S E T T I N G / / W O R L D

ENTROPY is set in the year 2217 in a world ruled by a stringent government called the Arcadian Union. The game takes place in AU Sector 01, the main city of the AU's European network. The AU operates five major cities on this continent numbered 01-05-- those cities correspond to the Old World's Berlin (01), Zurich (02), Paris (03), Hannover (04), and Cologne (05). In the last 100 years of the AU's domination, the world has been fitted with a standardized language and other languages have been outlawed because they undermine the effectiveness of interpersonal equality. The public use of other languages is considered a crime of treason.

In 2017, a massive war erupted between the Eastern and Western halves of the European continent. 50 years of war destroyed everything from New York City to Kathmandu and from the rubble came a group of radicals who set up the Arcadian Union. The first order of business was to eradicate the mistakes of warfare-- specifically, the remnants of an experimental project to create the ultimate soldier. The biological experiment was named the Chimera Project, and spawned hundreds of thousands of mutants infected with the synthetic virus Valens Atrophos. These mutants were stronger, faster, and far more dangerous than human beings and most were destroyed in a mass genocide that spanned the first formative years of the AU's international program. Though many were eradicated, some escaped into the insalvagable areas between the AU's formative cities and survived, creating colonies that hated the AU and everything they stood for. These people now form the Anankai.

It came to the AU's attention that the mutants carried a double positive for the mutations caused by the VA, but some citizens carried a single positive. These VA+ individuals have a disease called the Turbinis Strain, a disease that presents as something mixed between an adrenaline overload disorder and what can best be described as intermittent CIPA (Congenital Insensitivity to Pain). A vaccine was said to have been created, but no one alive today can say that they've undergone the vaccine or know anyone who has. Some say that vaccine is a nice way to say purge. All newborns are inspected and vaccinated at birth, even though the AU says that the disease has been under control for the past 100 years of their glorious rule. The Turbinis Strain is fatal and gives the infected person superhuman strength, speed, and abilities for a short period of time, taking extreme physical tolls on the body. For example, someone who carries the Turbinis Strain could lift a car, but would probably break their bones from the stress of that much weight. Because of the AU's heavyhanded attempt at getting rid of the virus, most infected individuals keep their disease under wraps and seek alternative forms of treatment and relief in underground medicines.

The AU employs a militaristic police force. The upper echelons of this force is called NOVITAS, which utilizes individuals fitted with heavy military training and nanotech enhancements. The AU says that they keep the military in force just in case the Anankai that slipped between the genocide's fingers decide to attack, but NOVITAS is involved in far more affairs in the city than one would expect for such an excuse. NOVITAS is instructed to apprehend any individuals with the Turbinis Strain for vaccination, but no one's really supposed to know anything about that. What everyone does know about, however, is NOVITAS' constant war with parties that dissent against the rule of the AU.

These individuals that live under the umbrella of the AU, as few and far between as they are, are dissatisfied with the world they live in and seek more freedoms than they are allowed. The AU has placed restrictions on art, expression, language, and anything else that could be used to dissent openly against a lofty utopian ideal. Several organizations have emerged working against the AU's silencing resolve. These organizations are considered to be terrorists and their members are recognized as traitors.

Then there are those who live without a care in the world. They live with their eyes closed and, if they don't get strung up in any of the other problems the AU has to deal with, and get through life without saying a single original thought.