Here is a loose storyline I threw together. I'm not sure what kind of stuff you guys want so I'm not going to spend too much time on my first draft. Let me know what you think of it and I'll either let it fall into oblivion or elaborate/proof as necessary. I've left out a lot of details like names (like the name of the planet), dates, specifics, etc and it reads more informative than dramatic or storyline sort of material. (trying to make it readable with carriage returns) --- The Empires world is one ravaged by warfare that has erupted out of the failure of the Global Alliance twenty years prior to the current day. After the global disarmnement of the late 20th century a few years of peace were endured until resource allottment became an issue of debate so intense that borders were redrawn correlating to regions which shared an interest in the consolidation of dwindling supplies to sustain life and a still-expanding population. Temperature fluxuations across the Empires world are so drastic and unpredictable that getting food, supplies and fuel to regions which require it are equal to if not more than the cost of blood on the battlefield. It was ten years of strife against the elements and continued loss of life due to starvation that rotted the Global Alliance. Meek rationing effected regions with equal distribution, causing massive malnutrition effecting muscular and mental capabilities of the populace at large. Disproportionate rationing effected other regions creating divisive class differences which led to rioting between those without and those with supplies. Eventually the divisiveness rotted the Global Alliance to the core until two regions were but the only pillars which held it together. Western powers collected into a brief alliance under a central authority. It underwent a violent creation and after many assassinations in the course of three months, emerged with a strong central leadership that did not persist in or create an image of Imperical rule at first, so went largely unnoticed by the rest of the world, including the loosely knit regions in the East. In Eastern powers violence and uprising surged across the lands without a central point -rendering it incapable of unified action and entering a dark age. What little technological advancement was left in the world halted in what became known as the Northern alliance. Each force was focused upon a seperate area of the world, unique from the other in ways which polarized and contrasted. These two powers held peace for five years before subtle, tactical and secretive wars broke out between the two in locations which contained large quantities of resources. At first small groups under the two Empires set out on missions of espionage to redirect trade routes and influence leaders to redirect allottment of rationing. This lasted until the Eastern powers stumbled upon an operation in effect on a resource area under their direction and determined that it was a deliberate assault from the collection of rulers in the West. Western leadership denied this, having no knowledge of the operations of the resource owners in it's borders. However, a force was made from the Eastern leadership calling itself the Northern Alliance with a mission to unify the East and fight against the Western powers to secure and protect resources for it's own starving and malnurished masses. The west quickly remilitarized in response to protect its resource directors. Many died due to the priority of military power over rationing. These deaths were massive but, spread across the region and generated conflict between small states more violent than in the Eastern world. Many small region-states joined the Northern Alliance for protection and took in their share of those bent on destruction of the West in the agreements. The Western central authority was cooped by a military leader, declaring a new Imperical rule known as the Bernodi Empire and used a collection of military powers to crush uncooperative and beligerent renegade forces within the Empire. War against the Northern Alliance broke out. The empire began with the advantage of a fully funded, fully fed military and a central leadership. Yet it did not have the mass of the giant Northern Alliance. War is conducted to secure resources. To do so otherwise, is to submit to the enemy both power and influence. Resources are survival. Due to the massive deaths which are sustained from redirection of funding to military power, battlefield expenditures are maintained by conquest. Only by securing additional resource-rich regions is the creation of vehicles and weaponry possible. Enormous solar flares contribute to the violent atmosphere of the Empires world. These unfortunately disrupt communications equipment and the means to power them, so data must be modular and portable rather than remote. This means that battlefield commanders must use some inhibiting and bulky equipment to store tactical, and structural data for the combat environment. Bringing battlefield technology into production takes a "research" station which recreates the necessary information from special equipment that will not fail in the fluxuating atmospheric conditions.
The Storyline page on the site has the official story that Krenzo came up with, if you're wondering what the the devs were thinking for the mod. It describes the world on which Empires takes place, and gives some of the background behind the two armies that now face off. If you want some direction that would be the place to start. With that said, interesting scenario.
You could probably shelve that actually and use some of the elements for some later project you come across/get involved in. I must say if Empires didn't already have a backstory, that would be a good start.
You mean the South Islands? I made some edits to that picture, for my NF campaign maps, which is just an idea, nothing official:
Koln pass, Glycen, Ronin, I know these places, they are my home...and I have a much bigger version of the map...
Classics? Are these things that need re-mapped? And is there a river in NF territory that happens to have a town on it? A town that's had the crap shelled out of it?
