- "In Honor of Those Who Served. To all those we lost during the Pendulum Wars, may they rest in peace, and know always that their brave sacrifices were not in vain. Never shall they be forgotten."
- —Landown Memorial
The Pendulum Wars are a 79 year-long global conflict waged by the two superpowers of Sera, the Coalition of Ordered Governments and the Union of Independent Republics for control of the planet's natural resources including Imulsion. Millions of human lives are lost in the conflict and the environment was significantly damaged by the devastating weapons. The war was a deadlock for it's majority until the COG broke the stalemate by going around the land warfare with the UIR and staging a daring raid on Aspho Fields. The COG stole the Hammer of Dawn technology plans during the Battle of Aspho Fields and gained the advantage in the war. The Pendulum Wars ended shortly before the attack on the surface of Sera by the Locust Horde on Emergence Day with only six weeks of peace between the two wars. [1]
History
Pre-War events
Decades before the Pendulum wars, Sera was plunged into the millennia long conflict known as the Age of Armageddon,[2] nearly destroying both the human race and Sera. Humanity rejected war and embraced a new era of peace, the Era of Silence, leading to a period of advancement: Arts, science and culture and all of these things prospered. But, the shortage of available energy led the planet and it's inhabitants into more problems. Imulsion, a phosphorescent and low-viscosity fluid that was discovered by an oil-exploration drill was unusable as an energy source until Dr. Helen Cooper created the Lightmass Process which enabled the refinement of Imulsion into a source of cheap energy, marking the beginning of the Gold Rush. What no one knew at the time was that Imulsion was actually a living, parasitic organism that would bring the planet to the brink of destruction one day.
The full implementation of this process by most of the existing nations cemented Imulsion’s place as a new and fairly abundant energy source and led to the near-complete elimination of the hydrocarbon and nuclear-based fuel sources. However, the extremely low price of Imulsion energy and the massive loss of revenue and jobs in the traditional energy-production industries caused Sera's world economy to collapse. The few countries that discovered an abundance of Imulsion within their borders found themselves at war with the many nations who are not as fortunate and the Era of Silence ended. The Pendulum Wars began.
The Rise of the COG
During the seventy-nine year war, the Coalition of Ordered Governments or the COG became a legitimate and political party. Founded long before the Pendulum Wars by a fanatical socialist named Alexiy Desipich, the party was based on an obscure world-government philosophy based on eight guiding principle values: Order, Diligence, Purity, Labor, Honor, Loyalty, Faith and Humility. The COG began sending their legions of Gear soldiers out, transforming the Pendulum Wars from a conflict over Imulsion into a fight over freedoms. The Coalition overthrew many nations and incorporated them as vassal governments, accepting the volunteers to fight the UIR armies.[3]
79 Years of War
- "Like everything in the COG army, there's an acronym for street fighting: M.O.U.T. "Military Operations in Urban Terrain." We just know it means close, personal, and higher casualties. In the Pendulum Wars, some guys couldn't take it. Black outs, freaks outs, suicides. You didn't give 'em shit because it might be you someday. To win M.O.U.T. battles, you need numbers, the manuals advise three to one odds to beat an entrenched urban force. If we're lucky the odds might be three to one--against."
- —Dom on urban warfare
Ostri Front
A scene from the Pendulum Wars
The Ostri front was fought 30 years before the Siege of Anvil Gate and saw the extended trench warfare. Lt.Victor Hoffman compared the fighting inside the walls of Anvil Gate to the Ostri front.[4]
Eastern Front
One of the most notorious fronts of the war, the Eastern Front saw the Duke of Tollen's Regiment of Tyrus battling the Gorasni soldiers loyal to the UIR. Several Gears are captured and sent to the Ramascu labor camp and several perished in the camp. The events of the Eastern Front and Ramascu left a great distrust for the Gorasni people among the COG citizens and Pendulum War veterans.[5]
Kashkur Fronts
- "Your priority is to stop the UIR advance within Kashkur. COG forces hold the central plains of the country and the extreme west, but the UIR is widening its corridors between the areas we still hold. The Anvegad Pass is blocked and must remain so if we are to stop the UIR closing the circle and inserting land forces from the east."
- —Col.James Choi, commander of 6th Brigade.[6]
The Andius Fusilers fighting outside of Ragani.
The COG defended the Imulsion rich nation of Kashkur from the UIR nation of Furlin. The COG was able to contain and hold the Indies off until the president of Vasgar resigned shortly before a vote of no confidence. This gave the UIR the opportunity to invade Vasgar and open a second front on Kashkur, allowing the UIR to attack the infamous fortress of Anvil Gate on the southern front. While an Indie army flanked on the western border from Furlin, their aim was the city of Shavad.
The COG response to the Indies sending “peacekeepers” to Vasgar was to cut all Imulsion supplies to area, hurting the Imulsion Company and putting millions of Vasgar citizens in the dark, effectively shutting the power stations and hospitals down. The operation would force the UIR to ship the supplies in from the neighboring friendly UIR nations while having to deal with a local population without a government and fuel. The only thing of military value left for the UIR in the Imulsion-starved nation would be the iron ore and vast factories in southern Vasgar if the UIR could keep the peace in the nation.
The Indie troops from Furlin invaded Kashkur from two fronts: On the western border by hitting the city of Shavad and at Anvil Gate on the Vasgari border in the south. On the Vasgari-Kashkur border, the Indie sabotage effectively cutted Anvil Gate's only land route off by destroying the canyon, showing that the UIR had dozens of Special Forces in the country before the fall of the Vasgari government. An Indie soldier with an RPG in the nearby cannons was able to kill Captain Sander and several other Gears, leading Lieutenant Hoffman to request a Pesangi detachment. However, High Command was unable to deliver the fresh supplies or reinforcements since every Tern and the newly introduced King Ravens are occupied with the combat missions in Shavad.
The UIR laid siege to Anvil Gate where the COG with a handful of Pesangi commandos defended the Gate from the overwhelming forces. The siege lasted for three months and the fort was reduced to rubble from the continuous Mortar attacks. Hoffman's Pesangi troopers are able to kill several Indie spotters in the hills, but with a lack of food and growing unrest, Hoffman was forced to face the facts on the ground. He realized that Anvil Gate and the garrison could not last any longer, but fortunately for Hoffman, the Indie Major allowed the civilian population to evacuate the garrison if the COG surrendered. Hoffman took the only option that he had left and ordered the surrender of Anvil Gate to the Indies, but Hoffman's surrender was merely a ruse. He planned to entrap the Indies in the old quarter of the city and catch them unawares. The plan worked and over 200 Indie soldiers are killed, though the Gears suffered from many casualties as well. The victory at Anvil Gate allowed the COG to hold the southern pass and launched Major Hoffman's career.
The UIR invading the South Islands
Indie invasion of Irohma island
Four years before E-Day, the UIR attacked Irohma Island, defeating the local population. The elements of the 26th Royal Tyran infantry landed on the island and ended up recruiting a local.
Quiet Front
For ten years, the Gears and Indie soldiers located on the two guard posts never exchanged fire. A gunner named Evan while stationed at Anvil Gate would recount the anomaly.
Sarfuth front
- Main article: Raid on Gralia
Since 17 B.E., the UIR and COG fought for control over the nation of Sarfuth. While neutral Maranday stopped any outright invasion by the two superpowers, the UIR was amassing the forces in the Republic of Lauczi to attack Sarfuth. The COG forces decided to take an Indie strategy and used Maranday's neutrality to launch a daring raid into the Indie territory. The raid was successful and the COG forces are able to use their air force and take the advancing Indie army out at the Maigar Pass.[7]
Around 3 years before E-Day, the Indie saboteurs are operating from neutral Maranday to attack Sarfuth's Imulsion pipelines while the members of the 26th Royal Tyran infantry defended the areas and killed at least one saboteur.[8]
Operation Leveler
- Main article: Operation: Leveler
The climax of the war was at Aspho Fields with Operation Leveler. The COG forces discovered that the Indies at Aspho Point won the arms race for the orbital weapons. The COG could not allow the UIR to have an advantage in the war so they prepared for a daring raid by mobilizing the 26th Royal Tyran Infantry and Navy in an amphibious assault on the Ostri coast. The 26 RTI attacked the Ostri troops at Aspho Fields while the commando detachment under Maj. Hoffman raided Aspho Point. The Indie forces inflicted heavy losses on the COG, but the COG managed to accomplish their mission and evacuated from Ostri.[9] The operation had the largest number of Embry Star recipients in Coalition history.
Knifespire
In the last year of the war, the Battle of Gatka Ridge was fought on the island of Knifespire in the Lesser Islands Chain over an Imulsion source located there. Lieutenant Colonel Gabriel Diaz led the COG forces in the battle, ultimately dropping a mountain on the Imulsion source to keep it out of the UIR's hands. Diaz refused orders from Deputy Chairman Richard Prescott to retake the Imulsion source no matter the cost and, disillusioned with the COG's bureaucracy, purposefully demoted himself to Sergeant and transferred to the motor pool to continue helping in the war effort without being forced into such a position again.[10]
Coalition Victory
After the raid at Aspho Point and the Battle of Aspho Fields, the COG would battle the UIR for another two years by losing thirty-thousand soldiers. Adam Fenix used the stolen Hammer of Dawn technology to create the satellite-based weapons for the COG. For his efforts, Chairman Tomas Dalyell awarded him the Octus Medal.[11] The COG forces are able to advance into both Furlin and Ostri.[12] On the coastal city of Bonbourg, the COG occupied the city, but the UIR Third Fleet bombarded the city until the COG unleashed their newest weapon, the Hammer of Dawn. The Hammer destroyed the five Indie ships and forced the fleet to withdraw. While in Furlin, the Indie troops battled in Ghato City and around several cliffs. After the Hammer strikes on the Indie fleet, Premier Yori Deschenko entered into negotiations with the COG and the UIR surrendered. Despite this, some UIR units continued to fight, believing that the surrender was COG propaganda while the Gorasni would continue a guerrilla war.[13][14]
Mutiny at OZP-11
Following the announcement of the peace negotiations, Premier Yori Deschenko sent Major Girek Toly to OZP-11, a UIR cosmodrome built in occupied Vasgar to oversee the dismantling of the functional Hammer of Dawn satellites built by the UIR. Shortly after Toly's arrival, the commander of the Gorasni troops stationed in Vasgar, Major Garron Paduk was tasked by the High Council of Gorasnaya with taking OZP-11 in order to launch the satellites and execute a retaliation strike in response for the defeat at Bonbourg. As the reports of violence between the UIR troops reached Toly, he reinforced the cosmodrome garrison with a brigade of hand-picked soldiers and soon after, Paduk's troops laid siege to the base. Toly ordered his men to infect the cosmodrome's computers with a semi-sentient malware in order to prevent the rebels from launching the satellites. After 3 days of brutal fighting, both sides suffered from heavy causalities and as the rebels are close to acquiring the Hammer of Dawn targeting beacons, the COG forces dropped a Lightmass Missile on the facility, killing or wounding nearly all belligerents and stopping the mutineers from achieving their goal, preventing the launch of the UIR Hammer of Dawn satellites and continuation of the Pendulum Wars.
The COG's armed forces revolved around it's Army branch until the Battle of Aspho Fields. Their Special Forces and Navy are given less attention, though Adam Fenix argued that the Navy and Air Corps must be expanded.[15] The COG Navy contained the battleships in the early years of the Pendulum Wars and had a diverse range of ships including the destroyers, submarines and helicopter carriers.[16]Two years before E-Day, the COG Navy attacked and leveled Berephus and Bonbourg while the LCTs landed on Aspho Fields.[17] The UIR Navy along with the Gorasni Navy had submarines and missile frigates that are able to survive the Pendulum Wars and Locust War.[18][19] During the Pendulum Wars, the UIR had the Tennad sailors use suicide submarines against the COG.[20]
Around the Serano Ocean, the UIR submarines preyed on the COG Merchant Fleet forcing them to form convoys projected by the NCOG.[21]
Aftermath
- "After decades of conflict, the Pendulum Wars will soon be over. The people of Sera will once again be united - sharing in this invaluable gift of Imulsion as once-optimistic discoverers had always envisioned. Both rich and poor nations alike, may I be the first to salute the world as we enter this golden age of prosperity, and peace."
- —Chairman Tomas Dalyell remarking on the results of the Pendulum Wars, with Sera becoming unified and entering a new golden age.[22]
- "At 1000 hours this morning, the Union of Independent Republics signed a formal surrender to the Coalition of Ordered Governments and concluded a peace treaty. It is with profound relief that I tell you the Pendulum Wars are now at an end, and that the COG and UIR will embark on a program of reconciliation and rebuilding to heal the terrible scars-individual and national-that this long, terrible conflict has left upon Sera. We hope that the state of Gorasnaya will come to accept our offer of reconciliation and formally agree to the cease-fire in with other UIR states."
- —Chairman Tomas Dalyell's official announcement that the Pendulum Wars are over.[23]
After the final battle of the war, the COG and UIR signed an armistice ending the war in the COG's favor.[24] The COG replaced several Indie nation governments with pro-coalition governments including Pelles and Ostri Republic which are under the administration of Premier Yori Deschenko. Some Indie nations refused to surrender and launched an insurgency which was the infamous Republic of Gorasnaya.[25] The Day of the Fallen holiday was created to celebrate the fallen Gear soldiers.[26]
- "Should I tell Dalyell what's coming? No. I can still stop it happening. I can avoid more bloodshed. I'm the only one who can."
- —Adam Fenix[27]
For six weeks, the COG ruled almost all of Sera before Emergence Day.[28] Just as they started to rebuild the cities and towns that are destroyed and fix the international relations with the UIR nations who are still fighting against the COG, an unidentified enemy that would come to be known as the Locust Horde emerged from the underground warrens of Sera and launched a planet-wide invasion of the surface. The COG was unable to hold back the Horde, losing all of what they gained in the 79-year Pendulum Wars. However, the COG war machine was able to mobilize from the Pendulum Wars allowing them to quickly regroup and counter the Locust during E-Day, resulting in a new long war of extermination.
15 years after E-Day, the survivors of the Republic of Gorasnaya joined the COG for protection from the Locust before the Lambent Pandemic forced the COG to disband and caused the Gorasni to leave the coalition. However, the Gorasni remained allies with the remnants of the COG, saying that while they remembered their grudges, they also remembered kindness and those that are their allies, coming to the aid of the COG remnants during the Second Battle of Azura where Adam Fenix destroyed the Locust and the Lambent with an Imulsion-targeting weapon, bringing peace to Sera once again.
Legacy
A lesser observed effect of the Pendulum Wars was significant damage inflicted upon Sera's environment. While Imulsion was cleaner than the traditional energy sources, it's large-scale exploitation by the massive war machines of Sera polluted the planet's soil, oceans and air. This caused the rampant cases of Rustlung in the humans during and after the Wars and would eventually contribute to the Lambent Epidemic as many are at least marginally exposed to Imulsion. The battles of the Pendulum Wars scared many regions of Sera. Both the COG and UIR committed serious human rights abuses in depriving the civilians of the natural resources. All of these factors began to change Sera's larger climate as HMT Magazine reported a noticeable increase in the catastrophic hurricane storms in the later years of the Pendulum Wars. While tragic, this environmental degradation would be pale in comparison to the subsequent Locust War which nearly rendered Sera lifeless.
Quotes
- "This is how my grandfather fought wars."
- —Major. Adam Fenix on the state of the Kashkur Front
- "And now we go and do it all over again. Another pointless battle. Another bereaved family. Another year of war. And the UIR does exactly the same. Someone has to break the cycle. Someone has to create weapons so powerful that if politicians want to wage war, they'll face the same death as the men and women send to fight it. A deterrent. A damn big deterrent. I can build a deterrent that'll bring governments to their sense. An orbital weapons system. That's my duty now."
- —Adam Fenix envisioning the Hammer of Dawn.
- "Some have said that war is hell. War is not hell... for in hell, innocence is spared."
- —Tai, after discovering the ethnic cleansing of his village
- "And now you can see what we are fighting for. Imulsion."
"I thought we were fighting for democracy."
"No, I'm pretty sure it's Imulsion, Quinn. Cars don't run on freedom. Whatever that is." - —Helena speaking with Pvt.Quinn about the COG's motivation for fighting the Pendulum Wars
Behind the Scenes
The Pendulum Wars may be named after the Pendulum which was a weight suspended from a pivot so it could swing freely. It was most likely a representation of the war and it's stalemate until the Battle of Aspho Fields. It could also be suggested that it was a reference to the number of machine-related names in the Gears of War universe.
References
|
| Pendulum Wars | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 47 B.E. | Ostri Front | ||
| 17 B.E. | UIR Occupation of Vasgar · Kashkur Front (Fall of Mendurat · Siege of Anvil Gate · Battle of Shavad · Battle of Ragani) · Raid on Gralia | ||
| 9 B.E. | Bombardment of Mercy | ||
| 4 B.E. | Raids on the Acastu Imulsion Fields · Battle of Irohma Island | ||
| 3 B.E. | Sarfuth-Maranday Border Incident | ||
| 2 B.E. | Battle of Aspho Fields | ||
| 0 B.E. | Skirmish in Ghato City · Battle of Bonbourg · Skirmish on Furlin Cliffside · Mutiny at OZP-11 · UIR-COG Armistice | ||
| Unknown timeline | Battle of Branascu · Conquest of the South Islands · Eastern Front · Bombing of Sikorla · Battle of Autrin · Battle of Berephus · Third Battle of the Plateau · Siege of Seiden · Mount Kadar Laboratory Uprising · Battle of Gatka Ridge | ||