My eyes occasionally wandered from my notebook to my laptop’s keyboard, then to the various labeled CDs sitting atop a pile of paperwork. Maybe she knew I was recording it all, but every time I thought about putting pen to paper, I swore I could feel that veteran's gaze over my shoulder.
It was a bit unsettling, as if she was already judging me for my selfish thoughts of commercializing her war stories. The presence of that woman was intimidating, even in the safety of my own office.
And perhaps it was for the better, too.
I had no idea how bad the war got for them until then, the media had always touted a heroic and joyous combat force obsessed with justice, but it wasn't that simple. Early on, sure, but they only had the old stories to go off of.
I sighed in deep thought, still staring at the CD stack. There was another story told by them, but after hearing it the first time, I never truly had the courage to relisten to them, even years later.
So I'm not sure what motivated me that day to listen again. Maybe it was an article I read online about the war, that got my blood boiling. Maybe I read about the testimonies of other witches, and wanted an unfiltered point of view. Regardless, my decision was deliberate.
My hand reached out to the first CD, titled 'Interview 001'. Not that I was going to listen to just this one. If I was going to hear this story again, I'd hear it in full.
Click.
I opened up the file, and prepared myself.
"Peace never lasts."
BACKDROP-- 1945-2020
The world rejoiced that day. Ever since the 501st JFW struck hard at the Neuroi super-nest in 1945 and eliminated it, humanity pushed on with a sense of hope. It was finally shown that we could take the offensive against these previously unbeatable and overwhelming foes. Our confidence soared as we witnessed the 502nd do it again over St. Petersburg the very same year, causing more large scale operations to take place against the Neuroi. Slowly yet surely, we pushed them back.
Though, when the last superhive was finally destroyed in 1951, the Neuroi switched strategies. Their hives became more mobile, concealable, and the Neuroi themselves became more careful. Put simply, they had resorted to Guerilla tactics, perhaps sensing a defeat. We weren't sure why they just didn't dig into the Earth and hide it out underground, but regardless,fighting became more complicated, as the frontline became very unpredictable. With the collapse of the superhives however, victory was inevitable. Their final resistance in Vietnam was tough, but in 1975 the very last nest was destroyed, and the surviving Neuroi scattered.
The world breathed a collective sigh of relief, as any primary invasion force was no longer present. For a while, this united humanity as the UN was formed with the mindset that every nation did not wish for another extraterrestrial invader to ever again threaten Earth. It is to these ends that the UN founded the Gungnir initiative, named by a young Suomus child, to construct massive, towering magical railgun complexes intent on blowing any future Neuroi out of the sky before they even reached the ground.
It is for this reason that global JFWs slowly started getting disbanded, save the 501st and 502nd, as more symbolic figureheads. The world advanced on, and technology was reverse engineered from Neuroi to restore both China and Korea to their old state, with refugees moving back in to rebuild. Administrative difficulties forced separation of states, forming China and the Constitutional Doseon Empire, which was built up from scratch quite rapidly.
Other than Doseon and China's rebuilding, not much else occured, until the 2000s. Internet started becoming accessible at around 2006, namely due to military reluctance to release such technology to the civilian sector. With everyone rapidly getting connected to one another, minority groups of Balkans in Venetia demanded political representation, citing incompatible cultures and harsh mistreatment for eons. Widely covered political demonstrations turned sour when a no-tolerance policy was declared by the monarch, with military police reactions becoming more and more brutal, as despite their 29% population demographic in Venetia, the land lost would more than likely mean a third of Venetian territory ceded. Facing international scrutiny, a Venetian soldier eventually fired on accident at a demonstrator in 2009, sparking a massive uproar leading into a civil war. Nations once more were pitted against one another, though witches were only "officially" used to destroy hard targets or vehicles, Liberion and Karlsland being the primary backers for the rebels and Venetia respectively.
After a conflict stretching until 2011, the rebels forces had forced Venetia into an unconditional surrender, where 2/3rds of their land was ceded To a new Balkan Republic. Sour relations lingered for a bit, but reparations were made. Once more things were looking up, especially given that an internet cultural renaissance of viral video sharing and editing began, uniting people worldwide.
In 2020, the UN Neuroi Warfare Command spotted a fleet of spacecraft, revealed later to be of Neuroi design. Headlines were made that day and everybody crossed their fingers as Gungnir was put to the test.
Performance was spectacular. Despite waves of Neuroi vessels, constant fire from the railguns were able to thwart meaningful advances, the sheer force of the rounds simply shearing apart any Neuroi core.
Unbeknownst to anyone though, the Neuroi were adapting. As ships were blown to bits, the pieces of shrapnel falling to the ground eventually became Neuroi at rest, and on one fateful day all of them activated, overwhelming Gungnir and destroying it overnight.
Panic spread like wildfire as militaries scrambled to intercept them, and five Neuroi vessels landed on Earth. One just outside New York, another in northwestern Hispania, one in the Philippines, one in the Congo, and one in the Amazon Rainforest, with a massive jamming Neuroi sitting in space and disabling all satellites, slowing Internet speeds to a crawl, and hampering with military systems.
Many militaries of the world began employing reservist witches as defensive units, wielding full size AMRAAM launchers that would be resupplied after each firing, reducing casualty rate of the inexperienced forces, but it offered little operations flexibility in striking back at the Neuroi. For this reason, the old JFWs were reactivated, and magical prodigies (or particularly vocal volunteers) were chosen for these purposes. Slowly, a stalemated frontline formed everywhere much like during the 40s-- only, these Neuroi were more dangerous, and the revelation was made that these Neuroi were actually magical robots, that the ones that were defeated beforehand were just scouts. However, the situation was no longer apocalyptic.
A certain General Morales of the Hispanian Theatre thought differently however, believing that the stalemate showed waning power of the Neuroi and lack of resources. As such, he marshalled up a massive full-fledged counterattack with extensive air, land, and sea support against the ship, slamming the Neuroi with the full momentum of the frontline. At first, these Neuroi were caught completely off guard, as they were pushed back significantly, having expected to turtle up. However, they set up a massive trap as Morales pushed on, and despite his subordinates begging him to stop pushing and set up a frontline, or perhaps even a rearline to fall back on, Morales refused, believing a glorious victory was at hand. It was at Burgos, a mere 40 kilometers from the vessel, that the Neuroi sprung their trap. Hidden AA emplacements lit up the sky everywhere, thus surprising the exhausted and simultaneously confident forces. Despite the fact that they were obviously outmatched, Morales ordered all forces to press on, right up until it was very clear that nearly the entire combat air force had been depleted.
At this moment he authorized a retreat, but it was far too late as the frontline fell way behind the point it already was, causing for Madrid to be evacuated. Luckily, some of his subordinates went against orders and set up heavy AA emplacements along a makeshift frontline, which barely held the remaining Neuroi assault from advancing further. Though the full extent of the story was not covered on media due to possible extreme PR backlash, many grieve the loss of their family members, and demand answers from the silence of the HRs.
SITREP
It is a desperate time for the inhabitants of Earth. After the disaster at Burgos, one of humanity's four grand fronts against the Neuroi has seemed to evaporate over the week, placing Hispania and most of Europe in grave danger, wide open to an attack. Oddly enough however, there has been a brief pause in their attack patterns, allowing for the formation of a new Joint Fighter Wing of elites to hold the line against the Neuroi until more reservists are trained up to reform a consistent frontline, where the JFW shall be repurposed for more specialized missions. The 511th. The Gallant Witches. You will be a member of this group, chosen for extraordinary magical talent, aerobatics skill, leadership abilities, and many other aspects which your traditional Witch lacks. Similarly, new ground personnel must be present to facilitate the bases' duties, as not all heroes are Witches, after all. As such, we are glad to have you with us. May we bring peace back to Iberia!
RULES
1 ) I am OP, the local residing god.
1.5 ) Finorskia is my co-OP, my daughter-in-hosting.
2 ) Please, no one-liners. 3 sentences minimum (ex. for combat interactions), and they must be grammatically correct.
3 ) Godmodding is punishable by holy firing squad if repeat offenses are made. I will also ignore anything I deem as such. Got a question about godmodding? Ask, but please exercise some grounding.
4 ) As is par for the course, 3 strikes and you're out. Hopefully it doesn't come to that, guys-- but just making sure we understand.
5 ) Please try to make at least 1 post per week, preferably more. If you have an inactivity spell, contact me and we shall discuss what occurs to your character in your absence or leave.
6 ) I know Witches lore is weird in the fact that every country seems to have a slightly different name, but please use the countries listed on the map.
7 ) PG-13 please, we don't want Mr. FBI man banging on our doors, or Mr. UCMJ sighting us in with his penalty-is-death sniper rifle. Keep that shit outta' Nationstates.
8 ) No helicopter or tank strikers, also please base your units on an existing aircraft, or one which is projected to make a first flight in 2021. Military technology is slightly accelerated, but no Ace Combat, here.
⑨ ) Chill out, have fun! Don't be cold!
(A minor note: Core location powers here are far less effective, as modern technology has led to the mono-eye visors witches use possessing archaic core location technology alongside most functions of a fighter jet.)
Accepted Characters
Witches
Klavdia Ilyinichna Fedchenko - Played by Rupudska
Lilia Yegerov - Played by Stensolkavia
Luce Campo - Played by Sentinalia
Yuki Yamada - Played by Finorskia
Chiyo Furuya - Played by Austria-Bohemia-Hungary
Friederike Alder - Played by Nachfolgia
Alexandra Kuznetsov - Played by Finorskia
Personnel
Edd Araya, Logistics Readiness Officer - Played by Thuremburg
Dimitri Penkov, AWACS Tactical Director - Played by Finorskia
Table of Contents
OOC / Prologue: Peace Never Lasts <--- YOU ARE HERE!
