The Red Watch

War_of_the_Worlds_shootIn the wake of the Second Great War, humanity found Earth divided. What had been a shared world now had an alien edge. Literally. No one in the world could ever have imagined that aliens would gaze upon the blue-green orb of Earth with envious eyes and draw their plans of invasion.

And yet… In 1938, the savage hoards of the Eicsh Abk invaded, and their forces carried across the expanse between worlds in great metallic capsules. The Martian invaders, clad in metallic skins that rolled, stalked or hovered, seared and ravaged the forces that greeted them, feasting on the bodies of the fallen.

The warlords of the red planet unleashed weapons of mass destruction that would scar the planet for decades – atomic, biological and chemical constructs that fouled the water, choked the soil and poisoned the populace. However, in the end, the invaders suffered a mortal blow, sickening and dying in our own alien world’s invasive climate.

By the late 40s, victory seemed like just another face of defeat. The battlefield of Earth lay shattered and defiled. When communication next came from Mars, humanity greeted the words with incredulity, anger and revulsion. The Martian Senate – the Ahka Thca – passed on messages of sorrow and despair, for the attack on Earth had not been sanctioned by the greater population, but launched by a petty and vicious few.

In 1951, the Martians set up a diplomatic representation and embassy in New York to work alongside world states to engender peace and repair the damage done by the attack. Mars shipped resources from their world and contributed support for the creation of a UN-backed team of specialists to handle the clean-up operation. The ‘Red Watch‘ would work to root out extant War Criminals and defuse ongoing threats: leftover bio-weapons, intractable warlords, dangerous collaborating extremists, and those in possession of alien technology intent on using it for their own bitter ends.

Martians work alongside representatives of world military and intelligence agencies in tracking down rogue elements, sleeper agents and war criminals who pushed the conflict beyond the bounds deemed reasonable by the Martian Senate. Also, bio-containment operations seek out Red Weed pockets that continue to poison and subvert the environment. Martian Ambassadors pursue ongoing talks with the key World Governments on reparations and make formal apologies for the decision to use the Red Weed, an aggressive bio-agent banned on their home planet for centuries.

Background for a new genre setup, the fifth stretch goal of the upcoming Sanction RPG Kickstarter. Get notified!

One Reply to “The Red Watch”

  1. Simon Taylor says:

    Have you read The Space Machine by Christopher Priest? It’s a merging of War of the Worlds and the Time Machine. I won’t spoil it if you haven’t read it but might be worth finding a copy as additional background you could incorporate. The story line conflicts somewhat with what you’ve laid out here but there might be some elements that are worth including.

    Reply

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