taksang wrote:you'll find that this material is used in the construction of the "Apparatus". Any thoughts on what this could be?
Ron talked about this in the Subterfuge AMA on Reddit.
SourceIt's a world trapped in an endless cycle of destruction that goes something like this:
1. plans for an ancient technological device are discovered
2. nations race to be the first to build this device (the apparatus, which requires 200 neptunium)
3. when a player "wins" a game, the apparatus destroys nearly all life on the planet, leaving the outposts intact.
4. societies rebuild themselves from near annihilation over many generations.
5. go back to 1.
It never was high enough on their priority list to write a backstory or have it written, but this reddit post did inspire some writing by forum members. You can check those topics
here.