The goal of the NPC AI framework is to provide a general guideline to designing believable behavior of the NPC that reflects the consequences of choices the player makes through the game. Let’s take an example and break it down, as usual.

Tycho chats up with the player in the bar, knowing that he is a stranger in town and could do some errands befitting a stranger. He talks to him about a job with nice pay, after finding out that the player is a person who is willing to overstep the boundaries of law for personal gain.

Tycho recognition check: does not recognize player

Tycho moral compass check: player is chaotic neutral (for example)

He then “suggests” the player “remove” a particular NPC named Nancy, who he claims to be disrupting his business. Once Nancy is gone, the player can come back and collect the money. The condition is, the player must keep this a secret, and make the death look like an accident.

Tycho quest marker: quest initiated

The player then proceeds to Nancy’s and observes the NPC’s schedules for a while. He notices that Nancy often climbs down an abandoned well to pray in the bottom of the well, and schemes that a slight knock will cause the walls of the well tumbling down, crushing Nancy underneath.

The player casually walks up to the well and pushes the rocks in, and returns to Tycho for payment. Tycho tells the player to wait a few days to see if the job was done according to requirements.

The next morning, and NPC notices the well being broken and investigates. The NPC discovers Nancy’s body, and reports it to the Sheriff. The Sheriff comes and take a look, and then realizes that it is not an accident but a murder. He alerts the entire town to the murder and begin questioning suspects.

Townsperson recognition check: does not recognize well

Townsperson script trigger upon foreign data: investigate data

Townsperson discovery check: well is destroyed

Townsperson destruction check: ignore well (low priority)

Townsperson discovery check: Nancy’s dead body

Townsperson destruction check: report death (high priority)

Sheriff reaction check: death investigation (high priority)

Sheriff discovery check: well destruction is not natural

Sheriff reaction check: alert for murder in town (high priority)

Sheriff detective check: check NPC schedules

Sheriff detective check: no NPCs passed by

Sheriff memory check: player (stranger) is in town

Sheriff script trigger: murder dialog script with player

The sheriff proceeds to investigate all NPCs that happen to pass by that area, and finds nothing. Then he remembers that the player is in town, who is a shady stranger and proceeds to question the player.

Is this a nice way to create emergent behavior? Take for an instance the player kills an NPC. Nobody knows of the murder, right? After a few days, other NPCs tagged as the dead NPC’s friend’s will notice his disappearance and will investigate, eventually triggering the sheriff’s investigation script.

If the player leaves town before the news got out, he might be spared from the questioning, but the information bit would have been flagged and next time when he returns the sheriff will seek him out and have a world with him.

Would this be a good way to inject life into the game world? Will this be too much to handle?

Hulkers are the last to join the mutation bandwagon, due to them being relatively well sheltered from the airborne mutagen. They trace their ancestors to the German people, who migrated to South East Asia during the First Deadly Plague and settled in the mountains of Malaysia, seeking refuge in the various limestone caves along the range of the Titiwangsa Mountains.

They meticulously keep records of their lives, documenting family bloodlines, marriages and life events and keeping them hidden in great vaults carved into the deep caverns of Titiwangsa. Due to their diligent book keeping, tracing their ancestry is extremely easy; although the Hulkers rarely allow outsiders to venture into their secret vaults.

Documents of their mutation evolution are highly priced amongst the scientific circle. They are the only mutants to evolve in isolation, without going through the mandatory natural selection process like the others. It is a mystery how they managed to evolve the most suitable traits for survival in their environment, although there are many rumors of Spartan-like infanticide and eugenic practice.

Note that this framework only applies to major quests. Minor quests are not covered in this framework.

Quest Design

The premise of the quest should always involve conflicting needs of two or more parties, where there are no clear moral solutions. Each side offer their own perspective as to why they need the quest to be resolved their way, and the reasons for it should always be a matter of practicality rather than morality.

Remember that this is a world set in a post-apocalyptic era who had just dragged itself out of a bloody dark age. Morals don’t work the same way they do in our world.

Take for example the planned quest for the demo area Twilight. In this shady town the character will come across a large warehouse infested by rotworms. There are two corporations hiring mercenaries to clear out the warehouse, but both corporations have different motives: the Moonshiners want the warehouse demolished in order to protect his workers whose mine is in close proximity to the warehouse; while the Cocorunners want the warehouse preserved to handicap the Moonshiners’ mining operations which they believe to be destroying the town’s water source.

This quest pits a short-term solution (saving the Moonshiner miners) against a long-term solution (saving the town’s water supply). Players are forced to choose between the two, and even then the choice forces the player to make concessions. If the short-term solution is chosen, the town would prosper for a few years before the water runs out. The miners would migrate to other towns as rich merchants and live the rest of their lives in luxury. If the long-term solution is chosen, the town would lose its main economy source but allow the town to survive, eventually growing into a main checkpoint in the trade route along the coast of Oasis.

As you can see here, both solutions yield equally good results, and the value of the consequences is up to the player to decide. In this situation, the player is forced to choose the solution that he believes in, rather than the blatant good/evil/neutral choices.

Accommodating Failure

Failure is a mechanism that I would like to promote in Splintered Core. In the previous example, let’s say the player agrees with the Moonshiers and go look for dynamites to blow out the pillars of the warehouse in order to collapse it.

Let’s say the most obvious place to find the dynamites is in the storage room of a man called Bigdy, and the player decides to sneak into his house at night to steal it. Night rolls around and the player sneaks into his yard and tries to pick the lock. A critical failure sets off an alarm (Bigdy’s a little paranoid), startling the man, resulting in a very pissed shotgun-wielding guy storming down the stairs.

In normal RPGs, the player would have to fight Bigdy and subsequently kill him in order to resolve the situation, but in my design I prefer to carry on in the quest. Bigdy demands to know why the player is there and the player attempts a speech check to convince Bigdy that he is a security systems salesperson here to demonstrate how to compromise his security systems. A successful check will then allow the player to find out why Bigdy is so paranoid, yielding information about the Moonshiners’ brutish ways and illegal dealings.

Thus, imagine if the player had not decided to raid Bigdy’s house (buy the dynamite from a merchant instead) and failed the lockpicking attempt, he would not have been given the information regarding Moonshiners’ illegal dealings. Sure, the player can talk to Bigdy during the day and with different speech checks find out about the information, but by allowing the player a way out of failures (and discourage Power Word: Reload) I believe it would create a more dynamic and replayable world where failing at tasks do not necessarily mean reduction of gameplay enjoyment.

Design Checklist

Therefore, in order to ensure that all main quests are designed in a similar way, a checklist is needed to guide designers:

• Is there a clear good/evil/neutral solution? If yes, re-design it again.
• Are the justifications from stakeholders of the quest extensive? If no, re-design.
• Are the justifications of a good/evil/neutral kind? If yes, re-design.
• Are the motives of the stakeholders based on practicality? If no, re-design.
• Are there at least 3 ways to solve the quest along each of the stakeholder’s perspective? If no, re-design.
• Is the solution attainable only through combat? If yes, re-design.
• Does each of the quest’s approach accommodate for the player failing? If no, re-design.

This post will detail how the combat system works.

Combat in Splintered Core will utilize a tic-based, phase-based timekeeping system, in which actions happen in real time based on time units called “tics”. One tic is equivalent to 100 milliseconds (which will be adjusted during testing time for balance purposes), and every action has a tic-cost. For example, moving 1 tile would cost 10 tics (1 second), while moving 1 tile diagonally would cost 15 tics (1.5 seconds).

Tic Cost Reduction Bonuses

Tic cost is reduced by 1% for every rank the player has in his speed stat, which is further reduced by 5% for every familiarity level for applicable actions. This means an action can have a maximum of 25% reduction on tic cost.

Rush Meter

Every character in combat has a rush meter that begins with 0 and fills up when it reaches 100. Rush meter further decreases tic-costs to a maximum of 20% (every rush point gives a 0.2% reduction), and special techniques incurs a certain rush point cost.

Rush points are gained when a character performs a successful combat roll. Passive combat rolls (where the character is the target the roll) gains lesser rush points than aggressive combat rolls (where the character is the initiator of the roll). Multiple consequent successes triggers multipliers that exponentially increase the rush point accumulation rate, until the chain of successes is broken by a failed roll. Note that multipliers can only be gained through the commitment mechanism (see below).

Getting hit in combat reduces the character’s rush meter, in addition to the natural decay of the meter per tic.

Commitment

When combat begins, the player enters the planning phase, in which the player can decide on the level of commitment. What this means is that during the planning phase, players can choose their party members and issue chains of commands.

For example, the player can tell the character to move 5 tiles to the east, kneel down, set up an overwatch zone and hold it for 50 tics. Assuming that each tile movement costs 10 tics; kneeling down costs 15 tics; and setting up an overwatch costs 20 tics; the total tic cost for the chain of command is 135 tics.

Now when the player presses the execute button, the character will carry out the chain of command. The player has the option of breaking the chain of command prematurely by pressing the enter planning phase button, which will cancel out accumulated rush multipliers.

Rush multipliers can only be generated through unbroken commitments. Using the example above:

Successful Commitment

The player runs 5 tiles to the east, getting shot at twice along the way but succeeds in both fumble checks. Upon reaching the destination, he kneels down, again getting shot at but succeeds in the fumble check. He sets up the overwatch under enemy fire, and through sheer luck survives all fumble checks, and begins returning fire for 50 tics, succeeding in all his combat rolls.

In total, the player should now have more than 10 consecutive successes, netting him a nice x3 multiplier to his rush meter. Therefore, instead of gaining (for example) 1 rush point per tic, he now gets 3 rush points per tic.

Broken Commitment

The player runs 5 tiles to the east, getting shot at twice along the way. He succeeds in the first fumble check but fails the second one. The player’s further actions are immediately cancelled – along with any multipliers to his rush meter – and the game returns to the planning phase.

I hope this explains the combat mechanics well.

Here’s a quick draft of the 2.5D engine roadmap:

Tech Demo 0 – Experimental Build

• Test scene with texture painter using alpha masks
• Test 3D models’ shadows intersecting with 2D sprites
• Test per-pixel lighting techniques
• Concept artwork

This build is for me and the artist to better understand the artwork pipeline. Since we’re both pretty vague on how everything will work together for now, it’s better for us to create a simple editor with a texture painter and a live preview function to see how everything works out.

I am guessing this would be the hardest of the entire build as this is the part where everything is created and set in stone, and once this build goes out there won’t be any other changes in the art direction anymore.

Tech Demo 1 – Base Build

• Basic 2.5D engine with OGRE3D
• 3D Character Models
• Character movement and collision detection
• Character animations
• Isometric camera with panning
• Coordinate system and transformations
• Correct Z-ordering
• Basic Qt map editor framework
• Lightmap pre-rendering

Upon delivery of tech demo 1, I should be able to build simple levels together with the help of the contract artist, and test it using character models loaded into the scene. Also, the map editor should allow me to get a feel of how to create levels and areas, which will probably dictate the art pipeline in the future.

This tech demo will be the second toughest to pull off, with so many subsystems being developed at the same time. By the end of this tech demo, I should be able to use Fallout Tactics’ tileset and recreate an entire city, save it, and load it in the actual game with characters. Also, I will be able to move said character about the area.

Tech Demo 2 – Particle Effects Build

• Alpha blending
• Fog Effect
• Smoke Effect
• Lightning Flash Effect
• Earthquake Effect
• Rain Effect with puddling and ripples
• Fire/Flare/Muzzle Flash Effect
• Camera occlusion and optimization
• Basic Lua scripting integration

Upon delivery of tech demo 2, I would have all scriptable effects available to me. This is the part where I will add script support into the map editor, allowing level creators to both build the level AND script it at the same time.

By the end of this tech demo, I should be able to recreate the entire Siege of Redwater demo scene easily with all the particle effects as well as the scripting engine.

Tech Demo 3 – Modernization Build

• Day/night cycle
• Real-time Per-pixel normal lighting
• Pathfinding algorithms with strategy paradigm
• Real-time Soft Shadows
• NPC schedule scripting interface

This tech demo’s goal is to turn the current graphics into something that looks better than say, Fallout, Baldur’s Gate and Planescape Torment, with in house graphics. This is also the build that will be used to announce the game over at major news sites.

The per-pixel lighting and soft shadows will be the main features of this build. I am guessing these features are the most important for this build. Without these, it will be pointless for me to continue working on this game.

Tech Demo 4 – Combat Build

• Phase based combat implementation with strategy paradigm
• Turn based combat implementation with strategy paradigm
• Implementation of the STEN character system
• Inventory system
• Equipment system

This is it. If I ever reach this stage… ah, it’ll be haven. This is the part when shit starts to happen. Combat mechanics, balancing, and most importantly, alpha testers!!!

I can’t write much on this part. Frankly, I don’t know what will happen at this stage. I just can’t imagine it yet.

Tech Demo 5 – Game Build

• Dialog system
• Dialog scripting
• NPC action framework
• NPC action scripting
• Global script variable manager
• Script unit tester

The final build before it goes to beta level.

Continuing from the mutant angle, let’s build more on it today.

In the world, there are 5 main races:

1. Pure Men
2. Scarrens
3. Ironjaws
4. Wanderers
5. Hulkers

Pure Men

Archetype: Xenophobic humans who live most of their lives clad in a biohazard suit

Pure men pride themselves at staying genetically accurate to pre-desertion humans, and believe themselves to be the last of humankind. They usually do not acknowledge the other mutants as humans, but due to the adverse effects of the mutagen in the atmosphere and the subsequent second epidemic, they almost never go anywhere without their biohazard suits. Some families even wear them at home (especially those who stay beyond the protective bubble of the capital), preferring not to trust their in-house air filtration systems.

At the time when the game commences, there are no traces of mutagen left in the atmosphere, thus making bio-suits redundant. However, they still continue the tradition of donning bio-suits, believing it to be something that elevates their social status above the other races.

They are the majority race in the Combine, and believe themselves to be the true founders of the government. They believe that without their “kindness” and “humanism” the mutants would not have been given a chance for citizenship at all, and that they would have won the Confederacy-Crissen war anyway. While the younger generations are less xenophobic as the older generations, intimate interactions between Pure Men and other mutants are generally considered taboo. In Oasis however, due to the more balanced ratios of mutant races, they are more tolerant, going as far as actually making friends with the other races. For this, Pure Men from the Oasis are often looked down upon by those in the Combine.

Appearance

Pure men will NEVER, under any circumstances appear in public without donning their protective suits, even in situations where their suits are not needed. Over time, the different designs of their suits come to represent different social statuses and origins. There are in total 3 major bio-suit designs.

Pure men from the central highland regions (Highlanders) usually wear body fitting bio suits with a clear bubble visor, and over the suit they often wear an additional layer of a long trench coat with a numerical designation on the left sleeve and a clan insignia on the right. Their suits are more technologically advanced: a network of artificial veins carrying thermal fluids help regulate temperate within the suit by heating or cooling the fluid through the built-in thermal regulator unit on their back.

Pure men from the far eastern junkyards (Tinkers) wear suits that are usually adorned with exotic and swirling patterns, due to their community’s high emphasis on individuality. Although the suits share the same T-shaped sealed barbute-like helmets with an integrated respiratory filtration system, individuals often paint their helmets with distinct patterns to signify their identity and beliefs, and to stand out from the rest.

Pure men from the northern jungle lands (Stalkers) prefer practical suits allowing them full mobility and protection in the dangerous forests of the north. Most helmets come integrated with a metallic helmet and neck guard, and their suits are double layered with a layer of kevlar and ceramic insets in-between to ensure that one lucky hit from a predator or a bandit would not cause leakages in the suits. Their suits often come in jungle camouflage paint.

Scarrens

Archetype: Fearsome but horribly ugly warriors with rapid cell regeneration capabilities

Scarrens are the first batch of mutants to survive the mutagen. They are born with genetic necrosis, which causes them to lose chunks of flesh and skin in their youth. When they are 10 years old, their body’s regenerative abilities begin to catch up with the necrosis, and by the time they reach puberty the vastly accelerated regeneration factor would have completely negated the necrosis. However, they are left with horrible scars and scabs all over their bodies.

Due to their strong regenerative powers, Scarrens are fearsome in combat as they can shrug off non-fatal wounds easily without slowing down. Shallow wounds regenerate in a matter of minutes, while bullet wounds usually take mere hours to heal. Their capabilities make them excellent warriors, and having spent their youth in pain and suffering the necrosis had provided them ample supply of angst that fuels their berserker-like demeanor during combat. They form the backbone of the elite Awakened Archonites.

Appearance

Scarrens stand at an average of 6′, with an athletic build and sinewy muscles. Their bodies have problems retaining fat, giving them a very defined and sculptured physique. Their bodies are covered completely in horrid scars, which they tend to flaunt proudly as their racial heritage by wearing as little clothing as possible in public. They generally have pale copper skin, black irises and jet black hair.

Scarren males usually walk around in hiking boots and a simple pants held to the waist with a leather belt of their own tribe’s design, and on their face they usually prefer an assortment of piercings arranged in a way to show their status within the tribe. Generally, the higher their hierarchy in the tribe, the more exotic and elaborate their piercings are. Scarren females often don thong bodysuits and like their male counterparts, the design and number of piercings on their face signify their family unit and social status in the tribes.

Scarrens often wear their hair in dreadlocks, held down and adorned with small sculptures made of bone. These are called “lifelocks”, in which each sculpture signifies a prestigious event in their lives like their first hunting kill; ascension to a higher social status; marriage; and so forth. They wear their lives upon their hair as they believe that one should never have secrets in life, and that life should not be lived in regret and shame.

Ironjaws

Archetype: Entrepreneurial masons who has the capability to digest and reshape metal

Ironjaws originate from Hades – a massive junkyard in the far west shrouded most of the time in heavy mists. Hades, unlike the rest of the lands, have zero plant life, and as a result resources are extremely limited in that area. Mutants there somehow developed the capability to digest metals – a trait of relatively questionable survival benefits. When they were integrated into the Combine, their resourcefulness and opportunistic mindset allowed them to prosper in the resource rich Combine, quickly dominating the metal making and manufacturing industries.

Their dominance over the economy is one of the primary reasons why the Pure Men passed legislation to suppress their growth and monopoly, which over the time developed into unnecessarily oppressive laws. However, coming from resilient backgrounds, they simply weathered the oppression and continue doing what they do best – surviving regardless of any challenges.

Appearance

Ironjaws stand at an average of 4’5″. They are short and stocky, with thick arms and legs and a short, almost invisible neck. Most ironjaws (both genders) are bald, with little to no body hair at all. Their skin range from pale yellow to light copper; their hair usually red or orange and most ironjaws have slanted crimson eyes. All ironjaws have strong and squarish jaws, flat cheekbones and foreheads.

Due to their diet, they have very strong teeth and naturally replace all their teeth every two years. Fashion wise, ironjaws prefer simple work clothes. Males are usually seen in public donning rugged jumpsuits with extra pockets sewn in, while females are usually seen in simple but practical shirt and short pants.

They secrete ingested metal through their belly button in liquid form, which quickly solidifies when in contact with the atmosphere, and thus when working in forges, ironjaws tend to keep their bellies bare to craft items with their relatively slender fingers with deceiving dexterity.

Wanderers

Archetype: Humans who are completely immune to mutagens and viruses

Wanderers are originally a generic term to refer to master adventurers back in the Dark Ages who dare travel alone through the Wildlands. They often seek work as hired guns or assassins, and while many believe them to belong to a guild of some sort most of them prefer to keep silent about their private matters. They are seemingly immune to the mutagens as they often travel unprotected and show no signs of mutations (although many believe their mutations to be too subtle for the naked eye to perceive).

Wanderers are generally untrusted in all communities, as their reclusive nature and mythical reputation denies them the capability to form meaningful relationships with the general population in the Wildlands. The protagonist of the game is a Wanderer by default.

Hulkers

Archetype: Huge gentle titans whose strength far surpasses their intelligence

Hulkers come from isolated villages from the north, between Oasis and Hades. They make their homes in caves in the hilly terrain, and thus they are left alone during the Confederacy-Order war. Because of this they are more receptive towards the Pure Men, unlike the rest who harbor intense hatred towards them. They stand at an average height of 7 feet, built with thick and strong muscles and walk in a slightly hunched gait. They are surprisingly fast when roused to anger, which is rare considering their generally pacifist nature.

Since the formation of the Combine and the subsequent rise of the Saberions, Hulkers have been drafted into the military and trained as the elite Viceron guards because they are loyal by nature and can be relied upon to carry out tasks even when the morality of the mission is questionable. They are hooked up to external adrenaline pumps that forcibly incite them to aggression on demand. Rogue hulkers exist in the lands, but are rare as hulkers are rarely solitary, preferring the company of family more than anything else.

Appearance

Hulkers stand at an average of 7 feet tall, and have incredibly muscular builds. They are immensely strong, being able to bash apart rock walls with ease; a skill they employ extensively to dig caverns deep into the Darkspire range. They have squarish heads with short cropped hair, deep set blue eyes, firm lips and sharp noses.

Due to their tunneling heritage, Hulkers walk with a hunched gait. They are deceivingly dexterous however, being able to reach top running speeds of 20 kilometers per hour effortlessly.

Clothing wise, Hulkers prefer primitive organic clothings like animal fur and hides. Their tools are equally primitive too, usually of the clay/wood/iron kind. Hulker communities are mainly hunter/gatherers, and thus they are usually unskilled with advanced firearms or explosives, preferring the use of bows, spears, crossbows and throwing axes in combat.

MORE TO COME…

Wow, it’s been a while. A month to be exact.

I’ve been redesigning my game’s setting since last night, and I’ve made some excellent progress on this front. It’s important for me to get my game’s setting down into something solid, to serve as both a framework for future designers in the same universe and a basis for artists to imagine the world into life.

Basic Premise

The game(s) is set in a “post-modern, post-apocalyptic world where every human is a mutant of some sorts” world. It revolves around the question “what does it mean to be a human” to the extreme, with each mutant species convinced that they are the logical next step for the human species, while viewing the rest as nothing more than failed evolutionary variants.

The game’s aesthetics resemble an apocalyptic parody of modern day life, with a slight touch of advanced technologies like hydroplasma cells, rail guns, powered exoskeleton suits and advanced all-terrain personal hovercrafts.

And it is in this world that the player creates their own story – of their journeys in the desolate and deadly Wildlands where every next step could very well be their last.

Cause of Apocalypse

The world woke up one day in the near future (2018 to be certain) and realized that all the world’s leaders have boarded into 7 massive Eden ships and fled into space, leaving the world behind to total anarchy. For the first week there were riots and skirmishes all over the globe as people scrambled to fill in the leadership void; but just when things were starting to sort itself out a deadly epidemic broke out all over the globe, wiping out tens of millions every day. In mere months the entire world’s population had been reduced to mere millions, who no longer had any food left as the virus affected all living beings.

The general consensus amongst the survivors of the First Deadly Epidemic was that those who left in the Eden ships foresaw the apocalypse event, and rather than fighting it they fled instead. The exodus would come to be known as the Great Desertion in history, and turned into the source of universal hatred and blame amongst the survivors of the epidemic.

South East Asia Survives

Miraculously, survivors of the epidemic found out that South East Asia were largely untouched by the epidemic, as well as isolated islands in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Knowing that their survival now hinged on the small little third world continent, survivors from all over the world packed up their gears and made the long journey to the last sanctuary on the planet.

For a while the South East Asians welcomed these people with open arms: a testimony of humanity and compassion long thought forgotten in the cynical and apathetic first world.

However, as more congregated in the continent, resources began to dwindle and soon a deadly tension between the natives and the foreigners threaten to spiral chaotically out of control.

The Outsider Wars

Nobody remembered how it happened, but the uncomfortable tolerance between the natives and the foreigners finally broke in the year 2020, one year after they voluntarily offered their homes and food to these immigrants.

Quarrels quickly escalated into skirmishes, and subsequently into total war. Thousands laid dead every day from raids and ambushes, and rival villages and towns sent war bands against each other for all sorts of reasons, of which many of them were trivial in retrospect.

Though the exact cause for the Outsider Wars would probably be lost in the annals of oral history, one thing remained for certain: the war became the herald of the dark age and the dawn of mutantkind when one of the skirmishes accidentally destroyed an experimental research facility, which released gallons of mutagens into the atmosphere.

The Dark Age

The airborne mutagen were not detected until years later when its effects began to manifest. Babies were born with severe defects and adults began suffering from strange and incurable diseases. More people died of cancer than bullets, and soon scientists came to the harrowing conclusion that South East Asia was no longer safe anymore.

Protective gear were quickly issued to all those who could afford it, and for the unfortunate they either stole or murdered for it. Travel became tedious and dangerous, resulting in communities being isolated from one another as time went by.

Not every community were fortunate enough to receive these protective measures however, and were forced to weather the mutations. Tens of thousands of deaths through cancer and diseases soon paved the way to a new generation of mutant variants.

The Mutant Dawn

While many humans were killed by malicious mutations, small numbers of them benefited from it instead, providing them with new means to survive the desolate lands. Soon, their fortune spilled over to their descendants, and from their bloodline came a new generation of humans who bore little to no resemblance to pre-desertion humans, but retained similar culture, mannerism, tradition and lifestyles.

Communities blessed with protective gear believe themselves as the last remaining “pure” humans, and zealously enforce this fact by exiling/executing any community members who display but the slightest sign of mutation. This xenophobic zeal soon redirected its attention outwards, and a genocidal scheme soon brought these communities together in unity. They formed the Confederacy of Pure Humans, locked and loaded their firearms, and launched the Great Purge.

The mutants were caught by surprise as armies of biohazard suited clad militias tore into their peaceful villages and slaughtered every men, women and children. At first the mutants fled from the “Pure Men”, but soon they began to fight back. The mutants rallied under the inspirations of a visionary mutant by the name of Criss, who then formed the Crissen Order whose membership was open to any mutant who were ready to shed blood for the better of mutantkind.

The war between the Confederacy and the Order ground down to a stalemate in the fields of Blacksand before a massive pre-desertion metropolis ruins, dying the earth red with the blood of the fallen. It was there upon the stained grounds that both sides began questioning of the reason for warfare. For the first time in centuries of bloodshed, they finally pondered about peace.

The Combine

The Confederacy and the Crissen Order finally merged after a long truce, uniting into a new entity called the Combine that promised a fair future where mutants and pure humans could live alongside each other in peace.

Because many were unprepared to discard their prejudices and vendettas for fallen comrades and family, the early days of the Combine were stricken by many difficulties; many of which led to brawls, murders and discriminations. Legislation of a constitution that advocated the superiority of the Pure Men (who happened to be the majority race in the Combine) led to even more dissatisfactions, and soon a scheme was hatched to wrestle the society under control.

From the vaults of pre-desertion technologies the high council of the Combine approved the release of the same virus that wiped out all civilizations after the desertion. Citizens of the Combine were then forced to wear the same biohazard suits that were once associated with the very identities of the Pure Men in order to survive the Second Deadly Epidemic.

Rebellion and Splintered Core

Many vehemently protested the new measures of donning the biohazard suits, as they deem such actions as discriminatory and a subjugation of their mutant identities. Instead of biohazard suits, the protesters suggested that the Combine redirected all its resources towards a two pronged strategy: (1) connect all existing airtight residential vaults called biodomes with a network of tunnels; and (2) accelerate the development of a vaccine that was supposed to have been completed years ago. The first measure was agreed by many (even amongst the Pure Men) as the most viable strategy, which made the rejection from the high council raise even more questions and conspiracy theories. Despite the rare joint protests of all mutant groups (including many Pure Men as well), the high council instead sent riot control police to suppress their dissenting voices, resulting in unnecessary bloodshed over the course of two weeks.

This dissatisfaction quickly led to the formation of two splinter groups; with one preferring to leave the Combine in peace and the other choosing a more violent route.

Those who left the Combine traveled north and eventually settled down in Oasis. They eventually merged with the Lorekeepers whose sole objective in life is to rediscover pre-desertion knowledge, forming a semi-religious order known as the Awakened Order.

Those who chose to resist the Combine’s new law with violent means escaped into the underground tunnels beneath the Combine cities and called this new home the Gloomy Tunnels, from where they plotted rebellions against the government. In honor of the first mutant who was executed for refusing to put on the biohazard suit, they called themselves the Saberions after her maiden name Sabari.

It is during this time that the protagonist is born, in a quiet little village in Oasis called Moonstone.