Infinite Warfare Reimagined by Marklin

Words: 51k+

Link: -https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/infinite-warfare-reimagined.993991/

( So, after reading TV Tropes page on Call of Duty Infinite Warfare talking about how the game may be an in-universe piece of propaganda by the UNSA, I've decided to do a re-imagining based on what the IRL of Infinite Warfare may be like.

tl;dr, this is my reimagining of the world of Infinite Warfare, but with more nuance. Here's a quick introduction before I actually get into the meat of the setting. )

Introduction

A Brief History of Earth-Mars Relations

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"It was the rise of Athens, and the fear that this inspired in Sparta, that made war inevitable" -Thucydides.

"The Sun, The Moon, and the Stars would have disappeared long ago...had they been in the reach of predatory human hands" -Havelock Ellis

Back in the Victorian era, H.G. Wells wrote a book of inhuman monsters from outer space invading the planet earth in a "Take That!" towards the imperialist tendencies of his home nation of Great Britain. Almost two centuries after his book was written, humanity would begin the colonization of Mars, and almost a century after that, the first major system-wide war across the Solar System would break out between Earth and Mars, alongside the allied colonies of both worlds.

Earth's resources were thinning by the mid 21st century. Partially exacerbated by the Third World War in the second decade which saw many parts of the world devastated before a treaty was agreed upon by the two main warring powers. Believing that if Earth did not expand beyond its atmosphere to get the vital resources of the older worlds of space that Humanity would die, the countries of the world began sending men and women into space. Initially these would be national missions, but over time a loose organization would be formed to unite these missions for the betterment of the world: The United Nations Space Alliance.

A New Frontier would be formed in the other worlds of the Solar System, with Mars in particular becoming a hot spot for the downtrodden of Earth to migrate to in hopes of making it big or even finding a better life. However, with distance from Earth growing and with new generations being born off world with no connection to Earth, a divide would begin to form between the people of Earth and the colonials, with Mars in particular being home to a strong planetary identity. Tensions between home and abroad would eventually result in the Secession wars that saw Mars breaking away and forming its own nation under the protection of its army: The Settlement Defense Front. In response, Earth would create its own multinational force to defend itself: The Solar Associated Treaty Organization. These two groups would enter a cold conflict that would last 30 years.

Neither power trusted the other, but the colonies ultimately became disputed in allegiance. To the surprise of most on Earth, Mars cleaned itself up quickly and became a rising empire, entering a Thucydides trap with Earth, making the leaders of the UNSA feel threatened by the quick rise to power. Many feared that Mars would seize a monopoly on the raw materials of the Solar System and turn Earth into a client, especially as its war machine grew to dominate it and its culture. On Mars, the people only saw the rapid rise that came with independence and unprecedented solar expansion. Many successes of Mars had instilled a sort of "Manifest Destiny" belief among the colonial people of Mars, and many believed that, perhaps, the Solar System was the rightful domain not of the Earth-born, but of those of Mars....

Coming next (Sorta abridged):

-Colonization

-Secession

-Rise of Mars

-Cold War

-War

COLONIZATION AND SECCESSION

COLONIZATION AND SECCESSION

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Humanities journey to the final frontier began in the mid 20th century. The Early 20th century was a time of warfare and devastation that saw many new technologies created. While the first aircraft would be created a decade before the First World War, it would eventually be perfected over the course of decades of warfare between nations. German rocket scientists would pioneer advances in rocket science, and many of these scientists would find themselves working for the victorious allied nations after the war. The result of this research would lead to the launching of the first manmade object to go into space: Sputnik.

The launching of Sputnik would start the first Space Race. Unlike the space race of the 21st century, cooperation between nations was rare, with the Soviet Union and United States racing to be the first to get a man on the moon, a race that would ultimately be won by the United States. After this great victory, interest in space began to fade for almost half a century, as Earth became more of a priority and funding began to dissipate. The Soviet Union would collapse, but the chaos of its collapse would see the beginning of a new conflict: The Third World War. The western world and Russia were particularly devastated by the conflict, with multiple nuclear detonations occurring before a peace agreement was made by moderates once the radicals had been removed during the course of the war. The devastation of the war would lead to the start of the resource crisis that caused the next Space era.

With the signing of the peace, leaders from all nations came together to form an agreement that no wars between fellow men would ever break out, giving increased power to the United Nations as a result. Many nations, however, would not submit to the authority of the new UN, which saw harsh measures akin to gunboat diplomacy being deployed by the UN to ensure no hostile regime would ever emerge on Earth again, leading to unpleasant events such as the destruction of Pyongyang after their foolish attempt to invade South Korea in the 2050s, along with instances of nuclear weapons being used on "threats to world peace." Many came to view the UN as another project of Western Imperialism.

However, the Earth was dying. The atmosphere was thinning, and resources used during the war were unable to be replenished. In order to solve this crisis, the United Nations looked to space once more to solve the resources issues, as well as the issue of excess population, which by the colonization of Mars, was nearing 16 billion. The first area to be colonized was the Moon, with many habitats and bases being set up. While they would all be under the flag of the UN, in practice they were typically run by different nations. In some ways, the Moon would be a precursor to what Mars would become during Colonization. Many mining operations were set up on the Moon, particularly to obtain Helium-3, which was vital to the new Fusion-powered Solar System. Colonies would be formed for the miners to live in, with some choosing to remain on the Moon due to the adaptation to the Moon's gravity being strenuous to undo. Some authoritarian regimes made "Inescapable" prisons on the moon as well. Most importantly, however, the Moon would be a leaping point for colonization of the rest of the Solar System, being an important transit location up to the Solar War.

Many other moons in the Solar System would be colonized as well, mainly the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, although bases would be set up as far away as Neptune's moon of Triton. However, the planets closer to the sun would largely be ignored. The main focus of colonization, however, would be Earth's outward neighbor of Mars. Mars had long been dreamed of being a human colony ever since space travel had come into question, and in the year 2101, the first colonists would arrive as part of a multinational effort to settle the red planet.

The Solar Rennaissance

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The settling of Mars led to a renaissance of art and literature across the solar system. While initially only home to a few bases, Mars would eventually become designated as a major settler colony. Unlike colonies on the moon, the colonies of Mars would become a fully multinational project, with leaders from each nation being sent by the UN to lead. Many of the Earth's downtrodden would move to Mars in hopes of finding a better life, especially as terraforming was commenced. By the time of Secession, the surface air pressure of Mars would be above the Armstrong limit, however most would still be living in habitats by the time the Solar War broke out.

Many Earth companies made millions off of off-world resources, with many growing to massive sizes and swallowing up the startups until only a few remained. Some of these companies would take control of off world colonies for themselves, settling them with their employees. Some asteroids would even come to be privately owned by these corporations. These companies would play a pivotal role in the colonization, creating advertisements encouraging Earth-born to migrate to the colonies, offering promises of adventure, wealth, and even a better life compared to the increasingly crowded Earth. Some colonies were created specifically for rich patrons only, giving off an air of prosperity. Many dissidents would also attempt to head to Mars in an attempt to start anew

For the wealthier portions of Earth, there wasn't much incentive for people to leave, but in the poorer areas of Earth, especially those still suffering from the aftermath of the Third World War, the standard of living in the colonies was often higher than home. Culture would also become enamored with the stars with many movies and novels coming out about the final frontier. However, on the planet Mars itself, a new identity was beginning to form. Over time, new generations were born off world with no connection to Earth, with many beginning to question the system in place.

Cracks begin to form

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While living standards on Mars were promising, with the population almost reaching 100 million before Secession, there were numerous issues. For one, the United Nations were not very good about allowing their colonies to go their own way. The directorate of Mars (the governing body of all Martian colonies) was run by appointees by governments and corporations from Earth, nearly all of which were from Earth themselves, and many of them would often spend more time on Earth than on Mars. Furthermore, due to the distant communication issues, many Martians, especially those who had been born on Mars over the two centuries of colonization, began to feel no connection to Earth and demanded more representation. Furthermore, the Earthen companies focused more on enriching themselves, with only a small amount of the spoils actually going to the colonists. This would lead to unrest, which would often be heavily suppressed.

The companies that ran the Martian colonies typically used robots or mercenaries to maintain order. The former often had trouble distinguishing between an armed combatant and a civilian (This issue would be resolved in later models' post-secession), while the latter was often willing to play dirty and occasionally shoot people for fun. Increased taxes on Mars as the colonies began to prosper, ostensibly to prevent the colonists from hoarding wealth that was meant to save the Earth, was increasingly viewed by the colonists as theft of what was rightfully theirs. Overtime, many began to question, and then openly challenge Earth authority. Violence would only escalate, with attacks on company troops becoming more and more common. Things got even worse as local militias began attacking Earth-bound shipments and seizing their cargo. Things would escalate when a planetwide strike broke out across Mars, with the planet essentially halting all shipments to Earth unless demands for representation were met. The United Nations of Earth, fearing the loss of Mars and a cutoff of their lifeline, declared to the companies that they would hold Mars at all costs and declared martial law, sending in their militaries.

In the year 2299, the UN fleet would arrive in Mars orbit and deploy troops to the surface to enforce martial law. Local colonial leaders and the old ruling council would be expelled and replaced with UN military leaders. While the UN did have supporters, the majority of people on Mars viewed the UN, whose troops were nearly all Earthborn, as an invading force, and while some hoped to gain freedom nonviolently, the use of force would become the dominant mindset. Violence would become the word of the day when a protest march was fired upon by UN troops at the Martian capital city of Icarius (the UN troops hadn't had any good sleep in 2 days and the crowd wasn't particularly peaceful, so nuance abounds), this would lead to what many would consider the official start of the Secession War.

During the war, while the UN was able to control the cities, many in the Martian resistance would retreat out into the Martian wilderness, which was now habitable to humans. The UN rarely sent actual soldiers out to deal with these rebels, instead opting to send aircraft out to patrol for rebels. The rebels worked around this by digging a tunnel system under the surface, earning names for themselves as the "Mars Rats." Robots would be sent out eventually, but Martian Hackers would merely take over the bots for themselves, using the first Hacking Charges, and send them back to their barracks to detonate in acts of terrorism against the occupation forces.

Eventually, many colonies across Mars would take up arms and begin fighting the UN forces, declaring themselves independent from Earth. Attacks would eventually commence on the occupied capital city. The attack was a rousing success, as many mars-born troops turned against their Earthen counterparts. The situation got so heated that Military Governor Kalani moved to his flagship in orbit. Some called for an orbital nuking of Mars, but Kalani himself ruled this out as the settlements were too valuable to be destroyed, and he worried that such violence may encourage more worlds to break away. The proposal of a troop surge was highly supported by the elite back home, but the average man on Earth was not fond of sending men to die in what could potentially become a quagmire. Things looked even more bleak as the rebels took beyond Mars and engaged in violence throughout the Solar System, threatening to spread revolution to every planet and moon. Eventually, despite major protest by the Earthen conglomerates, it was decided that self-determination for the Martian colonists would be the best route to avoid more bloodshed, 3 bloody years after martial law was declared. With the signing of the Charon accords, the UN would withdraw its forces and acknowledge the independence of Mars, with a new High Council being formed from the veterans of the conflict, all Mars-born. The next chapter of Solar History had begun...