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.