Luna -- Earth's moon -- became a new center of power. The people of Luna demanded independence from Earth, and launched sub-atomic bombs at their former homeworld in an attempt to hasten its demise. The remaining four leaders of the old world came up with a deadly plan, knowing that their own doom was near. They used special agents in a daring plan to conceal a vast nuclear arsenal under parts of Luna's surface -- if the rebels turned on Earth again, then they would pay dearly. Each of the leaders determined that only they together should be able to have the authority to unleash this destruction. To that end, they each put forth one quarter of a two-thousand digit code, and kept it secret from the others. Five hundred digits of the code were engraved into each member's skull. The engravers were silenced. Only together would the four leaders be able to destroy Luna.

But that time never came. Luna was more eager to wipe out Earth than the leaders had reckoned. The people of the moon unleashed a barrage of missiles that destroyed all the major cities of Earth -- and the four leaders. Luna declared its independence, and Earth was unable to protest. The megacorporations backed Luna's claim by withdrawing any forces they still had on the battered world, and left it for dead.

But Earth was not truly dead. The Earth was covered by a dark shroud, but it at last passed away. Humanity emerged from its bunkers, and found a blighted world. They had little memory of the Earth that had gone before, that their ancestors had destroyed, but they kept knowledge that the megacorporations were to blame for this. People banded together into tribes, and sought to reclaim Earth in what they thought were the ways of old. In Europe, these groups coalesced into four main tribes.

The Templars, believing themselves to be the next step in evolution of the human race, think themselves the Chosen Ones of the Earth Goddess ... and reason that all "lesser" beings must be purged, so that Nature can be served. They are mutants, devoid of body hair, with a strange purplish cast to their skin, and a protective membrane over the eyes that gives the illusion that they have no pupils.

The Sons of Rasputin are the most advanced of the European tribes, trying to maintain a semblance of civilization -- and technology -- in a world gone mad. Of all the tribes, they are the least physically altered by the cataclysm, and correspondingly depend all the more on their technology to help them survive in the desolate and frozen northern-most parts of old Europe.

The Lutheran Triad is a collection of three smaller clans that have adapted to Earth in drastic ways -- through self-mutilation and primitive cybernetics. They follow a twisted form of Christianity, thinking themselves as being tested by an angry God. By their claims, their holy Patriarchs are able to call forth miracles, and they cite this as proof of their righteousness in the face of the obstacles presented by Dark Eden's harsh environment - and even harsher fellow survivors.

In what was once the Middle East, desert nomads following the First Prophet ride great mammoths, and call themselves Crescentia. They have avoided self-mutilation and any great degree of mutation to survive, even though they eke out a living in the infertile desert. Some are content to live in peace, but many of Crescentia feel obliged to carry out a holy jihad against the other, unbelieving tribes.