Panem, a History

by Ariadne's Folly

What travesty created the nation of Panem? And what were the circumstances surrounding the original Dark Days? An examination of the early years of Panem, and the first Revolt. Mostly new chars, probable femslash, some chaps pre Rocket, lots pre Mags

1. Prologue

Panem, a History

Author's Note: Hunger Games, Panem, and any of their associated characters belong to Suzanne Collins, any references to Sucker Punch or associated characters are property of Warner Bros., Zak Snyder and Steve Shibuya.

For NatureBoy3, because he asked ;)

In 1938, German officials began seizing the Jewish born assistants of nuclear scientist Otto Hahn for use in top secret research. Dr. Hahn fought tremendously against this action, but in the end, the Third Reich won out and Otto, believing his assistants to be dead, continued his research alone. The work of these assistants became known as Projekt Unschuld, or Project Innocence, as Hitler planned to use their existing research on nuclear fission to develop the ultimate weapon; a weapon so strong, it would wipe out his unclean enemies, and send the world back to its original, innocent state.

In 1941, Projekt Unschuld bore fruit and the lab produced its first fission bomb, code named Mark I, with a yield of 15kt. This weapon sat on the sidelines of the war until the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942, when the 6th Army's victory was delayed by trying to clear the city ruins of insurgents. The end of Summer began, and rather than spend precious time mired in combat as the brutal Soviet Winter set in, Hitler made the decision to unleash Mark I upon the city ruins. The result was immediate and devastating, and further battles with the Red Army were few and finite.

Eager to exercise his power further, Hitler decided to target the supposed homeland of the Jews, and ordered Unschuld to produce another bomb, its intended target, Israel. Coupled with a duplicate payload of Mark I, Unschuld was commanded to create a bomb with a larger yield (25kt), to be codenamed Weisen (Wise Man), for use on a predetermined, but secret target.

Mark II and Weisen were scheduled to be released on the same day. The after effects of Mark II are forever lost in the little history that remains, however; the final message the United States received over the transatlantic radio-telephone transmitter, before the tower, and most of the northeast became submerged, was as follows:

Wise Man target has been revealed to be Northern Ice Caps, evacuate to high ground immediately, and God be with you.