Megacorporate networks begin building bases on Mars. Long before a new political order takes shape there, its foundations are already being laid beyond Earth.

Ukraine’s president, Elena Tereshkova, addresses world leaders and corporate powers. Broadcast worldwide, her warning challenges captured states and false liberators, and asks who will control humanity’s minds, emotions and beliefs.

Elena is found dead two weeks after her address. The official account calls it suicide, without a note or a known motive. Competing accusations turn grief into a political weapon, while her family withdraws from public life.

Failed elections, corruption and a fractured succession weaken Ukraine. Insurgents take Kyiv. The fall of the capital opens a brief pause before the conflict spreads further.

For roughly five years after the fall of Kyiv, peace seems possible. The pause is short. Beneath it, the conditions for another wave of violence remain.

Insurgents take Romania and Bulgaria. Recruitment and propaganda expand, while bombings, attacks on transport and assaults on critical infrastructure drive the world towards a larger war.

The movements unite formally as the Planet Liberation Army. The Wars of the Immortals begin, carrying promises of freedom into a conflict that will transform the planet.

Cyborg soldiers survive injuries that would kill an ordinary body. The war takes its name from them, but cities, waters and ecosystems remain vulnerable. The conflict gradually gives way to withdrawal, without a peace agreement.

During the war’s first decade, influential states unite as Vanguard. Orbital settlement and evacuation programmes expand urgently, preparing a future that will no longer be shared by everyone on Earth.

A selective exodus carries part of humanity towards orbital habitats and off-world bases. Others remain among the ruins, known as Scrap Rats. Earth is abandoned by its protectors, but it is never empty.

Vanguard and the power known as Tyranny withdraw separately. There is no declaration ending the war and no peace treaty. Those left on Earth face continuing extraction, military operations and violence.

On Mars, Elena’s image becomes a political symbol of courage and defence of the people. A monument honours her in the megacity’s central square. Her original warning is now being retold by powers she once challenged.

Vanguard consolidates Aeternium. The Martian regime adopts the name Heirs of the Earth, while outsiders call it Tyranny. Motherhood offers a costly lunar alternative; Solaris maintains spaces for neutral trade. Earth remains inhabited and contested.

Vanguard normalises mental connection and emotional regulation. On Mars, traditional religious authority grows around temples and the machines that sustain life. Different societies find different ways to make obedience feel natural.

New generations inherit a divided Solar System. Aeternium promises security, Earth remains on the margins, and escape comes at a price. This is the world in which Eve’s story will begin.