CHAPTER ONE: THE “OLD GODS” RETURN

“We had already realised that in the fullness of time, we would disappear from Earth like so many before us. We created machines to prolong the inevitable, machines who would one day stand in our place to remind the uncaring cosmos that we had once existed. We designed them to fall in wave after wave, fighting our wars for us, while we fell further and deeper into our own excesses. As they evolved, we embraced our own entropy, while science pushed onward to develop humans who could compete in the unknown future. We had no idea what was truly coming.”

The first day was like any other day. Man killed man and animal and himself and did his damnedest to kill the planet. Another step toward extinction, another notch in the belt for genocide. A hole opened up in the middle of downtown Roanoke and swallowed fifty thousand people, then it closed, leaving behind a smoking ruin. The experts were called in, cable and satellite news called it The Event, religious fanatics called it The Rapture. Opinions and facts and theories were indistinguishable from one another. It happened again two months later in Queensland, then in the middle of the Gobi desert in China, taking a few camel herders when it closed. Within the first eight months, one sixteenth of all populated areas and one third of all unpopulated areas in the continental United States had experienced the same effects. Quantum physicists all agreed it was the result of huge shifts in gravity, but it was some kid at MIT who first posited the theory that different dimensions were crossing into, and then back out of, ours. The story was repeated again and again across the globe.

Within a single year, nearly half of the world’s major population centers had been decimated.

Then, one day, after seventeen months of catastrophic events, political and theological paralysis, and worldwide panic, a man with silver skin appeared at the White House, walked into the Oval Office, and told the President of the United States that our world was being invaded by a threat that had decimated his home. Shortly after, a man with a head that looked like a lobster walked through that very same door and said the worst was yet to come. They had already had the same conversation with fifteen of the world’s leaders.

We’d thought this was some calculated attack, but the truth was far worse. Earth had become a feeding trough for beings who had just woken up from a very long sleep, and were looking to fill their bellies. The same story had been playing out across empires that spanned thousands of light years, our little corner of the galaxy was just a snack shack on the road to bigger and tastier meals. Their passing left the door open for all sorts of visitors; friendly, indifferent, and malevolent.

The following spring, most of the cities on the west coast of the US had already been reduced to rubble. Things that defied description had come out of the sky, out of the ocean, out of the ground, crushing and devouring and burning and raping everything in their path. All shapes, all sizes. Armies, monsters, tendrils, teeth, claws, blood, and bile. The military might of the world’s most powerful governments had failed utterly to defend their interests against these creatures. Entire populations of the largest cities were on the move, tremendous convoys with monsters at their backs moved across the plains of middle America toward the east, toward the north, toward the south, concentrating in those oddly random places which had thus far been unaffected. The lights started going out across Asia, Europe, South and Central America, Australia, Africa...

The technologies mankind had developed for making war against himself were turned toward this new enemy. Pacts were made among the remaining governments, resources were pooled, and finally in the face of extinction, man became united, and fought back, marauding across the land doing what he has always done best: he visited death upon his enemy.

That was one hundred and fifty-seven years ago. 

Amid the squalor of the remaining cities stand the golden towers of the Broadswords, locked behind graviton barriers and telesthetic camouflage which defend them against Extra-Dimensional Incursions. Within these walls, an army of hardened, Mecha-Genetically-Improved, ruthless troopers, all dedicated to preserving the legacy of the human race. 

Drawn from all the nations of the world, those that are still standing, the Broadswords and their allies fight tirelessly in opposition to an enemy from beyond the boundaries of our reality.

The human race has been reduced to a measly few hundred million. Outnumbered ten to one by the Synthetics alone, the planet is populated by so many thinking machines that only they can accurately calculate their own numbers. They can’t lie to us, of course, but there’s nothing keeping them from giving us old data just to keep our hope alive. Human babies are still made and born the old-fashioned way of course, but nowadays it’s almost impossible to find someone who wasn’t engineered, or hasn’t had their insides replaced with something more efficient.

Christianity went out the window about one week after the resort city of Nice in the French Riviera was swallowed whole by a gelatinous mass of leviathan feelers.

They’d been here before, you see. In fact, they had always been here, and before passing onto other planes, left keys in all the doors between what we ignorantly refer to as “reality” and what they call their home, or their prison, but they’d forgotten where those doors were, and found themselves unable to return. It took some time, but slowly, at first, they pushed their way back through. All at once.

Long, long before the first words were spoken by man, they’d used us like cattle, like playthings. They’d bred humans as their pets hundreds of thousands of years before we’d developed  language, and their torments were the closest thing we’d ever gotten to actual communion with a higher power. We were like bacteria to them, something with which to do as they pleased, and they took their pleasure seriously.

But they found us less pliable this time.

The damage they wrought was severe, the bedrock of human civilisation was disrupted and upended across the globe, but we had the benefit of a rapidly developing wave of new technologies that provided the framework for a re-grouping, we were back on our feet soon enough to make a difference. Broadswords, formed by every surviving government on the planet, a joint task force armed with the most advanced minds from every nation, manufactured weapons and infrastructure in facilities on every continent. The Intelligence Division became the pillar of Mecha-Genetic research, and while there was nothing to truly stem the tide of man’s eventual extinction, we were able to slow its progress. We once lived knowing that our extinction was imminent, but now we fight to survive. It took the destruction of our civilisation as we knew it for us to truly unite, as one force, to leave a greater legacy than what would have been. Brushing ourselves off, mankind swung back, and connected.

One of the many monumental impacts on the human race which resulted from the Old Gods forcing their way into our world would come to, unexpectedly, turn the tide in our favour. When the doors were flung wide, suddenly, a huge segment of the population experienced a surging wave of of latent telepathy. Hundreds of thousands went instantly insane, their minds split wide open and penetrated by the unintelligible thoughts of these beings whose very nature was in conflict with nature itself. New technologies and disciplines emerged from this development; the ability of certain individuals to perceive and manipulate the constituent parts of reality allowed for entirely new directions in science. Over generations, we learned to control it, to harness it, and ultimately, to use it to our advantage.

Of course, cities continued to fall, borders became irrelevant, but the governments of the world maintained a degree of staunch independence while fully realising the value in true collaboration in order to survive. The Broadswords Task Force was not just a military enterprise, they held in their hands the very future of Mankind's legacy. Technology and nature could no longer exist in opposition to one another, there had to be a reconciliation. There were also the aliens; “Extradimensional Phenomona” was established as the common nomenclature. While the world shook under the onslaught from creatures with the mental ability of deities, mankind stood tall.

We had help. Other beings, far more intelligent than we were, had preceded and followed the adversary through their doorways, bringing messages of hope and offerings of aid. This was part of something larger than we could have imagined, an incursion which spanned universes and consumed planets beyond our pathetic capacity for understanding. But there were opportunists as well: enemies we never knew existed, who saw our world as a ripe fruit to be snatched up in the wake of the reaper’s blade. 

All at once, Earth became a colony, a watering hole, and a pitstop for a multitude of creatures passing through to better pastures. We had to get used to the idea that we were now both defending our world from, and sharing it with, intelligences greater than our own. Pacts were made and alliances were formed.

Our offspring: the machines, all this Mecha-Genetically-Engineered life, they brought us some comfort and stood between us and our enemies, knowing fully that one day they would replace us, and the responsibility of caring for this world would fall to them. I sometimes think they pity us for the ignorance that led us to where we are today.

BROADSWORDS - An international military task force fighting to defend our world from Extra-Dimensional Incursions, more than a century after the “Old Gods” - unfathomable beings from beyond the boundaries of our reality - have invaded Earth, irrevocably altering the environment and human civilisation stands on the far end of total collapse. Only the Broadswords and their allies, caught in the middle of an ageless war between alien factions, stand between mankind and total extinction. Fighting alongside a vast array of Intelligent Machines, Genetically-Engineered Life Forms, and Extra-Dimensional Phenomena to aid in their desperate crusade, standing against this shattering of the boundaries between realities!

One of the most revered outfits is APEX Battalion, led by the war hero Colonel Ostap Vojak and his three daughters.

Standard Broadswords Battalion:
500 Operators, 5 Cohorts
Cohort: 100 Operators, 4 Squads
Squad: 25 Operators, 4 Fireteams
Fireteam: 3 Operators, 1 Kommandant

APEX Battalion:
1000 Operators, 10 Cohorts

COMMAND GROUP (COMGRP) - Command Groups are typically comprised of one Battalion CO, Battalion Unit Commander, Battalion XO, and two Battalion Sergeants Major who command individual Infantry Squads. These positions are then supplemented by the Commanding Officers of each Division, who carry the designation of Division Head.

Additional Specialists may be assigned as needed.

ASSAULT INFANTRY DIVISION (ASLTDIV)

The grunts who selflessly put their lives on the line every day, often anonymously, are among the bravest souls on the planet. Battalion Sergeants Major lead each Infantry Squad of 25 Operators. A Fireteam consists of 4 Operators: a Kommandant (Fireteam Leader), a Corporal (Fireteam Supervisor), Heavy Weapons Specialist, and Specialist First Class. Each Squad is supported by a variety of Drones, Automatons, and Synthetics, which are assigned to Fireteams at the Unit Commander’s discretion. When in the field, Kommandants and Sergeants Major are considered of equal rank, with different administrative functions in chain of command; when not engaged in combat operations, Kommandants operate from within the Command Group, despite technically being designated as Infantry.

Fireteam Leaders are assigned "Puppets," specialised hybrid Drone/Automaton units that follow their Mechanetic Neural Command.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY DIVISION (SCI/TECH) - Augmented with mechatronic and mechanetic hybrid systems and outfitted with advanced weaponry, the Combat Engineers of the Science & Technology Division are tasked with developing, operating, and maintaining all vehicles, heavy machinery, and Mechatronic Ambulatory Weapons Platforms (colloquially known as "Mechs"). 

SCI/TECH duties include functioning as support staff for SYNTHDIV and MECHDIV. The Broadswords Medical Corps (MEDCOR) and Special Operations Section are  Departments within the Division. SCI/TECH Officers have intimate, expert knowledge of both the biological and mechanical, and everything in-between.

SCI/TECH Operators, known as Combat Engineers,  have extensive biorobotic enhancements, including a reinforced skeletomuscular system and multiple access points for machine interface. Because of these ameliorations, SCI/TECH Operators can use Advanced Heavy Weapons that are typically designed for, and reserved for use by Synthetics, Automatons, and Mechs. The signature Augmentation Helm worn by SCI/TECH Operators places the wearer into a Total Immersion Environment in which they are near-perpetually connected to satellite and terrestrial networks, giving them access to all Broadswords computer systems and heavy machinery, including Vehicles, Drones, Automatons, and Ambulatory Weapons Platforms. SCI/TECH is responsible for feeding tactical data to every Broadswords Operator.

SYNTHETICS DIVISION (SYNTHDIV) - In the shadow of extinction, it became necessary to secure the legacy of our species. The pinnacle of robotics technology, Synthetic Humans represent the highest level of machine intelligence developed by mankind (on our world). When we are gone, they will be what remains. Legally recognised as "Engineered Organisms," Synthetics occupy vital roles within the Broadswords hierarchy. Largely indestructible, they often rely on their immense physical fortitude in combat.

Standard models occupy higher status, usually serving as Synthetics Division Officers. Standard models occupy higher status, usually serving as Synthetics Division Officers. Third-and-Fourth-Generation Standard model Synths currently occupy the highest echelon of the Division, while 2nd-Gen Synthetics will generally be attached to Broadswords Division Heads to serve as aides.

Silberkopf Synthetic units are equipped with limited Therm-Optic Camouflage, making them highly effective at infiltration, as well as long-distance and hand-to-hand combat.

Battalion COs and/or Unit Commanders are often assigned Enhanced models to serve as personal bodyguards.

Høstfolkene is a special branch of SYNTHDIV consisting of specially-modified Synthetics, detailed to High Command Officers in the daunting role of Personal Guard.

Standard Synthetics are also sometimes modified for specialised operations.

Test Models are kept in service as support to Synthetics Division Officers.