Lore of Firefall

Firefall never told its backstory in one piece. Most players, me included, knew that there was a crashed ship and a purple storm and left it at that. Yet there are over fifty years of history between the catastrophe the game is named after and the day a new pilot lands in Copacabana, and they explain pretty much everything you run into afterwards.

This page puts those years in order, followed by the factions and the places of the game and a timeline at the end.

2177

The Golden Age

Painting of a crowded city square below a sky full of ships, with a figure in a battleframe on a rooftop — Earth before the Firefall.

Before all of it, Earth was doing well. Poverty was basically wiped out, there were orbital tethers and colonies on the Moon, and the wars that still happened were small and far away. People called it the Golden Age.

Battleframes, the armored suits every player ends up wearing, were loaders and construction frames back then. The only people fighting in them were athletes. In Holmgang, crews stripped industrial frames down to the skeleton, bolted jump jets and concussive weapons onto them and let their pilots duel in front of full stadiums.

We can't get our hands on the military models, but we get very very close. We're just limited by our power supplies, really. Once we figure out something like a portable fusion reactor, you'll see what we can do!
Svald Joergen, Holmgang champion, 2177

One of those pilots was Viktor Tarhan, who fought under the name Serkan and who shows up again in pretty much every chapter from here on. In the mean time, astronomers were watching an asteroid that was expected to pass the planet, a near miss.

2178

The Firefall

Painting of a glowing green impact in a storm above a ruined coast — The Firefall.

It didn't miss. On August 26th, 2178 the first meteorite hit Queensland in Australia and killed 15 million people, and for the next four months the bombardment didn't stop. Tokyo and Barcelona were wiped out. On November 2nd the largest fragment, FA23, hit the middle of the Atlantic, and the tsunami took Boston, Miami, Lisbon and Casablanca with it.

NORTH ATLANTIC TSUNAMI WARNING
0250 AM EST MON NOV 02 2178

TO – CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS
SUBJECT – URGENT IMPACT TSUNAMI WARNING

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY AN URGENT TSUNAMI WARNING IS ISSUED FOR ALL COUNTIES IN THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS

By the end of the year Earth's population had dropped from 16.8 to 7.1 billion, and about 3 billion more died within the decade. The four months went down in history as the Firefall, and yes, that's where the game has its name from.

2179 – 2188

The Nine Year Winter

Painting of a lone figure on an ice shelf in front of snowed in mountains — The Nine Year Winter.

The dust and ash stayed in the sky for nine years. Without sun there were no harvests and no solar power, and with the grids gone there was no heating either.

The last time I saw the sun was almost 4 years ago. […] We ran out of trees for firewood nearly two months ago and we're running out of homes that still have wooden frameworks. I'm not sure how much longer we can last without help.
Dr. Murray Kearney, Dunedin, New Zealand, 2184

The old states didn't survive it. In Europe, Chancellor Nicolas Kreutzer decided, that the Union wouldn't fall apart on his watch, and put western Europe back together by force in the War of Reunification. Asked what to do with prisoners, he answered "Shoot them", and when his commander objected, "Geneva no longer exists!". In the east a Russian alliance formed against him, and the two sides ended in a tense ceasefire.

Painting of burning circular settlements seen from the air — The War of Reunification.

Painting of a burning landing field with wrecked vehicles — What was left of the United States.

The United States didn't even get that far. With Washington gone, it split into the Guardians of America, the Constitutional United States, the Republic of Texas, the New Confederacy and a few more, which then went to war with each other.

Viktor Tarhan lost three of the five members of his Holmgang team in Barcelona, saw soldiers of the EU shoot refugees and fled across the Mediterranean. He'd fight the EU, and everything that came out of it, for the rest of his life.

2185 – 2198

Crystite, and the Wars Over It

A cluster of pale blue crystite crystals — Crystite

What ended the winter came out of the rocks that had caused it. The meteorites had scattered a new element all over the planet: crystite.

Shigeru Ichizoku, head of the Japanese company Kisuton, was rebuilding Tokyo as little more than a tent city, when he had the meteorite examined. The rocks didn't react to gravity quite like they should have, and the first attempt to use them as a power source ended in an EMP that fried electronics for kilometers around. A month later the first crystite power plant was under construction, and it turned out to be more powerful than any nuclear reactor before it.

Ichizoku believed, that crystite would bring peace and end the new dark ages. It did the opposite, because there was only so much of it and everybody wanted it. From 2190 to 2198 the successor states fought the Crystite Wars, at the Grand Canyon, at Gibraltar, in the Himalayas and over the islands FA23 had left in the Atlantic. The battleframes of the Holmgang arenas went to war with them, and Tarhan's team, Razorwind, fought as mercenaries against the EU.

Strange how every blessing is a curse, ya know? The Firefall was this sucker punch that turned out to be some sort of blessing when we started making things outta crystite, but then we took that blessing and started killing each other. Eight years we killed each other, and then we get another blessing: the damn Accord.
A veteran of the Crystite Wars, Dredge, 2230

Three companies came out of these years and are still around when you play. Kisuton built the first reactors and, once Ichizoku had disappeared in 2190 and his nephew had taken over, mostly weapons. Astrek was founded in the middle of the winter. And an Australian power company called Ashworth Electric licensed the process from Kisuton, got better at it than Kisuton itself and renamed itself to Omnidyne-M.

Painting of a ruined hangar with the word SPACE on it, next to overgrown rocket engines — What the Crystite Wars left behind.

2198 – 2227

The Accord and Alpha Prime

Painting of a huge angular structure hanging in a teal sky above green hills

Omnidyne-M's founder Hadrian Ashworth argued, that the cure for the wars wasn't less crystite but more of it, and he had an idea where to look. If crystite came from the sky, there had to be more out there. By calculating the path of the Firefall asteroid backwards, astronomers ended up at Alpha Centauri, 4.3 light years away, and found a marginally habitable planet with rings full of crystite: Alpha Prime.

That was in 2198. In the same year the wars ended with the founding of the Accord, an alliance of nations, and Ashworth held the speech:

With the help of the Accord I hope to remind the world that we are a singular terrestrial species that has been given an incredible opportunity to become children of the stars. We cannot remain tribal savages, ravaging our homes and neighbors, just to live another day. It is time to come together and embrace the greatness that awaits us!
Hadrian Ashworth at the founding of the Accord, August 2198

Rendering of two soldiers in dark battleframes with orange lights

Ashworth sold shares of his Centauri Company to the governments in exchange for mining rights, which paid for the starships and gave everybody a reason to keep the ceasefire. The ships were slow though. A one-way trip took seven years in cryosleep, the first colonists woke up over Alpha Prime in 2215, and a message home needed four years.

Not everybody made peace with the Accord. Much of its leadership came from the EU, and guerilla fighters like Serkan, who moved to Brazil with his inner circle in 2211, kept fighting it.

The other thing these years left behind is SIN, the Shared Intelligence Network. It's a crystite-based implant, developed by Astrek together with the Accord and launched in 2202, that links brains to machines and, as its inventor found out when his test pilots started to share dreams, to each other. The implants only reach so far though, so the network needs uplinks all over the place. Those are the SIN towers you repair in the game, and without one nearby your map stays dark. Five years after the launch 85 percent of the world's population had an implant.

2223 – 2228

The Arclight

Drawing of Dr. Mitra Bathsheba, a woman with glasses and shoulder-length brown hair — Dr. Mitra Bathsheba.

Seven years per trip was too slow for the shareholders. The way around it had been a theory for a century: arcfolding, i.e. folding space to jump from one point to another. Crystite solved the energy problem, but the void between the two points, "the Jaunt", killed everything alive that went through it.

Dr. Mitra Bathsheba, a young physicist at Omnidyne-M, solved that with an energy shield and proved it by sending a living mouse from Cambridge to San Francisco. The ship built around her drive was the CMS Arclight, larger than all the other starships combined and able to reach Alpha Prime in hours instead of years.

Bathsheba and Admiral Orestes Nostromo had proposed it as mankind's next step. The people paying for it had something else in mind, since the governor of Alpha Prime, Ashworth's own son, hadn't been heard from in years:

Omnidyne and Centauri cannot afford to be in the dark concerning one of the greatest investments in human history. We need that arcfolding technology, and we need a show of strength so it is understood who controls Alpha Prime.
Hans Ehrenreich, C.O.O. of Omnidyne-M, to Admiral Nostromo, 2223

As such the Arclight became a warship, with a whole division of soldiers on board. Serkan's Razorwind planned to destroy it and had a man inside, the ship's head of security Mason Chen. He changed sides, Razorwind murdered his family for it in 2226, and he confessed.

The ship was assembled in orbit above Brazil. The evening before it left, one of its passengers wrote:

I can't help but feel as if the tensions and hatreds created since the Firefall are finally being forgiven.

For once the world below us seems overcome with hope.
Aris Holden, historian, aboard the Arclight

Concept art of the starship Arclight flying into a bright green rift in space — The Arclight on its first arcfold.

2228

M-Day

In the blink of an eye the world ended.

The Arclight crash was a disaster, but the Melding was far worse.

It came from the stars, smothering Earth in a blanket of death and destruction.

On its first arcfold the Arclight tore open a rift, and something came through. The ship crashed off the coast of Brazil near Fortaleza, and behind it the Melding spread over the whole planet. The day is known as M-Day.

The Melding looks like a purple storm. According to the Accord's scientists it's a silicate nanotechnology that assembles itself into swarms to give the appearance of a gas, and it's a thinking entity with a purpose. Whatever it covers, it consumes and reshapes.

Concept art of a ruined city with a lone figure in a battleframe looking at overgrown towers — A city taken by the Melding.

Screenshot of a purple Melding landscape with glowing crystals around a thumper — Inside the Melding.

There's one thing it avoids, and that's crystite, whose electrons disrupt its structure. That's why a bubble survived around the wreck of the Arclight with its enormous stores of crystite, and smaller ones around mines and power plants. The bubble around the wreck is New Eden, a strip of the Brazilian coast and, as far as anybody there knows, all that's left of mankind.

Admiral Nostromo, the highest ranking officer still alive, became its Consul, and the Accord turned from an alliance of nations into a military government. Bathsheba, who had built the drive and blames herself for what it did, went on to run WARCOM, the Accord's weapons lab.

Concept world map of Earth covered by the Melding, with zone callouts — The Melding covers the planet, New Eden in Brazil is one of the few pockets left.

2229 – 2231

The Chosen

And then, out of its depths, the Chosen.

At first they crushed any resistance we could muster.

Concept sheet of a pale Chosen warrior in black armor with glowing green tubes, shown from several sides — A Chosen warrior.

In November 2229 a patrol at the Melding curtain in the north of Coral Forest spotted an armed humanoid in front of it and lost a man the same day. A dissection showed, that the Chosen are human and that each of them carries a SIN implant. They are people the Melding took and rebuilt, younger and stronger than before, and the Accord kept that to itself.

Their warchief in Brazil called himself Serkan. Viktor Tarhan and his Razorwind had been in Brazil on M-Day, and the Melding gave him an army for the war he'd been fighting all along.

Painting of Accord soldiers in battleframes fighting Chosen on a dark battlefield with explosions — Accord pilots against the Chosen.

The war peaked twice. In October 2230 the Chosen attacked Copacabana:

If those bastards take the city, they’re going to pay for every inch of it with blood. Their blood. So reload, and let’s give them hell.
General Guiying Jiang, last transmission, Battle of Copacabana

And in July 2231 they came through the desert of Sertao:

Thousands gave their lives fighting for Humanity’s survival.

In the end, General Typhon Fedorov and his elite team of Battleframe enhanced pilots, fought the Chosen Warchief Serkan.

Typhon’s Battleframe gave him the speed, toughness, and firepower to win the fight.

Serkan’s defeat broke the Chosen army and sent them shattered, back into the Melding.

The victory was expensive. The town of Dredge was saved, but the Accord lost half of its battleframe pilots.

2231 – 2233

The ARES Initiative

Key art of three ARES pilots in battleframes firing their weapons in front of an icy landscape

With half of its pilots gone, the Accord turned to everybody else. Three months after Sertao it announced the ARES Initiative: civilians get training, a battleframe and a license, and work for the Accord as contractors. This is where you come in.

Whether you crave the excitement and adventure of the soldiering life or want to keep your homestead safe from alien wildlife, the ARES Initiative makes it possible with flexible assignments and excellent pay. As an ARES Initiative contractor, the choice is yours!
Copacabana Tribune, October 2231

Concept sheet of a battleframe assembly room with robot arms — A battleframe assembly room.

ARES stands for Assault, Reconnaissance, and Extraction Specialists. They're mercenaries, strictly speaking, but they're also the deadliest weapon the Accord has left.

For two years after Sertao the Chosen stayed quiet. Then, in 2233, Bathsheba sees signals she doesn't like, "the largest activity spike we’ve seen since the Battle of Sertao", and around the same time a new ARES pilot gets the unit number 35 and is flown to Copacabana. That pilot is you, and the rest is the game.

Since then, we have begun rebuilding our cities.

But the Melding still looms over our lands.

And though little has been heard from the Chosen, we know they are lurking.

The Accord has undertaken the ARES Initiative-- equipping civilians and mercenaries with state of the art Battleframes to push back the melding and to destroy the Chosen...

Before they destroy us.

Who is who

Factions

These are the factions you run into.

The Sides of the War

The Accord

The Accord is an elite military force and government entity in New Eden. Headed up by Consul Orestes Nostromo, the Accord is dedicated to the survival of humanity and the reclamation of Earth from the Melding.

The Chosen

Little is known about the Chosen, besides that they live within the Melding and are immune to its corrosive effects. They are extremely hostile towards humans, preferring to shoot first and negotiate never, but their long-term goals are a mystery.

The Melding

It is both organic and machine. It can consume and reshape almost anything, and its horrifying known aspects are nothing compared to the limitless unknowns. What is its purpose? Where did it come from? Can it even be killed?

Ophanim

The Ophanim are a militant faction responsible for attacks on Accord assets. All that is known about the Ophanim is that they possess powerful technology beyond the capabilities of the Accord.

Corporations

Omnidyne-M

Widely regarded as the most powerful company on Earth, Omnidyne-M is a multi-industry, mega-corporation responsible for the construction of the Arclight and the founding of the human colony in Alpha Prime.

Astrek Association

While their corporate hierarchy is mysterious and their R&D department is hounded by rumors of unethical conduct, Astrek Associations remains one of the largest suppliers of specialized battleframes in New Eden, rivaled only by Omnidyne-M.

Kisuton

Kisuton is the company that survived both the Firefall and the Melding, and brought the world its first taste of crystite-based power and technology. They have been overshadowed in recent years by Astrek and Omnidyne, but they should never be underestimated.

Nutretic Processing

As the primary food manufacturer in Coral Forest, Nutretic Processing provides an economical, high quality product that keeps New Eden fed despite the lack of food resources in the region.

ARES Teams

Hellhounds

An ARES team lead by Mourningstar and Typhon

Crimson Storm

Led by seasoned veterans Scarlet and Wiley, this ARES team is at the forefront of the battle for the Amazon and coordinates the Accord's operations in the region.

Outside the Law

Tanken

Once a huge multinational crime syndicate, the Tanken have reorganized in the safe zone of New Eden. Their fingers are in everything, and their growing influence is securing a powerful future for the revived syndicate in a new world.

Bandits

New Eden is plagued by roving bands of bandits living outside the law and causing trouble.

Black Hills Bandits

The Black Hills Gang is a collection of bandits and thieves that operates in the outskirts of Northern Shores and Cerrado Plains. They are known for their ragged ponchos and their occasional dabbling in cannibalism.

Rebels

Based out of Shanty Town, the Filhos dos Brasil are a group of Brazilian nationals in open opposition to the Accord, which they seek to overthrow by whatever means necessary.

Reapers

The Reapers harass and pillage the settlements on the coast of New Eden, escaping via stolen armored dropships into the Melding. While unconfirmed, the Accord suspects the Reapers base their operations on a nearby island secured by stolen repulsors.

Where you play

Places

Everything a player gets to see is either inside New Eden or a smaller pocket somewhere else that the Melding left alone.

Map of Coral Forest, a strip of coast with the purple Melding to the west and north of it — Coral Forest. Everything purple is Melding, the dark area to the east is the Atlantic.

Coral Forest New Eden, Brazil

Sovereignty: Accord · Population: 18971 · where every pilot starts

New Eden is home to what the Accord fears is the last surviving remnant of humankind. From here, Consul Nostromo has vowed to push back the Melding and retake the Earth.

Home to Copacabana—a world-class resort offering hot crystite shard massages and invigorating sea-kelp masks, it has been a place synonymous with pleasure and tranquility.

Coral Forest is also home to the Trans-Hub Command, where the Accord have requisitioned a commercial transit hub and turned it overnight into a sprawling, bustling base of operations. It’s home to the Nautical Biosphere Research Facility, where scientists strive to understand the recent influx of new species and experiment with cutting-edge Melding repulsor technology. […]

And of late, another descriptor can be tied to the region: Coral Forest, home of incessant raids by the Chosen and the permanent presence of Accord.

Concept art of the Copacabana resort, with round buildings on a hill above a lagoon — Copacabana

Screenshot of a research base on the coast with the wreck of the Arclight on the horizon — The wreck of the Arclight off the coast of New Eden.

Screenshot of Trans Hub at sunset, with a dropship above rock formations — Trans Hub

Concept art of Shanty Town, a stack of huts built into a cliff with waterfalls — Shanty Town

Copacabana: Once a resort, the Accord converted Copacabana into a municipality after M-Day. It currently provides housing for a large portion of New Eden’s civilians and acts as a base of operations for the Accord.
Trans Hub: Once a regional airport, Trans Hub was commandeered by the Accord immediately following the arrival of the Melding and has served as a central command center for the war effort ever since.
Thump Dump: Originally constructed as a launch tower for Omnidyne-M's orbital shipyard, Thump Dump is now the main Thumper maintenance station in New Eden and an essential part of the Accord's resource supply chain.
Northern Shores: Northern Shores Hydrocore Research Station is a small research outpost north of Copacabana
Broken Shores: A top-secret Accord facility built around the mysterious wreckage that destroyed a small suburb of Copacabana on M-Day.
Cerrado Plains: This wildlife preserve was one of the quieter and more peaceful places left on Earth, before the Accord built the nearby Skydock to supply their war effort. It’s still the best place to get a close look at the majestic Brontodon, or hunt one.
Nutretic Processing: As the primary food manufacturer in Coral Forest, Nutretic Processing provides an economical, high quality product that keeps New Eden fed despite the lack of food resources in the region.
Sunken Harbor: Now, more than ever, humans are in need of distraction and entertainment. Whether a person is looking to satisfy a vice, or just enjoy the wholesome non-lethal combat entertainment of Holmgang, Sunken Harbor delivers.
Shanty Town: Shanty Town may look like it's one strong breeze away from total collapse, but this mountain community is hardier than it looks and determined to live free of the Accord's influence for as long as possible.
Stonewall: A small farming community outside Shantytown, Stonewall has been mostly abandoned due to an infestation of dangerous creatures.

Sertao New Eden, Brazil

Sovereignty: Accord · Population: 14302 · the desert west of Coral Forest

Home to Dredge, Smokestack Desert, and Redwood Forest. Sertao borders Coral Forest.

An arid paradise for scum and villainy, but also the Accord's best hope at claiming enough crystite to push back the Melding and fight the Chosen.

Despite the nearly unbearable heat and deadly fauna, Smokestack still has gained a high level of attractiveness to those looking to make a fortune for themselves. Southern Smokestack on a whole touts the highest density of crystite ore in all of New Eden, and is the home to the town of Dredge, the Accord’s main extraction hub for this most precious resource.

Screenshot of the desert of Sertao with sand dunes and a rock arch in the distance — Smokestack Desert

Screenshot of an industrial plant with a burning chimney in front of red rocks at dusk — A crystite plant in Sertao

Screenshot of a redwood forest around a small lake — Redwood Forest

Dredge: The largest settlement in Sertao, this crystite boom town is home to all manner of rogues and scoundrels drawn by the promise of easy money and minimal Accord oversight.
Astrek Andreev Station: This Astrek research base has seen heavy use in recent years following the Battle of Sertao. The surrounding dunes are littered with both Chosen and Accord war tech, where eager researchers and executives happily reap their harvest.
The Nest: Home of the enigmatic Black Hats, the Nest has avoided Accord scrutiny due to the infrequent technical support provided by the gang. The seemingly shoddy facility is actually equipped with the latest gear, and is a tactical resource despite its unlawful history.
FOB Sagan: Sagan is a Forward Operating Base devoted to the recapture and reestablishment of the Orbital Comm Tower as a secure asset for the Accord. FOB Sagan currently houses a large population of OCT’s displaced scientists and technicians.
Lab 16: Lab 16 is a research facility jointly operated by the Accord and Omnidyne-M. It is devoted to the research and development of weaponry for the Chosen War.
Tecumseh Airbase: Once a small airbase for the Brazilian Army, Tecumseh is the staging point for the Accord’s invasion of Devil’s Tusk.

Devil's Tusk Hawaiian Islands

Sovereignty: Accord · Population: 3584 · where the campaign leads to

Devil's Tusk is a newly formed isle in the Hawaiian Islands. Once a large Accord research base, it is now a desolated molten wasteland under constant Chosen attack.

The primary Accord base for experimental research and development, Devil's Tusk was the birthplace of the Arclight, the ship meant to be mankind’s next step in intergalactic travel. Here, the fledgling technologies of arcfolding and state-of-the-art A.I. were brought together, as the great ship was built in pieces and shipped to orbital dock.

Recently, matters have worsened for the Accord with the emergence of a second threat in the region: the mysterious Ophanim, humans in implausibly advanced armor that have begun to ambush military units. Where did they come from? What do they want?

Wallpaper of Devil's Tusk, a volcanic island with lava flows under a purple sky — Devil's Tusk

FOB Harpoon: This base serves as the insertion point of new Accord troops on the island of Devil’s Tusk. Commander Volkov welcomes reinforcements to their new tenure in a living hell, and oversees the most secure location in the island warzone.
Crossroads Station: This derelict supply depot for Kanaloa Research Station and the nearby SIN array has recently seen new life for the war effort. Captain Wallach’s garrison defends the well-traveled location from Ophanim looters and Chosen invaders.
Forest Watch: Less of a base and more of a glorified watchtower, this outpost was established to keep eyes on as much of Devil’s Tusk as possible, in a position that is as safe as possible.
Kanaloa Research Station: Omnidyne-M built Kanaloa Research Station in order to investigate ancient and mysterious technological artifacts uncovered at Mount Kanaloa. The key relic is an ultra-advanced gate that Accord Scientists believe contains the answers to the artifacts.
Camp Jasper: This reconnaissance camp deep in the jungle of Devil’s Tusk is the current home of some of the most fearless soldiers and specialists in the Accord. Security is low, and danger lurks everywhere, but they wouldn’t have it any other way.
Stronghold: Once an Omnidyne-M weapon research and development facility, the Stronghold was the central point of operations for Serkan’s Chosen during their occupation of Devil’s Tusk. The Accord has since retaken and secured the facility.

Beyond New Eden

The campaign and the later updates leave the three zones a few times. The Amazon became a warzone with update 1.3 in February 2015:

Our Accord forces have cornered the Chosen Razorwind clan deep in the Amazon rainforest. They are making their last stand at the ancient battlefield from the Crystite Wars. While they have been wounded, they won't go down without a fight. […]

Root them out of the tunnels that riddle the area, flush them from the swamps of the Sombrio, and hunt them in the wreckage of the UAS Horizon.

Screenshot of blue ice mountains in Antarctica — Antarctica

Antarctica is where Serkan's mercenaries hid from the Accord after the Crystite Wars, long before they were Chosen. In the campaign you go back there:

Kara believes information about Doctor Bathsheba can be found in a Razorwind base in Antarctica. Infiltrate the base and hack into the Chosen data systems to try and locate Doctor Bathsheba.

2109 – 2233

The Timeline

All of the above on one line, with a few events the chapters skipped. Filter by kind, search for a name, and click an entry to open its details.

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