Lore

flowchart TD
    E["Earth, late 20th c.\ncorporate megapowers"] -->|Perpetuum Project| N["Planet Nia\nM54 globular cluster, Sagittarius"]
    N --> P1["Pelistal Empire"]
    N --> P2["Nuimqol Union"]
    N --> P3["Thelodica Clan"]
    N --> P4["Industrial worker machines"]
    E -->|funds the project| S["The Syndicate\nthree megacorporations,\ndivide-and-conquer strategy"]
    S -.->|spheres of operation| N

The discovery of Nia

Earth's late-20th-century tech boom — the internet, medical IT fusion, space research — broke down the old physical and mental boundaries. Communication and trade got faster and cheaper, and the great corporations grew into the de facto governments of their regions.

Into that world came the discovery of planet Nia, in the M54 globular cluster of Sagittarius (the source of the project's logo). Nia orbits one of a pair of stars — the fourth planet of that pair — and is strikingly Earth-like: mean surface temperature around 19 °C and a near-Earth atmospheric density. Two quirks set it apart. Its oceans are impassable barriers to anything electric-driven — the planet's dense core and rapid rotation keep them charged — and only about 17% of the surface is land, which fast plate tectonics keep shredding into islands. On that land, life flourishes.

The Nians

Nia's inhabitants break the usual meaning of "life form": a synthetic species, not unlike our robots in form, but organized into separate, technologically advanced societies — each with its own industry, military and culture. The achievement that matters most to an energy-hungry Earth is their energy production technology.

Three alien races fight for final victory across the island chains of their domains — the Pelistal Empire, the Nuimqol Union and the Thelodica Clan — with a scattered Industrial population of worker machines in between (these are the same four groups you meet as NPCs).

The Syndicate

The main investor of the Perpetuum Project is the Syndicate — an alliance of the three most powerful Terran megacorporations, each running its own sphere of operations on the surface:

The strategy is the old divide and conquer: keeping the three spheres balanced against each other keeps the alien powers fighting one another instead of uniting. Human "Agents" work the surface — harvesting the Nians' energy resources, studying their technology, and policing the peace the Syndicate wants.

That is where you come in.