The Equatorial Wars, as the pitched nova battles for land throughout the 3rd world come to be called, were disastrous for Nova and Baseline alike.
After the first day of fighting, in which T2M managed to avert a coup in the Democratic Republic of Congo and retake a city conquered by invaders, many other countries were leery of breaking international law and deploying Nova combatants. But several countries were already involved by the time the full breadth of T2M's victory was shown to the world. These countries expanded their use of novas further, as a defense against U.N. sanctions, while their enemies hired novas of their own for defensive purposes. Entrenched novas guarded cities against guerrilla novas attempting to chip away at the defenders will, and baselines were often the greatest casualties in the conflict.
T2M was able to stop some of the early fighting outside of the DRC, but their early victories lead to overconfidence. T2M leadership was under the impression that the intensive training of their members would give a tactical advantage, and allow them to fight the nova Elites (the name that emerged for nova mercenaries) on even terms. They were sadly mistaken when they found out that the elites, despite lacking some of the resources and training hours of T2M, were trained far more extensively than T2M in at least one area: combat.
In the early, post DRC battles, T2M used small tactical units of novas to quickly strike at enemy targets. They met with far more resistance than expected however, and were soundly defeated on virtually all fronts. Utopia even lost one of it's own members during this period to the fearsome Totentatz. After analyzing their mistakes, Utopia shifted to tactics that used overwhelming force to deal with enemy novas, mandating that a 2:1 ratio of T2M novas to elites be maintained at all times. This battle plan was far more successful, but had the drawback of tying up valuable resources, and drastically reduced the ability of Utopia to respond to the many and varied nova attacks.
Elites became more canny as the war went on, and used guerrilla tactics far more extensively as combat progressed. The media, at first casting Utopia as victorious in virtually all of its encounters (whether they were actually the winners didn't matter, as long as the world had its heroes), but after nova terrorists attacked New York on September 11, 2001, and as the battles continued on into early 2002, the media stance shifted. "New" video was "uncovered" of Utopia's early mistakes, while reporters began criticizing the constant fighting that was taxing world trade and taking a severe toll in human life. Though Utopia of course was attempting to prevent the loss of life, they were blamed for prolonging the hostilities, and pressure was placed on Utopia from the U.N. security council to end the conflicts by any means necessary, and preferably in such a manner that the more affluent countries could come out on top.
Utopia decided that a single show of force, followed by hastily arranged peace treaties, would serve best in ending the continuing conflicts. On February 21, 2002, T2M attacked an elite base in Uganda, crushing them utterly. The same day, Utopia scorched a trail of destruction all the way across Africa, and into the middle east (fighting had broken out there in response to the U.S. attack the previous year, with the U.S. invading Iraq and Afghanistan, supported by a small contingent of novas and resisted by native novas and "freedom fighters"). By the end of the day, with victory after victory under their belt (but perilously low on energy), and their efforts displayed on international television, T2M attacked one of the primary bases for Iraqi resistance.
The natives, realizing they were doomed (the progress of T2M had been televised worldwide after all), set in motion a suicide plan of epic proportions. Utilizing chemical weapons and quantum energy, the Iraqi's set off an explosion as the Utopian forces broke into their base, killing many of the novas and sending clouds of poisonous dust rolling outwards from the blast. The nature of the energies involved is still poorly understood, but the aftermath is all too clear: the entirety of southern Iraq was swept clean of life, along with much of Kuwait and northern Saudi Arabia.
If not for the many losses that T2M suffered, and the loss of U.N. and U.S. forces on the ground that day, world opinion could have turned against the budding nova population. But, though a minority of the world harbored intense anti-nova sentiment due to the destruction, the majority blamed Iraq for its weapons of mass destruction. The world was stunned into silence, and the majority of nova conflict came to an end. Peace accords were rapidly pushed through, with a final treaty ending all fighting in Africa, signed at the location where hostilities began, the little village a few hundred miles outside of Bunia. Similar treaties were signed in Baghdad and Bogata, signaling an end to war in their corresponding continents.
The aftermath of the Equatorial wars was filled with shocked calm, after which the U.N. hastily drafted the Quantum Powers Non-Proliferation Treaty, which limited the use of Novas in warfare. While this would often be ignored in small scale conflicts and in espionage, public use of novas as weapons became the equivalent of political suicide for those that authorized such actions. Nova elites were in no way eliminated, but their role changed from front line warriors to covert operatives, bodyguards, and technological experts.
Utopia was hard pressed to maintain their place in the U.N. after the Iraqi disaster. With barely a pause to bury their dead, Utopia began relief efforts to not only the middle east, but also the other areas impacted by the Equatorial Wars. They also set into motion other plans that they had been working on, releasing cures to deadly diseases, and turning the deserts of Africa and the Middle East into veritable paradises (test sites in Egypt and New Iraq were promising, and further sites are being put in place). In the face of these extraordinary works, the world community could not help but stand in awe of Utopia's work... All but a minority of baselines forgot about the recent toll that nova abilities had exacted.
By late December of 2003, society has seemingly recovered from the events earlier in the year. T2M, after the loss of some of its early members, such as Firefox, Makara, and Splash, as well as trainees like Harley Logan and Zeus, the membership saw a marked surge. Novas from around the world volunteered to help with rebuilding, and the fear of novas, at least for the moment, is buried under a tide of awe and good will. The economy has picked up, and the world seems hopeful that a new golden age is at hand. But only time will tell how long this new golden age will last...
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I will give a rundown of the OOC changes to the setting and how things played out later.
I did want to note however that if Zeus/Sam or Harley were to come back, they could still play despite being "dead". It is incredibly easy to justify an energy being like zeus being around, for example, and a shady character like Harley would make a great operative for somebody, now that he's dead...
Anyway, this took a while, so I'm off to bed. More tomorrow. Sorry for the delays on this.
Oh, and feel free to post in vignettes regarding any scenarios you guys would like to play out. There is almost a year of fighting, and though you guys do have some time back at your base during slow points, you are mostly out in the field. Fill in the blanks as you see fit. And I figure this gives justification for not only the powers you've developed (or want to develop) but also for all that xp that's been piling up.
