History
A planet that cooked, an elite that fled to the bottom of the sea and thirty years of survival that ended in a megacity where the law is for sale. This is the full story, from 2172 to 2202.
Vértice is the original Inkomic universe where its games, like Inkomic Bricks, take place. In 2172 global warming made the surface toxic, space colonization failed and the elite took refuge in underwater domes. Thirty years later, in 2202, humanity survives in the megacity of Vértice, split between the Consortium towers and the Lows, and seven factions fight over the Circuit, an underground network of mech combat arenas.
2172
Global warming crossed the point of no return. The atmosphere filled with toxins, heat waves dried up the aquifers and the cities on the surface turned into ovens.
The great powers bet everything on colonizing other planets. Every expedition failed: solar storms, life-support failures, bankruptcies. Humanity was stuck on Earth.
2172
The highest-ranking humans bought their way out: they moved beneath the sea, into sealed domes built in the ocean trenches, with clean air, cold water and the luxury of the world before the collapse.
That is how the Underwater Domes were born. Since then they barely return to the surface, except on raids to take what they need.
2172
Most people were abandoned on the surface. So a brigade of welders and mechanics from District 725 went district by district raising emergency city domes that filtered the air and held back the heat.
Thousands survived thanks to them. The district took their name forever: District 725, the Mechanics’ District.
2172
In the deepest domes, the cryogenic systems failed. The cold escaped into the ocean and unleashed a glaciation that began to climb out of the trenches, mile after mile.
Those responsible were expelled from the domes and stayed with the ice. They found that the frost preserved what the surface had lost: fresh water, forests and seeds. They named themselves its guardians, and so the Cryogenic Cult of the Abyss was born. Their territory advances with the glacier.
2172–2190
The domes were not enough for everyone. Thousands were left outside, in the toxic desert, and learned to survive in the open, generation after generation.
The climate changed their skin, which turned scaly, and hunger turned them into bandits. They build buggies out of scrap and ambush convoys for water and fuel. They are the Wasteland Scavengers.
2190–2195
As resources grew scarce, the districts fought over water and energy. The Border Wars left the surface in ruins.
The winners were the owners of those resources. They raised titanium towers, flying platforms and floating domes above the acid clouds, and from there they started writing the rules for every state. That is how The Vértice Consortium was born.
2195
The new megacity grew on top of the ruins, and beneath its foundations factories, metro lines and miles of sewers were buried.
Those who refused the Consortium’s rules went down, took over those factories and switched them back on in secret. They live off smuggling whatever is rationed up top. They are the Clandestine Vanguard.
Undated
While everyone fought over water, a group of scientists in the orbital labs of The Crown looked for another way out: solving the problems of physics and understanding the singularity.
Nobody knows when they crossed the line. They came out corrupted by science, scattered everywhere and almost never join other people’s wars. They are the Singularity Syndicate, the Void Wanderers.
2172–2202
Each faction is a different group’s answer to the collapse.
The workers who raised the emergency domes in 2172 and never stopped fixing the world with their hands.
The elite who sealed themselves under the sea in 2172 to escape the catastrophe and the pollution.
A cryogenic failure in the deepest domes unleashed a glaciation. The exiles became guardians of the resources the ice preserves.
Those left outside the domes survived in the desert. The climate mutated their skin and hunger turned them into bandits.
After the Border Wars, the owners of water and energy rose to the towers and floating domes and started writing the rules.
Factories were buried beneath the new city. Those who took them live in the sewers and smuggle what the Consortium rations.
Scientists who tried to solve physics and the singularity, and came out corrupted. Wandering and almost always neutral.
2202
Thirty years later, civilization survives in Vértice, a megacity split into layers: the Consortium in the heights, the Lows at ground level, the Vanguard in the sewers and, beyond the domes, the desert and the glacier.
Justice is billed by the hour and the police are private security. The only way out is the Circuit, the underground network of mech arenas where the seven factions measure themselves… and where the big fights are rigged.
Geography
Vértice reads top to bottom: the higher you live, the cleaner your air.
The summit
The supreme coliseum above the towers: synthetic marble, plasma barriers and VIP boxes. Home of the undefeated Omega.
Towers & floating domes
Titanium spires, flying platforms and floating domes above the acid clouds. From there the Consortium writes the rules and controls water and energy.
Ground level
Miles of districts in the shadow of the towers. District 725 is the densest, most rebellious and most respected.
Beneath the Lows
Drains, abandoned metro lines and buried factories the Clandestine Vanguard switched back on. Everything smuggled passes through here.
Outside the domes
Toxic, scorching desert. The Scavengers rule it and nobody crosses without paying a toll.
Ice front
The glaciation born in the trenches climbs mile after mile. Whatever lies beneath the ice is guarded by the Cryo Cult.
The seabed
Sealed domes in the ocean trenches where the elite that fled in 2172 lives. The Cryo Cult was born from the failure of one of them.
Timeline
Global warming crosses the point of no return: the air fills with toxins and heat waves dry up the aquifers.
Every expedition to colonize other planets fails. Humanity is stuck on Earth.
The richest seal themselves inside domes in the ocean trenches. Most people are left behind on the surface.
A brigade of welders and mechanics travels district to district raising emergency city domes. Thousands survive thanks to them.
Those left outside the domes fight over water and energy. In the desert, the climate changes their bodies; from the trenches, a glacier starts to advance.
Civilization survives in a megacity split into strata. Justice is billed by the hour and mech arenas are the only way out.
Characters
Mechanic · District 725
19 years old with a calculator mind. She inherits her father’s workshop, an unpayable debt and Alfa, a punkbot with encrypted secrets.
“Luck is what people call the math they didn’t do.”
Veteran pilot · District 725
Fifteen years side by side with Julen Ignazzi. He shows up with his toolbox the day Fiorella wakes Alfa up.
Boss · Wasteland Scavengers
The bandit who crowns his loot. Nobody crosses the desert without him knowing.
Leader · Cryogenic Cult of the Abyss
She leads the advance of the ice and guards what is left of the natural world. She fights with her fists.
Leader · Clandestine Vanguard
Boss of the sewers. Everything smuggled beneath the city goes through his hands.
Mayor of Vértice · The Consortium
Writes the rules from the floating domes. A single gesture is enough to change a law.
Raid commander · Underwater Domes
Rises from the seabed at the head of every raid. When Tritón points at a target, the tide has already decided.
Singularity Syndicate
Nobody knows where they come from or where they go. If one shows up in a fight, someone paid dearly.
Master mechanic · missing
He refused to lose a rigged fight. The next morning his workshop was looted and he was gone.
Champion of The Crown
The Consortium’s undefeated machine, built from blueprints stolen from Julen Ignazzi.
