The Wars Of Gears Of War EXPLAINED

The Pendulum Wars

Now, even though the “Of War” part of the Gears franchise has been effectively dropped, the series will always be steeped in war until the very end. At the start came a 79-year long conflict that saw the inhabitants of Sera tear themselves apart, all in the name of the planet's natural resources.

Named "The Pendulum Wars", both two superpowers of Sera - the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) and the Union of Independent Republics (UIR) - wanted whatever they could get their hands on, but in the end it came down to control of Imulsion.

A naturally occurring substance located under the planet’s surface in the Hollow, Imulsion could be refined into fuel to power both sides.

Of course, none could agree to share, and both would go head to head for over two generations, effectively running each other dry. Not only were there massive casualties from the war, but the vast number of the population became infected with "Rustlung" - an after-effect of exposure from Imulsion vapor.

There were many critical battles during these 79 long years, but the decider of the conflict would come down to the Battle of Aspho Fields. This was the battle where Marcus Fenix became a hero and legend amongst the COG, helping steal the Hammer of Dawn weapon plans from the UIR and gaining the advantage, leading to the end of the war.

However, thanks to a COG scientist known as Niles and some very secretive experiments, peace wouldn’t last long.