Lore

# Chapter 1: The Collapse of Humanity

Long ago humans thrived on the surface of Earth but as they developed and expanded, they consumed and depleted the planet's natural resources which led to in-fighting over the remaining resources. As the years went on the violence escalated until everything came to an abrupt and explosive end with an all-out nuclear war. Humanity was left on the brink of extinction with the planet ravaged from climate change, pollution and war, the fallout from these nuclear bombs contaminated the water supply and laced the rain with radioactivity. Earth was left a ruined hellscape where the structures of humanity once stood, humans had seemingly rendered all life on earth Extinct. 2:26

Only a small remainder of humans survived within a bunker underground, with Earth succumbing to the nuclear radiation and waste buildup from the humans own ignorance with 99% of the Earth being covered.

**200 years later**, we find the robots and machines built by humans have taken over the planet and formed their own communities around the globe. Arcadia is presumably one of the first and biggest society’s to form with the help of the Creators, it was founded under the Last Bunker where robot life would start to form. This area would soon be known as Old Arcadia and was eventually forgotten about after Arcadia began to expand with the help of Pinion.

# Chapter 2: Haiku Awakens

You start as little Haiku, a young robot child, in a strange abandoned trash zone, and are pushed to awaken by a mysterious voice. Suddenly a virus that laid inside Haiku bursts out from their hanging body and vanishes without leaving a mark on them, displaying their immunity to the infection. After some light struggle Haiku awakens and breaks free from their slumber, only to quickly find out that every robot in their path is infected with the same deadly virus and has turned them all into vicious machines ready to kill. With the Kill Switch Blade in hand and no memory, Haiku sets out to unravel the mysteries of this world and restore it from this vile corruption.

# Chapter 3: The Quest for Restoration

Haiku makes their way through the world, finding many upgrades for themself as they carve through the infected bots, Haiku had also been integral to restoring certain parts of Arcadia that had been halted due to the corruption. Reactivating the clock in Pinion’s Expanse, restoring the train system, and even destroying Map Disruptors. Additionally, they meet a wide variety of characters along the way that would assist their journey or require help, the most notable being Verse. Haiku meets her upon arriving at the Factory Facility and Verse tells them about a more proactive approach at restoring Arcadia fully and to meet her at the Mainframe Vault located in the Central Core.

There, she informs Haiku they must break the locks on the vault by finding the Three Creators, the robots responsible for the creation of Arcadia, they have been lost and corrupted in the vast world due to the Virus, bringing them to the center of the world to open and cull the Virus at the core to defeat it and restore Arcadia to normalcy

One by one, Haiku finds the Three Creators, Neutron, Proton and Electron. Three siblings who founded Arcadia after Humanity fell but now remain corrupted until Haiku breaks their curse with the Kill Switch Blade, additionally, each of the creators enhance the Kill Switch Blade by fusing their power within its components in order to prepare Haiku for the fight against the Virus. Together, they meet at the Central Core to use their powers to break the lock on the vault and wisps of the Virus pool into it, unifying into a creator shaped blob of code killing virus.

Haiku ventures in and the Virus itself tries to destroy them, after a tense fight all seems to be over and the day saved but it only succeeds in partially corrupting their sword, making the fourth component black.

# Chapter 4: Truth Revealed

When Haiku awakens, Verse urges them to go to the deepest point of Arcadia, deep in the Forgotten Ruins lies a tree and a mysterious building. When Haiku explores the top of the tree, they find a bot entrenched in Virus ichor and a glob like the one seen at the start of the game passes through them. It doesn't harm them at all, but freezes them and sends them a message. **"Small child, look how you've grown. Forgive me for what I've become"** They exit and Verse talks to them about "The Betrayed" and says there's a connection between Haiku and them. She doesn't know what it all means. The virus destroyed its intended target, but it still spread, it mutated.

After facing Virus, Haiku can enter the lowest point of Arcadia with Verse, and she talks to them about a realization about their true purpose and where they came from. They came to exist the same time that the virus formed in Arcadia and through this uncertainty Verse realizes that they are in fact the antidote to the virus, she is the path to healing, the next verse, and Haiku is the one to put the metaphorical pen to paper by entering the door she opens and facing the truth. Verse shines a white light and absorbs into Haiku's sword, healing the darkened component and unlocking the door to the Lore Archives. Inside the Archives, there's many lore tablets discussing the merits of truth. The archives holds all the truth, untampered, untouched. Protected from those who would seek to warp, mishandle, burn, any of it.

It glows green, and leads Haiku to its center. Where a screen and keyboard sit. They touch the screen, and it blinks to life. The system reboots, and shows them what they need to see. A dark scene, a single branch which a robot crashes into. A Creator, green with the number 4 on their back. The fourth creator. They look above them as the rest flick in front of them, and from behind, from their minds, the virus flows down into them and the truth is told. The Fourth Creator, Atom, was the intended target for the Virus until it spread rapidly to the rest of Arcadia.

Then the needle drops, Neutron, Proton and Electron appear and attack Haiku, cementing that everything so far had been a trap for Haiku. They lied to Haiku to try and save themselves from getting caught in the act of dooming Arcadia after dooming their sibling. So they seek to warp the truth now that it may not get out. They try to kill Haiku, Haiku fights all three creators at the same time, destroying each of them one by one, making the others stronger in the process. At the end, Haiku drives their sword deep into the last one, making them shriek and explode into light. The sword falls, and fades away as it shows its healed component sitting brightly.

Outside of the tree's hut, a dormant computer sits, a red butterfly flutters and lands on it. It rests, showing that biological life still exists in Arcadia, just in ways a towering robot would not notice if not keen. It's a pollinator as well, showing it will make sure the plant life in the ruins will live on.

# Chapter 5: Project Rebirth

Keen players will remember an area within the Forgotten Ruins called the Research Lab, this area held entries for “Project Rebirth” that detail xxxxxxxxxxxxxx and shows a mold that looks suspiciously like Haiku next to a human shaped mold.

After the credits roll, Haiku can re-enter the Archives and at the end there's a last lore tablet. It reads: "Rebirth Project Entry: It seems my end has come sooner than expected, so this will be my final entry. There is an undeniable strength to biological life. One much stronger than metal and steel. In truth, my task is complete; The seed has been planted and its roots run deep, locked between the broken crevices of this land. One way or another…Nature will always prevail."

With this we learn that not only were the Betrayed and the Fourth Creator, Atom, were one and the same, but they were also the one in the Research Lab dreaming of how biological life could return and how they wished Humanity could have a second chance. With the mold of Haiku in that lab, we also learn that The Fourth Creator is Haiku's parent, based on the way they address them in their message as well and locking them “between the broken crevices” which refers to where we find Haiku in the beginning of the game.

# Summary

In Summary: Haiku, the Robot, the cute robot Metroidvania is a story about how cycles never end no matter their origin or what anybody tries to do. From the smallest family to the fate of the world, nothing's safe from the effect of the butterfly's wings. It's a story about loving the world and appreciating it, taking care of the balance in opposition to those who wish to destroy it for their own skewed beliefs. It's a story about a child, at the end of the day, making their parent proud by doing what they failed to finish. Protecting and balancing the world for a brighter future.

There's no absolutes, and whatever the world grows into can either blossom or fade, just like the smaller pictures everyone has. One must have the world healthy so they can experience all the little happiness of the world. Like writing a poem, setting love free, settling a score, eating toast or burgers, or sticking your head a little too deep into a mystery. That's what Haiku the Robot is about.

"Matsuo Bashō spent a great deal of time studying Zen philosophy. He believed the haiku was an opportunity to compress the meaning of the world into a simple pattern, leaving glimmers of hope in small, simple things and revealing the connectedness of all life on earth."- source

# The Creators

Write a paragraph or two then link to Creators page which has more info on them