Helios Fail

The Helios Fail of 2048 was a disastrous attempt to tap oil from the seams of Eastern Antarctica, resulting in enormously heightened seismic and volcanic activity, the collapse of the Ross ice shelf in western Antarctica and the inundation of most of the world's coastal cities. It delivered the last blow to the era of governments, ended the Bitch Wars and left the way open for the hanyo corporations to take over.

Lifting of the embargo

In the 2030s, the American oil majors were in dire straits, and had banded together to offset their losses as the Helios Conglomerate, based in New York. In 2047 the embargo on oil drilling in Antarctica ran out. Amid huge protests by Bitch Groups, the Helios conglomerate argued that the worlds falling energy reserves and the clear failure of fission technology required that Antarctica be prospected. They claimed to have a great deal of expertise in deep fracking and stated that no damage would be done to the ice cover. No one seriously believed their claims, but greedy for cheap oil, the other corporations agreed.

Drilling phase

Helios spent maybe six months drilling in Antarctica. Because the extreme cold was fouling their equipment, they deep-fracked around their main plant to create a geothermal hotspot to power their turbines. They had not even begun producing oil when three volcanoes erupted under the Ross Ice Shelf, setting off a chain reaction. Helios claimed to the end that they had nothing to do with it. Satellites recorded apocalyptic scenes of fire and ash bursting out of the ice. Almost overnight, a major fault developed along the 'spine' of the continent, and ice began slipping away to the sea. Once in the sea, the icebergs melted at an alarming rate because hot water was flowing out of vents in the sea bed underneath them. helios attempted to tow several icebergs away from the hot vents with no success: They merely accelerated the breakup. Within months, their own headquarters had ceased to exist. Most of the board however escaped by private jet.

Thousands of coastal cities were destroyed over the next few months. As people were unprepared, the losses included state archives, priceless artefacts as yet unlooted by the hanyos, and millions of residents who were too weak or too poor to move. Governments ceased to exit even in name, and, exhausted by the final phase of the Bitch Wars, most of the resistance to the hanyo takeover crumbled. The way was now clear for the hanyos to run things as they chose.