Geologic History

From estimates, Alkali is around 6 billion years old, orbiting an orange dwarf, which in part is paired with a red dwarf in a wide binary system. Geologic records indicate before humanity's arrival, Alkali was a more temperate world with lush forests and higher biodiversity, but it was around tens of millions of years ago in which a flood basalt event released enough greenhouse gases to turn the planet into the arid world it is today.

It is a largely supported theory that Halogen, from an astronomically miniscule chance event, is actually a captured planet from the outer solar system, since it is nothing like Alkali compositionally, and its orbit is too elliptical to have been formed from any impact event. Due to this, it's likely that Halogen's gravity influencing Alkali's volcanism is what caused the flood basalt event.

It's lush past however, seems to be the source of the petroleum deposits today.

Colonial History

Pre-War Era

Nearly a millennium ago, the Alkali-Halogen system was in fact, a mining colony, ran and owned by a mining corporation known as the Ion Collective, which had been based in this system for hundreds of years prior, and may have been the first worlds claimed by the collective. Then, the system was one of humanity's more prominent exports for all kinds of metals, constantly shipping raw resources off-world to others that would do business with the collective.

Today's inhabitants of the planet can all trace their ancestry to the company workers who had all come to Alkali for jobs. Miners, managers, overseers, from the bottom of the corporate ladder to the top, had all called Alkali home.

Galactic Shattering

This way of life, however, would come to an abrupt end once, for reasons unknown to the inhabitants of this planet, a galaxy wide event would change everything. All anyone saw were flashes of bright light across the sky, streaks of green illuminating the ground they stood on and the cities they had built to then send them into total darkness. All of their electronics had been disabled; ships fell out of the sky, cars and trucks would not start, all communications went offline; billions of individuals had found themselves with their infrastructure gone, and there would be no outside help. 

The collective relied on imports of all kind to keep themselves fed on what was a planet otherwise nearly inhospitable and infertile. Notably, food, and water. Without these, society had immediately collapsed, and thus only the strong could remain. 

Silent Era (0-70)

With billions of souls perishing, the planet became a husk of its former self; the air had gone still, and the once constant drilling of machinery had gone quiet. For about half a century, the remaining survivors would band together in small pockets of nomadic societies, scavenging in their own cities and mines for food, resources, and metal. Spanning the spaces between their settlements and mines was now impossible.

During this period, the orbital decay of low orbiting satellites, such as cargo ships meant for receiving and transporting several tons of material, would fall back to the planet, creating somewhat rare but constant and destructive impacts on the surface.

Second Era (70-210)

After the initial collapse, the very beginnings of the now prominent districts of Saxum would begin to take form. Infrastructure sees its beginnings here as well, with the first crop and oil farms, albeit rudimentary.

Third Era (210-320)

The districts begin to expand their territories, with technologies slowly being reclaimed. This is when the industrial machines of the old world first see bouts of re-activation, as well as modern robots being able to trace their origins here from tinkerers and scavengers.

Fourth Era (320-410)

Contact is made with the other districts as they become aware of each others' existences. However, their apparent differences makes them hesitant to trust one another, so while they do trade and begin establishing the first interconnected economy, they do so with suspicion and distrust.

Fifth Era (410-550)

The first genuine conflicts between districts break out, and societies begin to see destruction or absorption into larger districts. War becomes common, an arms race becoming inevitable. The rebirth of large scale industry sees its birthplace here.

Industrial War Era (550-610)

Developments in technology become rapid. It is at this point that arms, artillery, and resource harvesting become completely industrialized and produced en masse. Guns, arms, artillery, tanks, and much more become commonplace.

Seventh Era (610-640)

As what started as dozens of districts now becomes the main seven seen today, it is here that Saxum sees its bloodiest and most explosive conflict, a full-scale continental war. With cities seeing sieges and destruction, the use of destructive weapons goes into consideration, but no weapon is launched as every district has access to some form of weapon of mass destruction, and fearing mutually assured destruction, seek alternative means.

Resource War & Champion Era (640-730)

Nowhere near the several billions in population they had prior the collapse, and now with the war meaning armed conflict becoming less then ideal for keeping their numbers healthy, the strongest and most notable of the Mekka units in each district are instead chosen as champions to fight for their district. Champions are accompanied by a small squadron to build, improve, and repair their Mekkas. This is the precursor to modern squads.

Modern Era (730-Today)

Over a hundred years since the champions have ruled the battlefront, the resource war is mostly resolved, and the districts of Saxum enter a state of general stability and peace, albeit an anxious one. However, the champions are regarded as heroes and integral to each district's respective culture, and as such, to celebrate, Mekkas slowly become widespread in small scale ceremonial events a la gladiatorial combat. Eventually, this culture reaches the cities and capitals of the districts, and is incorporated into a private economy held by the districts in becoming what it is today as the tournament.

This has been the case for the last hundred years, and it only ever becomes bigger and more a part of the day to day culture of Saxum, with modern technologies allowing viewers to listen in on radio signals, or locally through television. Saxum today is home to nearly a billion individuals, a far cry from the few hundred thousand they once were after the collapse, all thanks to the general peace and developments in technology.

Before the war, the Alkali-Halogen system was a sizeable mining and depot colony, serving as a hub of corporate production. People mostly came to Alkali for work in the mines and shipping materials in and out of the planet, to the point this work was all their lives were. To that extent, many of those who worked in shipping materials and managing the warehouses began to develop their own dialect developed from their unique jargon, and it eventually became its own language.

Tailblazerz as a whole takes place in an alternative timeline to my other story, Espionauts, where a large scale war between the Solarians and Rev's terrorist organization took place during humanity's expansion into the cosmos. In this timeline, Rev wins, the only way of possibly doing so however being mutually assured destruction using the xenolith energy he and the Solarians are known for. The Galaxy as a whole is shattered with millions of star systems blown into pieces from the residual blasts of xenolith energy, which to this day can still be seen in the night sky as green nebula-like formations. The Solarians are functionally extinct, but so are all other major civilizations, at best all brought back to the stone age and forced to redevelop again.

The war completely disconnected worlds from one another and brought extinction level events, Alkali was no exception.