Prologue
Earth's Cry
Since the dawn of time, Man is given the greatest gift from the wonders of the world --- the power of the mind. The unique ability to think, be creative, and provide conclusions is what makes him the most supreme of creatures living on the planet Earth. In exchange for this great power, he is given the responsibility to care and nurture the very world that he lives in, so its wonder will continue for others like him to enjoy and to last for generations.
But man's creation is not perfect, not absolute. The power of the mind is, as the saying goes, a 'double-edged sword.' While he can think of ways to help maintain the wonders of the world, he can also think of ways of destroying it. It is when Man, also known in the world today as Human, forgets his duties to care for his world, and follows only his own ideals, that Mother Nature cries in pain and anger. The tragedies of disaster, plague, and war served as punishment for Man and his brethren, who ignored their true duties of the world which they live in. Despite these, the human race survives and continues to flourish and multiply throughout the ages. But as time flies, Man continues to forget his duty and one day he and his brethren, despite their advancement and evolution, reach a crisis that perhaps even Mother Nature's power cannot stop: Overpopulation.
Earth's entire human population has reached over nine billion, and is rising fast; too much for the planet to handle as its natural resources decrease at a great scale. If a solution is nowhere to be found, the Earth will be entirely depleted of its resources and it will cause great catastrophe of its inhabitants. The hope of Earth, and its people, to be saved from this crisis, now lies in the hands of the only organization that can offer the solution --- The United Nations.
Living Among the Stars
The United Nations is perhaps the largest organization known to care for the people of Earth while minimizing the conflict that plagued its race over time. It also remembers the very duty Mother Nature itself gave Man to when he was first created. The great population crisis that looms over the planet is perhaps the biggest challenge the organization must face. Though they have made efforts in reducing the population boom, they still have to find a solution on what to do with the overcrowded 9 billion people. However, thanks to the advancement of technology over the ages, the members of the United Nations agreed to launch a program that will not only solve the population problem, but also achieve Man's ultimate dream --- to live among the stars. With this ambitious task in mind, the Space Colonization Program has begun. This program consists of building large groups of cylindrical space stations known as "Sides" within Earth's sphere. Each space station (also called 'Bunch') is made large enough to inhabit a maximum of 50 million. A billion people for each Side. Man's advancement in science and technology allows him to create plant and animal wildlife even within these space stations to provide food. Water is also not a problem as Earth still has a vast amount of water that can quench the thirst of more than billions of people. Large solar mirrors are attached to each space station to provide energy and light, giving the view of night and day. Since each Side is located differently around the Earth sphere, a new universal time zone is provided for not only the colonies but also Earth itself. The new time zone, known as the New Western Calendar (NWC), is declared at the start of the colonization program. Despite the near halting of military technology in favor of research and building of the colonies, the entire program lasted for over 150 years. In NWC 150, the human population reached as high as 11 billion people, 9 of whom are now living within the space colonies.
The Division of Mankind
When nearly all of Earth's nations realized the danger of the overpopulation of the planet, they reluctantly joined in the United Nation's cause for the Space Colonization Program. It is here that history has been made in which the United Nations became a truly unified world government. The technologies, economic resources, and even military powers of each nation have merged as one. Because of this unity, the United Nations dropped its name and became known from then on as the Earth Federation. By NWC 150, the Earth Federation halted its Space Colonization Program, leaving 7 Sides completed within the Earth sphere for its 9 billion people.
Though the Space Colonization Program solved the population crisis, it only gave birth to another problem: the Earth Federation itself. Not only Earth is under the control of the Earth Federation; they also expand its authority towards the colonies as well. While the Federation did exceptionally well in saving the Earth and its people from a great catastrophe, they were numb to the needs of the people of the colonies, as their extensive power and burreaucracy easily led to corruption. To make matters worse, mankind has been divided into two groups of people due to discrimination: the "spacenoids", the 80% of the human population now living in the colonies. And the "earthnoids", those who remained on Earth, exempt from emigration to space.
Side 3, the third group of space colonies that are furthest from the Earth, suffered the most from the Federation's control. Side 3 is home to 3 billion people, which exceeds the population limit and is forced to close its solar mirrors to provide space, leaving the people of Side 3 almost entirely in the dark for several years. Soon the people of Side 3 rail against the rule of the Federation into their lives and cry out for its independence.
The Rise of Zeon
Leading the people of Side 3 to its independence is a man by the name of Zeon Zum Deikun. A wise and intelligent noble, Zeon Deikun declared independence on Side 3 in NWC 158 and renamed as the Republic of Zeon after its leader. Zeon Deikun is also famous for what is known as the "NewType" theory, in which humans can communicate in great distances when it has finally begun living in the vastness of space; a next step in human evolution. The founding of the Republic of Zeon causes tensions between it and the Federation, and both sides begin preparations for their military forces should the worst thing to happen happens.
And it did.
10 years after Side 3 declared independence, the people of the Republic of Zeon were in shock upon news that their beloved leader suddenly dies. The cause of his death was unknown although Zeon loyalists rumored that he was assassinated. His most trusted adviser, Degwin Zodo Zabi, took over as Zeon's new leader and one year later after Deikun's death, the Republic of Zeon became a colony of monarchy under a new name --- the Principality of Zeon, with Degwin Zabi as its sovereign leader. Zabi then accuses the Federation for the death of Zeon Deikun and within the next decade, mankind experienced perhaps the most tragic war in its history.
The One-Year War
On January 3, NWC 179, the Principality of Zeon declared war against the Earth Federation and launched a series of surprise attacks on nearly all of Federation territory in space. It is at this point that the Federation had a first taste of Zeon's secret weapon: the Mobile Suit; a humanoid-like robot that can battle in both melee and ranged combat, with powerful weaponry and performance that proved even more superior to the Federation's fighter jets and battle cruisers. The Zeon's aggressive attacks also include the indiscriminate use of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, leading to mass casualties during its campaign.
Operation British is one of the most devastating tactics by the Zeons. The tactic involves the dropping of an abandoned colony onto the Federation's main headquarters in Jaburo, located in South America. The Federation forces tried desperately to avert the falling colony and although they succeeded from letting it fall to Jaburo, they are unable to halt its decent. The abandoned colony crash-landed within the heart of Sydney, Australia and its impact caused a great rift in the world, resulting in a drastic alteration to the Earth's climate. The Battle of Loum in Side 5, in which the Zeons have successfully captured the Federation's most respected military leader, General Revil, later follows this. By the end of January, half of the human population were killed in the war.
Realizing the devastation and having no chance against the Zeon forces' Mobile Suits, the Federation agrees to sign a treaty of surrender to the Zeons in Antarctica on January 31, NWC 179. But the sudden appearance of General Revil, who has escaped Zeon captivity, turned the situation into a rules of engagement treaty. Both sides agree to the banning of colony drops, use of nuclear weapons, and tactics of mass destruction, as well as the fair treatment of prisoners of war among others in hopes of giving the Federation time to research and built its own Mobile Suit thru their "Operation V" program. The treaty, however, did not hinder the Zeon's advancement and as the war progressed within the next 6-9 months, a large portion of the planet and the colonies are under Zeon control. When all seemed that the Zeons would become victorious, the success of the Federation's first Mobile Suit, the "Gundam", which proved to be far more superior from the mobile suits of the Zeon forces, turned the tides of war into the Federation's favor.
On the 14th of December NWC 179, the Federation began their new tactic called, "Operation Star One": A campaign to reclaim all of the territory they have lost to the Zeons on both Earth and the colonies. With the aid of their own army of Mobile Suits, including the Gundam, the Federation is now on the winning side. However, during the battle of A Bao A Qu, one of the two of Zeon's last remaining strongholds before Side 3, an unidentified object suddenly appeared from the vastness of space and crash landed on Earth. The massiveness of the object destroyed anything in its path, including the forces of the Federation and the Zeons. Ironically, the sudden appearance of the unidentified object led the war to a halt and both armies settled their differences via a peace treaty in Granada, one of the two major cities and military bases on the surface of the Moon, on January 1st, NWC 180. Thus, ends what is known to human history as the "One-Year War".
The Divine Crusaders
After the One-Year War, a team of scientists, led by Vian Zoldark, conducted an investigation on the fallen alien ship that landed on Earth. The ship rests on an island known as South Atalia, located between Antarctica and the Australian Continent. Dr. Zoldark discovered that the fallen battleship contains technology far more advanced than that of the human race. The appearance of the ship alone gave him the conclusion that other forms of life existed somewhere beyond the Solar System. However, because of the sudden appearance of the battleship, and from the damages it has suffered prior to its arrival on Earth, he added that a battle seemed to have been waged and fears that soon, alien forces will arrive on the planet.
When Dr. Zoldark submits his report to the leaders of the Federation, they have rejected the report, and his plea to prepare for the alien attack. Instead, the Federation focused on rebuilding their military strength for future battles against the Zeons. It was not until in NWC 183 where a small alien force, claiming to be from the "Vega Empire" made a sudden attack on Federation space and on Earth. Though the Federation is successful on thwarting the alien threat, it wasn't without suffering great casualties inflicted by the Vega fleet.
Among the casualties is Dr. Zoldark's wife.
Dr. Zoldark knew that the appearance of the Vega Empire was just a taste of things to come. Grieving over the loss of his wife, and seeing that humanity has nowhere to run, he devoted his life for the creation of the Divine Crusaders, an organization dedicated to the building of giant robots, vehicles, and weapons designed using the alien technology (which he calls the 'Extra-Over Technology'). The Federation, on the other hand, prepared themselves from future alien threats by rebuilding the alien battleship, which they have called the "Super Dimensional Fortress" (model name, SDF-1). However, the rebuilding of the SDF-1 caused a great decrease in the Federation's economic and material resources, nearly halting any further technical advancement.
The Underground Empires
The Earth Federation faced other threats aside from the Principality of Zeon and the Vega Empire. Before and during the One-Year War, three powerful armies emerged from Earth to conquer the entire planet and claiming it their own. Japan's union of scientists had identified these three armies. The first is the Metalbeast army led by a mad scientist only known as Dr. Hell, and poses as a threat to Japan. The remaining two are said to be ancient civilizations that were thought to be extinct. One is called the "Kyouryu Empire", an army of giant mechanized dinosaurs coming from Europe under the leadership of Emperor Gol. The other is the "Youma Empire"; stone robots originating in Egypt led by Prince Sharking. These three armies led successful campaigns in liberating both Federation and Zeon territory on Earth.
With the Federation unable to respond to the threat of the underground empires, the union of scientists in Japan worked together to form three "Super Robots" to battle these three factions --- Mazinger Z, from the Photo-Atomic Power Laboratory; Getter Robo, of the Saotome Research Institute; and Raideen, from the Mutropolis Organization. The incredible powers of these Super Robots have made them successful in defeating all three underground empires. In Operation Star One, they joined forces with the members of the 13th Autonomous Corps, a small group of young men and women from the Federation who are very instrumental to winning the war against the Zeons.
The Coming of a New War
In NWC 187, seven years after the One-Year War, the Earth Federation faces a new threat once again, this time in the form of their old adversary, the Zeons. Under the leadership of Degwin Zabi's eldest son, Gihren, the Zeon army began their preparations to continue the campaign they have left off 7 years ago. However, the Zeons are not the only group fighting against the Federation.
Back on Earth, the underground empires, after being defeated by the Super Robots of Japan, are reemerging once again. Other groups also begin to appear such as the terrorist organization Big Fire. And within the vastness of space, just as Dr. Zoldark warned, very large fleets of alien ships are slowly, but surely heading towards Earth.
And so it begins a battle that will offer either tragedy or triumph over the human race. Man's future is now in the hands of those who will enter the battle and fulfill the destiny that awaits them. The sands of time shall forever remember the new war that is about to unravel…
Earth's Cry
Since the dawn of time, Man is given the greatest gift from the wonders of the world --- the power of the mind. The unique ability to think, be creative, and provide conclusions is what makes him the most supreme of creatures living on the planet Earth. In exchange for this great power, he is given the responsibility to care and nurture the very world that he lives in, so its wonder will continue for others like him to enjoy and to last for generations.
But man's creation is not perfect, not absolute. The power of the mind is, as the saying goes, a 'double-edged sword.' While he can think of ways to help maintain the wonders of the world, he can also think of ways of destroying it. It is when Man, also known in the world today as Human, forgets his duties to care for his world, and follows only his own ideals, that Mother Nature cries in pain and anger. The tragedies of disaster, plague, and war served as punishment for Man and his brethren, who ignored their true duties of the world which they live in. Despite these, the human race survives and continues to flourish and multiply throughout the ages. But as time flies, Man continues to forget his duty and one day he and his brethren, despite their advancement and evolution, reach a crisis that perhaps even Mother Nature's power cannot stop: Overpopulation.
Earth's entire human population has reached over nine billion, and is rising fast; too much for the planet to handle as its natural resources decrease at a great scale. If a solution is nowhere to be found, the Earth will be entirely depleted of its resources and it will cause great catastrophe of its inhabitants. The hope of Earth, and its people, to be saved from this crisis, now lies in the hands of the only organization that can offer the solution --- The United Nations.
Living Among the Stars
The United Nations is perhaps the largest organization known to care for the people of Earth while minimizing the conflict that plagued its race over time. It also remembers the very duty Mother Nature itself gave Man to when he was first created. The great population crisis that looms over the planet is perhaps the biggest challenge the organization must face. Though they have made efforts in reducing the population boom, they still have to find a solution on what to do with the overcrowded 9 billion people. However, thanks to the advancement of technology over the ages, the members of the United Nations agreed to launch a program that will not only solve the population problem, but also achieve Man's ultimate dream --- to live among the stars. With this ambitious task in mind, the Space Colonization Program has begun. This program consists of building large groups of cylindrical space stations known as "Sides" within Earth's sphere. Each space station (also called 'Bunch') is made large enough to inhabit a maximum of 50 million. A billion people for each Side. Man's advancement in science and technology allows him to create plant and animal wildlife even within these space stations to provide food. Water is also not a problem as Earth still has a vast amount of water that can quench the thirst of more than billions of people. Large solar mirrors are attached to each space station to provide energy and light, giving the view of night and day. Since each Side is located differently around the Earth sphere, a new universal time zone is provided for not only the colonies but also Earth itself. The new time zone, known as the New Western Calendar (NWC), is declared at the start of the colonization program. Despite the near halting of military technology in favor of research and building of the colonies, the entire program lasted for over 150 years. In NWC 150, the human population reached as high as 11 billion people, 9 of whom are now living within the space colonies.
The Division of Mankind
When nearly all of Earth's nations realized the danger of the overpopulation of the planet, they reluctantly joined in the United Nation's cause for the Space Colonization Program. It is here that history has been made in which the United Nations became a truly unified world government. The technologies, economic resources, and even military powers of each nation have merged as one. Because of this unity, the United Nations dropped its name and became known from then on as the Earth Federation. By NWC 150, the Earth Federation halted its Space Colonization Program, leaving 7 Sides completed within the Earth sphere for its 9 billion people.
Though the Space Colonization Program solved the population crisis, it only gave birth to another problem: the Earth Federation itself. Not only Earth is under the control of the Earth Federation; they also expand its authority towards the colonies as well. While the Federation did exceptionally well in saving the Earth and its people from a great catastrophe, they were numb to the needs of the people of the colonies, as their extensive power and burreaucracy easily led to corruption. To make matters worse, mankind has been divided into two groups of people due to discrimination: the "spacenoids", the 80% of the human population now living in the colonies. And the "earthnoids", those who remained on Earth, exempt from emigration to space.
Side 3, the third group of space colonies that are furthest from the Earth, suffered the most from the Federation's control. Side 3 is home to 3 billion people, which exceeds the population limit and is forced to close its solar mirrors to provide space, leaving the people of Side 3 almost entirely in the dark for several years. Soon the people of Side 3 rail against the rule of the Federation into their lives and cry out for its independence.
The Rise of Zeon
Leading the people of Side 3 to its independence is a man by the name of Zeon Zum Deikun. A wise and intelligent noble, Zeon Deikun declared independence on Side 3 in NWC 158 and renamed as the Republic of Zeon after its leader. Zeon Deikun is also famous for what is known as the "NewType" theory, in which humans can communicate in great distances when it has finally begun living in the vastness of space; a next step in human evolution. The founding of the Republic of Zeon causes tensions between it and the Federation, and both sides begin preparations for their military forces should the worst thing to happen happens.
And it did.
10 years after Side 3 declared independence, the people of the Republic of Zeon were in shock upon news that their beloved leader suddenly dies. The cause of his death was unknown although Zeon loyalists rumored that he was assassinated. His most trusted adviser, Degwin Zodo Zabi, took over as Zeon's new leader and one year later after Deikun's death, the Republic of Zeon became a colony of monarchy under a new name --- the Principality of Zeon, with Degwin Zabi as its sovereign leader. Zabi then accuses the Federation for the death of Zeon Deikun and within the next decade, mankind experienced perhaps the most tragic war in its history.
The One-Year War
On January 3, NWC 179, the Principality of Zeon declared war against the Earth Federation and launched a series of surprise attacks on nearly all of Federation territory in space. It is at this point that the Federation had a first taste of Zeon's secret weapon: the Mobile Suit; a humanoid-like robot that can battle in both melee and ranged combat, with powerful weaponry and performance that proved even more superior to the Federation's fighter jets and battle cruisers. The Zeon's aggressive attacks also include the indiscriminate use of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, leading to mass casualties during its campaign.
Operation British is one of the most devastating tactics by the Zeons. The tactic involves the dropping of an abandoned colony onto the Federation's main headquarters in Jaburo, located in South America. The Federation forces tried desperately to avert the falling colony and although they succeeded from letting it fall to Jaburo, they are unable to halt its decent. The abandoned colony crash-landed within the heart of Sydney, Australia and its impact caused a great rift in the world, resulting in a drastic alteration to the Earth's climate. The Battle of Loum in Side 5, in which the Zeons have successfully captured the Federation's most respected military leader, General Revil, later follows this. By the end of January, half of the human population were killed in the war.
Realizing the devastation and having no chance against the Zeon forces' Mobile Suits, the Federation agrees to sign a treaty of surrender to the Zeons in Antarctica on January 31, NWC 179. But the sudden appearance of General Revil, who has escaped Zeon captivity, turned the situation into a rules of engagement treaty. Both sides agree to the banning of colony drops, use of nuclear weapons, and tactics of mass destruction, as well as the fair treatment of prisoners of war among others in hopes of giving the Federation time to research and built its own Mobile Suit thru their "Operation V" program. The treaty, however, did not hinder the Zeon's advancement and as the war progressed within the next 6-9 months, a large portion of the planet and the colonies are under Zeon control. When all seemed that the Zeons would become victorious, the success of the Federation's first Mobile Suit, the "Gundam", which proved to be far more superior from the mobile suits of the Zeon forces, turned the tides of war into the Federation's favor.
On the 14th of December NWC 179, the Federation began their new tactic called, "Operation Star One": A campaign to reclaim all of the territory they have lost to the Zeons on both Earth and the colonies. With the aid of their own army of Mobile Suits, including the Gundam, the Federation is now on the winning side. However, during the battle of A Bao A Qu, one of the two of Zeon's last remaining strongholds before Side 3, an unidentified object suddenly appeared from the vastness of space and crash landed on Earth. The massiveness of the object destroyed anything in its path, including the forces of the Federation and the Zeons. Ironically, the sudden appearance of the unidentified object led the war to a halt and both armies settled their differences via a peace treaty in Granada, one of the two major cities and military bases on the surface of the Moon, on January 1st, NWC 180. Thus, ends what is known to human history as the "One-Year War".
The Divine Crusaders
After the One-Year War, a team of scientists, led by Vian Zoldark, conducted an investigation on the fallen alien ship that landed on Earth. The ship rests on an island known as South Atalia, located between Antarctica and the Australian Continent. Dr. Zoldark discovered that the fallen battleship contains technology far more advanced than that of the human race. The appearance of the ship alone gave him the conclusion that other forms of life existed somewhere beyond the Solar System. However, because of the sudden appearance of the battleship, and from the damages it has suffered prior to its arrival on Earth, he added that a battle seemed to have been waged and fears that soon, alien forces will arrive on the planet.
When Dr. Zoldark submits his report to the leaders of the Federation, they have rejected the report, and his plea to prepare for the alien attack. Instead, the Federation focused on rebuilding their military strength for future battles against the Zeons. It was not until in NWC 183 where a small alien force, claiming to be from the "Vega Empire" made a sudden attack on Federation space and on Earth. Though the Federation is successful on thwarting the alien threat, it wasn't without suffering great casualties inflicted by the Vega fleet.
Among the casualties is Dr. Zoldark's wife.
Dr. Zoldark knew that the appearance of the Vega Empire was just a taste of things to come. Grieving over the loss of his wife, and seeing that humanity has nowhere to run, he devoted his life for the creation of the Divine Crusaders, an organization dedicated to the building of giant robots, vehicles, and weapons designed using the alien technology (which he calls the 'Extra-Over Technology'). The Federation, on the other hand, prepared themselves from future alien threats by rebuilding the alien battleship, which they have called the "Super Dimensional Fortress" (model name, SDF-1). However, the rebuilding of the SDF-1 caused a great decrease in the Federation's economic and material resources, nearly halting any further technical advancement.
The Underground Empires
The Earth Federation faced other threats aside from the Principality of Zeon and the Vega Empire. Before and during the One-Year War, three powerful armies emerged from Earth to conquer the entire planet and claiming it their own. Japan's union of scientists had identified these three armies. The first is the Metalbeast army led by a mad scientist only known as Dr. Hell, and poses as a threat to Japan. The remaining two are said to be ancient civilizations that were thought to be extinct. One is called the "Kyouryu Empire", an army of giant mechanized dinosaurs coming from Europe under the leadership of Emperor Gol. The other is the "Youma Empire"; stone robots originating in Egypt led by Prince Sharking. These three armies led successful campaigns in liberating both Federation and Zeon territory on Earth.
With the Federation unable to respond to the threat of the underground empires, the union of scientists in Japan worked together to form three "Super Robots" to battle these three factions --- Mazinger Z, from the Photo-Atomic Power Laboratory; Getter Robo, of the Saotome Research Institute; and Raideen, from the Mutropolis Organization. The incredible powers of these Super Robots have made them successful in defeating all three underground empires. In Operation Star One, they joined forces with the members of the 13th Autonomous Corps, a small group of young men and women from the Federation who are very instrumental to winning the war against the Zeons.
The Coming of a New War
In NWC 187, seven years after the One-Year War, the Earth Federation faces a new threat once again, this time in the form of their old adversary, the Zeons. Under the leadership of Degwin Zabi's eldest son, Gihren, the Zeon army began their preparations to continue the campaign they have left off 7 years ago. However, the Zeons are not the only group fighting against the Federation.
Back on Earth, the underground empires, after being defeated by the Super Robots of Japan, are reemerging once again. Other groups also begin to appear such as the terrorist organization Big Fire. And within the vastness of space, just as Dr. Zoldark warned, very large fleets of alien ships are slowly, but surely heading towards Earth.
And so it begins a battle that will offer either tragedy or triumph over the human race. Man's future is now in the hands of those who will enter the battle and fulfill the destiny that awaits them. The sands of time shall forever remember the new war that is about to unravel…