Zion

From Acw

Zion was the name of the city and region now known as Gorky Nov, on New Ukraine in the Chimera System. The city is set on the barren charcoal-like soils of New Ukraine's northern continent, but has supported itself throughout its history by extensive hydroponics, and by trading the iron ore and bauxite from nearby rich deposits.

Origins and Settlement

A private corporation set up by the American Neo-Zionist movement set down on the Northern continent in 2173, in the period when space-travel was becoming affordable for private organisations. Having failed to secure a Middle-Eastern homeland, the Neo-Zionists hoped to build a new Jewish homeland on New Ukraine, and, despite the barrenness of the Northern soil, were able to survive and prosper, relying on income from the rich bauxite and iron mines in the surrounding area to support their subsistence hydroponics operations. The choice of New Ukraine was also, in part, an effort to protect themselves from the hostile Fourth Reich, which was forbidden by treaty from sending military vessels into orbit around the planet, since the Battle of New Ukraine.

The Two Weeks War

For 50 years, the colony of Zion struggled along, until, in the wake of the Second Kulak Suppression, General Kolikoff made the unilateral decision that the Zionists, benefiting from their protection, should be forced to pay for it and presented the Zionists with a demand to pay, with a month to reply.

Zion turned immediately to America, the nation from which it had come, for assistance. However, America was engaged in a trade negotiation with the Nazis, and assisting the Jews was perceived as being likely to offend them. In addition, the New Zion Corporation had failed to pay what the IRS considered its fair share of tax, and had previously refused to assist American military vessels or serve in the military themselves. America let them know that as far as it was concerned, they were a sovereign nation, and good luck to them. Kolikoff, not expecting this turn of events, now saw a chance to unify all of New Ukraine under Russian rule, and from his Kiev II base launched a full-scale invasion of Zion 14 days before his terms ran out - but before the colonists had a chance to appeal to the potentially sympathetic British.

Zion was well-armed, however, in preparation for the long-feared Nazi invasion, and the Two Weeks War (Named for the betrayed treaty, but which actually lasted more than three months before subsiding into 30 more years of intermittent guerilla warfare) was one of the bloodiest and most vicious ever seen, with names like the Battle of Judea Spaceport and Tel Golan remembered today as expressions of man's inhumanity to man.

Gorky Nov

A year after the Soviets claimed victory, a referendum was held in the city to the sound of continuing bombings and gunfire. All citizens with membership in the Communist party were to vote on a new constitution, flag and name for the city. With former Zionists being denied registration as a matter of course, the refererendum's progress was assured, and the city's name was officially changed to Gorky Nov.