Story

Preface

Axiom Verge lays out its events through Cutscenes and Notes hidden around the game. These often hint at actuality, but are sometimes ambiguous. Thus, there are many ways to interpret the game's story. In fact, the main foundation of the game is to question what is real.

Individual pages for characters and locations also go further in depth about their own individual background; this page simply serves to tell the world's story. Please also visit the Lore Discussion Forum for questions, controversial ideas, and theories.

Timeline

If you're interested in a linear timeline of the events presented in the game's notes and story, please see the Timeline page.

Axiom Verge

Pre-Game Events

Before the events of the game, the Rusalki arrived to Sudra and were seen as being of the Old Machines, or ancient technology the Sudrans no longer understood. The High Priestess of the time summoned the storm- the Breach- and surrounded Sudra with it. This rendered the Rusalki, referred to in Sudran as Kuliltu, helpless and damaged and able to be stripped of their bodies and taken into the care of the priesthood. This had overall negative effects on the Rusalki, with one of them going insane from the captivity and the others growing disdain for the Sudran priesthood.

Years later, a man comes to Sudra. Trace Eschenbrenner is a scientist on Earth who works in a laboratory in New Mexico when a frozen pressure valve causes an explosion, and is severely injured. For months, he is bedridden, blind, and paralyzed from the waist down. With little other stimuli, his mind turns to physics and the mysteries of the universe.

After his injury, Trace has an epiphany; one that changes the very laws of physics. With the help of Dr. Hammond, he begins publishing his theories, but the scientific community is skeptical of this drastic departure from established science. He is blacklisted from the scientific community, and they begin to call him "Athetos", a nickname that can be taken to mean "one whose opinion is rejected", or quite plainly, "without place".

He doesn't let the public backlash stop him; using this new understanding of physics, Athetos and Dr. Hammond are able to cross the Breach, a barrier between worlds. Crossing the Breach, they find the world of Sudra. There, he is introduced to their technology and they use a Rebirth Chamber to heal him of all his injuries, restoring his sight and mobility. He describes it as miraculous, though decides that this technology is too dangerous to introduce to Earth, due to something "catastrophic" that occurred before. He and Hammond part ways, as Hammond returns to Earth and starts Hammond Corp, while Athetos continues on to the filter upstream of Sudra in pursuit of higher worlds. During this time, he reached higher worlds, and likely saw A'ansur itself. It's unknown how much time he stayed there, but he eventually returned to Sudra.

When he returned, he was enraged at the Sudrans for forgetting the origins of their technology, now holding religious reverence for it rather than understanding its construction. They had surrounded Sudra with Breach in order to protect their world, which also cut themselves off from everything else in the worldstream. In his rage, he starts war with the Rusalki; their life support is shut off, their drones are hindered, and they are disconnected from their bodies, though most of this fault is the Sudrans'. Athetos allies with Katrahaska, a Rusalka, before she is promptly killed by Ophelia.

According to the Rusalki, Athetos released a pathogen onto Sudra, which killed all its inhabitants, and proceeded to activate the Breach Attractor, surrounding Sudra with Breach and preventing the Rusalki from escaping; the latter is a lie, as the Sudrans surrounded the planet with Breach, but there may be truth in the rest of the Rusalki's claims. Eventually, Ophelia comes up with an idea to clone Athetos using the imprint left behind from when he used a Rebirth Chamber and imbuing it with Katrahaska's nanogates, creating a younger version of Athetos that may be more willing to help their case. This clone becomes Trace, the player character.

In-Game Events

The copy of the younger Trace is the player throughout the game, waking up in a Rebirth Chamber in Eribu before being beckoned by Elsenova; at this point in time, she is very degraded and cannot speak for long, simply telling Trace to retrieve the gun in the next room and help her. After defeating Xedur, he descends into Absu, where he is able to finally encounter Elsenova face to face. After finding her, she instructs him to seek out the Power Filter and repair it, as this is essentially the Rusalki's life support and helps them release toxins from their systems.

He travels through Absu to reach Zi, where the Power Filter is. During this journey, he defeats Telal and Uruku and reactivates the filter, enabling Elsenova to talk longer and waking up the other dormant Rusalki dwelling on Sudra. In Zi, he meets Veruska, who introduces herself as a predator in the most literal sense, appearing to obsess over organic flesh and blood, as well as the hunt's kill. Elsenova describes her as a dreamer, who is able to create "mind worlds". She lets Trace have access to the Passcode Tool, which she apparently stole from Athetos, stored behind her room.

Trace then has to ascend the caverns of Kur, eventually making it above Sudra's surface to its mountains. Here, he is able to reactivate the Repair Drones, drones that serve the purpose of simply repairing the Rusalki, both inside and out. These drones will also help Trace occasionally, killing enemies when they're around, sometimes at the cost of their own life. He defeats Gir-Tab and gains access to Katrahaska's room, where her corpse remains. Elsenova's words about her are very brief, and does not elaborate on her death much. After activating the Repair Drones, Trace is sent to go find Ophelia, who dwells all the way in Ukkin-Na. In this journey, he encounters Oracca in Indi, who does not speak, but offers Trace a method of transportation between the vast distance of Sudra.

Shortly after entering Ukkin-Na, Trace starts to feel hot and faint, which Elsenova says to be the effects of Athetos's pathogen. She tells him to simply keep pushing through, and that Ophelia isn't far. He starts to hallucinate, seeing faces, voices, and eventually faux enemies that can actually kill the player; this doesn't end the hallucination sequence, and it must be finished from start to end. The hallucinations don't end until Trace encounters a Vision. When he enters the arena, he is the vision, and there is a Trace shooting at him. Elsenova tells him to stay put, as she has made contact with Ophelia. The player controls the vision and can fire at the Trace, but the vision is eventually defeated. Trace- the one shooting at the vision- collapses, finally succumbing to the pathogen, until a Repair Drone walks up to him and seemingly drags him across Ukkin-Na to Ophelia's room.

After he faints from the Pathogen, Trace begins to remember what really happened after the lab explosion; for the whole game, he is under the impression that his appearance on Sudra is directly related to the lab explosion, however, it was simply unrelated, as the explosion was caused by a frozen pressure valve. He remembers what he did before, how he was blinded and paralyzed and discovered a new way of thinking about physics, and how he was named Athetos. He doesn't immediately tell the Rusalki about his discovery, however.

He wakes up in front of Ophelia, healed by her. Here, she explains several things to Trace; why she "brought" him to Sudra, him being a PatternMind, her own role in traversing the Breach and "finding" Trace, and what he should do next. She tells him that Athetos and the Breach Attractor are in the elevator above her room; if Trace destroys the Breach Attractor, the Rusalki can handle the rest. Before he is able to scale the elevator, he must traverse Edin, as he doesn't have the skills required for it. Here, he gains access to the Address Bomb, the Drone Teleport after defeating Ukhu, as well as kills the Aborted Clone.

After Trace either kills the Aborted Clone or lets it die, he declares that he "can't do this anymore", admitting that he knows he's Athetos. Elsenova has Ophelia explain that Trace is a clone of Athetos, made from an imprint Athetos left on a Rebirth Chamber. Trace says that he needs to talk to Athetos, but Elsenova refuses, saying Trace must continue on his current path. When he pushes back, saying she can't make him do it, she emphasizes her power by forcibly killing him by shutting down his nanogates. When he revives, Ophelia apologizes for Elsenova's behavior and tells Trace he doesn't have to kill Athetos. After the arena where the Aborted Clone is discovered, Trace is able to continue past and discover the Rusalki's bodies.

After this, Trace is able to access the highest peak of Kur, E-Kur-Mah. Here, he is able to descend and obtain the Red Coat, which finally allows him to scale the elevator to Mar-Uru, where Athetos is hiding. Trace is forced to evade and defeat multiple machines that attack relentlessly, including having to destroy the Sentinel in order to continue scaling. In the beginning of the final stretch, he must also defeat Xedur Hul before beginning the treacherous journey to Athetos.

He finds Athetos in his hideaway, confronting him and talking to him before the fight begins, demanding answers. Athetos says that he cannot tell Trace too much, or else his "captors" will kill him, but he explains Sudra's past, and how they forgot the origins of their technology, as well as how it sparked Athetos's rage. He explains that he refuses to turn off the Breach Attractor, as it'd free the Rusalki, who he describes as masters of war. Athetos himself does not attack, as he is in a chamber that prolongs his life, and he sends several Donaughts after Trace. When he is finally defeated, Athetos accepts his defeat as Trace realizes Elsenova is going to kill him. Athetos says to Trace that it was inevitable and that he shouldn't blame himself. After this, Elsenova fires a laser at him, killing him instantly.

After Athetos is killed, Trace laments, wondering if Athetos could've been redeemed and what he's supposed to do now with the knowledge of his existence as a mere clone. Elsenova reassures him that it wasn't him that made Athetos's bad decisions, and that he should just rest. As Trace faints, Elsenova offers that they might see each other again one day.

After the game ends, various ending scenes are available, depending on what percentage completion the player is at.

Axiom Verge 2

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Speculation

(This section contains major spoilers for Axiom Verge 1 and 2)

It is likely that the Rusalki truly released the pathogen, as opposed to Athetos.

When the Rusalki came to Sudra, they were imprisoned underground by the Sudran people, and the Sudrans activated the Breach Attractor. This not only shielded Sudra from the outside universe, but prevented the Rusalki from leaving. Being trapped beneath the planet's surface appeared to have detrimental effects on the Rusalki's health, as there is the notable imprisonment and subsequent mental health issues suffered by Oracca. The Rusalki have stated their bitterness towards the Sudran people and don't appear to be necessarily forgiving towards them. It may also be possible that the Sudrans are responsible for the Rusalki being separated from their bodies.

It's important to note that Trace is lied to throughout most of the game, so it's impossible to take what either Elsenova or Athetos says at face-value. The Notes throughout the game provide more reliable information, and it's necessary to interpret the subtext. Athetos tells Trace that he can't reveal too much, or else Trace's "captors" would kill him, while the Rusalki have several holes in their story.

This theory answers several questions that otherwise seem to be plot holes, such as Athetos and the Rusalki being enemies. They both want the Breach Attractor turned off, and they both are bitter towards the Sudrans- unless Athetos truly isn't, and the Rusalki, frustrated with their capture and deteriorating situation, decided to unleash the Pathogen on the Sudrans, and Athetos is actually trying to stop them.

The Note "Athetos" says that Katrahaska "got to" Athetos before the writer "had a chance". If she had sided with Athetos to kill the Sudrans, then why would the other Rusalki care if she contacted him? Unless, Katrahaska "siding" with Athetos meant she was actually against releasing the Pathogen, and warned Athetos in the hopes he could help stop the Rusalki. Ultimately, she was killed by Ophelia, so this means the Rusalki didn't want her stopping the pathogen.

Additionally, Athetos developed a specifically biological pathogen, one that seemingly has no effect on the Rusalki. The Rusalki are certainly a much greater threat to him than the Sudran people. It would make more sense that if Athetos struck first, he would take out the Rusalki, and then kill the Sudrans, not the other way around. If he was so set on reaching outside worlds, it'd be best to get the so-called "masters of war" out of the way first.

Further, Athetos seems unable to cure himself of the pathogen while Ophelia easily treats Trace after the pathogen causes him to hallucinate. If the Rusalki had the power to cure the pathogen, why did they not save any of the Sudran from the disease? There is a single note called "Security Notice" that states "The intruder who commandeered the storm talisman is suspected of releasing a plague." But who has raised such a suspicion? It's possible the Rusalki used Athetos as a convenient scape-goat, to misdirect the Sudrans into believing that he was responsible for the Pathogen.

In Axiom Verge 2, Indra meets Damu, who gives her the ability to traverse the Breach. Before this, any physical contact with the Breach portals will cause physical damage. Her physical body isn't able to go into the Breach, and she must go in the form of her Remote Drone. However, after first entering the Breach, coming into contact with any NPCs, such as Warren, Malka, Kari, or Ivan will cause them to eventually become ill- starting with a cough and possible hallucinations- and eventually turning into a Proto-Xedur. This implies the Breach itself holds toxic properties to organic life.

The note Security Notice states that the plague was released by someone who bore the "storm talisman". As seen in several pieces of lore (see: Storm Bomb, Cutscene 0011 AV1), the Breach is referred to as a storm. The lack of scientific understanding makes sense, given how the people of both Sudra and Kiengir bear extremely close similarities to the people from real-world ancient Sumer. A High Priestess of Sudra was said to have rung in the Storm after the imprisonment of the Rusalki, which lines up with how Indra was the first one in the in-game timeline to obtain the Breach Attractor. It is likely that after Indra becomes Ophelia (see her and Ophelia's speculation pages for more information), the Breach Attractor was stolen from her during the Sudran imprisonment of the Rusalki, which was in turn used by the clergy to surround Sudra with Breach. This is, inevitably, what caused the spread of the pathogen.

Alternate Story Interpretations

This section will contain any alternate and/or more vague interpretations to Axiom Verge's plot. Alternate interpretations are those that do not take the game's events "at face value", and instead, seek to read the subtext to define what really happened.

The Multiverse Theory

Credit to Youtuber The Phawx for this interpretation of the Axiom Verge Story.

Let's assume that the events of Axiom Verge take place in not one, but many different parallel universes. In each of these universes, any number of events can have had different outcomes, leading to very small or very large differences from our own universe.

The main convergence point is the beginning cutscene—the lab accident in New Mexico in 2005. The lab explosion happens in Universe A, after which Trace and Dr. Hammond travel through the Breach to Universe C, where they find Sudra. They then travel through the Breach an unknown number of times (to other times and other Universes) before Trace return to Sudra, in Universe C, as Athetos. At this point in Universe C, hundreds of years have passed since Trace originally came here and used the Rebirth Chamber. Athetos now sets in motion his plan to release The Pathogen, and the High Priestess uses the Breach Attractor to bring the Breach closer to the planet. This also forces the Rusalki down under the planet's surface.

Much of the backstory events on Sudra can be read in the main section above.

The key difference here is that Ophelia's new plan, Plan B, does not revolve around cloning the original Trace. Rather, she wants to retrieve him from another universe—a universe in which he has not yet become Athetos. Ophelia travels through the Breach using some new method (hinted at in Trace (Note)). In her first attempt, she winds up on Earth during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (see English (Note)). During this time, Athetos disables the Repair Drones and Power Filter. Ophelia is eventually able to find Trace in Universe B, and pulls him through the Breach just as the lab explosion is happening. The Trace from Universe B is never blind nor crippled, but instead the Rusalki implant Sudran technology in him so that they can control him, and then he awakens in the Rebirth Chamber—and the game events begin.

After Elsenova kills Athetos, the Rusalki take the Universe B Trace back to Universe B, just after the lab explosion (in the Universe B timeline, he would have been gone for a very short period). We know this because the lab explosion has not injured him and there is no duplicate of himself.

But what about the cutscene when Trace remembers being blind and crippled? This occurs during his hallucinogenic coma induced by the Pathogen. Memories from Universe A Trace flood the mind of Universe B Trace and he believes these are his own memories.

And what about the bonus cutscenes where Athetos is alive, meets up with Trace and kills him in Universe B? That's difficult to explain. It is possible that this is an Athetos from yet another universe. Or it's possible that it's the Athetos from Universe A, coming to Universe B out-of-chronology, on one of his many trips through the Breach.

Simulated Universe Theory

The note Axiom 1 (Note) heavily suggests that the universe is actually a simulation, which means that a PatternMind is someone who can manipulate the code from within the simulation to some extent. The Axiom Address Disruptor is a direct reference to this universal axiom as it is designed to corrupt and modify the running algorithms. The various glitches, in that case, would be actual glitches in the simulation - including the Breach. The Breach itself may be the boundary of Sudran, an early simulation with much narrower bounds than the Earth simulation, and travelling beyond the Breach from Sudran acts like an address overflow.

The reason Athetos can travel between simulations is because he realized the true state of the universe, and found a way to trick the simulation into permitting him to travel between universes.

This may also explain his disdain for the Sudrans; they are merely algorithms being run inside the Sudran simulation and not actual "people". How he considers mankind to be any different is anyone's guess though.

This also plays directly into Veruska's ability to create mind worlds. She is a massive computer, after all, and her purpose may be to extract information from enemies by simulating a world for them and convincing them, within that world, to reveal secrets (similar to Inception).