SEEDFALL. SETTING / DESIGN STUDIES
Generated concept art: A proposed Human-built Project Lazarus orbital satellite above storm-clouded Earth. The orbital origin is established; the satellite architecture is a visual proposal.

PROJECT LAZARUS / ORBITAL ORIGIN

THE FIRST
WATCH.

You came from a Project Lazarus satellite. Earth answers with four hostile fronts.

Step into the opening
GENERATED CONCEPT ART · SATELLITE DESIGN PROPOSAL ↗
ONE POSSIBLE OPENINGNEAR-FUTURE EARTHFIRST SESSION / PACING TARGET

Established orbital origin

The player comes from a Project Lazarus orbital satellite and then reaches Earth. Lazarus is a secret global continuity project intended to restore Humanity if it falls. The satellite's occupants and history, the project's founders and its anticipation of collapse remain unresolved.

The hostile world below

The city-sized alien prison mothership carried primordial Corruption under Caretaker custody. Corruption now spreads outward from it on Earth. Humans, Gaia, Corruption and Caretakers are separate hostile factions; Human enclaves also fight one another. Gaia is Earth's living world, evolving and responding with its awareness left mysterious. The mothership is separate from the player's Human Lazarus satellite and is not the common origin of all four factions.

This opening proposes

Control begins shortly after Earth arrival in precarious cover behind a damaged coastal workshop. Human defenders, changes in Gaia's living world, manufactured Caretakers and a separate alien flesh infestation create costly choices. The particular changes are proposals, not a defined Gaia region or an explanation of its awareness. No descent method or location beside the mothership is selected.

Still open

Descent vehicle/method, exact orbit, satellite occupants/history, player background, surface geography and time since the Fall remain undecided. Cryosleep, amnesia and an escape-pod arrival are not established. The inlet is not a final map or proof of proximity to the mothership. Corruption's exact spread extent, route and distance dependence remain undefined.

01 / AFTER EARTH ARRIVAL

From orbit.
Into the war.

You have reached Earth from a Project Lazarus orbital satellite. A service passage behind a damaged ferry workshop offers temporary cover. Water falls through its split roof, and an impact has bent the outer shutter inward. Across the inlet, Human defenders and rival raiders fight over a barricaded landing. A separate metal-and-ceramic Caretaker machine dismantles the upper road. Roots have broken through the lower path, water has shifted across its foundations and living growth is reclaiming the exposed ground. An alien flesh infestation reaches a neighbouring structure as Corruption spreads from the crashed mothership. The radio returns broken Human challenges. Every approach is changing under a different pressure, and this room cannot hold the conflict outside.

PROPOSED LOCAL OBJECTIVE

After reaching Earth, obtain water and establish a surface foothold before converging threats close the available approaches. The proposed route toward a local contact requires sacrificing supplies, position or accepting a coercive obligation; it is not a guaranteed welcome or a route back to orbit.

02 / STARTING KIT PROPOSAL

Prepared, with room
for uncertainty.

Familiar equipment keeps the opening practical. These are proposed starting items, not a fixed profession, class or global Lazarus loadout.

  1. Surface layers and small pack

    A proposed carried kit for the first surface session, with basic weather protection and limited capacity. Its contents do not establish a Lazarus uniform, profession, player appearance or descent vehicle.

  2. A little water

    A partly filled bottle makes the first Earth supply decision urgent. Its source, starting reserve and depletion rules are proposals rather than a standard satellite loadout or implemented survival mechanic.

  3. Hand torch

    A proposed carried light for inspecting surface cover and hostile approaches. Use consumes a limited resource and may disclose position; its presence does not define equipment used during descent.

  4. Heavy hand tool

    A proposed practical tool for a fitting, local obstruction or desperate defence. Committing it to a task reduces the capacity available at the next threat without fixing the player's profession.

  5. Small first-aid packet

    A proposed limited response to surface injury, not a cure for Corruption or evidence of a particular satellite medical protocol. Exact treatment rules remain unresolved.

  6. Unverified surface route note and contact fragment

    A possible lead carried into the opening, not a trusted route or a confirmed Lazarus command link. The marked landing is under attack; the contact's identity, allegiance and present control remain uncertain.

03 / FIRST-SESSION OUTLINE

From exposure
to another threat.

Minute ranges are pacing targets, not deadlines. Players can observe, explore, turn back or move on before reading every note.

  1. 00–04 / MINUTE TARGET

    Take stock after arrival

    Control begins after the player has reached Earth, inside the damaged service passage. Assess the limited carried kit, struck shutter and changing exits. The opening does not begin as an ordinary rest in a known refuge.

    Read from the world
    Earth weather, damaged surface infrastructure and hostile movement contrast with the established orbital origin. No descent hardware needs to be shown or assumed.
    Design purpose
    Establish that this is a Lazarus member from the orbital satellite facing the surface conflict. Keep the descent method unresolved and avoid a compulsory waking, cryosleep or amnesia sequence.
  2. 04–08 / MINUTE TARGET

    Read the converging threats

    Read the defended Human landing, changing living ground and advancing Machine seizure from the damaged workshop. Test the carried route note against the surface; roots, water, structures and hostile positions keep changing while the player observes.

    Read from the world
    Human barricades, organic Earth growth altering a damaged path and manufactured Caretaker demolition identify separate pressures. Alien flesh remains a distinct infestation. The changes show the threat on the ground without deciding whether Gaia is aware.
    Design purpose
    Make the first Earth approach a tactical decision among distinct hostile pressures. Gaia remains the wider living world with its awareness mysterious. Orbital origin provides no trusted map or safe faction, and the sighting establishes no shared origin or fixed distance to the mothership.
  3. 08–20 / MINUTE TARGET

    Commit to a costly approach

    Commit to the defended landing, the changing ground or the Machine seizure line to obtain water or improve the surface position. Turning back can lose a route, a load or the time needed to reach another foothold.

    Read from the world
    Different threats and choke points show where supplies, cover and withdrawal options can be lost.
    Design purpose
    Turn arrival from orbit into costly surface action without specifying a playable descent, guaranteeing a return to the satellite or fixing a particular class or appearance.
  4. 20–30 / MINUTE TARGET

    Pay for a surface foothold

    Reach or contest a guarded water point, take a smaller exposed reserve or abandon water to escape the closing line. Human defenders demand a concession and may treat the newly arrived player as another threat.

    Read from the world
    Locked containers, exhausted defenders, incoming attacks and limited exits show the power imbalance.
    Design purpose
    End with a hard-won surface position, a pressured obligation or a retreat with a worsening shortage. Membership in Lazarus and origin in orbit provide no automatic authority over the enclave.

04 / ORIENTATION STUDY

Recognise the enemy.
Read its own form.

Generated concept art: Independent Caretaker machines have geometric metal and ceramic bodies, engineered joints and hard-edged infrastructure. No flesh, fur, bark or native anatomy forms their baseline.
GENERATED CONCEPT ART · HOSTILE WORLD STUDY

Independent Caretaker machines have geometric metal and ceramic bodies, engineered joints and hard-edged infrastructure. No flesh, fur, bark or native anatomy forms their baseline. View full artwork ↗

A standalone Caretaker identity study: manufactured metal and ceramic, with engineered joints. This reference does not depict the proposed arrival site or merge its inhabitants. Humans, native Gaia and Corruption have their own separate forms.

05 / FIRST ROUTE CHOICE

Three routes.
Three threats.

Each approach teaches a different habit. Read the proposal for a route, including its cost and a way to recover from a mistake.

Choose a proposed route to explore

A gate is another contested position.

A recognisably Human defender in carried protective gear blocks the landing while rival Human raiders attack its stores. The newly arrived player needs water, but the defenders demand a valuable part, a dangerous task or submission to a local obligation. Their bodies remain Human; identity or a claimed Lazarus connection gives no automatic welcome.

Cost to survive
Supplies, leverage or exposure to another group's fight. Refusing the demand leaves the water contested; agreeing can bind the player to an enclave others are attacking.
A possible advantage
A limited quantity of water or a brief surface foothold if the position can be reached and held. Access belongs to this pressured transaction, not to the player's orbital origin.
Retreat pressure
Break contact, abandon a disputed item or divert through another occupied approach. Withdrawal can lose water, expose pursuit and close the chance to return.

The ground is changing.

Organic roots and dense growth are breaking apart an old maintenance path, while shifted water exposes its damaged supports. Human construction and Caretaker clearance have altered the living conditions here, and Gaia's response makes the approach harder to hold. These particular changes remain a proposed local encounter; Gaia's awareness is unresolved.

Cost to survive
Time on unstable ground, reduced visibility and the loss of equipment needed to adapt to a changed crossing. Cutting growth or diverting water can expose another weakness or deepen the conflict with the living world.
A possible advantage
A temporary route around the Human gate if the changing conditions can be understood or contested. The opening grants no helpful Gaia intervention, certified path or route back to the satellite.
Retreat pressure
Yield ground, abandon a load or choose another unstable approach. The living conditions can keep changing while the player confronts a Human barricade, Caretaker seizure or separate Corruption incursion.

The survey is choosing what to seize.

A manufactured metal-and-ceramic Surveyor marks the wharf while a separate Harvester dismantles its power fittings. Caretaker suppression faces Human movement on one side and an advancing alien flesh infestation on the other. These are hostile factions meeting at a contested position, not normal fused bodies. The player's Human Lazarus satellite origin confers no alien recognition or protection.

Cost to survive
Exposure to suppression, unstable structures and a narrowing crossing. Interference can shift Machine attention onto the player or release a contained threat.
A possible advantage
A short-lived opening or recoverable surface component if the player can exploit a visible local cycle. These alien systems do not establish a way back to the Lazarus satellite, and the Caretakers remain hostile.
Retreat pressure
Leave seized material or force another exit before the structure changes. Stopping one manufactured Machine task does not stop independent units or remove a separate Corruption threat. Captured or infected frames remain exceptional contested possibilities, not the baseline unit shown here.

06 / FIRST HOSTILE CONTACT

A first foothold on Earth.

The proposed opening ends after the player's arrival from orbit, at a surface position gained through loss or force: a briefly held water point, a coercive Human gate or cover beyond a route that can no longer be used. Supplies are limited and enemies can follow. The satellite is the player's origin, not a guaranteed extraction service or a command authority these people must accept.

Generated concept art: Adult Human defenders and rivals use recognisable clothing, bodies, tools, steel and concrete in an armed Earth district. No alien tissue or machine bodies define their baseline.
GENERATED CONCEPT ART · HOSTILE WORLD STUDY

Adult Human defenders and rivals use recognisable clothing, bodies, tools, steel and concrete in an armed Earth district. No alien tissue or machine bodies define their baseline. View full artwork ↗

A THREAD TO FOLLOW LATER

The unverified contact fragment points farther into hostile Earth claims. Testing it could expose a lead related to Lazarus or another faction's trap. It confirms no other satellite occupant, functioning orbital link, return route, founder, reason for anticipating collapse or cause of the alien transport's crash.

07 / PROTOTYPE SPECIFICATION

A start worth testing.

Proposed exit state

  • The player is established on Earth after coming from a Project Lazarus orbital satellite; the chosen descent method remains outside this opening proposal.
  • A limited surface resource, temporary foothold or route has been gained at a visible cost, without automatic Human trust or orbital extraction.
  • The next objective follows the surviving kit, threatened surface position and uncertain contact lead rather than a resolved satellite history or global Lazarus command.

Acceptance criteria

  1. Begin the proposed session shortly after Earth arrival and establish the Lazarus orbital origin without prescribing descent hardware, cryosleep, amnesia or a compulsory waking scene.
  2. Expose four separate pressures before commitment: Human people and gear; Gaia as Earth's organic living world; alien Corruption flesh; manufactured Caretakers. Keep Gaia's awareness mysterious. Explicit exceptional infected or captured cases do not redefine baseline identities.
  3. Make threat preparation and route damage understandable without sound or colour alone.
  4. Keep physical alternatives, readable text, remappable actions and alternatives to prolonged holds in the prototype proposal.
  5. Avoid arbitrary soft locks; a failed approach should change the tactical cost or position rather than silently invalidate every remaining action.
  6. Keep withdrawal costly without claiming a safe return to orbit, unavoidable death, guaranteed escape, a fixed infection outcome or an implemented save or descent system.

Open decisions

  • How does the player reach Earth from the Project Lazarus orbital satellite, and should that journey precede playable control or become a separately reviewed sequence?
  • Who else occupies or occupied the satellite, and what communication remains possible? No occupants, live link or orbital configuration are yet established.
  • Which surface region and time since the Fall best support the first foothold while leaving the mothership's location, its distance from the arrival, Corruption's spread mechanism and Lazarus's anticipation of collapse unresolved?
  • What carried equipment suits the chosen arrival method without fixing appearance, class or a global satellite loadout?
  • Which failure, death, save and respawn rules suit the hostile surface opening? Cooperative implementation remains a separate, unresolved decision.
  • What can the first surface contact reveal about local control and allegiance while leaving Lazarus's founders, satellite history and the alien transport's crash cause unresolved?

The orbital satellite origin is established. The surface sequence and onboarding systems are proposals; the descent is not yet designed. Runtime survival systems, persistence, save/death rules and cooperative play require their own implementation and validation.