SUPERPUNK : The Timeline


1941

Following the advice of his General Staff, Hitlers forces advance on Moscow and after extensive street fighting which devastate the city it falls by Christmas. In the fighting Stalin is killed causing Soviet resistance to begin to crumble. A mild winter lets the Germans consolidate their hold on Russia and take control of Russia south to the Crimea.


1942

With the coming of spring the Nazis are able to take control of Russia to the Urals. With control of Russia established troops are transferred from Russia to the North African front, leading to the rapid crushing of the British forces there and the death of Field Marshal Montgomery. This leaves Germany with only a one-front war to fight in Europe.


Because of this British and US forces are unable to invade continental Europe and the war stagnates.


1943

Membership of the Hitler Youth Movement becomes mandatory for all German children, with harsh penalties imposed for non-attendance.


1947

After years of tension the Reich develops the atomic bomb first (although the combined American and British program is only weeks behind). Almost immediately London and Washington are bombed using newly developed V5 ICBM's, and the Nazis call upon the surviving British and American governments to surrender. They do so, and Nazi forces take over Britain and the east coast of the USA. Japanese forces take and hold the western half of the USA, in the process covertly taking over the US nuclear weapons programme, which they see as essential to their own safety.


Almost immediately after the surrender of their countries and their occupation by the Axis, resistance groups spring up across the USA and Britain. Although subject to brutal repression by the Gestapo they persist even to the present day.

Japan takes control of the ex-British possessions of India and Australia.

Italy becomes and continues to be a nominally independent 'associate' of the Germans.

As the Nazis tighten their grip and begin to round up the Jewish peoples in their new territories thousands of American Indians, blacks and Jews do what they see as the lesser of two evils and migrate westwards into Japanese-held territory.


South America soon becomes nothing but a collection of Nazi puppet states.


With the takeover of Russia the Slavic population, like the Jews, is slowly rounded up and exterminated, the Russian countryside being re-populated from good Aryan stock.

After dividing Russia between Germany and Japan, the Reich turns its eyes towards Africa. In the 1950's and 60's they slowly move southward and take control of the country. Millions of blacks go into concentration and slave labour camps and thousands more attempt to cross the Indian Ocean in inadequate boats to reach India or Australia. After initially resisting the Nazis the Boers in South Africa decide the throw in their lot with them, and become loyal associates of the Nazis. After the extermination of the blacks in Africa, like German Russia, is re-populated with good Aryan stock. However, given the size of the African continent Africa remains very much underpopulated until well into the 21st century.


1951

The first nuclear fission power plant goes on line in Germany.


1953

An uprising of American patriots, led by the ex-American General Douglas MacArthur begins in Houston Texas and rapidly spreads across the southern USA. The Japanese government, who control that part of what was the USA, gives the rebels an ultimatum - return to your homes by a set date or be wiped out. The ultimatum is ignored and within two hours the Japanese air force drops an atomic bomb on Houston, levelling the city, to the consternation of the Reich which was unaware that the Japanese possessed atomic weapons. The ultimatum is then repeated and this time it is obeyed, with the rebels melting away and returning to their former lives.

Over the following months thousands of suspected rebels are rounded up and executed or sent to labour camps.


After this incident a new American underground movement, the Douglas MacArthur Army (DMA) begin to operate within the continental USA, mainly against Japanese targets.


Although after the Houston rebellion the Japanese government has little love for Americans, as time goes by ex-American citizens move into all areas of Japanese society (from the first they have been an essential part of the Japanese atomic weapons program). Over the next several decades this, along with the Japanese need for able people in their government, slowly erodes their traditional racism and allows non-Japanese to take up positions of importance within the Empire.


1960

After decades of experimentation involving victims from concentration camps Nazi scientists prove the existence of the genetic code. Experiments then begin on the possibilities of manipulating human genes for specific purposes.


1961

The first artificial satellite launch is performed by the Reich, followed later in the year by one from the Japanese.


1965

The Nazis launch the first man into space.


In the late 1960's the German and Japanese governments both set up labour camps in Antarctica to exploit the mineral resources of the continent. The mortality rate of prisoners incarcerated in these camps is even higher than in 'normal' labour camps, especially after pollution causes a hole in the ozone layer to appear over Antarctica, allowing un-dissipated UV to reach the people below and give them skin cancer.


At roughly the same time the Japanese and German governments introduce the gladiatorial arena as a means of both entertainment and execution. From the first it is very popular with all levels of society, especially the proles, and broadcasts of the games attract audiences of hundreds of millions. Initially the combats consist of people against wild animals and other people, but as time goes by the arena also becomes a showground where items of new military technology such as warbots and armoured vehicles (fitted with self-destruct devices in case of escape attempts) are tested against armed prisoners.


1974

A German is the first man on the moon. His first words upon landing are "Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Stars!"


Mankind expands out into the Solar System. By the beginning of the 1990's the Germans and Japanese have placed colonies upon the moon and begun the construction of various facilities in orbit. As the 21st century begins mining colonies are placed in the Asteroid Belt and mining of their resources begins.


1981

Adolf Hitler dies peacefully in his sleep. He is replaced as Fuhrer by Reinhard Heydrich, the head of the SS.


By the 1980's computer technology has developed sufficiently that a worldwide network of computers begin to evolve. As time goes by this becomes more and more widespread, and despite heavy penalties for unauthorised access, people with the knowledge soon begin to take advantage of this. By 2010 there are two almost entirely separate networks in the world, which connect at only a few places - the German ReichNet and the Japanese NipponNet. By the present day these networks extend into every level of society (even the proles have Net terminals usable for entertainment purposes), and although no true AI's exist, computers are very sophisticated.


In the mid-1990's the process known as the Greenhouse Effect caused by large-scale industrial pollution is postulated to explain what appears to be a shift in the climate. As the years go by it becomes obvious that this process is actually occurring, but little is done to slow or prevent it.


2000

The Nazis issue their own version of the Bible, with all previous versions being made illegal, seized and destroyed. This version which becomes known as the Himmler Bible (after the person who initiated the writing of the new version of the Bible) and uses a warped version of the real Bibles teaching to justify the society Nazi rule has created.


In the late 2000's a series of virulent computer viruses sweep across the computer systems of the world. The exact origin of most of these viruses is later discovered to be a new democratic underground movement known as The Tower (from the Tarot card of that name) which springs into life and attacks many targets in the Reich while their computer systems are crippled, without much success. The viruses also seriously affect many Japanese systems (although at least some of these are suspected to be ploy by the Nazi intelligence services, a ploy which is also repeated by the Japanese intelligence services) and lead to the development of programs with self-checking and repair capabilities which are capable of resisting most types of virus.


2019

Japanese researchers produce the first functioning humanoid robot.


2021

German medical researchers produce a drug which halts the loss of bone strength under microgravity. It soon becomes widely adopted. Japanese researchers eventually go a different route, simply replacing bone with chemically stable ceramics.


As competition for resources and colonies in the Solar System heats up in the late 2020's an atmosphere of tension slowly build up between the German and Japanese empires. Although slightly defused by the development of the stardrive in 2074 this still exists today.


2034

The first nuclear fusion power plant goes on line in Japan.


2041

The rise in sea level caused by the ongoing greenhouse effect exceeds one meter. By this time low-lying areas around the world have been inundated.


2048

Japanese researchers develop bionics which equal or outperform natural human limbs and organs after decades of research carried out on accident victims and political prisoners.


Espionage agents soon begin to have cybernetic enhancements to give themselves an extra edge over the opposition. As time goes by it become considered a mark of distinction in the Japanese ruling classes to have cosmetic cybernetic implants.

In the late 2040's it becomes possible to wire disembodied human brains together in what becomes known as a biocomputer. After several incidents in which the disembodied minds attempt to take over the system which contains them, all brains used like this (usually condemned criminals of one kind or another) are firstly lobotomised. Although first developed by the Japanese this technology is soon adopted by the German Reich.


2051

A Japanese research team develops the gravitational-manipulation vehicle thrust system. This soon replaces the more conventional propulsion systems found in space vehicles, and as time goes by and the grav-thust units become smaller and more efficient they soon find use in grav-vehicles which replace military aircraft and helicopters.

A quirk of gravitic physics means that an oblate spheroid (with the decks parallel to the circular cross-section) is the most efficient ship configuration when using this type of drive.


2053

A German penal colony on Mercury suffers a major prisoner uprising, apparently led by secret resistance agents among the (supposedly non-political) prisoners. After starving out the prisoners proves ineffective, and with the uprising threatening to spread to other penal units, nuclear weapons are used to bring the uprising to a decisive end.


2061

After a century of experimentation Nazi scientists perfect means of manipulating human genes. Slowly higher-ranking Nazis begin to change themselves into a true 'Master Race'.


2065

A group of Nazi 'fundamentalist' rebels set up a group of colonies in Jupiters trailing Trojan asteroids, and secede from the Reich to form the Trojan Republic. Within months a massive Reich strike force sweeps into the Republic and crushes it. The fomenters of the secession are captured and executed.


2066

Nazi scientists perform the first successful cloning of a human being.


2069

Nazi scientists perfect a method of transferring information from a human mind to or from a computer. Although this does not allow for the recording or transfer of human personalities, it does allow clones, and later the genetically-engineered superhumans, to be programmed with information much more quickly than normal teaching would allow.


Japanese advances in cyber-technology result in its being able to be fitted by people with only minimal medical training. This soon leads to some prole streetgangs becoming heavily fitted with illegal cyberware. Despite heavy crackdowns by the authorities this practise persists to the present day.


2074

Nazi scientists working at a secret research base in the Asteroid Belt develop a working faster than light stardrive based on the principles of gravitic thruster technology.


After several interstellar exploration missions report back, the Reich begins to plant colonies on several extra-solar worlds.


2077

Japanese scientists also develop a functional stardrive and like the Germans, the Japanese government begins to locate and colonise worlds in other star systems.


2080

Nazi researchers find means of genetically engineering very minor psionic powers into human beings by enhancing what seems to be a natural potential. Although useful these powers do have a side effect of sterility and increased mental instability in people with them.


2085

A Japanese survey ship discovers the first world with native life outside of the Earth, in the solar system of the orange K0V star Sigma Draconis, 18.5 light-years away from Earth. Japan embarks on a programme of crash colonisation of this world, keeping it totally secret from the Nazis until they are firmly established.


2088

An American resistance group, the Sons of Liberty, steals a new German fast military transport starship and attempts to flee into interstellar space after renaming the ship the "Lady Liberty". the Lady Liberty is intercepted and destroyed by German warships from the base at Epsilon Eridani.


2091

A long-running dispute over amalgamating the Wermacht and Kriegsmarine into a combined 'Kriegsmacht' is finally decided, against the amalgamation, by the direct intervention of the Fuhrer himself.


2097

The rise in sea level caused by the ongoing greenhouse effect exceeds two meters.


The Earth's population finally stabilises at about 95 billion people after both the Reich and the Empire realise that the uncontrolled population growth they have been espousing cannot go on for ever. Most of this population is very poor and lives in self-contained arcologies, never seeing the outside world. Large areas of wild countryside (the Black Forest, Scotland, Wales etc) are put aside as private hunting preserves for the elite. The stabilisation of population, combined with the widespread use of fusion power, slowly begins to bring the greenhouse effect to a halt.


2107

Nazi scientists produce another fruit of their continuing genetic research - 'people' with real superhuman powers. Although they are very expensive, sterile and are limited to a lifespan of about twenty years they soon find application, either as specialised espionage agents (with human appearance) or as specialised workers and soldiers (with definitely non-human appearances). Work on methods to make these abilities inheritable without side effects continues as part of the Nazi elites progression towards a true 'Master Race'.


2110

Black Flag terrorists attempt to crash a hijacked warship onto Berlin. Despite nearly succeeding, the ship is destroyed before it hits the ground, and Berlin suffers only minor damage.


2116

A way is found to engineer minor psionic abilities into people and have them remain fertile, with the abilities being passed on to any children. However, the side effect of increased mental instability remains. Despite this a small number of elite Nazis have this ability engineered into their children.


2118

Several thousand elite SS members, along with their families and dependants, are found to have vanished, along with a small fleet of SS starships.


2122

A Reich exploration ship surveying the system of the giant orange star Aldebaran, fifty-two light-years from Earth, discovers an extensive ecosystem living in the dense asteroid belt surrounding the star. What is most perplexing about the organisms living there is that they have created an Earth-like environment in tunnels carved by some of the creatures themselves. Scientists begin an intensive investigation of these creatures (which are collectively known as the Swarm due to the hive-like nature of their ecosystem) in order to discover their origins, as given their need for an Earth-like environment they could not possibly have evolved in the asteroids where they were found and do not have the intelligence or technology to reach them unaided.


2127

The present day.


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