The Russian Empire

The Russian Empire is one of the major centers of power in the Schak'Irra Timeline. Under the authority of the Grand Tsar Vladimir Joseph Putin, Russia is no longer merely an authoritarian federation: it becomes the imperial outcome of a prolonged, militarized East-West confrontation obsessed with the survival of its own historical narrative.

Its influence extends far beyond its borders. The war in Ukraine, the destruction of Zaporizhzhia, tensions with NATO, cyberattacks, internal purges, and the nuclear strikes of July 15, 2024 establish Russia as one of the visible causes of the global collapse.

But the story also shows a more troubled reality. Behind the image of a centralized state, the Russian Empire appears as a structure divided between the regular army, intelligence services, militias, mafia factions, secret bunkers, and facilities inherited from the Cold War. This internal instability becomes as dangerous as its military power.

The visible point of origin goes back to 1954, but the deeper logic is older and broader: in this reality, the Cold War never truly closed. NATO began building underground complexes capable of withstanding a nuclear crisis in its earliest years, while the Russian bloc maintained a lasting posture of confrontation with the West.

The crash of Schak'Irra worsens that tension. While the Americans recover the wreck in the Arctic, the Red Army detects the appearance of around a hundred humanoids thousands of kilometers away. These survivors from the future are then captured, hidden, and absorbed into the darkest zones of the Soviet system.

This capture creates a deep fracture in the Russian history of this timeline. The prisoners of Schak'Irra become a secret resource, an ideological stake, and a symbol of domination. The Russian system does not merely hide them: it imprisons them, exploits them, and makes them disappear into its detention structures.

By the 21st century, the imperial Russia born from this trajectory has reconquered much of the former Soviet territories and continued expanding into Africa. Southern Russia refers to this imperial extension toward the African continent, much of which falls under Russian influence or occupation, especially under the authority of the mercenary-governor Dmitri Outkine. At the same time, Moscow strengthens its strategic ties with Xi Jinping's imperial China. The dissolution of the United Nations in the mid-2000s leaves this world without a solid international arbiter.

In 2014, an incident over the Black Sea becomes a tipping point. Agnes Rodriguez and Angie Chen, then colonels in the NATO Air Force, are pursued and shot down by the Russian army during a reconnaissance flight. This event becomes the political and military justification for the invasion of Ukraine, then for a decade of escalation.

The brutality of the conflict, the destruction of Zaporizhzhia, and the nuclear escalation of 2024 prolong this Cold War until it becomes total war.

On July 15, 2024, Russian strikes trigger the global collapse. Missiles hit Kyiv, Brussels, and other capitals while the nuclear powers retaliate. From that moment on, the Russian Empire ceases to be only a geopolitical threat: it becomes one of the places where the apocalypse still tries to explain its own causes.

The Russian Empire functions as a layered power. On the surface, it retains the forms of a state, an army, a Ministry of Defense, and a political chain of command. In practice, the story mainly reveals a fragmented system where orders, loyalties, and responsibilities become difficult to untangle.

The Grand Tsar

A central, authoritarian, theatrical imperial figure. Putin concentrates the symbol of Russian power, but his real authority unfolds through bunkers, guards, secrets, and a personal staging of power.

Ministry of Defense

A structure involved in major military decisions. Kremlin archives link senior Russian officials to the nuclear attack of July 15, even though the story reveals internal tensions and disputed responsibilities.

Russian Army

The regular force present in the war against NATO, automatic defenses, underground garrisons, and survival infrastructure. It remains numerous, but is sometimes cut off from central command.

Southern Russia

An imperial extension into Africa, placed under the authority of the mercenary-governor Dmitri Outkine. It shows that Russian expansion is not limited to the former Soviet territories.

Militias and Factions

Parallel armed groups, including the one led by Yevgeny Prigozhin. They may fight for their own objectives, purge internal opponents, or oppose the officials responsible for the nuclear launch.

Underground Networks

A network of bunkers, galleries, stations, depots, rail tunnels, and buried cities. Moscow and Putingrad show that Russian power built an underground world capable of sheltering armies, civilians, arsenals, and secrets.

Detention System

Gulags, cells, secret facilities, and captivity zones used against political prisoners, enemies of the state, and captives from Schak'Irra.

The war between the Russian Empire and NATO shapes the entire beginning of the story. One of its breaking points is the Black Sea incident, when the Russian army shoots down Agnes Rodriguez and Angie Chen during a reconnaissance flight. The invasion of Ukraine then becomes part of this logic of escalation.

In 2024, Russia is associated with military vessels near the American and Canadian coasts, cyberattacks against the AspiroTube, and the gradual breakdown of diplomatic channels. NATO's annual summit in Brussels therefore takes place in a world already on the brink of open war.

The conflict tips over definitively when Russian nuclear strikes hit Europe. Brussels, seat of NATO's annual summit, becomes one of the major targets. The evacuation carried out by Mercator unfolds under missile fire, in a context where Russia seeks to saturate NATO defenses with swarms of conventional and nuclear weapons.

The Russian Empire then appears in all its ambiguity: it attacks and causes the collapse, but already seems eaten away by internal struggles, purges, and a loss of control over its own infrastructure.

The special operation conducted in Russia reveals the real state of imperial power after the apocalypse. On the surface, Moscow has been destroyed by nuclear retaliation. Underground, however, a gigantic network survives: metro tunnels, technical access points, fortified blocks, inhabited areas, depots, and a command center.

This underground survival does not mean that power is intact. The teams led by Gomard and Agnes discover mass graves, purges, severed communications, and areas overrun by the Tholians. The Russian Empire then appears as a fortress collapsed from within, crossed by internal conflicts, temporal secrets, and enemies that even its bunkers cannot contain.

At the Kremlin command center, Prigozhin claims he tried to prevent the nuclear attack and accuses a faction linked to the Minister of Defense. His account does not clear Russia of responsibility, but it complicates the reading: the apocalypse does not come from a simple imperial order alone, but from a system where several forces are still fighting for control of the ruins.

Putingrad, formerly Gelendzhik, is the sanctuary of the Grand Tsar. Accessible through an underground rail network from Moscow, this fortress contrasts with the squalor of the Kremlin: marble, gold, imperial decor, a luxury bunker, and a permanent staging of power.

This is where the story exposes the symbolic heart of the Russian Empire. Putin waits there for Agnes and her team with his guards, Emmanuel Macron, and several survivors from Schak'Irra. He does not present himself as a leader in retreat, but as a sovereign who still believes he controls history, even among the ashes.

The duel with Tarsi, Macron's intervention, the shootout, and Agnes' injury turn Putingrad into a tipping point. The Grand Tsar is captured alive and the prisoners are freed, but the victory remains incomplete: the operation costs the team almost everything, and what Putin truly knows about Schak'Irra remains open.

The survivors of Schak'Irra captured in 1954 are one of the gravest secrets of the Russian Empire. Their presence shows that Russia did not only take part in a terrestrial war: it preserved, detained, and exploited beings from another era.

T'Met is the most visible figure of this captivity. When the story finds her again, she bears the traces of long detention, violence, and survival forced into the margins of the Russian system. The other Vulcans freed in Putingrad show that her case is not isolated.

This dimension gives the Russian Empire a particular place in the Schak'Irra Timeline. It is not only responsible for a war: it also helped prolong the human consequences of the 1954 crash into the 21st century.

After the special operation, the Grand Tsar is captured and transferred aboard the Enterprise with his guards. His presence becomes a political, medical, and strategic problem. Even as a prisoner, he remains provocative, strangely calm, and seems to be waiting for something the others do not yet understand.

When Schak'Irra is saved in 1954 and returns to the 26th century, Putin follows the same trajectory as the other survivors transported by the ship. He therefore also finds himself in the Prime Timeline, detained and placed under surveillance in a framework that now extends beyond the Russian Empire of 2024.

At this stage of the published story, the Russian Empire as a territorial power seems destroyed or fragmented. Its legacy, however, continues through its prisoners, secrets, survivors, archives, and the lingering presence of the Grand Tsar.

1954 - Soviet Captures

The Red Army detects and captures humanoids who appeared after the crash of Schak'Irra, opening a long history of concealment and detention.

Before 2024 - Southern Russia

Russian imperial expansion reaches Africa, much of which falls under Russian influence or occupation.

2014 - Black Sea Incident

Agnes Rodriguez and Angie Chen are pursued and shot down by the Russian army during a reconnaissance flight. The incident serves as justification for the invasion of Ukraine.

2014-2024 - War in Ukraine

The Russian invasion triggers a decade of escalation, destruction, and hardening between Russia and NATO.

2024 - Cyberattacks and the Grand Tsar's Disappearance

On July 15, the AspiroTube is hit by a Russian cyberattack while intelligence loses track of Putin.

July 15, 2024 - Nuclear Strikes

Russian missiles trigger the nuclear Third World War and the destruction of several capitals, including Brussels.

August 2024 - Moscow Operation

The team led by Gomard, Agnes, Tarsi, and Eros infiltrates the underground ruins of the Kremlin and discovers the scale of the Russian chaos.

August 2024 - Putingrad

The Grand Tsar is found in his bunker, with Emmanuel Macron and the survivors of Schak'Irra held prisoner.

2554 - Temporal Transfer

After the correction of 1954, Putin also finds himself brought back to the 26th century with the occupants of Schak'Irra.

Vladimir Joseph Putin

Grand Tsar of Russia, imperial sovereign of the Schak'Irra Timeline, and a major prisoner after Putingrad.

Yevgeny Prigozhin

Russian militia leader, survivor of this storyline, and central actor in the access to Putingrad.

Robert Gomard

NATO colonel in charge of the special operation in Russia, directly confronted with the chaos of the Kremlin and the Grand Tsar.

T'Met

Captain of Schak'Irra, survivor of Russian captivity, and living witness to the consequences of the 1954 crash.

Vexoriana-Lyss'ra Tarsi

Officer from the future, involved in freeing the captives and in the duel against the Grand Tsar.

Emmanuel Macron

French president held by the Grand Tsar in Putingrad, then freed during the special operation.