History of this World

American Imperial ambitions, justified as part of the war on Communism, terrorism, and narcotics, kill hundreds of thousands. American veterans return home dismembered and maimed, driving the demand for cyberware.

A savage drug war breaks out between Euro-corp-backed dealers and DEA all over the Americas.

U.S., European Community, and the Neo-Soviets start a new space race, seeking economic and military advantages over each other.

A legendary force in the "populist rock" movement, his stage name was adopted as the term for any musician or other artist who took up the gauntlet for political change.

The framework of the NET put firmly in place with construction of the WorldSat network.

U.S. invades Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela. The War is a disaster that costs many American lives and leaves thousands of troops to struggle home on their own.

SovOil and Petrochem fail to negotiate with each other over newly discovered oil fields in the South China Sea and begin blowing each other up instead. Even cynical observers are shocked at the level of violence.

Euro Aquacorp CINO attempts to acquire bankrupt Aquacorp IHAG. Rival Aquacorp OTEC attempts to act as "white knight" in the hostile takeover. As both Corps line up allies, a dangerous war both on and below the sea begins.

Covert operations explode into a shooting war as Arasaka and Militech move front line troops into battle. The ensuing conflict involves operations all over the globe, with heavy combat in major cities worldwide.

As the ground, Sea, and Space Wars reached a fever pitch, the NET became its own tactical battleground. During the Shadow War, Militech, concerned that Arasaka Netrunners and their Soulkiller programs would bury it, conducted a series of hits (some virtually headed up by Rache Bartmoss himself) to "whittle down" the Arasaka NET cadre. This strategy was more successful than Militech knew for a time. As a result, neither side retained the resources to conduct broad offensives in the NET (at least, not at first) and most NET combat was limited to localized battles around strike sites to deny the NET to the enemy. While even these small-scale NET attacks disrupted local business databases, the mass-attack Netruns or virus bombs many theorists feared didn't immediately materialize.

Following Rache Bartmoss death, two weeks later the deadly computer virus DataKrash get released through a dead man switch, takes over and dismantles the NET from the inside.   Though, aware of the virus' potential, Saburo Arasaka sets out to create a secure database of uninfected knowledge in the new Arasaka Towers facility in Night City.

Container ship and air travel have been totally disrupted. Supplies and food sit on the docks worldwide, unable to reach stores, factories, or suppliers. Many Megacorps totally collapse.

The Night City holocaust was the last straw. Within hours, then-U.S. President Elizabeth Kress nationalized Militech, placing it thoroughly under the control of the still sizable United States military, and banished all Arasaka forces from the continental U.S. under the threat of a retaliatory strike on Arasaka's Tokyo headquarters. Other nations swiftly followed the U.S.'s lead, nationalizing and/or interdicting assets of both participants of the War.   The War was finally over. Now came the Aftermath.

Netwatch attempts to clear out the R.A.B.I.D.S. and reestablish the Old NET. After a losing threeyear battle, they give up and shut down all the major Nodes into the Old NET (although some Netrunners still try to go there to loot the abandoned systems).