824 years after the mad scientist Dr. Nihil initiated the collapse of civilization through an attempt to reanimate his dead lover, scattered tribes dot the Earth’s charred landscape. Only the most hardened creatures and reconstituted life forms roam the barren plains, searching for underground reserves of water, foraging what little plant life they can find, trading various salts and spare parts as the currency of a world without borders or governments. The Kukeri, one of the surviving tribes, live in a complex underground system of caves that conceal Down Home, a sprawling, subterranean archipelago of testing facilities, sub-communities, and guard stations. Their treacherous world warrants constant vigilance. The citadel of Dr. Nihil looms over the Down Home’s main hub. Led by Nihil’s spiritual successor, the citadel teems with violent replicants birthed by his continued reanimation experiments. Driven only by the pursuit of hubristic power, they worship Nihil and seek to follow in the footsteps that set the world down this blistered path. Tensions mount between the Kukeri and the Nihilists. The Kukeri wish to take down the tribe that worships the world’s end once and for all. The Nihilists believe they can bring the world back to life through their twisted endeavors, the Kukeri know that their only hope is to eradicate Nihil’s progeny once and for all. A cold war of covert surveillance and proxy battles promises to boil over into all-out combat.
