The Jutland Encyclopedia

Name of entry: Electronic Arts/Valve

Category: Gaming/Corporations

Description of the entry:

By the late 2010's, years of poor treatment of both it's customers and staff as well as the hostile and rather unpopular actions taken, Electronics Arts collapsed, both due to espionage from rival companies and sabotage by it's ill-treated and overworked employees and from mass customer boycotts and poor ratings. EA's stock prices fell and was left in massive debt due to the underestimation of budgets for their overhyped video games. All seemed to be lost for EA, but Valve software, having only flourished with it's excellent services and hands-on approach to the community, bought out EA (And by extension all of it's branches and developers) and made many drastic changes, including the instant dismissal of John Riccitiello and several other leading members of the company. The Origin client service was shut down, and accounts on it were transferred over to Steam alongside any games said account had.

Even for Valve however, it took several years to repair the damage that EA had done, but after long periods of work which required the delay of Half Life 2: Episode 3, they managed to reinvent the company to conform to Valve software's standards. Valve soon became a leading figure in the video games industry, and began to release and reinvent former EA titles and series such as Battlefield and Mass Effect, the latter's infamous 'A-B-C' ending being replaced with a wide variety of different endings with different factors, ranging from the total destruction of Galactic Civilsation to a defeat of the Reapers.

Gabe Newell continued to live on to the age of one hundred and eighteen, where he later died in his sleep of natural causes. Many attended his funeral, and out of respect for his achievments the United Earth government later named a colony after him.

John Riccitiello however, was murdered by an angry mob of stockholders who had lost thousands in EA's stock crash.


Happy ending for all.

That... That's BEAUTIFUL.

Name of entry: The Book of Gabe

Category (Tech, Individuals, Group, Places, etc.): Religious Groups

Description of the entry:

Initially a text document spread across the internet intended as a joke, the Book of Gabe soon gained a cult following and recieved many updates and translations to the point it was published in several book shops. By the end of the 21st Century the Book of Gabe had become a religious group in itself which was centered around the Internet and Gaming Community. Extract from the Commandments of Gabe:

Quote :

1. Thou shalt not attempt to scam thou fellow Steam users, lest ye wish to incur the wrath of the almighty Steam Support staff.

2. Thou shalt not use cheats which give ye an unfair advantage over thou fellow Steam users, lest ye wish to incur the wrath of the great Valve Anti Cheat system.

3. Thou shalt respect thy fellow Steam users, lest ye wish to be set upon by the enraged internet community.

4. Thou shalt not attempt to troll thy fellow Steam users, lest ye wish to be cast into the depths of /b/ and endure the torment of most foul creatures.

5. Thou shalt not make fun of the Almighty Gabe's weight, or refer to him with the blasphemous term 'Gaben', lest ye wish to endure longer delay periods for Valve Titles.

6. Thou shalt not worship false idols such as the terrible John Riccitiello, lest ye wish to be cast into the bowels of Electronic Arts' dreaded Origin Service and be forced to endure poor customer service, rushed titles with poor quality and the threat of having thou games removed from ye for speaking openly on the dreaded EA or Bioware forums.

Name of entry: Space Combat in the 22nd Century

Category: Military

Description of the entry:

History

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While the Kobayashi Drive allowed for near-instantaneous transport within Earth's solar system, as well as its complete colonization by the mid-2080s, it wasn't until much later - the dawn of the 22nd century, in fact - that military-grade spacecraft began to be developed. The succession of the Mars colony - a brutal struggle that claimed millions of lives - also served as a wake-up call for the United Earth government, which was forced to commandeer and arm cargo ships in order to make up for its complete and utter lack of a space-based military force. It was shortly after Mars was reclaimed that United Earth created its trifecta in the form of the United Earth Defense Forces, comprising of three parts: the United Earth Army, to maintain control of United Earth's colonial holdings, as well as serve as its ground-based defense force; the United Earth Marine Corps, which served a dual purpose in their ability to wage war in space as well as on the ground; and the United Earth Navy, humanity's first large-scale space fleet, which ferried the ground forces of United Earth from planet to planet and carried with them the ability to wage war between the stars.

The creation of the UEA and the UEMC went, for the most part, without incident: they were both traditional parts of the armed forces. The creation of the UEN, however, was contentious. Warships had been seen on Earth's seas for thousands of years; warplanes for almost a century. Humanity had done battle in both the skies and on the seas- but they had never, up until this point, done battle between the stars. Prominent leaders of humanity's ground forces - both Army and Marine Corps alike - had been selected to take control of the UEA and UEMC; the question as to who would take control of the UEN was much more complicated.

Naval leaders were the first choice- particularly submarine commanders, who were used to operating in three-dimensions, carrying WMDs, operating advanced technologies, and utilizing many of the weapons that were to be used on UEN ships. But, as many pointed out, space is not an ocean- and as many more noted, humanity's first astronauts were, as a rule, former members of the Air Force. Air Force leaders made their case that they had been on the bleeding edge of technology for the last two hundred years, carried invaluable combat expertise - a rarity among naval commanders, as proper ship-to-ship combat had not been seen since World War II - and all carried a deep knowledge of proper maneuver, given that planes operated exclusively in three-dimensions. Their most pressing complaint, however, was that the Navy was too steeped in tradition: the UEN, despite its name, was to be responsible for an entirely new kind of warfare, and the kind of outmoded thinking that had served complacent naval commanders well for centuries would not work in space combat.

Each side made good arguments, but in the end, the Navy won out, carrying over its ratings, ranking structure, and standard operating procedures to the newly-formed UEN. Their victory was not without compromise, however: the new UEN was liberally staffed with Air Force personnel, who carried over much of their terminology and tactics. In the end, the UEN was the bastard child of the Navy and the Air Force: two branches of the military that were almost fundamentally opposed in every way, but had to come together to overcome a new kind of challenge. It was that kind of thinking that would characterize the UEDF for almost the next one hundred years.

Difficulties

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The first human ships were, by modern standards, modest affairs. Considered heavily armored - more armored than any of humanity's ships prior to the time, at least - they were equipped with the latest in military technology. Of course, the challenges space posed to combat were myriad.

The first difficulties were related to distance. While battles on Earth - particularly after the invention of the Kobayashi Drive - were routinely waged over hundreds of kilometers, battles in space could be waged over distances nearly ten times those on Earth. Thousands of kilometers of void separated ships; oftentimes, visual acquisition of a target could not be made. Firing a projectile using the Kobayashi Drive was a relatively simple affair - although different from using it to propel a ship through space - but unlike Earth, they could not be used as artillery. If a shell missed on Earth, if fired with enough force, it could easily detonate with enough force to compare to a nuclear bomb; if a shell missed in space, it would simply hurtle through nothingness, causing no damage at all.

Speed was also a problematic factor, along with size. Ships were relatively small compared to most targets on Earth. In order to achieve pinpoint accuracy on the latter, guided munitions could be used- but they required fuel. This was well enough for Earth, where ICBMs could reach targets across continents, but in space, ships could be engaging each other from nearly double that length. Conventional missiles simply could not be used to engage at long range; the fuel would run out long before they hit. In addition to their small size, ships were also moving incredibly fast. Although the Kobayashi Drive could propel munitions quickly, they could not simply fire directly at a target and hope to hit. "Leading" a ship was useful, but relied solely on the skill of the gunner and the speed and accuracy of the ship's fire control system. Computers were fast- but compared to a clever captain, and the speed of a ship, they just weren't fast enough. Computers had to account not only for the physical movement of the ship, but also what they thought the enemy captain was going to do.

Computers simply couldn't beat the human mind.

Solutions

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Artificial Intelligences, however, could. Previously experimental research into creating both "smart" and "dumb" AIs was brought into the forefront. While previously interesting, it was considered impossible, and as such, only directly applicable "dumb" AIs - such as those used in cars, drink machines, and so on - received funding. Now, with the need for a "smart" AI in the forefront, AI researchers received billions of dollars in UEDF funding. Within a few years, the first "smart" AI - christened the Artificial Defense Initiative, in keeping with United Earth's naming scheme for its military ventures - was born. Its purpose was simple: calculate firing solutions on enemy ships. With the ability to think, reason, and process many times faster than the minds of its creators, the ADI tore enemy ships apart in virtual testing, able to accurately predict the movements of human pilots before they even made them. Accuracy soared from below thirty percent using conventional computers to above eighty percent using the ADI. When provided with UEN profiles of enemy ship captains, accuracy could be brought up to nearly 90 percent. ADI had the capacity to learn.

Armaments and Tactics

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The ADI did wonders for ship-to-ship combat at long ranges, but at close range, more traditional methods were used. Point-defense turrets - deuterium flouride lasers - could, in the vacuum of space, be used to engage enemy fighters, destroy enemy missiles and bombs, and even engage enemy ships (with limited effectiveness). Hydrogen missile arrays - WMDs in all but name - could also be used at medium ranges. The hydrogen missile array is still one of the most deadly weapons on-board any spacecraft: while the explosion, which is for all intents and purposes that of a hydrogen bomb, is crippling enough, the EMP it generates can also result in catastrophic failure of the opposing ship's engines, life support, fire control system, and other electronics. The only downside of the hydrogen missile is that it is easily intercepted and destroyed by enemy point-defense turrets. Smaller missiles of varying designs are also commonly stocked on ships: in the event of point-defense turret failure, they can be used en masse to shoot down enemy missiles, or simply fired against enemy ships. Useless unless fired in massive salvos, their primary use is to overwhelm enemy point-defense turrets and targeting systems long enough for a hydrogen missile to find its way into the enemy ship.

Anti-ship cannons - or ASC guns - also make up part of the ship's close-range armaments. Practically artillery pieces, they utilize heavy armor-piercing shells to engage an enemy ship's fighter complement along with the enemy ship itself. Magnetically accelerated, they are capable of punching holes through enemy armor with surprising ease. Unlike the ship's long-range weapons - which are almost exclusively operated by the ADI - a ship's ASC guns are operated by a gunnery team. At close-range, extensive motion prediction is not necessary. Shells can be fired at remarkable speeds- though slower than that of the Kobayashi Drive-assisted capital guns. At close-range, however, the loss in speed doesn't matter, and the sheer mass and explosive power of the projectiles fired makes up for the rest.

A ship's capital armaments are the guns operated on the principles established by the Kobayashi mechanism. They are operated by the ship's AI, and are similar to its ASC cannons- though they fire shells much faster. They also require a longer recharge time than the magnetically-accelerated ASC cannons. Most capital armaments, especially when mounted on frigates and cruisers, run the length of the ship, and require the ship to constantly turn to face the enemy. This is another reason why an ADI is needed: a ship simply cannot turn fast enough to keep up with a rapidly moving enemy at a distance, and thus must fire where they believe the enemy is going to be by the time the projectile gets there. The ADI is adept at this; human gunners, however, do perfectly well at closer ranges, where conventional shot-leading techniques and computerized sights allow them to decimate enemy fighter complements and ships.

Cretin

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Against human ships, these tactics fared well. Most conflicts the UEN were brought in to resolve were related to colonial holdings, and oftentimes enemy contacts were little more than armed cargo ships, or (at worst) captured UEN frigates. When humanity first met the Cretin, however, things changed. Made complacent by nearly fifty years of uninterrupted sovereignty over their dominion, the UEN saw little need to change its tactics. The UEN Belgrano, the largest ship in the human fleet, also gave UEN admirals little reason to change. They believed that nothing could destroy the Belgrano, especially when it was protected by its complement of frigates, cruisers, and battleships. The Cretin - while a new and potent threat, to be sure - would undoubtedly be shredded by humanity's firepower, armor, and ADI artificial intelligence.

They couldn't have been more wrong.

When the Cretin and human fleets fought over Jupiter, dozens of ships were literally eviscerated by the Cretin's superior firepower. The ADI systems - which had worked so well against human pilots - were completely unprepared to take on an alien race. They learned Cretin flight patterns, shared information across the fleet, and were even able to destroy a small number of Cretin ships, but it was too little and too late. Many human ships were unable to even activate their ADI systems: Cretin warships, well-versed in electronic warfare, were able to disable them - along with the life support systems - and thus cripple a sizable number of human ships without even firing a shot. By the time Cretin boarding parties stormed the Belgrano, humanity had all but lost the battle. The resulting explosion from the Belgrano's overloaded reactor - compared by some to a small supernova - merely ended the slaughter. Hundreds of thousands died in the fighting.

The destruction of humanity's greatest prize served as yet another wake-up call to the admiralty of the UEN. The Cretin were a new threat that required new technology and new tactics to overcome. However, unlike the radical restructuring that the succession of Mars brought to United Earth, the Cretin threat merely brought along a bolstering of humanity's fleets. The ships became larger, more heavily armed and armored, and as the war went on and more tactical data was accumulated, more capable of destroying enemy ships. The ADI systems, which steadily advanced in generation as more and more was learned about the Cretin, steadily became more able to destroy Cretin ships at range.

But the largest problems faced by human fleets was the Cretin's ability to cripple them electronically and their ability to board and destroy ships. These two significant threats led to two equally significant changes in doctrine: the inclusion of a UEMC contingent on every UEN warship and the mandate that, in the event of contact with a Cretin ship of the Pitchfork-class or higher, ships must turn off all inter-ship electronics to prevent unauthorized access by Cretin electronic warfare specialists. The first solution was effective: UEMC forces were able to repel Cretin boarders surprisingly well, helped no doubt by the Cretin's surprise that they were on-board in the first place. The second solution crippled humanity's fleets: unable to engage the ADI systems when faced with a Cretin capital ship, UEN vessels were compelled to move in close to engage with their ASC guns, hydrogen missile arrays, and point-defense lasers. Cretin shielding technology absorbed many of these weapons- and humanity, now able to take over Cretin ships with boarding parties of their own, rapidly copied it.

The most significant change in combat, however, has been the invention of the Electronic Maintenance and Monitoring Interface - or EMMI, for short - which has been deployed on the UEN Jutland. Its ability to handle electronic warfare, capital weapons targeting, and mundane affairs on-board the ship has essentially reversed the flow of battle. Should the EMMI prototype be successful, it will be deployed to every ship the UEN has fielded thus far, enabling them to engage Cretin ships at range (where human weapons are most effective) and cripple them with their own electronic warfare systems without being forced to turn off their inter-ship electronics and "fight blind" without the aid of their ADI system.

Technical Specifications

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Capital Weapons Array

Mounted on: Cutter-class gunboats and above
Typical arrangement: Two arrays for frigates and destroyers; three for crusiers; four for battleships
Propulsion mechanism: Kobayashi Drive
Guidance system: None (AI-controlled)
Ammunition: 600 ton depleted Uranium shell
Muzzle velocity: 120,000 m/s
Rate of fire: One round per five minutes
Purpose: Long-range capital ship engagements

Anti-Ship Cannon

Mounted on: Cutter-class gunboats and above
Typical arrangement: Six for frigates; 12 for destroyers; 16 for cruisers; 24 for battleships
Propulsion mechanism: Magnetically-accelerated coilgun
Guidance system: None (human-controlled)
Ammunition: 20 ton depleted Uranium shell
Muzzle velocity: 30,000 m/s
Rate of fire: Six rounds per minute
Purpose: Medium-to-short range capital ship engagements

THEL System

Mounted on: Cutter-class gunboats and above
Typical arrangement: 24 for frigates; 36 for destroyers; 52 for cruisers; 78 for battleships
Propulsion mechanism: N/A
Guidance system: AI-controlled
Power: 150kw
Muzzle velocity: 300,000 m/s
Rate of fire: N/A
Purpose: Point defense; short-range capital ship engagements; C-RAM

STS Missile System

Mounted on: Cutter-class gunboats and above
Typical arrangement: 26 pods for frigates and destroyers; 48 for cruisers; 76 for battleships
Propulsion mechanism: Solid-fuel rocket booster
Guidance system: Inertial navigation system
Warhead: 450 kg high-explosive charge
Speed: 300 m/s
Rate of fire: 30 missiles per pod
Purpose: Point defense; short-range capital ship engagements; C-RAM

Hydrogen Missile Array

Mounted on: Dover-class frigates and above
Typical arrangement: One launcher for frigates; two for destroyers and cruisers; four for battleships
Propulsion mechanism: Solid-fuel rocket booster
Guidance system: Inertial navigation system
Warhead: 12x thermonuclear
Yield: 475 kilotons
Speed: 7,000 m/s
Rate of fire: One missile per five minutes
Purpose: Medium-range capital ship engagements

Faust's submission is accepted and incorporated into our Canon.

Name of entry:

The Helium Network

Category (Tech, Individuals, Group, Places, etc.):

Technology.

Description of the entry:

After the collapse of social mediums such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr in the late 21st century, a community of people from these sites, including gamers, began to set up various nodes around Earth to form a network for those who didn't want to accept the rules imposed by the various social networks that we're established, this network later began to focus it's goal on the creation of something such as Steam, but with the functionality of other sites and social networks to create a non-controlled community of people that formed what was in essence, the second Internet.

The network was then picked up by those lucky enough to travel out to colonies and nodes were created there, including long-range transmitters that were able to link said colonies back to the main nodes on Earth, therefore creating a system that was then presented the the UE Navy, who then authorized the network to be allowed on military vessels as a replacement for the social networks they had developed for said ships in order to allow for more functionality between forces and also a modified version taht allowed them to monitor any activity over their nodes, while also being able to use the network as a front for their training simulators for those stationed on the ships.

The system was then coined as 'The Helium Network' due to it's roots in Steam and that without Steam, Helium would never have taken off. This name was also adapted by the UEN for ease on servicemen and women.

Name of entry: Antillia

Category (Tech, Individuals, Group, Places, etc.): Places

Description of the entry:



Whilst not an early Jovian Colony, Antillia was the first orbital colony designed to be independant of a terrestrial body such as an asteroid or moon. Designed by the Japanese architect Hisao Tezuka, Antillia began construction in 2083 and did not finish completion until 2087. In interview, Tezuka himself admitted to Antillia's name and design being influenced by early 21st Century Media and admitted that the project was very ambitious, costing approximately 276 billion credits to fund and requiring a fifty seven million strong workforce to assemble the colony, not including the labourers in the Martian mining industry. Upon it's final completion, the colony was quickly advertised as a vacant population center, one that would be able to house approximately eight million residents, with priority being given to the families of labourers of the growing mining industry on the Jovian moons and the gas giant itself.

During the late '90s to the very early 22nd Century, Antillia gained infamy amidst the Martian and Colonial Insurrections, with the colony itself becoming the site of numerous protests and civil unrest including the incident of 2098 in which a protest developed into mass rioting, where security forces were overwhelmed by rioters armed with makeshift equipment, eventually culminating in the shooting of seventeen protestors after a failed attempt at bombing a United Earth Civilian office. Shortly after, security on the colony was stepped up and the protests and riots were quelled, despite the attempts of terrorists to incite further unrest via bombings and sabotage. During the Martian Uprising, many of Antillia's colonists were inspired and attempted to stage their own revolution, this time via both makeshift and stolen security equipment. This time the insurrectionists gained the upper hand, having managed to gain control over much of the colony and sending a portion of their own forces to Mars to aid the Martian Colonists in hopes of future aid. However, in retaliation the United Earth government sent a detachment of armed forces to the colony, and with their advanced equipment the insurrectionists were pushed back and were either killed, imprisoned or went into hiding. Shortly afterwards Mars was reclaimed, ending any current hopes of independance for either and causing the United Earth's grip on them to tighten as they formed the United Earth Navy and Marine Corps. Gradually Antillia quietened down, and the colony slowly reverted back to it's relatively peaceful state.

Yet things flared up again in 2168, after the Cretin and Human fleets met each other over Jupiter and soon entered a fierce battle, resulting in the colony being significantly damaged both by stray weapons fire and debris from the battle crashing into it. It is known that some Cretin ships mistook it for a military outpost and targetted it, but were soon held off both by UEN spacecraft as well as several cargo and mining ships whose brave crew sacrificed themselves by intentionally crashing their spacecraft into the Cretin ships as part of a kamikaze style attack, hoping to protect the many families living on the colony. When the battle itself had finished, a long clean-up and repair process began but was soon stalled when it came to light that the destruction of the Belgrano had caused a gamma burst, and numerous cases of radiation poisoning began to show up across the colony. Of the thirty thousand killed by radiation poisoning due to exposure to the gamma burst, six thousand were residents of Antillia.

Around three hundred thousand colonists emigrated to Earth after this, believing that whilst on Antillia they were at risk of another attack. Intent on renewing colonists' faith in them, the United Earth Government drastically increased the presence of Naval and Marine Corps personell, as well as constructing additional defence and early warning systems and increasing the frequency of Navy patrols in the surrounding areas. The 'Antillia Defence Force' was also said to have been founded, and was a volunteer force which acted as a Home Guard in the case of an invasion or assault. Within the first few months of it's creation approximately four thousand colonists joined up, and the ADF have been maintaing an active presence ever since. Several consider it an alternative to the UEN and UEMC, as it fuses them together in respects to the fact that both firearms and spacecraft training is practised, albeit under heavily supervised conditions. It's also been rumoured that both the UEN and the UEMC examine individuals within the ADF if they show promise and offer them a position within their own ranks should they determine them to be suitable candidates.

tl;dr approved

Please try to keep these posts serious.

Name of entry: Penguins and Monkeys

Category (Tech, Individuals, Group, Places, etc.): Films

Description of the entry:

A controversial film detailing the forbidden romance between a female Cretin and a male Human, Penguins and Monkeys is based amidst the Duskstar theatre of operations and gained the most infamy for a sex scene between the two. It is banned in numerous areas of UE Space and many pornographic spoofs have been made.

I'm tempted to accept.

But I'm also pulled by morality and decency not to.

Meh fuck it. Accepted.

What about my idea?

Shadow stated it, but yes. Accepted.

I hope I've sated your ego.

Name of entry: Popular Culture in the 22nd Century

Category (Tech, Individuals, Group, Places, etc.): Culture

Description of the entry:

Near the opening of the 22nd Century, cultural depression from the war caused large splinters in the ideas of social norms. Quickly developing fashion trends took cues from previous post-war civilizations, and a rapidly devolving cultural wasteland gave rise to strange, outlandish fashions. In the first few decades, mankind experienced epidemics of clothing (And sometimes, even implants) that tried to blend all of the senses together. Soon after the Secession Crisis in 2100, a sense of Post-Nationalism enveloped most of Earth's culture, the largest cultural hotspots, especially in the Asiatics and Americas, began to blend traditional Eastern and traditional Western ideas together with large doses of Militarism. This lead to the rise of groups of young people, especially socially active ones, idealizing Neo-Militarist Populists, who called for the complete unification of the Earth and her colonies.

Though the movement faded away quickly. It did help paint the United Earth in a popular light to most people. With the discoveries of Fate and Duskstar, Colonists were painted in a heroic light, much like Cowboys and Settlers of old, with the spike of colonial efforts, it wasn't uncommon to see clothing stores pitch out their old stocks of Military-chic uniforms in response to mass purchases of practical, earthy colored clothing.

With the outbreak of Cretin-Human hostilities, clothing chains again began carrying military-esque uniforms, with most carrying entire swathes of their shelf-space covered in Anti-Cretin logos and memorabilia, a few dissident sub-cultures backlashed against this rampant hate fueled consumerism, they began to idealize the idea of Cretins and Humans working together.

(WIP)

Name of entry: The Middle East in the 22nd Century

Category: Locations

Description of the entry:

Empires at War: 2036-2041

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The massive empire-building by the world's superpowers following the beginning of World War III left precious few areas of the world untouched. Previously disparate countries, once content to sit comfortably within their borders, were forced by the global nature of the conflict to unify or be engulfed by those who were willing to unify. The United States of America and the Russian Federation set a trend by annexing large blocs of territory from their neighbors; partially in fear of being conquered themselves, and partially in response to the new face of warfare heralded by the discovery of the Kobayashi mechanism, other nations began to do the same.

The entire continent of Africa, for the first time in human history, united to form the super-state of the African Union; Asia found itself split between the massive Siberian Union and the equally-large People's Republics of China; Europe, continuing a trend set by the European Union, NATO, and similar ventures, coalesced into the European Union; South America looked back into its history and capitalized on ideas by men like Simon Bolivar to form the New World Confederacy; and the United Kingdom, which once controlled an empire on which the sun never set, vowed to do so again.

The Middle East fell under the dominion of the New British Empire, principally due to its previous status as one of Britain's colonial holdings during the Age of Imperialism. As with many previous colonial holdings that superpowers set their sights on, it did not go quietly: the military forces of Israel, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Syria fought bitterly against their former master. Infighting, however, brought the Middle East to its knees: long a hotbed of conflict - religious conflict, in particular - the disparate ethnic and religious groups of the area were unable to set aside their differences to defeat the forces of the New British Empire.

The Fifth Arab-Israeli War: 2041-2042

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Following the Second Intifada at the beginning of the 21st century, Israel had faced very few serious threats to its national security. Although it faced near-constant animosity from its neighbors - most notably Iran - and terrorist attacks from militant groups such as Hamas out of Palestine, the conflict remained on the backburner for decades. As the years progressed, Israeli politicians found it difficult to convince an entirely new generation of voters - many of whom didn't even remember the original four Arab-Israeli wars, let alone the birth of the nation or the Holocaust - the need to maintain a near-constant state of readiness in case Israel's Arab neighbors decided to attack again. By 2041, Israel had become complacent- and although the threat of the New British Empire was pressing, it was woefully unprepared for a full-scale military engagement.

The Arab states, by contrast, had no such problems. Following the Arab Spring of the early 21st century, Islamist leaders were elected in many of the states bordering Israel. As the Arab Spring began to wane, these elected leaders struggled to maintain their posts. In desperation, many of them turned to an old standby in order to deflect public scrutiny from more pressing matters like the economy: Israel. By the early 2030s, anti-Israel sentiment in Arab countries had skyrocketed. The Arab Spring had, in the eyes of the world, become the Arab Fall.

As World War III kicked off, Israel's Arab neighbors - Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and Jordan, in particular - saw the resulting chaos as the perfect opportunity to attempt to wipe Israel off the map- this time for good. Although Syria had been severely weakened by a military coup following the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad, and despite the fact that both Jordan and Iraq lacked significant military forces, the conflict was brutal. Iran's modern military saw early gains in the West Bank, and Egypt's forces - propped up by billions of dollars in American military aid following the death of President Nasser in the late 1980s - took the Negev by storm. A complete Palestinian uprising, popularly known as the Third Intifada, waged a guerrilla war within Israel's borders.

In desperation, Israel ordered nuclear strikes in the Negev. It was the only case where nuclear weapons were used during the war. With Egypt's forces crippled by the strike and blocked by a wall of nuclear fallout, Israel was able to rally and fight back the combined forces of Syria, Iraq, and Iran on the Eastern Front. The Palestinian Territory was utterly destroyed in the fighting. By the end of the war in 2042, the death toll was in the millions. Palestine was rendered uninhabitable by Israeli use of clusterbombs and air-dropped mines, intended to deter terrorists from crossing the border, and the Negev, even in the 22nd century, is an irradiated wasteland. Israel had won the war, but at terrible cost, leaving it an easy target for the New British Empire- along with the nations it had so narrowly beaten.

Occupation: 2042-2059

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The New British Empire's seizure of its former holdings in the Middle East, while complete on paper, was actually rather incomplete in reality. While the NBE held troops in every major city in the region, the vast amount of territory they had to cover - encompassing a large number of desert and mountainous regions - stretched the occupation force thin. Harkening back to the days of British involvement in Palestine pre-Israeli independence, Israeli paramilitary groups - calling themselves the Haganah in reference to their predecessors nearly a century ago - began to spring up around occupied Israel, waging guerrilla war against the occupying NBE forces by using functional IDF equipment left over from the NBE's conquest of the country, as well as captured NBE arms and armor. Small cells of fighters also assassinated key NBE leaders in the area, including generals and governors, putting a hold on negotiations and keeping the area in a state of political turmoil.

Uprisings by the Arab people throughout the Middle East - who, unlike the Israelis, had no trouble remembering what life was like under British rule - kept NBE forces scrambling from one hotspot to another. Arab terrorist cells, once content to lob rockets into Israel, now turned their attention against the occupying NBE forces. Although the New British Empire succeeded in keeping the Jewish and Arab militias from killing each other, they found themselves the target. Finally united against a common oppressor, and without ruthless ideologues to rile up the public against an imagined foe, the Middle East saw a dramatic decline in religious-motivated violence. The level of violence overall, however, skyrocketed. When news stations reported massacres by NBE forces in small Arab and Israeli towns, the Haganah and other regional militias would respond in kind.

This eye-for-an-eye mentality continued for years. Despite NBE attempts to defuse the situation diplomatically, keeping a handle on their troops was a far more difficult proposition. Constantly harassed by the populace - which the Middle East's various militias blended into with no trouble at all - and unused to fighting in the sort of terrain that the Middle East had to offer, many of the New British Empire's troops were on a hair trigger. Each civilian killed by a frustrated soldier set the peace process back months- and the Haganah in particular with quite capable of responding in kind.

Finally, with the end of World War III and the creation of the United Earth Federation, the guerrilla war against occupation ceased as NBE troops withdrew from their holdings. As the specifics of United Earth were ironed out, the NBE quietly granted the former nations of the Middle East control over their own affairs. While brief hostilities broke out between the leaders of these puppet states - mostly because the leaders were former militia commanders - NBE intervention and respect for each side's fighting spirit kept actual violence to a minimum.

Aftermath: 2059-2069

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The wake of destruction that World War III left on the globe was unprecedented- and the Middle East took it hard. Trillions of dollars in military equipment, housing, agriculture, and technology had been lost due to the fighting, and more than fifteen years of brutal occupation by their former imperial masters had taken their toll. Millions starved as the world, under the new leadership of United Earth, tried to pull itself back together. The newly-reinstated governments of Israel, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, and other Middle Eastern nations did their best to stop anarchy from breaking out in the streets, but that stretched the limits of their power. It was only after United Earth was firmly established that the money began flowing. But once it began flowing, the problems began to be solved.

Extensive de-mining operations in Palestine left the ancestral home of millions once again open for habitation. Absolute United Earth control over Jerusalem kept religious conflict to a minimum- though it didn't eliminate it altogether. Peacekeeping efforts spearheaded by UE also led to the capture and trial of dozens of war criminals, both from the Middle Eastern militias and the New British Empire alike. Trillions of dollars were pumped into the region, along with the rest of the world. Arab laborers built Jewish houses; Jewish engineers constructed Arab sewage systems. With their destructive energies finally spent, and with United Earth pulling the strings, it seemed that the Israeli-Arab conflict had finally burned itself out. After thousands of years of animosity, peace had finally been achieved in the most unlikely way possible: war.

Two of the first astronauts on Mars were from Israel and Palestine.

The Middle East in the 22nd Century

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The Middle East has molded itself into a shining example of United Earth brotherhood. None of its inhabitants remember a time when the Middle East was at war with itself: the last conflict it saw was over a hundred years ago. While religiously-motivated terrorism is still a problem - one of the hallmarks of the region is its propensity for producing suicide bombers - it is nowhere near as severe a problem it was at the beginning of the 21st century. The secular nature of United Earth, the watchful eye of the New British Empire, and a decline in global rates of religiosity have all contributed to a global drop in religious conflict.

The Middle East is not without problems, however. While it once survived by exporting massive quantities of oil, with nuclear fusion a reality, oil has become an outdated method of power. A good portion of United Earth's economic aid has gone to the Middle East in order to help it find alternative exports. Leading economic ventures in the Middle East include the aerospace industry - spearheaded by former Israeli initiatives - and computing industries. This new economic focus has not changed the character of the region, however: the Middle East still plays host to a multitude of very martial cultures. Thousands of years of war - although they have experienced over a century of peace - have left its people warriors. Military service is still required in Israel; the war with the Cretin has caused Egypt to consider adopting a similar plan. Perhaps because of this, the military industry is also a leading source of economic growth. A large percentage of United Earth's arms and armor are designed and manufactured in the Middle East. Israeli C-RAM technologies like the THEL system are present on many of United Earth's naval vessels.

Despite an economic slump, with the Kobayashi mechanism now used to power many of humanity's transportation systems, the Middle East has experienced a tourism boom. Jerusalem and Cairo are some of the top destinations for tourism in the solar system. Pilgrims to Mecca are able to make the journey in less than an hour from anywhere in the world- though many choose to take a more arduous route as a show of faith.

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poop

hadf

Poop.

Rhydain and Faust's accepted.