(Stuff that happens before the first episode chronologically. Reading this prior to watching the show may help alleviate some confusion, but could possibly destroy some of the fun/suspense)
The setting is deep in space. By now the inhabitants of Earth have used up almost all of the planet's natural resources and must seek out a new place to live in order to survive the human race. It is because of this that Project SEEDS(No relation to Final Fantasy 8) was founded. The remaining population of Earth, those willing to continue on to find a new home, that is, boarded hundreds of huge spaceships and were put in a sort of cold sleep in a state of suspended animation. Five people, who's names will be mentioned later, were heading the project and their mission was to find a new planet that would support human life. Among the humans, there were also ships filled with plant and animal specimens. A sort of Noah's Ark, if you will.
At one point in this search,whether it was before or after leaving Earth we never find out, the five crew memebers: Joey, Mary, Rowan, Steve, and Rem Saverem discovered two alien babies. The first impulse of most of the crew was to kill them but Rem insisted that they not suffer the two infants and she raised them as her own. Within one year, the two babies had growm immensely and looked like 10 year olds. Their IQ was also unnaturally high, and they were easily more intelligent than the crew memebers. Their names were Knives and Vash. One member of the crew, Steve, resented this and as part of his human nature to fear what he did not understand, beat and abused the children, calling them "monsters."
Rem Saverem nurtured and taught the two brothers, however, and taught them many virtues such as the respect for all life and the importance of the future. Vash was infatuated with Rem, and eventually grew to believe that she was the most important person in his life. One day, however, a division between Vash and Knives occured...
While spending time in a recreated field with Rem, the two brothers came upon a spider web, with a butterfly caught in it. Vash bent down and stared unsuredly at the scene as the spider inched towards its prey. He raised his hands as if to do something, but before he could act, Knives grabbed the spider and crushed it. Vash immediately was outraged and yelled, "No! Why did you do that?" Knives replied by saying, "I had to. In order to save the butterfly you have to kill the spider, that's how the world works. I know I'm right."
Vash, however, replied, "No! You're wrong! I wanted to save them both, I could have saved them both!" The two brothers then engaged in what was probably supposed to be a weak grapple for about 10 seconds. Rem then split them up and consoled Vash. Later on, Vash was given an impossible hairstyle after Rem cut it for him, and Knives, being somewhat resentful and wanting to differ from his brother, cut his own in a different style. When Vash commented on it, Knives replied with something along the lines of, "I like it, otherwise, there's no difference between us." This could very well be foreshadowing... Spooky...
Then, one day, something went horribly wrong in Knives' way of thinking. He began to view the human race as inferior garbage and devised an intricate plan to kill the crew and all of the people in suspended animation. He, however, left Rem alive because he knew how much she meant to Vash. It later turned out to be a mistake on Knives' part. After having set the ships carrying the human race to crash into a planet the crew had been considering, Knives, still looking innocent as ever, was rushed to an escape pod by Rem along with his brother Vash. Rather than going with the brothers, Rem chose to stay behind and try one last time to save the ships from crashing. Before closing the pod door she said "Vash, take care of Knives." Turns out, she was able to make the ships correct their descent to the planet but shortly after, Vash, through the window of the escape pod, saw the ship that Rem had been on blow up into a million pieces. He began to weep,(he does that alot in the series) and then Knives revealed the truth and that it was all his own doing. Knives explained that he had saved the ships carrying the plants so that they might be able to create their own personal "Eden" that would be free of the inferior humans. Vash hated Knives for this, but still, remained with him because Knives was all that Vash had.
The escape pod landed on the planet below, which would later be named Gunsmoke, and provide a name for my site as well as the new home of the human race. Upon landing, Vash and Knives wandered the desolate planet (which looks alot like Nevada landscape-wise) for about 10 years. Then, sporting the appearance of 20 year olds, they came across one of the crashed ships. Knives told Vash to wait outside, and that he needed to retrieve a few things from inside the vessel. Vash waited there for an entire year, brooding on the horrible deeds his brother had done and crying over memories of Rem. Finally, Knives emerged with new clothing and two guns, one black and one silver. Knives told Vash that his plan was for them to use the two guns to destroy the human race. Vash, having grown some balls in that year of self searching, said he wouldn't let Knives do that, and proceeded to shoot Knives in the right thigh. Knives was dumb-founded by this concept and the concept of intense pain. Vash took this opportunity to grab the other gun and run off as fast as he could, abandoning his brother.
Vash wandered the planet alone for two more years, until he collapsed. He later awoke in the care of the residents of Sky City(A ship that was using some of the power that remained intact in it to hover some distance above the ground.) It was during this point in time that Vash acquired his trademark red trench coat. He stayed there for some time and got to know the people. One day, while searching for any link he could find to Rem, he discovered that a relative of hers was actually alive and in a city named July. Vash departed for the great city immediately but upon arrival found none other than Knives, who had got there first and killed the relative of Rem's as a cruel act of severence/revenge between Vash and her. Knives recovered the black gun and used it to shoot Vash's left arm off. Then, using a neat little trick he'd picked up somewhere, was able to activate something in Vash's gun that caused his arm to mutate with it into a huge thing called an Angel Arm. The Angel Arm started to charge and a huge ball of energy grew within the chamber. Unable to control it, Vash could only manage to point it at the brother he hated so much. Knives laughed and said, "Are you actually aiming at me again?!"
The Angel Arm fired, and completely demolished the entire city of July and all the people in it. Knives, however, was nowhere to be found... And so the series starts as Vash stands amidst the ruins of July saying something along the lines of, "Yes Rem, I'll take care of him..." in a very cold way...