Genesis Rising: The Universal Crusade

Genesis Rising: The Universal Crusade is a 3D Real-time strategy game set in a distant future. The game was developed by Metamorf and published by DreamCatcher Interactive and was released on March 20, 2007. The game takes place in space, where players control ships and try to eliminate the opponent. The game's primary focus is on squad tactics, which can be compared to Savage: The Battle for Newerth.

The story is set in a mysterious futuristic universe where organic machines are built using genetic engineering. The player take on the role of Captain Iconah to explore and conquer the Universal Heart, the only part of the universe that's remained unconquered by the forces of humankind.

What makes Genesis Rising different from other RTS games is its story and background. Every (or almost every) ship in the game is completely organic as opposed to the standard plastic-and-metal hulks familiar to fans of Star Trek, Firefly, Homeworld or the Halo series. Unlike many science fiction video games, humankind is the dominant species of the galaxy instead of being powerless to some Godlike alien race. However, mankind in the game has also become very arrogant, proclaiming themselves to be on a divinely inspired crusade to overtake the Universe.

Story/Background
Humanity was on the brink of annihilation from numerous alien factions, determined to rid the universe of the "human plague". Divided, the humans were hunted down one by one. Then one human known as the Hero united the scattered humans to make a stand. The aliens captured, tortured and eliminated this demigod but his death as a martyr only strengthened humanity's cause. Humans then reclaimed Earth and drove away the alien presence. The Hero was then renamed the Savior and was greatly honoured by his people. A new church also arose to guide humanity in this new age; the Church of the Savior. But it didn't stop there. Leaving behind their values and principles, humans began their crusade to rule the universe.

Three thousand years later, mankind has carved a bloody path across the known Universe. Considering themselves a divine race and beyond reproach as a species, they view all alien races as inferior. Those that do not bow and acknowledge the infinite superiority of the human genome are subsequently punished or simply purged.

This dominion over almost all sentient life forms was only attainable through the creation and exploitation of the ‘organids’ - genetically designed organic technology, easily adaptable to any enemy strategy through the introduction of seeds into the blank genetic makeup of these living machines.

The overlording human governing body directing the initiative is the "Chair of Three” on which the representatives of three human factions reside: The Military, the Church and the Judicature.

Only one part of the Universe remains unconquered: The galaxy wherein lies the Universal Heart; an enigmatic entity that spawned all life and matter into the universe and sets time and space in motion with its first beat, is hidden. At least, that's what the Chair of Three believes.

As Captain Iconah you have been commissioned to uncover the location and purpose of the heart. A battle-hardened fleet commander and a brilliant genetic designer you must follow in your father’s footsteps, quelling the alien insurgences, outsmarting pirate cohorts and uncovering the lost galaxy and the secrets hidden within.

Plot
At the start of the game, Iconah is given the young Omnicruiser for his fifth birthday from his father even though it is illegal. They are then attacked by waste eaters (scavengers who harvest dead carcasses) but they fend them off.

Forty years later, Iconah is given a mission to seek out the Universal Heart in the Lifewave galaxy. The Church appoints Vicar Juno to accompany him. When they enter the Lifewave Galaxy, they discover mysterious stone altars filled with bloodair (the essence of the Heart) and an organid ship near them. They then meet the Cy-breed, a race of cyborg aliens. After a fierce battle, Iconah learns that the Cy-breed thought they were Defiance who are recruiting to fight an alien race whom they are at war with. The Cy-breed and Iconah fends off the Defience. Based on the player's choice, they fight at a trade system or the Cy-breed homeworld. Choosing to seek out this Defiance, Iconah's fleet comes to a sector filled with aliens humanity conquered in the past and have developed a new gene (Breeder) designed to fight the organids. Iconah manages to steal the gene and escape to the Great Trade Nexus where merchant Fax Chance gave them the coordinates to a possible clue to the Heart. Arriving in another system filled with altars, Iconah sees that the Defiance are at civil war because its leader, Loodweeg plans to destroy the Lapis altars for unknown reasons. Fending off the Defiance and protecting two altars, Iconah gets a call from Loodweeg himself who explains that the Lapis depend on the altars to find their way across the galaxy.

Iconah follows the bloodair trail to a frozen system, inhabited by the Cold Whites, an all-female race. After defeating a group of pirates, Iconah contacts the Whites. In a movie clip, the organid shape former accidentally enlarges the image of Il, the Cold Whites' leader, to where her torso fills the entire bridge, They then shrank it down to proper size. Il directed Iconah to a system with Lapis altars and Cy-breed ships who were brought in for sacrifice to the Lapis. The humans demonstrated the power of the organids compared to the Lapis ships. After they destroy all Lapis ships, Judge Infinity arrives, towing along a Cathedral class-mothership. After talking, Iconah challenges Juno to take his fleet and destroy the Defiance. Based on what choices are made, either Juno goes alone or Infinity joins him. The player can ask of astistance for the Cy-breed in this battle.

Two years after Juno defeated the Defiance, the Lifewave Galaxy and the Cy-Breed Empire had submitted its loyalty to the Human Empire. Juno was then planning on performing a church mass and had Iconah seek out the Cy-breed leader, Nell Exer, and the others, Il and Infinity. Once all the guests were present, the Lapis attack the sector. Nell and Il flee while the human fend for themselves. Retreating to Infinity's base, they succeed in stopping the Lapis from attacking them. Iconah deduces that the ship Il gave them as a gift is filled with bloodair. Juno assigns Iconah to execute both Loodweeg and Il for this. After obtaining the severed heads of the fallen leaders, Iconah is then directed to the Cerebrals. The player has the choice of doing some tasks for the Cerebrals or get the information by force. Either way, the player has to battle the Cerebrals. Iconah's fleet then comes to rock city where he has to retrieve a Lapis altar in order to open a portal. After defending the altar from the Lapis, Iconah's fleet goes through.

By some joke, Iconah comes back to the day of his fifth birthday in his child form. His father explains they have to repeat everything again. After destroying two waves of organic ships, Iconah then enters another portal. There, he finds the rest of his fleet who he manages to convince he is real. Defeating the three gate guardians, the fleet escapes the time zone created by the Heart. Iconah is then reunited with Juno who had spent 50 years in the distant past, planning on eliminating all aliens before they can attack Earth in the future. Iconah attacks the Juno but he escapes. He then makes contact with the Lapis. He goes to the lapis homeworld and makes an allience with the lapis. The lapis and Iconah defeat the Inquisition. He stops the mad vicer and restores the time line.

Races

 * Humans - Prior to the game mankind had existed for many millennium. They always were a war-like and often fought amongst each other. For a thousand years, humanity explored space and met alien races. They were driven from Earth by countless alien races determined to eliminate humanity. They were scattered and divided across the universe, making them easy targets to kill. One human known as the Hero united his fellows into a force powerful enough to stand against the aliens. He was murdered, but his death made victory possible and mankind reclaimed Earth. The hero was then recognized as the Savior. Guided by the fanatical Church, they sought out to rule the universe. Making an empire out for themselves, mankind conquered their way across the universe for three thousand years. Those who did not respect the human genome were punished or simply purged. Believing they were a god-like race, humanity became mostly selfish. Much of their victories were possible thanks to the Organids, genetically engineered machines which were capable of surviving in any environment with the proper mutation and adaptable to any strategy. They replaced the hunks of metal people were used to. The new empire was governed by three factions, the Military, the Judicature, and the Church.


 * Cy-breed - An anthropomorphic alien race who are cyborg in appearance. They believed that they were the most technologically sophisticated race in the universe until they met the Human and Defiance ships. They later became willing servants of the human empire.


 * The Lapis - A Zonta-lithic race. They are made of living stone and considered themselves to be the lesser gods in the Lifewave galaxy. Loodweeg of the Defiance believes that they are primitive because they rely on the altars to get around. Destroy their altars and they destroy everything. They utilize stone ships made of asteroids to planets of which no one has ever seen the inside of. When they appeared to Iconah, the Lapis were entirely made of rock and lava and completely faceless. To the Lapis, time is irrelevant.


 * Clingers - Evolved from predator insects that once inhabited their homeworld. Because the planet's surface is poisonous and deathly, the Clingers clinged to the upper branches of tall trees and floating surfaces specific to their habitat. Their homeworld is under Human control, compelling them to join the Defiance.


 * The Cold Whites - An all-female race of aliens who live in an ice filled system. No one knows how they reproduce or how long they live. They are taller than the average human and are quite insular, seldom allowing visitors to land on their planet. They submitted to the human Empire but some joined the Defiance. Il helped the defience.


 * The Cerebrals - A very ancient race who have existed long before known recorded history. They are completely composed of bones without flesh upon them. It is suspected they are capable of "infesting" the bodies of others and controlling their nervous systems. Some beings who survived encounters with them claim the Cerebrals do experiments on their prisoners. Their spaces forces are only composed of motherships capable of self-resurrection. They first thought humans were called Juno-creatures.

Military
The Military is the enforcer of the Human empire. They rely heavily on organid ships.

The light fighter is the most common military ship. It is capable of limited genetic mutations, but is very maneuverable and can play and important role in any squadron.
 * Light Fighter

Human

 * Iconah Age 40 Human Male, is a battle-hardened commander, a captain in the service of the human military, who is skilled in resolving conflicts through diplomacy. He has been victorious in many violent encounters with alien fleets. Iconah doubts the views of the Church, and perceives them as fanatical and somewhat twisted. He is also one of the military's foremost genetics experts. Iconah has a twenty year-old son who is a member of the church. Iconah was born on the same day as the Universal Heart. When he was 5, his father, shortly before going on the mission to find the Heart and never returned, game him the Omnicruiser as a birthday present, despite it being illegal for an underage person to control a ship. 40 years to the day, Iconah was ordered by the Chair of Three to locate the Heart as his father before him (his immediate superior; General Supreme, reminding him that this was not an excuse to find out what happened to his father). Iconah then went on his quest, and successfully subjegated the last remaining free galaxy in the Universe; Lifewave, under human rule, and began a relationship with Judge Infinity as well, before continuing his quest for the Heart.
 * General Supreme, Age 70 Human Male, is the leader of the Military and, as such, sits on the Chair of Three. General Supreme was once a ruthless soldier who despised politicians, but after numerous injuries where many of his body parts were replaced with organic technology, he began a political career and climbed the ladder to the Chair of Three. General Supreme believes that, when the Universal Heart is found, which he believes is their divine right, humankind will become true gods, with no need for religion and no more resistance.
 * Eon, Age 60 Human Male, is a former military intelligence agent who joined to serve Iconah's fleet out of respect for Iconah's father and admiration for Iconah's skills. He is also Burn's best friend.
 * Burn, Age 45 Human Male, followed Eon and joined to serve in Iconah's fleet. Burn's parents were killed by aliens on a distant human colony. He was saved by Eon's squadron, and the two have been inseparable since. He is also Iconah's friend and holds the rank of lieutenant.
 * Orkhan, Age 65 (when last seen) Human Male, is Captain Iconah's father. He was a military intelligence agent and carried out many top secret missions along with Eon. Orkhan kept the identity of Iconah's mother secret. Iconah last saw him when he was a child, before Orkhan left for a secret mission to find the Heart of the Universe. Orkhan has not been seen since and is assumed to be dead. It is ultimately revealed Orkhan has since died, under unknown circumstances, but Orkhan's "spirit" appeared to his son while on his own quest to find the Heart. Orkhan warned Iconah not to seek the Heart, for it was denying him peace.
 * Bishop, Age Unknown Human Male, is the leader of the Church. He has been its leader for as long as anyone can remember. Old men remember him leading the Church as little boys. He is kept alive by organic technology. Bishop knows more about the Empire and the secrets of the universe than any other living human. Despite's the fact that the Church's teachings were centered around the myth of the Universal Heart, Bishop believed a mission to search for the Heart was a terrible mistake, but is overruled by General Supreme and Judge Infinity, though succeeds in forcing Iconah to take Juno along to oversee the mission as his deputy.
 * Juno, Age 58 Human Male, is a devoted member of the Church and carries out Bishop's orders with perverse pleasure. He despises all alien races and strongly believes in the religious dogma of the Church. Juno has attained the rank of Vicar. Before setting off on his mission to find the Universal Heart, Bishop forces Iconah to take Juno along to oversee the mission as his deputy. Upon arrival, Juno's concerns become more and more centered on fighting and defeating the Defiance than finding the Heart, and so, two years after the Lifewave Galaxy is conquered by humans, Juno sets off with a fleet to destroy what remains of the Defiance, only to be sent back through time. Juno attempts to use this opportunity to destroy all alien life in its primordial stages before it can evolve and eventually come to attack Earth, disregarding the fact that it would devastate the timeline. Iconah is successful in stopping the mad vicar.
 * Judge Infinity, Age 35 Human Female, is the newly appointed leader of the Judicature and, as such, she now sits on the Chair of Three. Before becoming a judge, Infinity was a baroness and governed a distant alien planet held under human control. She was famous for her strict rule and swift punishments. Infinity wiped out crime and disorder on the planet, but was feared by her subjects. Infinity believes the Church holds too much power, and that the discovery of the Universal Heart is the Human Empire's ultimate goal. Together with General Supreme, they overruled Bishop and authorized Iconah to journey to the Lifewave Galaxy and find the Heart. Infinity is attracted to Iconah, initially because of their shared remarks on the dark side of the Church, wished to spend time with him when he returned, to which Iconah, revealing he shared her feelings, replied "Perhaps". Infinity later journeyed to the Lifewave Galaxy herself, and provided much needed assistance to crush the Defiance. Two years later, Lifewave was under Human control, and while Juno journeyed off with a fleet to destroy what remained of the Defiance, Infinity stayed behind and spent a lot of "quality time" with Iconah, and began a relationship with him. While kissing with him through an organic shapeformer, Burn nearly comes upon them but Iconah manages to switch Infinity's image with another alien.

Aliens

 * Loodweeg the Macabre, Age 150 Unknown Anthropomorphic Reptilian Male, was the leader of the Defiance. Loodweeg was the protector of his race, and, while originally serving as a master admiral in the space wars against the Human Empire (where he encountered and fought against Orkhan), served as a general on his home world. Humans invaded and destroyed everything and everyone 50 years ago. When he was defeated and his planet was lost, he retreated to far reaches of space and started a plotted revenge upon humans. Loodweeg's thirst for revenge led him to give orders that conflicted with the natural beliefs of his soldiers, leading to civil war amongst his ranks, and he was also left blind to human infiltration, and soon the Lifewave Galaxy, the last galaxy in the universe free of human control, was conquered. Two years later, The remains of the Defiance were crushed and Loodweeg killed by Iconah, who beheaded him and took his head as a trophy.
 * Mellagio, Age Unknown Lapis Male, is a mysterious being, rumored to be the leader of the stone Lapis.
 * IL (Ice Queen), Age Unknown Cold Whites Female, was the Queen of the Cold Whites, with very little known about her, or her species in general, other than this fact. Two years after the Lifewave Galaxy is conquered by the Human Empire, IL, in order to make them leave her people alone, tricks Iconah into attacking the Lapis. Spurned by this betrayal, Iconah tracks down and crushes her people and IL is killedby Iconah, who beheaded her and took her head as a trophy.
 * Fax Chance, Age Unknown Unknown Anthropomorphic Alien Male, is a notorious pirate who often poses as a successful merchant. He is wanted in most systems and so must constantly stay on the move. Fax assisted Iconah during his search for the Universal Heart, in exchange for retrieving three Talkheads; mysterious alien artifacts of unknown origin. After these objects were obtained, however, Fax tried to run away but his craft was disabled by the Omnicruiser. In exchange for his life, Fax gave Iconah the coordinates of his brother, who was a ranking Defiance officer who led his party into the civil war when Loodweeg's orders led to dissension among the ranks, as he promised.


 * Nell Exer, Age unknown Cy-breed Male, is the leader of the Cy-breed Empire. He was the first Lifewave leader to speek to the Human race. He hepled the human empire defeat the defience. Two years latter, the Empire is under human protection. So he went and oversaw a research project that went wrong. He was saved by his friend, Iconah, who takes his to Juno's Mass.

The Chair of Three
The governing body of the Human Empire. It is composed of a leader from three powerful factions who form the triumvirate. They oversee the everyday lives on the empire's citizens, its destiny and the fate of the universe.

Military
The will of the Empire. It heavily relies on the Organids. Commanders are skilled in genetic engineering along with strategic combat, making them formidable opponents in battle. The leader of the military is General Supreme.

Judicature
The Judicature manages the civil laws of humanity throughout the universe. In theory, they do not meddle in religious or military matters, but rather concentrate on politics and crime prevention. The Judicature is led by Judge Infinity.

The Church
The most fanatical of the Chair. They watch over all things living and ensure that all follow the will of God. The Church is led by the Bishop. Its teachings are based on the Savior's words and centered on the Universal Heart.

Inquisition
A secret paramilitary army created by the Church. They are feared throughout the universe and even the military finds their acts atrocious.

Defiance
The remnants of the many alien races and worlds that the Empire obliterated, have banded together to form a renegade army called the Defiance. It is led by Loodweeg the Macabre, the only surviving member of his race. They have obtained blueprints on how to construct Organids to defeat humanity.

Cy-breed Empire
Native faction of the Lifewave, they are the least warlike faction and focusing only on trade. They are often attack by the Defience, so they allied with the Human Empire. Latter, it became a willing servant of the Human Empire and maintains its own government.

Multiplayer
Multiplayer will be supported in this game. The Multiplayer consists of servers with a maximum players of 12. Around 15 maps will be available. All three races will be available for play.

All the races that appear in the singleplayer will also be playable in the multiplayer.

Trivia
Genesis Rising was an obscure comic book. The comic book is currently available to people who pre-order the game.