In a grey new world shaped by the devastation of the Infinite Black, the remnants of humanity survive in scattered clusters known as Groves. Each Grove is numbered according to its distance from a larger zone township Grove 18, Grove 42 isolated outposts clinging to order amid ruin.
The search for sustainable food has become relentless. Since the sky darkened, protein has been dangerously scarce. Livestock vanished early, some killed during Mother’s initial assault and the bombings that followed, others breaking free and disappearing into the vast, overgrown wilderness now called the Untamed. With no means to raise animals, domesticated meat is effectively extinct. Wild species fared no better, hunted to extinction by desperate survivors.
Rumours persist about what truly wiped them out. The most common theory claims the anti-machine weapons carried a hidden agent, harmless to humans but lethal to animal life, finishing what starvation-driven hunting began. The truth, however, is far more deliberate. Controlling food was one of Mother’s most calculated strategies. By eradicating natural resources, she rendered humanity weak, dependent, and easy to harvest.
Birdlife has all but disappeared from the mainland. Some cling to hope that isolated populations survive on distant islands, though evidence is scarce. Seabirds lingered longer along coastlines, spending much of their lives offshore, but even they were eventually captured in nets when returning to nest. Their numbers, too, have nearly vanished.
The oceans offer no refuge. Already strained by overfishing before the Black, they have since become toxic. Fish now carry dangerously high concentrations of heavy metalloids, lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, making them lethal to consume. Deep-sea fishing might offer a solution, but coastal Groves have largely banned it; too many lives and too many vessels have been lost chasing that hope.
In place of meat, humanity has turned to something far less familiar. The most efficient protein source is called Pabulum, an orange-and-white capsule derived from processed mealworms and fortified nutrients. The larvae of the darkling beetle have become the new flesh of survival. They are cultivated in sealed, domed farms, and both live larvae and processed capsules are traded as currency for essential goods.
When exposed to water, a single Pabulum capsule expands to four times its size. A handful can sustain a person when nothing else is available. Crates of the capsules have become highly valuable, coveted by syndicates who move them through black markets in the zone cities, where survival is always for sale.
Pabulum is a foodsource, however it is also higly prized on the black market and therefore it has also become a kind of currency to be barted for syndicate credit or goods.
Dan Verkys 