Story

This article is about the revealed story in *Aground*, for the quests given by NPCs please refer to Quests.

**Note: This article contains spoilers.**

## Pre-Game Story

#### The Teachers

Before the aliens there were creatures that knew magic called Teachers. They traveled across the galaxy, teaching magic to anyone who desired to learn. One sentient species was particularly eager to be taught, beings who evolved as soft tentacled creatures in the oceans of their homeworld but evolved magical exoskeletons for themselves and desired to travel the stars. They are only referred to as Them. Their descendants would grow larger and stronger, and wage war on other intelligent beings to the extent of one day bombing Earth into sterility and becoming the archenemy of human survivors. The Teachers slowly came to realize the Old Ones’ eagerness masked dark desires; They wanted power from magic and did not want their own secrets to be shared with any others. However, the Teachers disappeared mysteriously many years before the game took place, with access to their planet cut off by most means. None would be able to stop these budding conquerors until the player character learned how to fight them. They now possessed the most magical knowledge of any race, and for a time they became teachers to other species.

#### The Start Of It All

They shared their magic with the Wyrms and discovered their power to change into dragons. But soon they realized that the dragons were becoming more powerful than them. They, beneath their armor, are still weak against most others and are paranoid of being dominated by a stronger species. They enslaved the dragons so that they can’t overpower them. With the invention of Dragon Ship Factories, indoctrinated dragons can be evolved into obedient spaceships who know no other life than obeying orders from their masters. Most dragons are moved offworld along with nearly the whole population of Them with only a few dragons left behind to slowly die out, and the unaging Old One choosing to stay for the solitude. The dragon lairs are deactivated except for the one on Starting Island, guarded by a hibernating Adult Dragon. The Dragon Ship Factory is abandoned and overtaken by a sentient, hostile Storm that freezes it. They relocate to a new homeworld, an enormous, planet-sized dragonship, which Their leader binds himself to the heart of so he can sustain this great vehicle. They trust their leader and they all believe that he is doing what’s best for them. But one of Them known as the Exiled saw chances for new cultures in other species and didn’t view them as threats. The Exiled grew partial to a species on a planet he had just discovered while exploring for his species, Earth. These were humans, still ten thousand years away from discovering Exotic Matter which would launch them across the galaxy and incur the wrath of Them. The leader saw this and to get the Exiled out of the way had him watch a new race that was on a planet far from their home called Earth. The Exiled knew that the Leader was just trying to get rid of him but he went along with it.

As the Exiled looked down on these creatures that were three times smaller than him he was surprised at how fast they were learning. His only entertainment was watching these creatures progress and change through the years. He lied to his leader. His leader and him might have had their differences but the leader still believed the Exiled when he said humans were no threat. The Exiled protected these small creatures for many years. By the time the humans discovered exotic matter the Aliens leader considered them much more than a threat. The Exiled thought he might be able to keep them safe for longer but the Unoiks project stopped that.

#### The Unoiks Project

On Earth humans started the project titled UNOIKS. The discovery of Exotic Matter had enabled humans to make incredibly powerful weapons, create sources of constant endless energy, and travel or communicate faster than light to easily explore other star systems. Earth’s population had grown enormous, and with Exotic Matter to fuel both instantaneous spaceship jumps and terraformers to transform entire planets, making other worlds habitable was both feasible and desired. They were going to colonize another system. Many stars which possessed exoplanets became referred to as “UNOIKS (number)” by humankind, for example “Unoiks 188”. Some planets were slated to become nature sanctuaries, while others were rejected outright (including what had been the homeworld of the Teachers, which rather curiously now had higher sea levels than before...). They selected a planet called Unoiks 428c for colonization and sent 4 people to prepare this planet and explore it to see if it was suitable for the program.

But there was one problem with 428c; it was Their home planet. They discovered invaders were now on the surface and there was the threat of humans discovering all the secrets of magic that had been so carefully hidden. They searched the planet and killed three of the researchers, with the fourth finding a magical cave and hiding inside until They left. This researcher was the Alchemist. Once they left, the magic of the cave ran out and was exposed to the open air, leaving the Alchemist to search for answers as to what happened. Humanity now had a giant metaphorical target painted onto its back, and They were aiming right at it. They readied their army to exterminate all the humans. Meanwhile, humans had just discovered Exotic Matter, and a whole other conflict was about to erupt...

#### World War III

The researchers were inbound to 428c and everyone was getting ready colony ships for takeoff. As they mined looking for materials to build the colony ships they stumbled across exotic matter. Physicists evaluated it and couldn't make sense of it, so they let AI have a look at it. They were shocked to see the power this mystery material held. It was capable of many things, the biggest being faster-than-light travel. It was extremely rare and everyone wanted it. The Colony ships had limited space and it soon became clear most of humanity could not leave for other habitable planets. This combination of factors started World War III. Many people died in the war, with some hiding underground.

#### Catastrophe in the Clouds

Almost immediately after World War III concludes, They show up. What remains of humanity is decimated. Their magic weaponry and Dragonships are too powerful for humans to fight. Dragonship Fighters, Bombers, and Cruisers massively outnumber human forces, and Earth is quickly turned uninhabitable. The moon is partially destroyed, and chunks of moon rock bombard the planet. A dragonship is defeated and lands on top of a laboratory in the desert, forming a mountain of ice. Drones, with no orders but to defend the planet, perceive humans as a threat and become hostile towards them. With Them, their own creations, and the moon destroying the planet, all life on Earth is annihilated, with only two humans surviving; The Scavenger, who manages to send out a distress signal before hiding in a bunker underwater, and the Professor, who takes shelter in the aforementioned lab underneath the ice mountain.

**Crash of the Colony Ship**

The Colony Ship, along with the Fighter Escorts guarding it, was not able to enter the atmosphere properly, malfunctioned, and crashed onto Unoiks 428c. Some launched away from the ship or their Fighter Escorts in Lifepods, which landed in the many oceans of the world. It is possible that some of the first characters you meet on Starting Island, like Builder, Miner, Farmer, Hunter, or Trader, landed from lifepods. Few people survived the crash as the colony ship lay wrecked in Sunset Haven's desert. The Colony Ship crashed in the desert of Sunset Haven, while a couple Fighter Escorts crashed into the peak of the Heights. One soldier survived the Escort’s crash by escaping in a Lifepod, which landed in the sea east of the mountain. That soldier’s fate is unknown, but they may have survived and made it to Sunset Haven as the Lifepod is empty when later found. Titanium and Hi-Tech Parts from the spaceships was scattered in the ocean between the two islands, along with other wreckage.

The player character’s Lifepod lands in the ocean east of Sunset Haven in the introductory cutscene, and the player escapes before the pod sinks, managing to struggle ashore on the next island over. This becomes the starting island, home to the second human settlement on Unoiks 428c, and the player can later rename it with the Nameplate if they wish.

The Mirrows (in fear of Them coming back) start experimenting on humans to try and prepare for Their return. However, due to lack of test subjects and other survivors not agreeing with their methods, they augument themselves, and harass the townsfolk for test subjects and research funding. The Mechanic, who at first helped them with research, kicked them out of their old lab in town and forced them to move back into the wrecked Colony Ship.

Meanwhile, They seem to be unaware that humanity has survived, and are escaping to 428c.

## Story by System

### Unoiks 428

##### Unoiks 428b

A small planet, with no atmosphere. Magnegems and Exotic Matter are located deep underground, and strange creatures float through the air. They appear to be mostly made of Magnegems.

##### Unoiks 428c

This is Their homeworld. The Alchemist lives inside of a small cave where he conducts his research. The last Colony Ship eventually crashes on an island, and many survivors create a small town. The cyborg Mirrows conduct their research inside the cargo hold of the wreck after being kicked out of town by the Mechanic. Meanwhile, bandits raid the town. In an island to the east, a small group of survivors create another primitive settlement. A dragon lair sits inside the mountain, facing two magical islands, one with an immortal alien and the other with two ancient beings guarding a dragonship factory. An Elder Dragon lies in waiting for the player to arrive. A small village of fish sits on the seafloor, and beyond an island with an old witch passes the time. On the peak of the nearby mountain, a stranded merchant stands next to a giant pillar. On the other side, a group of Pirates guards their base. Beyond that and a few other islands is the tallest peak on the planet, with the wreck of a Fighter Escort lying broken.

##### Unoiks 428d

A gas giant which damages almost any ship that comes near. It requires an almost perfect fusion of tissue and tech to penetrate the atmosphere.

### Solar System

##### Mercury

An extremely small planet with no atmosphere. There isn't much value to this planet except for mining.

##### Venus

An uninhabitable planet due to its atmosphere being made of toxic gas. It is difficult to get through without your ship falling apart...

##### Earth

The homeworld of humanity. Once a thriving planet full of life, now a barren wasteland. The moon was blasted apart, causing the planet to be bombarded with fragments. On one side lies a flooded city full of haywire drones. There is one person left here, spending his days scavenging for metals and necessities. On the other side is a desert, which houses a tall mountain of ice. The other remaining human conducts research underneath it.

##### Mars

One of Them lives here, exiled from the rest. It doesn't appear to be hostile, and simply watches television shows in a cave. However, certain types of equipment seem to malfunction when it is nearby, almost like there's something from another realm messing with it.

##### Jupiter

A large gas giant, very few spaceships can enter Jupiter, as it actually doesn't have a solid surface to land on. Because of this, the planet is very dangerous to most life.

### Unoiks 188

##### Unnature Sanctuary

This was the first, and so far last nature reserve. A ranger was sent here to oversee the reserve, along with a robot capable of splicing DNA. However, the robot went rogue and determined humans were harmful to the preserve. A distress signal was sent out, and the robot went crazy, splicing DNA left and right. What remains is almost an alternate reality: Trees make meat, dinosaurs survived, and mythical creatures such as the Chimera exist.

### Seuden 999

##### The Depths

This planet is named for its ocean, which covers almost the entire planet except for a tiny spit of land. It was considered for the Unoiks project but rejected due to it only having 3% of the planet usable for building. A pillar remarkably similar to the one on Unoiks 428c is on one side of the island. An eager young adult insisted on traveling here, and no one has seen her since.

You, and others, have crashed in escape pods on a planet known as Unoiks 428c during a storm. You leave your escape pod and swim for an island, where you find a half-built Hut. An unknown person asks you to let them into the Hut, who is later revealed to be the Builder, the creator of the Hut. In the morning, he lends you his axe and you build a Storehouse. Gradually, you discover more characters, mine ores, and gear yourself out. Eventually you meet a woman called the Trader, who gives you a quest to build a Dock.

After you build a boat and sail west, you'll discover Sunset Haven, where a frustrated Mechanic tells you that the cyborg Mirrows have blown the Power Plant.

After fixing the escort, you are able to go to Earth. A signal picked up by the Com Station gives you a lead, and you discover the source of the signal beneath a ruined, flooded city. There you meet the Scavenger, who has been living underground since "They" came and bombed it. After completing a quest for him, he gives you a keycard to unlock the door to the Professor's lab, in the desert. You meet the Professor and she asks you to help her make a Mobile Laboratory. You hunt the strange creatures of Unoiks 428b to gather enough magnegems to build the lab. After making it, you invite other NPCs on board to help research

In the tunnels of earth, you come across logs revealing the story.

After failing to land on the Enemy HQ you are rescued by a ship from another Colony, and work together to gain access to the Enemy HQ and the final boss.

### Magic

After defeating the Old One, the Alchemist, if he is alive, gives you a quest to go east and find more magic. You find an Ancient Dragon who wants his revenge upon "them" after they betrayed the dragons and enslaved their kind. He helps you learn magic, and activate the Dragonship Factory. He also tells you about a colony of fish off the coast of Cultivator Island that are studying magic. You meet the fish, and they teach you about spellbooks and other kinds of magic. The Librarian, a wise and ancient being who resembles a cuttlefish, will let you use his Library to craft spellbooks.

The Sea Witch on Divider Island gives you powerful new equipment after you give her a Revitalizing Potion, before she becomes terrified that you have made a Dragonship at the Dragon Ship Factory, thus stealing the heavily guarded secrets of the enemy who are sure to find out what you have done. The Sea Witch then flees to the fish village, warning that the enemy’s wrath will cover the surface of the planet. Her prediction will come true when you return home and suddenly enemy dragon ships appear in orbit, using energy bomb attacks like an air raid to obliterate your crops, kill your farm animals, sterilize the surface of your island, and destroy everything you and your friends have built. If the Alchemist is alive, he will shelter everyone in the purple cave and give you blueprints for the Laboratory and Wyrm Pen to help you gather resources and make potions far from the bombs. You will have to find a way to stop or destroy the Bomber, getting past its entourage of Dragon Fighters, in order to make your home safe (at least until the second wave arrives and you have to disable or destroy the second bomber).

When the Sea Witch goes underwater, she will help the Librarian invent new spellbooks; after the Librarian has told you about these new recipes, he will say he can teach you no more and only one of Them could help further; he tells you to go talk to the Exiled on Mars. The Exiled had watched over Earth from Mars for ten thousand years before this, although now he is out of a job and merely banished. Despite the many restrictions placed on him by his leader, the Exiled knows of loopholes that allow him to help you; the more magic you learn, the more the Exiled can teach or guide you. After battling enemy ships, including killing their crew and looting their cargo, you manage to stockpile enough Exotic Matter for multiple faster-than-light jumps to Mars and back, which is just as well since round trips are exactly what you must do after you first visit the red planet. The Exiled tells you to fly back and check the library after inventing the Book of Translation. You craft it and learn to talk to Dragonships, starting with your very own who then gives you a Dragon Seed to help the Exiled start the process of giving you a pathway into Enemy HQ. You enter the Spirit World and talk to the ruler of the immediate area, who will agree to open a second doorway directly onto the headquarters surface once you do a quest. You learn how to kill elementals for the resource of Spirit, to make purchases from the realm ruler and pay the cost of asking questions. You are also introduced to a second, stronger tier of spirits who transform into equipment, familiars, or magic seeds when weakened and captured. The dangerous Venatrix, a centauress-like plant elemental, becomes a Spirit Tree Seed when captured, an item so valuable the living structures on Enemy HQ are willing to turn to your side just for each of them to have one. You complete their bargain and they let you access all their secrets, unlocking immensely powerful endgame spellbooks, a dragon-mech evolved from an Elder Dragon, the three types of enemy dragon ships, and a new type of Copse with more options than the Vine Copse. The Exiled gives you a new recipe to craft in this Copse, a trap to catch Amethyst Wyrms and the enemies of Unoiks 428b; the former you must catch for a quest, but the latter you can farm in Coral Pens for endless magnegems. Once you catch an Amethyst Wyrm alive, the Exiled gives you the final piece of equipment you will need, a living drill that can dig to the very core of Enemy HQ where the leader of Them dwells, to defeat him and end the war once and for all. You should spare the Nursery Crab rather than taking its life, as the Exiled will be disappointed in you if you kill it.

### Hybrid

Ever the adventurer, you complete all the quests on the starting island. You sail west and fly east, fighting bandits and capturing spirits as you complete quests for both Sunset Haven and Eastern Island. You discover Alter Gems under the tutelage of the Alchemist, then you dig through the mountain of Sunset Haven and notice the strange wyrms of the desert. After fleeing the fight with the Mirrows, you talk to the Mechanic who consoles you and tells you to read the logs in the lower left room of the Colony Ship. You get past the Diode Wolves and Cyborgs to access the top floor of the room, reading the Mirrows’ logs and learning of the involvement of both “Mr. H” (the Hunter) and a mysterious “C” who wants to search the stars for human survivors on other colony ships. That sounds familiar to you, as you have already talked to someone who wants to find and reunite with other colonies, who doesn’t want to “stay clammed up on this planet just because it feels safe at the moment.” You figure out that this “C” is the Mechanic, real name Cass, who is the daughter of the Mirrows, and talk to her about it. She proposes you impress the Mirrows and win them to your side with something that can’t be explained by science. You remember that you can use Alter Gems on Adult Dragons, and suggest to the Mechanic that the two of you show the Mirrows a set of Dragon Armor. The Mirrows are amazed, and delighted to be “using their own creations against them.” The Mirrows and the Alchemist join forces once you tell each of them about the other, and the Alchemist begins research in the new lab in the Water Cave as you build a submarine to find Hi-Tech parts on The Heights.

The Mirrows and the Alchemist propose that you use an Alter Gem on a Mecha Wyrm, once you have made one in the surgery lab or captured one with a powerful net. The resulting Mecha Wyrm Helm sparks a new line of research, and after you discover Evolution Gems your allies give you a quest to Evolve a Mecha Wyrm into a Mecha Dragon. At the same time, you discover Power Core Parts at the bottom of the Water Maze and unlock or obtain blueprints for the Advanced Lab, while defeating the enemies of Cultivator Island and paving the way to create your very own Dragonship. Dreading the consequences of the Old One’s signal but now seeing a solution, the Mirrows ask you to bring materials to the peak of The Heights for a Bombardment Shield, which incorporates a Mecha Dragon and a Power Core to create a forcefield the enemy Bomber will not be able to breach. When you complete the Fighter Escort, the Alchemist and the Mirrows come up with a new use for Mecha Dragons, unlocking the recipe to create a Mecha Dragon Ship at the Dragon Ship Factory. This new kind of ship will eventually be able to explore a place no Fighter Escort or Dragonship could reach.

Using the many high-flying vehicles and backpacks available to you, you land at the peak of Divider Island where a magical merchant stands next to an obelisk-like structure. The merchant, Tindle, asks you to talk to the creators of the Monolith, the wise order of the Teachers, to get it reactivated and allow free travel throughout the universe again. You accept, and head to Seuden 999b, otherwise known as The Depths. There are no Teachers to be found, but there is one human who crashed her spaceship there: the Explorer, who is not interested in leaving the planet just yet but asks you to help her gather materials for a Submersible to explore the oceans. After gathering power core parts and Hi-Tech parts from the wreckage of her ship in the ocean, and mining minerals from the ground with your mine 5 drill, you help her assemble the Submersible. She adds crafting recipes for both a sonar system and a powerful new type of torpedo, using fronds dropped from underwater trees of The Depths as raw materials. With the Submersible complete, suddenly the Explorer asks you to help reactivate the Monoliths, plural: all five on the planet. She becomes more obsessed with reactivating the Monoliths the more you talk to her, telling you how many remain that you haven’t woken yet. You discover the missing ingredient to activate the Monoliths after killing the dangerous creatures in the deepest part of the Depths ocean: bone shards. Successfully obtaining enough, you activate the Monoliths and Tindle gives you a huge reward: buying and selling with him, including Tier 2 spellbooks and magic staffs which he will stock in his store. The Explorer’s reaction to you completing the quest is less pleasant: she has been under mind control this whole time by the Dishonored One, a Teacher who turned on the rest of the order and used the ocean as his weapon to murder all civilians on the planet and turn it into an uninhabitable ocean world, killing most of the other Teachers when they took action and fought him. After fighting to a standstill, the Dishonored One had previously gone into hibernation with the last survivors deactivating the Monoliths so he could not awaken. Newly freed, he boasts of how he has survived while the Teachers rot in their graves, and decides to kill you as well. In a long battle where you cannot get close to him, you put an end to his reign of genocide and kill him, earning a new spellbook and set of magical armor in the aftermath.

After completing the mobile lab and flying it away from Earth with the Professor and Scavenger aboard, you get a suggestion from the Professor to fly the Mecha Dragonship to Unoiks 428d and see what can be found there. On your travels in the Mobile Lab, you pick up the Explorer, the Ranger from the Unnature Sanctuary, and the Alchemist to join you. When you fly to Unoiks 428d, instead of being unable to land you simply descend through the clouds and find a planet so charged with magic its Exotic Matter has been transformed into Exotic Gas, a powerful ingredient in crafting and a potent fuel for advanced technological devices. You discover yet another Monolith and activate , prompting another slumbering Teacher to awaken. This is the Draconian Teacher, a friend and ally who is appalled to learn of what They did to Earth and will help you end the war peacefully. He gives you a quest that involves playing to almost the end of both the Science and Magic paths, obtaining the most advanced spaceships of both to scan for the Holographic Projector. Once the ships are scanned, an enormous act of diplomatic deception can take place to have a peace treaty signed between humanity and Them. The CaptAIn and the final boss will both be fooled, and an armistice can be made legally binding. The Draconian Teacher asks only that you do not kill the leader, and gives you recipes for enchanted Exotic Swords and a battery-powered magic staff as reward for collaborating on the holographic projector.

As a postgame bonus, the Draconian Teacher asks you if you want to make the Hidden World into a Dragon sanctuary. If you say yes, baby and young dragons will spawn all across the land. When you return to Cultivator Island and speak to the Elder Dragon, he is overjoyed to hear about the dragons' new home and heads to Unoiks 428d. He takes up a new perch on the western shore of the Hidden World's island, having a happy ending at last as new dragons flourish around him.