The universe of Infantry chronicles a crumbling empire known as the Collective against a tide of independence movements. In this chaotic situation, mercenaries and warriors are in great demand. The players will take part in these planetary wars and shape its outcome.
A century from now, mankind achieves scientific breakthroughs that allow for rapid colonization of our solar system. New institutions for knowledge are found across the planet that prepare civilization for a new era in the history of the human race. At the behest of courageous people colonizing planets and moons beyond ours, the holy wars that have erupted over the diminishing resource on Earth slowly come to a halt with hopes of a brighter future. World leaders hold discussions in which they outline the map of mankind's galactic expansion. The Science Fiction novels of the early 20th Century writers become required reading material to understanding the life beyond our planet, and, in 2135 AD, Year One of Collective Era for mankind is born.
Between 10 and 15 CE, we colonized our moon. We looked to Jovian planets and a handful of their moons that provided us with a rare mineral formation that we call Tsolvy. Europa is colonized in 50 CE. On Titan we discovered a peculiar element that, when mixed with oxidants yieled an abudance of energy. This Titox as we called it went on to be used in machine factories across the solar system and provided us with a reason enough to colonize Titan as a full fledged homeworld and have it's mining industries grow.
By 121 CE we went as far as Pluto before we realized what had happened. Infighting erupted within each colony over how the resources should be proportioned to their chapter houses. Civil wars loomed and corruption began running rampant as favoritism found it's way back to Earth.
Realizing how close to the brink of a galactic war mankind has now come, the Collective leaders decided to squelch the civil wars by force, as everything else proved ineffective. The Collective Military became established to hold peace in the entire solar system. Key figures in the hierarchy of leaders are appointed to govern each planet and moon.
Individual colonies realized that if they do not become members of Collective worlds, they too risked being wiped out for treason. Some declared loyalty right away. Others, disgusted by the massacres that occured started branching towards the edges of the solar system, declaring their independence. Piracy became common-place in the resulting years.
Of the colonies wishing to preserve their way of life, Titan is the most aggressive as it's home to several key manufacturing corporations that feel uneasy with the Republic's strong-arming. Top weapons manufacturer Maklov cancels shipments to other colonies as the Collective Military is driven off of Titan completely. The entirety of Titan declares independence.
Then, in 193 CE the first assault on Titan begins. For seven years the Collective Fleet reinforces their attack from Jupiter on Titan until finally it is reclaimed under the banner. In the years to follow, a new uprising takes root from the nearby colonies in which the expats retake Titan by careful dissolution of the Collective leadership on the moon. Europa engulfs in a civil war which the Collective cannot break. Once again in 214 the Collective Fleet arms itself but this time the previously Collective colonies have declared independence and strike back alongside Titan. The moon holds strong under a 5 year siege.
The Collective leaders, realizing the importance of Titan to the longevity of mankind, drop the embargos and allow shipments of Titox and other important resources to Collective colonies. The situation on Europa stabilizes.
Between 249 and 253 CE, skirmish encounters with Collective Military become common place. Intercepted communique suggest the Collective Fleet is re-arming itself for a third attack on Titan, this time prepared to take down Europa and Io before heading to other colonies along the way. Titan holds a peaceful referendum with leaders of these independent colonies - the first meeting of world leaders since the creation of the Collective, in which it requests the colonies to unite under a truce banner to help survive the coming onslaught. In 260 CE, many independent colonies declare themselves a part of the Titan Federation, permitting civilians safe travel between each world. Colonies remain independent to their rulers, while the military units of these colonies become adjunctly known as Titan Militia.
In the years to come, wars small and large will be fought between the Collective Military and the Titan Militia. The year of 275 CE will become known as Year One of the Third Titan War.
Once soldiers of the Collective, the Militia took an oath to defend the moon against the Republic when they witnessed the reckless destruction of civilian homeworlds by their former brothers. The Republic's vengeance for this betrayal has left the Militia jaded and always on guard, waiting for the next strike to hit the moon.
Although parts of Titan have been converted to Earth-like biomes and bear lush habitats, majority of the planet is still engulfed in a harsh desert climate of sandstorms and endless dune vistas. The Militia that defend these cities wear armor and use weaponry that is sometimes older than them, and in most cases bear sigils of the previous wars as a reminder of the oath their guardian ancestors once made.
Nonetheless, the resilience of the equipment has gained the Titan miners and smiths a great deal of respect, leading to a rewnewed boom the interplanetary resource exchange and the birth of the Crater. However, the Militia rarely visit the Eol Planet, and in most cases are only there to monitor large shipments to buyers that are willing to pay the required fees.
"The Oath Never Sleeps" is carved into the broken gate of the ruined Crater. It, and the desolate cities have become breeding grounds for smaller factions. In particular, the Collective Remnants are an enclave that have been holed up since surviving the second war. Proving difficult to get rid of and in succeeding in converting captured prisoners and smaller faction leaders to join their cause, these Collective soldiers know only combat and the relentless will to survive in the searing dunes.
If there was hope that the Pioneer Station was still orbiting Titan, it is long gone. With the advent of the third major war on the horizon, the crater devolved into a conflict zone. The power structure previously established by major factions within the city had crumbled. Forcing the factions to pull out and seek alternatives, the trade routes and supplies coming to Eol completely ceased. As the crucible of a megalopolis, this once great city had been left void of prosperity and any sign of civilization.
What remains there are now nothing more than ruins, shadowed by the aggressive Titan sandstorm that has found it's way in once the Pressor Fields went offline. Eerily, under the sand one can find relics of homes, shopping malls, and stockpiles of weaponry.
However, the knowledge gained from the crater's Pressor Fields piqued Titan scientists to explore applying the biospheric generators on lunar and planetary scales. From this, two experiments were carried out with two distinct outcomes.
With the factions no longer doing business on Titan, the Council felt a drop in both their intelligence gathering resources as well as the coffers of their trade agreements.
Realizing the folly of having the gunrunners doing business directly on Titan, they sought out an alternative establishment. A team of BioLabs researchers were brought in to assist with the installation of a large-scale Pressor Field on a small uninhabitable planet that was within Titan's communication ring. The installation proved to be a success, exhibiting the vegetation growth cycles seen during the Crater's fertilization.
The BioLabs researchers augmented the previously benign atmospheric processors with an extra sensory shield that prevented unsocilited planetary scanning, which left the Collective Fleet with little knowledge of the planet's doings. Nonetheless, intelligence reports gathered by Collective infiltrators indicate large Maklov crates were stowed aboard the freight dropships headed for the planet - whose official name on the shipping list was indicated as "BioGen-1". The mercenaries however had found a new home, and christened it Planet Eol.
Pleased with the Pressor Field installation on BioGen-1, the Council turned their attention to a small Saturn moon to see if a ring of hospitable worlds can be established as a defensive perimeter to Titan.
This time around however, the moon was left to fertilize without oversight. Over time, the Saturn's magnetic field began to intefere with the installation causing sudden climatic changes. Expedition teams and construction crews that landed began to pull back immediately amidst rupturing solar flares. As violent storms erupted and the atmosphere toxified, no crew could safely voyage to the surface without severe radiation poisoning.
Similarly to Planet Eol, the extra shielding prevents any planetary scanning assessment. However, a number of passengers of the last surviving colony ship reported peculiar crystals growing on the stratum where grass was intended to take root.
The scientists scraped any further installation plans, and left the moon hoping that it would eventually stabilize. Over time with the passing away of lead scientists, the research, field work and notes of how to install planetary scale Pressor Fields was lost. What little information remains is located in the Titan Archives under the codeword label "Firestorm".
Today, the two installations of BioGen-1 and BioGen-2 are the only ones that humanity has achieved, with whatever future endeavours and past knowledge lost to time.