In the grim darkness of the far future, the “Solarium” was an empire that spanned the Sacred Solar System and even extended its influence throughout the galaxy.
However, the core of its power always remained in its capital, Planet Urd, the one we know as Earth.
In the First Solar Age, humanity sought to expand beyond Urd after the disaster that ended the Fossil Age, or as the most fanatical Solarium adherents called it, the Dark Fossil Age.
Most of the writers of the series “Wartopia” were fans of environmental horror, and that is precisely how the Dark Fossil Age ended.
The Earth turned on humanity, and disasters followed in quick succession, culminating in the Fossil Wars, which severely damaged the atmosphere, transforming most of the world into a scorched hell by day and a frigid winter by night.
People overthrew their fossil overlords and shifted their civilization to solar and wind power, marking the beginning of the First Solar Age.
This great era witnessed Urd’s gradual healing, though it was still a far cry from its former state.
At least people could return to the surface again after living for centuries in Silo cities; however, such outer communities were unregulated and had scant law and order, devolving into Wild West-like anarchy.
Even so, all living environments needed life-support systems, and activities such as farming were conducted entirely in greenhouses, while meat was rare and produced synthetically only in Silo cities.
However, the remarkable efficiency of solar energy in that world proved advantageous.
Inventions like solar sails, which captured solar currents for boundless space travel, and Blazer Cells, rechargeable by sunlight, fire, or other energy sources, emerged.
These innovations, coupled with hyper-efficient solar cells, ushered in the First Solar Age.
The planet was slowly healing, though at a much slower rate than it had been damaged, a process that would require centuries.
By then, causing further environmental damage had become taboo on Urd; during wartime, however, people still resorted to burning and mass industrialization.
Consequently, many chose to live in space, with the Moon being the first colonized frontier, followed by Mars and Venus.
The colonization of these planets, establishing small, enclosed, independent states, enabled extensive underground industrialization without atmospheric concerns.
This situation persisted until the end of the First Solar Age—which lasted nearly 1,000 years—and the beginning of the Stellar Age, when the first Antimatter Engine was produced in the moon colonies and humanity achieved FTL (Faster Than Light) travel for the first time.
The frontier was pushed far beyond anything humanity had ever thought possible, opening a new realm known as the Void to humanity.
Access to the local solar system was already possible with solar sails, but traversing the Void now brought other Systems within humanity’s grasp.
Nations began to migrate en masse as soon as habitable planets were found, and the population of Earth, as well as its environmental state, began to improve significantly.
However, Urd never recovered.
The planet had reached a point of no return regarding certain damage.
Though still habitable, it remained arid and unforgiving.
It was there, in what was once Africa, now Urd’s Sector 1, that Prince Kamaru Adawala, the revered father of the Imperial Sun, unified the planet, planting the first seed of the Empire of the Sacred Solar System, for Sol Imperius to rule.
All of that knowledge was embedded in the heart and soul of every Solar Knight.
Captain Solomon Creed looked around as he and Adam walked around the ruined city, filled with fallen trees, ruined cars, and the occasional scenes of death and destruction.
To his mind, it was all too strange, unnatural even.
The weather outside his Power Armor was like the interior of a life-supported environment, so seamless and natural; the sky was a bright blue, and there were flying birds and wild animals—extinct on Urd.
It was all… strange.
He watched Adam as he nervously looked around and gestured at the air every now and then.
He looked disturbed and in deep thought.
The Solar Paladin wasn’t bothered by the puny young man’s thoughts, unaware that Adam was, at that moment, discovering the truth behind it all.
Earlier, during their escape from the Gobzkin horde, Adam had seen words floating in the air a few times, two of which indicated he had acquired an Experience Point—a term he was surely familiar with—the other messages appearing when he got too close to the Gobzkins.
He remembered the early days of the monster invasion.
Those green-skinned monsters, known in pop culture as Goblins, were being called Gobzkins by some militia members and the military.
Even Victor was calling them that as well, and the group adopted the term.
The reason wasn’t explicitly stated, but it turned out there was a very strange reason.
Words appeared in thin air like a video game’s UI.
Well, a very poor-looking UI since the letters were actually badly shaped, but still… words in thin air.
Of course, geeks and nerds knew what a system window was when they saw one, but Adam failed to recognize his own system window.
Still, it turned out he was late to the party, and other people already possessed their own systems.
How else would they refer to Goblins as Gobzkins, Giants as Jotnar, and Zombies as Blighters and Dark Hosts?
Only when he decided to approach a ruined car and intently examine himself in its side mirror did these words appear.