This forum is where all the important information relating to to the V8 Aftermath can be found, this includes things such as rules, timeline information, NPCs etc. If it's related to how the Aftermath works, you can find it here!
With the rescue, certain parts of the prologue are now no longer compatible with the events of the game. As such, we have an updated replacement prologue to better align with the current state of the world.
There wasn’t anything special about the day. The Christmas season had come and gone and everyone who celebrated was returning to their normal, everyday lives. Perhaps that was why it was chosen.
For the families of those affected by the bus crash, it had been a somber time, trying to continue on while missing loved ones. For them, the return to work or school was a relief, something they could use to take their minds off of what had happened.
There was talk of course, whispers about the bus crash being a cover-up, about government presence at the crash, about how the coffins they had buried were all empty. Some didn’t want to think about it and tried to shun those that brought up the possibility of an attack. Others went out searching for some proof, something to give them the closure of knowing what had happened.
But then, on a cold and dreary Friday morning, all their questions were answered.
It arrived at 8 AM, disguised as a nature stream.
The video was of a snowy field, with a tundra forest behind it, a light snowfall fell onto the trees and the snow was already present on the ground. Only noticed later, the name of the video itself revealed its true nature from the very beginning.
Scenes of the Field.
It managed to remain up for an hour undetected. It is unknown how many people stumbled across the video during that time. But it is thought that the engagement rate was low, although steadily a viewership of bots was being sent to the stream, boosting it up the algorithm.
Occasionally through the video an image would appear on screen for a single frame. At first people confused it with static but then someone became curious and scrubbed through the video, trying to find out what the image that kept appearing was. What they found was for a couple of frames a black image covered the entire feed blacking everything out apart from parts that were cut out leaving the nature behind it visible. The shapes were two alphanumeric characters.
Survival of the Fittest had returned.
The government scrambled, they had been preparing for the eventuality and had statements and speeches ready. It would later been reported that President Kirby had been practicing the speech to his mirror on Christmas Eve, believing that Survival of the Fittest return would be on Christmas itself.
Once someone made the first comment the other feeds that had lay dormant went online.
The videos were taken down, but not before some people reported seeing movement in the feeds, the few frames that were screenshotted were cross-referenced with the descriptions of all the missing students.
The video forensics confirmed it wasn’t a hoax.
The senior class of John Endecott Memorial Academy had been found.
They had been kidnapped and taken to fight and die in the snow.
Sunday, December 19, 2021 - Friday, January 7th, 2022: Salem, Massachusetts
The 19th of December was a mournful winter's day in Salem. A chilly sea breeze swept over the town as dozens of people trudged through the streets to churches and funeral homes, holding events to grieve the many students that had died in the bus crash a little less than two weeks prior.
It was that day when the news broke - vague reports of a skirmish in the Pacific Ocean, of missing people being found on a deserted island.
On the afternoon of the 20th, families began receiving phone calls from the authorities, and some were able to speak with their children for the first time. Later that day, President Kirby confirmed the details on live TV: the mobile base of the Arthro Taskforce had been destroyed and fourteen of the missing students had been rescued.
In the coming days, the puzzle was pieced together and hundreds of journalistic pieces were released, analyzing the exact series of events that had led to the downfall of the Arthro Taskforce. Interpol and the work of investigator Rhea Pillman were credited as being indispensable in tracking down the AT, ultimately leading to the destruction of the organization's headquarters.
While the US military refused to comment on whether or not the AT had been totally annihilated, most were optimistic that, even if a few individuals from the organization had survived, Survival of the Fittest was now a thing of the past. Hopes remained high for the next three weeks, reaching a crescendo as footage of the surviving students arriving home safely on the 3rd of January spread like wildfire across the English-speaking internet.
Hope would not remain, however, after a seemingly innocuous nature stream titled "Scenes of the Field" went online at 8 AM on the 7th of January. It depicted a snowy field and the tundra forest behind it. It remained up for an hour undetected. Over the following day, the other feeds went up, one after another after another.
It didn't take long for viewers to match people spotted in the footage to the missing students who had been kidnapped weeks prior. Video forensics quickly confirmed it wasn't a hoax. Only one organization could've had this footage in the first place, which meant one thing:
