In the year 21xx, mankind made its first contact with alien life-forms. The aliens did not come to make allies, explore the curiosities of the universe, or share their knowledge. They simply invaded. Far superior in physical and technological strength, they overwhelmed mankind instantly, destroying all human social, technological, and biological infrastructure across three colonized planets and five mega-space stations, all in a matter of Earth hours. Resistance has been futile but persistent. The humans are dumb and weak but realize there is no option but to fight or submit to their destruction. Any attempt at peaceful surrender or reasoning have been met with the same brutal treatment. The aliens have made no attempt to communicate one way or another - only kill and capture.

At the end of the Proxy Wars in 20xx, mankind enjoyed peace and general but slow prosperity. Much of their population had dwindled, and almost all their information databases had been destroyed and had to be rebuilt, rethought. But we persevered and moved forward, as humans always have.

No one would have guessed during this prosperous time that our species' most desperate struggle loomed. Long after we’d made nuclear peace following the Cold War era, bioweapon peace after the Red Death Epidemic, and even survived the battle with self-aware AIs during the Proxy Wars, we had no idea mankind would, less than a full century later, battle its greatest threat, a period that came to be known in universal history as...the Extinction Era.