Archive / Timeline

World War 3 (Norihing)

⚠️ ChatGPT export source — flagged for accuracy review. The creator has noted that ChatGPT began generating errors, hallucinations, and inaccuracies in nearly every export conversation. Treat facts on this page as provisional, not settled canon, until reviewed. See ChatGPT Source Reliability — Review Tracker.

Type: Timeline Event Status: Canon — extensively detailed via ChatGPT export material ("Government to Commercial Shift")

Overview

World War 3 was a continental war fought on Norihing (Maf's largest continent) — not an Earth conflict. It began Christmas Day, 1976 and ended with a unilateral Desert Empire ceasefire in October 1987 (peace treaty signed November 1987) — 11 years of war.

  • Instigator: Desert Empire — a small nation (<50,000 population) that attacked The Empire's military installations in the Shapas Desert
  • Defender: The Empire (Xanydeo and Xanthus), later joined by Helvatica and dozens of other nations

Causes

The Shapas Desert (rich in oil, uranium, gems, gold, bauxite, iron ore) was internationally recognized as under the Empire's protection. A separate, earlier "World War 2" (1940–1945, on Maf — the exact date overlap with Earth's WW2 is noted in-universe as an unexplained coincidence by Jonesboro scholars) had already been fought over the neighboring Dielvan Wac Desert. The Desert Empire attacked Shapas Desert installations to seize its resources, framing itself as "liberating" the desert from "Eastern powers" (The Empire, Peplle, and Jonesboro had effectively claimed Shapas Desert oil rights).

Key Campaign Events

  • 1977: The Empire's Northern Army headquarters established at Kila Vas, initially under Gen. Latimer Hollings (of Jonesboro origin)
  • 1978: Command of the Northern Army transfers to Gen. Perold Jonas, newly arrived with 323 survivors of the Janastian Warhawks (see below)
  • Mid-1978: Desert Empire controls all of Shapas Desert; commits "genocide" against Spartania (revealed to be a hoax — see dedicated entry) and declares the United Kaolsan Emirates a war prize, drawing Kaolsan nations into the war
  • 1984: First ceasefire; Helvatica gains independence from The Empire's military governorship
  • 1985: Desert Empire relaunches aggression; war escalates north toward the NUN (Northern United Nations) and draws in 100+ nations
  • Late 1986: Renewed fighting as both sides approach exhaustion
  • March 15, 1987 ("the Ides of March"): Jonas launches the decisive Allied counter-offensive — a 3-million-troop amphibious assault on the Desert Empire's western coast (landing in the 5 States Region) plus a personally-led armored assault of millions of mechanized troops from Kila Vas and a parallel Eastern United Nations attack on the Republics of Waon — while Allied air/space forces destroy the Desert Empire's industrial and space capacity. See The Ides of March Offensive for the full campaign.
  • October 1987: Jonas's forces penetrate 3,000 miles into Desert Empire territory; the Desert Empire declares a unilateral ceasefire and sues for peace

Casualties

Estimated 900 million killed is the commonly cited figure, though modern in-universe scholars consider this a "gross exaggeration"; the more credible estimate is 100+ million across killed, injured, and displaced combined — the true total is considered unknowable.

Aftermath (1988–2000)

See MACOFS and Helvatica for the full postwar political timeline (Helvatica's founding, the New World Maf Government, and eventual formation of MACOFS in 2007). Most nations were too war-exhausted to intervene against rising secession, rebellion, piracy, and banditry — only Empire and the Janastian Warhawks rose to defend international order, 1988–2000.

Cross-Reference: Player Entry Year

Historical source material (now superseded) placed player game-entry at 1988 or 1984; current canon (a direct creator decision) is January 1977, near the start of the war. See Player Experience & Onboarding.

Open Questions

  • How does this Norihing-based WW3 relate to the Ark Royal colonists' original exodus from Old Earth? Confirmed as separate conflicts on different planets/timelines.
  • Full list of nations allied to each side beyond those already named not exhaustively detailed
  • ✅ RESOLVED — a fog-of-history conflict between this page's account of the war-ending offensive and a more detailed account from a different source conversation has been settled by creator decision: March 15, 1987 is the canonical date, merging both sources. See The Ides of March Offensive for the full merged account. The previously-stated May 31, 1987 date is discarded as canon; see the Government to Commercial Shift RAW SOURCE page for that superseded detail.