Genesis War

The Genesis War is a war that occurs in the world of Final Fantasy VII. It forms most of the plot of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, and is a conflict in which Genesis Rhapsodos goes to war with Shinra using Copy Technology and defected SOLDIER members to create an army of Genesis Copies.

Background
In late summer of εуλ 0000, Genesis is wounded in a sparring match with Sephiroth and Angeal Hewley. The Shinra scientist Hollander sees to his wound, and during the recovery Genesis learns of his origins as a member of the Jenova Project's Project G, and the wound has triggered his genetic degradation due to his imperfect inheritance of Jenova's abilities. Hollander manipulates Genesis into warring with Shinra, promising a cure for his condition. Hollander also approaches the director of SOLDIER, Lazard, who has his own history with Shinra, and Lazard agrees to secretly fund Hollander and Genesis.

A few months before the end of the Wutai War, Genesis, Hollander, and a large number of 3rd and 2nd Class SOLDIERs go missing in the Mass Soldier Desertion Incident. The group went to Banora, where Hollander uses his knowledge of Jenova to begin producing Genesis Copies. The defected SOLDIER members were implanted with cells taken from Genesis, granting them enhanced physical capabilities and Genesis's facial appearance. Banora became a base for the rising Genesis Army, most of the civilians fleeing the area as Genesis and Hollander built up their forces.

The War
During the attack on Fort Tamblin, Genesis sends a force of Genesis Copies to Wutai to contact Angeal and persuade him to join their cause. Angeal never returned from Wutai, and Shinra eventually declared both him and Genesis killed in action, presuming Angeal to have allied with Genesis. In truth, Angeal never committed to either side for the duration of the war, torn between his conflicting loyalties and helping either side as he struggled to come to terms with what was happening.

Throughout εуλ 0001, Sephiroth, Zack Fair, and the rest of Shinra and SOLDIER combat Genesis's forces across the globe. The Genesis Army's boldest move is an attack on Midgar, invading the Shinra Headquarters there and narrowly being stopped from capturing Professor Hojo. Optional Missions allow Zack to combat the Genesis Army on various fronts as they attack Shinra factories and steal Materia, weapons and robots from Shinra. In turn, the Missions include Zack destroying Genesis Army strongholds and bunkers and tracking down detachments sent to various locations, including the Great Cavern of Wonders. However, none of these Missions have any influence on the main story of the game.

With Banora destroyed by Shinra, the Genesis Army relocates to a new base, a Mako Reactor near Modeoheim. Zack is sent to the reactor and confronts Genesis, who is fed up with Hollander's failures to cure him and declares to find a new path. Zack battles Genesis and apparently sends him falling to his death in the reactor core. Zack then finds Angeal, unable to handle the truth of what he is, and he attacks Zack. Zack kills Angeal, who grants Zack his Buster Sword. Hollander is captured by Shinra forces, and the Genesis War is apparently over. A few months later, Lazard, concerned investigations in the wake of the war will reveal his hand in helping Genesis and Hollander, leaves the company and vanishes.

In the summer of εуλ 0002, the Genesis Army resurfaces, attacking around the world, and Hollander is freed by Genesis Copies. Genesis survived Modeoheim, and his copies are now targeting Mako Reactors to find Jenova, Genesis believing her cells are the key to curing him. Sephiroth and Zack are dispatched to Nibelheim to investigate the town's Mako Reactor, which is where Jenova is held. Genesis tells Sephiroth about the Jenova Project and asks for his help in finding a cure, but Sephiroth refuses. The Nibelheim Incident occurs a week later, Sephiroth declared MIA and Zack taken into custody as a test subject, imprisoned in Shinra Manor. The actions of the Genesis Army over the next few years are unclear.

In εуλ 0007, Zack broke out of the Manor with an infantryman who was at Nibelheim, Cloud Strife, and began to flee from Shinra's forces. Genesis tracked down Zack and took some of his hair to allow one of his copies to feed on, consuming Zack's Sephiroth Cells that had been implanted with him after Nibelheim. The copy mutated into a monster, and Genesis and Hollander, who was now himself infected by degradation due to Project G cells, believed it was because Zack was in SOLDIER, and so his S-Cells were not pure. The two attempt to take Cloud, but Zack and Lazard, transformed into an Angeal Copy and driven by Angeal's will to aid Zack, protect Cloud and Zack kills Hollander.

Realizing Genesis has always had a Banora White when he appears, Zack returns to Banora, discovering the caverns under the town where Genesis has continued his operations. Zack defeats Genesis in a final duel, and the unconscious Genesis is retrieved by Deepground when Zack leaves the area. With Genesis's defeat, the Genesis Army apparently disbands and the war comes to an end.

Aftermath
Genesis's actions during the war aided in causing the Nibelheim Incident, inadvertently turning Sephiroth into the worst enemy the planet had faced since Jenova herself. In this, it also lead to Zack going rogue and his eventual death.

The loss of their most decorated members greatly damaged SOLDIER's reputation in Shinra, and the group never reached the same heights of public adoration as they did with Sephiroth, Genesis and Angeal in the media spotlight. The defection of Lazard also reduced SOLDIER's influence within the company. No replacement Director is named in Crisis Core, the organization apparently compressed into the Public Safety Maintenance Department under the command of Heidegger.