A massive naval building program in both Britain and the Papacy replaces the navies of both nations. Both sides are racked by sabotage but despite this the Papacy's greater resources means it can build many more ships than the British.
With the continuing threat of the Papacy, the ruling British Conservative party makes all opposition to its rule illegal.
Britain allies itself with the USA.
The Old Man, despite being cut off with the rest of the British forces in the surrender of India, reappears in Cape Province.
With its new navy complete, Roman forces move through the re-opened Suez Canal carrying troops to take Australia. The British navy can do little more than harry the advancing fleet and evacuate important people from Australia. In late 1927 Roman forces land in all major Australian coastal towns and despite scattered resistance, by early 1929 the entire country has fallen.
The first radio is developed in Britain. Only now do the Heretic governments have a means of communication to rival the telepathic links between members of the Host of Heaven.
Refugees from Roman oppression escape from India in a multitude of small boats to Cape Province and Australia. Thousands of people die making the crossing, at the hands of Roman patrols and at the hands of pirates who spring up to prey on the refugees, but this doesn't stop people from making the attempt.
After 1929 refugees also flee from Australia to Cape Province, many of the refugees from India fleeing for the second time.
Based on studies of flying members of the Host of Heaven, the first fixed-wing aircraft flies in the Papacy after decades of development. The design is soon copied by the USA and Britain.
The first reliable submarine, produced by the British Navy, undergoes sea trials. It rapidly proves effective against Roman shipping.
After several years of increasing tension, the Papacy moves against Britain. Bombing raids in newly-developed aircraft, aided by the Host of Heaven, cause severe damage to many cities across Britain, but the British government vows never to surrender. British aircraft, at a lower state of development than those of the Papacy, are unable to effectively strike back, and those which are capable of threatening the Papacy are easily brought down by flying members of the Host of Heaven. By late 1936 American reinforcements begin to reach Britain and British and American ships begin to bombard coastal targets in the Papacy, but can do little damage.
With the entry of the USA into the war, Roman forces also attack from New Spain. However, this only distracts the USA from putting the full weight of its forces into the battle for Britain.
In 1939 a great battle in the North Sea destroys the Royal Navy and a large percentage of the US Navy. The surviving ships retreat back to ports in the USA and Canada. Britain is effectively blockaded by Roman ships.
By 1941 the continuous bombing of Britain has reduced many of its cities to rubble. However, the years of war have only resulted in a strengthening of the British South Coast defences and their extension around the British coastline. All British harbours are heavily defended.
In 1942 Roman forces land at multiple points along the British coast. Despite taking massive casualties the troops, most of the first wave being slaves driven on by the Host of Heaven, overwhelm the defences by sheer weight of numbers and move inland.
By early 1943 it is obvious that Britain has lost. Attempts are made to evacuate valuable people to Canada as a rearguard action is fought. The few remaining ships of the Royal Navy, despite taking heavy casualties, break through the Roman blockade and escape to Canada with the British government and Royal family, although members of both are killed in the attempt. Upon arrival they set up a government in exile.
With their backs against the wall, the British army fights on, but it can do no more than slow the Roman advance. In addition to the military casualties, hundreds of thousands of civilians are killed in the crossfire or by starvation as crops are destroyed in the fields.
By early 1947 the British army has been all but destroyed. The remnants gather at Birmingham for their last stand. They manage to keep the Roman forces at bay in a siege which lasts until the summer of 1950. By the time the last defender finally surrenders the city has been utterly destroyed, the population fled or killed.
As Britain falls the surviving British colony of Cape Province is isolated, and begins reinforcing its defences against the inevitable attacks to come.
The first Radar warning systems are developed by the Papacy. With their advent what little effect British and American aircraft were having is completely negated.
After refusing to convert to Catholicism, the Archbishop of Canterbury is executed in London.
With the end of the war, the British population exhaustedly accepts its new masters, and the vast majority convert to Catholicism without protest. A few small isolated resistance groups spring up, but they are easily crushed by the Inquisition, in many cases the members being betrayed by their friends and neighbours. By 1956 the country is quiet.
Weakened after decades of continual raids and strikes, the Portuguese defenders of Brazil finally collapse, and only a covert operation by US government forces allows the Portuguese Royal Family to be smuggled out of the country and back to the USA.
By the summer of 1959 the last bastions of Portuguese resistance have fallen and the country belongs to the Holy Roman Empire.
The Holy Roman Empire demands reparations for the USA's interference in their take-over of Brazil, and when the US government refuses, several American cities are bombed. Unable to effectively retaliate as its Air Force and Navy are still being rebuilt, the USA gives in to the Roman demands and pays the reparations.
The Holy Roman Empire begins to mass its forces along the borders of Cape Province. At the same time the Roman Navy blockades the country.
The Roman build-up complete, their forces attack Cape province. Despite the Provinces long years of preparations the full force of the Host of Heaven proves too much for their ill-supplied forces, despite the aid of the Old Man, who still lives in Cape Province.
Almost the entire population of Cape Province flees into the mountains, letting the Roman forces take the country almost unopposed. Immediately guerrilla forces attack from hiding, causing severe damage to the complacent Roman forces. Over this and following years, the guerrilla tactics of the Province's natives prove highly effective, even against the Host of Heaven.
In 1975 Innocent XIV decides that these heretics have caused his forces enough trouble. He orders a complete scouring of Cape Province, destroying the countryside and forcing the guerrillas out of their hiding places.
By 1985 this process is almost complete, but with the coming of the war and the decimation of Roman forces, the guerrillas are able to drive them completely from some areas of Cape Province and set up their own free nations again.
The British government in exile, its last colony gone, unifies Canada with the USA, although the British Royal Family remains a continuing figurehead for Britain.
US President Westmoreland, with the support of the people, dissolves Congress and becomes supreme commander of all US forces.
A female superhuman calling herself Anath appears in New Spain, fighting the Roman forces there. Later in the year she reappears in the USA, and offers her services to the government. Despite initial reservations about a woman fighting she is soon accepted into the US armed forces.
The USA and the Papacy, using research done both by themselves and stolen from the other, each test nuclear fission weapons.
The USA and the Papacy both call on the other to surrender, and demonstrate their power with nuclear weapon strikes on selected targets while building up their stockpiles of the weapons. By early 1985 it is obvious that neither side is going to back down.
America is in a strategically inferior position to the Papacy and launches a massive first strike against the Papacy, using its newest bombers, in the hope of pre-empting the Papacy. Unfortunately Roman radar surveillance picks up the incoming bombers and a retaliatory strike is launched. Many of the American bombers are destroyed by members of the Host of Heaven, but enough get through to devastate all the Papacy in the northern hemisphere, and much of its holdings south of the equator. Unfortunately Innocent XIV is able to escape before Rome is bombed, and survives the devastation, as do a few percent of the Roman military machine.
American air defences prove completely unable to stop the Roman assault. The USA is devastated - all cities and industries are destroyed. The few surviving US bombers return to find their airfields destroyed.
As the world burns, the huge pall of smoke spreads around the world, cutting out the sunlight. Within weeks global temperatures plunge as the world enters a nuclear winter.
The survivors of the cities flee to the countryside, but in most places the farmers have little enough food for themselves, let alone for thousands of refugees. As many people die in the years-long famine caused by the nuclear winter, the plagues which follow from the breakdown of sanitation and fighting for what little food there is as died in the nuclear bombardment which preceded it.
However, in a few places some organisation remains and rebuilding begins, especially in and what were India and Australia. Where Roman forces survive, they keep control and, via members of the Host of Heaven (whose percentage survival rate is, unsurprisingly, much higher than that of normal troops) continue communication with Rome. In many places across the Papacy, however, especially in Russia and western Europe, the population throws off Roman control.
The Papacy's few remaining military vehicles and aircraft slowly move across the world to New Spain and Africa, in preparation for taking control of the last strongholds of heresy - the USA and Cape Province.
Across the USA, scattered enclaves also begin to rebuild, and re-establish communication. In most places the surviving enclaves are extremely suspicious of each other and jealously guard what they have.
The Old Man appears in the USA, seeking help for the people of Cape Province.
On orders from Rome, what remains of Roman forces in the American continent move into the USA. At first they make huge gains, despite their lack of equipment and manpower, as they easily cut through the scattered and disorganised groups of survivors. However, within a few months their progress begins to slow as the groups of survivors begin to organise into an active resistance, fighting a guerrilla war against the Roman invaders.
Although the Roman invaders now control more than half of what was the USA, in that half their reception has tended to be one of two kinds. In some areas the locals, too busy scratching a living from the blighted land, welcome them with open arms, despite their Papal origin, as their saviours. In other places they are limited to controlling areas around their fortified camps as the locals resist their take-over (even the Host of Heaven cannot be everywhere at once). In these areas atrocities are common as reprisals are taken and examples are made in retaliation for attacks against Roman forces.
In the free part of the USA the Papal threat has catalysed the formation of a new government under General Porter Scott, based in Yellowknife, with links across the USA. Although limited mainly to providing moral support by radio, the new government provides an important rallying point for the survivors in the USA.
Rumours begin to filter out of the Papacy that several nuclear weapons facilities near Rome are being rebuilt in preparation for strikes against the remaining centres of resistance...