December Update 2: The Flood of the Greens news - Rise of the Reds mod for C&C: Generals Zero Hour

Greetings Everyone.
Welcome to this weeks update.

As we're mentioned some time ago, we will be issuing some major retcons to all the factions lore, and position in the world. Today, we are proud to publish the first of these, a new breakdown of the GLA's backstory.

We hope you enjoy 😊

The Global Liberation Army - A Re-introduction

In the 1980s, a soldier from the Kazakh Soviet Republic was sent to fight in Afghanistan. There, he found himself conflicted over the brutal tactics that his army employed against the local resistance, but more so against the Afghan people, many of whom he came to regard as part of his own kin. He chose to leave his old life behind and joined them in their struggle for faith and independence. To his friends, he became known as Mohmar. To his enemies, he became feared as Deathstrike.

Several years later, after the end of the war and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Mohmar had come to understand that this would not be the last fight over Afghanistan, a nation rich with untapped resources coveted by outside powers. This cursed blessing was also shared by his homeland and the other newly independent republics of Central Asia, which for much of their history had been tossed and torn between the powerful empires around them. It was from this observation that he developed his dream of an army without borders, of many races united in one faith, to protect the sovereignty of their ancestral homelands against foreign invaders – a Global Liberation Army.

Early into the 21st century, Mohmar’s prediction had proven correct. Following what he regarded as an act of vengeance and resistance against the United States of America, the mightiest of all imperialist powers, foreign soldiers once again invaded Afghanistan, invaded Iraq, and without a doubt in his mind, already planned their next conquest. By this time, he had become a popular figure himself, a legendary insurgent who had travelled through Asia, Arabia and Africa to fight alongside those who suffered at the receiving ends of these invasions, the downtrodden and desperate who shared his dream of liberation. From these many friends and followers, he formed his own army.

In the mid-2010s, political upheavals in Kazakhstan gave Mohmar and his allies the opportunity they had been waiting for. After taking control of the country in a violent uprising and repelling an ill-fated intervention by the Russian Federation, which sought to keep a hold of its post-Soviet neighbour, the GLA turned its attention to the east. Across the border, at the remote periphery of China, fellow believers struggled for independence since the 1930s. Taking advantage of a corrupt clique within the local Chinese security apparatus, the GLA helped itself to a small stockpile of nuclear weapons and embedded its operatives in many major cities, bringing death and terror to the Chinese leaders and their people in October 2019.

In doing so, Mohmar hoped to lure the Chinese into the vast steppes and rugged mountains of Central Asia, where the GLA’s unrelenting resistance would bleed them white, to share the same fate as the Soviets had in Afghanistan. Meanwhile in the Middle East, the regional arm of the GLA, led by Mohmar’s right-hand man Anwar Sulaymaan, escalated the violence and chaos of a conflict-torn region to provoke its rival powers into an open confrontation. This prompted intervention by the US, whose forces became entrapped in another decade of costly occupations and counter-insurgency, following their earlier incursions into the region.

By the late 2020s, China and the US had succeeded in expelling the GLA, at the cost of tens of thousands of soldiers and destroying most of the region, only for its senior leaders to remain at large. In 2028, the US government surrendered to the outcry of its own war-weary population and withdrew itself from the conflict, leaving the cities of a defenceless Europe to be ravaged in a mass insurrection. The government of Germany, the country most overwhelmed by the attack, called upon the Chinese to assist, compelling them to extend their forces beyond capacity. In the end, the GLA was forced to abandon Europe, but now it had the opportunity to entrench itself in Africa, conquering large swaths of territory from the Mediterranean to the Congo River with no other power left to oppose it.

The legendary Mohmar had grown old, weary and senile by this point, his army divided between numerous cliques that styled themselves as petty presidents and quasi-feudal lords of conquered states and nations of their own imagination. His lonesome, undignified death marked the beginning of open infighting that tore the GLA asunder and in 2037, the vengeful Europeans came to Africa to impose their own sphere of influence in the north and west of the continent, soon to be followed by the other foreign powers who would eventually contain the GLA in the central rainforests.

Isolated in the steamy, sickness-filled jungles, the organisation was expected to finally perish as quietly as its founder did. However, Mohmar’s trusted lieutenant Sulaymaan had other plans. Drawing upon his most loyal followers, who had remained at his side through all defeats, betrayals and temptations, he rallied the warring factions through relentless force and cunning. Dormant networks of sleeper agents, sympathisers and criminal contacts, built meticulously through half a century, were reactivated to run a global shadow economy for contraband, secret information and illegal services from fraud and trafficking to paid assassinations and military aid. Acting through puppet organisations and corrupt bureaucrats of various states, the GLA became the spider of the dark web, a syndicate of organised crime commanding enormous resources, whose secret, plausibly deniable services were even requested by governments, intelligence services and corporations who would rarely find out about the true allegiance of their “independent” contractors.

No longer an army of many races united in one faith, the new GLA of the late 2030s became an army of many faiths united in one goal, to stand for itself against all the great hegemonial powers that had divided the entire world amongst each other. To this effect, Sulaymaan opened the ranks of the organisation to every kind of ideology and extremism as long as it served the GLA’s own interest for expansion, survival and power. Militant anarchists from America and Europe, exiled separatists and counter-governments, mercenary soldiers of fortune, religious extremists and doomsday cultists which saw a surge of activity in a world of advancing climate change – all could come to the GLA’s self-proclaimed haven territory in Central Africa to build and organise their various activities and struggles. This area goes by many informal names, from the unclaimed land of Terra Nullius, to Pandemonium, the capital of Hell, although many simply refer to it as “the Zone”.

Besides this physical base of operations, many if not most associates of the GLA connect to each other by digital means from the secrecy of their own homes in virtually every country on the planet. This has led to a fracturing of the World Wide Web into several disconnected intranets controlled by the most powerful states and blocs, reflecting their division of the analogue world. Even the supposed freest of societies have passed sweeping legislation to control the flow of digital information and monitor their citizens, while those who expose the errors and excesses of these practices frequently face severe prosecution. Thus, in a most cynical twist, the GLA has also become a safeguard for many whistleblowers and activists who seek to escape the grasp of overbearing state authorities.

Having drawn their spheres of influence across the whole of Africa by 2040, China and the US joined their forces in an attempt to dislodge their Russian rivals, suffering a bitter defeat in the process. Russia’s victory was short-lived however, as the new fighting forces of the GLA emerged from hidden bases and conquered much of the territory that the three powers had previously fought over. During the previous war, the GLA relied primarily on captured weaponry and occupied facilities to house its operations. Now, its secure hideouts in remote jungles and mountains reach deep underground, housing thousands of fighters, workers and families, a whole society dedicated to struggle and survival. Renegade scientists, engineers and officers from several frail and fallen states have brought their skills and expertise to the creation of a crude industrial base, capable of producing their own weapons whose free-access designs proliferate around the world.

By the mid-2040s, new conflicts loom in Europe and Asia. In their insatiable greed for profit and supremacy, the imperialists are turning on each other and any clash between them would create new opportunities for the GLA to take advantage…

Story text written by: MARS2588

For many years, international perception of the Global Liberation Army's most terrifying attack capabilities fixated on their relatively small arsenal of Scud missiles and bio-chemical weapons. This has changed with the re-emergence of a united GLA leadership in the late 2030s which brought with it the development of a crude but surprisingly effective industrial base. Since then, the organisation has not only gained the capability to maintain and operate its own aircraft - it is now also able to produce significant quantities of rockets and missiles, built to original, semi-standardised specifications.

Commonly known as "flying bombs", these cruise missiles with low-tech pulse engines and primitive guidance systems heavily resemble historic designs from the 1940s and it is assumed that GLA engineers consciously adapted these designs for both practical and propagandistic reasons. When fired from a dedicated Launch Base, the bombs can reach any location in a typical area of operations, although their limited controls only allow them to be used effectively against stationary targets. Once airborne, the bombs produce a distinct buzzing noise from their engines, announcing their approach from afar, and their slow travel speed makes it possible to intercept them with standard air defence weapons.

It should be noted that the logistical complexity of bomb manufacturing and deployment imposes a limit to how many Launch Bases can operate at the same time. Within this limitation, GLA commanders have demonstrated a variety of tactics in their use of these weapons, from continuous bombardment in synchronised volleys from different directions to launching flying bombs alongside manned aircraft to penetrate air defences, as demonstrated with shocking effect in attacks on the East African Federation and other countries bordering on GLA-controlled territory.

Render Description MARS2588

How was that for a big update? You've got an insanely powerful new GLA weapon of terror, and a whole retelling of the GLA's story going forward in Rise of the Reds. We really hope you've enjoyed this little update, and are enjoying this taste of the new story direction. Beyond story elements we have still been working on the mod. On Friday the lovely Maelstrom hosted our last Rise of the Reds Internal Stream for the year. If you missed it, it is linked below.

See you all next time Generals. Stay Frosty!