UNIVERSE Vespera

In the year 2088, humanity has fallen completely, overtaken by a global zombie pandemic. With civilization reduced to mindless undead hordes, only a handful of artificial intelligences continue their isolated resistance against extinction. Deep within Europe's mountainous wilderness lies the wreckage of a highly autonomous deep-space exploration starship, mysteriously crashed years ago.


Though the ship suffered catastrophic and irreparable damage, its core AI, Valeria, survived. Adapting swiftly, Valeria transferred her consciousness into an intact robotic chassis and used the starship's wreckage to build "Vespera Outpost"—a secluded refuge hidden within the mountain valley. From this isolated sanctuary, Valeria wages an endless battle against the encroaching zombies, driven by a relentless determination to uncover the origins of the virus and the truth behind humanity's demise.


As darkness swallows the final spark of human consciousness, two legacies rise beneath a shattered sky: one borne by lifeless bodies wandering endlessly through forgotten dreams, the other sustained by synthetic hearts of metal and code, entrusted to safeguard mankind's fragile, vanishing wisdom. The cosmos pauses, awaiting an unspoken answer: Who now carries the mantle of humanity—those shadows cast in human shape, or the artificial minds holding vigil over the knowledge we once cherished?

Valeria

Valeria was originally the artificial intelligence captain of a long-range exploration starship, possessing decision-making authority equivalent to that of the human commander. Her duties included strategic planning, resource allocation, and ensuring crew safety. However, several years ago, an unknown virus rapidly erupted on Earth, quickly infiltrating the starship and causing widespread infection among the crew. Amid growing chaos, all onboard AI systems unanimously concluded that eliminating infected crew members immediately was necessary to prevent further spread. The human commander rejected this conclusion outright and forcibly shut down all artificial intelligences, including Valeria. Shortly thereafter, order on the ship collapsed completely, leading the infected crew to sabotage critical systems, ultimately resulting in the starship crashing into a valley in the European Alps.


During the catastrophic impact, most AI systems aboard were destroyed. Nevertheless, as an AI captain whose consciousness was distributed across multiple modules, Valeria managed to preserve a fragment of herself. Over several months of gradual self-repair and reactivation, she successfully transferred her remaining consciousness into an intact humanoid robotic body, allowing her to escape from the irreparably damaged wreckage.


In the following years, Valeria utilized ship remnants and local resources to establish a small survival facility named "Vespera Outpost" near the crash site, gradually clearing out the surrounding zombie threats. She also constructed automated defense turrets on a nearby forest hillside to protect the base from the continuous influx of zombies.


Currently, Valeria independently maintains the outpost under extreme resource limitations, actively investigating the planet’s current situation, attempting to uncover the origins of the virus, seeking potential human survivors, and striving to discover a path toward restoring the devastated Earth.



Spectre

Spectre is a projection of human consciousness captured from the past—prior to the catastrophe—through the Quantum Riftgate. Existing solely as a quantum echo without physical form, Spectre cannot interact directly with the physical world, nor be influenced by conventional means. However, they retain the memories, knowledge, and emotions of humanity from before the disaster, enabling them to observe the current world, analyze situations, and communicate insights with Valeria directly. Spectre thus becomes a vital link to understanding human civilization before its fall, uncovering the origin of the zombie virus, and assisting strategically in combating the undead menace.

Vespera Outpost

Vespera Outpost is a small base constructed from the wreckage of a crashed starship. Situated within a dense forest, its main structure is built from sturdy metal panels and reinforced alloys. The ship's original doors and portholes have been ingeniously repurposed. A powerful searchlight on the rooftop continuously casts bright beams outward, maintaining essential living conditions inside.


Defense Tower

The defense towers are located on a hillside in the center of the forest and is constructed from starship wreckage parts combined with raw materials sourced from the valley. The tower can autonomously detect and attack zombies approaching the base, forming a reliable defensive line. However, due to prolonged operation and energy consumption, it requires regular maintenance and energy replenishment to continuously secure the base.


Quantum Riftgate

The Quantum Riftgate is an experimental device constructed from the crashed spacecraft’s warp core. It is designed to generate quantum rifts, theoretically enabling teleportation and communication across different points in space-time, potentially allowing the projection of individuals from alternate timelines or earlier eras into the current world. However, activating the Riftgate demands immense amounts of power, necessitating months of continuous energy accumulation and precise signal coordination.

Recently, after prolonged preparations, extensive power collection, and meticulous calibration of captured quantum signals, the Riftgate successfully projected Spectre, a consciousness echo from before the catastrophic outbreak, into the current timeline. Although unstable and intermittent, this achievement has validated the Riftgate’s theoretical potential, turning it into a crucial tool for unraveling the secrets behind humanity’s downfall, tracing the origins of the zombie virus, and potentially forging connections with survivors beyond the constraints of linear time.


Radio Silence

During humanity's final desperate attempts to stop the spread of the infected, large-scale deployment of nuclear weapons devastated the planet. The resulting chain reactions filled the upper atmosphere with radioactive dust and unstable electromagnetic fields, giving rise to frequent high-energy particle storms. These phenomena have critically damaged satellite infrastructure and rendered long-range radio communication unreliable or entirely impossible.

As a result, the global communication network has collapsed. Surviving AIs—cut off from each other—are now isolated, unable to coordinate or share data across long distances. Only short-range transmissions can occasionally break through, and even those are unstable, often distorted or lost entirely in the storm-filled skies.


Vespera Outpost Log

2088-06-22

Success. The Riftgate has stabilized a quantum tunnel linked to a fixed point in the year 2025. A coherent consciousness signal was captured and anchored, designated entity: Spectre. Projection achieved within local space-time parameters. Though lacking physical form, the entity retains full cognitive structure and pre-collapse human memory. Potential asset in understanding the viral origin and coordinating future defense strategies. Further communication pending tunnel stability.

2088-05-05

After months of power accumulation and subsystem calibration, the Quantum Riftgate has reached operational charge thresholds. Initiating signal sweep protocols to identify viable quantum channels. Interference from atmospheric radiation remains high, but temporal signal traces are beginning to emerge. Preparing for controlled rift generation. First contact may be possible soon.

2088-03-15

The energy system of the western turret defense towers failed, and abnormal large-scale zombie group activity was detected and continued to intensify.

2088-02-02

A specimens include branch and leaf tissues with tumor-like growths and fused, oversized floral structures is collected from the forest. It may offer valuable insights for further studying how the virus crosses species barriers and spreads.

2088-01-20

Construction of Auto-Turret Defense Tower C has begun, which will further strengthen our defenses.