Spoiler alert: Minor spoilers for Badlands Born book 1
The exact date of the Caliphate of the Clouds’ foundation is in dispute, but most historians place it five years after Ryan the Creator declared Paradise City “full.”
The diaspora of Badlands refugees, nomadic enclaves, motorcycle gangs, and outlaws began congregating outside Paradise City’s orbit and influence, raiding both those left inside the Badlands and each other for supplies. Life was cheap and short. Then one day a charismatic leader arose and united the various warring factions under his banner, which he declared simply “the Caliphate.”
At first the united Caliphate forces were minor nuisances to the technologically advanced and better-organized Paradise City aeroforce and militia. As time wore on, the Caliphate’s forces grew larger and acquired more sophisticated equipment from scavenged Paradise city equipment as well as advancing their own manufacturing and logistical abilities. The Paradise City council, now in charge with the Creator’s retreat from daily rule, worried at the Caliphate’s rapid rise from minor irritant to a serious threat. New airships were commissioned and the City began watching its citizens for Caliphate agents and sympathizers.
The turning point came when the Caliphate developed and began manufacturing its own airships. Where before it was limited to small squadrons of ornithopters, it now had ships with range and firepower approaching Paradise City’s own fleet. City supply convoys were lost, and outposts overrun. Paradise City’s aeroforce found fewer and fewer targets as Caliphate bases vanished over the course of months while the enemy’s numbers swelled. Rumors circulated of a massive fortress airship, which only intensified when the Caliphate began referring to itself as the Caliphate of the Clouds.
The two fleets tangled in several encounters over the following year, the largest being the Battle of October Sky, where Caliphate thopter carriers assaulted Paradise City’s air docks, nearly succeeding in capturing them and establishing a beachhead from which their superior numbers would quickly overrun the city. It was only by the actions of Captain Marcus Remmy, leading the fleet’s first shield-equipped airship squadron, destroying the troop transports and chasing off the carriers that the city was saved.
Since then, the two sides have been gathering their forces, waiting for the opportunity to strike a decisive blow. The Caliphate’s superior numbers are held in check by Paradise City’s more technologically advanced fleet and skilled crews. Some say the Caliphate has learned its lesson and has turned its sights to easier prey, others wonder if the Caliphate is just building its strength and searching for technology advantages of its own before the next big battle.
