Sunscorch
From Soloralwiki
Sunscorch is one of the alternate versions of Micras that the Control of Destiny Team visits in Control of Destiny 2. Like all alternate dimensions in that game, Sunscorch was created as a result of the effects of the first Control of Destiny Campaign and represents a "what if" scenario.
In Sunscorch, a successful Jasonian assassination of the Audente team that was developing Ultima stopped Audentior from being able to destroy Jasonia quickly. However, Jasonia knew that Audentior was still militarily stronger than they were and the small nation of Aquata was growing quickly in the icy environment. They developed a superweapon known as the Fire Cannon but all of their attempts to power the device failed. That is, until the Terra's Prayer was uncovered in southern Maraguo. Jasonia Palace built a large-scale aiming station of the Fire Cannon / Terra's Prayer weapon, aimed the flying nation directly at Airosamente, and fired the weapon.
The wild release of Terra's Prayer energy into the Fire Cannon utterly annhilated the weapon. It exploded with impact force, killing at least 90% of the inhabitants of Jasonia outright and causing untold further death as the flying nation crashed back to the ground. Other countries around the world were hit with blasting force, tsunamis, and eventual massive-scale climate shifts that scorched most of the planet uninhabilitable.
The war was immediately ended - most countries worldwide were simply wiped out. Within the next hundred years most of human knowledge was totally lost and became associated with evil times and evil hearts. The survivors built new cities out of the ruins and established minor kingdoms and fought meaningless battles for territory. One of the more succeful was the the kingdom of Lekuan of Jasonia. They boasted that the Terra's Prayer crystal was under their protection. It wasn't until later that they realized the crystal had saturated the entire mountaintop in a magical statis field when it destroyed Jasonia, so that removing the crystal caused a dimensional gateway to send the entire city of Lekuan into a state of dimensional flux - essentially nonexistance. This secret was known only to a few in Lekuan - they guarded the Terra's Prayer not to control it but because it controlled them.
Lekuan had solidified its position as the most powerful city-state: all others in the territory were under its full economic influence, making actual military invasion unnecessary and unprofitable. That was until sixty years before Control of Destiny 2 started - the day that an accident opened the first interdimensional portal that sent the capital of the Aquatan Empire from Snowbound straight into Sunscorch - and straight into lowland Nelaga.
Lekuan met the new arrivals with suspicion, declaring treaties of peace but strenghtening their defenses and army. The Aquatans were a cautious and private lot, but seemed to be up to no trouble. King Roruk Lekuan, Erika Lekuan's father, had a healthy friendship with Earl Waldock, Aquata's strongest general. Both city-states watched the surrounding territories of Kajar and Thassala, wanting to keep them within their spheres of influence, but were unwilling to actually invade and spark off a Lekuan-Aquata war.
16 years before the start of CoD2. The entire Lekuan royal family - King, queen, and two daughters - were traveling with an escort down the Urojea moutain during a fierce lightning storm when a company of Aquatan soldiers, lead by Earl Waldock, attacked them. The two sides tell the story differently; Aquata claims they had reports of bandits in the area threatening Aquatan traders while the Lekuans claim the attack was a deliberate ambush, but when the storm ended the Lekuan queen and eldest daughter were gone. The Lekuans assumed ransom. The Aquatans denied having them as prisoners outright. The Lekuans said they didn't belive that. That Aquatans said they didn't much care. Was broke out within the week. Earl Waldock resigned in protest of what he had been forced to do. His son, Awaldock, lead the Aquatan military efforts despite Earl's wishes.
The war was essentially a cold war; though technically both cities were at war for the past sixteen years, neither city was willing to field large armies, but instead tried to influence Kajar and Thassala. After a particularly fierce battle in downtown Thassala in which Awaldock nearly killed Erika, Thassala employed a large mercenary force and set up a dictorship to keep itself safe. Kajar set up a town guard but knew they had little chance against outright invasion.
Control of Destiny two begins several days after an Aquatan-employed thief successfully infltrated Lekuan and stole the Terra's Prayer, causing the city of Lekuan to vanish. The Aquatans began a large number of schemes to return to their home dimension but were not prepared for the Control of Destiny Team's arrival.
