Twilight 2013 sample.pdf

8/13/2019 Twilight 2013 sample.pdf

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the twilight war

chapter 1

Every generation seems to have a dening moment - a where were you? day when the world inexorablychanged for the worse. 7/7, the Indonesian tsunami, 9/11, Challenger, JFK, Pearl Harbor... Im pretty surethat back in the early Fifth Century, citizens on the fringes of the Empire always remembered where they werewhen they got the news that the Visigoths had sacked Rome.

The problem for my generation - the survivors - is guring out which day was The Day. Was it nerve-gassedbodies fallen in windrows across the Paris suburbs? Russian tanks summoning up ghosts of the Cold War asthey slunk through Kiev? Nuclear owers blossoming in the Belorussian summer? The great engines of theworld grinding to a halt as darkness fell like a hammer on the European Union? Winds off Lake Michigan fan-ning a restorm that reached higher than the jagged stump of the Sears Tower? Pinpricks of light in the highorbitals as the lights at home went out forever?

I can tell you where I was on each of those days. Quite frankly, they all sucked. Today isnt much better, and Icant even tell you where I am now, let alone where Ill be tomorrow.

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It is now mid-July 2013. By most accounts World War III,the Twilight War as it is commonly referred to, has ragedofficially for almost three years. But in reality, the fighting goes

back much further than that, at least a decade prior. When did itbegin? How did it start? This chapter describes the major eventsthat contributed to the Twilight War of Twilight: 2013.

Some historians openly refer to the 2006 global bushfirewars collectively as the beginning of World War III . By modestaccounts there were over 30 armed conflicts raging on fourcontinents. Some were traditional wars being fought overterritory; some were part of spreading religious fundamentalism.The acceptance of this idea reached as high up as major politicalleaders of several countries, including a former U.S. republicanSpeaker of the House. Although, it was still several years before

there was any doubt that the Twilight War was at least in itsinfancy if not full blown adolescence.

Politically the next couple of years followed in the samefootsteps as previous years with hardliners, fundamentalistsand conservatives winning several major elections around the

world. Most notably in 2006, Mexico elected a conservativepresident, and Hamas prevailed in Palestinian elections.The main exception to this was in the United States, wheredemocrats managed to win a majority in both the House andSenate of the U.S. congress and eventually claimed the WhiteHouse in 2008.

Other than continued conflict and hard talk, the next fewyears also witnessed increased food production problems. Withso much food being grown and processed, it was hard to seethese problems could be forbearers of future calamity. In theUS alone there were well over 100 separate food recalls due

to contaminations ranging from E. Coli to simple allergens in2006. This amounted to 100s of tons of meat, vegetables andprocessed foods. With a country as large of the US this wasntnecessarily a major problem, but coupled with the fact that theUS was a large exporter of agricultural products, problems inthe US supply chain affected many other countries.

Overall, the Twilight War was a combination of manyfactors...

Global War on TerrorTerrorist activities were a real concern even before 9/11.

For almost a decade before the Twilight War, terrorismwas a common front page story. Terrorist activities stretchedacross the globe; Philippines, Spain, England, Iraq, Pakistan,

Afghanistan, Israel, Georgia, Somalia, Colombia, etc . However

the most prominent activities recently emanated from Iraqand the Middle East. The Global War of Terror in both Iraqand Afghanistan provided hard core training and battlefieldexperience to many jihadists. This training later proved to bea major hindrance during the Twilight War, as experiencedfighters were exported to other regions to further theircauses.

While terrorism is a real concern in the players world,terrorism was only a part in the Twilight War. The focus ofthis edition is not terrorism or religious extremism. Althoughthere is room for these types of factions in the aftermath of theTwilight War.

2007

2007 continues with the same pace of violence, upheaval andconict as did previous years. The United Nations swears in its lastSecretary-General. China successfully tests a new ballistic missilethat has the ability to destroy space based satellites. The U.S. stepsup its involvement in Iraq with the commitment of 21,500 extrasoldiers. This is just January.

Russia cuts oil supplies to Germany, Poland and Ukraine forthree days. Russia cuts off oil supplies along the Druzhba pipelineto prevent Belarus illegally siphoning off oil. This in turn affectsthe supply chain in Germany, Poland and the Ukraine as Russia

begins to ex its muscles once again.

At the beginning of the year the European Union Battle groups(EU BGs) reach their operational capacity. Most of the EU BGsconsist of multi-national groups numbering around 1500 soldiersplus command and support services. The EU BGs are the rst stepstowards a common EU military. The rst EU BGs are rotated sothat two of them are ready for deployment within 5 to 10 days.

The 2006 United States Congressional elections result in acentrist shift in the nations legislative body. Growing displeasure

with the incumbent administrations policies fuel many campaigns,and a large crop of freshman Senators and Representatives ndthemselves attracting attention from others facing reelection intwo years.

Surprise, when it happens to a government, is likely to be a complicated, diffuse, bureaucratic thing. It includes neglect of responsibility,but also responsibility so poorly defned or so ambiguously delegated that action gets lost. It includes gaps in intelligence, but alsointelligence that, like a string of pearls too precious to wear, is too sensitive to give to those who need it. It includes the alarm that fails towork but also the alarm that has gone off so often it has been disconnected... It includes the contingencies which occur to no one, but alsothose that everyone assumes that somebody else has taken care of. Julian Critchey, Warning and Response

Design Notes: The Twilight War

This game is a work of ction and about the future. At somepoint we must mark a time where our current timeline and theevents of Twilight: 2013 separate. That break point for thefuture history of the Twilight Waris 01 January 2007. That isour arbitrary line in the sand. Everything that happens after thispoint is completely ctional. We have, however, tried to includesome of the events of the year 2007 as development progressed.

Also, unlike previous editions of Twilight: 2000 thatincluded tons of details about specic events and units; wedecided to take a different approach in this new edition. TheTwilight Warhas been along time in the making and a shorttime in its execution. While there are many facets of the warcovered here, there are an equal number that are not. This shouldleave room for exploration and personalization.

We plan to offer enough details about the past to allow foran understanding of what happened and who took part in what,

but we will leave the details to you, the players. This should allowfor more individual and personal perspectives on the TwilightWar. As future supplements are released, we will include moredetails about the events of the next few years. There are tons ofconicts and tensions not listed in the following pages that can

be explored and ushed out in more detail. Several examples ofsuch conicts are: the Turkey-PKK conict, the Turkey-GreekCyprus conict, and extremist groups in Southeast Asia andSomalia.amplefi

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Almost as soon as the new members of Congress take theiroaths of ofce, national and world attention swings from their

bright new faces to the 2008 Presidential election. Both majorparties almost immediately hit the campaign trail. By midsummerthere are 18 mainstream candidates with more potential stillundeclared. Many states also move their primaries earlier in hopes

of drawing more attention and political clout to their elections. Thedemocratic and republican candidates are determined before theend of February of 2008.

On top of political changes in the U.S., 2007 also sees acontinuation of the food recalls which were dramatically highlightedin the previous year. In addition to food and agricultural products,recalls also affect toothpaste, animal feed and even pet food. Thesetainted products are linked to China.

The U.S. isnt the only country to see a shift in political powerthis year. England watches a changing of the guard as the PrimeMinister steps down, and a new more parliamentary minded FirstLord assumes the helm. France holds elections with both thepresidency and legislature secured by the same party, thus givingcontrol of French policy to a single right wing, U.S.-friendly party.In the spring, the Ukrainian president dissolves their parliamentand sets elections for the fall. The elections are widely seen as a

fraud after the pro-president coalition takes control and ousts theformer Prime Minister.

Venezuelas leftist President maintains his war of words withhis American counterpart. With the shift in the American Congress,the Venezuelan tactics alter from antagonizing the leader of thelarge northern nation to ignoring him in favor of developing tiesto the new legislative leadership and the governors of individualstates.

Iraq continues to dominate international concerns andAmerican foreign policy. The civil war between rival Islamicfactions worsens throughout the year, despite the best efforts ofthe international community to negotiate or force peacefulsettlements. Neighboring Iran covertly assists Shiite militants,

which prompts an equal Sunni response from Saudi Arabia. Long-standing tensions between the two oil-rich nations hampers othermultinational efforts, and the violence in Iraq continues unabated.In addition, Turkey begins armed incursions into the north to deal

with Kurdistan Workers Party (known as the PKK) rebels basedout of Iraqi Kurdistan. Between Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, bythe end of the year there will be of over 20,000 foreign operativesinside the borders of Iraq.

In Afghanistan, American and allied forces continuetheir almost-forgotten campaign against Taliban and Al-Qaeda guerrillas. The Afghan government begins pressuringthe American leadership to assist in internal law-enforcementefforts, particularly against opium growers, further stretching thealready-overextended forces. Dwindling opium production, which

was almost destroyed under the Taliban, dramatically increasesproduction during Operation Enduring Freedom. Media coverage

begins to force the newly democratic government to act against thegrowing opium trade straining relations with farmers and regional

warlords who view this as a cash crop.Pakistans internal strife begins to boil over in the summer.The presidents crackdown on militant groups inside the countryleads to the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) confrontation. The standoff

with the Red Mosque leaves scores dead and wounded and severelytests the presidents position. This standoff, however, sets off achain of events resulting in a wave of violence that sweeps throughthe country. So penetrating are the operations against extremistgroups that Al-Qaeda declares war against Pakistan.

In November, the Pakistani president declares a state ofemergency and suspends the constitution. Protests demand thatelections be held. Instead, thousands are arrested. The rest ofthe world looks on in shock as the country begins to devolve into

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chaos. Pakistans ability to secure its nuclear weapons is called intoquestion, and many countries in the region put their militaries onhigh alert. The internal strife continues throughout the year andinto next year.

November also sees a change of leadership in Australia.The new party in power runs almost exclusively on withdrawing

Australian troops from combat missions in Iraq and addressingclimate change. The U.S. led mission in Iraq is quickly losingpartners and gaining enemies.

Low-intensity wars in Africa continue on, mostly ignoredby the rest of the world. Ethiopias increasing involvement inSomalias civil war causes concerns in Eritrea and Sudan thelatter nation already embroiled in conict in its western Darfurregion. By the end of the year there more than 200,000 are killedin the Darfur conict alone.

Like the previous couple of years, natural disasters also lenda hand in deteriorating the global situation. Large portions of the

world are covered in drought throughout the year, including richfarm countries like China and the U.S. Floods sweep through manycountries from England to China to the U.S. Earthquakes continueto strike the ring of re. The Solomon Islands quake being one ofthe largest of the year, leaves thousands homeless and completely

wipes out at least 13 entire villages. All of these disasters combineto put pressure on worldwide food resources; droughts and oodslessen the production, while contamination, earthquakes andother disasters begin to use up the available surplus.

2008

This year begins even more turbulent than 2007 ends. Whileprevious years denitely added to the potential for the Twilight

War, 2008 will be judged as the point of no return. In retrospect,the events of this year make it hard to believe that World War IIIis unavoidable. Global stability begins to decrease rapidly, and bythe end of the year some form of chaos will touch every corner of

the globe.In the U.S., January marks the beginning of the presidential

election primaries. Surprisingly the Democratic ticket is won bya former governor from the southwest. This pits him against thehard-nosed Republican from New York.

Reports in from late 2007 signaled trouble for Afghanistan.

These reports prove eerily prophetic in the early months of theyear. Over 60% of Afghanistan is reportedly under control of theformer oppressive extremist government, and terrorists roamfreely about the countryside. Coalition forces are under increasingattacks, and the rst part of the year sees death tolls comparable tothat of Iraq from 2006.

Elections are held in Pakistan in February. The result is calledinto question immediately, with the incumbent president winningin a landslide. Considering the political unrest, the continuedprotests and the military power the president still wields, most

believe the election results to be a fraud. Western reporters areexpelled from the country or arrested. The UN electoral commissionis not allowed into the country, and a repeated request from theU.S. and EU for democracy is ignored.

Pakistan and India step up their standoff over the disputedKashmir region. Due to last years Red Mosque incident and

the continued political unrest, Pakistan cracks down hard onextremists and political protesters. This puts more pressure onthe Pakistani military that shifted more trained and experiencedsoldiers away from the Kashmir Line of Control. India begins toratchet up its efforts against separatist militants in the wake.

The European Union peacekeeping force, the EUFOR Chad/CAR, begins deployment to Chad in February. The force deployedto the UN mission has 4,300 troops from 11 European countries,

with the French responsible for nearly half of the contingent. Theirmission mandate is to protect civilians, humanitarian aid and UNpersonnel.

In March, yet another toy and food recall is issued for productsmade in China. The U.S. is hit hardest as it imported over 90%of the recalled material. In addition to an already difcult year ofrecalls from Chinese made goods, this time one of the tainted foodamplefi

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products is believed to have caused the death of a U.S. Senatorsgrandson. The U.S. government enacts swift action and imposes astrict ban on Chinese imports until safeguards and inspections arein place. Many European countries quickly follow the Americanaction with Chinese import bans of their own.

In China, manufacturing companies begin massive layoffs.This sends a ood of people into the workforce, lowering wagesand forcing many people into poverty. This causes a ripple effectin the Chinese economy as its own retail markets are forced tolower prices, creating more problems for those employed in theretail sectors. On top of that, the Chinese people were not the onlyones affected. The ban effectively cuts billions of dollars out of thegovernments budget, one largely focused on military spending.

By the end of the year (since the ban will not be lifted until thesummer of 2009), China is thrown into a great depression. Ratherthan blame government and manufacturing practices, many of itspeople blame the west and specically the U.S. for their lot in life.Military enlistments will be at an all time high this year.

While in the U.S., consumer condence plummets, and pricesrise. Several old, large companies who moved their manufacturingto China le for bankruptcy and close down. The ban affects many

aspects of American and European life from food to electronics.There are shortages of many of the products that western civilizationhas taken for granted. In addition, due to the effect the ban has atthe corporate level, layoffs take place in all sectors forcing millionsof Americans and Europeans into unemployment.

Many U.S. companies look to Mexico to replace their cheapChinese labor and materials. Within months many new plants are

built in Mexico. For a time this even begins to solve the immigrationproblems in the U.S. as scores of illegal immigrants cross back intoMexico for work.

The same pattern emerges with many European companies(although on a smaller scale than the U.S.) looking for cheap laborand production costs in Eastern Europe. While not as cheap as

Chinese or Mexican based plants, Eastern Europe offers cheaperproduction costs than those in Western Europe.

The U.S. government shifts focus towards homeland projectsdesigned to repair the economic situation. Adding that this is anelection year, every politician under the sun unveils a recoveryplan. In all actuality though, little gets accomplished, and manyforeign endeavors are placed in limbo, including the Global Warof Terror.

After years of relative quiet, several countries in SouthAmerica begin to make headlines during the summer. The war ofwords between the leaders of Colombia and Venezuela heats upand boils over into the general populace. In addition to severingall diplomatic contact last year, the Venezuelan president alsoimposes strict border controls and an embargo against allColombian trade.

This action not only severs ties with the Colombiangovernment but also enrages drug lords who use Venezuela as apoint of departure for their drug trade. Border incidents increaseas drug-related insurgents attempt to circumvent the increased

border security. Pretty soon, rumors spread about Venezuelanground forces crossing the border and operating inside the

Colombian territory. The American Special Forces presence inColombia is increased to help deal with the crisis.The situation is nally brought under control thanks to a

Brazilian led six nation summit, including Colombia, Venezuela,Argentina, Guyana, Peru and Brazil. In return for normalizeddiplomatic relations with Colombia, Venezuelan is grantedincreased trade and economic opportunities from the summitsparticipating countries. The accepted view is that most of theSouth American countries are strong-armed into the agreement by

Venezuela because of their oil. Even the U.S. seems to reluctantlyhold off criticizing the agreement.

After failed talks last year, North and South Korea again agreeto enter into peaceful negotiations. While the world watches the

2008 The price of food and the availability of ammunition

Heather James, representative of the World Food Council (WFC), surveyed the camp shadowed by her three Spanish bodyguardsin their distinctive blue berets. The heat was oppressive; the sweat glued her thin clothes to her body, and ies swarmed round her -getting into her nose, eyes and mouth with a relentless persistence. But the worst irritation of all was the smell created by ten thousandsouls living on the bare earth with no sanitation.

The scorched earth was littered with bodies - dead, dying and barely alive. The only distinction between them was the occasionalarm weakly swatting at the ies adding insult to the injured and a nuisance to Heathers WFC team.

When was food last delivered here? How do they get water?The question was addressed to the local representative through a translator; her soft English accent came out harsh due to the

parched air. The answer received was not expected.We received food about eight days ago. Water comes from the stream, but it is running dry and is polluted.Heather turned and looked at the representative directly.A convoy left for this camp three days ago carrying fteen tons of grain, medicines and water purication equipment. Didnt it

arrive?The vehicles were stopped short of the camp by the local warlord and raided for everything of value. The convoy arrived but held

less than a hundred kilos of grain and nothing else of value. We reported to Colonel Delagarza, but ofcially his hands are tied unlessthe militia engage his troops. The militia have ries, heavy machineguns, and anti-armour rockets; consequently, there is nothing wecan do to stop them.

The local agent looked around the camp and saw desperation in the faces of those people strong enough to follow a well-dressed,well-fed, well-watered procession of foreign visitors.

Thinking out loud, Heather said Three quarters the people here are suffering from malnutrition. Fifteen percent of those areprobably within a few days of starvation. Two hundred people a day develop signs of dysentery. Malaria is rife, and the mortality ratein this camp exceeds our capacity to deal with the bodies in a respectful manner or in any manner at all. And this is just one of fteencamps in this area Im supposed to manage. The situation is out of control. We need more food, more medical support. Much as I hateto admit it, we need more troops with the dispensation to actually enforce the resolution. Right now this is anarchy, and that is costingmore lives than this drought.

Heather scanned the camp again, gathering images in her mind for the report that she would le that day with the headquarters.The suffering brought tears to her eyes though she fought them back as best she could.

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Olympics in Beijing, the Korean leaders meet for a 5 day summitin the middle of the summer to discuss denuclearization of thenorth and other peaceful initiatives between the two countries.North Korea suppresses their historic obstinacy and several majoraccomplishments come out of this historic summit.

North Korea agrees to denuclearization in exchange for

technology, oil and food (all in short supply). The South KoreanPresident puts forth a Korean Peninsula peace arrangementto formally end the Korean War. Having tried the year beforeunsuccessfully, this move is largely seen as political. Surprisingthe world audience, the North readily agrees to it, declaring peace

between North and South Korea. Thus on August 21st, the KoreanWar ofcially ends, 58 years after it began.

In November Americans go to the polls and elect a newpresident. This election is marred in character assassinations andpetty politics. Even so, the American people vote overwhelminglyfor a change in policy and direction. In a landslide victory,democrats win back the White House. In addition, democratscontinue their congressional victories of 2006 and increase theirmajority in both houses of Congress.

The U.S. and Pakistan are not the only countries holdingpresidential elections this year. Russians elect another ex-KGB

ofcial as their president. His platform involves taking a hard lineagainst internal extremist groups and the pro democracy west. Healso reiterates Russias right to a preemptive military strike in thename of national interest.

Presidential elections were also held in Taiwan. A win by thepro independence DPP party increases the tensions between thetwo Chinas. The day after the election results are made public, theChinese premier announces Chinas right to a preemptive militarystrike in the name of national interest.

In Iraq the situation continues to deteriorate as more andmore violence rages across the country. At the beginning of the

year, there was a hope that American forces could begin to redeployand draw down, but as the year progresses, attacks increase byinnovative insurgent and terrorist forces. Attacks become morehigh-prole and deadly. Rather than seemingly random acts of

violence, they become more strategic and surgical in nature.The most signicant act of the year takes place during a

Shiite pilgrimage to the holy city of Karbala, which had been thetarget of several large scale bombings each year since the invasion.

With over 100,000 pilgrims present, ve gasoline tanker trucksare simultaneously exploded inside the city. The explosions andsubsequent panic leave an estimated 5,000 dead and injured.

The Ukraine holds presidential elections early in Decemberthis year, where a hard liner with KGB connections is electedpresident. As with the previous elections, this years is not withoutcontroversy. Pro-parliamentary forces band together under one

banner - The Rada, or council. The Rada splits into two camps; thepolitical arm, which continues to wage a war of words against thepresident and his puppet parliament; and the insurrectionary arm,

whose goal is to unseat the presidency by means of force.One of the oddest causes for the preludes to the Twilight War

begins to surface this year. As demand grows for alternative andgreener fuel sources, many farmers in the U.S. and worldwidebegin shifting their entire crops to produce corn. The majorityof this corn is destined for ethanol production plants. This shiftcauses a decrease in agricultural food stores by over 20%, whichare already hurting in the U.S. due to the Chinese ban.

By the end of 2008, thanks to this shift, drought, E. Coli,salmonella and other causes, many developed countries start toexperience wide spread food shortages. The need to feed theirown people soon takes precedence over humanitarian aid to lessdeveloped nations. Many third world countries that dependedupon food exports in the form of aid from countries like the U.S.experience systematic starvation.

2009

The Treaty of Lisbon, signed by the EU countries in 2007, entersinto force on January 1st. The treaty carries out several reforms inthe EU, many of which have no effect in the life of ordinary citizens

as the treaty is mostly political in nature. The most visible changeis the selection of the President of the European Council, a position

which has important symbolic value even if the president has noexecutive powers. Later this year, the European Council appointsits rst permanent president, an ultra-conservative Frenchman who

was once a prospect for a high level position in the current Frenchadministration.

January 20, 2009 the newly elected U.S. democratic presidentassumes ofce and by the end of the month issues orders for theredeployment of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. His rst moveis to decrease the number of troops in Iraq to around 100,000,

bringing the majority of those soldiers home, while shifting someto Afghanistan. The reductions in forces also include naval forceslocated in the Persian Gulf. By mid-summer U.S. naval presence inthe area is also reduced, but it is still above its pre-war numbers.

The new American policy is to focus on ghting extremistgroups. The U.S. forces remaining in Iraq are redeployed to areasoutside of Baghdad. Their mission is shifted to three areas of focus:national border security, training of Iraqi security personnel andcombating extremist groups, rather than provide for populationsecurity.

In contrast to the old strategy, the new shift in direction showsquick progress for the rst six months of the year. Since the bombingin Karbala, Iraqis have shown real progress towards peacefulreconciliation. The bombing has the effect of actually bringing thecountry together rather further driving a wedge between religiousfactions.

Combined with the withdrawal of one third of the Americanforces, Iraqi politicians and religious leaders begin to nd ways tomake their government work for all Iraqis. The Iraqi army steps upto replace American forces in Baghdad. The Iraqi Prime Minister

replaces the entire Ministry of Interior staff and promotes a Kurdto the position of Interior Minister. The national police force is thenpurged of its sectarian leadership by the new Interior Minister.

American forces also experience a higher level of success on theterrorism and insurgency front than in previous years. In the earlymonths of the year, U.S. forces interdict several large shipments of

weapons and reinforcements from Iran. One such shipment carriesIranian uniformed soldiers and a high level ofcer (although hisidentity is never released). The renewed efforts of the Americans,as well as the loss of their major supply of equipment and logistics,force the extremists groups to retreat and reorganize.

A casualty of the ban on Chinese imports from the U.S. is theThree Gorges Dam in China. Cutbacks in the Chinese budget forcemany cost cutting measures to be implemented in its construction.It is completed in February of this year; however, within weekscracks begin to appear and other structural elements show signs of

fatigue and stress. On May 13th, water begins to break through alarge crack in the surface. Two days later, the dam almost completelydisintegrates.

The dams rupture causes ooding on an epic scale along theYangtze River valley. Over three thousand square kilometers areooded and over 5,000 people are reportedly killed or listed asofcially missing, while an additional 900,000 more are affectedin some way. The dams collapse also causes wide-scale powerinterruptions throughout the region. It takes almost two months toreturn power in some areas.

In June, one of the largest car bombs ever explodes inIslamabad, Pakistan destroying an entire city block and killing thepresident of Pakistan and several key National Assembly members

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