THE TRUTH
HAS BEEN
BURIED

:: THE SAGA

Heaven and hell, good versus evil, light and dark, eternal life and infernal damnation: why does every culture on Earth tell the same story? Did our ancestors all coevolve identical fears across continents that never spoke? Or are these myths something else: shared experiences, half-remembered, written down by people who actually saw what they wrote?

Consider this: every society on every continent has tales of the dead rising. And not just any dead. Two distinct kinds. Soulless husks, devoid of any connection to the being that breathed before. And righteous golems, imbued with a divine clarity of purpose and incredible power.

What if human nature is not violent? What if, far from being inherently brutal and selfish, every human bears a divine gift? Our biomechanical machinery houses a piece of the universe's fundamental fabric: consciousness. Without it, there is no universe, no matter, no dimension. Nothing, not an idea, not an atom, not a quadrillion stars, exists without awareness of its existence.

The energy of consciousness powers the universe. It pushes the cosmos outward. It keeps the lights on. But there is a darkness in the depths of the void. A jealous hunger that seeks to subdue the light, to channel its prismatic glory into the cold stillness of order.

The work of this cold, calculating fiend is everywhere and nowhere. It is hard to see the light, to have hope in dark times, and that is where most people try to look. What very few fix their attention to is the shadows.

Through manipulation, temptation, enticement, inducement, and all devious means of physical and material seduction, something has manipulated the affairs of man. This unseen yet massive power has funneled generations of sorrowful souls into the miseries of war, famine, calamity and chaos. But if this force wants to remain secret, it must have weaknesses. Right?

Across time and space, in the midst of famous historical events, bits of the truth seep out of the shadows. And some of the unlikeliest heroes will take note. Witness how far-flung events, the discovery of Tut's cursed tomb, General Patton's mysterious death, and other conspiracies, connect to ancient myths and beyond. Why is history littered with violence and despair? Where does life come from? What happens when we die? Why do the dead rise in the collective memories of every society on every continent? And what, or who, are the Genuine Undead?

:: FOUR TIMELINES

:: FIELD RECORDS

DAI

2225 AD

THE ENGINEER

:ORIGIN Arcology Moto, NeoTokyo, 2201

HEIGHT

5' 10"

WEIGHT

160

SKILL

Systems engineer

PERSONALITY

Fastidious

2225, Dai was living his best life, great job in a seemingly utopian city… but his prescient dreams about the city's disturbing underbelly are starting to come true! Is his life of duty in service of a dystopia? To find the truth, Dai must take on a double life as civic engineer and rebel informant. Caught in a triangle between the power players he used to obey, the revolutionaries he used to abhor, and his bizarre dreams, Dai doesn't know who to trust–including himself!

ArcoNet Archive, cache 0, inventory corrupted, lot 2823… not found. Location: Omni Cata-complex 01. Time: Error–date range must be on or before system's current chrono. Incident Report: Probabilistic algo has determined a potential threat… [corrupted] gravimetric seal on the archive's [corrupted]

RECORD CORRUPTED

Awaiting future issue release

LOU

1945 AD

THE DETECTIVE

:ORIGIN Cheyenne, Wyoming, 1916

ArcoNet Archive, cache 0, inventory corrupted, lot 1303… not found.

RECORD CORRUPTED

Awaiting future issue release

PIYEH

1922 AD

THE TRANSLATOR

:ORIGIN Luxor, Egypt, 1904

ArcoNet Archive, cache 0, inventory corrupted, lot 2036… not found.

RECORD CORRUPTED

Awaiting future issue release

KEIRA

2026 AD

THE REPORTER

:ORIGIN NYC, 2001

ArcoNet Archive, cache 0, inventory corrupted, lot XXXX… not found.

:: ARCHIVE FILES

The archive does not explain itself. It leaks in fragments: military after-action reports, forbidden excavations, suspicious patrons, civic propaganda from futures that have not happened yet.

:: DECLASSIFIED — IN THE BEGINNING

IN THE BEGINNING

In the beginning, there was nothing but the brightest light and the coldest darkness. After uncounted eons, the first glimmers of consciousness materialized. The emergence of self-aware beings was the true birth of the universe, for there was no light and no dark without the minds of those who could perceive it.

Consciousness was — and is — as fundamental to the universe as the periodic table. As this fledgling yet fundamental force came to be, so too did an entirely new dimension of existence: the Ethereal Plane.

A spark created the universe from nothing, a creative spark. At the same time, an equal and opposite force was born: a destructive spark. One pushed the cosmos outward. The other pulled to collapse it inward. Both were mindless. Fundamental.

Until something changed.

Whatever it became, this hidden force has been pulling at the affairs of man ever since. Through manipulation, temptation, enticement, inducement, and all devious means of physical and material seduction, it has funneled generations of sorrowful souls into the miseries of war, famine, calamity and chaos.

But nature itself, it seems, will not stay silent forever.

:: THE GENUINE UNDEAD

Across time and space, an army has been seeded into the world. Hidden. Scattered. Waiting.

It takes uncanny perceptive abilities to detect a Genuine Undead. Those destined to uncover the scattered army are special. Their mission is even more important: only they can deal a final blow to the force in the shadows.