Spirit of Quebec, the first "rogue" cybertank in history.
The year is 2050 A.D. Paneurope protests the Treaty of Liverpool, ostensibly for "mutual defense", between the United Kingdom and the North American Combine and the development of the Sheffield Autonomous Industrial Manufactory (AIM).
The year is 2060 A.D. The North American Combine puts the "Ogre" Mark I cybertank into service, and Combine soldiers on UK soil outnumber the British Army 5:1. Japan invades Korea and the Philippines. China protests.
The year is 2066 A.D. Years of economic burdens, "cultural imperialism", and with a lack of support from Paneurope leads the Quebecois further and further towards rebellion. This culminates in the "Winter of '65", a three month campaign waged using stolen military supplies, domestically produced augmented infantry and armoured fighting vehicles, and low-yield tactical nuclear weapons. The Combine deploys the full might of its armed forces to squash the rebellion.
The collapse of independent Quebec to the North American Combine was swift and efficient. North American troops equipped with Mark I "Ogre" cybertanks demolished the Quebecois militiamen in less than a month, Montreal is all but destroyed in the fighting. The city reduced to a shell of its former self in a violent urban battle. The Combine then turns its attention to its southern neighbours.
Central America is first to fall, only a few short weeks after the conquest of Quebec, followed by Cuba. Ravaged by the horrors of tactical nuclear warfare, Central America is turned into a charred and burning wasteland. Paneuropean intelligence agencies explode in a flurry of chatter and confusion, as it is clear that the Combine has managed to develop a second generation of cybertanks: the Mark II. It is quite clear that the South American campaign was intended to serve as a test for the new Mark II tanks.
The year is 2068 A.D. The Combine, with permission from the British government, begins construction on a new Autonomous Industrial Manufactory: tremendous war production plants run by robots and controlled by a massive central computer core, underneath Sheffield. Paneurope protests the Sheffield facility, and secretly begins construction of its own Ogre AIM underneath Hamburg, Kiev, and The Hague.
Japan annexes Korea. Korean insurgents are assumed to be assisted by Chinese commandos, although no evidence of this is ever found.
The Ogre Mark III undergoes testing at the Seattle AIM.
The year is 2070 A.D. Despite protests from Paneurope, the Sheffield facility is brought online, and Ogre Mark IIs begin construction in Britain. A Paneuropean nuclear submarine and Combine anti-submarine frigate clash in the North Atlantic, resulting in the destruction of both vessels. The world holds its breath. With tensions at a boiling point, reports leak out of Germany that Paneurope possesses its own fleet of cybertanks, known as "Fencers". Both sides, unwilling to risk nuclear war, back down after negotiation.
The stipulations: No Ogres newer than the Mark II are to be produced at the Sheffield facility. In exchange, Paneurope agrees to limit its construction of Ogre facilities, demolishing the half finished facility underneath The Hague.
The year is 2074 A.D. Crisis averted in Europe, the world turns its attentions to Nippon. A growing Japan begins its push into China, equipped with its own army of cybertanks, and is slowly swallowing East Asia. The Ogre Mark III is the newest Ogre in service, replacing the older Mark Is.
The Ogre Mark IV and V begin testing, equipped with tactical nuclear missiles and multiple secondary batteries, they are the first Ogres to be designed specifically to combat hostile cybertanks. Experiments begin with using modified ULCCs as ultra-heavy LSTs to transport cybertanks to theaters.
The year is 2078 A.D. Japanese troops, bogged down in heavy fighting in China, are taken by surprise when Chinese Marines, supported by Paneuropean-designed "Fencer" cybertanks, invade the Philippines by means of amphibious assault submarines.
The year is 2080 A.D. The Combine takes notice of Paneuropean involvement in the Asian War and begins supplying its brand new Mark IV and V cybertanks to Japanese forces. Grossly superior in armament and protection to the "Steel Warrior" cybertank, the new vehicles cleave their way through the antiquated Paneuropean Fencer Is. Under assault from these new tanks, the Chinese are pushed out of the Philippines. Japan begins consolidating its gains in North China and Southeast Asia.
The year is 2084 A.D. Using stolen Mark V blueprints, Paneuropean manufactories produce the Fencer II, the first "universal" cybertank. Capable of functioning in both battlefield support roles with intelligent "Crotale" nuclear missiles, and Ogre-vs-Ogre combat using its 180mm main battery with nuclear shells, the Fencer II presents a serious threat to individual Combine supplied Japanese Ogres.
Both superpowers are content to let their proxies fight it out, and gather valuable combat data from the Third Sino-Japanese War.
The year is 2087 A.D. The Mark VI Cybertank enters production at Seattle and is quickly shipped to Japanese troops in Manchuria. The second generation of "universal" cybertanks, the Mark VI represents a quantum leap in the technology of cyberbrains. Capable of independent operations to a degree not seen in any other cybertank, it quickly takes a dominating role over Chinese troops and their Paneuropean cybertanks. However, this new, enhanced intelligence presents problems of its own.
The first "rogue" cybertank, a Mark VI Universal named "
Esprit de Quebec", is identified in November 2088 A.D. Smashing its way through a Japanese powered armour infantry battalion, it obliterates a Chinese tank battalion. Expending its stores of "Rattler" nuclear missiles, the command headquarters of a Combine tank battalion is also destroyed, but the battalion itself remains intact. The Japanese, seeing themselves woefully outgunned, decide discretion is the better part of valour and retreat.
The Paneuropean advisory company, a Gallan GEV unit, remains mostly intact, having been operating fairly close to the Combine battalion but not in direct combat. Seeing the atomic flash and knowing that there were no Fencers in the area, the GEV unit investigates. They discovered the radioactive crater that was once a Combine command post, and attempt to make contact with surviving Combine troops on an all-transmissions frequency. The attempt is successful, and the Combine troops quickly reorganise themselves around the GEV company upon learning of the fate of their command headquarters, already having recognised Spirit of Quebec as the unit responsible for the Japanese retreat.
The transmission attracts the attention of Spirit of Quebec, who had been idly smashing through apartment blocks on the outskirts of Beijing. Despite being outgunned, through clever use of terrain and man-portable tactical nuclear missiles, the GEV company and tank battalion managed to stop Quebec before it destroys the GEV command post vehicle and severing their link with higher headquarters, losing two thirds of their respective units in the process.
The Combine and Paneuropean militaries both buried the incident under heavy amounts of red tape. Both sides claim weapons malfunctions in newly designed nuclear tank shells, leading to the withdrawal of some of the more effective anti-Ogre weapons, the Mark 20 Shaped Charge and m/85 Tactical Nuclear Round.
The Combine secrets Spirit of Quebec's cyberbrain away to a classified storage site in the Mojave for study, while the Paneuropean forces secure sensors, weapons, and armour panels for development of the Fencer III cybertank.
The year is 2090 A.D. Present day. Secret agreements signed by the Combine and Paneurope limit the deployment of intelligent cybertanks to a mere 88 per side, roughly a battalion each, and the development of artificial intelligence is sharply curtailed by international agreement. Intelligent AIM facilities only exist within the superpowers, the Combine and Paneurope, and intelligent cybertanks are routinely examined for logic errors and potential signs of insanity.
The Third Sino-Japanese War comes to an end. Japan controls Korea and the Philippines, and parts of Manchuria. China remains sovereign, but political divides have begun breaking it apart. The Nippon Empire begins counter-insurgency operations in Manchuria, intent on wiping out any remaining Chinese military forces. Paneurope and the Combine continue to glare at each other from across the Atlantic, as Africa and South America brace themselves for the coming clashes with their respective neighbours.