Respect. It is amazing what some will do to gain it. The EAU began as a way to get respect. We conquered and crushed, stemrolled our enemies. We were feared. Then we became a rather powerful nation, and then we finally got what we were looking for: respect. The NAU respected us. They allied with us, and we conquerd more. We smashed our way through enemy trerritory, growing in size and power. And with every victory came more of it: respect. We finally reached all the way to europe. We stopped there. We didn't gain any more of it, but we had enough: respect.
The war finally ended. We were the most powerful nation on Earth. We had soldiers, we had workers, we had technology, and most importantly of all we had respect. We had plenty to offer the world, and the world had reason to fear us. Time wore on. Our army, once the most feared on planet Earth, was now totally impotent. The Europa Leauge was now the world leader in technology. The NAU led the way for space exploration. A new door had been opened into the future. But we were at the back of the line. We could not lead, only follow in the wake of the new world powers. We had workers and we had money, but we had lost one thing: respect. The world had no reason to fear us, and we had nothing to offer the world.
Of course, we didn't know that. We thought that we were on top. The Brighter Dawn, Lunar colonization, terraforming. All ventures that we pioneered. Ventures that would be completed by others. The Brighter Dawn? Parts were built in the NAU. The NAU had the greatest presence there. To the world it was an NAU project. Lunar colonization? The Europa Leauge built a telescope. Then the NAU built a city. Terraforming? Before it was even finished, the NAU had colonies on the planets that we were terraforming. It was, once again, an NAU venture. We had lost respect.
Later, we lost even more respect, until we became "that one big country" You would read about us in geography, as a large land area. People would read reports of our involvement in the third world war like ancient history. "Mabey they were great then but now they are outdated" "Those stupid, warmongering Japanese guys. Why did they bomb England?" Finally, we lost all our respect. Our economy was in tatters, and, due to our lack of respect, nobody cared. We could all just starve. Then, finally, someone decided to change that: The other nations would fear us and we would have respect. That led to December 7, 2061.
That misguided attempt to gain respect ended in disaster. We had a civil war on our hands. And then, the NAU, our "ally" in name only since the end of the war, stabbed us in the back. Now, we finally realize, what we had lost. But now it is to late. We join this Alliance to get revenge on our unfaithful "friends" But, we will not gain respect. We have passed to far into obscurity. No one will remember the valour of our soldiers who, without the flash-cloned immortality of the Europa Leauge, or the powerful technology of the KSA, charged bravely into battle, and died, fighting for justice. When this war is over, and we have exacted our revenge, we will sink back, even deeper into obscurity. No one will remember that valiant dead. No one but us. And, when we finally pass from obscurity into nothing, and no one remains to recall our lives, our sacrifices, or our bravery, we will dissapear.
But, at the end of days, when War, third horseman of the apocalypse gallops into the world, he will be followed by our forgotten warriors. And as the world spins one last time and the fires engulf the sky, they will shout their names to the heavens, and every living thing will know their names. In the end, their honor shall be untarnished, for all the forgetfullness of the world, and at last, our warrior dead will be able to pass beyond the veil, and finally, rest in peace, having regained for all eternity the most precious commodity of all: respect.
Samurye. 
