Project Wingman Lorebook

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1. #1Synopsis

   Keys: Setting, story, Plot, past, Synopsis

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   Synopsis: Setting: The story takes place in the indeterminate future, on an Earth afflicted by a worldwide volcanic cataclysm centuries earlier in an event known as the "Calamity". This event not only destroyed modern technological civilization in an estimated 150-year nuclear winter, but also created multiple exclusion zones across the planet and led to the discovery of a valuable energy resource called cordium. By the year 432 AC (After Calamity, a new calendar established after said nuclear winter), civilization has returned to levels comparable to and even surpassing its previous height.

   One of the world's superpowers is the Pacific Federation, a multinational political union based around the Pacific Ocean and its coast. The Pacific Federation bases its power on control over the cordium deposits across the Ring of Fire. In recent years, however, tensions between member states have risen due to the Federation's imperialist policies, which have been fueled by the rich cordium deposits of United Cascadia (a member state located along the Pacific Northwest region of North America). Additionally, the Federation plans to cement its control over Cascadia to further exploit its resources. As a result, Cascadia declares independence from the Federation and starts an armed rebellion. Several private military companies such as the Sicario Mercenary Corps are hired by Cascadia in their war against the Federation.

   Sicario pilot include the callsign "Monarch" flying in the Hitman Team alongside Peter Kennedy (callsign "Diplomat") and Evelyn London III (callsign "Comic"). If the player selects a two-seat aircraft, Monarch is accompanied by WSO Robin Kuo (callsign "President"). Other members of Sicario include its primary AWACS operator Dominic Zaitsev (callsign "Galaxy") and the company's leader Arnold Frenken (callsign "Kaiser"), who is also a pilot and leader of the Assassin Team.

   In the side campaign Frontline 59, the story follows Division K-9, a squadron of Federation reserve pilots who are unexpectedly called to duty to make up for the Federation's losses suffered in their rapidly escalating war with Cascadia. The squadron consists of the player character "Driver", pilots "Brick", "Bookie", "Cobb", and Driver's WSO "Eye-Tee". They are commanded by the Federation AWACS "Vita".

   Plot: After finishing their contract with the Creole Republic, the Sicario Mercenary Corps is hired by Cascadia amid their war of independence against the Pacific Federation. The Federation has gained the upper hand in the early stages of the war, to the point of capturing the Cascadian capital city of Presidia.

   However, the Hitman Team slowly turns the tide of the war in Cascadia's favor, as the Federation begins losing support due to their war crimes being brought to light and their inability to control Cascadia. The Hitman Team becomes a rallying point for Cascadian forces because of their immense successes in repelling Federation forces, which earns them the attention of the Federation's Crimson Team, a fighter squadron of elite peacekeeper pilots. The air war culminates in a massive aerial dogfight between Federation and Cascadian forces over the Bering Strait; during the battle, Crimson is deployed to stop Hitman but is forced to retreat after Hitman inflicts too many losses, leaving Crimson's leader, Crimson 1, enraged and vowing revenge against Monarch.

   During a subsequent mission to liberate Prospero, Cascadia's main economic hub, the Federation bombards the city with cordium-enriched cruise missiles when Cascadian victory seems imminent. The warheads activate Prospero's rich cordium deposits, causing a massive underground volcanic chain reaction. This destabilizes the Ring of Fire and ravages most of the Pacific Rim in the resulting tectonic event. Having lost communications with allied forces in the chaos, Hitman withdraws but is intercepted by a team of bounty hunters led by Klara Rask (callsign "Frost Druid"), who reveals that Hitman's true identities have been leaked to the public. Hitman shoots down the bounty hunters and re-establishes communications with Sicario, planning to leave Cascadia behind, but their Cascadian liaison officer offers them an undisclosed deal in exchange for their continued support. Sicario accepts the deal and continues to fight, while their leader Kaiser travels abroad to rally supporters for their cause.

   Sicario assists the Cascadians with eliminating Federal resistance and re-stabilizing the country, and Hitman defeats Crimson in a dogfight above a devastated Prospero. During the last major battle of the war to liberate Presidia, both sides of the conflict agree to a ceasefire as Cascadia emerges victorious, but Crimson 1 suddenly arrives in a hijacked prototype super-fighter, the "Project Wingman". Overcome with madness from the war and the loss of his squadron, he detonates several cordium-enriched warheads, devastating Presidia and incapacitating Hitman Team except for Monarch. Crimson 1 holds Monarch responsible for the escalation of the war and challenges him to a duel, but is ultimately shot down by Monarch, ending the war as the surviving Federation and Cascadian forces spectate. Hitman, having ejected from their planes, are rescued by Sicario's SAR unit, and the remaining Federation forces fear their summary execution on suspicion of breaking the ceasefire.

   After the war, Cascadia honors their deal with Sicario. The whereabouts of the Hitman Team, including Monarch, are unknown; the Federation declares them wanted criminals for their part in the war, though it is implied that they have assumed new identities as part of the deal. Having suffered irreplaceably high casualties and the immense loss of reputation from using cordium weapon of mass destruction, the Federation faces multiple insurgent movements from other member states, backed by the now-independent Cascadia (now a haven for mercenaries) among other foreign powers.

2. #2World on Fire

   Keys: General information, Canon, History, World on Fire, Trivia, References, the world

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   The World on Fire (or just WoF) is the name of the post-apocalyptic future Earth that the story takes place in. Its geography is grounded in our world, but radically altered due to the Calamity, with entirely new countries (at least 90) and other distinctions. It was first named by Matthew Nguyen on November 17, 2020.

   History: This world was seemingly the same as ours (up to an industrial age of sorts) prior to the superdisaster called the Calamity. As a result, millions perished, entire continents were radically altered, and the world order was destroyed. However, after 150 years of survival, humanity flourished again and rebuilt civilization, and the Calamity faded into ancient history. Likewise, animals evolved to adapt to the new environmental situation. One of the ways the species thrived once more was harvesting the mineral that caused the Calamity, cordium. From then on, the world was segregated between two types of entities; those who possessed geothermal resources of such kind enjoy much prosperity and influence, and those lacking them are under the Periphery label, usually in need of energy and torn apart by war.

   Centuries passed and new supranational entities formed, regulating the flow of geothermal resources across entire nations. The most prominent of these, though not the largest, is the Pacific Federation, which expanded imperially partly to integrate as many people as they can to their sphere of influence, and partly to sustain its energy-starved infrastructure. Although the Federation was diplomatic in its expansion most of the time, it was criticized for its monopoly on geothermal power, which in its later years would meet with crippling embargoes and military force.

   Mercenary entities became a common sight throughout the world, most majorly the Mercenary Cabal, which existed as far back as before the After Calamity Era. In the years since their disappearance, mercenaries have been on the decline due to pressure from superpowers, but are still on high demand by the Periphery, whose nations tend to be underpowered in their militaries.

   Now, in AC 432, one particular mass producer of geothermal resources, Cascadia, expressed discontent with the Federation's increasing military expansion and decided to secede. At the same time, a certain peculiar PMC named Sicario enters the fray.

   General information: Much of the world's geographic state is not yet known outside of North America, mainly due to Sicario's outdated briefing map. However, Nguyen teased an internal world map. In general, they evoke a sense of familiarity and alternate universe at the same time, though still meant to be our world in a far post-disaster future and not just another world with Earth's features. It also features slightly more advanced technology such as railguns and fleets of airships aside from some present-day technology such as space shuttles, television, and cellphones, but seems to be lacking in others such as firearms and stealth technology. Furthermore, and likely because of geothermal interference, most warfare takes place at direct engagements or close-range combat rather than at long range like in the present. Large gun turrets on naval ships, especially battleships, are still used in tandem with missiles.

   Current international laws, languages, and even currencies (eg. the dollar) still exist to a degree, though languages are slightly distorted (eg. "Byzantiun" rather than "Byzantium," "Gladeus" instead of "gladius," "Dejanus," etc.) Buildings and infrastructure are still modern-day, and present-day brevity codes and codewords and tactics are still in use, such as "Winchester," "crossing the T," and "Tiger." According to Nguyen, character names were originally supposed to be distorted as well, but they "just forgot to do that." Some culturally based idioms such as "Catch-22" are still in use, further indicating an at least mid-late 20th-century occurrence for the Calamity.

   So-called "fortress states" exist, presumably part of the increasingly more self-dependent Periphery and highly fortified, with some seemingly located in Europe.

3. #3Timeline

   Keys: AC, Timeline

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   AC minus 150: A tectonic disaster caused by newly exposed and volatile cordium called the Calamity occurs around the Ring of Fire. All volcanoes on the Pacific Rim are set off, most notably the Yellowstone supervolcano. Very few artifacts are left behind from the old era and the entire world order is destroyed. Immediately following the Calamity begins the Long Cold, a temporary ice age. With volcanic clouds and ash blocking out the sun, crops and fauna begin to die off with the known exception of whales, which had to evolve to survive the new geothermal flareups in the Pacific Ocean. Millions who survived the initial Calamity die in this time period. Numerous geothermal hotspots around the world occur that people would go to that would provide both warmth and good soil to grow food.

   AC minus 150-0: Numerous landmasses and microislands are uplifted because of the Calamity. For centuries, many remain unmapped. The Mercenary Cabal, a secret group of warlords who manage global affairs over the next few centuries, is established. Infighting between cities and regions began on the North American continent begins. Right before the end of the Long Cold, United Cascadia is founded,[5] mostly putting a stop to the fighting. Brite Fortress is established by the newly formed Cascadian National Guard as a wall to prevent more battles from breaking out between regions throughout the next few decades.

   AC 0: The Long Cold officially ends, starting the After Calamity Era (AC). Most of the world order is restored and humanity begins rebuilding. Many "exclusion zones" are created around the Ring of Fire. Dangerous areas that aren't mapped very well due to geothermal flareups, the largest of these being the Yellowstone Exclusion Zone. The Ring of Fire continues its activity at the same time cordium is discovered as a valuable natural resource. Multiple smaller nations that aren't very geothermally sufficient begin referring to themselves as the Periphery.

   AC 321: The weapons firm Icarus Armories is established.

   AC 332: Surviving Calamity-era conglomerates and nation-states form the Pacific Federation, a superpower alliance comprising of Ulaanbaatar, Magadan, and multiple other nations that join later on. The Federation Core States receive lots of criticism from international superpowers due to their geothermal monopoly.

   AC 382: Cascadia enters an association with the Federation. This increases its energy production by one third.

   AC 392: A cordium shipment in the Cascadian city of Solstitium is mishandled and set off, killing and displacing over thousands of inhabitants and creating the first artificial exclusion zone. The Cascadian National Guard quarantines the city.

   AC 412-422: Evelyn London and Peter Kennedy enroll in the Federation Air Academy. From there, their lives head a reverse direction; London becomes a high-achiever who enlists in the Cascadian Air Force only for her career to end with an unauthorized strike on a pirate camp that kills a Cascadian informant, while Kennedy wastes his education with little real flight training and is expelled.

   AC 417: Oceania withdraws its Federation membership after they strain its resources too far. The Federation is concurrently warned that the Mercenary Cabal is planning to use Oceania as the base of a new mercenary state to rival the Federation. These events set off the Oceanian War. The war, despite heavy Oceanian resistance, is won by the Federation, partly thanks to traitorous mercenaries such as Klara Rask and the Federation airship Zetec. The Mercenary Cabal is presumed destroyed at this point. Following the takeover of Oceania, many Periphery states begin aligning themselves with superpowers such as the Federation, though multiple retain their sovereignty, with the number rising over the years. The Federation hands over the Cabal's ACG-01 Chimera blueprints to Cascadia. Production begins to strongarm the country in the event of war with the Federation.

   AC 422-432: Evelyn London and Peter Kennedy escape to the Periphery as disgraces for several years. While London drowns her sorrows in drink, Kennedy flies for numerous air forces gaining as much flight experience as possible without much pay. They both come into contact with and, along with Monarch, join the Sicario Mercenary Corps and become part of Hitman Team. The Solana Communications Array is established in eastern Cascadia to fight connection problems in the country.

   AC 428: Cascadia's Salvemini Vineyards win the Federation's Wine and Dine Showdown at the Khan's Castle. They continue to win for four consecutive years.

   AC 429: The infamous '29 tax scandal; Federation billionaire Kyl Harkema establishes the Harkema Industrial Park in the Scarred Sea. Following the rig's liquidation, it is purchased by Icarus Armories despite Cascadian disapproval.

   AC 431: December 9th: The Creole Republic hires Sicario for a month-long contract, though their total airtime is limited

   AC 432: January 9th: 1605 Jesta Island Chain time: Sicario initiates Operation Red Current to destroy the Burlok Privateers HQ and recover a stolen Federation cargo ship, the Meilynx. They are then given orders to bomb the cargo, which unwittingly triggers a large explosion that ignites a large part of the island, inciting the Meilynx Incident. The Cascadian Independence Force (CIF) starts a rebellion against the Federation in response to its continued conquests and refusal to allow Cascadia's secession, starting the Cascadian Conflict. Sicario's contract with the Creole Republic ends. They are invited to take part in the conflict on the CIF side. The Meilynx Incident is covered up as mishandling of cargo and the Burloks scapegoated for it. February 1st: The Federation locks down Cascadian airspace. As part of the nationwide comms blackout, they ground or divert every inbound flight. February 2nd: 1745 Fresnon Range time: Sicario flies west towards Cascadia to find new work. After being intercepted by a Federation patrol, Hitman Team and Gunsel Squadron are dispatched to take care of them, shooting down Blue Squadron and the airship Espadon. They make contact with J. Griffiths, who directs them to a provisional airstrip for restocking to more deployments. February 4th: 0812 Rowsdower AFB time: The CIF, supported by mercenaries and Sicario ground assets, reclaim Rowsdower Air Force Base from the Federation in Operation Carpet Dawn. Crosstalk Squadron attempts but fails to recapture the base, being shot down. For their major part in taking the base, Hitman Team is given first choice for personal quarters.[24] February 10th: Federation forces wrest control of the Aleutian Islands. 1740 Salvemini Vineyards time: The Cascadian Army Wild Boar Regiment becomes stuck in a large Federation push in the Salvemini Vineyards. Reinforcements on Operation Water Stable successfully rescue Wild Boar and secure their route to Presidia[20] February 21st: Fall of Presidia; the Federation begins occupying Presidia after sending the 1st Naval Battlegroup as reinforcements. In mere hours, the capital's urban facilities are lost, and the CIF is forced to retreat. February 22nd: 0730 Presidia time: The CIF successfully evacuates the majority of their forces from the city as part of Operation Red Coast, with help from Cascadian partisans. The partisans commence operations against the Federation. Crimson Team arrives a few days later. March 4th: 1730 Yellowstone Exclusion Zone time: CIF mercenaries begin a raid on Federation resource facilities across Cascadia to cripple Federation supplies and disrupt their frontlines. First contact between Crimson Team and Hitman Team over the Apodock Fracture; Hitman was the last major Sicario unit to pull out. Raids continue over the next few days and Crimson Team begins warning their allies about the mercenary threat, mainly Hitman. March 7th: CIF forces take back part of the Aleutian Islands. Remnants of the Cascadian Coast Guard seize a Federation battleship near the Burning Coast and christen it the Eminent Domain. 1230 Burning Coast time: A matter of hours later, Federation elements attempt to take it back or sink it. Sicario's Hitman Team, in Operation Sea Farer, prevents them. Federation spy ship Cat-Eye, on a separate mission to track rumors of the Mercenary Cabal's survival, is sunk. Federation Regional Cascadian HQ tries to destroy the ship using cruise missiles. This also fails, and the Eminent Domain becomes the rebel flagship, soon intercepting Federation cargo ships and shelling coastal defenses. March 21st: Aleutian Islands back in CIF hands. The rebels also approach Exclusion Zone 3A. 0930 Briggs Range time: Rebel-aligned air units shoot down Federation transport aircraft across Cascadia in Operation Broken Chain, avoiding damage to civilian airliners. Hitman Team, over the Zhirov Air Corridor, also manages to shoot down Federation Intercept Specialists. The Federation receives criticism for its poor handling of civilians along with juggling its depleted supplies. April: Conrad Security purchases war damage insurance. April 3rd 2200 Wensleydale Range time: Monarch is sent on a lone sortie to attack Federation air defenses in the Wensleydale Range's Chaohord Defense Region to secure a route for Sicario to the Solana Communications Array the following day. April 4th: 1630 Aitor Desert time: Sicario, in its largest deployment ever, flies a one-way trip to the Solana Communications Array to bring it down as part of Operation Blackout. With Ronin's infiltration in part, they are able to destroy the facility and temporarily occupy the neighboring airbase. Ronin acquires whatever intelligence they can find while buying time by lying about drill runs on the comms. Sicario's pilots either repair or replace aircraft within the given hour. Cascadian communications are fully restored, and the rebels begin an offensive campaign to liberate the homeland. In less than two weeks, they retake the Apodock Fracture and almost half of Yellowstone. Federation HQ discharges and replaces Cascadian National Guard troops with non-natives, resulting in more defectors. April 17th: Cascadian patrol aircraft spot Federation transports in the Bering Strait evacuating battle-weary manpower. 1305 Bering Strait time: The Showdown over the Bering Strait, the largest air battle in recorded history; Both sides begin sending in their own aircraft, leading to a snowball effect where practically the entire Cascadian Air Force is deployed. The CIF sends in the Eminent Domain to rescue downed pilots. Sicario arrives as rebel reinforcements; all rebel AWACS are out of commission by then. They proceed to shoot down a myriad amount of Federation forces, allowing their allies to reconsolidate. Magadan's Federation Aviation Regiment is severely damaged by the battle, with only a dozen pilots returning to base. The transports are shot down by the rebels; Crystal Kingdom allows Crimson Team to fly towards the fight with survivors who had disengaged. Over half of the Peacekeepers are eventually lost, forcing a full Federation retreat. Monarch's fame/infamy as the "Crown" begins. Federation air supremacy is crushed, and they retreat while replacing their losses and preparing Task Force 1. April 29th: Many fishermen in the Scarred Sea report bursts of light from the Harkema Industrial Park. May 7th: CIF forces begin an invasion of Magadan. 0030 Scarred Sea time: Hitman Team and Ronin are sent to investigate Harkema Industrial Park in Operation Null Star. Klara Rask, working on the main platform, prepares the SP-34R for combat once trouble begins, intending to cover the work-in-progress PW-Mk.I's flight out of the area. Following the destruction of Federation-aligned defenses, Rask launches and engages Hitman, transmitting combat data in the meantime. Ronin destroys the main platform while extracting several scientists into custody via the Eminent Domain. However, what data they gathered was mostly unrelated to weapons development. Sicario continues supporting the offensive campaign. May 13th: 0700 Sawaiiki time: Operation Free Agent, the most number of airships lost in a single event; CIF mercenaries are sent to destroy Task Force 1 docked in Wai Mami Port, Sawaiiki. Entirety of rebel tanker fleet scrambled for the mission. Due to the attack, the PW-Mk.I is flown out again to the Core States for completion. Because of TF-01's loss, the Federation loses all conventional means to defeat the rebels; Federation units depending on them fall apart to their enemy's advance. Sawaiiki units set up positions to engage the mercenaries, but are convinced to stand down to avoid escalating the conflict. Sawaiiki condemns the Federation's failure to protect their facilities, resulting in rising mutual tensions, culminating in Sawaiiki forbidding the Federation using its harbors. May 23rd: By this day, almost every geothermal facility and important position held by the Federation has been retaken by the CIF. Retreating Federation units set fire to the Grimwood Forest, one of their few remaining countryside holdings, to halt the rebel offensive and give time for their flight to Prospero and Presidia. The reformed Cascadian Firefighting Corps deals with these fires, but is bogged down by desperate Federation forces. May 26th: 1400 Grimwood Forest time: Reinforcements are sent to Grimwood Forest to support the firefighting and war efforts. Federation forces still remaining ultimately capitulate.[38] The Federation halts all traffic coming out of Prospero, evacuating vital assets such as VIPs using seized civilian transports. They also shut down the city's geothermal monitoring station. The rebels are pushed out of Magadan and lose sizeable parts of northern Cascadia to a Federation counteroffensive. In the same timespan, they besiege Prospero with artillery fire, weakening its defenses. June 2nd: 1035 Prospero time: A large furball ensues above Prospero during Operation Anticipation as CIF forces led by head officer and Wild Boar Regiment CO Morgan Elizabeth attempts to convince defending forces to surrender. Many Federation troops including native loyalists heed his request. Crystal Kingdom officers and Federation Peacekeepers prepare a plan to level Prospero with cordium-tipped cruise missiles upon luring the rebels in, which they believe will devastate their morale and win them the war. One officer opposed to the plan is shot and killed by the Cascadian Peacekeeper Commander. A Federation mobile artillery battalion fires the missiles at Prospero.[40] Rebel-aligned aircraft are unable to shoot them all down; the entire Wild Boar Regiment, including Elizabeth himself, is vaporized on the spot, resulting in a rout. Geologists discuss the fissures coming from Cascadia and learn of its real cause, then warn the continent of the impending disaster. Start of the Cascadian Calamity Event, which kills hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides. World powers vilify the Federation for its gross desecration of an entire continent. They plan to seize their assets, with the West African Concordat in particular looking into its cordium weaponry. All communications across Cascadia go down due to the sheer geothermal interference. Many bases including Rowsdower AFB fall victim to new geothermal hot zones, forcing staff migration to other installations and even converting civilian ones as new bases. 1400 Rowsdower AFB time: Hitman Team, returning from Prospero to Rowsdower to regroup with survivors, is engaged by Klara Rask and Master Goose Squadron, who have taken up the Federation's bounty on Hitman. All of the bounty hunters are shot down and killed, but Hitman's identities are exposed. Sicario's other survivors radio Hitman and prepare to leave just as J. Griffiths arrives. The exchange is initially full of enmity because of Sicario's desire to abandon the perceivably hopeless war, but Griffiths makes the Deal to keep them invested by promising Hitman amnesty and Sicario a later rejuvenation. Sicario Commander Arnold Frenken leaves Cascadia temporarily to recruit pilots from Periphery nations and anti-Federation powers. Sicario itself relocates to Highway 34 in the Aleutian Islands' Daner Valleys. July 25th: 1550 Audrerie Valley time: Two months after the initial reignition of the Calamity, the CIF, in a bid to regain war momentum, performs a raid in conjunction with partisans and other elements against the Federation-held Brite Fortress for Operation Blue Shelter. With most of the fortress neutralized, the Federation deploys two land battleships; both are destroyed, and the fortress is recaptured later. Similar attacks across the country force the Federation on another retreat. August 2nd: 1800 Prospero time: The CIF decides to recapture Prospero a second time for Operation Recall. Hitman Team takes out the few Federation patrols there to pave the way for army convoys. Crimson Team appears and engages them for one last time, being fully defeated with Crimson 1 being the sole confirmed survivor (at the time presumed dead). CIF troops secure Prospero and prepare for the final assault on their capital. August 12th: Earliest day of the Cascadian Conflict Ceasefire being in the works by both CIF and Federation sides. The entirety of CIF naval forces links up with the Eminent Domain to take down the 1st Naval Battlegroup, starting by intercepting the Federation naval supply line, in Operation Welder. In the midst of the battle, Woodward, captain of the Eminent Domain, attempts to get the Federation to surrender while they still can, only to receive radio silence; the battle continues. Arnold Frenken returns with numerous mercenaries to support the final push against the battlegroup's last wave. A blockade in the Pacific Ocean is formed, planned to last a month to starve Federation defenders. August 23rd: The war ceasefire becomes scheduled for this day, forcing the CIF to liberate Presidia immediately. The Second Battle of Presidia begins. 1600 Presidia time: CIF forces and allies converge on their capital, systematically wiping out every Federation unit including the last of their naval and aerial garrison. However, just as the rebels close in on their main headquarters, a ceasefire is called. A tense evacuation is conducted with cautious rebel forces overseeing it. However, Crimson 1, now flying the completed PW-Mk.I and supported by purported Federation accomplices, halts the ceasefire by attacking forces on both sides and bombing his own capital with cordium weapons, killing millions and causing a citywide tectonic collapse.[47][41][40] 1800 Presidia time: With a clear shot at Monarch, the only remaining active force in the area and his nemesis for the entire war, a climactic duel begins between the two top aces. Despite his considerable technological superiority, Crimson 1 is ultimately shot down and killed, ending the Cascadian Conflict on a sour note. The few surviving rebels enact extreme prejudice on Federation soldiers still left in the burning capital, accusing them of being in league with Crimson 1. Following the end of the war, a series of uprisings take place by Periphery nations against the Federation, backed by Cascadia. The Federation's newer member states secede in response to the organization's atrocities, leaving the Core at its weakest point since the Federation's formation. Cascadia begins immediate rebuilding, accepting mercenaries into its sphere and forming foreign legions to expand its depleted military, also mass-producing the ACG-01 to become the backbone of the Cascadian Air Force. The aircraft was notably exclusively used by mercenaries throughout the conflict. The Cascadian government issues a search warrant for citizens to report sightings of Hitman Team, still at large as of present.

4. #4Calamity

   Keys: AC 0, AC -150, Calamity

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   The Calamity was a global catastrophe that took place 150 years before the After Calamity Era, documented only by a handful of historical artifacts and records. A cascading geothermal event occurred in the Ring of Fire that led to tectonic disasters that ravaged the planet. Despite the collapse of the world order, humanity itself survived the Calamity and designated a new base zero year for the AC Era.

   Timeline: Disaster: An ignition of recently exposed cordium beneath the surface of Earth caused by unknown circumstances incited more cordium to ignite, resulting in an uncontrolled cascading domino effect of cordium ignitions. The effect on Earth's tectonic plates resulted in volcanic eruptions and powerful earthquakes, primarily within the Ring of Fire. The largest of these was the eruption of the Yellowstone Supervolcano in North America.

   The Calamity devastated human civilization to the point that it was considered an end of an era. Worldwide communications broke down and some nations collapsed. The Yellowstone eruption and its destruction in North America was considered an extinction-level event on that continent. The supervolcano and the Ring of Fire also spewed a volcanic ash cloud that blotted out the sun around the world, ushering in a temporary global ice age referred to as the Long Cold.

   Long Cold: The Long Cold is officially considered to have started immediately following the Calamity. Without any sunlight, crops failed and natural fauna perished in many ecosystems, with the known exception of whales, which were forced to evolve with the new conditions in the Pacific Ocean. Millions of people that survived the Calamity itself died in the famine and environmental conditions caused by the Long Cold.

   The Calamity caused geothermal fissures to appear around the world. These fissures provided surviving humans who huddled around them with warmth and usable soil. Over time, the survivors reestablished formal international communications and began working towards resuming humanity's path of development, owing to the species' inherent resourcefulness and survival skills. Political relationships were formed around who had the best access to the geothermal fissures.

   After Calamity: The Long Cold lasted an estimated 150 years after the Calamity. Once it was determined that the Calamity was no longer a hindrance to human development, a year zero was established to mark the start of what was named the After Calamity Era. The average citizen in the After Calamity Era lives a safe and comfortable life, free from the threat of natural disaster. Cordium was properly studied early in the After Calamity Era, eventually leading to cordium mining in addition to geothermal energy collection.

   Remnants of the Calamity still persist worldwide. Tectonic and volcanic activity is still commonplace within the Ring of Fire but mostly localized in certain areas. Local governments treat these areas as exclusion zones. One of the largest is the Yellowstone Exclusion Zone, where most of the territory is unmapped and dangerous geothermal flare-ups continue to occur. To most of the developed world, however, the Calamity is ancient history.

5. #5Cordium

   Keys: Cordium

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   Cordium is a valuable natural resource that emerged on Earth following the Calamity, used as an energy and fuel source that can also be weaponized. It is made out of Rock.

   Characteristics: Cordium is a crystalline compound produced in Earth's deep mantle, a mixture of dielectric materials, native metals, and anomalous compositions still poorly understood over 400 years later. They exist in the form of dangerously reactive rocks and formations, somehow, as if supernaturally, powering abandoned surviving facilities all on their own according to various tales in the immediate post-apocalypse.

   Cordium can be extracted from geothermal and magma fields, most efficiently using derivations of deep oil drilling such as lava-based extractors, but is difficult and dangerous to mine due to its volatile nature. For instance, a mishandled cordium shipment led to the destruction of the major Cascadian city of Solstitium, killing thousands and displacing countless more, leading to strict mining regulations imposed by both the Pacific Federation and Cascadia. The lost city became inhospitable for 40 years, the Cascadian National Guard closing off the city.[3][4] The above regulations lead to methods such as reducing refinery conduit pressure, inert cordium being secured inside containers, and cordium neutralizer agents being developed and dumped into pipelines. These have the effect of stalling cordium production for an implicitly long time, however.

   Cordium power generation drains out slowly while also being able to power machines much bigger than itself. Partly as a consequence, it is difficult and perhaps impractical to reduce its size to household or personal use. Furthermore, attempts to create a synthetic supply along with (until at least AC 432) further weaponization have been failures, being limited to railgun slugs. Below is the three-part generation method:

   The cordium is placed/absorbed in a secure engine. A catalyst is introduced into the cordium, provoking a reaction which is contained by the engine. Following a short time, the cascade settles into safer and manageable levels. Crucial warning should be taken to the reaction itself, which if left uncontrolled (i.e. outside an engine), will ignite the cordium without restraint. However, up until the Prospero Disaster, this kind of active reaction was merely a theory explaining away the destruction caused by the Calamity. Cordium reacting on itself and other geothermal deposits can cause devastating tectonic disasters that can alter weather in areas to an uninhabitable degree; anomalous storms scorching the earth underneath to massive earthquakes of ancient history (that can cover over half a continent) are part of them. In the event of latent reaction to the atmosphere, the population of the affected areas is advised to take indoor shelter as soon as possible, and it is believed inactive geothermal hotspots can be triggered by traffic contamination and randomly igniting inert cordium deposits.

   History: Cordium was presumably, according to sparse historical records, uncovered. This apparently led to a global tectonic disaster which erased human civilization from existence, the mineral itself only being repurposed for humanity's use by the start of the After Calamity Era. The first new AC Era relationships were based around geothermal energy producers who also possess cordium reserves.

   Hundreds of years pass for cordium to receive defining discoveries, either through new transportation methods, disasters/accidents, or deliberate weaponization. During the Cascadian Conflict, the Federation was successful in weaponizing cordium to the next stage, but its deployment resulted in the Cascadian Calamity Event and the Presidian Disaster.

   Trivia: "Cordium" is similar corium, a highly radioactive substance produced as a result of a nuclear reactor meltdown. Both also contain fuel and can be obtained from cataclysmic events.

6. #6Periphery

   Keys: Periphery, Countries

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   The Periphery is a category of smaller states in the After Calamity Era usually lacking self-sufficiency in geothermal energy. Some of these states might be powerful in their own right, but many rely on modern technology heavily favoring geothermal energy and cordium, which exists outside of their purview.

   In general, the Periphery is war-torn and impoverished of energy and resources, being filled with criminal and privateer groups, revolutionaries, guerillas, as well as mercenaries standing in for their implicitly weaker militaries doing their work. Peacekeepers of the Pacific Federation are sent to the Periphery maintaining order, dominating resistance around the world. The Federation also sent out Task Force 1 to stop all rebellion within the Periphery, closing off entire airspaces. Morgan Security, however, is proof that the Periphery is not entirely underarmed, having a defense treaty with other non-Federation organizations and supplying people whose contracts are untied from either of the Federation's big two design houses.

   These countries often receive aid from great powers/superpowers such as the Federation and Cascadia, though are represented by the latter on the world stage at its capital Presidia, which itself served as a major juncture between the Periphery and the rest of the world.When the Cascadian Conflict broke out, many Periphery nations voiced being pro-Cascadian independence, though backed off from direct support to avoid provoking the Federation's vast military might against them. Beforehand, however, some of the Periphery - located in the North American Dustlands - was often in conflict with Cascadia's border communities and military.

   Since the Oceanian War, an increasing number of Periphery states began associating with the Federation or bigger superpowers, but some committed to retaining their independence. Over time, more and more of these nations chose the latter option, shaking the balance of the current world order to a degree.

   Following the Prospero Disaster during the Cascadian Conflict, Sicario mercenary leader Arnold Frenken recruited reinforcements from the Periphery for Cascadia, bringing back far more than he intended to and finding out that his forces were inspired by the rebellion. After the war's disastrous end, the Periphery commenced a worldwide offensive on the now-severely weakened Federation, with Cascadian backing and rallying, opening the door to a potential crusade of vengeance.

   Nations: The only known Periphery nation is the Creole Republic, though the East Periphery is mentioned.

7. #7Pacific Federation

   Keys: Pacific Federation, Federation Military Forces

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   Type: Confederation Location: Pacific Rim Leader(s): Prime Executive Military: Federation Military Forces

   The Pacific Federation, also simply the Federation, is a confederation and also a world superpower comprised of the coasts of western North America and the Asia-Pacific region. It holds large geothermal and cordium resources and practices a policy of constant expansion, using either (or a combination of) military and political force. The Federation is the main antagonist faction.

   Member states: Federation Core States: Ulaanbaatar Major Federation States: Uncategorized: Cascadia (associate; formerly) Magadan Oceania Sawaiiki (associate) Deep Federation States: Unknown but mentioned: Wilhelm

   History: Many of the Federation's founding states originated in surviving governments and corporations following the Calamity, giving an organizational head start over the majority of other world powers newly created by allowing the Federation to control the course of the world for a momentum-run time. It was first founded in AC 332 as part of a large-scale reconsolidation of global influence.

   The Federation, initially, took heat for its monopoly of geothermal power and pursuit of it, made blatant by Cascadia being persuaded into joining and supporting Federation policies over 50 years into its existence. Around AC 417, Oceania decided to secede citing increased resource strains, but the Federation, citing stability and security issues, invaded the country, eventually prevailing. In the years following, many Periphery nations began aligning themselves with either the Federation or much larger superpowers.

   This trend would be counteracted, however, by some Periphery states and more and more over time deciding to maintain their independence, as well as Cascadia following Oceania's path 15 years ago after disapproving of recent expansion efforts, leading to the Cascadian Conflict. The Federation initially had the advantage, especially in minimizing the conflict's scale and taking over major urban centers and strategic points; however, mercenary forces hired by the Cascadian Independence Force gradually pushed the Federation on the defensive, even invading them at one point, and some in the Federation decided to level Prospero. This ended up creating the Cascadian Calamity Event, devastating a large part of North America.

   These actions earned the vilification of the international community, with some even moving to deploy proxy support to help the IF, made worse by the detonation of another cordium weapon in Presidia by rogue elements. The Federation, having lost the war along Cascadia both politically and physically, was put on the defensive militarily and politically; it had lost a majority of its deployable military forces, and came under attack from Periphery states supported by Cascadia, while newer member states of the Federation sought to break away in light of its atrocities.

   Government and politics: The Federation, being what it is, wields its military and political strength against any who would oppose their policies, never finding the time to give attention to the Periphery which it is helping. It is because of this that relations between the Federation and the rest of the world are contentious, though in spite of this, some Periphery states such as the Creole Republic wanted to vassalize into the Federation in order to become more secure, and the Federation only rarely forcibly annexed other countries into its fold. This obviously did not stop the world from criticizing the Core States for controlling geothermal power at first, although later on, these would be dealt with via nation-crippling embargoes. Taxes imposed on member states are somewhat stringent on certain goods. In fact, some Periphery states during the Cascadian Conflict chose to drop their tiffs with Cascadia knowing the Federation was much more intimidating in comparison.

   However, it is somewhat laxing on control of its own member states; Cascadia, for instance, was never fully federalized (a term for the Federation's national integration policy which involves unifying a nation's infrastructure under their complete control), and it appears to have been allowed to militarize as much as possible to prepare for war with the Federation itself; notably, Cascadia's National Guard was said to be able to stand up to the Federation on its own, unified. In addition, after the mercenary attack, Sawaiiki cut off the Federation from using its ports, though how the Federation responded is unknown. Likewise, they chose to engage only indirectly with rival superpowers in a cold war beneath public view, using wars such as the Cascadian Conflict as proxy to affirm their dominance and maintain their reputation. More broadly, they do not involve every one of their members into any conflict involving the group, allowing neutral stances.

   The government is led by a Prime Executive and has multiple branches, including the FDSE, the Department of Global Energy and Sustainability for managing resource policies, and the Federation Aviation Agency and Air Authority for civilian air transportation. The Federation Charter was one of their edicts issued, allowing for civilian and military traffic to mingle with each other. Territory is at least separated between Core and Deep States. Its main public company is Icarus Armories, which predated the Federation itself and to the present maintains the Federation's standing as the most technologically advanced military in the world.

   Military: The Federation Military Forces is the moniker for the combination of Federation-aligned state armed forces, the most advanced fighting force in the world.[28] They are quite sizeable and features a lot of branches, ranging from the Air Force and some elite special forces subbranches, Navy, Army, Ground Navy (for operating prototype land battleships, and FVN (for airships). Various commanding officers and headquarters are in charge of local forces, but overall, they answer to the beck and call of Crystal Kingdom.

   Academies such as Ulaanbaatar's Federation Air Academy train the majority of Federation personnel before sending them back to their respective militaries. The design bureaus that create the weapons and equipment used by the Federation are Magansk Aeronautical Design Bureau and Henderson Corporation, with the latter taking the lead and having connection to the civilian market.

   The Federation having historically never taken major military losses or outright defeats led to them and people being complacent, however, as the Cascadian Conflict proved they were not untouchable. They had to deal with losses never before seen in decades and had its image trashed by having one of its poster boys disobey and kill their own men, resulting in the military being severely weakened.

   Economy: The Federation, being made up of geothermal resource-heavy nations, has a monopoly on the geothermal reserves of the world. They competed with other member states like Cascadia in the fishing industry, notably the Bering Strait.

   Geography: The Federation is mainly comprised of huge megacities that go on for miles, with not one trace of natural land spared. These cityscapes are generally overdeveloped and occasionally suffer brownouts, resulting in enormous energy expenditure and requirements. They are described by some as either a "veritable hellscape" or "comfortable dystopia," and are in part the reason behind their expansionism. This is taken as a sign of internal strife underneath a system built on already shaky ground.

   The alliance and Cascadia once worked together on the Pillars of Communications project, which eventually made it to member states like Sawaiiki and dotted their landmasses. These three-kilometer-long towers are not just for show, as they streamlined comms across geothermally affected areas.

   Culture The Federation holds the annual Wine and Dine Showdown at the Khan's Castle, themed around brewery.

   Trivia: Most named member nations are based on locations in their respective areas. Cascadia is a bioregion and proposed nation in the Pacific Northwest. Magadan is a city and oblast in the Russian Far East. Ulaanbaatar is the capital of Mongolia. Oceania is a region comprising Australasia and nearby islands. Sawaiiki rhymes with and is based on an enlarged Hawaii, albeit the H is replaced with an S and "ki" is added to the end. The design of the Federation flag is likely inspired by Osea (small star in the upper right) and Emmeria (thin pointed star in the center) from the Ace Combat franchise. It also features similarities to the flag of NATO. One similarity of note is Osea being a federal state and imperially involved in world events like the Federation itself.

8. #8Mercenary

   Keys: Merc, Mercenary

   Enabled · After character · Order 10 · 100%

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   Mercenaries are fighters that nations would hire commonly to protect themselves and their facilities. They are commonly hired by Periphery nations as a stand-in for their own militaries, taking up operations such as bounties and raiding territory. Their specialties range from common soldiers to EW specialists, though they all share one thing in common: The bottom line. Mercenaries can either form organized groups or act independently, and because of this, their line of work is described as "cutthroat," with some resorting to blatantly criminal methods such as becoming pirates or taking less scrupulous methods including theft and kidnapping.

   However, the use of mercenaries was on the decline due to political pressure from superpowers, particularly following the Oceanian War and the (supposed) destruction of the Mercenary Cabal, which once maintained mercenary-related activities and affairs but was suspected of trying to create a mercenary state. In particular, mercenaries are presumably usually not well-trained and some consider having principles such as refusing to betray one's own contractor or other fellow mercenaries while others see the highest bidder as the golden rule. Regardless, it is apparent that mercenaries have big options as it is said making it through one battle alone will set them for life.

   The war above led to steep public disapproval of mercenaries in general and the supposed disappearance of high-caliber mercenaries. However, during the Cascadian Conflict, they resurged through Sicario's participation and performance. In fact, in spite of their anti-mercenary prejudice, some detractors have begrudgingly admitted that mercenary pilots are in general much more fortunate and experienced than average regular military. Related to the conflict, they used imported fuel for the sake of cost-effective deployment.

   Following the end of the war, Cascadia, despite massive damage, restructured itself under mercenary influence, absorbing mercenaries into its armed forces in the form of the Cascadian Foreign Legions, perhaps leading to its transformation into the Cabal's envisioned mercenary state ironically.

9. #9Mercenary Cabal

   Keys: Organizations, Mercenary Cabal, Defunct entities

   Enabled · After character · Order 10 · 100%

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   The Mercenary Cabal was a group of warlords that organized and maintained mercenary affairs, using mercenaries to manipulate criminal affairs and world events.

   Every Lord of the Cabal had a Signature, a mercenary under their command who dominated entire battlefields under their bidding.

   Mercenary Cabal: Years Active: AC pre-0–417 Location: Oceania Leader(s): Cabal Lords Members: Signatures Actions: Oceanian War

   History: The Cabal was founded during the Long Cold and before the After Calamity Era.[2] For the next 400 years, the Cabal had acted as the mastermind behind criminal activities and military strength worldwide, and dictated world history behind the scenes even before the Pacific Federation's existence.

   In AC 417, however, information leaked out according to sources that the Cabal's leadership was planning to turn Oceania into a mercenary state rivaling the Federation. Along with Oceania seceding citing straining pressure on its geothermal resources, this prompted the Federation to invade the nation to stop the mercenary state from coming to be. The Cabal was supposedly destroyed in the war, but rumors of their survival persisted into at least AC 432, enough for the Federation Navy to deploy the spy ship Cat-Eye to track them down.

10. #10After Calamity Era

    Keys: After Calamity Era

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    After Calamity Era: The After Calamity Era, sometimes the AC Era/Period. is the standard time measurement system that followed the Calamity, a tectonic superdisaster that devastated human civilization. Following the disaster, it took the 150-year-long Long Cold before the surviving nations of the world could rebuild their communications infrastructure and officially determine the continuation of human existence and development.

    Since the year zero, the average citizen has been living a safe and comfortable life. In addition, cordium, which would become one of the primary energy sources, was properly studied early in the After Calamity Era, eventually leading to cordium mining in addition to geothermal energy collection. The Ring of Fire, despite remaining active, settled down to much more sustainable levells.

    Remnants of the Calamity still persist worldwide. Tectonic and volcanic activity is still commonplace within the Ring of Fire but mostly localized in certain areas. Local governments treat these areas as exclusion zones. One of the largest is the Yellowstone Exclusion Zone, where most of the territory is unmapped and dangerous geothermal flare-ups continue to occur. Furthermore, there are numerous microislands and other landmasses yet to be mapped out even centuries later. To most of the developed world, however, the Calamity is ancient history.

    The political relations of the AC Era are defined by access to geothermal and later cordium resources or the absence thereof. The Pacific Federation dominated world events during its 100-year history due to its size, but movements from other superpowers, the Cascadian Conflict, and the Periphery's rise to independence threatened to upset the balance of power. The first man-made exclusion zone was created in Solstitium by accident.

    One of the first "modern" conflicts during the period was the Oceania War, a conflict fought between Oceania and the Federation when the former wished to secede due to the latter putting strain on their natural resources. The later, vastly more destructive Cascadian Conflict between Cascadia and the Federation occurred for similar reasons, defined as the largest war yet.

    The calendar system for the time period before year zero is unknown.

11. #11Cascadia

    Keys: Pacific Federation, Cascadia, Countries

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    Cascadia, officially United Cascadia, is a nation that comprises of the whole North American Pacific seaboard, all the way to the former Baja Sea area. it is one of the largest countries in the world and is famous for its abundant geothermal resources.

    Full name: United Cascadia Location: Western North America Capital: Presidia Leader(s): Various (due to the conflict devolving into guerrilla warfare with a smidge of usage of cataclysmic weapons such as cordium ICBMs) Military: Cascadian National Guard

    History: Cascadia was formed just before the start of the After Calamity Era to normalize relations along the Western Seaboard, having suffered a lot of internal strife between city-based and regional factions. Its founding cities included Presidia, Prospero, and Solstitium. Little is known of its history over the next 400 years, although it is known they had hostile relations with the Dustlands for an unknown period of time.

    Cascadia became an associate member of the Pacific Federation in AC 382 and worked with them in a number of endeavors, including dealing with the first artificial exclusion zone in Solstitium and helping them win the Oceanian War. However, when the Federation began using Cascadian resources to expand by conquest in recent years, Cascadia sought to withdraw its Federation membership, leading to the Cascadian Conflict where the nation collapsed into infighting between pro-Federation factions and independence/anti-Federation factions.

    Although the war initially went poorly for Cascadian independence, with much territory taken by the Federation including the capital city Presidia, the Cascadian Independence Force, the largest group opposing the Federation, rallied and was able to continue waging a conventional war against Federation forces with aid from mercenary groups. Together, they eventually drove Federation forces out of its territory, leading to a ceasefire. The conflict also wreaked literal hell on earth for Cascadia through Federation use of cordium weapons, which led to the Prospero and Presidian Disasters and resulting in the deaths of millions and much of the country being irreparably ravaged.

    Following the disastrous end of the war, Cascadia rallied to itself Periphery states attacking the Federation and became a haven for mercenary groups. Depending on which path the world is taking, the now-rebuilding nation may see itself lead the crusade directly.

    Government and politics: The formal signature of the official government is the "Free and Civil Government of Cascadia."

    The government, in its early days, had to quell factional infighting and maintain unity by establishing large military bases. It used its capital to link up the Periphery and the rest of the world as well as flow world commerce in and out, and is centered around the Port Authority Building. They also maintained a sparse amount of rules with the Federation and, before the Cascadian Conflict, worked with them to support less fortunate countries worldwide. Perhaps similar to the Federation's state-sponsored Icarus Armories, the government has a binding contract with munitions companies such as Cascadian National Industries to manufacture war machines, oddly including the Mercenary Cabal-originated ACG-01 Chimera, and was presumably given leeway to manufacture them in case they went to war. They have firefighting and park service departments as well as an airliner company for economic activities.

    The country had mediocre relations with the Federation prior to the conflict, perhaps because it was never completely federalized beforehand nor did it bring them into the hands of enmity. This was not always the case, however, as a tax scandal in AC 429 involving a Federation billionaire did not end in Cascadian governmental favor. Compared to the Federation, the international community receives it more positively, mainly due to its direct interaction with Periphery countries at its own capital, to the point a lot of them chose to support their cause for independence if only verbally despite its misgivings with its border communities' constant conflict with the Dustlands, especially with Cascadia potentially becoming another superpower. Its old Pillars of Communications project, previously built in cooperation with the Federation, was turned against the disloyal via the Solana Communications Array.

    Military: The Cascadian National Guard serves as a mainly defensive military force, having only one offensive operation under its belt in the Oceanian War. However, before the Cascadian Conflict, it was described as large enough to stand decently against the Federation itself in a hypothetical conflict. It is comprised of an Army, Coast Guard (Navy equivalent), and Air Force. Because of extreme damage from both the Cascadian Conflict and resultant split, it expanded to include the Cascadian Foreign Legions, an organized mercenary corps.

    Economy: Cascadia is described as the most powerful nation in the Western Hemisphere, and has huge resource output that rose by a third during its time associated with the Federation. This, however, created a state of inequality; a lot of Cascadians are urbanites in the more populated regions, while the wildernesses have tribal groups and families still living off the land and living in isolated compounds. Its tourism industry is sizeable, with main attractions including its numerous forests, enhanced by it standing in contrast to other large nations' mass urbanization and industrialization.

    The trade port of Prospero was once the largest transportation and commerce hub in the continent, taking in naval and aerial traffic from the Scarred Sea and elsewhere and being considered the world's busiest airport. Not only Prospero, but aerial trade routes such as the Zhirov Air Corridor, connected to global ones, account for more than 15% of daily worldwide commerce and travel. Cascadia has a sizeable agricultural industry likewise, with winery centered around the Salvemini Vineyards and fishing sourced from the Scarred Sea and the Bering Strait through fishermen gathering king crabs, though having to contend with rival Federation fishermen for the net.

    The Cascadian economy was troubled to some extent by stringent Federation taxes, which led to high prices on at least some luxury goods, to the point bits of infrastructural development were shut down solely to counteract them. In addition, its rich resources made it an interest to Federation Core States, which is constantly starved for energy. It was perhaps extremely hit hard by the carnage of the Cascadian Conflict and needed a lot of reconstruction to get back on its feet.

    Geography: Because of the country's large amount of deposits, there are various exclusion zones dotted around the country, most prominently Exclusion Zone 3A and the Yellowstone Exclusion Zone, which the government had created a zone around to safeguard against geothermal events. It is divided between a large "island" section in the continental midwest, and had, for a long time, retained ecological stability with careful environmental planning. In general, the country has snowy tundra to the north and deserts to the south, giving an incredibly diverse climate while being simultaneously sustainable, in stark contrast to other large countries such as the Federation. More than a quarter of its energy is generated by the Apodock Fracture alone, one of Yellowstone's more stable fractures.

    The northern coasts contain plenty of remnants from the Calamity and have geothermal hotspots and thunderstorms all over, but its countryside is primarily dotted by numerous forests maintained well enough to establish Cascadia as a place of natural marvels. The Golden Ocean's existence as a body of water surrounded by risen landmasses around the capital even gave it a mythical reputation as a place of gold, attracting treasure hunter wannabes. People even take to establishing artificial waterborne rigs and homes in the Scarred Sea. Because of the Pillars of Communications project, three-kilometer-long towers can be seen all across Cascadia, giving a distinctive mark on the landscape.

    Unfortunately, because of the new Calamity and related disasters, much of the environment along with its cities were essentially glassed, possibly rendered uninhabitable for a long time.

    Culture: The country has its own language completely unrelated to English itself, which is still primarily used as a means of communication. It has a religion centered around the Dust Mother deity, along with some related books. While in the Federation, it took part in at least some festivals such as the Wine and Dine Showdown at the Khan's Castle.

    Trivia: The country may be based on the independence movement of the same name, which proposes a country based in the eponymous bioregion in the same area. In the World on Fire, however, it is expanded to include Alaska and parts of northern Canada. It might also be a direct descendant of the United States, based on Independence Force HQ's opening quote in the Second Battle of Presidia, which could allude to the American Revolution.

12. #12Cascadian Conflict

    Keys: The war, Cascadian Conflict

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    The Cascadian Conflict was a major civil war in the After Calamity Era. The conflict began with Cascadia withdrawing its membership in the Pacific Federation, citing its continuing expansion. The Federation refused, and Cascadia collapsed into two major factions; those in favor of independence and those remaining loyal to the Federation.

    With combatants from over 90 countries and involving a downsized rerun of the Calamity, the Cascadian Conflict eclipsed the Oceanian War's destruction threefold and resulted in a combined death toll of 1.5 million lives across both sides, over half from the disasters that destroyed its two remaining founding cities, along with much of the country being practically reduced to glass and no longer habitable. The war also bucked expectations that the Federation would prevail as history had proven time and again.

    The conflict was notably also the first time cordium-tipped weaponry was used, and saw mercenaries returning to their former glory after a decline caused by the aforementioned war. It also saw the once-mighty Federation being heavily declawed by never-before-seen losses and losing newer member states afterwards because of its atrocities, as well as turning the tide of a secret cold war between the Federation and other superpowers by greatly harming the Federation's image.

    Cascadian Conflict: Preceding: Oceanian War Concurrent: Superpower cold war Following: Federation uprisings Details: Other Names: War in Cascadia Cascadian War Federation-Cascadian War Date/Time: January 9–August 23, AC 432 (7 months, 2 weeks) Location(s): Pacific Rim Outcomes: Pyrrhic CIF victory Cascadia secedes from the Federation Cascadian Calamity Event erupts and decimates large parts of the Pacific Rim Massive destruction to Cascadian infrastructure and soil including Prospero and Presidia Worldwide backlash to Federation dominion, including uprisings

    Background and mass contract: By AC 432, the Pacific Federation was the sole major supplier of cordium and geothermal resources to the world. Most of these resources came from the Ring of Fire, in which their North American client state of Cascadia had the largest deposits. The Federation used these reserves to expand their territory, an action that Cascadia heavily protested against. Notably, despite being a major member state, Cascadia was never properly taken over by the Federation, and was viewed more positively in the international eye compared to the rest of the alliance.

    Pre-war, both Cascadia and the Federation utilized their resources together to support lesser nations globally, though were indifferent to one another when it came to relations. Taking Federation aggression negatively, the Cascadian people sought independence but were rejected; instead, the Federation announced a process of due federalization, which was quickly met with resistance. In time, its military fragmented between two major factions; the Cascadian Independence Force, determined to take its independence by force, and forces aligned with the Federation ending up fighting its own countrymen.

    A rogue Ambassador aligned with the Independence Force fled the country afterwards, sending out a mass contracts for mercenaries willing to fight for them for money and giving away need-to-know information, and J. Griffiths, part of the caste that propelled Cascadia into civil war, was made the liaison of these mercenaries.[9] The most prominent of these mercenaries would be Sicario, which had just finished its contract with the Creole Republic, a Periphery nation.

    Outbreak and escalation: The war started on January 9 as the Federation began the federalization process. At Presidia, the flashpoint of the conflict and the Cascadian capital itself, the Independence Force, organized by politicians and military leaders and comprised of militias and National Guard units who broke off from the Federation military to pursue independence while also maintaining a legitimate image, swiftly took control of key strategic points in less than a month. Periphery states voiced their support for Cascadia, but chose to stay out of the conflict so as to not get dragged into the war and take the brunt of Federation power like the CIF.

    The Federation soon imposed a nationwide communications blackout, claiming only a few riots were happening and that any major military action was properly contained. On February 1, over three weeks into the conflict, all civilian traffic in and out of country was grounded or diverted away to preserve propaganda. They also seized Prospero, the Chaohord Defense Region[14] and its adjacent Solana Communications Array in the Aitor Desert, among other bases, allowing them to jam rebel comms while improving their own and control the flow of information; as a result, rebel frontlines fell apart without proper communication and 30% of the IF-aligned National Guard was wiped out in action.

    More than a week after the shutdowns, the Independence Force was facing one defeat after another, and was on the verge of collapsing into a guerilla movement, being in danger of losing its last few major units and officers and therefore, its command structure. Fortunately for them, mercenary forces recently hired, most prominently Sicario, successfully relieved Independence Force battalions all across the country, stabilizing their territory and preserving their conventional warfighting capabilities.[15] In response to the new arrivals, the Federation sent in reinforcements from out of country to ruthlessly crush the rebellion, most prominently Crimson Team and the 1st Naval Battlegroup, targeting Presidia itself on February 21.

    Faced with a prolonged conflict hampering their plans of a swift war, the CIF was forced to retreat from the capital the following day, taking few casualties due to spot-on defensive support. At the same time, partisan forces disillusioned with the Independence Force's perceived failure to keep the war going took up arms and erased records of their existence for either side to use. Notably during the evacuation, although both sides tried to get as many civilians out of harm's way, the Federation recklessly bombarded urban areas, causing a number of Federation troops to defect.

    Wasting away the Federation: However, the Federation's war effort was fueled by cordium and supply lines as the CIF deduced, and they sent out fighters to launch a series of raids on both coastal emplacements and major supply facilities and routes all across the country. Though the Federation still had absolute control over logistic routes and had untouchable industrial capacity along with information, even to the point of seizing cell phones, international backlash ensued over its endangerment of civilians and reduction of the war's scale. Concurrently, it was during this time where Monarch of Sicario's Hitman Team stared down Crimson Team and lived, which led to him and other mercenaries being constantly warned about by them.

    Despite the Federation war effort being hampered by these raids, partly from losing a major asset to them, the Solana Array still put Cascadian rebels at a losing end, and the only way for them to regain the initiative was to destroy the facility. The IF sent Monarch to neutralize the Chaohord Defense Region so as to provide a corridor for Sicario for their one-way trip. Once that was dealt with, Sicario flew to the Aitor Desert and disabled the communications array, freeing up Cascadia's communication networks nationwide.

    The rebel counteroffensive: Regaining the initiative: With the loss of the array, the playing field became more even for both sides; in the aftermath of its destruction, the rebels scored their first conventional victories and took back most of the territory they had lost while dealing the Federation severe casualties and imposing their own EW countermeasures. The Federation, being pushed back by a consolidated rebellion, also began discharging Cascadian nationals from its armed forces, which inadvertently helped to bolster the Independence Force's numbers, while also pulling back underpowered units with experience out of Cascadia.

    A massive air battle - seen as the largest in history - broke out over the Bering Strait on April 17 when the Cascadian Air Force intercepted the above transport aircraft, only to be engaged by "half the Federation Air Force", becoming pushed back until Sicario and other mercenaries came in and helped turn the tide against them. Crimson Team came in late with surviving units and reinforcements in a final effort to drive the rebels back, but they were forced to retreat as they were being hit with heavy casualties, with over half of Crimson's pilots shot down. With most of their air force in-theater destroyed, the Federation's remaining air power proved no factor.

    Following the decisive aerial victory, the rebels took the opportunity to launch an invasion of Magadan, possibly to lock down the Bering Strait to any Federation incursion. They were able to occupy territory for over an entire month before being pushed back by early June, leading to the Federation occupying large swaths of northwestern Cascadia. Around the same time, the Federation's more unknown elements began to surge in activity, which Sicario was sent to investigate, resulting in the destruction of a floating industrial complex along with a next-generation fighter (both Icarus Armories property) in the Scarred Sea, though one other prototype was able to make it out.

    To continue their lightning momentum, the Independence Force also sent mercenaries to Sawaiiki, a recently inducted Federation vassal state to destroy the Federation Vertical Navy's dreaded Task Force 1 in port, the airship fleet being due to arrive in Cascadia. Despite the kingdom's status and similar importance to Cascadia, the kingdom complied to requests of neutrality, and its military stood by as the Federation lost numerous facilities and a lot of firepower. This allowed the mercenaries to complete their mission and return home, later on participating in the main offensive lines and successfully recapturing almost all of the country's geothermal facilities and key regions, partly with Independence Force HQ's General Morgan Elizabeth directing proper fronts and partly to partisan interference. It was during the month of May that the rebels were ruthless in taking no prisoners while simultaneously acquiring defectors and prisoners after another, and the Federation did not consider the partisans as much of a threat, which they would later regret.

    The Second Calamity: A major battle was planned before the retaking of Presidia: The liberation of Prospero, the Federation's main source of its remaining air power as well as Cascadia's primary economic hub. Independence Force artillery units headed by General Elizabeth had shelled the city to soften up the Federation's defenses in the days leading up to the operation; during the offensive campaign, the Federation evacuated most of its manpower there. Unfortunately and unbeknownst for almost all involved, some Federation officers had a scorched-earth policy in mind for Prospero. Before they realized it, they deployed a mobile artillery battalion[29] to launch a swarm of cordium-tipped cruise missiles to destroy the city. The plan succeeded, but in the process, they had destabilized the entire Ring of Fire, devastating the Pacific Rim in a mass tectonic event and dealing heavy damage to both sides' militaries, especially on the Cascadian Air Force.

    With the Calamity's effects all over the Pacific, large swaths of territory were abandoned by both sides, especially the exclusion zones and the newer ones that opened up during the disaster's onset. Their forces, due to breakdowns in communications resulting from geothermal interference and losses of bases such as Rowsdower Air Force Base, scattered and sheltered in place while also relocating to new makeshift bases. The international community also began condemning the Federation, with nations such as the West African Concordat - at the time locked in a cold war with the Federation - pledging support to the Independence Force and warranting the seizure of Federation assets. Sicario, in particular, took heavy losses, and Hitman Team's identities were leaked while they were intercepted by bounty hunters, leading to them striking a deal with the government to continue fighting in exchange for being granted sanctuary.

    Rebound, final push, and cataclysmic end: Two months after the Prospero Disaster, the CIF and the Federation began reorganizing, with the latter being faster by collaborating with non-military assets such as partisan snipers and Cascadian Park Service rangers to scout out Federation bases. The rebels were able to strike first, catching the Federation off-guard by raiding one of the largest facilities they had, Brite Fortress in a raid, culminating with similar surprise attacks earning them back more territories lost before and after the destruction of Prospero.

    With the new Calamity's geothermal effects dying down and cordium reactivity levels becoming more stable nationwide, the IF went back to Prospero to finish what they started two months ago. Although the area was ravaged by volcanic activity, it was still partly livable valuable as an operating base for the assault on Presidia. The return would mark the final time Hitman and Crimson Team clashed, with the entirety of the latter ace squadron being shot down and killed except for Crimson 1 himself, who unbeknownst to them survived the fateful encounter.[30] Prospero's retaking allowed the rebels to continue their progress, with the last major obstacle being the 1st Battlegroup, which had stayed at Presidia on guard and was now blockading the Pacific Ocean.

    By the war's final month, 65% of the Federation Air Force deployed to Cascadia had been destroyed, with the remainder either on retreat or staying back voluntarily at Presidia to reinforce defenses. The 1st Battlegroup moved out of port to respond to the rebel navy intercepting their supply shipments; retreat was rendered impossible due to Sawaiiki, having been made to rethink its vassalization since the raid, cutting off the Federation from using their harbors anymore, and consequently, the battlegroup was sunk, partly with effort from Sicario Commander Arnold Frenken, who was tasked with hiring reinforcements from the Periphery as part of the Deal (which ended up including confidential proxy squadrons from Federation-opposed powers). With Presidia cut off, the Federation's last stronghold in Cascadia was the capital itself.

    Around the same time, higher-ups on both sides began secretly arranging a ceasefire meeting in neutral grounds, which ended up being the United Kerneuropa Alliance member state Albion. The IF's plan was to blockade Presidia for a month to burn out the defenders, but due to the impending ceasefire and a need to stop the Federation from being too dug in, the rebels decided to begin the invasion less than two weeks earlier on August 23. In a final, relentless push, they were able to take back almost every stretch of the city which the Federation attempted to secure for as long as possible for ceasefire clout, stopping short of the Port Authority Building when the ceasefire came into effect.

    However, Crimson 1, who had gone insane from losing his entire squadron and the war after arriving late, completely derailed the truce proceedings. Piloting the Project Wingman (PW-Mk.I) fighter, the aircraft from Harkema, he indiscriminately shot down every unit in the airspace except Monarch, sank the rebel fleet stationed in the harbor, and bombed Presidia with cordium warheads - the same kind used on Prospero - with help from a number of accomplices, resulting in millions of casualties and the near-total annihilation of active continental forces on both sides. Seeking to settle the score with the Crowned Mercenary, he provoked him to a duel, with the few survivors being left to watch. Eventually, the severely outclassed mercenary bested the renegade Peacekeeper, ending the war proper. Despite Presidia being heavily damaged, the CIF secured the city, liberating it from Federation control.

    Aftermath: The conflict ended with a pyrrhic rebel victory. The war had brought death and devastation on a scale never seen before in history, with millions having perished as a result of the decisions of a few and both countries being left in ruins in some way. In particular, its cost to Cascadia was astronomical, with its economy, land, and infrastructure in shambles. Large economic and population centers were heavily damaged or outright destroyed by cordium missile strikes, including its capital. Though reconstruction immediately began post-war, it would take a long time for the Cascadians to rebuild their country to even a fraction of its pre-war state.

    For the Federation, the war had greatly weakened them as a world power on the global stage. The severe losses its military had suffered had put their Core States at their weakest point since their founding. From a political standpoint, Cascadia's secession had become a catalyst for several secessionist movements from the Federation in the form of various corporations and countries that once planned to join/work with the Federation withdrawing their applications.The international fallout from the use of cordium WMDs also spilled into the Federation's cold war and further trashed their reputation, though the West African Concordat was now looking to repurpose them for its own use, potentially leading to more man-made geothermal disasters in the future. In addition, Cascadia now held extreme prejudice against them due to the ceasefire's breaking by Crimson 1, the nature of his final actions remaining publicly unclear.

    Owing their independence mostly to mercenaries, Cascadia allowed them to influence its new path, becoming a haven for their kind its country and even forming foreign legions, although Sicario's Hitman Team became wanted by authorities for exact reasons not yet ascertained. The country, perhaps seeking vengeance for its grievous wounds, began backing Periphery states fighting the Federation. Lastly, the geopolitical impact of the war might see Cascadia rising into another superpower thanks to its huge economic might, though stalled by the huge damage it suffered.

13. #13Sicario

    Keys: Sicario

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    The Sicario Mercenary Corps (SCMC), also known as the Sicario Group and Sicario Corp or simply Sicario, was a mid-level mercenary unit. Oriented towards aerial warfare, it was made up of three fighter wings with supporting ground, logistics, and EW units.

    Unlike most other mercenary units of its size, Sicario's turnover rate was incredibly low, perhaps owing to its veterancy. They conducted their contracts out of superpower influence in the Periphery, and searched for an unknown big break. During Arnold Frenken's leadership, some (rightly) suspected him of taking the job out of searching personal glory; regardless, Sicario's record was entirely effective and clean, not earning any bad attention from superpowers.

    Sicario Mercenary Corps AKA: Sicario Group Type: Private military company Years Active: Circa AC 432+ Leader(s): Unknown leader, Arnold Frenken Actions: Good Hope Dispute, Operation New History, Sinking of the City on a Lake, Hunt for the Maester, Operation Red Current, Cascadian Conflict

    History: Sicario's origins are shrouded in mystery, though it is known that before Arnold Frenken's tenure as Commander, it took part in numerous disastrous contracts for years, and was considered "beneath another bloke" by some. The Pacific Federation has few intelligence records on the organization.

    Ever since Frenken took leadership of it, Sicario became much more successful, breezing through defensive and offensive contracts one after another for money.[2] Notably, despite staying away from superpowers, they illegally crossed into Federation territory a number of times, though without incident.

    Their most fateful contract perhaps was the Cascadian Conflict, where they consistently displayed exemplary performance and success rates and were one of the first and only groups to arrive in-country and deploy as quickly as possible. In fact, they were even hailed as a return of top-level mercenaries from the Oceanian War. They also distinguished themselves as the finest ever mercenaries hired by the Cascadian Independence Force. On occasion, it even took the lead in various mercenary operations, and certain squadrons took jealousy of them.

    Unfortunately for the PMC, Sicario was heavily reduced in the Cascadian Calamity Event, being reduced to at least their core units with others like Ronin being presumed dead. They kept on fighting in form of the Deal to the end, however, and what losses they suffered were substituted[8] by Periphery reinforcements brought for the war's final battles.

    Sicario's ultimate fate post-war is unknown, given its near-total destruction in the war overall and emphasis being put on its survivors as just that.

    Organization: Aerial: Gunsel Squadron – Primary, mainline squadron Assassin Team – Flagship unit Hitman Team - Point squadron Cariburn Circus Other squadrons: Dominic Zaitsev | AWACS "Galaxy" Ground: Special Operations Group Ronin Paratroopers Khan Mobster Element Aircraft and ground units: Fighters: F-15C MiG-29 F-16C F-15 STOL/MTD F-14D F-4E Su-27 Airborne Warning and Control Systems Boeing 737 AEW&C Transports: C-17 Globemaster III Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma Ground units: Tanks: B1 Centauro Artillery pieces AA guns: ZSU-23-4 Shilka and Phalanx CIWS SAM: 2 x S-75 Dvina

    Etymology: Sicario's name is Spanish for "hitman." This perhaps suits the fact that Hitman Team is Sicario's most decorated element and Frenken's favored unit.

    Trivia: According to FAN in the game's official discord server, Sicario's usual party games consist of "naked kill"(get naked and kill eachother) and "break eachothers legs"(self explanatory) Sicario's briefing software always has the following transcript: V1.919293. REV3 LICENSED TO USR: CT_4039 LICENSE EXPIRED PLEASE UPDATE YOUR LICENSE IMMEDIATELY USERNAME GU1028518501 PASSWORD **************** … … … << LOGIN SUCCESSFUL >> INITIALIZING CENE … INITIALIZED \ VERIFICATION ID 310347818930571 8593 8593 09192 85481 0295 98481 01923 C:\CENE\INT\940\ARCHIVE 09123.tmp corrupted 09123.tmp successfully purged 09124.tmp successfully purged all archive successfully purged Starting a new instance… Instance Initiated. Waiting… \\CENE 4.8\
    INTERFACE INITIATED <<

    The callsigns of Sicario's two main squadrons, Hitman and Assassin, are respectively shared with the two central United States Marine Corps 1st Marine Division's 1st Reconnaissance Battalion companies (Alpha/Bravo) featured in the Generation Kill book and miniseries.

14. #14North America

    Keys: Continent, North America, Locations

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    North America is a continent on the Western Hemisphere.

    Type: Continent Location: East of Asia, west of Europe and Africa Events: Calamity, Cascadian Conflict, Cascadian Calamity Event

    Geography: Dominating the continent's Western Seaboard is the geographically varied Cascadia, which features snow and tundra to its north and hot deserts connected to the Dustlands to the south, including the Aitor Desert, though ecologically stable thanks to careful environmental planning. The Dustlands themselves are the desert wilderness comprising a large portion of eastern North America, and its inhabitants often clash along the borders of Cascadia with its National Guard.

    History Being at the epicenter and housing half of the Ring of Fire, North America was one of the two continents hit the hardest by the Calamity, the other being Asia. Consequently, a giant wet crater was formed in the middle of the Western Seaboard, which would become the Scarred Sea. Part of the wilderness that formed in the center would become the Dustlands, bordering the future nation of Cascadia.

    The country itself was formed pre-After Calamity Era after various territorial disputes in the Western Seaboard. However, blood feuds between former rival factions still persisted, though were gradually culled in the long march of time. The rest of the continent was generally lesser-developed, typically part of the Periphery and seeing Cascadia as a beacon of prosperity, proven by its geothermal deposits and energy production, which rose by a third when it became a Pacific Federation vassal state in AC 382. In addition to energy production, Cascadia would attract tourists from around the world.

    The Cascadian Conflict erupted in early AC 432, spanning the entire country and costing 1.5 million lives militarily. During the conflict, the Calamity would restart and devastate much of the continent, with Cascadia being the epicenter and the worst-hit.

    Nations: Cascadia, Creole Republic Trivia: The western makeup of the continent resembles the prehistoric Western Interior Seaway.

15. #15Railgun

    Keys: Railgun, Weapons, Military units

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    Railguns, sometimes called mass drivers, are kinetic energy weapons used extensively in the After Calamity Era. They are found as both ground emplacements and vehicle armaments.

    Description:

    Railguns are advanced, cordium-powered heavy weapons that are normally found mounted on large vehicles or stationary defensive emplacements. While the projectiles and harmful trails that they fire make them resembles directed energy weapons, being referred to as lasers, their thunderous report and the fact that they inflict greater damage on direct hits indicates that they are, as their name and "slug" referential suggest, ballistic weapons.

    Compared to actual railguns, cordium railguns have much slower projectile velocity. The shells they fire will explode after a set distance or on contact, dealing heavy damage. The shells will also leave behind a trail of searing cordium energy that will damage anything passing through it, in similar fashion to how real-life railgun projectiles leave behind a trail of plasma in their wake.

    Railguns come in two variants: Normal railguns and advanced variants (ADV-RAILGUN), the latter of which is capable of firing in quick salvos.

    Only two aircraft are known to utilize railguns: The SP-34R and the PW-Mk.I. The railgun is capable of firing in single shots only, and it takes a brief moment of charging up before firing and has a lengthy cooldown period afterwards. However, your railgun deals notably increased damage, capable of destroying large targets in just a single shot and features a large hitbox; this means the target can be destroyed by just firing within close proximity to it.

    Applications: Being large and energy-consuming heavy weapons, railguns are often installed on anything with access to a powerful energy source.

    In naval applications, railguns are normally mounted on a type of upgraded LCS called "LCS-R" (Littoral Combat Ship - Railgun) which is only seen used by Federation naval groups. While a single LCS-R can pose somewhat of an annoyance, they are seldom encountered alone and can lay down considerable amounts of long-range fire support for nearby enemy vessels and aircraft.

    Certain models of airships are outfitted with one or more railguns, which likely draw power from the vessels' cordium engines. The Arcion-class air heavy cruiser is the most common railgun-armed aerial warship, with all three variants armed with railguns.

    Railguns are also used as defensive ground weapons on heavily armored turrets and provide defense to strategically important locations such as the Solana Communications Array, Harkema Industrial Park, and Wai Mami Port. Both standard and advanced railguns can be mounted on turrets. Railgun turrets are highly durable and can sometimes take two MLAG hits to destroy.

    Currently, the only land-based vehicle capable of mounting railguns is the land battleship. A land battleship can mount up to four standard railguns, allowing them to lay down an impressive amount of firepower along with their formidable large arsenal of anti-aircraft weaponry.

    Before and during the Cascadian Conflict, Icarus Armories experimented and succeeded with mounting railguns on fighter jets. The first successful example is the prototype ballistic airframe SP-34R. The data is later used to create the PW-Mk.I, which would be capable of dispersing railgun cluster bomb spheres.

16. #16Airship

    Keys: Airship

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    Airships, sometimes called gunships, are massive aircraft powered by cordium engines, seen in the After Calamity Era. Like other vehicles, they have found both military and civilian use.

    Like a naval ship, all weapons of an airship must be destroyed before the hull itself can be normally targeted and destroyed. However, some weapons such as the Anti-Ship Missile and Railgun can destroy the hull directly (although an accidental hit on an airship weapon will destroy only that weapon). Otherwise, Multi-Lock Anti-Air Missiles can be used to thin out the weapons at range, and passes with Standard Missiles and weapons like the Heavy Gunpod will strip an airship given time.

    Characteristics: Airships are slow-flying and often use bodies of water to land, hence their boat-shaped hulls. They typically have cordium engines protruding from the back, usually two. Because of this, their hulls usually combust into flames and trail a lot of fire and smoke when they take too much damage. Like regular surface vessels, they have fire prevention equipment and lifeboats, presumably escape pods with parachutes. They can also mount a range of weapons including AA guns, SAM launchers, and even railguns. In addition, large viewscreens can be seen dotting parts of the airship's hull, and the bridge seems to be typically located at the front like a regular aircraft.

    History: Little is known of the history of airships aside from cordium's capability of powering such large-scale vessels. Likely because of this, they are proliferated in large numbers by various great powers.

    The Pacific Federation used large airships such as 205-class air battleships in the late stages of the Oceanian War. They also fielded them in large numbers in their own airship branch, the Federation Vertical Navy, through fleets such as Task Force 1 in various deployments worldwide such as the Cascadian Conflict. The Cascadian Independence Force, during the war, also fielded airships occasionally.

    Civilian airships are also operated by organizations such as Air Cascadia. The city of Prospero was a major airship port in the Northern Hemisphere.

    Classes: Anura-class air cruiser Arcion-class air heavy cruiser Littoria-class air battlecruiser 205-class air battleship Suriname-class air carrier Condor-class super battleship

    Trivia: Airships almost always appear with a noticeable fighter escort, as they prove vulnerable to attack from smaller aircraft.

17. #17Europe

    Keys: Continent, Europe, Countries, Locations

    Enabled · After character · Order 10 · 100%

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    Europe is a continent on the eastern hemisphere.

    Type: Continent Location: West of Asia, north of Africa, east of North America Events: Cascadian Conflict Ceasefire Nations: United Kerneuropa Alliance, Albion

    United Kerneuropa Alliance: The United Kerneuropa Alliance is a world superpower and alliance of multiple European nations. Full name: United Kerneuropa Alliance Type: Alliance Location: Western Europe

    Member states: Albion

    History: The Alliance was involved in a cold war between the West African Concordat and the Pacific Federation for an unknown amount of time before AC 432 when the Cascadian Conflict broke out.

    On the final day of the war, the Alliance hosted a ceasefire in Albion between Cascadia and the Federation.

    Trivia: The United Kerneuropa Alliance most likely originated from Central Europe, specifically Germany, as Kerneuropa is German for "core Europe" and is a cultural term for Continental Europe. It may be a descendant of the European Union.

    Albion: Albion, officially the Republic of Albion, is a nation located in Europe.

    Full name: Republic of Albion Type: Republic Location: Europe

    History: A ceasefire was signed and put in place between Cascadia and the Pacific Federation in Albion by the end of the Cascadian Conflict.

18. #18Crimson Team

    Keys: Pacific Federation, Crimson Team, Military units

    Enabled · After character · Order 10 · 100%

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    Part of: Federation Pacific Federation, Federation Military Forces, FAF Air Force, PeacekeeperR Federation Peacekeepers Designation: Federation Peacekeeper/Peacekeeping Squadron - Crimson Team Leader(s): Cascadian Peacekeeper Commander, Crimson 1 Members: Crimson 5 Crimson 7 5-10 other members † Equipment: Chengdu J-20 (Chinese: 歼-20; pinyin: Jiān-Èrlíng), also known as Weilong (Chinese: 威龙; pinyin: Wēilóng; lit. 'Mighty Dragon', NATO reporting name: Fagin) Sukhoi Su-37 (Russian: Сухой Су-37; NATO reporting name: Flanker-F; popularly nicknamed "Terminator" PW-Mk.I Deployment: Cascadian Conflict Operation Flash Hazard Operation Guillotine Operation Recall Presidian Disaster Duel over Presidia Dissolution: August 2, AC 432 in Operation Recall

    Overview: Crimson Team, even among their fellow Peacekeepers, was considered the best of the best. They were brutal and merciless in combat, a reflection of their expected pure loyalty to the Federation. They typically flew in eight-plane flights of an equal amount of J-20s and Su-37 Terminator-Fs; the latter aircraft were flown by Crimson's older members. In the early stages of the Cascadian Conflict, they flew in parade colors to show off against their ostensibly inferior adversaries, but as the war turned against the Federation, they gradually ditched those colors before finally adopting military camo in their final battle.

    History: Crimson Team was out of country when the war started, only arriving a few days after the Fall of Presidia. After arriving, they first saw combat during Operation Flash Hazard, where they were deployed to the Apodock Fracture to halt an attack by mercenary pilots on the cordium refinery there.

    Crimson driven off: Despite arriving too late to save the refinery, they were successful in chasing off the mercenaries. They were caught off-guard by Sicario's Hitman Team leader Monarch (the "Crown" HVT), who somehow managed to heavily damage one of their members and forced them to give up the pursuit. Crimson 1, returning to base unharmed, remarked his future archnemesis "got lucky", and Monarch's allies were surprised at his feat.

    From then on, Crimson Team began warning their allies of the mercenary threat (particularly Hitman) and that they must take them seriously, having HQ send warnings and bulletins. However, these all failed to stop them from giving the Cascadian Independence Force further victories.[8][9] They were fighting in another theater when Crystal Kingdom redirected them to a furball over the Bering Strait, where a rapid escalation of force deployment over the pursuit of Federation transport planes carrying disorganized veteran troops had led to a massive air battle. Their arrival was too little too late; by then, the CIF and their allies had shot down all the transports, along with most of the Federation fighters there. Regardless, Crimson and their reinforcements and survivors engaged, targeting the mercenaries and Hitman one by one specifically. Unfortunately, despite their pattern adjustments, they lost five members to Monarch in the furball, and were forced to retreat along with what few survivors remained per Crystal Kingdom's orders.

    The squadron was next seen at the Harkema Industrial Park and then Sawaiiki testing the PW-Mk.I. Crimson 7, at both places, was ordered to take the Project Wingman fighter out of the combat zone, first to Federation territory and then the Federation Core States, where Icarus Armories would finish the aircraft. They were busy covering Federation retreats as the tide of war soured for them, and were unavailable as reinforcements for Prospero when the trade city was besieged.

    Crimson Team's fall Crimson Team sortied under unknown orders, if any, to Prospero and intercepted Hitman Team, engaging them in a final dogfight over the volcano and ruins of the city following the Cascadian Calamity Event. All members of Crimson were shot down and presumably killed aside from Crimson 1, who survived being downed. Crimson 1 would go on to obtain the PW-Mk.I with help from collaborators and, in the midst of a climatic battle and ceasefire between CIF and Federation forces at Presidia, perpetrate an unsanctioned atrocity on Presidia using a cordium warhead, killing millions, and shoot down all of Monarch's allies to provoke him into a final duel to avenge his fallen comrades. However, Crimson 1 was shot down and killed by Monarch in the burning skies of Presidia, presumably resulting in the dissolution of Crimson Team for good.

    Trivia: Crimson Team's tailcode designation seems to be shared and reads as follows: FP-01 00001PEACEKEEPER01 HWID-231.2.6

19. #19Federation conquests

    Keys: Conflicts, Federation conquests

    Enabled · After character · Order 10 · 100%

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    Federation conquests: Preceding: Oceanian War Following: Cascadian Conflict Details: Date/Time: AC pre-432

    In the years leading up to the Cascadian Conflict, the Pacific Federation had been exploiting Cascadia's geothermal resources to expand across the world by force and conquest rather than provide aid like before. This prompted the country to seek independence to stop these conquests from continuing. The Federation, however, refused its plea, and decided to fully vassalize Cascadia into itself entirely. The country, split between those in support of remaining and seceding, collapsed into civil war once the anti-Federation elements started resisting.[1]

    What became of the conquests during and after the war is unknown, especially with the Federation's military strength being heavily depleted afterwards and the alliance itself having become a global pariah.[2]

20. #20Frontline-59

    Keys: Frontline-59

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    Frontline 59: Set concurrent to the main plot, reservist squadron K-9 is activated in an emergency mobilization and ordered to join the battle over the Bering Strait, despite their inexperience. However, they are too late to join the battle and are forced to protect retreating Federation forces instead, resulting in them saving Crimson Squadron. In light of the massive losses they suffered, the Federation mobilizes the reserves of the entire frontline territory of Magadan, as Cascadia stages an amphibious invasion into eastern Siberia, led by General Faust. Despite K-9 and Peacekeeper Squadron Steel Team inflicting heavy losses on the Cascadians, they cannot stop the invasion and are forced to retreat inland.

    Over the next month, K-9 participates in defensive operations, buying enough time for the main Federation forces to regroup. The turning point comes when Driver performs a daring raid through an underground tunnel, destroying the Cascadian headquarters and putting the entire invasion force in disarray. The fully assembled Federation forces then drive the Cascadians back to the coast, refusing all offers of ceasefire. The main Cascadian invasion force is destroyed and the Federation begins their invasion of Cascadia. However, instead of being deactivated as planned, K-9 is sent to stop a last-ditch attack by General Faust targeting Magadan's largest geothermal plant.

    Driver destroys Faust's airship and kills her before she can attack the geothermal plant, but as her airship explodes, Faust warns of a terrible secret that was found in Oceania in the last war that the mercenaries consider "holy", and which will destroy either the Federation or Cascadia. The mission is completed just as K-9 witnesses a flight of cordium-enriched cruise missiles flying overhead toward Prospero.

    Afterward, due to their role in repelling the Cascadian invasion of Magadan, Driver is put into consideration to be promoted to a full-fledged Peacekeeper.

21. #21Hitman Team

    Keys: Characters, Sicario Mercenary Corps, Squadron, Hitman Team, Military units

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    Hitman Team is a Sicario fighter squadron, its pointman unit and perhaps its most elite. Led by Monarch, they played a pivotal role in the Cascadian Conflict, being one of the key players in securing victory for the Cascadian Independence Force.

    Part of Sicario Leader(s): Monarch (Hitman 1) Members: Robin Kuo (Hitman 1 WSO) Peter Kennedy (Hitman 2) Evelyn London (Hitman 3) Two other members

    Overview: Hitman was a five-man flight before becoming a three-man one at some point prior to the Meilynx Incident. Focused completely on results and taking their jobs seriously, the squadron's combat capabilities enable them to go toe-to-toe with even the most experienced of fighter pilots. In spite of this, however, they are described as "the runts of the litter" by older pilots like Gunsel 1.

    Hitman is noted for its members' close relationship compared to other Sicario elements, perhaps because its members comprise the corps' only Cascadians. Their motivations in "searching for something" as mercenaries are also a subject of speculation that they have been refusing to comment on.

    Despite Hitman's current composition, some of their members half-joked about making Robin Kuo, one of Hitman's crew chiefs and Monarch's occasional WSO, as another member, namely Hitman 4. They do not actually bring her in because of her presumably abysmal flying, which she showed before.

    History At some point in or after AC 422 after Monarch, Peter Kennedy, and Evelyn London left Cascadia to strike out on their own, they were all contracted by Sicario Commander Arnold Frenken for higher pay and flight times, becoming members of Hitman. Over the next ten years, they molded themselves as the best of the best among their mercenary peers, participating in several contracts and operations, including in the Periphery. They also took breaks on occasion, relaxing at places like the Caribbean Sea, and made and lost fortunes numerous times in the years leading up to AC 432.

    Hitman's stint in the Creole Republic was rather uneventful, receiving little airtime up until Operation Red Current where they skillfully cleared out Fort Daggerpoint of Burlok Privateers.[10] They also participated in the Cascadian Conflict's large-scale contract by the CIF rebels, being on last shift on the duration of the travel. Paired up with Gunsel Squadron elements, they defended their comrades against Pacific Federation patrols and later led the recapture of Rowsdower Air Force Base, Frenken granting them first serve on personal quarters and hangars for their efforts.

    Hitman distinguished itself among the Independence Force's mercenaries in more battles, in particular dealing the most damage in the March raids on Federation-held geothermal industry facilities and even being the first units to attract attention from the Federation Peacekeepers. Despite being split up in subsequent operations, they still proved their effectiveness in the countrywide intercept of the Federation aerial supply train, being the most successful among all the combined intercepts. In addition, Frenken trusted them with the Operation Null Star mission as the only ones capable enough to take it up, which he was proven right about as they contended with an SP-34R prototype. He also took them out for dinner after their enormous success in executing Operation Free Agent, which he personally led. Even Morgan Elizabeth, who received them coldly firsthand, came to rely on them as a card of victory in every battle he was in, up until his demise in Operation Anticipation.

    Hitman's successes earned the green-eyed ire of Master Goose Squadron, who they first met over Fort Daggerpoint, to the point they betrayed the IF and joined the Federation as bounty hunters. Although they along with Klara Rask were killed in action pursuing Hitman over Rowsdower, the latter was able to expose their identities to the public prior to her death. This effectively left Hitman with nowhere left to run, at least until J. Griffiths, their liaison, arrived and gave them a way out via the Deal. They were, however, initially reluctant, believing his war to be a lost cause after failing to prevent the Prospero Disaster from occurring and losing so much afterwards, but were eventually convinced with his promises to give them asylum in-country once the war had ended.

    Upon moving from the now-doomed Rowsdower to resting at Highway 34 for two months, Hitman returned to action by leading a strike on Brite Fortress and spearheading the second attempt to retake Prospero - or what was left of it. They also engaged Crimson Team for the last time there, experiencing a verbal riddling from Crimson 1 for a while. After that, they worked with the CIF fleet to wipe out the last of the Federation Navy in-theater, Woodward of the flagship Eminent Domain providing support fire for them both in Operation Welder and the Second Battle of Presidia. Although in the latter operation, Hitman sans Monarch was shot down by a Crimson 1 coming back literally with a vengeance, Monarch alone was able to bring down the rogue Federation ace.

    Hitman's side of the Deal was later fulfilled; they decided to disappear for a while, not wanting to be swept in world affairs, and go into hiding, though they remained at large after the war was over. In fact, one of the interim Cascadian government's first edicts was issuing a search warrant that was to be reported to MPs.

22. #22PW-Mk.I

    Keys: Aircraft, Prototypes, PW-Mk.I, Project Wingman mark I

    Enabled · After character · Order 10 · 100%

    Entry settings

    The PW-Mk.I (short for Project Wingman Mark I) was an experimental aircraft powered by cordium that was developed by Icarus Armories for the Pacific Federation. It was the end result of the Federation's Project Wingman aerial weapons platform program, which debuted on the last day of the Cascadian Conflict.

    It is both the most powerful playable aircraft and the titular final boss of Project Wingman, and one of the two aircraft using the Burst Missile Launcher - Universal (BML-U) weapon along with the X-PF.

    As the ultimate aircraft, the PW-Mk.I possesses extreme maneuverability (to the point of being difficult to direct precisely) and speed, quick enough to actually outrun enemy missiles. The centerpiece of its non-customizable loadout is the BML-U that is capable of destroying numerous air and surface targets simultaneously at range at the cost of a moderately long interval between bursts. The weapon notably has reduced damage, which is compensated by its sheer firepower. Furthermore, its dual HGP-like cannons and railguns, when used in a combo, can rack up kills very quickly, especially against airships.

    History: The PW-Mk.I was developed to create a next-generation aircraft and later on to assist Federation top ace Crimson 1. It was created in Harkema Industrial Park using flight data gathered by Klara Rask regarding the use of railguns on an aircraft.

    The aircraft was evacuated twice during the Cascadian Conflict by Crimson 7, first during a raid on the industrial area and then from Wai Mami Port in Sawaiiki to the Federation Core States for Icarus to complete due to another raid.

    Following the loss of his entire squadron at the hands of Hitman Team, led by Monarch, Crimson 1 obtained the aircraft and used it, along with its onboard ECM for creating false targets, to attack both Cascadian Independence Force and Federation troops in Presidia shortly after a ceasefire was signed, an act which disabled all combat forces in the city except for Monarch, while also having collaborators destroy the capital using cordium warheads. Engaging him in a final battle, Crimson 1 utilized all of the PW-Mk.I's features, including its micromissiles, railguns, and plasma orbs. Despite his advantage in technology, he was shot down. The aircraft's cordium engines were heavily damaged and it exploded in a massive fireball, killing its pilot and finally ending the war.

    Trivia: The PW-Mk.I is internally referred to as the "PW-001/01" in the game files. The PW-Mk.I slightly resembles in design and engine trail the VF-11 Thunderbolt from the Macross series, and its configuration of armaments resembles the CFA-44 Nosferatu's from Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation. The fact that all of its regular Federation skins are Navy may even point to (intended) carrier capability, just like the CFA-44. The BML-U shares the same brevity code as rocket launchers.

23. #23SP-34R

    Keys: SP-34R, Prototypes, Aircraft

    Enabled · After character · Order 10 · 100%

    Entry settings

    The SP-34R (leetspeak for "Spear", a.k.a. Icarus Experimental Ballistic Airframe) was a prototype fighter aircraft developed by the Pacific Federation's Icarus Armories. It notably lacked a fly-by-wire system due to its nature as a testbed airframe and featured an onboard AI to calculate ballistics trajectories.

    It is one of the two generation 6 aircraft and the only aircraft not to be equipped with missiles whatsoever.

    The SP-34R can be summed up as "bringing a knife to a gunfight". Its fixed weapon loadout does not include any missiles. Instead, it has an extremely fast-firing primary gun (essentially a Rapid Gunpod (RGP)) along with its own integrated versions of the Medium Gunpod (MGP), Heavy Gunpod (HGP), and Canister Gunpod (CGP). Its fourth weapon is a Railgun (RG). The SP-34R is thus an unmatched gunfighter and can rapidly chew up any target, either plane or airship, if given time to focus on it. However, without fire-and-forget weapons, it suffers in large battles where the user must constantly evade missiles. In the SP-34R, mobility is life and quick and precise judgement is life insurance.

    The sheer DPS of these combined guns makes the SP-34R one of the fastest boss-killing planes in the game, as long as the user is skilled enough to track the target for a sufficient length of time.

    History: An SP-34R prototype was under development at the Icarus R&D site at Harkema Industrial Park in the Scarred Sea, along with the PW-Mk.I, during the Cascadian Conflict. During Sicario's raid on the park, Klara Rask loaded up the aircraft with weapons despite the scientists' intent to preserve them inside containers dumped into the sea and piloted the Spear from a cold start against Hitman Team while the PW-Mk.I escaped the site. Monarch shot down Rask, but the Spear's flight data was recovered and used for Crimson 1's PW-Mk.I, having also been redundantly uploaded to the Federation Core States likewise.

    Trivia: The SP-34R's enclosed canopy design strongly resembles the Connection For Flight Interface system that has appeared on multiple experimental aircraft designs.

24. #24ACG-01 Chimera

    Keys: Aircraft, Prototypes, ACG-01, Chimera

    Enabled · After character · Order 10 · 100%

    Entry settings

    The ACG-01(T1) Chimera is a prototype aircraft. Larger, slower, and less maneuverable than other prototypes, it is principally defined by its huge weapons payload and the belief that it is the first mercenary-designed aircraft of the After Calamity Era.

    Role: Prototype Variant(s): ACG-01(T1Mod02) Introduction: AC pre-417 Manufacturer: Oceania Foundries Group, Cascadian National Industries Users:, Mercenaries, Mercenary Cabal, Cascadia, Cascadian National Guard, CAF Cascadian Air Force Deployed: Cascadian Conflict

    Weapons: Hardpoints: 2 | 6 | 4 Slot 1: ASM | RDBM (Conquest mode only) | MLAA | MLAA-2 | MLAA-3 | SAA | MLAG | MLAG-2 | RGP | MGP | HGP Slot 2: MLAA | SAA | MLAG Slot 3: RDBM | MLAG | UGBS-3 | UGBL | EUFB

    Despite having the lowest stats of all prototypes, the ACG-01 is capable of being equipped with a sizeable multirole or even air-to-air/ground payload. Its large amount of hardpoints enables it to carry a lot of bombs and missiles.

    Its capabilities are enhanced further in Conquest mode, with its RDBMs being able to stick easily to agile enemy aircraft and vaporize large chunks of airships. Further still, the EUFB can function as a last-resort WMD for erasing a large number of targets.

    Characteristics: The front half of the Chimera is believed to be derived from the Pak-FA prototypes. The twin engines are unlicensed copies of a Henderson Corporation model power plant.

    Following the Cascadian Conflict, legislative elements found that the wings are most likely lifted from Henderson's Syndicane Research group.

    Specifications: Top speed: Mach 2.05 at cruising altitude Combat range: 500 kilometers with standard combat load Crew: 1 pilot Armament: 2x Krag 20mm rotary cannons

    History: The Chimera is believed to have been the brainchild of Mercenary Cabal industrial espionage. Spies sent data on then-classified Magansk Aeronautical Design Bureau and Henderson projects, hence its name.

    During the final stages of the Oceanian War, the Pacific Federation found blueprints and MADB-made prototype airframes of the Chimera. Following the war, Cascadian munitions companies such as Cascadian National Industries began producing working copies to anticipate hypothetical war between their country and the Federation.

    However, when war did break out, the Chimera did not see use within the Cascadian National Guard due to never being delivered for use before. Instead, they saw use by mercenaries on the side of the Cascadian Independence Force. With the country falling under mercenary influence after the war, it is on track to become the mainstay of the Cascadian Air Force.

    Trivia: The Chimera's design resembles the Sukhoi Su-57, the General Dynamics F-16XL, and the BAE Systems Tempest. The Chimera's real purpose was the Cabal's "forbidden last will" and "vengeance incarnate".

    ACG-01(T1Mod02): The ACG-01(T1Mod02) is a two-seater variant of the prototype aircraft.

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