Black Dawn

A scientist named Josef Niederie once said "Mankind will not be able to tame the wilderness of space in the current century. To spearhead mankind into a new age of space, mankind needs to change man himself." These prophetic words became the very basis of the Elpis space program in the 23th century. Due to a global environmental disaster that wiped off 70% of the world's population, earth became fraught with violence and poverty. In order to ensure mankind's survival, the U.S. genetically engineered men who could thrive in the harsh and unforgiving environment of space. Their first effort was a permanent colony on the moon. Although the scale of their colonization efforts had humble beginnings, the small space settlement became in the course of a century as vast as a fully-fledged metropolis and began to plant seeds across the vast expanses of space. On earth, the situation widely improved and public support of colonization efforts begun to dwindle. In order to reduce their financial burden, the U.S. launched a program to increase the economic autonomy of their space colonies. 50 years later, the colonies became prosperous and soon demanded autonomy. Unwilling to let go of their colonies, the U.S. sent a large military force to suppress the rebellion, which ultimately led to the utter defeat of the United States and the independence of the space colonies. The one day war, as it is often called, which was unconventionally won through the use of small spaceships and mech-soldiers ushered the development of ever-more complex mech suits capable of single-handedly destroying large space ships.