Ten years have passed since the Earth Sphere, and all of humanity, was given its new lease on civilization. Prior to the actions of Luther Caladin and Gerath Cynis, a fifteen-year technological dark age had worn its way through most of the grandeur that human achievement had stretched across the Earth and its surrounding space. It had been the result of an explosion of Resonance and Dissonance, subtle forms of biological energy the wove their way through all living creatures, influencing the evolutionary phenomenon known as the Newtype. During a time known as the Third Space War, few understood its purpose, and even fewer had the full ability to channel its power. However, once it was ignited, overloading everything from the simplest electronic appliances to entire space colonies, it became a far more intimate part of everyday life.
That modern technology had been all that was holding humans back from their most primal instincts would doubtlessly have been a matter of grand discussion among philosophical circles, had they existed in the post-war world. On Earth, life degenerated into a post-apocalyptic nightmare that coincided perfectly with
cliched predictions that fiction doomsayers had long endorsed. Feudal kingdoms and city states replaced the old democracies and global
government, with bits and pieces of the past order surviving in the New Alliance. In the midst of political chaos, the Church of Man, a religious order dedicated to the eradication of technology and the embrace of a pastoral existence, started spreading its influence across the wastelands with great enthusiasm. Slowly, the new world order was segmenting the planet along hundreds of borders and factions.
Even these grand events, however, were no match for what followed in the fifteenth year of the dark age. It began when the thriving city-state of Vacillia came under siege by Reavers, mercenaries, and later soldiers who were all under the guidance of the New Alliance. Repeated assaults
leveled the city's great towers, tearing right to the heart of its foundations as the realities of war were revisited on a people who had not known its full strife in fifteen years. The Alliance, however, had not come to destroy Vacillia outright. Though corrupted to its core, and known for the injustices that hid beneath its benevolent facade, the city was merely in the way of a much greater prize:
Paradise.
Beneath the city, and ten miles of its surrounding lands, there was a forgotten relic of the Third Space War. Paradise, a high-tech fortress constructed with an unknown intent by the Newtype Corps, lay dormant just over the bones of the grand Roman capital that Vacillia was also built over. This tremendous find was like a dream world; a place that held a city from the past, with all the
amenities and luxuries that human being had once taken for granted. There was technology that could function within its confines without the influence of a Coordinator, and even take these lingering effects with it outside the city walls. Even as the Alliance overran their city, installed a puppet government, and took control of Paradise for themselves, the people of Vacillia looked to the fortress as a promise of hope that was far greater than anything their former leaders could have bestowed.
They moved in, dragging behind the eager cadre of Alliance officers, herding into the paved streets to find a clean world of glass and steel that seemed too good to be true. To a degree, it was so, as the Alliance's internal disputes and the intervention of the Church of Man cast the people of Vacillia into another great conflict. The rise of Paradise from the earth, ascending from its hiding place and to the clouds, did nothing to deter the Church's Templars. These dedicated, and even fanatical, warriors fought hard to claim the gigantic complex for themselves. To them, Paradise was a place of contradictions, its existence reminding them of both the
heresy of technology and its ability to rekindle hope in such a desperate world. So, they fought for it, and they were not alone.
Representatives from the space colonies stood behind the Church of Man's efforts to take Paradise. Once the subject of
rumors and myths, the orbital denizens of the Earth Sphere have proven to be very much alive, and as equally factioned as their cousins on the Earth. It was Vulcan Industrial, a prominent player of the third war and one of the chief architects behind the survival and restoration that followed, who was supplying the Church with technology. Offering prototype weapons, devices to fight off Resonance and Dissonance jamming, and promises of much more to follow after the taking of Paradise, Vulcan seemed to have an unclear stake in the conflict. Though it was ultimately
revealed that, many years prior, they had also approached the Alliance in a similar manner, there was no obvious motivation for their siding with the Church and its radical doctrine.
Uncovering the rationales for Vulcan's aide became moot, however, as their technology helped lead the Church to victory over the Alliance force occupying Paradise. Their stunning defeat of the Alliance's command carrier, the Resolute, swept away any hope the Alliance had for a victory, leaving their forces bloodied and in retreat. Assuming control of Paradise, the religious order found itself at odds with its own doctrines surrounding technology and the treatment of their fellow human beings. When the Church's spiritual leader arrived to take control of the situation, she threw even more dissary and discontent into the mix, opting to shepherd the people of Vacillia while exploring the technological mysteries of Paradise.
As all of this transpired, another party watched from the background, bidding its time. Providence, an organization composed of Space War veterans, Vacillia survivors, and self-proclaimed do-gooders,
marshaled its own technological strength at every opportunity. Recovering leftover technology from the Alliance, and salvaging or capturing weapons from Paradise, the group built itself an impressive, if modest, arsenal. Convinced that the Church was being used as a puppet for the sake of Vulcan Industrial's own interests, they eventually
infiltrated and attacked Paradise, hoping to gain a foothold within the massive facility. Aided by another organization from the colonies, the Thinline Foundation, Providence members overcame the Church's guard and eventually found their way to core of the flying structure.
The center of Paradise, however, served only to disturb those who witnessed the truth behind the fortress island's secrets, and left more questions than it answered. It was
revealed that the island was, at one time, an artificial birthing laboratory for Coordinators. The central control chamber itself housed dozens of malformed, lifeless bodies that had never received their destined 'souls' from the enigmatic entities that composed the Choir. Even worse, however, was the revelation that the island's impossible technological awakening was not a miracle, but due to the heavy integration of biological tissue into key pieces of machinery.
A trio of Coordinators, sisters, had been torturously wired into Paradise's mainframe and power systems. It was they who kept the city alive and aloft, even extending their power out to the devices that left the shelter of the island. The Divinium E2 alloy used to shield electronics from Resonance and Dissonance interference was actually a form of receiver, absorbing the guided abilities of the entrapped three to sustain the mobile weapons that the metal was integrated into. Horrified and disgusted by the prospect of human beings, of any type, being used as nothing more than mechanical
components, Alexandra Kennedy deactivated Paradise's core chamber. This forced the city to land on its dwindling reserve power, but it also ended the torment of the three minds and bodies than had been sacrificed to make the island's
dreamworld a reality.
Descending to the Aegean Sea, Paradise landed safely despite the abruptness of its deactivation. Within moments, it shed the powerful engine blocks that enabled it to fly, becoming a stable island that lay just few miles off the northern shores of Crete. Though the city and all of its surrounding treasures, including the arsenal of mobile weapons taken from the complex's storage bays, remains inactive, the people formerly of Vacillia have refused to give up their right to a new home. Preferring to stay and claim a dead city over facing the challenges of the outside world, the beleaguered citizens are already feeling the sting of losing everything they held dear yet again. Even as the Church struggles to comprehend the meaning of this
occurrence, and bring order to those still under their care, it seems another mystery from the past has awakened.
In one distant corner of the lost Paradise, a single section remained online and active. Its computer systems cycled through one word over and over and over, awaiting a reply; awaiting the ones who were willing to pursue the true treasure of the island: the road to Elsiyum. A lonely, hidden city of Coordinators situated high in the Arctic Circle, it had been spared the prior decade and a half's turmoil, existing like a picture-perfect illustration of the past. Its leaders, however, were neither naive nor passive when it came to the outside world, and were likewise aware of what consequences that Paradise's fall had for them. They would be discovered; their ideal existence would be
coveted; they would be swarmed by a needy human race that would be willing to kill for the simplest comforts. The precise reaction of Elysium's, however, and the events to follow were difficult to confirm, as the denizens of Paradise, the Church of Man, and the New Alliance became
focused on another emerging challenge: cybernetic monstrosities that emerged from the wilderness, created from the willing ranks of numerous nomadic Reaver clans.
These grotesque machine-men, whose sudden origins were as enigmatic as their unnatural
appearances, seemed unstoppable. A mysterious group of benefactors had approached many of the most malicious Reavers in the region, promising them the instant power they would need to finally take the fortress city on the sea. Whether it was
vengeance that drove their intent, or just a need to escape their already desperate existence, those who agreed to such alterations were stripped of their natural flesh, becoming far less than human. Their transformation came at more of a cost than that, however, as both the rational elements of each reborn Reaver's mind, along with their sense of free will, deteriorated beneath an animalistic group consciousness that drove them to follow savage, instinctive imperatives. Shockingly, the technology that was woven together to form their bodies had been engineered through a nanotech 'growth' process, paralleling not only an organic
appearance, but also a sensitivity to Resonance and Dissonance. In fact, the new Reavers were so in tune with these
phenomenon, that it was slowly driving them mad.
In their feral state, the new collective of cyber creatures lashed out at Paradise, first by spraying its air with their own nanotech-enriched blood. The result spread a viral agent through the city, effectively destroying the food and water supplies in an effort to starve and weaken the population. Not long after, the direct attack came, with an army of hundreds descending from the air and emerging from the sea, eager to ravage the island. The Church of Man's Templars and the soldiers of the New Alliance, grudgingly cooperating, did their best to fend off the threat. However, it was the actions of two men that eventually turned the tide completely.
Luther Caladin, an enterprising executive who had become the co-head of Vulcan
Industrial and the architect of its reformed stance on Earth issues, and Gerath
Cynis, an ageless Coordinator who had inherited an innate and intimate knowledge
of Paradise's inner secrets, used their collective knowledge to reawaken the
last functioning device left behind from the city's airborne days: a Resonance
transmitter.
With this previously inactive machine at their disposal, the two concocted a
plan to reverse the Resonance/Dissonance explosion that had shattered the Earth
Sphere fifteen years prior. Through Paradise's relay, Caladin could contact the
fifty-three additional stations that had been used to orchestrate the original
disaster, and use their collective abilities to effectively dissipate the
phenomenon's overload. Meanwhile, as they set to work, preparing this wild
scheme, the Reavers encroached on the city, lead by the enigmatic White Raven,
Duncan Caladin. The elder brother to Luther, and member of the Society behind
years of Earth Sphere political manipulation, Duncan challenged several of the
more noteworthy mobile suit pilots on the field in his powerful War Saint,
Caspian. It took the combined force of Coordinator Kimberly Caladin, Third Space
War veteran Jerid Myers, Church of Man Templar Tobias Winter, and Cynis as well
to keep him at bay. However, though neither one of them was able to bring him
down, together they managed to keep him from stopping Luther.
In a sudden, painful flash, the air was alive with crackling energy. Resonance
and Dissonance were ignited, the combined strength of the fifty-four
transmission stations working hard to burn away the excessive supply of both
energies. Though a dramatic and awesome display that carried itself across the
planet, and even through the Lagrange points surrounding Earth, the incident
lasted less than a minute before fading. The results, however, were of epic
proportions; machinery sudden returned to life, Newtypes found their abilities
startlingly reawakened, and Coordinators, the slaves of the last decade and a
half, were drawn into a new psychic awareness of their surroundings. The shock
of the even was lost on neither Duncan nor the Reavers, the latter having
suddenly been rendered catatonic by the rapid loss of surrounding Resonance and
Dissonance. Collectively unsure of what to do, they simply turned and left the
city in a stupor. The antagonistic elder Caladin did the same, leaving the
denizens of Paradise, locals and outsiders, to deal with what had happened on
their own.
A Painful Rebirth
To say that the human race had been thrust, very suddenly and without prompting,
into a new era would be an understatement. However, to presume that the
restoration of both technology and the stability of Newtypes lead to immediate
peace and tranquility would be naive. The days that followed Caladin and Cynis'
actions in Paradise had both grand and terrible consequences across the entire
Earth Sphere. For his own part, Luther, along with his fiance and business
partner Lain Winter, went to work using the resources of Vulcan Industrial's
Factory V colony to motivate reconciliation and reconstruction among the
factions that he had closest ties to: the New Alliance and the Church of Man.
Paradise, once again reawakened to its full high-tech glory, had amazing
potential for the future development of a new, prosperous society on the planet,
acting as both an inspirational centerpiece and a bridge to interact with the
orbiting space colonies. Talks between the three groups, which were soon joined
by Paradise's own civil council, were difficult, however. Every side had their
own vision for the future, and neither was willing to give ground on what they
had already earned in the years past.
The New Alliance, for instance, immediately demanded the reinstatement of the
old global government; a knee-jerk reaction prompted by some of the more eager
and ambitious figures within the organization. It took quite some time, and more
than one tragedy, to draw these men and women back down into the realm of
reason. While the Paradise talks continued on for months, elements of the
Alliance's military command emerged from their hidden city of Jaburo in the Gobi
Desert. No longer requiring Coordinators to keep their war machines online, they
had restored the mothballed army of mobile weapons that they had kept in storage
over the last fifteen years. An entire regiment set itself on every surrounding
kingdom and feudal territory within its grasp, raising the Alliance's flag over
Asia with renewed vigor. Everything came to a screaming halt, however, when the
'Phoenix Legion,' as they had been coined, marched into the self-proclaimed
Xizang Republic, near the southern region of what was Tibet. Though faced with
an army of mercenaries, champions, and local fighters who had gathered to
protect the fledgling nation from the approaching storm, the shear numbers and
skill of the Alliance seemed to guarantee victory.
The Phoenix Legion, however, did not count on presence of one pilot whose suit
possessed a Resonance Drive. These powerful devices were extremely rare
leftovers from the Third Space War, created by the Newtype Corps to amplify an
individual's ability to manipulate Resonance and Dissonance well beyond their
innate potential. The energy explosion fifteen years prior had rendered most of
them useless, overloading or fusing key systems, leaving them as nothing more
than junk to be cannibalized for useful spare parts. The Alliance had only one
device of its own in its possession, though it remained sealed in a Jaburo
vault, which was very unfortunate for their Xizang expedition. The rebel
drive-user, whose identity remains unconfirmed even now, used his to its full
effect. Stories vary as to what it precisely was that he did; some Alliance
survivors claim that the field was bathed in a raging hellstorm, as Resonance
was used to pyrokinetically superheat the air particles. Others confirm this,
but also add that many of their colleagues were driven to insanity, with
Alliance troops opening fire on one another, cackling like madmen as they were
overcome by telepathic suggestion. The wilder accounts state that mobile suits
themselves came to life, slowly crushing and tediously mutilating their own
pilots before engaging in a collective Alliance killing spree.
Regardless of the truth, which has never been acknowledged in any one story by
the Alliance, the first day of the Legion's Xizang campaign ended with 93% of
the regiment slaughtered by the actions of one man. With the rest limping slowly
back to Jaburo, the stunned Alliance military command found itself capitulating
to the more moderately-minded politicians on the normal ruling council. No
efforts to take Xizang in a follow-up attack were made, nor was any hunt
orchestrated to track down the terrifying "Whisper of Death," as the defending
pilot had become known. Instead, the mystery man gained a place of infamy, awe,
and animosity among the organization's followers, the likes of which had not
been known since the time of Sean Carver, who was said to have brought about the
climactic Resonance/Dissonance disaster of the Third Space War.
The Church of Man was far less proactive in its own efforts to spread influence
in this renewed world. With the death of its Mother Superior shortly after the
events in Paradise, the order and its Templar agents were more or less
deadlocked by both lingering shock and internal debate. The restoration of
technology seemed to be an insult to the Church's celebrated doctrine, a reality
that drew some to call this new era the true Dark Age. Citing it as a grand time
of temptation and sin, these hard-liners demanded the initiation of a crusade
against all those who would embrace the high-tech heresy of the past. Cooler
heads, however, prevailed, as less bloodthirsty and fundamentalist members of
the Church decided that the changing world was merely a new test for both their
own faith and the destiny of the entire human race. It was, they believed, up to
the Church to preach a caution towards technology rather than outright hatred of
it, ensuring that all were reminded of its abuses and the past mistakes they had
lead to. This lead to radical revisions within several Church and Templar
policies, many of which were not taking well by some clergy and parishioners.
Several schisms resulted, giving rise to many subgroups, sects, cults, and
denominations within the Church, though none have yet eclipsed the mainstream
belief.
Above the war-torn wasteland of the Earth, the events transpiring in space were
no less dramatic, despite their distance. While the events surrounding Paradise
were causing havoc planetside, the remnants of the Grand Cross, the independent
colonial government that had collapsed after the Third Space War, returned from
a self-imposed Martian exile. Having made a home for themselves in orbit of the
red planet over a decade prior, converting the automated resource satellites
into crude space colonies, the revitalized organization took it upon itself to
restore order to its chaotic former holdings. One by one, its military force
occupied the Lagrange regions that had fallen under the old GC banner, doing
their best to restore some sense of civilization and unity to them. The
dissipation of Resonance and Dissonance proved to be an overwhelming bonus to
their efforts, enabling them to accomplish their goal in an impressive two year
campaign.
Though good for many of residents of these newly occupied colonies, most of whom
had lived under one form of despot or another for nearly a decade, the arrival
and rapid dominance of one political and military power threw a large wrench
into the long-term plans of Factory V. Vulcan Industrial and Thinline Medical,
united into Caladin Technologies by the marriage of Luther Caladin and Lain Winter, scrambled to make
trade agreements and political alliances with as many remaining independent
powers as they could. Though the GC had no plans to further its advance, the
pair used the threat of it as a potent motivator to recruit others to their
cause. Still, even with signed treaties in place, the level of trust between
these fast-friends in space was speculative at best, prompting Factory V's
administrators to redouble their efforts to form close, comfortable ties with
the Earth instead.
Together, these actions, epic and meager, formed the foundation of the new world
to come.
A New Chapter in Human History
Ten years have passed since the incidents in Paradise left the world in a state
of renewed awareness. By the old calendar, it is officially Colony Century 141,
though some have taken to call it year 26 of the Third Age of Humanity
(TA), marking the first by planetary existence, and the second by the human
beings' ascension to the stars. Regardless of these semantics, there is no
denying that the modern world of the Earth Sphere is more different now than
ever. Those measuring progress by the restoration of old technologies,
traditions, and lifestyles are short-sighted. While the world of the present has
built itself on the bones of a long-lost past, a new, unique atmosphere
permeates, giving this post, post-apocalyptic setting an identity that is
entirely its own.
On Earth, the new order is once again structured around a handful of major
metropolitan centers, with dozens of satellite cities and new nations slowly
spreading themselves out from their safe, productive veil. At the center of much
of the growth is Paradise, which has remained a fortified, artificial island
well after its descent, its 250 square mile interior continuing to grow and
thrive. Protected by a 300 meter tall seawall that surrounds its shore, its huge
harbor gates keep the bustling port safe and secure, while the sprawling city
proper supports everything from commerce to a restoration of old information
superhighways. Paradise's spaceport, its most modern and recent addition,
features one of the very few launch facilities left on the planet. As such, it
is instrumental in the coordination of both incoming and outbound traffic
between the Earth and orbiting colonies, providing a mandatory stepping stone to
either location. To maintain order, unity, and to avoid any potential abuses of
this strategic importance, the city is governed by a triumvirate council of
representatives from the city, the New Alliance, and the Factory V colony.
Agreements between the Alliance, city, and Church of Man's Templars give
Paradise three separate sources of defense, assuring its protection against most
outside threats, even if it comes at the cost of a unified armed forces command.
Paradise's evolution from a refugee settlement to a "beacon of civilization" has
not come without a price, however. Despite the apparent safety and security it
shows in the face of grandiose outside threats, the internal affairs of the island have
become turbulent as development and population numbers have climbed together.
Organized crime has become a very real threat, nurtured by the high-tech
environment and fed by the innumerable profit opportunities garnered by
Paradise's open trade and travel policies. The inability of the city's three law
enforcement figures to cooperate has contributed to growth and comfort of this
new underworld, which has drawn itself into more than just petty infractions of
the law. Drug
running, arms dealing, illegal technology trading, prostitution, even
assassination and a number of other
high-profile offenses have made Paradise as much a lucrative marketplace for
criminals as it has been for real business. Most of the worst elements come
under the control of Ernesto Larson, a mercenary-turned-crime boss who has used
paramilitary resources and utter ruthlessness to stamp out any major
competition.
The troubles of the island city, however, are still a small thing compared to
those that reach out over the entire Earth Sphere. Besides Paradise, the eager
powerbase of the New Alliance has spread itself and its power further across
Asia, reaching over the former territories of northern China, Korea, and Russia.
Pacifying regions that fell outside any new jurisdiction or ruler, the Alliance
has used its military to carve out a respectable new nation, in terms of size
and resources. However, internal squabbling, along with military priorities
winning out over civilian rule, keep the power from gaining the full trust of
anyone. Its leaders, both in government and behind its armies, still see
themselves as the only true global government. However, past failures and the
reality of their limitations encourage them to play along with the rest of the
Earth Sphere, for now. Besides, recent years and months have shown a number of
the minor Eurasian powers taking the odd shot at the approaching Alliance
mammoth, encouraged by the lingering stories of the Xizang invasion and its
poetic demonstration of 'Goliah's' weakness in the face of a determined 'David.'
Above the Earth, Caladin Technologies' Free Trade Coalition (FTC) has maintained
its close relationship with the planet through Paradise, though only because of
the utter lack of cooperation it has seen from the Grand Cross. The latter has
long since closed its borders, instituting heavy patrols around its space
colonies, and establishing an intricate network of automated defense satellites
and drones throughout its territory. Despite the looming, impressive size of the
GC's territory, which nearly surrounds the remaining handful of colonies, little
to nothing is known about their recent activities. For the last four years,
these occupied colonies have practiced utter communications silence, turning
away outsides with quick threats and rapid, hostile action. Many assume that the
GC is attempting to rebuild itself as an isolated utopia, condemning the rest of
the Earth Sphere while they horde their resources and watch events unfold.
Other, more fearful theorists believe that the colony superpower is preparing
for a forth Space War, which will either be declared against it by jealous
rivals or by it, to reunify the remaining space settlements. Either way, the
FTC, which includes Factory V, four other colonies, and the reconstructed lunar
city of Artemis, continues to pool its own resources, fend off marauding space
pirates and other renegades, and keep close contact with the various growing
powers down on the planet.
Of growing consequence in recent months has once again been the status of human
beings that can be labeled as Newtypes. The end of the dark age of
Resonance/Dissonance overload restored the long-lost abilities of many such
individuals, while enabling their children to finally grasp their inherited
gifts. Furthermore, Coordinators, artificial humans created from Newtype
genetics and the implanted souls of the mechanical entity known as the Choir,
underwent a profound psychic metamorphosis. Most gained Newtype abilities of
their own, often heavily based on those of their genetic parents, but less
restrained than anything used by a typical human being. They are attuned to
Resonance and Dissonance with a greater intimacy than most of their natural-born
counterparts, though their own biological children seem to lose some of this
gift. Particularly concerning is the Coordinator ability to innately sense the
presence of the cybernetic beasts still known as Reavers.
Now thought of as a largely benign entity, Reavers are frequently the subject of
conspiracy theories and wild fiction. Few, if any, have ever been seen near
Paradise, and reports of them in the wilderness are nearly as sparse. It is
widely assumed that, following the events of ten years ago, these malevolent
beings have lost both their natural aggressiveness and their humanity
completely. At best, some scholars claim that they like roaming packs of wolves
or dogs, scavenging land and resources wherever they go before moving on. With
so much of the Earth still outside any communications grid, it is impossible to
find these creatures outside of their normal roaming grounds. Even those that
are spotted frequently act more like animal predators than human beings, though
the odd Reaver has shown some lingering traces of civility. Truly paranoid
observers, including war historians and military leaders, feel uneasy with this
state of affairs, and have long claimed that the 'potential Reaver menace'
should be hunted down and exterminated before lash out at human beings with the
first strike. It is just another of the many, many possible dangers that exist
in the evolving world of Forever Zero.
Like the Colony Century chapters before it, Chapter 12 draws its events
into a handful of settings that stand out in an otherwise huge, turbulent, and
war-ravaged world. Set 10 years after the conclusion of the previous chapter,
the current story opens in the gigantic island city of Paradise, reaching out
towards the surrounding wasteland as well as upward, to the colony of Factory V
and its satellites. With the fifteen-year dark age past, but still not
forgotten, the uneasy new civilization that grows across the Earth Sphere is
hesitant, at best. Development is proving to come at a price, while many
lingering mysteries, past and present, remained unsolved. Among these are the
intentions of the stoic Grand Cross, the goals of the enigmatic Reavers, not to
mention the complete silence that has come from the hidden artic nation of
Elysium. As always, if history's path proves true, the world is once again on
the edge of profound change, as inconspicuous questions and subtle events start
forming the building blocks of the grander epic conflict to come.
Ten years have passed since the Earth Sphere, and all of humanity, was given its new lease on civilization. Prior to the actions of Luther Caladin and Gerath Cynis, a fifteen-year technological dark age had worn its way through most of the grandeur that human achievement had stretched across the Earth and its surrounding space. It had been the result of an explosion of Resonance and Dissonance, subtle forms of biological energy the wove their way through all living creatures, influencing the evolutionary phenomenon known as the Newtype. During a time known as the Third Space War, few understood its purpose, and even fewer had the full ability to channel its power. However, once it was ignited, overloading everything from the simplest electronic appliances to entire space colonies, it became a far more intimate part of everyday life.
Beneath the city, and ten miles of its surrounding lands, there was a forgotten relic of the Third Space War. Paradise, a high-tech fortress constructed with an unknown intent by the Newtype Corps, lay dormant just over the bones of the grand Roman capital that Vacillia was also built over. This tremendous find was like a dream world; a place that held a city from the past, with all the
amenities and luxuries that human being had once taken for granted. There was technology that could function within its confines without the influence of a Coordinator, and even take these lingering effects with it outside the city walls. Even as the Alliance overran their city, installed a puppet government, and took control of Paradise for themselves, the people of Vacillia looked to the fortress as a promise of hope that was far greater than anything their former leaders could have bestowed.
Uncovering the rationales for Vulcan's aide became moot, however, as their technology helped lead the Church to victory over the Alliance force occupying Paradise. Their stunning defeat of the Alliance's command carrier, the Resolute, swept away any hope the Alliance had for a victory, leaving their forces bloodied and in retreat. Assuming control of Paradise, the religious order found itself at odds with its own doctrines surrounding technology and the treatment of their fellow human beings. When the Church's spiritual leader arrived to take control of the situation, she threw even more dissary and discontent into the mix, opting to shepherd the people of Vacillia while exploring the technological mysteries of Paradise.
A trio of Coordinators, sisters, had been torturously wired into Paradise's mainframe and power systems. It was they who kept the city alive and aloft, even extending their power out to the devices that left the shelter of the island. The Divinium E2 alloy used to shield electronics from Resonance and Dissonance interference was actually a form of receiver, absorbing the guided abilities of the entrapped three to sustain the mobile weapons that the metal was integrated into. Horrified and disgusted by the prospect of human beings, of any type, being used as nothing more than mechanical
components, Alexandra Kennedy deactivated Paradise's core chamber. This forced the city to land on its dwindling reserve power, but it also ended the torment of the three minds and bodies than had been sacrificed to make the island's
dreamworld a reality. 
These grotesque machine-men, whose sudden origins were as enigmatic as their unnatural
appearances, seemed unstoppable. A mysterious group of benefactors had approached many of the most malicious Reavers in the region, promising them the instant power they would need to finally take the fortress city on the sea. Whether it was
vengeance that drove their intent, or just a need to escape their already desperate existence, those who agreed to such alterations were stripped of their natural flesh, becoming far less than human. Their transformation came at more of a cost than that, however, as both the rational elements of each reborn Reaver's mind, along with their sense of free will, deteriorated beneath an animalistic group consciousness that drove them to follow savage, instinctive imperatives. Shockingly, the technology that was woven together to form their bodies had been engineered through a nanotech 'growth' process, paralleling not only an organic
appearance, but also a sensitivity to Resonance and Dissonance. In fact, the new Reavers were so in tune with these
phenomenon, that it was slowly driving them mad.
With this previously inactive machine at their disposal, the two concocted a
plan to reverse the Resonance/Dissonance explosion that had shattered the Earth
Sphere fifteen years prior. Through Paradise's relay, Caladin could contact the
fifty-three additional stations that had been used to orchestrate the original
disaster, and use their collective abilities to effectively dissipate the
phenomenon's overload. Meanwhile, as they set to work, preparing this wild
scheme, the Reavers encroached on the city, lead by the enigmatic White Raven,
Duncan Caladin. The elder brother to Luther, and member of the Society behind
years of Earth Sphere political manipulation, Duncan challenged several of the
more noteworthy mobile suit pilots on the field in his powerful War Saint,
Caspian. It took the combined force of Coordinator Kimberly Caladin, Third Space
War veteran Jerid Myers, Church of Man Templar Tobias Winter, and Cynis as well
to keep him at bay. However, though neither one of them was able to bring him
down, together they managed to keep him from stopping Luther.
To say that the human race had been thrust, very suddenly and without prompting,
into a new era would be an understatement. However, to presume that the
restoration of both technology and the stability of Newtypes lead to immediate
peace and tranquility would be naive. The days that followed Caladin and Cynis'
actions in Paradise had both grand and terrible consequences across the entire
Earth Sphere. For his own part, Luther, along with his fiance and business
partner Lain Winter, went to work using the resources of Vulcan Industrial's
Factory V colony to motivate reconciliation and reconstruction among the
factions that he had closest ties to: the New Alliance and the Church of Man.
Paradise, once again reawakened to its full high-tech glory, had amazing
potential for the future development of a new, prosperous society on the planet,
acting as both an inspirational centerpiece and a bridge to interact with the
orbiting space colonies. Talks between the three groups, which were soon joined
by Paradise's own civil council, were difficult, however. Every side had their
own vision for the future, and neither was willing to give ground on what they
had already earned in the years past.
Regardless of the truth, which has never been acknowledged in any one story by
the Alliance, the first day of the Legion's Xizang campaign ended with 93% of
the regiment slaughtered by the actions of one man. With the rest limping slowly
back to Jaburo, the stunned Alliance military command found itself capitulating
to the more moderately-minded politicians on the normal ruling council. No
efforts to take Xizang in a follow-up attack were made, nor was any hunt
orchestrated to track down the terrifying "Whisper of Death," as the defending
pilot had become known. Instead, the mystery man gained a place of infamy, awe,
and animosity among the organization's followers, the likes of which had not
been known since the time of Sean Carver, who was said to have brought about the
climactic Resonance/Dissonance disaster of the Third Space War.
Above the war-torn wasteland of the Earth, the events transpiring in space were
no less dramatic, despite their distance. While the events surrounding Paradise
were causing havoc planetside, the remnants of the Grand Cross, the independent
colonial government that had collapsed after the Third Space War, returned from
a self-imposed Martian exile. Having made a home for themselves in orbit of the
red planet over a decade prior, converting the automated resource satellites
into crude space colonies, the revitalized organization took it upon itself to
restore order to its chaotic former holdings. One by one, its military force
occupied the Lagrange regions that had fallen under the old GC banner, doing
their best to restore some sense of civilization and unity to them. The
dissipation of Resonance and Dissonance proved to be an overwhelming bonus to
their efforts, enabling them to accomplish their goal in an impressive two year
campaign.
Ten years have passed since the incidents in Paradise left the world in a state
of renewed awareness. By the old calendar, it is officially Colony Century 141,
though some have taken to call it year 26 of the Third Age of Humanity
(TA), marking the first by planetary existence, and the second by the human
beings' ascension to the stars. Regardless of these semantics, there is no
denying that the modern world of the Earth Sphere is more different now than
ever. Those measuring progress by the restoration of old technologies,
traditions, and lifestyles are short-sighted. While the world of the present has
built itself on the bones of a long-lost past, a new, unique atmosphere
permeates, giving this post, post-apocalyptic setting an identity that is
entirely its own.
The troubles of the island city, however, are still a small thing compared to
those that reach out over the entire Earth Sphere. Besides Paradise, the eager
powerbase of the New Alliance has spread itself and its power further across
Asia, reaching over the former territories of northern China, Korea, and Russia.
Pacifying regions that fell outside any new jurisdiction or ruler, the Alliance
has used its military to carve out a respectable new nation, in terms of size
and resources. However, internal squabbling, along with military priorities
winning out over civilian rule, keep the power from gaining the full trust of
anyone. Its leaders, both in government and behind its armies, still see
themselves as the only true global government. However, past failures and the
reality of their limitations encourage them to play along with the rest of the
Earth Sphere, for now. Besides, recent years and months have shown a number of
the minor Eurasian powers taking the odd shot at the approaching Alliance
mammoth, encouraged by the lingering stories of the Xizang invasion and its
poetic demonstration of 'Goliah's' weakness in the face of a determined 'David.' 
Of growing consequence in recent months has once again been the status of human
beings that can be labeled as Newtypes. The end of the dark age of
Resonance/Dissonance overload restored the long-lost abilities of many such
individuals, while enabling their children to finally grasp their inherited
gifts. Furthermore, Coordinators, artificial humans created from Newtype
genetics and the implanted souls of the mechanical entity known as the Choir,
underwent a profound psychic metamorphosis. Most gained Newtype abilities of
their own, often heavily based on those of their genetic parents, but less
restrained than anything used by a typical human being. They are attuned to
Resonance and Dissonance with a greater intimacy than most of their natural-born
counterparts, though their own biological children seem to lose some of this
gift. Particularly concerning is the Coordinator ability to innately sense the
presence of the cybernetic beasts still known as Reavers. 