Timeline: The Great War

2/6/2077: The first samples of the Forced Evolutionary Virus are sent to Hawaii, several laboratories and military bases replicate the virus and start using it in experimentation.
3/13/2077: Due to the constant energy cuts and food scarcity riots form around Hawaii, the local riot troops shoot and capture hundreds of citizens suspected of being communist spies and send them to the Hilo State Prison. Military scientists use these prisoners as test subjects with the FEV.
10/23/2077: War sirens sound, the chosen individuals are taken to the two Vaults of Hawaii: The rich people are taken to Vault 211, located under the water; the more regular folk are taken to Vault 207 located in one of the northern beaches of Oahu.
10/23/2077: The Great War happens, it lasts less than three hours but the world is irreversibly changed. America and China devastate each other, when the rest of the nuclear capable countries detect the detonations they also liberate all their nuclear missiles. The world burns.
10/23/2077: Hawaii is hit early and badly. As the focal point of military force projection towards into Asia the islands were subjected to a nuclear barrage that nearly ended all life. The Hawaiian Archipelago is targeted but not all of the islands suffer the same fate.
10/23/2077: The surviving members of the Hawaiian government attempts communicating with the American mainland but nothing but static noises come from all the channels, both civilian and military. There is a great sense of dread as communication with the mainland is severed and ultimately the government crumbles and ceases to exist. What once was a state of over a million people had been reduced to a few thousands huddled survivors trying to seek out a living in the shattered remains of paradise.
10/23/2077: Only one bomb falls in the small island of Nihau, at it doesn’t explodes. The locals see the rest of the islands become bathed in atomic fire and the seas turn violent. They consider the unexploded bomb as the egg of a War God and start to revere it. As the years pass the local population slowly regresses into cannibalistic tribalism and adopt xenophobic attitudes towards outsiders.
10/23/2077: Kauai was the main defensive point of the Islands. Across its surfaces it had several missile launchers and artillery guns that were used to stop as many bombs as were possible, thanks to the thousands of projectiles that they shot they managed to destroy dozens of bombs in mid/air. It wasn’t enough, two bombs managed to hit Kauai. All the small cities became ghost towns but the city of Kapaau managed to survive to a degree.
10/23/2077: As the primary commercial and military center of Hawaii Oahu is blasted; all of the cities except Honolulu become massive piles of radioactive rubble and ash. Honolulu is also bombarded but not completely destroyed; some people manage to survive the impacts and live in the ruins. Due to the bombs and the brutal change of the coastline the entrance to the Vault 207 is completely covered by sand and hidden to the naked eye.
10/23/2077: Molokai was impacted by a single bomb. Half of the island became a desert while the other half was filled with radioactive waste and turned into a lush and abomination filled jungle.
10/23/2077: Lanai was spared from the bombs, but the following panic made people start to riot and fight. Following the riots several Chinese soldiers saw that the city stood undamaged and disembarked on the
island. The battle between the citizens and the soldiers damaged the city and left it almost inhabited with corpses littering every street, corner and building.
10/23/2077: Before the war Kahoolawe was used to test artillery and other weapons. Since it wasn’t a valuable target it wasn’t directly targeted. Attracted by the lack of radiation some people moved there in the search of building new settlements and living from fishing. 10/23/2077: Despite being the second biggest island Maui lacked military installations so it was only targeted with two bombs and luckily all of them were destroyed in mid air. After the war many survivors moved to the city of Wailuku in the search of having a place to live. The new influx of refugees scared the local population, the city simply couldn’t take so many people and the food, water and medicines simply weren’t enough. Soon fights between the locals and the refugees erupted into a bloody civil war.
10/23/2077: Due to the great presence of military bases the big island of Hawaii is completely nuked; becoming the most damaged literally becoming a glowing wasteland. Despite this the great dimensions of the island allowed many people to survive, albeit regressing to tribalism. The Hilo State Prison manages to survive the nuclear barrage thanks to its thick walls and not being directly impacted. After being unable to contact with anybody in the outside the guards inside decide to take refuge along with all the prisoners, they lie and say that it was a volcanic eruption and attempt to maintain a sense of security and continue working as if everybody is normal; knowing that if the prisoners discover that a nuclear holocaust has happened they will riot, attempt to escape and kill them all.
10/23/2077: Due to the bombs the naval base located in Midway atoll sank several feet under the sea. All of the people inside ended drowning or dying of hunger as they became trapped under the radioactive sea. 10/23/2077: Several Nukes hit airborne FEV deposits across the United States; the impacts mutate the virus and liberate it to the atmosphere. At first it doesn’t has any effect but as the generations pass the organisms that haven’t been living in an air sealed vault are affected and slightly mutated, gaining a better immunity system but making them more prone to mutations and incompatible with the liquid FEV virus. 10/23/2077: The Great Blackout occurs after the nuclear detonations, a sphere of electromagnetic light and energy covers all the islands, completely shutting down all the lights, vehicles, robots and machines that were caught by it. Several American planes, both of military and civilian origin crash on different points of the archipelago. The only machinery that survives is the one who is located underground or is protected by EMP shields.
10/23/2077: On the sea several vessels see the nuclear barrage from a safe distance and decide to stay away from the islands. As time passes some forcefully crash or sink due to the waves and storms, others manage to get radio messages or see signals of survivors and decide to go back home, many become desperate and die of starvation or decide to end their lives and commit suicide.
10/23/2077: Some of the Chinese submarines attempt to return to their homeland, others go into hiding and a few ones crash land on the shores; their Chinese crewmen, knowing that China has also been reduced to a nuclear wasteland, decide to continue fighting for a lost cause or abandon their old allegiances and settle in Hawaii.
10/30/2077: One week after the initial blast, a black rain starts to falls all over the world caused by all the radioactive particles and soot. Several species of plants and animals extinguish and several ecosystems turn into desert landscapes.
11/2/2077: The Black rain stops. It hasn’t lasted for long yet its devastating effects will be noticeable for centuries to come.
11/13/2077: On California Captain Maxson along with several military members takes refuge in the Lost Hills bunker. They ultimately become the Brotherhood of Steel.