The World of G-Rebels

Okktane, Skyblades, Daevos...? Here's a brief, spoiler-free introduction to the world of G-Rebels. It's not required for playing, but offers a quick sense of the world we're expanding and unveiling during Steam Early Access.

G-Rebels on Steam
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2445980/GRebels/

Early Access Patch Notes:
https://reakktor.com/htm/gr_patch_notes.htm

1 Flood

Earth didn't change slowly. It shattered. Suddenly, violently, irreversibly. Not as a result of climate change, but through a rupture in reality.
In 2517, a gravity experiment at CERN triggered something that no one fully understands to this day. A dimensional shift? A portal? The archives are damaged. The records are fragmented. What exactly happened no longer matters. The old world no longer exists.
Within days, the sea rose over coasts, cities, continents. At the same time, the laws of gravity began to fail. In certain zones, chunks of land tore free, rose hundreds of meters into the air, and remained suspended as if frozen in place. Floating islands, mocking the laws of physics, rising from the waters.
The atmosphere also spun out of control. Tornadoes, electromagnetic discharges, tsunamis, atmospheric rifts. The state of emergency became normal life.
Humanity had no time to dwell on why. No time for blame or analysis. It was about survival, in a world that no longer had space for it.

2 Atlas

Yet there were places that resisted the new reality. Zones where the storms did not rage at full strength and where gravity had not completely collapsed.
The region above the former Atlas Mountains was one of them. Its highest peaks still rose above the floods and became islands of the newly formed Atlas Archipelago.
Only a tiny fraction of humanity survived the catastrophe. Yet the knowledge of construction and the engineering skill of the 26th century endured. Floating platforms anchored to the peaks, bridges, energy clusters. Piece by piece, Atlas became the center of a newly forming society. At first only a makeshift refuge, but a light of hope. A place that offered not only survival, but a new beginning.

3 Venice

Extracting usable land from the Atlas Archipelago was slow and costly. Therefore Venice, defiantly named after the long-lost lagoon city, grew mainly upward. Thousands of skyscrapers pierced the sky, built on floating, ring-shaped platforms.
But the idea of floating megacities and their technology was still young, and the world remained unpredictable. Tsunamis, storms, atmospheric rifts. Venice endured, but not without scars. Year after year, the city suffered visible damage. Structures became brittle, trust eroded. Many no longer felt safe.

4 Daevos

The second megacity was built in the center of the Atlas Archipelago. Daevos was meant to do everything better. More modern, taller, safer. The architecture followed strict logic: modular structures, redundant systems, clean lines. Every tower, platform, and connection was part of a greater algorithm promising safety, efficiency, and control. Those who could afford it moved here.
Daevos offered protection and comfort, but also demanded adaptation. The recent surge in crime in Venice was seen by the Directorate, the city’s rulers, as a warning of how fragile the newly created society was. To prevent such developments in Daevos before they could take root, laws were tightened. The focus was on prevention, maximum control, a police force with far-reaching powers, and the creation of Okktane, a military intelligence service, to maintain order in the city-state at any cost.
The city grew rapidly, but the floating base on which the dense city was built soon reached its load limit. Further expansion was almost impossible because Daevos was surrounded by gravitational anomalies. Yet that very technology was needed to build taller structures and keep growing. The Directorate decided to create a facility dedicated entirely to researching Antigravity technology (AG) (see Iron Sands).
Meanwhile, Venice became an enclave of the left-behind, but also of outlaws and free spirits who avoided the system. What began as a promise became a place for those who had no place in the new order, or consciously rejected it.

5 Iron Sands

Built as a massive research station in the south of the Atlas Archipelago, Iron Sands was the heart of the Directorate’s Antigravity research (AG).
After years of work, the breakthrough came. Structures could be stabilized with controlled AG and reach heights that had previously been unimaginable. The newly built Citadels reached into the highest cloud layers, offering living space for the further expansion of the metropolis.
But the Directorate quickly realized that controlled AG was far more than a construction revolution. Iron Sands was massively expanded. Laboratories and factories began producing first small, then larger AG-based aircraft, from Skyblades to the huge floating AG Airships that permanently changed the face of the Atlas Archipelago.
Over the years, Iron Sands grew beyond its role as a research station. Additional shipyards for AG Airships and Skyblades, residential and industrial platforms, supply docks. In the end, Iron Sands became an independent city. Raw, technocratic, and shaped by the constant presence of the Directorate. A place where progress and power went hand in hand.

6 Eden

The almost unrestrained growth and the economic boom through the mass production of Skyblades and AG Airships made Daevos flourish. Entrepreneurs, scientists, and visionaries formed a new elite that wanted more than mere functionality and efficiency. The strict, purpose-driven architecture of Daevos was to them a symbol of restriction, control, and monotony, not of progress and free thought.
Lacking a place that met their ideas, they decided to create one themselves. Eden.
Partly built on vast, specially designed AG structures, Eden rose as a green garden metropolis in the northeast of the Atlas Archipelago. The city combined cutting-edge technology with radical aesthetics. Towers in organic shapes, green terraces, floating AG buildings, transparent domes, and artificial waterfalls. Art, technology, and luxury were equally integrated into the cityscape.
Eden saw itself as the cultural and intellectual heart of the Atlas Archipelago. A place of innovation and pleasure. Critics, however, saw it as an isolated refuge for the wealthy, far from the problems that plagued Venice and even Daevos.

7 Modern Era

Ideologically, the megacities drifted further apart, yet a fragile web of mutual dependencies preserved the peace.
Daevos and the Directorate, with Iron Sands, guarded AG technology and formed the largest and most dominant faction in the Atlas Archipelago.
Venice controlled the richest fishing grounds and vital raw material reserves.
Eden supplied the high-end technology used to control Skyblades, AG Airships, and networks.
For decades, the tense balance held. But the Directorate’s hunger for expansion never waned, and its drive for total control over the Atlas Archipelago remained absolute. Each new Citadel, every Outpost, and every AG Airship increased the demand for energy and resources.
Eventually, Daevos struck. Fast, precise, and without warning. Within days, all of Venice’s fish farms, power plants, and raw material sites were under Directorate control. The operation met almost no resistance. Militarily outmatched, Venice could do little more than watch as its lifelines were severed.
From that day on, Venice was forced to buy back its own resources at prices dictated by Daevos.  For a city-state already teetering on the edge of economic collapse, it was the final blow. Eventually, Venice began to sink into anarchy and decay.

Eden, strong but in shock, politically isolated, and determined to avoid open war, soon agreed to a coerced alliance with Daevos. Officially, it was presented as a guarantee of peace. In reality, it was a masterstroke by the Directorate to prevent any potential alliance between Venice and Eden before it could form.
The operation cemented Daevos' total control over the Atlas Archipelago and its resources. Only Eden’s high-tech manufacturing facilities remained outside the Directorate’s grasp.

8 The Directorate

The Directorate is the ruling power in Daevos. A council of powerful industrialists, military leaders, and scientists who run the megacity like an empire.
Its members aren't elected. They rise through influence, wealth, and strategic loyalty. All decisions are made behind closed doors, supported by its intelligence service (see Okktane), corporate magnates, and an almost omnipotent police force.
To the citizens of Daevos, the Directorate is a guarantor of stability, safety, and technological progress. To its opponents, it is a cold, authoritarian regime that judges every action by whether it strengthens its grip on power.
Its control over Daevos, Iron Sands, and nearly all natural resources makes it the most formidable political force in the Atlas Archipelago.

9 Okktane

Officially, peace has returned to the Atlas Archipelago. Unofficially, tensions simmer beneath the surface. For the most sensitive operations, the Directorate does not rely on the police, but on its military intelligence service: Okktane.
Its agents operate in covert operations, under false identities and deep underground. With virtually unlimited resources and authority, Okktane outranks the police and sometimes even the law itself. Its mission is to protect the Directorate’s interests at any cost, whether in the Atlas Archipelago or within its own ranks.
Little is known about their equipment, except that Okktane has access to experimental AG tech not available to the public.

10 Controlled Antigravity (AG)

The story of controlled AG began not with targeted research, but with a global catastrophe. In 2517, an experiment at CERN triggered an unprecedented rupture in reality (see Flood).
Within hours, the laws of physics broke down in multiple locations across Earth. Coastlines disappeared beneath massive floods, parts of the crust tore free and floated into the sky.
These floating islands were the first tangible sign of a new, untamed force. Gravity that could be locally negated or reversed. For over a century, it remained an unpredictable, dangerous mystery.
Only with the founding of Iron Sands did systematic study begin. Under Directorate leadership, the underlying effects were isolated and stabilized. Controlled antigravity was born.
Initially, AG was used primarily for structural stabilization. Without it, Daevos’ Citadels could never have been built. Skyscrapers stretch kilometers into the sky, immune to earthquakes, storms, and anomalies, bearing only a fraction of their true weight.
Soon, its potential expanded. First AG-assisted freighters (AG Airships), then agile Skyblades that quickly became the Atlas Archipelago’s preferred mode of transport, replacing helicopters and planes almost overnight.
With the breakthrough in large-scale AG propulsion, a new era began. AG became the archipelago’s most strategic technology in both civilian and military domains.
Daevos and the Directorate hold a monopoly on AG core components. Venice and Eden can license the technology and handle repairs or modifications, but remain dependent on deliveries from Daevos via Iron Sands.
What began as a catastrophe became the backbone of power in the Atlas Archipelago. Control it, and you control the future.

11 Citadels

The Citadels are the ultimate giants among the Atlas Archipelago’s structures. So tall their spires pierce the highest cloud layers, so vast entire districts fit inside. Without controlled AG, their existence would be impossible. AG fields neutralize most of their mass, stabilizing them against earthquakes, storms, and anomalies.
Originally built in Daevos to house its growing population, Citadels are now symbols of the AG age. Even Venice, long plagued by structural damage and safety concerns, built several Citadels after adopting AG, providing storm-proof housing for its citizens.
Inside, they are often self-contained microcities. Residential areas, supply centers, skyports, and trade zones. Fortresses of modern life that are both sanctuary and a display of power.

12 Skyblades

Skyblades are agile, single- or dual-seat AG craft combining speed, maneuverability, and range like no other vehicle. Their sleek fuselage and fully enclosed cockpit make them equally suited for civilian, courier, or military roles.
Thanks to precise AG stabilization, Skyblades can hover in place, change direction instantly, or take off and land almost vertically. Their hybrid propulsion uses AG cores for lift and fine stability, while jet propulsion provides thrust.
This means they can hover, pivot in seconds, then accelerate to cruising speed with turbine or electric jet engines, depending on the model. Thrust-vectoring nozzles pair with AG fields for abrupt stops, vertical sprints, and razor-sharp turns, even in turbulence or anomaly zones. Fail-safes allow hover mode in engine failure, or glide/parachute modes in AG failure.
From megacity to island to open sea, Skyblades are the Atlas Archipelago’s default mode of travel. Fast, precise, and everywhere.

13 AG Airships

AG Airships are the heavyweights of the skies. Colossal, multi-deck craft whose lift comes entirely from large-scale AG fields. They use AG cores not only for stabilization but to fully offset their mass, enabling hulls hundreds of meters long.
Propulsion combines redundant jet engines and AG impulse thrusters, allowing precision maneuvering even in tight harbors, skyports, or between floating islands.
Their roles range from mass transport and mobile shipyards to airborne command centers. In peacetime, they serve as freighters and passenger liners, often with workshops and Skyblade hangars onboard. In military hands, especially Daevos and Okktane, they become flying fortresses with gun turrets, drone decks, and Skyblade wings.
Most models come from Iron Sands, whose modular design allows customization. Luxury liners for Eden, rugged freighters for Venice, armored supply ships for Daevos. AG Airships are the backbone of intercity trade and the key to supplying, blockading, or capturing a city.

14 Outposts

Outposts are smaller, often isolated facilities built on storm-battered peaks of the Atlas Archipelago, far from metropolitan safety. They serve as military bases, skyports, floating power plants, fish farms, or high-security uplinks to the Guardian satellite network.
Before Daevos’ takeover, Venice operated most of these, especially fish farms and power plants, while Eden maintained only a single skyport and one power plant. Today, nearly all are in Directorate hands, granting full control over the Atlas Archipelago’s energy, food, and communications networks.

15 Guardian

Guardian is Directorate’s orbital high-energy defense system, inseparably linked to the Outposts. A satellite-based laser that monitors and, if needed, defends Directorate-claimed sectors of the Atlas Archipelago.
Ground stations in each sector constantly scan airspace and waterways. Any detected object is identified and cross-checked against central clearance protocols.
If an unauthorized intruder is found, Guardian switches to combat mode. The target ship is warned to leave immediately, accompanied by a precisely timed countdown.
If ignored, the ground station locks targeting, transmitting precise course and movement data to the satellite. Within microseconds, Guardian fires concentrated laser bursts powerful enough to destroy even armored AG Airships, until the intruder retreats or is annihilated.
In the Atlas Archipelago, everyone knows: push the countdown, and you will not survive.

16 X-Type

The X-Type is an experimental Skyblade prototype developed in Iron Sands’ hidden workshops under the direct oversight of the Directorate and Okktane. It combines next-generation AG cores with a high-optimized jet propulsion unit designed for extreme maneuvering in tight or turbulent air zones. The result is an aircraft faster, more agile, and with greater endurance than any Skyblade before it.
The X-Type is more than a combat craft. It is a flying testbed for unconventional technologies: modular weapon systems, multi-warhead capability, active drone support, slots for experimental upgrades, and a neural HUD interface granting near-instantaneous pilot control. This responsiveness demands extraordinary concentration and physical endurance from its pilot.
Officially, only one exists. Zulu One is the first pilot to fly it. Rumors within Okktane suggest it was never intended for routine patrols, but for deep operations behind enemy lines where no reinforcements will come. In skilled hands, it could keep or tip the balance of power in Atlas.

17 Zulu One (Z1)

Zulu One is a veteran Skyblade pilot serving Okktane. Loyal, precise, and known for keeping a cool head under extreme pressure. Officially, he does not exist. His missions appear in no records, and few in the Atlas Archipelago even know his codename.
In 2684, Z1 was chosen for a special assignment: the maiden flight of the X-Type prototype, an experimental Skyblade with extended range, unmatched agility, and advanced AG systems.
The test is more than a technological milestone. It is a trial for Zulu One himself. Even before his first flight, it is clear that with the X-Type, he will fly missions far beyond reconnaissance or escort. Operations that could reshape the power games of the Atlas Archipelago.