From Hellgatewiki.com

Hellgate: London is set in London (no, really) in the year 2038. At the time of the game, roughly twenty years have passed since the Earth was nearly destroyed by a demonic apocalypse (the worst kind) during which mankind was all-but exterminated. The few survivors were driven to scattered safe havens, such as some magically-protected stations beneath London, and from those few strongholds humanity is striking back and trying to reclaim our earth from the demonic invaders. While Hellgate: London takes place only in London, it is understood that the entire earth has been covered by the demonic horde, and that the human resistance fighting back all around the world.

Contents 1 The Setting 2 Story Ideas and Influences 3 Factions and In-Fighting 3.1 Your Actions and Options 4 Demons 5 Longterm Goals 6 In the End?

The Setting

From the official story bible.

London, 2038.

The once great city lies in ruins. A massive, sinister gash in the fabric of our reality swirls and churns, dominating the horizon as it blend into a permanently darkened sky. The Invasion, the unspeakable cataclysm that befell London, eventually engulfed humanity as it came.

For centuries the veil between the demonic and earthly realms has grown weaker and weaker as man has lost his belief in the supernatural and embraced the ways of science. This caused both a lack of faith in the darkness that dwelt beyond the light, as well as a lack of vigilance against the agents of chaos. As man believed less and less in what was beyond his natural sight and trusted more and more in only what could be dissected, studied and proven, the demons sought ways to become manifest and pierce the veil.

Although there had been minor, short lived successes before, the demons could never truly sustain a physical presence in the realm of man. Relegated to appearing in spectral forms, the demons sought to remake this world - lush in souls on which they could feast - into a new spawning ground. The dark realms that lay far beneath the surface were teeming with those abominations cast down from the realm that rested so temptingly above. The demonic host required room, and topside was their chosen destination.

The demons marshalled their powers to give corporeal form to the Harbingers. These small, secretive demons pushed their way through the cracks in mankind's belief and vigilance that had kept them at bay for centuries. Hundreds of these fiends made their way into the material realm and moved slowly, quietly to points of ancient power across the face of the Earth. Once there, they invoked blood rituals that served to plant a foothold in the world of mankind, a seed if you will, that would grow into the gateways through which the demons could make their way into the realm of man. The veil would finally be pulled away.

When the Demons emerged in full force through the massive Hellgate that they had created, they overwhelmed humanity's defences quickly and systematically. Any organized resistance drew the immediate attention of these powerful creatures that were seemingly immune to mankind's weapons. The nature of their attack presented little in the way of strategic military targets. With no apparent headquarters to bombard, supply lines to cut or generals to assassinate, the war was over within mere weeks. The powerful nations of man were eradicated, and The Burn - the transformation of our world into theirs - has begun.

Yet mankind is a race of survivors. Men and women hide in the shadows of their former dominance, struggling to survive, yearning to strike back at their conquerors. Small pockets of resistance have formed, and they are learning.

Learning how to travel undetected.

Learning how to forge ancient, forgotten weapons.

Learning how to harness the arcane powers of magic.

Learning how to kill Demons.

Also, while Hellgate:London takes place entirely in... London, it's not the only city on earth with this problem. The demons are everywhere.

"The rest of the world is also being attacked by demons. This will be hinted at in our game and even in the prequel Novel that's in development, but it will not be a major theme of our game. We're leaving sequels and expansions open to anything right now. We'd obviously love to make them, but who knows what'll happen there exactly."
--Ivan Sulic, June 2006

Story Ideas and Influences

Where did the Flagship designers come up with the ideas for this world?

"The overall world we are creating is a combination of fact, conspiracy theory, mythical references and our own take on events real and imagined. We play a lot of, "what if?" scenarios in the world design, and in this regard we certainly reference factual events, people and places, using the known as a launching pad for our own vision of the universe.

"We've all spent a lot of time researching English mythology, the background of the Templar and Masonic orders, fantasy tales and pretty much everything we could lay our hands on that seemed even remotely applicable. This also includes delving into the many different religions that are reflected in Europe since London is such an international city. We're trying to reflect some of this not only through the visualization and naming of demons, but also in the items and even the NPCs. I think that there will be a lot of little details that reflect the culture, history and mythos of England."
--Bill Roper, etoychest preview, January 2006

How did the story of Hellgate: London come about?

"After deciding to place the game in a near-future London after a demonic apocalypse, I started researching the vast history of the city, as well as English and Celtic mythology. I wanted to meld the history of London and the UK into the alternate-future world we were creating, primarily by assuming that many myths and conspiracy theories had a foundation in reality. The Knights Templar, for example, were an amazingly powerful organization that have spawned dozens, if not hundreds of theories as to their true purpose. One of the key principles in their charter is to protect the bloodline of Christ. Making this slightly less monotheistic in nature, we take this to mean all of mankind and thus, the Templar have been destined for centuries to stand against any threat against humanity.

"The more we looked into the inner working of different organizations and the City of London itself, the more the back story grew. The Freemasons, for example, have always been associated with the Knights Templar, so why not make them another group that is dedicated to protecting mankind. The chief architects on the original sections of the Tube were both Freemasons, and since the Underground is the sanctuary in our game, it only made sense that they were using some form of alchemical hocus-pocus to strengthen these stations against evil.

"The common thread that runs throughout the story and world of Hellgate: London is answering the question, 'What if?' with the answer ... 'It does exist'."
--Bill Roper, November 2006, WetaNZ interview.

What are some of the influences on the Hellgate: London storyline?

"Saxon mythology... Christian representations of hell and demons... Diablo (obviously). All the basics, I suppose. I wouldn't be surprised if you polled the developers here and got 20 different answers from every single person, actually. The fact is, like all creators of entertainment, Flagship takes inspiration from everywhere, all the time, even if its employees don't know it or choose not to recognize it."
--Ivan Sulic, March 2006

The game's set in London. But is it set in reality? Not really.

"The game takes place in London, rather than some mythical faraway land (unless you consider the UK to be a mythical faraway land, which it may well be, from your perspective), and many actual London landmarks will make an appearance in Hellgate: London (see our Locations page more more details), but it's not really set in our world.

"We alter the actual Templar history to make it seem like they were designed from day one with intentions to stave off a prophetic demon invasion (thus making the real Templars our Templars). But if you're looking for any semblance of historical accuracy, you'll not find it here."
--Ivan Sulic

Factions and In-Fighting

While all the humans are basically cooperating to fight against the demons, the three human factions, Hunter, Cabalist, and Templar, are not exactly best of friends.

Q: Are any of the Factions fighting?
A: "Absolutely. I believe the Templars practically hate one of our other factions at this point. Cabalists are the ones most at odds with the Templars."
--Ivan Sulic, April 2006

Your character enters an established world in Hellgate:London; it's not just a few humans scratching out an existence in old subway tunnels. The factions have their own goals and histories, and territories.

"I believe [faction] HQs of the sort do play bigger parts in the storyline. Templars aren't the only class with a headquarters, by the way."
--Ivan Sulic, April 2006

Factions aren't just enemies, though. As you can learn from our Quests section, a player from one faction (class) can work with the leaders of other factions and gain their respect by completing quests for them. What sort of rewards this will earn you are not yet known. We'll learn much more about this as game development continues. In the short term improving your "faction score" can earn you small rewards like convincing various NPCs to let you buy their wares. Longer term the Hellgate Team has talked about possibly enabling class-specific weapons for characters of other classes, if they have a high enough factional score.

Your Actions and Options

Who is your character in the game? A great hero, the son of a king, or what? Not exactly.

"Players begin as a nameless scrub pledged to one of our factions (that is, you've chosen a class). By way of great deeds, that scrub eventually becomes a champion who plays a critical role in the war against demon kind. Obviously, you'll have to play Hellgate to find out exactly what happens. But please do remember that you'll not be a fully developed character with a fleshed out backstory. You're just that one adventurer guy."
--Ivan Sulic

Flagship has revealed very little information about how the plot will unfold while you're playing Hellgate: London, but they have ruled a few things out. Players can not play as demons, or switch sides and fight against humanity.

"No. You cannot be truly in evil in our game, off or online."
--Ivan Sulic, April 2006

Demons

The story of Hellgate: London isn't just about humans killing off nasty, mindless monsters. There's more to the demons than that, and while we won't know that much until the game arrives, we've caught a few hints here and there.

The demonic horde is as old as time itself, they have devoured worlds in the past, and they will devour more in the future. Common demons are driven by the Dark Wills, who are in turn driven by The Eldest, demons of even greater renown and power. And above all sits The First, "the icy heart of all evil everywhere." The First is evil incarnate, but more than that, He is the opposite of all that is good and the end of all beginnings. The First grows in might as the demons destroy life, and the energy demons require to consume is fueled to them by The First.

A basic Demon origins/mythology primer, courtesty of Ivan Sulic, July 2006.

A storm of supernatural horrors now driven by the lashes of Dark Wills whom have devoured countless civilizations, Demons are as old as time itself.

Born as a direct consequence of the Creator blessing the absolute nothingness of space with ever-expanding life, Demons are the antithesis of life. They are coalesced evil -- manifestations of hate, fear and unknown sins that thrive off mortal impurity.

Though most in the Shadow's thrall exist as nameless beasts and ethereal nightmares, the Dark Wills are those that have consumed countless billions and have endured the unceasing expansion of the cosmos -- that sickening spread of life they so abhor. Those select few have attained identity and rank through conquest (mortality has given name to the nameless). And these beings of absolute malevolence now govern the seemingly senseless slaughter and rape of worlds. They command the ever-starving Darkness that ravages without conscience. In turn, they and their legions vast are endowed with the power of newly corrupted civilizations. Their Burn purges whole worlds of life and supplies their unnatural birthplace of fire and decay with nourishment that propels the Shadow forward to ravage again and again.

Above them sit The Eldest, demons of even greater renown and power. And above all sits The First, the icy heart of all evil everywhere. The First is consumed by a desire to undo that which The Creator has done. He is the opposite of all that is good. He is death to life, hate to love, horror to joy. He is the end of all beginnings. Dark Wills are but specks of dust to The First. The Eldest are but vague hints of his terror.

Their incessant consumption of worlds is destroying Demonkind from within. As the Legion grows, so too do those who command it. Each corrupted and consumed world provides a Lesser Demon with an opportunity to advance and become an identifiable Greater. And when evil lords of great power meet, surely there will arise a conflict of interests.

More on him.

The First is the head of Demonkind. The First is He Who Challenges the Creator or He Who Challenges Life -- the shadow that was wrought as a counter to all Creation. I also refer to this nameless entity as The Well of Midnight, for it is from The First that all Demonkind draws its power and it is to The First that corrupted and consumed worlds go.

Longterm Goals

What's the overall goal of the game? Why are we killing these demons with swords and guns? (And it's not just because they're immune to foul language.)

"The main objective of Hellgate: London is to shut down the means of the demonic invasion. This gateway between worlds is far from unguarded, and closing it will require a lot more than just good intentions and big weapons. This means that the players will need to find out a way to close down the Hellgate while defeating a host of monsterous minions and their vile overlords along the way."
--Bill Roper, Gamevision Interview, November 18, 2005

In the End?

Let's assume all goes well, and you eventually triumph over your enemies. What's left? A new character? A new class? A new character build? Playing again and again to find better items? Well yeah, but there might be a bit more, too.

One of the interesting things about Hellgate is that Flagship is creating content for players to continue fighting after the story ends. There may even be a bit of helping to clean up London so that humans can start to reclaim their homes.
--IGN Preview, May 2005