Timeline
2052-A new mineral called Atrixium was discovered when a fusion reactor was being disassembled. It was an incredibly dense metal with unique conductive properties. It was theorized that it could be found in nature.
2054-An Atrixium mineral deposit estimated to weigh in the millions of tons was discovered in northeast Arizona. It was classified as one of the highest state secrets by the USA. This deposit wasn’t made public until the early 23rd century.
2055-Tests confirmed that Atrixium was a super conducting material up to the freezing point of water. This discovery led to the development of the second-generation fusion reactors.
2057-War breaks out. Russian and China began invading eastern Europe with aims of claiming Switzerland and its deposits of atrixium.
2057-World War 3 is declared when NATO requests help from all allied nations. The nations in South America have fallen into a localized war against Brazil and it’s atrixium stores. Cuba declared war against the US. Due to its close proximity to the US it was the first country to be attacked by American military forces. Their military and political heads were eliminated by a massive deployment of cruise missiles from the golf. Cuba signed an armistice and agreed to become a protectorate of the US a mere eight days after declaring war on its neighbor to the north.
2058-African countries unite and form the United African League. Egypt and Libya are the only two countries that refuse to join the League. The Arab states, excluding Iran, form the Arabic Union. They only engaged in hostilities with Iran, otherwise the Arabic Union typically kept to itself.
2059-Russia and China reach the atrixium mine and began transporting the stolen minerals back to their countries.
2059-The US begins launching its newest generation of cruise missiles. The missiles are virtually undetectable to radar.
2060-Chinese and Russian military bases have been ravaged by undetected cruise missiles over the past fifteen months. Their ability to continue waging this war is nearly at an end. Non-military industry and agricultural areas were specifically avoided.
2061-The largest naval battle snice World War 2 occurs in the Pacific near Taiwan. Allied forces lose 13 frigates and a single aircraft carrier. The Russian and Chinese fleets are nearly annihilated. Two North Korean diesel subs and a critically damage frigate for the Russian navy survived.
2061-In response to North Korea’s presence in the Battle for Taiwan the largest cruise missile attack in history was launched. Every single artillery encampment along the border to South Korea along with 20 military bases and weapons stores within ten miles of the border are struck simultaneously.
2062-Russian signals allied forces its willingness to submit its unconditional surrender. China follows suit closely afterwards.
2063-Peace treaty is signed ending World War 3. Russia is broken into 13 distinct countries. China into 24. This effectively ends their status as world powers and prevents either one from instigating another war.
2070-The US establishes the first permanent base on Mars.
2072-The first child is born on Mars.
2073-Genetic therapy is developed to reduce the bone loss and muscle loss affects zero gravity has on the body. The disadvantage to this therapy is it’s very painful and doesn’t appear to transmit to children recipients have. It also increases the caloric intake astronauts need in spaceflight.
Atrixium and the Strife it Caused
In 2052 a new mineral was discovered that had super conductive properties at the freezing point of water. This was critical to a new type of fusion reactor that was being designed. The mineral, atrixium, could also be created as a byproduct of the first-generation fusion reactors but made in incredibly small quantities. It was theorized the mineral could be found in nature. Swiss scientists found the first publicly known deposit under the Swiss Alps.
US Geological services who were working for the military found vast reserves of the mineral in the southwest areas of the United States. Alaska and Montana also head large reserves. Everyone wanted this mineral and fights began to break out over it worldwide. The president ordered any deposits that were found to be classified to the highest levels and even ordered the CIA to disappear anyone that attempted to leak that information.
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A short five years after the Swiss Alps discovery an alliance between China and Russia was formed and began an invasion of Europe to secure the atrixium deposit. No deposits were found in the vast landmass that is the Asian continent. Taiwan had discovered deposits on their island, but this was a closely guarded secret that wasn’t uncovered until the latter stages of World War 3.
The Chinese and Russian military attacks drew every country into conflict. The European union declared war when NATO requested their aid. The US joined suit one day later. Central America tried to stay out of the conflict, but large deposits were found in Columbia, Mexico and Nicaragua. Neighboring countries wanting a piece of the Atrixium trade and local conflicts arose.
The Central American countries came together and formed the Hispanic Alliance and agreed to share the Atrixium deposits with one another. This allowed them to avoid conflict with the Russian and Chinese and not worry about the US invading their lands.
South America turned inward and stayed out of the fight, but quickly found themselves warring with one another then eventually focusing their attacks on Brazil since they seemed to have the only major deposit on the continent. Brazil asked for aid from the US, which they complied once a mutual assistance treaty was signed. Missile submarines launched hundreds of cruise missiles at enemy military bases along the Brazilian border effectively delaying any effective military actions taken by the other nations. This delay gave the Brazilian military sufficient time to prepare and defend their border.
The only continents not affected by war were Africa and Antarctica. Africa kept to itself and avoided any infighting after forming the United African League. The league decided to pay their debts to the countries they received the fusion reactors, then reevaluate their willingness to do business with them in the future. The UAL remained upset over the costly fusion reactors for over a century after the debt was repaid.
The Russian-Chinese Folly
Within five years the Chinese and Russian ability to wage war was effectively eliminated. There wasn’t a single military base between the two countries that hadn’t received grievous amounts of damage. Russia was left with a handful of subs and effectively no air force. China was better off, but barely so.
All countries with nuclear weapons chose not to use them out of fear of escalating retribution. This did not stop military advancement of weapon systems. Ship mounted railgun cannons were capable of penetrating dozens of feet of reinforced concrete 15 miles inland. Any ship that was within range of those cannons was effectively living on borrowed time.
The stealth cruise missiles were a devastating weapon the Americans built. By the time you could visually see the missile it was too late. Entire squadrons of aircraft, refueling facilities, and command structures above ground were basically annihilated one base after another.
The Americans had developed a new stealth aircraft that was capable of speeds in excess of Mach 6. The B-71 Corvus was capable of delivering sixteen of these missiles from nearly 17 miles above the surface.
Russia and Chinese agents ordered the miners to mine as much of the mineral as they could before they ordered a general retreat to their borders in 2059. The writing was on the wall for both countries. They didn’t have the means to fight back and had lost air superiority. The only thing that kept them in the war was the knowledge that any ground war would be turned into a meatgrinder.
Additional Atrixium deposits were found throughout Europe and Africa. The deposits in Europe were significantly larger and denser in the mineral than the ones found in Africa. No deposits were found in the middle east, but the Arabic Union didn’t have the military power and weren’t near any deposit to attempt to take any by force.
A Regretful War
Eventually Russian and China mercifully surrendered. Soldiers on both sides were going AWOL and returning home. No one wanted to be anywhere near military bases or mass gathering of troops. Once enough soldiers were gathered in one place missiles began appearing and blowing everything around it up. The end result was the permanent dissolution of both countries, and all ruling members of both countries were jailed for life in other countries.
World War 3 would be seen historically as a case of extreme greed and short sidedness. The deposit in the Swiss alps that started the war was estimated to only have 50 to 75 tons of the mineral. Most of the other deposits throughout the world were measured in the thousands to millions of tons. Two countries were effectively destroyed, 125 million of their citizens lay dead and neither had functioning militaries left. All for what amounted to less than $25 billion worth of refined ore. Globally almost 450 million died as a result of the war.
Space Advancement
Within a decade of the war ending America had formed its first permanent colony on Mars. It was located at the base of Olympus Mons and with most of it being built into the giant extinct volcano. Vertical farms and meat printing facilities were the first to be installed. The population grew from 250 people to 1500 within a year. The first child was born there two years after the colony was officially established.
A year later a revolutionary gene therapy was designed for those that lived on Luna, Mars or spent extended time in zero gravity. This slowed the calcium and muscle loss and made the eyes more resistant to any form of atrophy. The gene therapy was made mandatory for any astronauts or citizens of other worlds. This would allow normal muscle and bone growth to enable those born off world to return to Earth.