The Heretic's Crusade (overview)

The Heretic's Crusade was a global war between Rasputin's forces and any other remaining sovereign nation that didn't align with the crusade that raged through earth from (AD) 2020 to 2030. The devastating effects from the outbreak were sufficient to cripple the global economy and the aftermath of the war would result in a rearranged social order, constant state of military council overseeing civilian and state affairs throughout and after the war, the death of half of earth's population and also the permanent closure of certain continents and regions either due to crimson exposure or due to the zones.

According to information recovered from Site zero, a machine developed by the American NORAD organisation was abandoned in the 1970's and found by soviet infiltrators right before the fall of the Soviet union. Although the infiltrators were expecting some type of data storage device containing military secrets, they instead found a machine that was suddenly reawakened and given sentience by The Great One and the name "Rasputin". US National guard and FBI units discovered information of the infiltrators extraction after raiding a KGB safehouse and immediately sent units to apprehend them there. However the infiltrators were never captured and never found.

Rasputin would later develop an alias and used his abilities granted to him by The Great One to mindshackle select people to obey him. With this ability, Rasputin built up a large private military and a massive industrial complex with automated systems for his eventual crusade with assistance from the Valderi Clans, however there is a lack of information on all of their activities. It is estimated that ~1000 different high ranking personnel in different militaries and government positions were under Rasputin's control by the start of the crusade.

To support the eventual crusade, the Valderi Clans gave Rasputin the key information to build c-reactors, blueprints on Valderi IAV's and knowledge on what crimson is. These two vital shared information would lead to the invention of the Human-Neural Interface which additionally lead to human-optimized IAV's. These IAV's would prove to be leagues more effective machines than their Valderi counterparts and existing human military technology that their first appearance on the battlefield went completely uncontested and continuing effectively for the next two years.

On the midnight of January 1st 2020, every US military installation and government building was taken over by Rasputin's forces, marking the beginning of the Heretic's crusade. Resistance by stationed personnel was light due to many high ranking personnel already being an asset or were already mindshackled. On the morning of the same day, the president of the United States declared the nation to be under martial law and that the nation is joining the crusade. Whether or not the president was an asset, already mindshackled or a willing accomplice during his announcement remains unknown. Major cities were quickly occupied with Rasputin's forces and the borders were closed. It is noteworthy that several naval fleets and military units abroad were not affected by this and many would soon join NATO and later the HUF.

After Rasputin's rapid takeover of the United States of America, the entire country was plunged into a complete information blackout which leads to further Economic and Telecommunications fallout in Europe. After several weeks of no information in or out of the United States, the remaining member countries of NATO prepares the largest combat fleet ever since the second world war for Operation East Wind. During the time used to prepare for this operation, overseas members of the US military and navy were placed on strict surveillance, however it was quickly apparent that overseas deployed military personnel also weren't aware of the ongoing incident.

On 25th of February 2020, Rasputin broadcasted a speech through every TV and radio channel of the world: "Let this day mark our great crusade. Join us, or join the ashes. Our goal, the assimilation of this world and its people. To level the playing field, we will prohibit the usage of nuclear weapons and orbital denial weapons. His will be done."

His first target was Canada, where NATO faced its first major ground defeat against Rasputin's forces and encountered the IAVs. Then the scope widened with the entirety of South America, where NATO forces would hold on for long enough to gather sufficient intelligence and wreckages to analyse and develop technology and doctrine to combat the IAVs. Soon the conflict would spread to Asia which would also lead to the decimation of Australia and the fall of the Russian Federation. Furthermore, warlords in Africa have taken up arms offered by Rasputin for the crusade, operating as localized but substantial threats. Soon NATO would be dissolved and replaced by a broader military organisation, the Humanity United Front (HUF).

Although the final strike was delivered on the 23rd of December 2025, the war was still an ongoing threat. Despite Rasputin's forces having been evacuated off world, they had secretly left remotely accessible pods of weaponized crimson strains in certain parts of the world. On the dawn of the 24th of December 2025, when HUF forces were beginning to feel a sense of peace, those pods were activated.

Territories that were once under the control of Rasputin's forces in the Americas, Africa and Asia were suddenly met with the Red plague. The same strain that was used in the The Italian crisis. This would prolong the war until 2030 as HUF forces proceeded to contain the situation. Where Rasputin's forces disappeared to and who Rasputin truly was remains unknown.

With a state of "relative peace" being declared in September 2029, the death count across the entire world including war casualties, famine and sickness tallied around 4 billion souls. The world was left in a state of economic ruin and constant shortages with many more questions being discovered than answers. Despite the "peace" that was starting to return to normal life, the zones in addition to the new crimson exclusion zones caused by Rasputin remain a constant threat that the HUF monitors.

On the 15th of March 2030, the Valderi made first contact with Humanity. They quickly developed a mutual understanding upon their arrival, and plans were made and put into action. In that same year, the Coalition would be established to help bring humanity back on its feet and assist both civilizations to settle new worlds.