The Current State of the World
Neo-Terra Cities:
Highly fortified cities surrounded by collapsed ruins, wastelands, and rift zones. Each city is governed by a council of "Survivor Elites," people who helped build the walls after the Genesis Disaster. However, corruption runs deep, and power struggles simmer just beneath the surface.
The Rift Zones:
Areas twisted by the original Genesis impact. Gravity warps. Time sometimes skips or freezes. Strange lifeforms—mutated beyond recognition—roam freely. Only specialized soldiers or Nomad Hunters dare enter.
Dead Towns and Villages:
Forgotten places outside the cities, where law barely exists. Some towns worship ancient Echo warriors; others have fallen into chaos, ruled by gangs or mysterious cults.
Genesis Storms:
Dangerous, unpredictable phenomena. Electric storms laced with reality-warping energies. Whole convoys vanish inside these storms and never come out the same.
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New Major Enemy Factions
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The Hollowborn
Origin:
Mutated humans twisted by exposure to deep Genesis radiation. They look vaguely human from a distance—until they move. Their bones snap wrong, their mouths open too wide, and their eyes burn like cinders.
Goal:
They don't serve a master. They exist to consume and corrupt—believing they are evolving into the "next step" beyond humanity.
Abilities:
Infect living beings with Genesis corruption.
Create "hive nests" where new Hollowborn are born.
Some develop psychic screams that can shatter glass and disorient fighters.
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The Cult of Null
Origin:
A fanatic organization that worships the void—the source of all destruction. They believe the world is meant to collapse completely and seek to help it along.
Beliefs:
"In emptiness, there is purity."
They actively sabotage cities, unleash monsters, and assassinate key leaders to bring chaos.
Abilities:
Use black-tech relics to control Genesis beasts.
Some members sacrifice their humanity to gain horrifying powers, like becoming living shadows or beasts of flesh.
Important Figures:
High Priestess Veyne: A woman who claims to hear the "whispers" of the void directly.
The Revenants: Elite assassins with augmented bodies capable of phasing through walls.
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Genesis Wraithborn
Origin:
Failed experiments trying to recreate Echo warriors artificially. These creatures are tragic echoes of the past heroes—broken shells driven by fragmented memories.
Abilities:
Mimic old Echo combat styles but with brutal, monstrous twists.
Extremely hard to kill—often requiring total dismemberment or relic weapons.
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Atmosphere of the World
During the day:
Cities are crowded but tense. Checkpoints at every street corner. Everyone is scanned constantly. Markets are alive, but fear simmers under every transaction.
At night:
Streets empty.
Curfew alarms blare.
Patrol drones click overhead.
Only the desperate, the foolish, or the powerful move after dark.
Outside the walls:
Wild, broken wastelands stretch for miles. Sky fractured with permanent auroras caused by rift energy. Abandoned Echo outposts crumble slowly, haunted by things unseen.
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Quick Visual for Feel:
Imagine cities where:
Neon lights buzz against black stormy skies.
Broken holograms flicker with smiling propaganda.
Deep underground, cultists chant in the dark.
On the surface, hunters ride massive relic bikes across endless dust seas, trying to outrun mutated horrors.