Storyline

So I knocked up a storyline for a dystopian future setting last night while relaxing. I thought, to begin with, that I would use this setting for a game I'm working on. As is often the case with me my theme seems to be evolving. SO since I don't have a use for the theme I thought I would turn it loose here and see what you guys did with it.

Attribution: You MAY use this, for free, with proper attribution. If you decide to make use of this theme or the entire storyline all I ask is that my name, ErinTruitt, be included in the credits as the author.

NOTE: This is raw material. I cranked it out and tossed it here. Several things were left with ambiguous labels such as "alien" or "visitor". This is intentional so nifty names can be inserted later.

SETTING

A resource containing wealth beyond all imagination sat, unmolested, for ages. Beyond mars, before Jupiter, a massive asteroid belt containing trillions of tons of metals and rare earth materials. Mankind, always searching for new avenues of exploitation, locked its greedy eye on these celestial bodies and united under the banner of expansion.

Late in an era of overpopulation and resource shortages mankind began its plunder of the outer ring. Workers and equipment were shipped off planet almost as quickly as they could be mustered. As the world expanded into space so too did industry, following the trail of mineral rich asteroids. With so much manufacturing taking place off-planet, food and water shortages soon became less and less common and, given enough time, mankind found itself at an equilibrium with its once overextended home world. Were it not for irreparable damage some 30 billion men, women, and children had already inflicted on Earth, there may have been some chance of recovery before the "event".

The Device

The device was recovered from a crash site on asteroid AN-38189. Property of Kyomi Corp, because it was within their "claim", it was initially shipped to one of their research facilities. The device was kept secreted away for nearly a year before a corporate monitor working for the United American states discovered the hidden location and informed his superiors. The facility, working secretly and outside government regulation was descended upon and the device was exposed.

After government "acquisition" of the facility housing the device; it was deemed too volatile to move and research began in earnest. While unclear what precisely the devices purpose was, it appeared to have power and seemed to "function" in whatever capacity it was intended for. Dubious of the device and unable to interpret its purpose the government locked down all knowledge of the project, eliminated "lose ends" and ensured that the facility was soon forgotten. A lifetime passed and eventually the device became an obscure and forgotten reference to a decommissioned military facility.

The messenger

33 billion worldwide population and growing. They appeared, not in the sense of the invisible suddenly revealing itself but in the sense of a distant ship coming into view. Riding alongside a massive freight vessel headed for earth was an even more titanic ship, an alien vessel. Mankind has long pondered the question of reaction when facing the the truly alien. I would remind you only of mans history, war.

After the abrupt and futile conflict the alien vessel remained within shipping lanes for another week before proceeding to earth. Its next interaction was with the occupants of a manufacturing facility resting in low earth orbit. Fortunately, fear often leads man on the path to peace. Talks with the creatures took place soon after on earthen soil, it was a momentous day for all of mankind. It was however, only a day, and days end.

Gift and Honor

For the first several months of their stay the beings appeared in media, attended talk shows and news broadcasts, and met with the leaders of the world. It was not until almost a year after their arrival that, with the help of some of the world's greatest minds, the creatures began work on what they referred to as "the confluence". The planets global network underwent staggering changes and mans paltry "world-wide-web" of information evolved into a nearly instant and limitless network. The "confluence" was celebrated across the world as hallmark of cooperation and technological marvel. The aliens claimed it was only the first of many such gifts.

Liars, deceivers, saviors. Mankind could not have understand the purpose of the creatures when they first arrived. Only a few months after the Confluence came online the purpose of the aliens, their arrival on earth, their long and hellish journey to our world, were all revealed. Streaming across the confluence to every device, every medium, every piece of hardware that could contain the information, came their purpose. Networks not yet upgraded, personal information devices, mobile media players and a host of other devices meant to assist in daily life crashed or were destroyed. For only a brief moment the world thought it had been betrayed and was under attack.

Purpose

Schematics, formula, philosophy and the written word. All of their knowledge, all of it, sent streaming through the confluence to every device on the planet. There was no attack. Long had governments pleaded and positioned for an advantage based on alien knowledge. Hoping, as any rational human would, for leg up over its enemies.

Comprehension was slow and only bits and pieces could fully be understood to begin with but mankind, always adapting, quickly began to assimilate the new information. Years passed and the world seethed and shifted as technology, once beyond imagining, became commonplace. Social media applications hosted millions of videos of home-made alien tech often resulting in disastrous "tests".

The visitors, hailed as the saviors of mankind, had statues erected in their honor, poetry and speeches written in their home dialect and children, attending school for the first time in their life, were teased for having "alien" names.

A battle drum

The aliens, creatures from another world, did not spend their time with the leaders of the world begging for the end of pointless wars and peace amongst men. They did not press for unity or teach the way of the pacifist, indeed, much of their time was spent teaching mans greatest minds what ways to best utilize their newfound knowledge to make war and take lives. War was coming to earth and the aliens, with all their knowledge and power, could not stop it. Their gift of knowledge was given to one end alone, to prevent the complete eradication of mankind by an ancient and violent enemy. When pressed for a timescale, for some clue as to when this enemy could be expected the creatures only offered the words "Arrival is dictated not by time but by means".

The new technological era permeated all things. Technology, eon's ahead of what was mankind's slow crawl through cosmic comprehension became the norm. A long since abandoned military base, now brought to life in a war-time fervor, was to become a "central command" of sorts for the aliens. Inspection of the ancient installation took place only moments before the event.

The Event

In a distant expanse of space sat a massive fleet. Colony vessels and warships intermingled in a seemingly endless sea of titanic vessels. After slumbering for nearly a century the ships came to life, a means of travel finally unveiling itself. The warp tunnel did not offer an exact exit point. Instead these cosmic anomalies could only be navigated using a beacon as point of reference. The great fleet came alive with lights and pulsing engines. As the armada approached the gaping maw of the warp tunnel a navigator vessel locked onto an unimaginably distant beacon and signaled all vessels to prepare for warp.

So many arrived that their shadows blotted out the sun. Pouring forth from their homes came the walking dead, men, women and children that could not imagine the nightmare soon to come. Resting deep underground, in a distant and forgotten military base sat the beacon. Left, centuries before, by the ancestors of a now invading fleet. A marker of planets useful for exploitation the beacon was meant to lead, with high precision, an entire fleet. With high precision, and nightmarish consequences, the fleet unfolded from warp space. The armada, perfectly aligned for arrival just outside an asteroid belt some 5 AU distant. Vessels, meant only for space travel, breached warp into the surface of earth, our atmosphere, and just beyond.

CONCEPTUAL:
So the setting here is that SOME of the invading fleet survived. Most of the invading fleet was destroyed. The visitors are and open book as is just how many invaders lived and what their nature is. Are the invaders biological creatures or machines that infect the world, or just like us and trying to survive on a now destroyed alien world.

Lots of wiggle room here.

Enjoy

E