Children of Terra

- Note appended to front of document as follows, hasty manuscript - Found in personal affects [sic] of Richard Night, clearing estate of deceased. Appears intended for personal memoir/museum piece on fall of West-Tek and Vault-Tec and scandal. Take care documents duplicated and backed up in event of sabotage; lest we perpetuate cycle again and again. - Documents include newspaper clippings, archive reports, firsthand accounts, in collage beginning early Korean War. Begins with historical excerpt on the winning of Joseph McCarthy as 34th president of then United States, 1952-1996 - Who knows what might have changed if Dwight Eisenhower won as president against McCarthy; perhaps then things would not have escalated as they had so. Alas, it is the historian's job to archive as best he can the past for viewing of the future. The stalemate that had tenuously held since 10th of July 1951 was finally broken on February 7, 1953 -- after the assumption of President McCarthy to the Oval Office . . . - Attached is newspaper headlined: 'Weapon of Terror used once again in the Koreas' - On the dawn of February 7th -- approx. 9:37 am -- a B-25 Mitchell was flown under heavy flak on a mission to drop the unique advantage of the United States to obliterate Wonsan, North Korea.       Outrage by the international community was fierce on the U.S. It was famously (infamously) recorded that President McCarthy ordered the public executions by bayonet of multiple Soviet and People's Republic spies in response. He went on to threaten the city of Geneva for harboring and abetting Communist sympathies.       It had been noted by many of the harbinger to come when on the day of January 20th, 1953; minutes after assuming office, President McCarthy reinstated and promoted General MacArthur as commander-regent of the armed forces of the United States.       The response by the Chinese was immediate, they would join the conflict en masse on February 18th, 1953. A grueling battle now known as the Blood Ridge Massacres took the course of two months, and estimates place losses at 400,000 total. - Further newspaper clippings detail the escalation of conflict into formal war between China and the United States with the first titled: 'Declaration by Congress: We go to War!' dated March 3rd special congress 1953 - With full powers, the United States begins a firebomb campaign of all major city populations north of the 38th parallel, alongside a UN advance through Korea named the 'Black March.'       Outcries at civilian atrocities lead to a strict order on the nature of war journalists; many being executed as Communist sympathizers. A counteroffensive by China to Anchorage, Alaska re-dubs the conflict as the Sino-American War.       The Soviet Union enters conflict in the Middle East at the request of Iran and the United Arab Emirates, drawing civil unrest in surrounding countries such as Turkey, Qatar, Egypt, Pakistan, and India. The United Kingdom declares war on the colonies in response. Border conflicts in these regions draws UN peacekeepers in an effort to prevent a third World War.       Oil supply lines through the Persian Gulf are blockaded by the US on March 27th, 1953 to prevent supply to China. Operation Rupture is begun by the European Theatre of NATO to cutoff land transport of oil to the eastern bloc. - With the beginning of Operation Rupture, newspapers decry: 'Third Great War Upon Us, Buy War Bonds Now!' - Grinding wars push along the west and east fronts; supply of Soviet Kalashnikov Automatic battle rifles makes rapid change to NATO war ground doctrine [sic]. Firearms designers from West Germany are recruited to produce next-generation troop arms to match fire capability of East bloc ground forces. The FAL is rushed through and fielded, with the CETME model A being given priority development.       Battle lines shift as various developments take place along the fronts: the fielding of the Heckler and Koch G3 in 1955, suicide submarines attacking the Persian Gulf Blockade on December 25th, 1955, and the rebellion of East Germany in April 1956 attacking West Germany and Geneva, Switzerland.       Assassinations of high profile politicians begins throughout Europe as unrest reaches new highs. Extremist movements begin to coalesce around the needlessness of war; and to make love.       The use of nuclear weapons by the United States is loose as vast sections of south China are rendered inhabitable for decades. It is only the reveal by the Soviet Union of their own nuclear weapons that the first armistice takes effect August 1st, 1961.       Two months later, around October 23rd, 1961, outbreaks of Anthrax and Smallpox begin in the United States, McCarthy declaring martial law and curfew the following day in headlines. Border securities and barring of Chinese and Soviet nationals is formalized, and internment camps of them begin in the US. - Headline snippets highlight: 'Geneva Convention Gone! Reports of Atrocities Abound!' - 1967 is one of the darkest years in the Third War. A mainland invasion of the Gobi desert in China is repelled by biological and toxicological warfare. The US annexes Canada as the war in Alaska continues. Many countries in Europe begin declaring bankruptcy at the grinding conflicts with the Eastern bloc. Civil uprisings form in many countries as civilian atrocities in biological warfare reach in the high millions; governments destabilized.       On December 2nd, 1967, the Geneva Convention and United Nations disband after terror cells detonate dirty nukes in multiple capitols of the Middle East. Oil prices skyrocket as production and transportation become lethal to human laborers.       Unknown to people of the time, West-Tek, in collaboration with the US government, begins a clandestine project known as the Pan-Immunity Virion Project. Human subjects are used within a year of the project's start in 1969.       January 1st 1970 sees the second armistice take effect. Soviet forces take a needed reprieve and Europe breathes a sigh of relief as decades of conflict pause for almost a year. Negotiations continue to fall through as President McCarthy enjoys power supremacy after annexing Canada and bolstering the wartime economy. - Newspaper headlines: 'New Plague? Blue Boils Signal Horrifying Death' - The Sino-American war restarts in October of 1970 as cases of the 'New Plague' begin to appear in the continental United States. Symptoms are typical of bacteriological and viral infections save the telltale sign: blue lymph nodes and boils. Onset of death happens within days as lungs asphyxiate due to inflammation and fluid buildup.       The pace of war is slow due to contamination protocols, and after an irradiation attack on gold reserves in Beijing on August 9th, 1973; the third and final armistice is signed by both parties.       The New Plague becomes the focal point of United States efforts, and West-Tek increases human trials throughout the rest of the 70s.       It is after the New Plague breaks the border of the US and begins to spread globally that Vault-Tec begins its nationwide campaign. Many major city hubs around the world break down due to unrest and fears of catching the New Plague, and entire countries collapse within months. Immigration and refugee numbers hit worldwide highs.       The New Plague ravages croplands in the US and abroad, leading to famines throughout the late 70s and 80s. Nuclear power plants melt down in Pittsburgh and Detroit on a hot summer in 1984, exacerbating resource scarcity. - Paradigm headlines, noted and highlighted by presumably Richard Night: 'Arasaka Blows the Whistle, Secret Human Trials by Government' - On January 7th, 1988, Saburo Arasaka holds a public hearing, presenting documentation of human trials by West-Tek, causing massive protests in the United States and the Canadian Commonwealth. Executions of Canadian protesters live on national television prove the final straw. The devastation caused by radiation, New Plague, and general breakdown of order leads to the dissolution of many of the States, ending the hegemony of President McCarthy. He continues to preside over the remaining US until his natural death in 1996.       The 1990s see the first breaths of revitalization in Earth as megacorporations arise and bring semblances of order to chaos. Arasaka and Militech -- a reformation of Vault-Tec and Government Enclaves -- lead the charge in a new order.       All things said, the megacorporations provided a focus to worldwide societies, and conflicts between corporations became the new standard as political power waned in the old world. In hindsight, Corporate Wars ended up being less brutal than the Resource Wars prior. But, I'm just a [sic] archivist of the times, who knows how things will go in the future. - The historian Dr. Paera Dee was executed for treason on December 23rd, 1995. - - A framed and embossed article of the San Francisco Chronicle, signed by Richard Night: 'Morro Bay Massacre: Return to Form?' - Attached to the back of the frame is a sticky note, confirmed written by Richard Night himself using lab analysis. It reads: 'How does Coronado City sound?'