Kavadas
Fri 03 Oct 2008, 1615, Fri 03 Oct 2008
August 06, 2008 - Late in the 21st century, the Third World War broke out over control of Earth's dwindling resources. Billions died, both combatants and civilians. Nations large and small vanished. Civilization ceased to exist except for a remnant on an isolated island, Enterra, where a group of leaders and scientists had placed a colossal, self-sufficient database storing the genetic information and consciousness of selected citizens. Somehow, this remote location escaped the full brunt of the cataclysm. The flora and fauna did undergo significant mutations. Still, although not an Eden, it was hospitable enough to support the birth of a new, embryonic society.
Announced in January, Earthrise is the post-apocalyptic massively multiplayer game that will play out from this intriguing scenario. In development by independent Bulgarian-based Masthead Studios, which is aiming to launch the title next year, it will thrust players into a new clash involving two factions. One is Continoma, the corporate government that stringently controls every possible aspect of its citizens' lives. The other is Noir, a rebel group sworn to oust the authoritarian order. Among other features that have been revealed and discussed, a few of note are a skill-based advancement system, a player-driven economy and an emphasis on PvP.
Continoma: The Beginning
After more than a century of exhausting Earth's natural resources and exploiting its ecosystem, the planet's nations had virtually depleted its wealth. The citizens began to rise up against their corrupt governments in order to take survival into their own hands. Once influential shareholders within the corporate world could only watch helplessly as their power dissipated before their eyes, and the regimes that had kept them in business crumbled.
The true measure of its aftermath would only be revealed centuries later, when the first of the pioneers would rise and emerge from chamber to claim what was once theirs.
To maintain control, the major corporations were forced to unite into conglomerates that came to be known as the Complex Markets, economic behemoths so powerful they could dictate the flow of government itself. These commercial unions essentially became countries of their own, where the human rights and basic liberties of billions were decided in boardrooms rather than parliaments.
Born of this was a society that measured every individual by his contribution to these complex markets. Unions formed in the hope of forcing loyalty among the populace, although their own sets of rules reserved social benefits for only those citizens who showed the greatest compliance and loyalty. A massive struggle for dominance began, with each mega-corporation believing itself to be the last hope for the continuation of mankind. Foreseeing the impending destruction of the planet, the groups began to research ways of ensuring the survival of their respective followers so they could ultimately inherit the future.
The largest and most influential of the complex markets, the Technological Block was the first to anticipate the rising conflict. As the construction of several large scientific institutes and organizations began, a new Board of Ministers was appointed, known as The Eight. Although resources and funding were scarce, each foundation worked feverishly to develop the means to preserve exemplars of humanity. Not long after, spy reports indicated to all the major corporations that the others were also hard at work to find their own "safeguard methods".
Of the Technological Block's research foundations, the Continoma Project proved to be the most successful. Staffed with brilliant scientists researching revolutionary methods, its efforts led the invention of the Crysto-matrix, a system allowing the storage and reconstruction of the human consciousness. This enabled clones to achieve full memory recovery and brain synchronization.
So impressed were The Eight with this technology that they withdrew support from all other sponsored research, putting their full trust in Continoma. The leaders of the Technological Block were to be the first to be perpetuated in the Crysto-matrix, followed by the project's own personnel and several thousand of the most loyal and "ideal" citizens. The only people with any chance of survival, they were the selected elite, charged with creating a new beginning for human civilization after the impending cataclysm.
In an effort to sabotage the Continoma Project, the rival complex markets sponsored terrorist attacks. These both destroyed a substantial portion of the Crysto-matrix and killed many of the chosen before their conscious qualities had even been recorded. With only a few hundred citizens remaining in storage, the Technological Block faced the choice of abandoning the endeavor or to ensure perpetuation of the race by including some less promising specimens in the database. It the decision was made to create a second one that would hold unproven individuals meeting the minimum intellectual levels, but with questionable loyalty. The scheme was now tainted, with the hope for humanity's survival depending on the ability to control these less gifted and dedicated subjects in the future.
As the Third World War became a reality, The Eight completed the Continoma Project and stored the vital components to its success in a guarded underground complex built on a private Pacific island known as Enterra. Just as the enterprise was being sealed off from the rest of the planet, even this remote location fell under attack, and an unexpected experimental weapon was introduced that would change Earth's fate forever.
Little is known of this weapon as any information and rumors were sealed within the vault gates. The true measure of its aftermath would only be revealed centuries later, when the first of the pioneers would rise and emerge from the chamber to claim what was once theirs.
Masthead Studios
Earthrise
August 19, 2008 - Late in the 21st century, the Third World War broke out over control of Earth's dwindling resources. Billions died, both combatants and civilians. Nations large and small vanished. Civilization ceased to exist except for a remnant on an isolated island, Enterra, where a group of leaders and scientists had placed a colossal, self-sufficient database storing the genetic information and consciousness of selected citizens. Somehow, this remote location escaped the full brunt of the cataclysm. The flora and fauna did undergo significant mutations. Still, although not an Eden, it was hospitable enough to support the birth of a new, embryonic society.
Announced in January, Earthrise is the post-apocalyptic massively multiplayer game that will play out from this intriguing scenario. In development by independent Bulgarian-based Masthead Studios, which is aiming to launch the title next year, it will thrust players into a new clash involving two factions. One is Continoma, the corporate government that stringently controls every possible aspect of its citizens' lives. The other is Noir, a rebel group sworn to oust the authoritarian order. Among other features that have been revealed and discussed, a few of note are a skill-based advancement system, a player-driven economy and an emphasis on PvP.
Continoma: The Rebirth
Hundreds of years after the sealing of the Continoma Project, the world began an unprecedented ecological regeneration. As the climate began to recover, the few areas spared from the rising oceans lay completely unpopulated, blank canvases to start a natural healing process. When data reports about the surface brought favorable survival odds, Continoma launched its unperfected cloning system to produce the initial group of Pioneers, the first humans meant to set foot on the island of Enterra since the Third World War.
Continoma's greatest achievement would soon become its greatest failure as new breeds of citizens would find themselves parts of a vision they no longer shared, and without any personal benefits at all.
In their initial exploration of the devastated area, the pioneers lost a number of members to aggressive animal species altered by fallout. In the ensuing fight for territory, their technological advantage eventually allowed them to push the mutants back enough to claim the land for their own developments. These first steps paved the way for sprawling industrial areas and a vast network of smaller settlements that evolved into what was known as The Nest, the first community in the new era of man. It provided a safe haven as Continoma planned and prepared the construction of its true return to power and wealth, the city of Sal Vitas, future home to a great utopian society that would be free of past errors.
The second group of human clones released from the vault was sent to the western shores of the main island to begin the construction of the new city, but not without protest. The proven contribution system of old persisted in this new world. As Continoma regained its governing power, the faithful pioneers who progressed the reclamation of society's former greatness were rewarded, while those who doubted or defied these goals were punished by being left behind to support The Nest.
Although some came to regret their defiance, the majority felt restricted by the laws of this new society and began to rebel. The settlement eventually collapsed to anarchy and became the permanent home to the outlaws and criminals of Sal Vitas who would come to be, eager to escape the renewed grasp of the ruling authorities.
The Technological Block used all of its means to create a utopia, yet the population remained restless. As control was paramount to success, Continoma explored new ways of increasing the submissiveness of its citizens, going so far as to promise participation in the future of human evolution. With a hunger for technological advancement and the determination to avoid past mistakes, the only remotely viable form of evolution remaining was the artificial process set by The Eight.
Scientists worked hard to eradicate many weaknesses before cloning the first pioneers. They succeeded in fixing many apparent problems, but in the process, neglected various future issues. However, Continoma's greatest achievement would soon become its greatest failure as new breeds of citizens would find themselves parts of a vision they no longer shared, and without any personal benefits at all.
Masthead Studios
Earthrise
September 23, 2008 - Announced in January, Earthrise is the post-apocalyptic massively multiplayer game that will play out from this intriguing scenario. In development by independent Bulgarian-based Masthead Studios, which is aiming to launch the title next year, it will thrust players into a new clash involving two factions. One is Continoma, the corporate government that stringently controls every possible aspect of its citizens' lives. The other is Noir, a rebel group sworn to oust the authoritarian order. Among other features that have been revealed and discussed, a few of note are a skill-based advancement system, a player-driven economy and an emphasis on PvP.
Continoma: Mind over Body
Despite Continoma's attempt to create a flawless city, imperfections continued to plague the citizens of Sal Vitas. During the last stages of the Third World War, a strain of nanite disassemblies was released by the government to ensure the eradication of all life on Enterra, but rather than destroying everything, it began to coexist with the flora and fauna robust enough to survive the ravages of the radioactive environment, acting as a catalyst to those species' rapid evolution, leaving nothing on the island unmutated.
Once released from the vaults, the pioneers quickly discovered that they were unable to procreate. Infants were stillborn or possessed unexplainable genetic mutations, proving even humans had not escaped the effects of the nanites. Those who tried to rid themselves of the strain perished, and the others realized that to survive, they too would have to embrace this artificial evolution. But Continoma would not accept abhorrent mutation in its perfect race, shunning and stripping privileges from any who contested. This would instead become its grand opportunity to re-ignite the cloning process, ensuring that perpetuation of the species would also entail the faction's attaining even more complete power over the population of Enterra, and thus the future of mankind.
Secretly backed by The Eight, Continoma propagandized Sal Vitas with gruesome images of mutated babies to raise panic and fear among its citizens about the inherent dangers of natural reproduction. Meanwhile, a mineral known as Xcelyte was discovered. It would enable the use of minimal resources during the cloning process, due to its radioactivity and immense energy potential.
Continoma recognized this as a solution to maintain its pure race ideals, and so, citizens were promised a new revolution in genetics - the ascension of man's mind over body - in exchange for mandatory watcher chips that were implanted to store memories and data and to be housed in the organization's Librarium Centre. Reproduction became irrelevant, and eventually forbidden, as cloning facilities were now widely available for instant regeneration of a person's body. The power of everlasting life now lay in the hands of Sal Vitas' citizens, who no longer feared death.
Many resisted accepting immortality through cloning, however, and demanded a cure for their reproductive deficiency. In an effort to bring hope, Continoma introduced a way for them to perfect their minds in order to control their own DNA consciously, with the ultimate goal of achieving purification and births free of mutation. Though it was clear few would reach this goal, the population's attention nonetheless turned to these pursuits.
And due to this growing reliance on technology for the persistence of the race, the inhabitants of Enterra had surrendered any ability to leave the island. The short range of the watcher chip to record their thoughts and memories mean that those who departed the island and them met their demise were left devoid of personality and memory upon cloning.
Yet after all of these efforts, the majority of Sal Vitas continued to resist any solution beyond natural reproduction. Scientists called for further studies and analysis of the nanites, only to be silenced by Continoma's determination to regain control of their perfect society, and to force citizens to depend on technology for survival.
The Eight grew hungry for more power, pressuring Continoma to end free cloning and implement delays in the process as punitive measures for those with low contribution levels or obvious distaste for the government. As waiting times increased from a few hours to days and then weeks, many feared an indefinite freeze on this form of based reincarnation.
As a cost structure was put in place, the backlash was sharp, forcing Continoma to revise its model to offer insurance for the reinstatement of individuals' property, which was no longer passed along for free, with flexible pricing based on their levels of contribution. Much to the faction's satisfaction, the work ethic improved as many tried to promote the betterment of Sal Vitas, and others joined the battle against the mutant race, both in order to gain favor and to control the costs of survival.
Confident in its action and its total control over its citizens, Continoma continued to lock them like pinions in its grand machine, stripping them of freedom and individualism. But a resistance was shaping up and gaining very real power for an inevitable strike against that which oppressed the very rights that make humanity human.
Masthead Studios
Earthrise
Up.
Announced in January, Earthrise is the post-apocalyptic massively multiplayer game that will play out from this intriguing scenario. In development by independent Bulgarian-based Masthead Studios, which is aiming to launch the title next year, it will thrust players into a new clash involving two factions. One is Continoma, the corporate government that stringently controls every possible aspect of its citizens' lives. The other is Noir, a rebel group sworn to oust the authoritarian order. Among other features that have been revealed and discussed, a few of note are a skill-based advancement system, a player-driven economy and an emphasis on PvP.
Continoma: The Beginning
After more than a century of exhausting Earth's natural resources and exploiting its ecosystem, the planet's nations had virtually depleted its wealth. The citizens began to rise up against their corrupt governments in order to take survival into their own hands. Once influential shareholders within the corporate world could only watch helplessly as their power dissipated before their eyes, and the regimes that had kept them in business crumbled.
The true measure of its aftermath would only be revealed centuries later, when the first of the pioneers would rise and emerge from chamber to claim what was once theirs.
To maintain control, the major corporations were forced to unite into conglomerates that came to be known as the Complex Markets, economic behemoths so powerful they could dictate the flow of government itself. These commercial unions essentially became countries of their own, where the human rights and basic liberties of billions were decided in boardrooms rather than parliaments.
Born of this was a society that measured every individual by his contribution to these complex markets. Unions formed in the hope of forcing loyalty among the populace, although their own sets of rules reserved social benefits for only those citizens who showed the greatest compliance and loyalty. A massive struggle for dominance began, with each mega-corporation believing itself to be the last hope for the continuation of mankind. Foreseeing the impending destruction of the planet, the groups began to research ways of ensuring the survival of their respective followers so they could ultimately inherit the future.
The largest and most influential of the complex markets, the Technological Block was the first to anticipate the rising conflict. As the construction of several large scientific institutes and organizations began, a new Board of Ministers was appointed, known as The Eight. Although resources and funding were scarce, each foundation worked feverishly to develop the means to preserve exemplars of humanity. Not long after, spy reports indicated to all the major corporations that the others were also hard at work to find their own "safeguard methods".
Of the Technological Block's research foundations, the Continoma Project proved to be the most successful. Staffed with brilliant scientists researching revolutionary methods, its efforts led the invention of the Crysto-matrix, a system allowing the storage and reconstruction of the human consciousness. This enabled clones to achieve full memory recovery and brain synchronization.
So impressed were The Eight with this technology that they withdrew support from all other sponsored research, putting their full trust in Continoma. The leaders of the Technological Block were to be the first to be perpetuated in the Crysto-matrix, followed by the project's own personnel and several thousand of the most loyal and "ideal" citizens. The only people with any chance of survival, they were the selected elite, charged with creating a new beginning for human civilization after the impending cataclysm.
In an effort to sabotage the Continoma Project, the rival complex markets sponsored terrorist attacks. These both destroyed a substantial portion of the Crysto-matrix and killed many of the chosen before their conscious qualities had even been recorded. With only a few hundred citizens remaining in storage, the Technological Block faced the choice of abandoning the endeavor or to ensure perpetuation of the race by including some less promising specimens in the database. It the decision was made to create a second one that would hold unproven individuals meeting the minimum intellectual levels, but with questionable loyalty. The scheme was now tainted, with the hope for humanity's survival depending on the ability to control these less gifted and dedicated subjects in the future.
As the Third World War became a reality, The Eight completed the Continoma Project and stored the vital components to its success in a guarded underground complex built on a private Pacific island known as Enterra. Just as the enterprise was being sealed off from the rest of the planet, even this remote location fell under attack, and an unexpected experimental weapon was introduced that would change Earth's fate forever.
Little is known of this weapon as any information and rumors were sealed within the vault gates. The true measure of its aftermath would only be revealed centuries later, when the first of the pioneers would rise and emerge from the chamber to claim what was once theirs.
Masthead Studios
Earthrise
August 19, 2008 - Late in the 21st century, the Third World War broke out over control of Earth's dwindling resources. Billions died, both combatants and civilians. Nations large and small vanished. Civilization ceased to exist except for a remnant on an isolated island, Enterra, where a group of leaders and scientists had placed a colossal, self-sufficient database storing the genetic information and consciousness of selected citizens. Somehow, this remote location escaped the full brunt of the cataclysm. The flora and fauna did undergo significant mutations. Still, although not an Eden, it was hospitable enough to support the birth of a new, embryonic society.
Announced in January, Earthrise is the post-apocalyptic massively multiplayer game that will play out from this intriguing scenario. In development by independent Bulgarian-based Masthead Studios, which is aiming to launch the title next year, it will thrust players into a new clash involving two factions. One is Continoma, the corporate government that stringently controls every possible aspect of its citizens' lives. The other is Noir, a rebel group sworn to oust the authoritarian order. Among other features that have been revealed and discussed, a few of note are a skill-based advancement system, a player-driven economy and an emphasis on PvP.
Continoma: The Rebirth
Hundreds of years after the sealing of the Continoma Project, the world began an unprecedented ecological regeneration. As the climate began to recover, the few areas spared from the rising oceans lay completely unpopulated, blank canvases to start a natural healing process. When data reports about the surface brought favorable survival odds, Continoma launched its unperfected cloning system to produce the initial group of Pioneers, the first humans meant to set foot on the island of Enterra since the Third World War.
Continoma's greatest achievement would soon become its greatest failure as new breeds of citizens would find themselves parts of a vision they no longer shared, and without any personal benefits at all.
In their initial exploration of the devastated area, the pioneers lost a number of members to aggressive animal species altered by fallout. In the ensuing fight for territory, their technological advantage eventually allowed them to push the mutants back enough to claim the land for their own developments. These first steps paved the way for sprawling industrial areas and a vast network of smaller settlements that evolved into what was known as The Nest, the first community in the new era of man. It provided a safe haven as Continoma planned and prepared the construction of its true return to power and wealth, the city of Sal Vitas, future home to a great utopian society that would be free of past errors.
The second group of human clones released from the vault was sent to the western shores of the main island to begin the construction of the new city, but not without protest. The proven contribution system of old persisted in this new world. As Continoma regained its governing power, the faithful pioneers who progressed the reclamation of society's former greatness were rewarded, while those who doubted or defied these goals were punished by being left behind to support The Nest.
Although some came to regret their defiance, the majority felt restricted by the laws of this new society and began to rebel. The settlement eventually collapsed to anarchy and became the permanent home to the outlaws and criminals of Sal Vitas who would come to be, eager to escape the renewed grasp of the ruling authorities.
The Technological Block used all of its means to create a utopia, yet the population remained restless. As control was paramount to success, Continoma explored new ways of increasing the submissiveness of its citizens, going so far as to promise participation in the future of human evolution. With a hunger for technological advancement and the determination to avoid past mistakes, the only remotely viable form of evolution remaining was the artificial process set by The Eight.
Scientists worked hard to eradicate many weaknesses before cloning the first pioneers. They succeeded in fixing many apparent problems, but in the process, neglected various future issues. However, Continoma's greatest achievement would soon become its greatest failure as new breeds of citizens would find themselves parts of a vision they no longer shared, and without any personal benefits at all.
Masthead Studios
Earthrise
September 23, 2008 - Announced in January, Earthrise is the post-apocalyptic massively multiplayer game that will play out from this intriguing scenario. In development by independent Bulgarian-based Masthead Studios, which is aiming to launch the title next year, it will thrust players into a new clash involving two factions. One is Continoma, the corporate government that stringently controls every possible aspect of its citizens' lives. The other is Noir, a rebel group sworn to oust the authoritarian order. Among other features that have been revealed and discussed, a few of note are a skill-based advancement system, a player-driven economy and an emphasis on PvP.
Continoma: Mind over Body
Despite Continoma's attempt to create a flawless city, imperfections continued to plague the citizens of Sal Vitas. During the last stages of the Third World War, a strain of nanite disassemblies was released by the government to ensure the eradication of all life on Enterra, but rather than destroying everything, it began to coexist with the flora and fauna robust enough to survive the ravages of the radioactive environment, acting as a catalyst to those species' rapid evolution, leaving nothing on the island unmutated.
Once released from the vaults, the pioneers quickly discovered that they were unable to procreate. Infants were stillborn or possessed unexplainable genetic mutations, proving even humans had not escaped the effects of the nanites. Those who tried to rid themselves of the strain perished, and the others realized that to survive, they too would have to embrace this artificial evolution. But Continoma would not accept abhorrent mutation in its perfect race, shunning and stripping privileges from any who contested. This would instead become its grand opportunity to re-ignite the cloning process, ensuring that perpetuation of the species would also entail the faction's attaining even more complete power over the population of Enterra, and thus the future of mankind.
Secretly backed by The Eight, Continoma propagandized Sal Vitas with gruesome images of mutated babies to raise panic and fear among its citizens about the inherent dangers of natural reproduction. Meanwhile, a mineral known as Xcelyte was discovered. It would enable the use of minimal resources during the cloning process, due to its radioactivity and immense energy potential.
Continoma recognized this as a solution to maintain its pure race ideals, and so, citizens were promised a new revolution in genetics - the ascension of man's mind over body - in exchange for mandatory watcher chips that were implanted to store memories and data and to be housed in the organization's Librarium Centre. Reproduction became irrelevant, and eventually forbidden, as cloning facilities were now widely available for instant regeneration of a person's body. The power of everlasting life now lay in the hands of Sal Vitas' citizens, who no longer feared death.
Many resisted accepting immortality through cloning, however, and demanded a cure for their reproductive deficiency. In an effort to bring hope, Continoma introduced a way for them to perfect their minds in order to control their own DNA consciously, with the ultimate goal of achieving purification and births free of mutation. Though it was clear few would reach this goal, the population's attention nonetheless turned to these pursuits.
And due to this growing reliance on technology for the persistence of the race, the inhabitants of Enterra had surrendered any ability to leave the island. The short range of the watcher chip to record their thoughts and memories mean that those who departed the island and them met their demise were left devoid of personality and memory upon cloning.
Yet after all of these efforts, the majority of Sal Vitas continued to resist any solution beyond natural reproduction. Scientists called for further studies and analysis of the nanites, only to be silenced by Continoma's determination to regain control of their perfect society, and to force citizens to depend on technology for survival.
The Eight grew hungry for more power, pressuring Continoma to end free cloning and implement delays in the process as punitive measures for those with low contribution levels or obvious distaste for the government. As waiting times increased from a few hours to days and then weeks, many feared an indefinite freeze on this form of based reincarnation.
As a cost structure was put in place, the backlash was sharp, forcing Continoma to revise its model to offer insurance for the reinstatement of individuals' property, which was no longer passed along for free, with flexible pricing based on their levels of contribution. Much to the faction's satisfaction, the work ethic improved as many tried to promote the betterment of Sal Vitas, and others joined the battle against the mutant race, both in order to gain favor and to control the costs of survival.
Confident in its action and its total control over its citizens, Continoma continued to lock them like pinions in its grand machine, stripping them of freedom and individualism. But a resistance was shaping up and gaining very real power for an inevitable strike against that which oppressed the very rights that make humanity human.
Masthead Studios
Earthrise
Up.