Untilted

PROLOGUE:

Welcome to our future. No, there are no flying cars, homicidal artificially-intelligent robots, or even lunar colonies. At one time, humans could be found in every corner of the world and now the majority of the Earth is uninhabitable. Our feats of machinery, once abundant throughout the sky and in our homes, now lay dead in scrap yards with ther stainless steel parts refusing to succumb to rust.

Our past had a delicate relationship with organic chemistry. Every facet of our lives was intricately woven into certain hydrocarbon derivatives. But as reserves began to dry out, many governments began to siphon this resource into its military and other more important areas, leaving too little a supply for the general public. At first there were only protests but soon things escalated to raids of military bases.

Also, talks of alternative fuels were all merely lies; none of the world governments was about to release their grip on petroleum and divert some funding to this field. As a consequence, petroleum, then oil, and then coal all seemed to vanish overnight, and anarchy ensued. Humanity was not ready to give up its lavish lifestyle. Minor disturbances in local regions soon escalated to international warfare. The United States of America and The Greater Republic (formerly known as Russia and China) were too stubborn to try to resolve the dispute peacefully. Instead they resorted to childish name-calling and prematurely launched nuclear warheads on each other. Needless to say, both nations were completely wiped out due to the increased power of nuclear arsenal and the ensuing radioactive fallout. This took the lives of billions of people including many skilled and intelligent scientists. As well, radioactive side effects, such as increased heat, rained havoc on weather systems. It caused glaciers to completely melt away and flood many coastal regions forcing what remained of humanity further inland.

The Earth also went through a type of terraformation, but nobody could explain why. Inreased volcanic activity centred in the Pacific gave rise to a new landmass. This newly formed landmass soon merged with Australia and New Zealand and was given the name Neoasia. Currently, 90% of the world's population reside underground in Neoasia.

It would seem to many of the survivors as if the Earth was going through some kind of a rebirthing process. Many of the previously extinct species of plants and animals began to reappear due to both re-evolution and genetic engineering. But in the second coming of humans, we are no longer the superior species on the planet. Through re-evolution and perhaps chance, dragons have been brought into existence.