In memory of the fallen

By GUEST WRITER



“Wars don’t end until the blood runs dry.” – a Hyperion proverb



One hundred twenty-five giant metal statues once lined the road to Hyperion. Each was forged in the likeness of a Hyperion lord – monuments to the rare warriors with the strength to challenge the city’s reigning power and win. To walk in the shadow of these goliaths was to know your worth in the eyes of legends.

The achievements of these lords could not be overstated. In the age of immortality, where even death did not end a battle, the only constant was war. It was rare when a true tactical genius could orchestrate the total surrender of an enemy. Victory was a miracle, second only to the Reactors, and it was always fleeting.

When a group of smiths marched upon the Hyperion Stronghold on the backs of metal goliaths in 2398, the world changed again. No warrior could compete with these new, Reactor-forged war machines. One by one, the gilded statues that lined the gates were dismantled and reforged into huge, sentient warbots. Any lingering Hyperion forces who dared challenge them were destroyed by ten thousand tons of metal before they ever set foot inside the stronghold.

They were the first army to eschew a singular lord and rule together. They oversaw the longest reign of peace Hyperion ever had, united under the same name they’d given their former armory: Warbotics.

Before long, the dynastic warrior families that once battled each other for rule aligned themselves behind Warbotics. A new pantheon of heroes emerged, fusing Warbotics’ Reactor-forged arms with the tactical genius of the old ways. Massive warbots, the size of Reactors, roamed the lands beyond Hyperion while winged warriors, called Valkyries, guided the battle from above.

It was an army unlike any other, strong enough to march upon other Reactor cities and expand Hyperion’s borders. That is, until the Reactors themselves began to turn.

Even in the face of annihilation, Warbotics did not cower in fear. They did as all Hyperion warriors do. They rallied. They shouted. They began their march upon the city of Atlas with fire in their eyes and hearts.

And, like they always did: they persevered. Their assault on Atlas began the Titan War in 2436, where warriors from every city in the world competed for ownership over the last Reactor. The genius of their warbots and warriors ended it. Warbotics wins.

The lessons of Hyperion are not forgotten. Ours was a city of fire, endlessly changing and reinventing itself beneath the hammer of a new hand. These fires will be reignited. A future lord always waits in the wings, ready to claim his or her rule. It’s only a matter of when.

Until then, our people will never rest – in peace or otherwise.

