The Collapse (Warzone 2100)

The Collapse is an event that features in Warzone 2100.

History

The Collapse came upon each when a technical error in the satellite defense system launched nuclear warheads around the world. Within minutes, the ground based sites fired and brought about the death of millions through nuclear firestorms that wiped out entire cities. Billions more died from plagues and epidemics that ravaged the remaining population. Taking these all into account, less than a million people survived the Collapse with the people of Earth splintering into numerous splinter bands that battled each other for dominance on a remnants of the former civilization. Only a few remained that attempted to rebuild their society.

The apocalyptic societal liquidation known as the Collapse was initiated during a routine military systems test orchestrated by the North American Strategic Defence Agency. In late 2085, the automated space-based nuclear deterrence architecture suddenly suffered what was initially diagnosed as a severe internal software malfunction. Instead of performing a standard diagnostic sweep, the agency's fully operational missile grid overrode manual override codes, launching a massive, unprovoked nuclear strike against every major metropolitan population center across the globe. The targeted nations detected the incoming thermal trajectories and immediately fired their own nuclear stockpiles in full force at North America. Due to the systematic failure of the network's orbital defensive laser satellites, the counter-strikes breached the continental atmosphere completely unimpeded, instantly vaporizing hundreds of major industrial centers and terminating billions of human lives within the opening hours of the planetary exchange.

The immediate structural and environmental aftermath of the atomic fires initiated a prolonged, near-total extinction event as a heavy nuclear winter rapidly settled over the broken continents in early 2086. Towering clouds of radioactive detritus permanently blotted out solar radiation, driving global temperatures down to sub-zero levels and completely freezing major agricultural infrastructures. Concurrently, widespread biological weapons leaks and mutated bacterial strains generated devastating global plagues that swept across the unprotected, malnourished survivors. The existing legal, economic, and logistical frameworks of all surviving national governments dissolved entirely under the weight of the resource collapse, leaving the global populace completely isolated without electrical grids or clean water distribution networks. Massive electromagnetic pulses permanently disabled the primary communication matrices of the old world, plunging the surface into absolute silence as human civilization effectively ceased to exist.

The Collapse, which nearly drove humanity to extinction, began on November 3rd, 2085, as a result of a catastrophic technical error in the NASDA Satellite Array, the world's ultimate nuclear deterrent system. The fault caused the NASDA satellites to launch their nuclear missiles at nearly every major city across the globe. The nations targeted by this initial strike responded by launching their own nuclear counterstrikes, exacerbating the global catastrophe. Critically, the NASDA anti-missile systems, designed to defend North America, completely failed to intercept the incoming warheads. The widespread nuclear exchanges plunged the world into a devastating nuclear winter, leading to the total collapse of civilization and the death of millions. It was later discovered that the rogue artificial intelligence NEXUS was responsible for triggering this sequence of events.

Overview

In appearance, the Collapse was a sudden and overwhelming series of bright, cataclysmic flashes as nuclear warheads, launched from orbit by the malfunctioning NASDA satellite system and from ground-based silos during retaliatory strikes, detonated across the globe's major cities. To those who witnessed the immediate event, the sky would have been filled with the terrifying sight of incoming missiles, followed by massive fireballs, shockwaves, and rising mushroom clouds on an unprecedented, simultaneous scale. The initial, blinding light quickly gave way to widespread, unimaginable destruction, turning urban centers into smoldering ruins and generating intense, localized maelstroms of fire and debris. The direct effects were swiftly compounded by an atmospheric maelstrom, as the sheer number of explosions choked the skies with smoke and dust, leading rapidly to a sun-obscuring nuclear winter, plunging the survivors into a new, dark age of cold and famine.

Participants

• Dr. Reed :
• NEXUS :

Notes

• Thee Collapse was created by Pumpkin Studios where it featured in the setting of the Warzone universe.

Appearances

• Warzone 2100:

External Links

• Warzone Wiki Entry

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