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Legend tells us
of the time before the Catastrophe, when men lived in great shining
cities, traveled the skies in wingless carriages, and performed
daily miracles with glowing machines. Though the world was
virtually choked with people, even the least among them had enough
food and clothing, and an abundance of happiness. Clever and
magical mechanical servants in all walks of life toiled so their
masters could spend their leisure time inventing better miracles.
Men even breached the skies and yes, sailed the stars.
But all this was taken from them.
There is no one left alive who remembers the Catastrophe. Some say
it was caused by bursts from the sun, solar flares that interfered
with the clockwork minds of the servants. There are whispers about
secret doomsday cults that worked to cause the downfall of mankind.
Still others feel it was a judgement upon the sins and gluttony of a
society grown too far and too fast.
Whatever the cause, there came a day when the mechanized workers
turned on their masters, and destroyed the grand engines that
powered the cities. They grounded the flying carriages, refused to
maintain the farmlands, and burned dwellings. Technology was wiped
away in months. And when there was nothing left to destroy, the
mechanical men simply marched into the sea, to drown themselves
beneath the waves.
Within a short decade, four billion people starved to death.
It is 400 years since the Catastrophe, and mankind is on the verge
of another judgement.
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