Chapter One: Distance

[atlasmods]

CHAPTER ONE: DISTANCE 10/05/2016 It all began on the planet, Kharas. Nothing but one expanse of desert, desolate and dry. Sand stretched for miles in any direction and the only signs of life came from those who awoke: The First. Why were they there? How had they come to be in the strange pods which had kept them dormant for so long? They learned swiftly that a simple touch was all it took to reanimate the machines. One after another they rose until none were left in slumber and they could only wonder, what had woken the first of them? They would find no answers in the valley; the only thing to guide them was a single message: FIND THE ATLAS. But what was The Atlas? Where could it be found? Would locating it allow them to return home? Reveal what had brought them to that strange world? The sweltering sun beat down on The First. It left them no choice but to seek shelter and respite, lest they fall prey to the merciless nature of the desert like so many before them... 10/17/2016 Everything seemed to go wrong at once. Whether from tampering or simply because fate deemed it so, fire filled the sky as the very pods which had once housed them erupted without warning. Molten pieces of metal and scrap were sent flying through the air, tearing away at the Interlopers who scrambled to recuperate. Nothing would be left in the wake of such a devastating explosion; what meager supplies they gathered beforehand was all that could be saved. It would only last them a few days. They needed to leave. Shaken and shattered, a valley wall gave way. The landslide which resulted would provide them a means of escape out into the desert...where the remains of something new awaited them. 10/25/2016 But The First could not sit and wait for rescue. They would need to take their destinies into their own hands when they encountered their first signs of life on Kharas: the Trilobites. Here they diverged: some would follow the tracks left by the migrating creatures, and some would stay behind to watch over their budding settlement. But none could have predicted what was to follow. Those who left found themselves in the presence of a Frenzied Queen desperate to flee from her former nest. They successfully fended off the Queen, cementing a distrust with her kind forever more. What was she fleeing? And why had she abandoned her nest? The only clue left to them was a strange structure buried deep beneath the sand... At the same time, those who stayed found themselves under attack as a result of the hostilities to the Queen by their fellows. It was a fight for survival against an impossible swarm that left many wounded and winded, but not empty-handed; a strange transmission was picked up by their communicators. Although incomprehensible to most, one thing was clear: They Were Not Alone.

NAVIGATION