oct 23, 2077 - The Great War

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"Now I am become Death. The Destroyer of Worlds." - J. Robert Oppenheimer

It's 9:13AM on October 23rd, 2077. An otherwise beautiful morning becomes the last sight of daylight for millions as the nuclear button is pressed and the Great War unfolds. Everyone's worst fears are confirmed as the television sets switch to all government emergency broadcasts in every country across the world. The "lucky" (or unlucky if not in a control Vault) few who held reserved spots in the Vaults fled as air raid sirens sounded across the globe in what could have been mankind's final swan song. Everyone else not wearing an Enclave badge spent their last few moments crying with loved ones, hiding in shelters, and some simply watching the television as the mushroom clouds grew closer and closer with each ICBM impact.

The pre-War world and all of its faults, its ingenuities, and its people, ceased to exist with the fiery conclusion of a conflict that could've been resolved with an act of selflessness or kind words long, long ago.

It's unknown exactly which nation launched the first volley of nukes, though 3D renders of the ICBM impacts and historical accounts taken from the Shi suggest that China struck the first blow before everyone else. America was quick to retaliate, launching their entire arsenal at the world less than 2 minutes later. Having been awakened from their slumber, the nuclear volleys belonging to Russia were also expended at both nations as well as the rest of Europe. The few other nuclear powers who hadn't already written themselves off decades before launch their missiles with reckless abandon, ending the world as it was once known in just two hours.

Not everything in America was lost, however. True to his word, Robert House activated the Lucky 38's anti-ICBM defenses, successfully disabling or destroying 68 out of 77 ballistic missiles launched at Las Vegas. Much of the city was preserved, although the massive strain on the power grid caused by missile impacts and their resulting EMPs nearly fried him. Forced to reboot his software back to an older version after five years of battling power outages, Robert House falls into a decades-long coma.

Other parts of the US found themselves much worse off. The East Coast took the majority of damage, with entire Commonwealths rendered uninhabitable, though many Western areas such as Salt Lake City were completely wiped off the map. Those not fortunate enough to hold a position in a Vault or wear an Enclave crest on their uniform were forced to watch Starbound X shuttles disappear into the sky, falling to despair as their only hope of salvation ascended far, far away. Their entire worldview literally dissolved around them as the mushroom clouds drew closer and closer, the thuds and shockwaves growing stronger with each second.

Had it not been for the monumental efforts of Project Comona and the heroic astronomers who put their safety on the line against the wishes of their governments, this would have been the end for mankind. Thankfully, that wasn't the case, and the first colony ships would make landfall all across Halceon in late 2078.

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