The Vanguard, the Breaking and the founding of an Empire.

The Vanguard was formed in the last decade of the 20th century, primarily as a social movement. It drew its members from the young and middle aged of that era who shared a common interest in technology, gaming and a common ethos. Along with the military nature of many of the games they played many of its initial members were once members of the United Kingdom armed forces. It was only natural that a militaristic tone and command structure developed.

It was therefore no surprise that when the global wars of the mid 21st century occurred that many members of the Vanguard signed up for active duty. Their natural affinity for technology and their skills in related fields drew them almost inevitably to the most advanced fighting units of the age and it was here that most of them received their first cybernetic implants, either as the result of combat injuries or as option ‘upgrades’, often as both.

Throughout the progress of the conflicts that marred the latter half of the 21st and early 22nd century’s technology advanced in a series of startling leaps and bounds. Fuelled by the achievement of practical fusion power, major advances in both biological and nano-engineering science and the massive computation power made available by quantum computing matrices the nation states of the day developed ever more sophisticated and deadly weapons and enhancements for their soldiers.

By the time the last of the conflicts died down in the late 2140s many of the members of the Vanguard were already over 150 years old and very little of their original biological selves remained. They were functionally immortal, designed for war and suddenly found themselves in a society where war was no longer a concern.

Never ones to stand idle it was around this time that the design and construction of the Phoenix began. Taking advantage of both cutting edge technology and bank accounts that accrued nearly two centuries of pay and interest the Vanguard established a base in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Earth and, for a time, withdrew from public sight.

The period of one hundred years that followed was a golden age for humanity. Disease, hunger, poverty, war; all had been eliminated through the use of science and technology. It was then that the worst accident in the history of humanity occurred.

The Sun shaper project was intended to control the Sun itself. Throughout history the Sun had at erratic intervals belched vast clouds of highly ionised plasma towards the planet Earth. Apart from creating the awe inspiring Aura Borealis these streams of plasma wreaked havoc on the sophisticated machinery of the age. Even in the late 20th century this had been acknowledged as a problem, now in the closing years of the 23rd century humanity felt it had the means to blunt even this force of nature.

The theory was simple; observation of the solar photosphere and magnetosphere would predict when a flare was due to occur and project its course through the solar system. If the machines simulations predicted that the flare would strike the Earth then an alert was raised. Massive magnetic field manipulators, powered by the energy of the sun itself, would then be used to reach into the structure of the Sun and dissipate the building flare.

Initial computer simulations had been promising and tests on lab scale fusion reactors had shown that the technique was viable. Over a period of ten years the field manipulators were constructed and placed in close solar orbit. Eventually a test flare, one that was predicted to fire directly away from Earth, was detected and selected for the first test of the system.

To begin with everything went as planned. The kilometre wide solar collectors unfurled from the field manipulator stations and deep within them super conducting arrays came to life. Advanced computer systems analysed the conditions of the Sun and determined the changes that needed to be made. The final command was given to initiate the test sequence.

Fingers of magnetic force extended from the field stations and plunged deep into the heart of our star, reshaping the surface of the star to dissipate the force of the flare before it could fire. Then disaster stuck. At a vital phase during the field modification one of the platforms failed, its field generators exploding under the titanic strain they had to bear.

The effects were instant and catastrophic. The other devices failed in a cascade fashion, each one trying to compensate for the loss of the others and failing as a result of the sudden surge in their load. Instead of being dissipated the proto-flare was strengthened but mis-formed. Where it should have erupted away from the stars surface the pocket of field lines imploded and sent a gigantic shock wave rippling across the face of the Sun. Observers on the control platform could only watch in horror as the shock wave rushed across the sun and the wave fronts collided on the opposite side of the star.

Where the wave front of the shock waves met around the star a massive solar eruption took place, larger than any ever recorded. Gigatonnes of highly charged plasma were sent streaming directly towards Earth.

The effects on the unsuspecting planet were devastating. The machinery that now permeated every facet of life simply ceased to work as the massive EMP wave from the flare overloaded their systems. Millions of people simply died where they stood as the machines that maintained their bodies ceased to function. Others were killed as nearby machinery went berserk, its controlling intelligence destroyed.

Even so the disaster would have been recoverable had not fate had one last cruel trick to play. Great swathes of what had once been known as the United States of America were uninhabitable, rendered so during the wars of the 21st and 22nd century. Deep within this zone was a forgotten military installation designed during the darkest days of those wars. Controlled by hardened machines the base consisted only of a monitoring station and a half a dozen missile silos armed with thermonuclear warheads.

When the EMP wave from the solar flare passed the station the ancient machinery misinterpreted it as the signature EMP blast from the detonation of nuclear weapons within the USA. As it was designed to do the system attempted to contact its human designers to confirm its findings. Unfortunately the people it was seeking were centuries dead and the communication lines into and out of the base long since disconnected. Cut off from its controllers and convinced that a massive strike had taken place against the long dead USA the system responded in the only way left open to it: by launching its missiles.

Without current intelligence on ‘enemy’ positions the system was unable to determine accurate targeting data to feed to its weapons. Instead it simply programmed its missiles to attach any large cities outside of its long out of date safe zones.

The cities of the world were already in chaos with millions of people milling in the streets in a dazed panic when the missiles struck. In the space of a few short seconds 80% of the worlds population were reduced to rapidly expanding clouds of gas.

The Vanguard observed all of this in with numb horror from their base in the asteroid belt. Immediately they loaded up the Phoenix with supplies and made for Earth to help. They found a planet that was utterly devastated. Large areas of land mass had been rendered uninhabitable by the effects of the old fashioned nuclear weapons and billions of people were dead. In an eye blink the world had been thrown back thousands of years to a new dark age.

The head of the world government had been observing the Sun shaper test from the control platform and had witnessed the entire tragedy. By the time it was discovered that there were survivors on the control platform and a rescue mission launched others had stepped into the vacuum left by his absence at the time of crisis. The Vanguard, recognising him as the rightful head of the government and their commander in chief, fell in behind him and lent their military and logistical expertise to him but by that point it was too late. Humanity was once again fractured and divided.

Inevitable wars broke out over scarce resources such as fresh water and viable farming land. The Vanguard fought hard and well in those wars and with their help a significant empire was carved out under the control of the governor. What had started as emergency powers became state institutions. Those who questioned were arrested or killed in the name of protecting those remaining alive.

Eventually a kind of recovery took place. With all those on earth with advanced implants either killed by the effects of the flare or in the subsequent attack and with no means to replace the technology lost the majority of humanity reverted to the base, unmodified type. Only a few extreme genetic modifications that impacted the germ line were passed on down the generations and they where shunned from the Empire. However there were still some, such as the Vanguard members and the governor turned Emperor, who retained their implants and their immortality. Over time they came to be revered almost as gods by those without them and formed the ruling elite of the society that emerged from the ashes of humanities golden age.

It was another hundred years, well into the 25th century, that this new empire had established itself and become the dominate power on Earth. Most citizens lived simple lives revolving around farming and family. There was little to no heavy industry and the spectres of disease and famine, once thought banished for ever, had returned to haunt human kind. Despite this peace reigned on the whole and the Empire prospered.

It was around this time that the Vanguard approached the Emperor about finally beginning the rebuild what had been lost. Their facilities in the Asteroid belt were still operational, in a few short decades life on Earth could be begin to move back towards the heady heights it had so tragically fallen from.

Recognising that rebuilding in this way would mean the end of his reign as supreme Emperor and having become rather accustomed to his position as such the Emperor refused. What followed was a clash of wills between the Emperor and the Vanguard. By playing on popular fear of technology as ‘that which had doomed us’ the Emperor was able to vilify the Vanguard whilst at the same time conveniently side-stepping the issue of his own role in what had become known as the breaking. It was during this period that the key that allowed control of the Phoenix, known as the Phoenix’s tear, fell into the hands of the Emperor through treachery and trapped the Vanguard on Earth.

Cut off from their bases on Mars by the loss of control of the Phoenix and hated by the very people they had worked so hard to save the Vanguard faced a stark choice. Wage a bloody war against those they had once sworn to protect to retrieve the key or go into exile. Tired of bloodshed and still reeling from their betrayal they chose to go into exile in the more inhospitable regions of the world. They vanished overnight into the darkness leaving only one message for the Emperor: We will return.

Another hundred years has passed since the exile of the Vanguard. They have faded into myth and legend among most folk as generations come and go. The Empire has prospered and grown, but so have her neighbours. It is now the middle of the 26th century. The members of the Vanguard are by now over half a millennia old. Some of them have simply gone to sleep; others have faded into the landscape. A few still remain together in a lonely fortress deep in the wilds.

It is in this time that our story is set as a new power stirs in the west to threaten the Empire and the Vanguard will once again be called upon to protect humanity.