The fall of the Hellgate in 2038 was the most significant event in our combined history. Nations had risen and fallen before, but never had all fallen to the same event. Though this would seem to leave our world bereft of civilisation, an assumption that our enemies seem to have counted on, this was not to be the case. Small pockets of civilisation survived across the globe as humanity struggled to endure the onslaught and, though they were small, they were many. Previous differences in opinion and outlook were routinely cast aside in the face of an implacable, global threat. Small communities worked together to survive, and even thrive in the ruins of their fallen civilisations, and 2038 saw the culmination of those efforts with the fall of the first, and greatest, Hellgate.
In the aftermath of the fall, the intensity of the attacks notably dipped, and one would be forgiven for expecting mankind to fall back to infighting, but no such peril emerged. We had not won only to loose. Across the globe men counter-attacked their failing enemy, closing rift after rift. Coordination between local bands grew, spreading across the planet within a year, and soon mankind spoke with one voice for the first time since it's origin.
As the attacks of Hell faded to a manageable irritation men stopped and took stock of their situation. Their population had been greatly reduced, and though the next generation would see a baby boom they were still vulnerable. The forces of Hell are vast, and it is only their distraction that allowed us to escape annihilation. We looked up, to the stars, for the Earth had suffered terribly and it was only the resources stolen form our infernal invaders that allowed us to continue on as we did. Cabalists learned to teleport new satellites into orbit, mounting the Fawkes sensors that enabled us to pinpoint emerging rifts and finally surpass the greatest dangers of the infernal. This was our first great act of global cooperation, but it was certainly not our last.
Our first steps, oddly enough, were into Hell itself. Flush with success, a small cabal performed a ritual to open a Hellgate from our side. Immediately caught by the satellite network, they nonetheless succeeded. This immediately led to the formation of the Cabalist's guild, a global organisation both train new Cabalists and to contain (or at least channel) this kind of excess, with the Hunter's and Templar's guilds forming in response. The guilds formed the first part of our collective political will, but they were not alone for long. Other guilds formed, first being the Explorer's guild dedicated to expanding our sphere of influence and mapping new places to settle, but other organisations would soon follow.
The properties of the strange Hell-dimension from whence our attackers came are most peculiar, being both based on and quite distinct from our own. Each point in Hell is co-terminus with a matching location in our own dimension, but the reverse does not appear to be the case. As a result, the distance between two places in Hell is loosely proportional to the amount of "Locations of Interest" between them, as well as basic distance. The Cabal claims that the distances are relative, but the result is much the same. Flying through Hell is eminently possible, as much as in our native atmosphere, and combined with this peculiar property allows us to reach distant celestial bodies much more rapidly than should be the case.
Early trips to the Hellish equivalent of our Moon frequently overshot, leading to the deployment of radio beacons on the Hell platforms that formed our Moon's hell. It became apparent that each celestial body, be it Star, Planet or Moon, had it's own personal Hell – a collection of "platforms" floating in the infernal atmosphere. Radio Lighthouses, placed and maintained by the Explorer's guild, guided Hellships to their location, relatively safe ports amongst the infernal Hells of space. For Hell was still Hell, and heavily populated with demonic adversaries.
As mankind gathered it's strength and grew once more, a need arose to co-ordinate their efforts. The guilds already did so, at least within their own areas of expertise, but other alliances were forged and maintained on an ad-hoc basis by local groups. There was a growing demand for a formalisation of human cooperation, an overarching governance of our reach for the stars that was at odds with our demands for independence. The demons had, after all, taught us the folly of centralisation.
I will not detail the years of political infighting that took place as we formalised our allegiance to ourselves, but the result was the second element of our political will. Each small settlement, down to free-floating space stations, had it's own democratic rule. Elected positions had the power to make emergency decisions, but remained subject to the mercy of their people's will. Settlements banded together to form planets, with each settlement appointing a single representative, and granted a single vote, on planet-wide affairs. Planets similarly form their own democratic council to vote on Galactic affairs. In this way, every will is represented to some degree or another. Though imperfect, it has proven a robust system in the face of severe threats.
By this point we had colonised much of our own Solar system, and explorers had been dispatched to neighbouring systems. Civilisation was being rebuilt step by step, with a heavy trend to self-sufficiency and decentralisation. Much of the damage done by the invasion had been achieved by striking a relatively small number of targets. Never again could we allow this to happen. Nano-forges scaled up to provide the key manufacturing needs for entire settlements, though specialised factories remain more efficient, allowing each to specialise in a particular export. It was on Mars, however, that we were to make our next big discovery.
Infernal travel may be faster than normal space, but it is far from instant. Aliens had watched mankind in it's infancy, aliens that seemed untouched by the infernal despite the distances they would have travelled to reach us. They had their own technology, much of it dependant on a strange substance they called "Element Zero", which we later found in small caches throughout our system, and even later in larger mines elsewhere. Though strange, this alien technology proved quite compatible with our own. Our technological and industrial bases were still in flux, not yet having stabilised after the invasion and subsequent fall. Combining the alien and Human technologies with the strange magicks of Hell, we struck out from Earth, across the Phase Gate Network.
Within a Century, we had colonised many systems, spreading ourselves far and wide in an effort to avoid the death our species came so close to feeling. Yet everywhere we find signs of those that came before us, alien cultures that once crossed the Galaxy as we do, and once fell as we so nearly did. Always we are reminded of our past, and the frail nature of our survival.
Yet survive we have, and will. Infernum Veniunt Aestu.