Armored Warfare's story has been rewritten several times over the course of it's existence, with the latest batch of story being a complete revamp by the Lead Content Manager, starting in early 2017. This page will cover primarily the new lore for Armored Warfare as it expands outward. Many Global Operations and PvE Missions revolve around various events within the lore.
The World of Armored Warfare
The Broken World
In the late 2010s, Europe found itself at the brink. With a worsening economy, a detached political sphere, and an increasingly isolationist United States, EU leaders made the choice to leave its collective border open to the vast groups of refugees flooding in from the war-torn Middle East. Due to an inadequate response to the reality of new security risks, Europe experienced the worst series of terrorist attacks in history, culminating in the detonation of two "dirty" nuclear devices on the outskirts of Paris and Berlin. This sparked a revolution of the kind Europe had never seen before. The United States, while mostly immune to foreign terrorism due to their new isolationist policies, suffered economically with the establishment of many domestic militias in the southern states, funded by South American drug cartels, and eventually devolved into civil war.
From Europe's fires of revolution rose populist leaders to power with promises to end corruption, solve the constant state of crisis and make Europe safe again. Backed by unprecedented popular support, a political witch hunt began, and by the time the fervor subsided, thousands of political figures, bankers or businessmen had been executed or imprisoned. The popularity of the new leaders soon began to wane as the economic situation spiraled lower and lower due to the near complete destruction of the economies of the European nations. In desperation, the leaders turned to corporations for help, hammering the last nail into the coffin of the old world.
Rise of the Corporations
The largest corporations in the world survived the entire European crisis relatively unscathed due to their global nature, with many exploiting, to give them a better bargaining position. When the dust settled, many of the largest companies found themselves richer than the nations themselves. With such vast wealth, any attempts to rein them in and tax them failed, as the corporation's influence permeated all levels of society. In their desperation, European leaders traded the only thing they had left for bailouts and relief – rights, privileges and land. Within a few years, entire regions had been sold to corporations as private property in exchange for financial aid, strengthening them further. This Culminated in the signing of the 2029 Bordeaux Treaty, granting major corporations exemption from control by any local governments and allowing them to form private armies and police forces.
Territories owned by corporations (termed "Corporate Space") became centers of trade and business wealth, causing hundreds of thousands of citizens to flock towards them. What that found was a Despotic system where basic rights such as free speech, the freedom to assemble or the right for political representation were disregarded in exchange for the promise of food and shelter. Any newcomers found acting out of line from these laws were hunted down by corporate security forces and deported from its territory – or worse.
Corporate Armies and Mercenaries
After the Bordeaux Treaty, each major corporation established a military branch, with a core based on its own security service, expanding by recruitment of many former soldiers and mercenaries. Due to the unbridled nature of these new Private Military Coorperations, an international agreement defining the rules of law relating to private military forces, called the Private Military Treaty, was created. In order for a PMC to be considered a legal entity (and therefore subject to fair treatment during wartime), legal PMCs had to be registered, and were subject to restrictions and a uniform Code of Conduct.
The Badlands
Those who fought the new system, for one reason or another, were drawn to the far corners of the world where they could exist in relative peace; The Badlands. These areas, such as the American Southwest, north-western China, and central Africa, were some of the last bastions of freedom in a world controlled by corporate will. While occasional corporate PMCs intervened in the area, a protracted guerrilla war would follow occupation, ending in eventual desertion of the area due to the expense of holding the area.
The World as It Stands Today
In the late 2030s, an uneasy balance was achieved between countries and corporations. But corporate greed has begun to clash with the dozens of freedom fighter groups, criminal organizations and deadly cults that form every year. It is only a question of time before the world is plunged into the chaos once more. Welcome to the world of Armored Warfare.
See Also
- Factions
- Storyline Campaign