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The world fell apart fast. Communities shattered, the living became threats, and survival was the only law that mattered. Explore the history, groups, and stories that shaped each outbreak, and see what it really took to endure.

The Story So Far

TimelineThe WorldEvents

Before the Cataclysm

December 12, 1996

3 Months before Impact:

A Secret Deepspace Communication Complex in Alaska captures signals of multiple asteroids approaching earth. The US Government is rapidly warned, and a threat assessment and management secret project is funded.

February 15, 1997

1 Month before Impact:

A Conspiracy online forum publishes leaked weeks old Government emails mentioning an approaching swarm of celestial bodies. The emails mention how the impact is inevitable.

February 20, 1997

25 Days before Impact:

After more pressure, Officials and Media finally reassure the population: The Impact won't cause serious damages, but whoever lives in highly populated areas should seek shelter underground.

February 23, 1997

22 Days before Impact:

The Civilian Defense Initiative is founded, trying to use abandoned Cold War assets to protect civilians from the impact.

February 28, 1997

17 Days before Impact

Religious Groups and Conspiracy Forums start calling this the end of the world, spreading fear and mistrust as the public official stance doesn't change.

The Ellabell Methodist Tragedy

The Murder-Suicide of 23 individuals, all church goers of the Methodist Church in Ellabell, outside of Savannah, Georgia, hits the presses on March 1st, 1997. A radical response to ‘The End of the World’ conspiracy.

March 3, 1997

13 Days before Impact:

Independent Researchers try to contest the Officials using their data. Lack of transparency from the Government, and more grim estimates from these researchers spread even more fear in the population.

March 7, 1997

9 Days before Impact:

Another leak from the Government brings to the public knowledge the construction of nuclear-grade bunkers all over the country, apparently a year old project.

Yucca Valley Riot

March 9, 1997

A small group of protesters in Yucca Valley incite a riot at the gates of one government bunker site. They are dispersed through the use of tear gas and non-lethal ammunition.

March 11, 1997

5 Days before Impact:

Chaos erupts as people lose faith in the Government and Officials. Religious groups and Apocalypse "Preppers" thrive in this environment.

March 14, 1997

2 Days before Impact:

Multiple big cities fall into riots and violence. Looting, assaults, military roadblocks everywhere. People either try to flee or hide.

March 15, 1997

24 Hours before Impact:

Streets and cities now appear abandoned. Even in the middle of the day the meteorites are visible, high in the sky.

March 16, 1997

4 Hours before Impact:

The ISS watches helplessly as the meteorites get closer and closer.

The Henry Larsen Interview

Henry Larsen, a Hubble Telescope Operator, recalls what he saw later in an interview. “I've never seen anything more terrifying and beautiful than watching those meteors fly down through the atmosphere. They were like fireflies coming down at sunset on a summer day." It sparks the entire world to write or share their experiences.

30 Seconds before Impact:

The night sky bursts into bright flames as the meteors approach the atmosphere.

The Swarm hits the planet's surface.

After the Cataclysm

5 Seconds after Impact:

Powerful heat waves hit the planet. Anything too close bursts into flames. The sky keeps burning red.

2 Hours after Impact:

In the aftermath, damage estimates from the Government appear to have been the correct ones, as most of the meteors have dealt only surface damage in high density urban areas. Victim numbers are very low, and the infrastructure stays functioning.

March 17, 1997

24 Hours after Impact:

People slowly crawl out of their hideouts, as the Government tries to gradually take control back, inviting everyone to go back to their normal lives.

March 23, 1997

1 Week after Impact:

Millions have lost their jobs all over the globe, companies have closed, and the economy faces severe instability. High Demand, Low Offer.

March 30, 1997

2 Weeks after Impact:

As the meteorites are studied, people start selling impact-related "souvenirs", meteorite chunks and guided tours. The Government discovers precious alloys inside them.

April 21, 1997

5 Weeks after Impact:

Of the few multi-billion dollar companies that remain, a couple of which are Tech-Related discover new uses for these alloys, expanding their portfolios and covering multiple niches who have been left empty by the Impact Crisis.

May 12, 1997

2 Months after Impact:

Weather Stations report a slow but steady rise in temperatures. As summer approaches, there are anomalous cases of sunburns.

June 13, 1997

3 Months after Impact:

All the meteors close to inhabited areas have been removed by private entities and the government for studies or profit.

August 19, 1997

5 Months after Impact:

The world seems to slowly forget the chaos brought by the impact. Attention shifts to the hottest summer of the last 20 years. Experts blame climate change.

November 14, 1997

8 Months after Impact:

Summer seems to last longer than normal, as the cold struggles to arrive at any significant capacity. Reports of missing people start appearing in more rural areas.

Montana Senator Missing!

November 20, 1997

The Republican Senator from Montana goes missing on a hunt. Search and rescue find blood and drag marks but no body. The Senator is declared dead from a Grizzly attack.

March 1999

2 Years after Impact:

Ice caps are melting. Reports of violent animals that appear to have red flesh growths on their bodies are spread across the country. Multiple people are injured or killed during these attacks.

Venice Vacated

July 3, 1999

Due to the melting of the ice caps, sea levels rise and Venice is the first to evacuate.

Yukon Preserve Abandoned

September 7, 1999

A new breed of mangy looking grey wolves dominate the preserve, attacking many of the preserve's staff. A warning is issued and the preserve is abandoned by staff.

The Year 2000

3 Years after Impact:

Average temperatures have risen by 3°C/5.4°F. 25% of earth's species are going extinct. The Flesh expands further into rural areas. As the government struggles to keep full control, attempts at destroying the growing flesh colonies are organized, but no significant progress is made.

Battle of the Everglades

May 5, 2000

The Army 10th Infantry Division is sent into the Florida Everglades to eradicate the Flesh colony within. Massive casualties cause the division to retreat and the Everglades become a restricted area to the public. The Government's statement to the public is that "The area has been introduced to a deadly venomous snake".

The Year 2001

4 Years after Impact:

As the atmosphere continues thinning, more meteors impact on the surface. People all over the globe are desperate for a safe place, and as the Government and the Elite prepare to hide in their tailor-made Bunkers, civilians who can't afford it look towards the abandoned Cold War Era CDI projects across the country.

Military Destabilization on Veteran's Day

November 11, 2001

Loss after loss to the Flesh has demoralized the US Military as a whole and mass desertion occurs across all branches. Overall, the command structure and a good portion of sailors, soldiers, marines and airman exist, but the US Military is operating at a quarter of what it was.

The Bombing of Oklahoma City Metro

March 15, 2002

The USS Enterprise launches a massive bombing run on the Oklahoma City Metro Area, expending all of their air based payload on the Flesh Colony within. It survives and the USS Enterprise is scuttled before its crew retire to a bunker in Maine.

April 1, 2002

5 Years after Impact:

The temperatures keep rising. Remnants of civilization still stand in major cities up north, away from The Flesh and the scorching heat, but many seek refuge elsewhere because of overpopulation. As these cities close, hundreds of thousands are forced away and perish to the heat or the Flesh, that seems to thrive in cold climates. As the world crumbles, governments and the wealthy hide inside their own high-tech bunkers, while the rest try their luck in the CDI abandoned Cold War Era facilities. These places are completely closed from external contact in an effort to preserve themselves from outside danger. The world is abandoned to its own doom.

The World Ends As We Know It

The Apocalypse

The Twin City Catastrophe

April 3, 2002

On the orders of POTUS, NORAD was scheduled to launch five 50 megaton nuclear warheads on Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cheyenne and Spokane. All major sites for survivors who did not make it into bunkers. POTUS called it an "Act of Mercy" for those who were doomed to The Flesh. It was the last straw for the Armed Forces personnel. A mix of all branches stormed Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs to try and stop the launch. They were too late for Minneapolis, but they saved the rest. The US Armed Forces dissolved afterwards.

May 4, 2005

8 Years after Impact - Present Day:

The global temperatures have risen by 10°C/18°F. Cities are either lost to The Flesh, to the scorching heat or submerged by the raising sea levels. 80% of the species are going extinct. Whoever remains is either hiding underground, or struggles daily against a world that's trying to kill them. On the surface The Flesh grows, eating anything on its way, changing this hellish landscape, as radiation and heat burn flesh and bones of whoever dares resist.

Greater Utah

A desert state where survivors stand against the harsh sun and the flesh both to eke out some kind of living. Persevering stubbornly onward like the brush and sand that dot the landscape.

Greater Utah contains several major locations, including the Burnt Miles and the Bunker.

The Great Scare

One of many colloquial terms used to describe the chaos of the meteors' first impact.

Three months before impact, the sensors of a deep space complex in Alaska reported to Washington signs of multiple meteoroids on an impact course with Earth. Misaligned from their previous path by an intersolar impact. Their landing wouldn't be the end of the world - but it was enough to warrant secret funding for threat assessment and management.

A month before the impact, weeks-old government emails turned up on an online conspiracy forum. Their mentions of an approaching swarm of celestial bodies reached the media within days. An official statement was wrestled out of the government. The impact wouldn't cause serious damages; anyone living in highly populated areas should seek shelter underground; low casualties were expected.

The Civil Defense Initiative was announced alongside a lengthy list of reopened Cold War bunkers. But the government's actions were clouded by a lack of transparency. Independent researchers contested the figures provided by the government. Religious groups and conspiracy forums flooded minds with cataclysmic thoughts.

Days before the impact, the United States army stood on its own streets. Looting and rioting had grown to such levels that martial law was instituted. For the most part it worked, as the focus of the masses turned quickly from profit to survival. In the hours before the impact, streets and cities appeared abandoned. Air raid shelters overflowed.

In the impact's aftermath, the government was proven right. Casualties were few. Most countries' infrastructure remained online. Governments around the world urged the populace to return to their lives - with little effect. The global supply chain had been brought to a halt for over a week. Its startup was jerky, halting, doomed to fail.

The high demand, low offer economy killed millions of jobs and thousands of companies. Within five weeks of the impact the number of multi-billion dollar companies had been slashed down to a third. It would be nearly three months before the turmoil settled.

Within six months the news cycle had moved on. Renewed government instability in poorer countries combined with the hottest summer in two decades brought life back to the present.

For years after, American life was normal. Schools ran. Office workers stepped into their cubicles. The government changed political hands. Everything was just... a bit hotter.

The Flesh

The meteoroids of the Great Scare were so numerous that it was impossible to retrieve them all. Most were collected by governmental and private organizations - but from those that landed in the depths of rural communities and far into the heart of nature, an awful amalgamation was left to take root.

It started to eat. Consume. Unchecked, uncontrolled, uncontested. The Flesh grew.

The first disappearances were blamed on animal attacks, or the simple misfortune of an inexperienced hiker facing bad weather and unknown trails. By 2002, when reports first began to filter into the media, it had grown too much to be stopped. Entire ecosystems existed where unknown creatures moved in a state of constant growth and change.

It was impossible to find each and every crash site. Impossible to burn out every colony of flesh. The focus of those in power eventually turned from destruction to survival.

The Flesh is an amorphous mass in a constant state of change that consumes biomass to spread. From its depths spew forth a constant deluge of wicked creatures; mockeries of life human and animal.

Fire and high heat can hold it back - but even the soaring temperatures of the world haven't been enough to kill it. Maybe nothing can. And only time can tell what other horrors will sprout from the Flesh.

Ossitium

A sample of raw Ossitium

Ossitium is a rare, meteor-born metal that only appears in the scorched cores of fallen meteors. In raw form, it looks like a chalky, bone-colored ore threaded with fine metallic veins that shimmer faintly under light.

Once smelted, Ossitium produces a lightweight silver alloy harder than steel yet flexible enough to resist shattering.

Its value comes from its unique properties: it holds an edge far longer than conventional metals, resists corrosion even in the harshest desert climates, and handles heat unlike any other metal. Blacksmiths covet it for weapons and tools, while mechanics prize it for machinery that can withstand extremes of temperature.

For those bold enough to seize it first, Ossitium can mean wealth, status, or survival. But most deposits are collected by the Whyte-Shioda Corporation.

Whyte-Shioda Corp

Founded in 1989, the Whyte-Shioda Corporation wasn't a household name. But their crack team of engineers made them well known in the tech business. Seeing Whyte-Shioda on a part of your machine was a guarantee of high quality. Their name, some savvy business decisions, and the first government contract to study Ossitium put Whyte-Shioda Corporation among the few multi-billion dollar companies to survive the financial crisis that followed the Great Scare.

Where governments faltered, Whyte-Shioda Corporation stood tall. Property, power, and patents were quickly consolidated beneath their banner. The military's quasi collapse by mass desertion in 2001 prompted Whyte-Shioda to raise their own army. Firearms, armor, and vehicles enhanced with Ossitium drew in deserters with the promise of hope.

As of 2005, they are the sole known superpower of humanity. All the resources and manpower at their disposal are constantly put to work on the dual tasks they've taken up - fighting back the Flesh, and keeping alive what of humanity they can. Many of those still surviving the Utah heats have their charity to thank for that.

Credits for the logo: @level4slime