Sera is the planet where the Gears of War series takes place. A habitable planet with a 26 hour day, its terrain consists of a few very large continents, as well as several small island chains. The planet is orbited by a single moon.
Sera had a history of conflict that took it and its inhabitants to the brink of destruction. This shocked the people into a rejection of their destructive ways, leading to a golden age. Although most conflict was solved peacefully, civil liberties and crime remained as troublesome social issues. A golden age of peace, culture, science, and the arts ensued, yet one problem still stood prominent: energy. Sera's sources of fossil and nuclear fuels were not sufficient to meet the rising global demand.
Imulsion - with its promise of near limitless energy - was thought to be the solution to mankind's increasing need for energy. Imulsion quickly became a key power source. However, the discovery of Imulsion caused a power shift on Sera, and the economic shockwave led to several wars between nations who began to fight over Imulsion in order to preserve their wealth. The conflict that ensued, known as the Pendulum Wars, raged on for several decades.
Also beneath the surface of Sera exists the Hollow, virtually unknown to most humans until Emergence Day. The Hollow is the home of the Locust Horde and the Lambent.
Pre-Emergence Day, Sera was host to many cultures and nations, including the world's two superpowers: the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) and the Union of Independent Republics (UIR). Members of the COG included Tyrus, based in Ephyra on the Jacinto Plateau, and Sarfuth. The UIR consisted of the highly militarized nation of Pelles and the coastal nation of the Ostri Republic. South of the Main Continent on Sera are the South Islands. The Islands are independent from each other and have many stark differences in culture and tradition. It should also be noted that the South Islands lost contact when E-Day struck; many of the Islanders took to the sea when Locust attacked and returned when the Locust left.
History of Sera
Age of Armageddon
Sera has a history of conflict that took the planet to the brink of destruction. The "Age of Armageddon" was a millennia-long global conflict which nearly destroyed the human race. At some point, the people of Sera rejected their destructive ways and the very concept of war, ushering in an era of peace and prosperity.
Silver Era
The Silver Era was an era of sword and chariot-based warfare. Kashkur and Gorasnaya both founded empires during this era and conquered the lands around their native homelands. For both empires it was their golden age: Kashkur used their silver mines to fuel their empire and built Anvil Gate to protect their southern borders from enemy invaders; the Gorasnya Empire controlled a population of four hundred million, before losing control and returning to its native borders. Ephyra City during this time was only a village with homes made out of manure.
Era of Silence
The Era of Silence was a period of uninterrupted peace that lasted until the Pendulum Wars. Although most conflict was solved peacefully, civil liberties and crime remained troublesome social issues even in a Golden Age of culture, science, and the arts. Yet one problem stood prominent above the rest: energy. Sera's sources of petroleum and nuclear fuel were not sufficient to meet the global demand. Imulsion, with its promise of near limitless energy, was thought to be the solution to mankind's greatest need. The era ended with the onset of the Gold Rush.
Pendulum Wars
Following the perfection of the Lightmass Process, the hope that cheap energy would perpetuate the Golden Age was shattered. The global economy crumbled, leaving only the few nations with access to Imulsion unscathed. Nations without Imulsion, faced with an economic collapse and utter ruin, decisively launched an invasion against their neighbors to obtain that key resource; once again, Sera was going to war. The battle lines were drawn between the Union of Independent Republics and the Coalition of Ordered Governments. The seventy-nine year war, which would be referred to as the Pendulum Wars by the whole of Sera, almost destroyed both factions and Sera itself, with the reemergence of weapons of mass destruction. The environment was significantly damaged and several cities were completely leveled, as seen with the city of Berephus during the prelude to Operation: Leveler when a COG Navy unit bombarded the city. There were some areas that were completely devastated by the war, just torn apart and scorched from gunfire, cannons, missiles, bombs, other conventional weapons, and the aforementioned reemergence of the use of weapons of mass destruction. After the battle of Aspho Fields, the Pendulum Wars came to an eventual close, with a heavy price on the people of Sera. It seemed that under the Coalition of Ordered Governments, Sera could enter a second Golden Age.
Emergence Day and aftermath
Nearly 79 years after the Pendulum Wars began, almost all human cities came under surprise attack by the the Locust Horde, who killed over a quarter of all human life on Sera within the first 26 hours: an attack now known as Emergence Day. The COG sent several million humans to Jacinto Plateau, one of the few safe refuges on the planet. They then proceeded to scorch and destroy the planet with chemicals and satellite fire in order to prevent the Locust from inhabiting Sera’s surface, killing billions more humans and stranding the survivors.
Sera’s surface became littered with the ruins of destroyed cities and war-scorched battlefields. Some humans, known as "Stranded", still inhabited Sera’s fallen cities. Despite small patrols of Locust forces, people were still relatively safe by day. Night was another matter entirely: the planet’s skies were filled by swarms of deadly bat-like creatures known as the Kryll. They attack and devour any living creature that wanders into the darkness, even Locust. Fortunately for humanity, since the Lightmass Offensive at Timgad Valley, the majority of the Kryll, along with the Outer Hollow, were destroyed.
Towards the end of Operation Hollow Storm, the last human safe point, Jacinto, was sunk by the COG so that the Inner Hollow would be flooded with seawater. It was the COG's hope that this act, while a serious blow to the humans, would completely destroy the Locust.
By the 15th year of the war it was believed that up to 99% of the human race was killed in the war. The Remnants of the COG heading towards Port Farrall, an old port city, where they would establish their new capital. However, sub-zero weather, defection to the Stranded, and Locust raids forced from what little appeared to remain of the Horde forced the COG to relocate to the Lesser Islands chain where there was an old abandoned military based called Vectes Naval Base which still housed a small COG community of civilians and was safe from Locust attack due to an abyssal trench. After reclaiming the forgotten island and destroying the local Stranded group, the COG discovered the remnants of the UIR, hailing from the Gorasnaya. The UIR negotiated with Chairman Richard Prescott to join what was left of the COG in exchange for Imulsion.
Lambent Pandemic
Despite the Stranded Insurgency, things worked fine for a few months until a new, worse enemy than the Locust emerged: the Lambent, mutated creatures mostly of Locust origin who became infected with Imulsion and had started a civil war with the Locust that they were winning. This was what was forcing the Locust to the surface and started off the Locust War. The Lambent proved to be a hard foe to deal with as there were many different types and unlike the Locust, they were able to invade the safe-haven of Vectes Island. The threat of the Lambent Pandemic led to the end of the Stranded Insurgency and the uniting of the Stranded and the COG to defend Vectes after which the Stranded abandoned the island. Ultimately the Lambent invasion forced the COG to abandon Vectes and the COG disbanded while the Gorasnayans went their own way to try to survive in what was left of their homeland.
Eighteen months later, Chairman Richard Prescott returned from his disappearance and brought a message for Marcus Fenix from his believed dead father Adam Fenix, revealing he'd developed a weapon to kill Imulsion which is revealed to be a living, parasitical organism and all those heavily infected by it such as the Lambent and the Locust. At the Second Battle of Azura, the combined forces of Delta Squad and Gorasni reinforcements battled the remainder of the Locust army and the Lambent and Adam deployed his weapon, killing all Locust and Lambent and finally bringing peace to Sera.
Postwar Sera
In the years since the Locust and Lambent were wiped out, humanity has been working toward the daunting task of trying to rebuild Sera. Without Imulsion, the COG had to fall back on other methods of power that had been rendered obsolete by Imulsion. Even with a greatly diminished population, the Coalition faces an energy crisis.
Though humanity attempts to rebuild, most of Sera's surface has been irreversibly damaged and scarred, leaving very little habitable land. Highly destructive weather phenomena known as "windflares" also pose great risk; these are violent storms that bombard the land with continuous streams of lightning.
Environment
Pre-Emergence Day
The Seran environment was vast and diverse. A massive mountain range was in Eastern Central Massif, which included Kashkur, Republic of Lauczi, and Vasgar. Pesang and the Shaoshi people were hill people that depended on the land and water. In the 62nd year of the Pendulum War, Pesang experienced a drought that had a negative effect on Pesanga people and their farmlands, but the lack of water did not give the Shaoshi a cause for another tribal war. In the South Islands and Lesser Islands chain existed vast tropical islands. In Tyrus, Jacinto Plateau, was a vast mountain range, full of life. A desert existed too on Sera. The outer Hollow was dark and had an abundance of Imulsion and was mined by the humans. The Inner Hollows had greater life and more Hollow creatures including the Rockworm and Riftworm. The Inner Hollow included more biological life and included lakes where fish and Leviathans lived. Weather on Sera could reach extremes at times, such as razorhail.
Post E-Day
After the Locust invasion of the surface and the Hammer of Dawn counterattack, 90% of the Seran surface was destroyed by the Hammer of Dawn satellites and chemical weapons by the COG nation of Tyrus. The attack created the Deadlands and turned a Human city into an area called Char. Areas outside of the mainland were spared including minor South Islands and some Lesser Islands chain (Vectes and Branascu). Almost all of Sera except some regions Jacinto Plateau and several isolated islands was dead, Bernadette Mataki did not see any human settlement left from the attack when she reached the main continents from the South Islands, where some were spared from the HoD attacks. Inside Jacinto Plateau, the natural environment stilled survived somewhat, with the Kryll killing anything at night from human to Locust and including animals, until their extinction in the Lightmass Offensive, which destroyed a mountain range and the Outer Hollows. During Operation: Hollow Storm and the endgame of the Siege of Jacinto, the Inner Hollow was flooded, presumably drowning most hollow creatures along with any Locust inside, although many creatures used by the locust did survive the flooding. Around Port Farrall, winter was still hard hitting.
When the Lambent Pandemic spread to the surface, Stalks would emerge from the surface and attack anything non-lambent, invading the natural environment and killing sea creatures and taking over the center of Vectes Island.