93 years ago, the last bomb was loosed to deliver its final message of destruction & chaos at the close of the Shattering War. Society wasn't completely wiped out, but it was close. 'Humanity' seemed to have left the world, and man-shaped beasts with weapons were all that remained, roaming the desolated earth, and furtively battling each other for motives beyond the reproach of logic. Nobody really knew what the fighting was about to begin with. Certainly none of the soldiers and none of the populations of the planet. There were no indicators of any animosity between nations but one thing led rapidly to another, and before anyone could blink, armed soldiers were blowing each other to bits, while bombs razed entire cities. Fighting went on, somehow, for 10 years, massively reducing the world's population to a fraction of the previous 19+ billion inhabitants. It was the Human Race's long prophesied twilight, our dark, self-destructive fantasy of erasing ourselves from the face of the planet was finally coming to fruition. Eris & Enyo were having a field day.

When the fighting ceased, just as suddenly and mysteriously as it had started, the scant remaining inhabitants on each of the continents were brought together and given shelter in the Consolidated Cities, a network of 7 cities built in varying locations about the northern continent, each with populations reaching into the tens of millions, with the largest reaching nearly 80 million residents. These cities are linked together by a high speed train system, since unapproved travel methods through the wastes is discouraged, I.E. anyone who voluntarily exits through city gates will not be allowed to reenter upon their return. The citizens are allowed to, at any time, inform the city they will be leaving, and upon the exit be fitted with a device which will bar their entry from the cities electronically. Any found to be on the registers and without their device are immediately apprehended and taken to... no one knows where, exactly. The few brazen enough to regain unauthorized access to any of the cities are usually regarded as crazy or delusional, since it is widely believed that the Wastelands are filled with potent neurotoxins which would melt the mind of an average man before the day had closed.

Civilization has been at peace with itself for 93 years. Humanity learned a few hard lessons from the Shattering War and has diligently been employing them in an effort to never return to our barbaric past. Society has developed methods of providing for all the population, while making any kind of physical labor unneccessary, though some still took up occupations in various fields to while away the time. Outwardly society at large has finally achieved peace with itself, but the vast majority of the population feels a deep longing for something more. Something primal, unfamiliar... and yet, strangely comfortable. Something that would have once comforted our ancestors, but we seem to have lost our path. Advances in science only seem to deepen this calling, and causes an uneasiness in every individual who lacks that contact. For many, they simply visit a doctor and have a medicine prescribed to them for their anxiety, or whatever may be troubling them. Some few heretics dare to see the 'Witchdoctors', the raving lunatics on the fringes of society who claim to be in contact with Spirits and myriad ethereal intelligences. The mages, the shamans, the witches. All claim to be privy to a world beyond the five senses. All are officially banned from practicing their rites. They claim to be in contact with beings who are trying to elevate mankind, but they are nothing more than disturbed individuals who are in dire need of professional assistance and intervention.

To the government of this new world, the Shamans and their ilk need to be removed, like a cancer from the societal body, lest they drag humanity back into the dark ages of religious fervor. The shamans, and any of the unorthodox or otherwise unapproved spiritualists need to be removed before they can poison the minds of the new society, who each do their part faithfully to ensure that humanity is ever marching towards progress of reason, and farther from our roots as spiritual beings. Drifting gently into the yawning abyss of materialism, humanity is not quite sure what is missing, knowing only that it's absence is deeply felt.

This is the nebulous lump of words on which I found my magnum opus, for whenever I get around to starting it. They say you don't want to use your masterpiece idea before you have a few games under your belt, so I am just establishing the world for now. Enjoy! (And 'Ennui' is pronounced "on-way".)