With the Cybrids defeated at last, the survivors emerged from the bunkers and tunnels to a sky unsullied by menace for the first time in over twenty years. Children of war, who knew no other life, stood in stunned amazement at the prospect of peace. The magnitude of the destruction however was all too apparent.
Prometheus' mutiny had left the Earth ravaged. Billions of people had perished. The glory of the Age of Hope now lay in heaps of useless rubble. As the celebrations faded, people regarded the burned out husks of the cities, the cratered fields and debris-choked rivers - everywhere the smell of burnt metal and scorched stone permeated the air. Soldiers stumbled out of their battered HERCs and wept for what had been lost. Now that the Cybrids were gone there was finally time to grieve.
The victory was once again hollow though. A handful of surviving Cybrid vessels had been observed boosting towards the outer planets. The TDF was unable to muster the resources for pursuit, and the human survivors lacked the strength or the will to give chase.
Moreover scans of the lunar debris revealed no trace of the Dark Intellect's presence. Prometheus had survived. None dared hope that the machines would leave forever. The haunting shadow of their malice and the certainty of their inevitable return lingered.
The Age of Isolation
The survivors of the Fire picked through the smoking ruins of Earth, tired unto death. Humanity was deeply scarred by the horrors of war. Backlash was inevitable. A generation had come of age amid the threat of extinction, knowing nothing of the bright world which Prometheus had destroyed. Billions had died, and bitter survivors blamed technology itself. Higher learning, science and industry were all disparaged. Nobility and will, it was said, were the assets that had prevailed against the Cybrids not the machines of war.
These sentiments soon took on religious momentum. Zealous preachers stood atop fallen HERCs and spoke of turning back to mother Gaea, of abandoning the evil god Technos. Young people put down both weapons and tools and flocked to listen. Older and wiser heads bowed in exhaustion, unwilling to argue with their own children. Some few spoke of assisting the abandoned colonies, but their words went unheard beneath the growing roar of the Gaean movement.
Self-styled "peacechilder" led simple lives, revering music, art, and "natural tools." They roamed from town to town, spreading by they called 'the lessons of the Fire.' Public effort focused on rebuilding agriculture and repairing the war-torn environment. Little was done to recapture previous technological prowess.
The Man Who Would be Emperor
Sainted GierlingGeneral Ambrose Gierling was too strong-willed to be manipulated by Petresun. He died of cancer after The Fire. Petresun met with him privately on his deathbed, and chose not to offer him immortality. By the time Prometheus returned in the Starsiege Gierling was considered a patron saint of Imperial soldiers.
Petresun chafed at the laxity he saw. While people rejected high technology Earth was vulnerable. The meta-nations reconstituted slowly, their drastically smaller populations and the collapse of the war economy hampering their re-emergence. Splinter groups threatened to break away and form their own countries. Petresun and the Brotherhood feared a collapse into anarchy.
That was a situation that could not be tolerated. Prometheus would return and humanity would have to be prepared. Enlisting the talents and influence of the Immortal Brotherhood, Petresun agitated for something different: a society dedicated to fostering nobility of character and iron will and to preparing humanity's defense. He drew upon the sense of shared purpose that remained from the days of The Fire and argued to meta-nat leaders and to the people of Earth for the creation of an Empire.
Petresun was a war hero, a household name across the world. People listened to his proposals seriously, and the Brotherhood's secret machinations were bearing fruit. Voices took up the cry for Empire everywhere. As support swelled, the question arose as to who would rule. The meta-nations argued for an Imperial Council, but Petresun proclaimed that supreme authority should be vested in a single man.
Then he played his trump card. Petresun declared to the masses that he was immortal and would survive to lead humanity against the Cybrids' return. His sheer audacity rallied support. People admired his bravado and surprising vigor. Opposition crumbled as his candidacy gained popular momentum and finally culminated in a worldwide referendum. The Empire was approved with an overwhelming majority, and in the spring of 2652 Solomon Petresun was crowned the first Emperor of the Great Human Empire.
Petresun spent the fifty years following Empire Day establishing his fledgling Empire. First he instituted a new aristocracy. Outstanding service to the Empire could win a family noble status. However, each generation had to earn the favor anew; the Emperor wanted to spur humanity to excel. The most common path to nobility was through military service. Soon military academies and finishing schools sprang up everywhere.
At the same time Petresun worked to counter the anti-technological sentiment that pervaded post-Fire society. He sent relief missions to Mars and Venus and encouraged development of universities and research facilities. The population was still a shadow of what it had been during the Age of Hope. Millions still suffered flashbacks and nightmares. Humanity needed time to heal.
End of Isolation
A sense of urgency crept over Petresun with the passing of the years, as he brooded on the whereabouts of Prometheus. Finally in 2717, a deep space probe provided a stark answer: Cybrids were engaged in construction in Neptune's orbit.
The discovery was highly troubling. Humanity faced a bottleneck. Population levels were still too low to support a massive war buildup; decimated colonies needed to rebuild. Petresun made the difficult decision to delay full rearmament, but continued to monitor Cybrid activity carefully.
Gradually information about the Cybrids was leaked to the citizenry. As humanity absorbed the sobering facts, Imperial nobles and TDF heroes worked to restore people's spirits. Humanity began to dig in and prepare for the eventual return of Prometheus. Anti-technological feelings faded surprisingly fast. Memories of The Fire were not so dim, nor distant, that people had forgotten the need for HERCs. The Age of Isolation was coming to an end.
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