SRW OG Plot Overview 1

SRW OG MASTER OVERVIEW, PART 1
Part 1.5: https://pastebin.com/72bHvSBn
Part 2: https://pastebin.com/MJUk3wKa
Part 2.5: https://pastebin.com/xhk6rQDA

Before we get into the game events, let's go over the setting and background a bit. There's more than this, of course, but I'm only going to hit the basic notes of the background timeline that are the most immediately relevant for primer purposes.

THE DOUBLE IMPACT AND THE NETWORK INFERNO
	In 2012 AD, two meteors appear seemingly out of nowhere in satellite orbit over Earth. The first, Meteor-1, hits Manhattan, destroying both New York City and Washington, DC. The second, Meteor-2, hits Moscow and destroys it. (For the record, these meteors are assumed for all intents and purposes to be natural objects, unlike the next meteor centuries later.) This event would later be referred to as the Double Impact. In the aftermath of the Double Impact, information technology regresses back to 1980s levels. This so-called Network Inferno throws the world into a global depression with widespread regional conflicts. In 2015, the Earth Federation Government establishes the New Common Era (NCE), starting the calendar over from year 1.

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EARTH SPHERE
	In NCE 75, after years of advancements into space, humanity builds its first closed-off space colony, Elpis. Almost immediately, there is civil unrest due to botched environmental adaptation procedures performed on the first wave of colonists. As the years march on, there are continual movements for colonial independence, with ensuing violence from all sides. Eventually, a century or so later, these movements for independence get a face in the form of Brian Midcrid, a charismatic politician pushing for autonomy through peaceful means. In NCE 160 he founds NID4, the peaceful colonial liberation movement, and when the ten colonies gain independence in NCE 184, they elect Brian Midcrid to be the first president of the newly formed United Colonies.

	During this time, the Earth Federation has been expanding outward and setting up operations on the moon, Mars, and Jupiter. The area encompassing the Earth, its immediate surrounding colonies, and the moon, comes to be known collectively as the Earth Sphere.

METEOR-3 AND THE AEROGATORS
	In NCE 179, a third meteor hits the Earth, specifically Aidoneus Island... except it's less of a hit and more of a gentle love tap, with none of the tidal waves or other ensuing damage one might expect from a giant mass falling through the Earth's atmosphere and impacting the ocean. Dr. Bian Zoldak leads a body of scientists that investigates this object they call Meteor-3, and he confirms what they suspected going in, that Meteor-3 actually decelerated before impact. What's more, they discover completely alien materials and technologies contained inside of it. These materials and technology are collectively referred to as EOT, or Extra Over Technology.

	Also in NCE 179, the Hiryu, humanity's first deep space exploration vessel, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Daitetsu Minase and his XO Sean Webley, goes on its doomed maiden voyage beyond Pluto's orbit. Almost immediately, it comes under attack by swarms upon swarms of small quadripedal alien weapons codenamed Bugs. They don't respond to hails, and they don't stop coming when destroyed. The Hiryu is forced to pull back and escape, and humanity is confronted for the first time with hard resistance from unknown life beyond their planet. These alien entities are dubbed "Aerogators" (a coined word, likely a combination of "aero" (void) and "rogator" (emissary)).

	In NCE 180, the Federation Government forms an EOT Council comprised of its highest officials to oversee matters related to EOT, and this council appoints Dr. Bian Zoldak to run the Extra Over Technology Inquiry (EOTI) Organization, an assembly of people carrying out research of Meteor-3's EOT on Aidoneus Island in absolute secrecy. Among their findings, they discover plans for articulated mobile weapons around 10 meters tall. Bian is alarmed at this, hypothesizing that this technology was deliberately sent to Earth by intelligent extraterrestrial life, and that Meteor-3's landing was the first step in an alien plan that will eventually culminate in an alien invasion of the Earth.

	Bian sounds the alarm with both the Earth Federation Government and the Earth Federation Military (EFM). Major General Normal Slay of the EFM takes Bian's warning seriously and proposes the Earth Sphere Defense Plan to defend the Earth Sphere against this impending extraterrestrial attack. One cornerstone of this plan is the development of humanoid mobile weapons called "personal troopers" (PTs), robots designed to be able to go up against alien weapons in the event of a war. However, the government is inexplicably skeptical of these claims. The EOT Council continually undermines the EFM's efforts to produce PTs through logistical string-pulling and budget manipulation, and the EFM finds itself being actively stymied in mass-producing its main workhorse, the Gespenst Mk. II.

You got all that? Great! That's where OG1 starts.

Super Robot Wars Original Generation 1: Divine Wars
OG1 is the first game in the series, and it can be divided up into two major arcs involving a small handful of factions. The DC War is split into the Ryusei route and Kyosuke route, which cover different events in the same timeframe.

NCE 186
THE ANTARCTIC INCIDENT
	On November 3, 186, a top secret diplomatic conference is held at a remote Federation base in Antarctica, in which a plenipotentiary reporting to the EOT Council is to negotiate in secret with a fleet of aliens called the Guests. The EOT Council has its own corrupt agenda, which involves effectively selling out the Earth and handing it over to the Guests in return for cushy deals for their own members. The conference is interrupted when Dr. Shu Shirakawa, the recognized representative of the EOTI Organization, abruptly uses his Granzon to open fire on the aliens and wipe out the base. In the immediate aftermath, Dr. Bian Zoldak announces that the EOTI Organization is now the Divine Crusaders, an organization bent on conquest in the name of unifying the world to face the alien threat. This incident and declaration spark what would later be known as the DC War.

NCE 186-187
THE DC WAR
	This is the first half of OG1. The Federation is caught flat-footed by the Divine Crusaders' uprising. The DC is fully outfitted with entire squadrons of flight-capable mobile weapons called armored modules (AMs), while the Federation Military barely has a handful of ground PTs to its name due to government meddling.

	On the ground, DC forces are overtaking EFM bases at every turn due to their overwhelming air superiority. The EFM's jets, tanks, and static cannon emplacements are no match for the DC's Lions, which fly freely around, armed with high-powered railguns. The Federation's only hope of turning the tides is the Hagane, a Space Noah-class battleship designed for revolutionary ISA tactics. (ISA stands for integrated synchronized attacks; basically, it's a fancy term for "boats that carry super robots".) While the DC forces are steadily advancing on the Federation's seat of power in Geneva, the Hagane, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Daitetsu Minase and XO Captain Tetsuya Onodera, launches a last-ditch thrust at the heart of the DC, Aidoneus Island in the South Pacific. There, Dr. Bian Zoldak makes a last stand in person, piloting his ultimate creation, the Valsion. When he dies, his last words are a lament that he couldn't see his daughter one last time. This campaign also served as a proving grounds for the newly-formed SRX Team, which served in the Hagane's strike team roster.

	At the same time as the DC launches its revolt on Earth, the United Colony Corps (UCC) launches a revolt in space (The UCC is what the Federation's former spacefleet and colony garrisons were formed into when the colonies gained independence in NCE 184). Supreme Commander Maier V. Branstein's first move is to bring the Federation's satellites in space offline, solidifying the UCC's space superiority and hampering efforts to track the DC planetside. The Hiryu Custom, now captained by Lieutenant Colonel Lefina Enfield with Sean Webley continuing to serve as XO, makes a daring launch into space, where it ventures alone into enemy territory, restores the EFM's satellite communications, rescues the deposed President Brian Midcrid, and pushes to Elpis, the seat of the United Colonies' power. Ultimately, Maier V. Branstein chooses to go down with the Macht, the flagship of the UCC, in a defeat once again perfectly coinciding with the defeat of Bian Zoldak on the ground. This campaign puts the Hiryu's main strike force, the newly-formed ATX Team, on the map as a force to be reckoned with.

	Both during the war and after, Kyosuke Nambu of the ATX Team couldn't shake the feeling that the entire scenario was too contrived and forced for his liking. It turns out that he was right—Bian and Maier orchestrated events so that either the world would unify against the DC+UCC and overcome them, thus proving that they were in fighting shape for the alien invasion, or barring that, the DC+UCC would take over and establish a military dictatorship to fight the aliens. Once it was clear that the Federation was winning, Bian and Maier both welcomed their defeat with open arms and ensured that they wouldn't live to be symbols to rally around. This ultimately ends up being a complete abdication of responsibility on Bian and Maier's part in retrospect, as proven by the continued persistence of DC and Neo DC remnants even going as far as Moon Dwellers. Their "noble" decision to step down from the stage of history meant avoiding cleaning up the giant mess they made by starting a civil war without telling anyone it didn't matter who won.

NCE 187
THE DC WAR AFTERMATH
	Following Bian and Maier's demise, a widespread notice is issued to the entire DC and UCC forces, instructing them to lay down arms and surrender immediately. Many do, but many also blatantly ignore it as it suits them. Dr. Adler Koch, being a firm member of the latter camp, deserts Aidoneus during the final engagement and takes it upon himself to muster the remnants of the DC and UCC's forces and consolidate them within the Earth Cradle, a base of operations well-suited for a prolonged conflict. He then leverages his mole in the Federation Military, Lieutenant Colonel Hans Viper, to abduct Princess Shine Hausen, the sovereign of the Principality of Riksent, and he also arranges for the Earth Cradle's facilities to produce fresh Valsion models called Valsion Customs.

	Adler seeks to use his newly-completed Geim System to turn the Valsion Customs' pilots into perfect weapons under the control of their own systems, the first of many mind control plots in this setting. The DC remnants eventually get crushed by the combined might of the Hagane and Hiryu (referred to as the Steel Dragons for ease of reference), and Dr. Sophia Nate, the head administrator of the Earth Cradle, kicks the remainder out and turns them over to the Federation before submerging the facility in order to remove it from the conflict entirely.

THE L5 CAMPAIGN
	In the summer of 187, a giant alien planetoid 40 kilometers in diameter suddenly appears in the Lagrange 5 region of space, kicking off the war that would later called the L5 Campaign. From their fortress of Nevi'im (codenamed the White Star by the Federation), the Aerogators launch devastating attacks on major population centers and destroy the Federation's capital of Geneva, and with it, much of the Federation's top leadership.

	In the middle of active combat fending off Aerogators attacking Beijing, the head of the SRX Team, Major Ingram Plissken, shoots his team in the back at a critical juncture, disrupting operations and leaving one team member, Aya Kobayashi, critically wounded, before defecting to the Aerogators' side. It is revealed that Ingram was a mole working for aliens the entire time, a revelation that brings the Steel Dragons face to face with the harsh reality that the enemy probably knows their military as well as they do. Despite this, the fallout from the defection is relatively small, and the Aerogator forces continually avoid hitting military installations to an eyebrow-raising degree.

	Eventually, the Steel Dragons discover that the Aerogators' goal is mass weaponization of the Earth's populace. By providing the Earth with the technology in Meteor-3, giving them time to develop it, and attacking with obvious provocations, the Aerogators expect to stimulate the Earthlings' combat instincts and drive in order to bring out their true potential. Once this is done, fully cultivated subjects (which they call Gib'ol class specimens) can be captured and recorded into what's basically personality templates that can then be applied to the rest of the population as desired. The Aerogators demonstrated the ability to replicate people and machinery both.

	More disturbingly, they realize that out of the Aerogators' masses upon masses of unmanned machines, the tiny handful of human pilots leading the Aerogators are all captured Earthlings reconditioned into completely different personas than what they originally had. Even Ingram turns out to be under the control of someone else. He speaks of his shackles being released and his nephesh finally being free of a fake body. While nobody stops to ask what a nephesh is, the larger point is that in this entire alien attack, they did not fight a single actual alien, just a bunch of hapless brainwashed victims.

	Foremost among these hapless victims is Levi Torah, AKA Mai Kobayashi, a test subject of the Advanced Neuroscience Institute that was reconditioned into the leader of the Aerogators and the "priestess" of the Judecca, a mobile weapon that doubles as the Nevi'im's control core. Several people, including Mai's sister Aya, have suspicions about Levi's true identity, but they are unable to free her from the Judecca's shackles. The Judecca (or as the Federation calls it, the White Death Cross), gets blown apart in the final engagement of Operation SRW and goes plummeting into the atmosphere... which triggers the real final boss.

	It turns out that Meteor-3 had a failsafe: If human civilization levels pass a certain baseline, Meteor-3 activates and commences mass assimilation of the planet via Zehirut Crystal, an alien mineral capable of regeneration and propagation. The true final battle of the L5 Campaign takes place on Aidoneus Island, where the Steel Dragons have a race against time to destroy Meteor-3 for good before it grows beyond any possibility of stopping it.

	Ultimately, Meteor-3 is destroyed, the Judecca is blown up, all of the Aerogators' human pilots are gone, and the White Star is left just floating in space for lack of anything better to do with a giant 40 kilometer object. So ends the plot of OG1.

	Incidentally, during Operation SRW (the operation to lead an assault on the White Star), a strange giant robot with distinctive metal moustache-like protrusions jutting out of its face is also sighted doing battle against Aerogator forces in the midst of the chaos. The EFM doesn't have any record of it in their databanks and failed in efforts to track it after the fact, so it gets codenamed the Moustacheman and is promptly forgotten about. It's probably not important anyway.