The Beginning
Neither Rome nor New Constantinople predicted what happened that day in April 2027. All of us knew it was coming, but it's hard to believe such thing could happen in your life. When the terrifying sounds of horns suddenly filled the air, the water turned into blood and swarms of locust filled the sky, there was an unshakable fear -- the fear of the inevitable end of life as we had know it. Judgment Day had come, and with it, the Battle. Bloodier than any other struggle in history, it raged on for two months. It was as though civilized man had never existed and that our morals and ethics were just a dream we had before waking up to find ourselves as violent and uncontrolled as the most brutal beast. It was as though all of human history had been leading up to that moment, when we'd give ourselves over to the madness of slaughtering everyone who opposed the things for which we stood.
In the end, they fought. The Truth and the Antitruth. The Christ and the Antichrist. No one could've predicted the outcome: that they'd kill each other. What could be worse than a stalemate between two competing global truths?
Desperate and abandoned, we started looking for something that could give us a new sense of life, but to no avail. Mass suicides were just the beginning. Soon, flying cities filled the skies and strange creatures appeared that called themselves Angels, though they looked more like war machines than the heavenly beings we'd seen in religious books. All over the world, on July 22, 2027, they ushered in a new Word they said had been cleansed of heresy and began a new age in which God supposedly lived among us in a form of a huge machine.
Who are we? Half-human, half-machine, we sacrificed our bodies in service to mankind. It seemed the only chance we had of defeating the enemy was to turn ourselves into superior battle machines.
After the end of the former age, the government forbade the use and development of all high technology. Everything more advanced than the internal combustion engine was destroyed or seized, and most of our scientists now work in the Sky Cities for the benefit of the Regime. Moreover, weapons are restricted. We were losing knowledge and hope.
The only way to survive was to combine the forces of the many opposition groups scattered across the world. The only problem was, we lacked a leader. And then he arrived -- a man who told us about Arcadia, a new land where people will be free again. His name was Nicolay Semenov. Under his guidance, the Resistance became a full-blown worldwide underground movement.
Hidden in the shadows of the lower cities, we gathered bits and pieces of lost technologies and built underground bases where our technicians could develop new machines. We stole blueprints and looked for new ways to apply old tools. That's how we found the solution: implants that put us on the same level as the forces of the Regime.
Through the use of implants, we grew stronger, though we also became less human. We didn't care if we lost our souls, though. Even if we don't have the support of the civilian population (they fear us as much as they fear the Regime), and even if the hounds of the government hunt us, there are only two solutions: our victory or our extinction. And we will fight until the last drop of our blood and machine oil has been spilled. Otherwise, the deaths of our comrades, the long years of existing underground, our memories of a better world and our dreams will all have been for nothing. Our victory is near, so we're preparing ourselves for the final battle, our revenge and the dawn of a new day.
They're natives of Earth and, in spite of the terrible arsenal at their disposal, they can be destroyed. They have no emotions and nothing can stop your execution if the Machine has delivered a verdict. We believe there are no more than 5,000 angels altogether, but that's more than enough to maintain control over all the territories. Often, they use their mental powers to summon squads of people and machines that travel through the lower cities looking for offenders. These so called "punishment squads" are very dangerous.
Someone stands behind all of this. Somebody orchestrated the present condition of the world. But who? Who pulled the surgical strings and, in the process, tore apart the flesh of civilization?
Although isolated, they have access to most modern genetic research and technology, and they control the flow of all money and information. Because they rule from shadows, their names and faces are unknown to us. They're not after glory; it's all about control.
Hell was once a place where sinners went when they died. Now there's a hell on Earth that's as close as our thoughts.
The sky has been gone since the first day they appeared. Huge, enormous cities filled the heavens and Seeds fell to Earth delivering the Word. Wherever they appeared, gray ash fell and covered the Earth. They were alien to us. We knew something was seriously wrong.
Angels, scientists, agents of the Regime and armed forces inhabit the Sky Cities. Most of the research on new ways of controlling mankind take place there.
The biggest Sky City has many names -- The Hand of God, Ice City and The Palace of Souls are a few. Twenty kilometers in size and housing more than 200,000 people, it's the greatest of all Sky Cities. We can only guess that the best defensive systems and elite forces guard this massive metropolis.
Those who live in the Sky Cities are like a different race. They program the machines responsible for maintaining the Regime under which we live. It's impossible for outsiders to breach its walls. We've tried, and lost many brave agents as a result.