Jason Morim formed the council of nine to placate the woes of the clans whose identity were forcibly stripped away for the sake of unity. Eight council seats were given to the eight clans respectively, with the final seat occupied by a neutral observer which came to be known as the arch-counselor overtime. Naturally, Jason was the first arch-councellor, and under the lead of the council of nine the Combine flourished unchallenged in Barren.

They gradually moved from the twin towers into the ruins nearby, fortifying the abandoned buildings and slowly rebuilt the devastated city back to its former glory, though its original name had been lost from their memories. It was a long and tedious process, but for the first time humanity had a direction.

The Discovery of Rot Port

Five decades later, the Combine’s influence had grown far beyond the Gauntlet, reaching deep into Tar City and the Boneyards. As they expanded westwards towards the Rot Port and the ocean, a great calamity struck.

A band of excavators chanced upon an undetonated pre-exodus munition in the military vaults of Tar City, and upon dismantling the device, they unknowingly released a deadly biotoxin agent in which they became the vector of. Upon returning to the Gauntlet, they spread the disease, and it went undetected as its effects laid dormant in the hosts’ body.

Until the an expedition team discovered Rot Port to the far west.

The discovery of Rot Port will soon be an extremely significant milestone in the Combine’s history, for two reasons. First, they found huge factories with various kinds of machines that are still functional; and second, the environment in Rot Port somehow awakened the dormant biotoxin agent in the Combine scouts’ bodies.

Those who returned delivered the great news, but also brought back the triggering agent that soon spread ferociously through the Combine.

The Great Plague

The symptoms started as a mild fever, then rashes and boils on the skin, and eventually leading to hemorrhaging in the orifices which almost always lead to a gruesome death. Dubbed the Rot Port Plague, medics scrambled to contain the plague, not knowing that almost the entire population had already been infected and the breakout was simply a triggered action.

Half of the council of nine perished before any contingency plans were even drafted, and the containment efforts were all but in vain. Civil unrest broke out as tensions rose sky-high, reigniting inter-clan tensions in some ways. Leaderless and desolated, the Combine resigned to a steady path towards destruction.

Hellena the Savior

From the ashes of chaos rose an unassuming character - Hellena. Being one of those who discovered the munitions, she was miraculously unharmed by the plague. Although she was not the only one immune to the effects of the plague, she was the first to volunteer for leadership.

Her natural charm became an inspiration in these desperate times and soon she managed to rally all of the Combine under her direction, becoming the next arch-counselor after Jason’s passing. The fight against the plague, however, was not going anywhere at best.

With her influence and the technologies recovered from Rot Port, she made a tough decision. She moved all of those infected - who by that time were composed of more than 60% of the entire population - to Tar City, and locked up the gates leading into the Gauntlet. A great wall was built around the city by reinforcing the existing structures, and sentinels posted along these walls were instructed to fire at will upon those who dared approach the barricades.

Fearing that the biotoxin agent might mutate and become airborne, she instructed the construction of Biodomes: huge above-ground vaults that could contain a dozen human each, with complete sets of air purifier and toxin detection mechanisms installed. As the supplies in the silos were feared to be contaminated, entire silos were scorched and collectors were sent north with heavy escorts into the further reaches of the Boneyard to collect fresh supplies, away from the plague.

The lack of supplies forced Hellena to declare a rations credit law that completely replaced the barter system currently in place. The law made sure that every citizen was given a reasonable amount of supplies based on one’s profession, and encouraged frugality by allowing those with extra credits to purchase items of luxuries.

Her policies were incredibly effective. Within a month, the Gauntlet was free from the plague, yet at the same time her least favored policies like the Biodomes would stay on for a much longer time.

Hellena the Betrayer

However, beyond the gates of Gauntlet, the exiled cried injustice. As they slowly died from the plague, they tried to force their way back into Gauntlet, only to be mowed down by the sentinels. Caught between the anvil and the hammer, they tried to survive in the abandoned Tar City, although they were expected to perish within a year.

Yet they managed to survive.

Deep in the vaults of the military base where the biotoxins originated from, they found records of its creation and subsequently, its cure. Surprised that Hellena did not even attempt to explore this obvious solution, they became suspicious of the entire affair.

Reviewing the facts, they realized that Hellena was one of the excavators that were sent to the military base. Hellena’s brother was the one sent to Rot Port and discovered the abandoned factories. And now both Hellena and her brother Aveus are members of the new council of nine. They were certain there was a conspiracy to this “Great Plague”.

The Truth beyond the walls

Armed with countless questions, they stood beneath the walls of Gauntlet and attempted to convince the sentinels of their side of the story. Shouting their words into the air, they were surprised that their message reached nobody - for the Biodomes, with their sound-proof walls, conveniently shrouded the people within from the truth.

The sentinels were indoctrinated against such contingencies, and were convinced that the exiled were delirious. Believing that they had the responsibility to serve these mad people mercy, they did the only thing they were tasked to do: they opened fire.

As the exiled stubbornly refused to back down after the first few warning shots, dozens were mowed down instantly in the first fatal volley of shots. The crowd scrambled and dispersed, angry and betrayed.

The birth of the Saberions

While the voices of the exiled did not reach the Combine’s populace, some of the council members reserved their doubts towards the meteoric rise of Hellena to the position of arch-councillor. They asked the same questions - wouldn’t it be more prudent if they sent scounts to Rot Port to search for possible cures or at least ascertain the source of the plague? Why the hardline stance towards the infected and why isn’t there a reasonable resource allocation to the medics for the research for the cure?

Led by an outspoken maverick in the council - Gamos, they threatened to send out expedition units of their own as Hellena adopted a non-committal stance towards all these accusations, with her arguing that the current Biodome project’s implementation was far more important than these ‘trivial squabbles’. However, Hellena was not a person who could accommodate dissent in her own ranks.

Gamos was subsequently charged under a crime that he claimed innocence to, and exiled to join the infected as a punishment and a stark reminder to the other counselors of the cost of disobedience. The exiled counselor was secretly injected with the biotoxin before he was pushed out of the walls. As his skin began to boil, Hellena seized the opportunity and announced that the virus had gone airborne in order to hasten the implementation and adoption of the Biodomes.

Gamos was a hair’s breath from death’s gate before he was saved by the exiled with the cure, and taken to their new hideout deep inside Tar City where they had barely hacked out some living quarters safe from the vicious mutant animals that stalked the lands. Realizing the truth and furious at the betrayal, he rallied the exiled under the banner of his former clan - Saber of the Gloomy Canals.

The Saberions are thus born.

Next: The Saberion onslaught