Universal Union

The Universal Union, formed in 2013, is a Half-Life universe based group. The intention of the Universal Union is to form a more perfect union through unity and strength in the face of adversity. Since its conception, the Union has become the largest and most active Combine-themed group within Garry's Mod and arguably Steam.

Initial Organization - January 2013 to May 2014
The beginning of the Universal Union goes all the way back to January of 2013. tojo, or at the time named "Books", was usually roaming around sandbox servers in hope of finding people to PVP with and was mostly in Garry's Mod to have fun. As tojo became involved in GMod more and more, he began to research and become indulged in the lore of Half-Life 2, especially the main antagonist of the game, the Combine. By June of 2013, tojo is creating small teams of 3-5 people who would construct bases on gm_bigcity. The servers would vary, but tojo would occupy himself with his small gang of Combine enthusiasts on "Tulips". Tulips were a small sandbox server that was active during 2013 and shut down in 2015 with the owner, Gmonkey, disappearing. To this day we still haven't found out what happened to Gmonkey.

As 2013 progressed, tojo's passion for the Combine has grown to astronomical measures. His continued passion for the empire grew even more until an idea arose in one of his teams within the month of May in 2014. A group should be made, a clan of the sort. With this, it will be easy to distinguish the members of the teams that now have spread to two other sandbox servers. tojo obliged, and the "Combine" steam group was created.

Scattered Beginnings - May 2014 to February 2016
The steam group was never as active as it is now, as it was just a way of knowing who and who isn't in the Union. The focus of the group still remained to have fun and go into servers as little groups. With this and no real rank organization, the group would easily die when the owner was offline. The Universal Union, however, continued to grow. The members may not have been active all at once, but, they still steadily rose due to new people joining the makeshift squads on each server tojo was on. By December of 2014, the member count was at 38.

Yet, the inactivity of the group showed, and by January of 2015, the group began to decline due to the lack of organization on tojo's part. This will ultimately put the Universal Union into isolation on February 5, 2016. This date will mark an end to the end of the Scattered Beginnings and the beginning of the Isolation Era.

Isolation Era - February 2016 to December 2016
As tojo kept to his guns on not organizing into a full-on group but yet keeping the Combine like an arcade-ish like a group, stagnation and eventual decline began to take its toll. Seeing this, a course of action was taken. A second-in-command was designated. This second-in-command was Playful Visionary. A dedicated soul, he began to carry out his own training sessions and eventually began creating propaganda for the Combine.

This era is called the Isolation Era due to the cut off to other groups. Due to the cutoff, people within the Union grew used to the silence coming from the outside. Playful Visionary and Tojo operated on small projects within the Union and had minimal progress. This involved invasions and recruitment efforts.

The First Organized Recruitment Drive - May 2016
This drive was hosted on Egg's and Lenny Face Gaming. It led to about a total recruitment of 21 people. This, however, had consequences of the recruiters being permanently banned but, after a conversation with the owners, were lifted. These gave experience to the recruiters and allowed better communication in the future.

Solidification of the Military
See more at [./https://the-rfai.fandom.com/wiki/Overwatch Overwatch].

Throughout the history of the Universal Union, the military was never really "established" and the group itself was classified as a military force instead of a more organized political entity like it is now. That changed in July when the first speak of forming the "NCMB Military" was thought of. No real name was discussed other than "The Military". Overwatch and other ideas were never brought up. But as the Union became more official than ever, the idea sparked up in the minds of the Council. They began drafting up plans to bring the idea of the military into being. This will soon be called the Overwatch. The military was token and the ranks were empty, but it was a beginning.

As time went on, the military was pressured among the citizens. As more and more citizens were pushed into it, the ranks were filled. This brought Overwatch from a shell of what it can be to a small version of its true power.

Introduction to Clans - February 2018
In February of 2018, a clan under the name of "Vzech", which was larger than the Union, approached the group's owner in an attempt to bring it under their wing. After disagreements with the leader, "Oongi", beginning of prorations for war started to be arranged in the Council. The Union, however, was not ready for anything close to war. The group was still getting organized, and the amount of active personnel was not ready to be fought. The people of the Universal Union were still very much a RP-focused group, whose main way of operating was inside of Discord, not playing in Garry's Mod.

A Change in Course
The Universal Union

The Resurrection of the Universal Union - December 2019 to Present
Protocol E.DIS-81319 devastated the Union and everything it held dear. Technology, core values and ideas, crucial documents important to the workings of the Union, and members were all lost to the dissolution. But, tojo still felt a need to keep the dream alive. An underground resistance of sorts began to sprout, and eventually, the secondary city, City 52, was selected as the area for the revolution to release its fire. The people of [./https://the-rfai.fandom.com/wiki/City_52 City 52], previously ran by a communist dictatorship under the U.C.D.S, were inactive and quite unruly to the change presented by tojo in the midst of the transformation of it into the New Union's "Temporary Nexus".

As the resistance grows, so does the sentiment of the people present in City 52. City 49 by now has been transformed into a communist army, stationed in Foxhole. The server has grown to over 100 members and has entirely wiped evidence of the Union ever existing. The City was never able to fully unite under the Union once again due to the life of tojo and the inability to put forth the effort to do so, but it all changed in December.

The leader of the Red Army, Cherno, had had his account disabled and so the Red Army began to crumble under the pressure of inactivity. The news got to tojo, and, he began to become more dedicated to the idea of the return of the Union. But was not completely sold just yet.

But, that soon changed. Tojo got in contact with an old friend, Admiral. Admiral had been an Advisor of the Universal Union since 2017 and has always been the first to volunteer. He insisted on the revitalization of the Universal Union and, from the nostalgia hitting him at the time, tojo began to plan protocol RE-1-PH1.

The Retaking of City 52
Tojo enacted RE-1-PH1 with his council of peoples that he gathered after the Union collapsed and began to push for the securing and rebuilding of the City. A list was created for the council for them to complete in the coming months and what they can do to begin to plan for the future of the Union. This list was called U.1-12919.sM. It included reworkings to the Universal Council, Overwatch, and planning and development of City 52.

The Neutral Zone foundation
The Neutral Zone, TNZ for short, was a coalition founded by the Universal Union which was comprised of the groups of ... ... ... ... .

Operation Atlantis
Operation Atlantis was the largest scale attempt to bring old relics of the Old Union back into the light and attempt to resurface old content lost in the disbanding. The operation lasted till the last day, and showed minimal results. However the photos, dupes, and other pieces of content were lost when the Universal Union has its final fracturing in late 2020.

The Vital Shift
Change in political standing/view

81320 Deployment Code
Groundwatch Initiative T-005

UBCO.R-1
UBCO.R-1 is a protocol code used for the Union Broadcasting Center which was used in the November Expedition Patrol that was vital for the usage of the "OPNR". A local force was mustered against the Overwatch whilst the expedition visited but was convinced to lower their weapons and join.

"First triple since '18"
The "First triple since '18" was a saying quoted by multiple officers within the Overwatch which referenced the first 100 members since the collapse of the Old Union in 2018. This was a huge milestone and reality check for multiple high-command members of the Union and brought into light the effectiveness of "OTA.R-13119-M".

End of Groundwatch Initiative T-006
As the end of the year rounds, the longest-lasting initiative of the Union has ended as well. More than 21 staple items were implemented for the betterment of the Overwatch and Union as a whole. As the Initiative ends, T-007 begins to be worked on by the Advisors of the Union.

Renaming of the Overwatch
See "Sector 314 Activation" in [./https://the-rfai.fandom.com/wiki/Overwatch Overwatch]

Modern Era Union
The modern era of the Universal Union is composed of fragments of the previous administration, which have completely disassocatied with Garry's Mod. Advisor Council 1-2 (AC12), which was the most recent meeting of the advisors, was disbanded fully. The remaining Overwatch personnel was transformed into an entirely different aesthetic for half a year, but was then returned to the idea after they began mil-sim operations in Squad, ARMA. The current status of the group resides under a more "chill-sim" ideology, with more lore-based RP being present then RP in day-to-day operations.

First Deployment into SQUAD


The first real deployment of Overwatch personnel under the Union's unified banner occurred on March 6th, 2021. It brought in about 9~ personnel and began to shape how the group would operate. This deployment was composed of previous advisors, as well as low ranking enlisted who never associated with the Union as much when it was active in Garry's Mod.