Story Primer:
The year is 2517. 340 years ago, a massive black disc hid the Earth from view as all communications went silent. The Disc intersected the Moon and changed everything it touched. A strange and volatile substance formed where the Disc touched stone and all structures and people in the area of effect were destroyed or horribly disfigured. After a total communications breakdown, emergency reallocation of resources became necessary for survival. Telescopic observation showed wide scale destruction of Earth society. All of the major cities visible from orbit were destroyed and their ruins were warped in ways that defied logic and physics. “Monsters” were observed wandering freely around the wilderness. All of this led to one logical conclusion: Humans were no longer the top of the food chain.
Development of Lunar society has stabilized over the past few centuries. There are three factions present:
• The Brightsiders - Population: 14.8 Million. The Brightsiders live on what was once the bright side of the moon and have an isolationist mindset regarding both Earth and the other factions. As the disc cut through the middle of the Moon, those settled on the bright side facing Earth were warped and twisted. While the majority of them retained their mental faculties, some were not so lucky and had to be contained or slain outright. Those who remain on the bright side of the Moon seek only to further Lunar development and write off the twisted Earth below as too dangerous to directly interfere with.
• The Darksiders - Population: 15.7 Million. The Darksiders live on what was once the dark side of the moon and seek to return human culture to Earth, despite the dangers. The dark side of the moon was untouched by the Disc and its effects, its residents remaining human.
• The Internals (Scaffers) - Population: Unknown. The Internals, (or Scaffers as they are commonly known,) live inside the moon in the scaffolding holding the halves together. These are the descendants of the scientists, both human and creature, that were obsessed with material left behind by the disc and the nigh mutagenic powers thereof. They seek to augment themselves so as to become the strongest species again. Morally objectionable mad science ahoy!
All three factions agree that they do not have enough information on the current situation on Earth. Enter Lunatics: those few brave, greedy, or mad enough to return to Earth. You are all Lunatics. You have been gathered from all corners of the Moon to go to Earth as a collective envoy of your nations. The spacecraft that you rode to earth in experienced a catastrophic systems malfunction en route to Earth, killing most of the envoy as unexpected EM interference destroys all of the electronics on the ship. Set off into the twisted remnants of your people’s former home for knowledge, for power, or for freedom.