Mobile Suit Gundam 0351: The Spirit of Man
Prologue
In the year Universal Century 0218 the decrepit Earth Federation finally collapsed. The order which it brought to the Earth Sphere for more that two hundred years vanished and in its wake came a period of constant warring. With no unifying force the peoples of the Earth Sphere formed various factions and warred among each other. Caught in the middle of this conflict, the neutral Luna cities attempted to broker a peace settlement, but when this failed they went back to their old ways of supplying armaments to anyone who could pay. For 75 years the fighting continued and it brought much devastation to the Earth Sphere. The Earth itself was badly hit as many great military bases of the past were destroyed in the fighting, leaving the planet with precious few advanced production facilities.
In UC 0293 the Lambda Society, a small faction from the Londenion colony of Side 1, launched their newly developed weapon system, the mobile droid. The mobile droid was based on the work Doctor Remus Belith, a scientific genius who worked for the Earth Federations long since defunct Strategic Naval Research Institute in the UC 0130s. Despite Doctor Belith's work being over 160 years old the mobile droid system was still well-founded and highly appealing. The mobile droid system used an advanced AI control system to operate the mobile suit thus eliminating the need for a pilot; the mobile droids could be directed by a controller aboard the mother ship via Minovsky control technology.
With their newly completed force of mobile droids, and a small flotilla of ships to house them, the Lambda Society set about conquering the other space colonies. In a slow but steady war lasting seven years they conquer all of space, apart from the neutral territories of the Frontier Side and Luna. During these wars both sides learned that it is impossible to surrender to a mobile droid and many defeated warriors learnt this the hard way. In December UC 0300 they routed the last resistance forces from Side 3. In January UC 0301 the Lambda Society proclaimed the Empire of Lambda Colonies which incorporates all the newly conquered colonies. They set about consolidating their position in the colonies and enforcing their law. A few brave souls risked death to escape to Luna, the Frontier Side or Earth.
The Lambda Society doctrine is to create a utopian world where no human must face the dangers of war and can live in peace and safety. While those who embrace this doctrine are treated as equals no matter where they come from, those who oppose it are brutally repressed.
In UC 0313 the Empire of Lambda Colonies invaded Earth with the aim of subjugating the warring factions. At first things went well but they soon realised that the mobile droids aren't suited to Earth combat due to flaws in Doctor Remus Belith's original control pattern. The Doctor planted these flaws so that his mobile droids couldn't be used to attack the Federation on Earth. This control pattern was simply copied by Lambda Society scientists, since they were unable to create their own version. The inability to use the mobile droids did not deter the idealists of the Empire; they set about a war with conventional weaponry.
Due to the long years of war the Earth factions had lost all the production facilities that could build mobile suits, they had been knocked backwards hundreds of years in terms of military capacity. Despite this the factions on earth set aside their differences to form the Union of Earth Nations to oppose the Empire of Lambda Colonies.
The war on Earth was long and bloody. As both sides reached stalemate, the Treaty of Von Braun was signed in UC 0347, ending the war. The Empire of Lambda Colonies still controlled most of Europe and Asia, while the Union of Earth Nations controlled the Americas and Africa. Australia was left neutral territory.
In January of UC 0350 two colonies within Side 3 broke out in open rebellion against the Empire. The Empire immediately moved to deal with the situation; the colonies were blockaded by the Empire's fleet and their populations exterminated by use of poison gas as an example; 11 million civilians were killed.
Despite the Empire's iron rule in space the colonies were not without resistance groups. In UC 0350 a loose coalition of these groups was formed; they called themselves the Mutual Colony Defence Alliance. The Alliance quickly set about preparing for the inevitable war against the Empire of Lambda Colonies. Operating out of the Frontier Side the MCDA secured a deal with a number of Lunar city companies to supply them with arms, including the once renowned mobile suit producers Anaheim Electronics. In June of UC 0351 the MCDA completed construction of their first warship, the battleship Victory, at their secret shipyard hidden within the mines of the Frontier I colony. Despite the inherent advantages given by mobile droids the MCDA refuses to use them, instead they rely on older style mobile suits piloted by humans. Even though they are helplessly outnumbered the MCDA refuses to give up without a fight.
