Date: 2026-2053

World War III was the final global conflict of pre-warp Human history, fought in the mid-21st century and remembered as the Post-Atomic Horror. It was a chaotic, multi-faction war marked by the collapse of nation-states, the use of narcotics to control military forces, and the erosion of all international norms. Among the major belligerents was the Eastern Coalition (ECON), which carried out direct attacks against the United States and other powers. One of the most infamous figures of the war was Phillip Green, a former colonel who led an ecoterrorist faction. Beginning in 2026, Green’s actions contributed to the deaths of an estimated thirty-seven million people. Declaring himself humanity’s “last hope,” he ordered the systematic execution of hundreds of thousands of irradiated survivors and those he deemed genetically “impure,” justifying genocide as environmental necessity. His reputation for betrayal was legendary, with multiple recorded attacks launched during cease-fire negotiations. His name remained synonymous with war crimes well into the 23rd century. Despite the devastation on Earth, human technological ambition did not entirely cease. Manned spaceflight continued sporadically, including the Ares IV Mars mission in 2032 and the launch of Charybdis in 2037, humanity’s first attempt to leave the Sol system. The war reached its catastrophic climax in 2053 with widespread nuclear exchange. Cities across the globe were destroyed, including Washington, New York, and Paris. At least thirty percent of Earth’s human population, over six hundred million people, were killed, and approximately six hundred thousand species of plants and animals were driven to extinction. Governments collapsed, infrastructure vanished, and civilization fractured into isolated survivor enclaves. The conflict ended not in victory, but exhaustion, with a fragile cease-fire among the remnants. A decade later, in 2063, history changed irrevocably. Following humanity’s first successful warp flight, Vulcans made First Contact with Earth. The realization that humanity was not alone in the universe united the planet in a way no war ever had. Within fifty years, poverty, disease, hunger, and organized warfare were eliminated.