THE WORLD

In the year 2447, on the date of March 27th, the World Government that was founded after the third world war passed a law that would end all forms of privacy. A satellite by the working and ironic name of GOD was to be sent into space with the purpose of world wide surveillance. GOD, also known as Greater Observation Device, was a colossal satellite set to orbit the earth with the job of monitoring everything that happened. Of course, this controversial name was called into question by a few of the remaining religious factions of the world, but no one dare argue with the government on their choice of name. Some even suggested that the officials were trying to elevate themselves into the prestigious spot once occupied by the most popular religion on earth.

This satellite was the largest ever made, truly the God of its’ kind, and easily supported the thousand people whose job it was to monitor the systems and run the mechanics. Living quarters and food supplies were enough to sustain double the amount of people needed for GOD to be run efficiently. Each one of these thousand people had the job of monitoring every single activity on the earth far below. Anything from the largest mass murder to a lunch bought by a homeless person on a Tuesday was monitored and recorded for future reference. The supposed reason for this Big Brother-like satellite was to stop crime, but within a couple months of the deployment it was quite obvious that the World Government was playing, and winning, a power game. Petty crime levels dropped drastically in just a week, but larger gangs and mafias quickly caught on to the money-grabbing aspect of politics and found the government officials willing to look the other way for a price.

Major crime started to grow and rivalries grew between the reigning gangs. The police force was helpless compared to the amount of weaponry the gangs had access to and there was very little they could do to stop the rising levels of corruption. Within a few months violence had escalated to unimaginable levels and a few select assassinations made by both mafia members and the gang-like military officials came very near to plunging the world into a fourth war.

It was at this time that two very important things occurred:
Retaliation Against War, or RAW, was formed in an effort to prevent the uprising between countries. This faction was completely separate from the government and was finalized on March 3, 2449, almost two years after GODs’ deployment. Having RAW realized and Completely functional so early was incredibly fortunate considering the following events.

On April 28th, unbeknownst to the whole of earth, a sickness had swept through the employees of GOD. This was easily mistaken for the common cold, and its’ spread throughout the satellite was seen as no cause for concern. Until people started dying.

Almost overnight hundreds of people turned up dead, the first of many to contract the virus. Among these was a very important technician by the name of Indigo Maxwell, whose main job was to control the orbit of the satellite. Though she was of the first to fall ill she determinedly clung to life in an effort to get a message to earth. In the process of her message there was a power surge, or failure, the truth is not really known, but it is assumed the dying technician hit the wrong button and there was a large explosion in the area of the satellites main engine. This engine kept it in perfect alignment with Earth without obscuring the sun, but the explosion caused a rocket-like effect, placing it in the direct path of the sun.

The message Maxwell sent to earth was received, but only in bits and pieces. In the hours it took to decode the message there was no one left alive on GOD to save, and the colossal satellite was blocking the sun’s rays, throwing the entire world into darkness.

Several missions were sent to fix the problem, but as each one of the supporting crew fell ill long before even reaching GOD nothing could be done, and some of the best minds were lost. The height of GOD and its’ gargantuan size rendered it immune to what nuclear weapons still existed and the only way seen to be rid of it was to somehow cause a huge explosion. However this explosion would rain debris upon the earth and cause unknown damage. Of course, there was also the problem of the unknown sickness that befell everyone who got remotely close to GOD. One mission, fearing death, happened to return long before the sickness took hold of the crew. They had managed to obtain a piece of floating debris for study by the top four scientists of the world. The source of the sickness had been discovered.

The conclusions reached explained that the combination the mixture of metal and steel used in GODs’ construction, and of the radiation from the sun had somehow caused a warp in the metal at a cellular level, turning it into a living being. The scientists were as confused by this as the common people, and though they worked night and...well, night, on the meaning of this project one by one they fell ill and died.

The piece of metal was incinerated before anyone else could fall victim and cause the spread of the disease, but the findings of the four scientists sent fear through officials.

Conclusions had been reached that by the year 2520 the entire world would have the makings of another black plague on its’ hands.

Of course, paired with the sublunary darkness that had befallen the Earth, and the resulting death of many animal and vegetation species, it was obvious that earth was in a lot of trouble. The scientists warnings and claims were not released to the general public, and priority was diverted into more ‘meaningful’ and ‘useful’ projects like discovering ways to grow plants without light.

Now jump ahead several hundred years to 2650 and the whole of the world has changed. What animal and plant species that could survive the extreme darkness had undergone a drastic spurt of evolution caused by the extreme conditions. Virtually no herbivores are left in existence, and the carnivores had developed more and more weapons and defences against the other carnivores that they were falling prey to. Such things as poisons and venoms became the rule instead of the exception, and the few species of plant life that managed to survive made even humans quake, with the ability to gain nourishment vampirically. The Venus fly trap at it’s worst.

The oceans had become dangerous as well. The oddest creatures would crawl onto land time and time again. Things that were never discovered in the oceans depths, things that had evolved. Giant squids were the least of a persons’ problems, as almost every living thing in the ocean was bigger and badder than the last. The seas made the land animals look like those from a petting zoo, and the legends of sea monsters and serpents weren’t legends anymore.

Earths’ population had easily been halved since a hundred years before, the scientists predictions coming true. To protect everyone from both the creatures that hunted them as well as the virus, humans encased themselves in dome-like structures spanning entire cities. One dome was connected to another by underground tunnels heavily reinforced by meters of steel and concrete. There existed two airports for overseas journeys, but few had the money or the courage to undertake such a trip.

The planet’s flora and fauna had not been the only thing to undergo a drastic evolution. Humans were developing odd powers with no seeming clue to whom they would turn up in. These ‘New Types’ had powers that ranged from healing to telepathy, from telekinesis to clairvoyance. At first these New Types were discriminated against, but they gradually proved their usefulness. As the years passed their acceptance and numbers grew until they became a good third of the population.

Food was grown artificially and genetically cloned, but only the richest could afford such luxuries. Very few could make the raw vitamins that made up their daily meals taste like actual food. Real food was long forgotten.

The studies for the cure to the virus, known simply as The Virus, were still elusive. Once you had fallen victim to the sickness there was slim hope of recovery, and if you managed to live through it there was a large possibility you would be killed off by such things as pneumonia. Many lost sons and daughters, parents and siblings to the Virus, and yet no cure was found.

It took a long time to get the outbreak under control, and the people of earth learned to live in a constant state of danger, some even believing it was normal. As the years passed the frequency of outbreaks dropped until only twenty or so cases a year were reported in each major dome.

Fast forward to now, the year 2796. The millennium is soon approaching and a breakthrough has finally been made in the study of the virus. One young scientist, Aster Bael, made a small mistake in his calculations, which led him on a wild chase ultimately discovering the key ingredients and mutation patterns of the Virus. However, working in such close perimeters with even a simulated virus was dangerous and he fell sick. Before his anticipated death he recorded the information of his discovery in his portable computer - a now fashionable accessory - disguised as bat wings which sat upon his head. This device was virtually unhackable even by the most elite experts. He did this in order to prevent the possible cure from getting into the wrong hands, the hands which had been after a power-tool such as this for a long time.

The virus worked slowly, disintegrating his lungs and filling them with blood, turning his insides to sludge. Aster sealed himself off from the rest of the world in order to prevent an outbreak, and was prepared to die alone. He lay down for his last rest and closed his eyes, dead to the world.

However, not dead to his best friend, Cantor Aquafuer. The person he’d always been closest to had thought of his absence odd and discovered him, moments from death. Cantor was able to cryogenically freeze Aster in hopes of somehow saving him, though his body was long passed the point of help.

Cantor and his older brother Cyanaide were commissioned by the government to attempt something never before done and completely clone Aster, mind and all, in order to extract the information.

However, RAW has not disappeared. A quiet organization living in semi-secrecy, training and employing several smaller factions to do its’ bidding. RAW knew the government planned on harnessing the cure for its’ own uses, and knew that this was a something that would set society back several years, at the very least. A team was selected in order to combat this rising threat, a team made up of the very best students RAW had, a ‘dream team’.

They had no idea what they were getting into...