Over 1000 years ago… - Fearing that Ragnarok draws close Odin shatters the Bifrost and casts the runes to pull all the gods of Asgard into a deep slumber.
2020- A global depression begins that will persist for the next twenty years.
2025- Scientists at CERN accidentally create an inter-terrestrial particle (ITP), existing both on Earth and in another world occupying the same space.
2032- A colossal earthquake tears through South America. A massive UN led relief effort is initiated and garners worldwide support.
2040 - Breakthroughs with ITP research suggest a method of creating a viable gateway between earth and its interdimensional counterpart.
2045- Progress on ITP research is advancing sufficiently quickly that a multi-lateral taskforce is funded to prepare for the exploration of this new world: United Nations Inter-Terrestrial Exploratory Department.
2047 - Conflict breaks out between the world powers. At first confined to the virtual domain, the conflict goes hot over the next two years as special forces teams clash and conventional forces muster on borders worldwide.
2048 - A hacking attack on the Euro-Rus Satellite Defense Network triggers a cascade of automated retaliatory strikes between orbital stations that wipes out most the world's Nuclear Defense capabilities (and subsequently destroys a significant percentage of commercial satellites due to the debris). Frenzied negotiations manage to persuade all parties to step away from their red buttons. The incident becomes known as The Night of Falling Stars.
2048 - Frustrated by increasing piracy of their shipping in the Atlantic a North American drone carrier is deployed to the West African coast. During an unseasonable storm the ship is lost and subsequent salvage efforts fail to locate it.
2049 - The Oceanic Alliance detonates a prototype Weather Control Warhead over the Indian Ocean. Cold weather patterns sweeps across the world as the global climate is thrown into disarray. In the face of a growing ecological disaster the other Powers decide to put their super weapons away and negotiate a peace through the UN.
2050 - After mixed success in sending several drones through the ITP Gate a UNITED team enters Asgard. The spell upon the Gods is broken and the countdown to Ragnarok begins.