Hey, I've been developing this story for a mech-centered roleplay in Forum Games. Though, I'd like some critique on the matter. So, here it is.
Ironblood Legacy
In the thirteenth century, the gun forever changed the shape of war, turning on its head millennia of war strategy as the civilized world new it. The first World War in Europe introduced the Tank, which stormed over trenches and caused a revolution in tactical stratagem. But in the 1940s the way war is fought will change once again.
The Second World War served as proof of this concept that war will no longer be a slow-paced crawl for land, but sprawled out and bloody. Even the quickest battles will have high tolls. Instead of the tank being revolutionized by the national socialists in the early '30s, they will create something else. An engineer by the name of Karl M. Bouyicks created what he called the "Kämpfende Gänge", or the "Fighting Gear.". He proclaimed that it can be piloted by one man, but turn that man into a one-man army. This caught the attention of military leaders within the Reich, and the Führer himself, so the government kept the whole thing under wraps. Only a hand-picked group of scientists would work on this new Wonder Weapon. The first Gear was a tubular Hopper class, with dual MG 42’s as its weapons. The pilot would sit in the roosterpit in the center of the tube with all the essential controls inside the same compartment. Research and trials dragged on until 1944, when it was quite evident that the war Germany started was closing in on them. The Führer was getting desperate, so he ordered the 30 prototypes created to be put into field use. With no other options, Karl and his team had to arm the local soldiers with the Gears, creating the first pilots of the Gears ever. The bipedal Gears were quite successful in defending Berlin once it got surrounded by Ally forces. The war then stretched out to September 28th, 1945 with both US and Soviet forces squeezing the Gears until Germany finally capitulates. Once the Americans began to capture Fascist scientists in Operation Paperclip, Karl and his team were put on board. But, the group was split when the other half fell in Soviet hands. Once each group landed on their respective new lands, they were immediately put to work creating new gears. The Soviet design was the same as the national socialist design, but the American design was changed as the American advisers requested Karl and his team to create a 'Walker' that could carry powerful weapons, those made to destroy Gears. The Soviets introduced the "BU-64" in 1946, and immediately deployed about 20 units of the Gears in Iran to reinforce their stance in the Middle East. The British stationed there reported on the strange machines, and the British never did withdrawal from Iran on February 2, 1946. The US introduce their walkers about a week later, calling them the M541, or the "Jefferson Walkers" as soldiers called them. These walkers were produced just in time for the Cold War. As soon as the split of Germany was established, Walker Gears began to march their way from the West to Berlin, where the eventual blockade of the city quickly descended upon them. Though only 43 M541’s were in Berlin once the blockade was set, the symbolized resistance of Soviet rule motivated the public to turn on the Soviets, making the airdrops and furthermore freedom of the East German sector more fast and gradual in the days to come.
Meanwhile on the other side of the wall, BU-64’s lined themselves all around Berlin, watching the capitalist gears march about the border, keeping as much as a fixed stare at them.
Meanwhile on the Korean Peninsula, the small skirmishes on the border of the North and South suddenly turned into a bloody advance from the North. Eventually the South was pushed into Pusan along with the Americans who joined the war a little to late. Still, upon receiving hundreds of reinforcements from elsewhere, the front started to shift in the Capitalist’s favor. This was only amplified by the lack of Gears supplied to the North, so battalions of North Korean tanks all became smoking graveyards by the later end of the war. This continued until the Allies moved to the 38th parallel, and they stopped to hold. China threatened the US that if they crossed the parallel that they will intervene in the war. This threat was underestimated by MacArthur and the other staff leading in the Korean War, so they pushed on in a rapid pace to quickly squash the North Koreans, this resulted in Pyongyang being occupied by Allied forces in August 2nd, a record time in our timeline. As the Allies were further pushing North, multiple crews and platoons suddenly came under heavy fire from unknown gears. The sudden realization hit them all that those gears belonged to China, who were developing their own version of these machines the whole time, and were itching to use them. This resulted in an Allied retreat down to the Ch’ongch’on river, where the Chinese put down a defensive position and awaited the Allies to counter-attack. This came more rapidly than the Chinese liked, but they held them off. This was when the Allies ordered a full retreat and later went back to the 38th parallel, then were further pushed back to Seoul which was captured by the Chinese on December 14th. However, due to the thin supply lines and poor transportation so the Allies took back lost land up to the Han river by late February. Despite the Allies, they fought back a Chinese offensive in the brink of March, sending them back until they reached Seoul in two swift operations. This time, MacArthur didn’t make threats to nuke the Chinese, so he didn’t lose his position as Supreme Commander. The Chinese, now armed with better supply trucks and Soviet weaponry, were still fought back to the 38th parallel where a stalemate ensued between the two sides. The war continued as sporadic fighting as the two sides lacked the ability to push either side back. However, the Indians didn’t negotiate a peace treaty, the war continued to go on, with more Walkers and Gears being pitted against each other in Asia as the Cold War continued to heat up.
Going back to Europe, pressure continued to mount on the border of the Iron Curtain, until there was a sudden firefight between Soviet and American forces. Which was later called "The Bloody 8th.". The 8th of June in 1967 started as any other day in West Berlin. The residence would continue with their day as a tank sat on the street in front of their apartment building, staring the opposition down which lay down the road. At 11:34 AM Eastern Standard Time, Soviet soldiers began to pile up inside buildings bordering the Berlin Wall, most preferably apartment buildings which could see over the wall, then began to fire onto unsuspecting NATO forces. This caused a wide-spread firefight to ensue, sending shock waves around the world as everyone could only watch. Without an official declaration of war, fighters began to bug out of their hangers, and into the air. Strategic Bombers with large loads began to climb into the skies as the order to attack was given all around the world from across the West and the East. And suddenly, blinding flashes were reported in East and West Germany, then in Warsaw, then Paris, then everywhere as both the UN and the Communist East dropped nuclear bombs over every major city in range. After a whole two days of nuclear trade-off, the entire world went silent as the nuclear silos were emptied. All the continents in the world turned into a crater-laden hellscape, where the air was poisonous, and the earth was nothing but scorched brown crust. A lot of the ocean's water was evaporated due to the intense heat of nuclear explosions. Nothing was unscathed by the end of the Cold War. The sky began to turn grey as soot and smoke begin to crowd the sky as major cities around the globe still roasted in balefire. Soon, snow begins to fall all around the world as the globe began to fall in a nuclear winter. As the condition of the planet continues to worsen, the weather becomes deadlier, and the snow never gives up. The clouds become more, and thicker until the world is in an eternal darkness. Blizzards become more hazardous as more snow piles up. Soon, the whole weather pattern is working against humanity, and causing further damage to the species. As governments begin to cave in on themselves, smaller governments and scavenger groups begin to form all around the globe, their main source of fighting vehicles are Gears, the only things that survived seemingly intact by that time. The dollar and whatever old monetary system is thrown out for a new system of billing. Which is called the Token. Mercenary groups begin to pop up as people are more willing to do dirty work for people for Tokens. The region with the most of these groups is Africa. As citizens in this previously unstable region began to slaughter themselves, these groups began to set up camp in the shores of Africa to have a base of forward operations there. Groups like "The Dogs" begin to flourish as groups begin to hire more people to perform espionage on rivals, or to just take them out. You are a part of The Dogs. The Dogs is like every other mercenary group out there in the African plains, but the only difference is that it’s very rich. Sure enough, there are shortages in Food and Fuel sometimes in this faction, but it’s always sorted out in the end. You’re in one of the divisions of this faction where Gears are more prevalent. It’s probably the only division that subsides on only gears. It’s called the "Bouyicks Division.", the name is in reference to the creator of the Gear, Karl M. Bouyicks.
