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NOVAYA ZEMLYA - TIMELINE
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Disclaimer:
The plot of this game, as-with a lot of my other games, takes
place in a modified version of the Cyberpunk 2013/2020 timeline.
The writers didn't detail a lot of things for understandable
reasons, because of that I'm taking creative liberties and
adding my own details.
I never did play the newer games, 3.0/Red/2077 didn't have much
appeal to me, so if my stuff contradicts their stuff then you
now know why.
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December 25, 1991
Mikhail Gorbachev resigns from his position as the Soviet
president and Commander-in-Chief. Unable to successfully
dissolve the Soviet Union, his appointee Andrei Gorborev is
tasked with continuing his policy of state reforms.
December 25, 1994
Gorborev announces that the Union of Soviet Socalist Republics
is to be reformed as the Union of Soverign Soviet Republics, a
new suprenational union allowing each member state to direct
their own major aspects such as trade, militaries, and foreign
policy while staying united within a free trade zone. The
largest producer of cash, the oil and coal industries, are to be
controlled under a single administration.
Many are happy with this news, excited at the possible
advancements in things such as technology that the old Soviet
state was causing to stay far behind the rest of the developed
world, but communist hard-liners and memebrs of former agencies
such as the KGB don't take this news very well.
June 5th, 1995
The Neo-Soviets are struggling with their "single
administration" plan, many states arguing that the committee
provides large producers an unfair advantage in power while
others claim that the opposite. Tired of the bickering, Gorborev
names the Siberian delegate - Anatoly Novikovo - as the director
for a reformed State Oil Industries.
December 30th, 1995
Novikovo announces his final appointments with Yarno Kurgasyn,
a delegate to the committee from Kazakhstan, as his deputy
director. With two of the largest oil-producing regions at the
head of this reformed committee, a push is generated by the
powers towards incorporation as the Soviet State Oil Industries
(KeroSov).
1996
KeroSov, pushing lots of money into expansion and modernization,
quickly outpaces the rest of the world when it comes to oil
production. Novikovo, Kurgasyn, and other high-ups within the
company start gaining personal wealth at a rate faster than any
others within the Neo-Soviet republic.
January 6, 1997
Novikovo, Kurgasyn, and other members of KeroSov organize a
meeting with Gorborev and the oligarchs of the Neo-Soviet
Federal Central Committee. They state that being tied to the
republic itself is hindering their progress, the company needs
to break off to capitalize on the lack of oil in the west due to
the ongoing Mideast Meltdown, and that the company will still
chip into the republic itself thorugh things such as taxes.
Gorborev doesn't mind this proposal, he views it as favorable
since he knows that effects from the Crash of '94 have all but
halved the available oil supplies to the western world, but
the oligarchs who were used to state agencies pre-Gorborev are
opposed. After a day of negotiations, mainly promises to pay
these oligarchs a percentage of generated profits, Gorborev lets
KeroSov become the Neo-Soviet Oil Combine, also known as SovOil.
January 10, 1997
The mentioned "communist hard-liners and members of former
agencies such as the KGB" attempt a coup against the government.
They strike every major city in the republic using explosives,
chemical weapons, and low-yield tactical nuclear weapons.
They fail to do any serious damage, most view them as terrorists
holding onto extreme ideas from past days, but these "Nights of
Fire" will continue for years to come.
The Moscow Refinery and Yaroslavl Refinery are damaged as a part
of these initial attacks, the former being rendered inoperable
without serious repair and the latter completely destroyed.
January 12, 1997
SovOil makes an appearance in front of Gorborev and the Federal
Central Committee. Novikovo is angry that the Russian army
didn't forsee the Nights of Fire. He says that SovOil should be
allowd its own private securiry force, arguing that there's no
way the greater Soviet militaries could protect all SovOil
company assets if the largest force couldn't help defend
against the destruction of nearly 500,000 barrels-per-day of
production capacity.
The committee grants their request and Sergei Kirsanov is
appointed commander of SovOil's new secuirty forces.
August, 1997
The oligarch leaders of SovOil recognize a major issue: Despite
having control of all Neo-Soviet wells, said wells will only
recover a fraction of the vast fields of oil. Expansion and
modernization have helped but won't keep the money coming in
forever. Their meeting produces three new projects:
* The HEST, Hazardous Environment Science Team, is formed by
Novikovo's suggestion that his home of Siberia contains tons of
untapped potential. The company normaly refused to send their
geologists off into the wilderness, not wanting to lose science
teams to things like nature, but figured that a voluenteer-only
team which does venture off into the unknown would be helpful.
* The annual Display of Innovation, a public event where the
corporation shows their new technologies to the media and public
in an effort to keep investments flowing in.
* A secret plot to look into how they may be able to turn the
corporation into a private entity, secceeding from all ties left
to the central committee itself, and becoming independent.
The HEST is secretly tied to the seccession plot, the idea
being that scientists doing geological scouting will also gather
good data regarding potential new bases outside the reach of the
Neo-Soviets.
March 1st, 1998
A HEST recruitment memo goes out to all scientists working with
SovOil. It promises a doubled salary, six months of vacations,
"military-grade training", and travel opportunities in exchange
for a willingness to go do geological survey where few men have
before. Sixteen people sign up and are now labeled HEST-1.
December 25, 1998
The first Display of Innovation takes place in Moscow. The
corporation showcases their process for retrieving oil, their
developments over the ways which the United States and Middle
East were using ten years before, ther innovations in protective
equipment for workers, and their advancements in using computers
to assist their work. Many are impressed, interest and
investment in the company spiking compared to previous years.
Novikovo gives a large portion of this new money to the security
force, encouraging Kirsanov to start looking into new arms and
armor for "an upcoming thorn in SovOil's side".
September 10th, 1999
HEST-1 finishes their training.
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LAST UPDATE: NOVEMBER 23, 2024
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