Andes War
From Gothpoodle
Off Earth, the awakening was sparked by the release of the Ares Plague and the subsequent birth of the Preservationist movement. On Earth, the event that catalyzed the revolution was the outbreak of the Andes War.
In 2049, a new insurgency broke out in Peru. Like the Sendero Luminoso insurgency of the 20th century, the “Red Sword” movement was inspired by radical Marxism. Unlike the Senderistas, the Red Sword’s radicals drew their manpower primarily from the indigenous population of Peru, and posed a serious threat to Peru’s urban centers and central government. The new rebellion also had some remarkably un-Marxist ideas, calling for the absolute rule of a genetically enhanced Incan elite and the rejection of all high-industrial technology. By 2052, the Peruvian government was fighting a vicious guerrilla war and was in dire straits. In that year, Lima made its first appeal to the United States for military aid, suggesting that a rebel victory would make the American alliance with Ecuador untenable and threaten the Columbia Aerospace facilities near Quito.
The Andes War was the first major conflict which involved engineered and biomodified soldiers on all sides. The United States deployed Marine and regular Army units made up almost entirely of combat cybershells, run by advanced infomorphs or by human soldiers using teleoperation. Most American officers in the field used some level of biomodification, as did many of the Red Sword insurgents. The Peruvian government used uplifted animals as bodyguards and commando troops.
The war was quite controversial in the United States and the rest of the developed world. Both rebel and Peruvian government forces behaved with extreme brutality. The diverse nature of the combatants brought the issue of nonhuman rights to the immediate attention of the American populace. Many young people demonstrated against the use of infomorphs and gene-modified organisms in dangerous or menial occupations. Other elements of society rejected them as “inhuman,” and demanded an end to their construction. Some conservatives also claimed their inhumanity, but supported their use as a liberating factor for “real” humans.
After American forces withdrew from Peru in 2055, LAI-driven cybershells of increasing sophistication began appearing in civilian society. Combat models entered service with police and private security firms. Labor models appeared in the unskilled-labor pool and in public-works projects. Some were even produced to serve as expensive companions, bodyguards or sex toys. All of these events further polarized society in the U.S. and elsewhere, touching off years of social and political upheaval.
