Premise

premise

The End began in April 2048, with a string of paranormal activity that rocked California– phantom lights, UFO’s, hauntings, cryptids, glitches in the matrix– all sorts of weirdness began to emerge. Later dubbed “Oddocalypse”, these strange, isolated events originated from causes unknown. Everyone had their hypotheses about it, for just about everyone had either experienced something unexplainable, or known someone that had. Such conversations made their homes in message boards, forums, videos and quiet conversations.

Despite this, this six month spell of weirdness was barely a blip on mainstream news networks and online journals. Oddocalypse so bizarre and so widely spread, that to report upon it would tarnish even the most esteemed company’s reputation. Thus, the media remained silent. People were left to believe what they chose, and act accordingly.

Most insisted upon normalcy, and continued to live as they always had. Some attempted to prepare, but for what they didn’t know.


Everything came to a head on Saturday, October 31, 2048.

San Francisco was alive with revelry– drunken party-goers teetering from bar to bar– trick-or-treaters with totes brimming with candy– baseball players and spectators filled the stadium– tourists enjoyed the brilliant lights and sights– all this, despite the briskness in the air.

Then a flash like lightning illuminated the clear night sky to the West, fracturing the sky above the ocean. Unlike lightning, the crack lingered. Dozens of passerby’s with a view of the open sea would pause to look at this strange sight– the crack began to expand, a bubble of iridescent aurora expanding from it, whirling as if the galaxy itself was leaking through a fissure in the ozone. Such a strange, horrific, beautiful sight– as the bubble grew, more people were drawn to it, until it was so impossibly huge–as if it were reaching towards the sea–

Then, the bubble burst. And all Hell broke loose.

The force of the explosion sent a shockwave inland, riding upon a wave of sea water. Bystanders were thrown from their feet, windows shattered, and sea water rushed inland. Seconds after, the bubble of space-matter expanded, engulfing all that stood in its path. Many tried to flee, but no one moved quickly enough to escape the explosion of light and color that now stunned them speechless.

Once the bubble engulfed onlookers, they would witness the true horrors that lay within. Enormous, otherworldly beasts swam through the air like sharks in the water. With one careless step, the creatures destroyed entire buildings. Some didn’t even touch what they destroyed– the streets reorganized themselves like blocks upon a Rubik’s cube, with little more than a wave of the creatures' claw. Entire alien townships washed ashore like sea foam or fell from the air like raindrops. People were crushed, vaporized, or simply vanished where they stood. In their place, smaller inhuman creatures were left bumbling and snarling.

It was three days before the aurora– and the chaos that came with it–subsided, leaving the city reorganized in places, and completely ruined in others. Many were dead, and the survivors were left reeling from what had transpired. The city had been reborn, both familiar and unfamiliar. The enormous creatures had vanished with the receding void– but the smaller ones who had appeared remained behind.



In some places skirmishes broke-out as humans attacked the smaller creatures, trying to defend themselves. In other places, people acted with reluctant non-violence, realizing that the creatures seemed just as scared as they were. Many places were without water or electricity– without internet or phone service– so people were left to figure things out on their own. Those who could help, did– sometimes allying with the creatures, and fighting them others..

Two days after the Void had withdrawn, the Mayor began to broadcast news over all available radio stations. The Mayor had made contact with the creatures’ leader, who called themselves the Laputans– and had discovered that they, too, were victims of this peculiar fate. Additionally, neither the Human nor the Laputan government had contact with their respective worlds beyond, and they had to work with the assumption that no help would be coming. As such, the Mayor had decided that allying with the Laputans was in the best interest for their collective survival, and began to relay information as to how recovery would proceed.

The broadcast endured for a week, periodically changing from human to inhuman languages and dialects.

Recovery was laborious, but people made due. Hotels were made into shelters for displaced people. Any intact park, stadium, or cultural center became hubs of food allotment and medical treatment. The walls of City Hall were lined with Missing Persons’ posters, and any dead that remained were cremated, ferried to sea, and cast into what had collectively come to be known as “the Void”.



Weeks turned to months, and yet the Void remained. Day and night would cycle, lightening and dimming the world, but the sun and moon were ever-hidden behind the whirling galactic aurora of the Void. Water, electricity, internet, and phone service were restored, but any attempt to contact anyone beyond the Void was met with static. Without a clear end, and without contact with the outside, the two governments saw fit to merge more permanently as the "Lapo-Human Government". Under the new title, a number of motions were passed in order to help smooth the transition into prolonged cohabitation.

These included allocating unoccupied houses and apartments to the unhoused, creating a school for displaced/parentless youth, and merging certain organizations (fire, police, medical, etc.) under common policies and regulations.

Despite the united political front, much of the Bay still lay in ruin. Additionally, certain regions of the Bay were also fraught with conflict between Laputans and Humans. (With ten counties and countless cities in the habitable zone, some did not recognize San Francisco's order to unite with Laputans, nor did it recognize the San Francisco Mayor as the de facto leader.) It was in such a place, such a confrontation, that society first learned of humanity's development of superpowers.

In January 2049, members of an unknown human gang took to the streets of San Jose by car, and began killing hapless Laputans with their newfound superpowers as they drove by. One member filmed this on their cell phone, and a number of bystanders filmed the carnage as well. Their murderous joyride was brought to a swift end when a Laputan with greater power than theirs flipped the car telekinetically.

This hellish day filled many with fear, and forced the Lapo-Human government to address the changing criminal landscape. The public needed protection as strong as-- or perhaps even stronger than-- the threats posed against it.

From this, the Guardian Program was born. They would support the preexisting police and fire efforts by forming small "agencies" in the communities that supported them, at which super-powered individuals, called "guardians", would be employed. They aid with enforcement and rescue. The process for adopting Guardians in various regions has been slow-going, with the first trainees making their debut in April. Feeling the need to defend their neighborhoods without jumping through the legal hoops imposed by the government have taken to Vigilantism instead. And while public officials frown upon it... it's difficult to argue with the results.

It is rumored that Naitou School may eventually act as a preparatory program for such guardian agencies, but such claims remain unconfirmed.

In addition to the Guardian Program, the Lapo-Human Government created the Kirby-Lee Institute for Powered Research in Stanford, California (with satellite campuses being established elsewhere) in order to learn more about our Laputan neighbors, and use their data to study the <1% of the human population that are developing powers. It is rumored that they may eventually try to find cures for the changing humans.

Lastly, as part of the Guardian Program, the Lapo-Human government created the Geospatial Intelligence Corps (GeoInt) for the express purpose of surveying areas near the Void and mapping them (to chart movement, if there is any), making contact with communities near the Void and providing support services, and eventually venturing into the Void to see what lies beyond it.

What will the future hold for those within the habitable zone? Will good prevail, or will new evil arise? Can the Lapo-Human society make things work? And what lies beyond the Void, and will it allow us to flourish? It’s up to you, the player, to discover!