Following a cataclysmic event on earth, the last remnants of humanity are chased from their home planet, tossed back into the far reaches of space and forced to scavenge the neighbouring solar colonies for supplies. As humanity is bundled into one last migrant fleet, forced to drift solemnly across the cosmic abyss, they struggle to survive and keep everything functional and desperately cling to any hope they have of eventually returning to take back their home planet. As resources run low, humanity are forced to make highly dangerous excursions to travelling quantum planets in a desperate attempt to siphon valuable resources required to keep their ships running and to continue their search for any answers to the forever present question: How do we get back home?
The game is set in 2142 AD, a soft sci-fi apocalyptic world in which humanity is pushed to the brink of extinction and exiled from their own planet, forced to wander the galaxy in search of what remains of the human race scattered across various solar systems to gather what remains of their race and eventually return to retake their planet. Until then humanities migrant fleet: The United Nations Fleet of Mankind (U.N.F.M), or known colloquially among it’s migrants, “Mankind's March”, drifts through it’s cosmic neighbourhood recruiting all that will join and fight while struggling to keep the peace aboard it’s primary ship, The Ark, as cultures vie for power and resources run thin.
Mankind's March are a large collection of all of the surviving interplanetary ships that managed to escape the First Contact during The Great Exodus of Earth. The fleet ranges from colossal Dreadnought Vessel's, Agile Cruiser Ships, Spacetime War Frigates to even Industrial Carriers, anything that wasn’t already destroyed or scrapped during the fight had no choice but to join the U.N.F.M to survive. The migrant fleet is ethnically diverse, comprising of every modern culture cultivated on earth along with every race of man aboard the fleets vessels, all aiming to better humanities conservation of literature, histories, languages and even ancient cultures, in a sombre attempt to immortalise their potentially doomed race and be remembered for more than a species that made a mistake.
Mankind’s March is controlled by the U.N.F.M’s military who hold an iron tight grasp on the fleets water and food supply and thus use it to maintain control over people across the entire fleet in an effort to maintain order, prevent uprisings and keep everyone focused on their primary goal; getting back to earth. The U.N.F.M’s beliefs are also highly religious, regressing back to the old testament of fundamentalist Christianity after The Great Exodus, believing a return to form will sort us all out. They enforce this strict theonomic regime through their military police force; Bastion, who ensure order is upheld and strictures are abided by throughout the flotilla, punishing all who oppose their authority.
At the beginning of the game the whole flotilla is on edge as the fleet approaches another Quantum Planet, rife with precious resources vital to the fleets survival. Pushed to the brink of extinction, with rapidly dwindling resources and illnesses spreading throughout the fleet, Mankind's March makes the fateful decision to land and explore the planet in a bid for any rare resources that could be used to simply keep the fleet alive and in the best case scenario, harbour secrets to retaking their home world. The player thus takes control of the few new recruits of U.N.F.M’s latest special black ops task force specialising in the exploration in Quantum Planets and the annihilation of any extra terrestrial life; The Apostles.
The technology of the world is very industrial, large and bulky, almost as if the invention of the transistor was less potent than expected and caused humanity to continue their search for alternatives to energy reliance, such as nuclear fusion and fracking for access to dwindling fossil fuel supplies instead of finding ways to amplify electrical signals further. Eventually, having exhausted all other opportunities the transistor still reigned supreme but still required more electricity than expected, causing technology to advance slowly and into a more burdensome and less sleek state than what was sold to everyone about the 2100’s.
Higher tech holographic imagery and navigation is relegated to the richest and most powerful people and militaries, while everyone else uses thicker and slower industrial LCD interfaces to interact with their ships and data pads. After The Great Exodus there is very few high tech ships left save for the Ark and it’s closest descendants, and the power and resources required to power them are running shorter and shorter as ships are slowly getting left behind to save resources and it’s passengers are forced into the limiting spaces left aboard other ships, overpopulation on ships which have far surpassed their maximum load is becoming a big issue within mankind's march.
The weaponry of the human fleet still relies on ballistic ejection rather than laser or plasma, but some prototype weaponry are starting to use each of them. For the vast majority of the human fleet however ballistic firearms are the primary choice for self defence and order enforcement. Mankind’s Marches military primarily use assault rifles and a self defence sidearm in the form of a pistol and a backup knife if all else fails. Weaponry is also quite industrial and bulky in design but can typically hit like a tank if put in the right hands. - Visual influence: Colonial Marines from the Aliens Franchise or Starship Troopers.
Most abilities are unique to the technology of the Apostles; experimental and developed solely for use in expeditions. Due to their status as the right arm of the U.N.F.M the Apostles receive the very best in protective and offensive weaponry and equipment, from short range prototype teleportation hardware to interstellar trip mines, from rapid greenhouse habitation units to state of the art planetary propulsion gear (jet packs) the abilities of the Apostles showcase the latest, most cutting edge technology humanity has to offer that, while on earth might seem rudimentary, on the Quantum Planets they take on a whole new form, allowing the very crust of the planet to be changed based on their usage.