-2150The game will be set in England in 2150.

Over the previous century climate change and environmental disasters have pushed up sea levels and led to the flooding of low lying urban areas throughout Europe, displacing millions of people. Successive governments struggled to cope with the rising numbers of refugees and the subsequent economic crisis, taking increasingly authoritarian measures to keep order. This trend culminated in the election of the Extreme Left Wing Peoples Socialist Party. Wary of the influence of multinational corporations and seeking to safeguard the livelihoods of British workers, the Prime Minister, Leopold Armstrong, passed the Reclamation Act. This emergency measure prohibited multinational corporations from operating within Great Britain and nationalised the assets of corporations and kombinates. Armstrongs attempt to centrally manage the economy was disastrous; technological development was stunted, infrastructure decayed and the range of consumer good available to the public fell alarmingly. The disastrous impact of climate change coupled with the PSPs economic mismanagement led to a sharp fall in living standards across the country. Protests developed into riots and PSP Peoples Constables were ruthless and heavy handed in their punishment of political dissidents. Meanwhile, Phillip Evans, the billionaire CEO of the Event Horizon corporation had escaped the worst of the Reclamation Act by moving production facilities to factory ships anchored in international waters. The steady flow of goods back to the mainland fed a thriving black market, helping to destabilise the PSP economy. Eventually, after years of mismanagement and human rights abuses, a winter of riots ousted the PSP from power. The attacks on PSP offices and property culminated in the detonation of an Electron Compression Warhead outside Downing Street. Every building within 500 metres was levelled. Unsurprisingly, Armstrongs body was never found. With the demise of the PSP, a moderate Neo Conservative government was formed and restrictions on multinational corporations were lifted. Phillip Evans and Event Horizon were among the leaders of Britains re-industrialisation. Although now approaching 97 years of age, he remains at the helm of his corporation and is idolised as a national hero. Over the previous decade, other countries had been plagued with similar setbacks; droughts, famines, armada storms, armed revolutions, wars and all manner of other inconveniences. Corporations on the other hand were largely freed of government legislation and led a technological renaissance, pushing the frontiers of science and engineering. The setting in the mid-22nd century features technological and social developments associated with cyberpunk science fiction. Megacorporations wield power comparable with national governments and command their own armies. Technological advances make advanced prosthetics (mechanical replacement body parts) and bioware (augmented vat-grown body parts implanted in place of natural organs) viable. Advanced prosthetics are expensive but are available to those who can afford them. Bioware is currently a state-of-the-art technology, shrouded in secrecy and jealously guarded by the corporations.

Overexploitation throughout the 20th and 21st centuries has depleted the planets reserves of fossil fuels and decaying infrastructure makes a national electricity supply impossible. Urban areas make use of newly built tokomak fusion reactors while isolated settlements survive using wind and solar power. New motor vehicles are either electrically powered or, if expected to operate in remote areas, designed to run on bio-oil; a ruinously expensive commodity. The Austrian based group EnPro-Tech is Europes largest single supplier of energy. Political unrest and armed revolutions across Europe (and further afield) prompted private corporations to advance military technology; energy weapons, force fields and power armour are all products of this paranoid initiative. Horace Jepson, an arms merchant working under the cover of his legitimate media company Globecast, is a major financier of new military technology. Unlicensed blogs and netsites persistently circulate rumours that several parties possess weapon satellites, capable to striking any target on the planet at a moments notice, and other outlandish superweapons. The prevailing lack of international legislation allows mercenary groups of Hardliners and Techmercs to operate legitimately, with many being employed by larger corporations as deniable problem solvers. The wars between corporations are not limited to the financial markets and physical world; talented hackers are employed to steal data and sabotage rivals. There are even rumours that the largest corporations and the American and Pacific Rim governments have conducted clandestine military projects to produce prototype psychics; enhanced humans with terrifying paranormal powers. The industrialisation of space has been slow; the energy cost of reaching Earth orbit making it prohibitively expensive. However, certain electronic devices and systems can only be manufactured in microgee environments, leading several corporations to construct orbiting industrial parks, serviced by hydrogen burning spaceplanes. Welcome to the 22nd Century, where Patriotism and Duty are meaningless concepts and anything can be bought for the right price