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Story
From Hellgatewiki.com
Contents |
The Setting
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.
The London Story
The London story is divided into five Acts. In each, your character completes quests for people in charge of the stations, the last bastions of humanity in London. Through these quests, Truths are revealed to you, culminating in the final battle at a large Hellgate off St. Paul's Station.
Factions
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, though current in-game mechanics do nothing to suggest this.
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.
Factions aren't just enemies, though. The devs eventually plan to allow a player from one faction to 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. In the short term improving your "faction score", does nothing, but with the planned content patches, it might eventually 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.
Demons
The story of Hellgate: London isn't just about humans killing off nasty, mindless monsters.
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.
The First
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. --Ivan Sulic, July 2006
Longterm Goals
What's the overall goal of the game? Why are we killing these demons with swords and guns?
"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
