Mechs and Gods

The year 2100 AD. The First World War between humanity and machines came to an end. Both sides signed the armistice known as the Treaty to Abolish the Gods in the New World’s Tiandu. From then on, humanity lived in the Old World while the machines lived in the New World, creating a world where the old and new coexisted. The 22nd century. Earth once again entered a rare era of peace. But humanity paid a price: its population plummeted from 20 billion to 3 billion. It lost complete control over the machines. It lost the freedom to study theology. It lost the right to form governments or establish nation-states. And, more than anything, it lost control of the world. Humanity could only cling to life in the technologically backward Old World, reduced to a research subject and hunting ground for the New World. Every ruined city had the same name: the Old World. Above every ruined city in the Old World hovered a New World city, keeping watch. The enormous cities of the New World hung overhead like colossal sky screens, completely locking humanity’s civilization in place. Human science had reached its absolute limit. Humanity had become the machines’ slaves, struggling to survive in the shadows. …