❧ THE STORY

In the year 4,000 Earth had progressed to feats beyond human imagination; then, before the end of the millennia, both society and progress came to a crashing halt. The rise and fall of humanity can be blamed on a substance called aether, a mysterious element that allowed humans to make their wildest technological dreams come true. Aether was a clean and abundant resource. However, like most resources aether had its limit. When aether was beginning to grow scarce, mining and harvesting it became a frantic international hunt. The search for aether took its toll on the environment. The excessive mining eventually triggered a series of earthquakes that in turn set off multiple tsunamis. Human civilization became buried in rubble, trash, and ocean until one continent – a fragment of Eurasia – was left standing.

But even in hell there are miracles: during the earthquakes large chunks of earth filled with aether broke off and floated to the sky, where they now rest. The islands in the sky – now called Elysia – have been colonized by those who still had the means and the influence to get into the sky. Those who were left on Earth fell to the tyranny of the criminal organizations that rose in that time of desperation, where the people needed someone to save them from the lawless state that the former monarchy had left them in.

Earth – now renamed Khthonia – has turned into a desert wasteland. The days are almost insufferably hot and the nights plummet below freezing, and the civilians break their backs to pay the heavy taxes imposed on them by the crime lords. The only joy for the people of Khthonia is hovercraft racing, a dangerous sport that’s thrilling to watch and hell to play. The racers play to win the ultimate prize: a free ticket for them and their family to Elysia.

Elysia, on the other hand, has been prospering immensely with the nurturing of the nobles. With the king heirless and sick, and the pirate queen in no better condition, there are rumors of the king’s forces – the H.A.W.Ks – ready to move in on their nemesis the sky pirates. Such a clash would ignite a war that could very well shake paradise the same way human greed shook the Earth.