earth's dominated systems. But beneath the official face of professionalism, however, a wall of suppressed animosity and contempt stood between the Martian forces and their Earth counterparts. Regardless that the Martians had showed extraordinary bravery and skill in every battle they fought; they were still berated by their Earth overlords.
With the wars won and over, “The Order” turned once again to their Martian colony with “new directives” to be fulfilled. The building of several new spaceports and other facilities on the red planet was needed to spur economic growth as well as to pay for a huge war debt. This burdened the Martians beyond their capacity. However, to the complete amazement of the Earth’s central government, there was no public outcry from the settlers of the red world—only silence.
It appeared to the Earthlings that the Martians finally came to accept their position within the Earth dominion and that they now too worked for the greater glory of “The Order” and the human race. All did seem to be well with the Martians, all did seem to be well.
