The Grand Timeline

1272
Barthélemy Delacroix is born

1307
Barthélemy Delacroix is killed

1812
Antstruther Small Arms is founded in Birmingham

1882
Henry Antstruther is born

1892
Antstruther Small Arms is renamed Antstruther Arms and Engineering Ltd

1904
Richard Antstruther is born

1917
Robert Baxter founds Atlas Avionics and sells planes to the UK

1923
Luke Baxter is born

June 13th 1942
Luke Baxter signs on with the US Army, and is 'volunteered' for the 101st Airborne Divison

June 6th 1944
Luke Baxter and the 101st Airborne Divison take part in D-Day, landing behind enemy lines the night before invasion. Luke and Lt Col. Steve Chappuis are separated from their regiment during the drop, and go on to capture an enemy coastal battery together before making a rendezvous and completing the rest of their objectives. Due to the efforts of the 101st and other Airborne Divisions, the D-Day landings are successful.

1944-45
Luke Baxter takes part in and distinguishes himself in the liberation of France and the invasion of Western Germany. Luke is awarded multiple decorations including the medal of honor, which he receives from the Supreme Allied Commander, Dwight D. Eisenhower. Richard Antstruther takes part in World War II

1945
Robert Baxter dies of  a stroke. Luke Baxter is honorably discharged from the US Army as part of the 101st Airborne Division's deactivation. Luke Baxter inherits Atlas Avionics

1946
Woodrow Griffith is born

1950
William Anstruther is born

1954
Atlas Avionics is renamed Atlas Tech

1956
Atlas Tech uses research in radioactive particles to create a potential power source. The power source prototype is unsuccessful, and evolves into the Microwave Oven in 1960. A Marxist rebellion occurs in Greece later that year, war ensues across the entire Greek peninsula.

1958
Atlas Tech signs a contract with the US Government to help found the Experimental Research Division, an international western effort to develop technologies for the impending Cold War

1959
Pavel Crafchenkev defects to the United States from the Soviet Union. He exposes a KBG Counterpart to the ERD, known as Zhavda. In response, the US Government expands the ERD from a weapons development initiative into a secret military force to combat Zhavda.

1960
The plant Sinapsus Singuflora is discovered in Greece during ERD operations against Zhavda. Pavel Crafchenkev retrieves the plant from Greece himself. It is the only known plant in the world of it's species.

1961
The Rebellion in Greece is surpressed with the aid of a combination of US Forces, Commonwealth Forces, and French Forces.

1962
Henry Antstruther signs Antstruther Arms and Engineering Ltd on with the ERD

1960 - 64
Research on the Sinapsus Singuflora takes place, the US Government funds the ERD seven million dollars to construct the facilities required on the promise of super soldiers to secure stability in Eastern Europe.

1964
The Sinapsus Singuflora produces its first results in an extract known as the 'Atlas Formula'. It produces three doses of Atlas Formula, and the plant is consumed in the process. Unwilling to test the formula on anyone but himself, Luke Baxter undergoes the administering operation. By the end, he is the highest possible pique of human physicality. The media sensation caused by the worlds first super soldier takes the western world by storm. The US Government pushes Luke Baxter under the 'superhero' name Iron Eagle as a morale icon for soldiers across the world fighting against communism. Magna Comics publishes 'The Iron Eagle American Hero' Issue #1, and later that year Iron Eagle action figures are the number one Christmas toy. Baxter volunteers to take his capabilities to the field, and joins the Vietnam War.

1965
The Soviet Union invades Finland. Baxter takes a hands on approach to the secret war against Zhavda, and heads stealth operations in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Greece, Korea, China, Finland, and the western Soviet Union against Zhavda and other Soviet forces. In some operations, various attacks involve the use of regular soldiers from the US Army and US Marines, and so the Iron Eagle earns a reputation among soldiers in the Western Militaries. Only about half of his operations are publicized, though the media capitalizes on any exposure.

1966
Members of the Navy SEALS and the SAS arrive in Finland to secretly train and coordinate Finnish resistance. The Soviet Union withdraws from Finland when faced with extreme guerilla resistance.

1965-67
Ground is made in the secret war, and Zhavda bases are being destroyed continuously. The ERD Discovers a multitude of experimental devices and weapons some of which are used by their soldiers. Some of these include the Xara 'Particle' set of weaponry, the Tsar Bomba Supernuke, the T-900 Ultra Heavy Tank, and the Za Rodina Orbital Photon Cannon prototype. By August of 1967, ERD Forces have located Zhavda's primary base located in Siberia. Baxter heads a strike team there consisting of ERD Commandos and MARSOC US Marines. The Operation is successful and Baxter eliminates the director of Zhavda, Karl Schultz, a Nazi war criminal. However, Baxter is forced to stay behind to stop the launch of nuclear missiles via detonating the smallest to create a rock slide that would destroy the base. He does so, and Zhavda is presumed destroyed. The Iron Eagle is listed KIA in November of 1967.

1969
Atlas Tech's Board of Executives is bought out by Obidiah Willems, whom becomes the new CEO. Under him, Atlas Tech continues to innovate. Obidiah severs ties to ERD, but the company still at times works with the organization.

1970
The Experimental Research Division is renamed S.P.E.A.R. and reorganized into a permanent  entity under the direction of Alex Steele, the first Director of S.P.E.A.R.. S.P.E.A.R. Becomes a multinational organization directed by a single Director and a council of international representatives whom collectively fund the operation. The involved nations are the United States, the United Kingdoms, France, West Germany, Spain, Canada, Sweden, Japan, and Norway.

1974
Braylon Green is born

1975
Henry Antstruther dies

1977
Marcus Williams is born

1982
An individual known only as the 'Made Man' takes the Chicago crime scene by storm. In two months he has amassed enough forces on his payroll to wipe out the leading Italian Mafia and take their seat among the Chicago gangs. Later the same year, the Made Man and his mob have subjugated the Russian Mafia, the Chinese Mafia, and the Irish Mafia at least in Chicago. At the head of his own criminal empire, the Made Man holds the city in an iron grip from the shadows, forbidding anyone to even say his true name.

1984
The Made Man finishes corrupting the Chicago PD, and dirty cops are a rampant issue in the city.

1989
Alex Steele dies. His name is used as a code for every S.P.E.A.R. Director since.

1991
The Soviet Union collapses. The world rejoices as numerous small conflicts across the world are ended one by one.

1993
Braylon Green enlists in the US Army.

1995
More information regarding Zhavda and the secret war are declassified, but not all. The public is now aware of Zhavda as a subdivision of the KGB and it's conflict with ERD. The true fate of Luke Baxter is revealed to the world. Marcus Williams passes the SEAL Physical Screening Test and enlists in the US Navy, he spends the rest of the year in SEAL training.

1998
Braylon Green joins the Green Berets

2000
Richard Antstruther dies

September 11th 2001
Islamic radicals hijack planes and destroy the World Trade Center in New York, and damage the Pentagon in Washington. Osama Bin Laden takes claim of the attacks, among the radical Islamic groups associated with him is Alqudrat Al'iilahia, otherwise known as 'The Hand of God'

2001
A suit of 750 year old plate armor disappears from the Museum of Contemporary History in Paris

April 2002
Braylon Green and Marcus Williams take part in Operation Cold Week, a black ops mission to assassinate Osama Bin Laden, Green Beret and Navy Seal forces work in conjunction with SAS commandos during the operation. Operation Cold Week ends in disaster when an IED destroys the building supposedly housing Bin Laden. All members of the Joint Task Force are listed as MIA, presumed dead.

May 2002
Braylon Green is found in Afghanistan by Canadian forces four months after Operation Cold Week. He is hospitalized and returned to the states. By his own account he spent a month in captivity wherein his eyes were removed during torture. He managed to free himself and spent another three months within hostile territory assaulting Taliban forces. He is awarded the Medal of Honor personally by president George Bush, as well as the Prisoner of War medal. Marcus Williams and the rest of the Operation Cold Week joint task force is declared KIA, Braylon Green is the only survivor.

May 2005
Red Monday. Many of the criminals of Chicago take to the streets and begin a week long riot. Martial Law is declared, and the National Guard is required to put an end to the mayhem. An estimated 440 people are killed. The Chicago Mafia uses the cover to steal 2.3 billion dollars from Chicago banks.

2006
Luke Baxter is discovered comatose under a medieval fortress being held by Alqudrat Al'iilahia in Iraq, he is unaged and identical to his 1967 self. The four person Julien family is killed in a car accident outside of Harrisburg.

2007
A meteor lands in the Texan part of the Chihuahuan Desert