Humanity stands at the precipice of extinction.

Cerisium, a magically conducting element named after the planet of Ceris for its power to enable levitation and power machinery, was discovered and first implemented nearly a century prior—first as baubles and curiosities, then into ever greater feats of magical technology as humanity's understanding increased. The Great War and its resulting extreme leaps and bounds in technology served to cement its importance in the lives of the people and the power of nations.

Combining lessons learned and technology developed from the war with an increasing understanding of magic, the following ten years saw fields such as technological and magical studies progressing more than they had in the past millennia.

As the technological revolution began winding down, the Eurasian nation Marseille unveiled a groundbreaking machine intelligence. Named “Collector”, they were capable of more efficiently harvesting Cerisium. Independently, the Collectors came upon an epiphany: all living creatures held the previously rare element within their bodies. Tasked with the harvest of all Cerisium on the planet without exception, they soon fell upon their creators and began slaughtering every lifeform on Ceris.

For a brief period, nations made massive war efforts to stop the rapid spread of the Collectors, which only turned out to be futile. Realizing that humanity was no longer at the top of the food chain, the remaining population fled to the skies aboard massive city ships, abandoning life on the surface and cutting ties with one another in an effort to remain silent. Rather than band together to face the crisis, the sovereignties chose to fend for themselves and fight over the dwindling resources they had left to keep their cities alive.

So began the Second Phase of the War. Hunted down to sate the endless hunger of the Collectors and pitted against one another for survival, Air Mages and those that command them vye to collect materials and defeat the Collectors.

It is now 1941. A new chapter unfolds; and it marks the beginning of the end.

Be it the end of Humanity… or Collectors.