

Naturally, this research got out of control as such things always do. The researchers discovered that a human, once possessed, retained heightened abilities after the aetherial being was purged from them. Through experimentation, they learned that these beings, made of aether, a sort of spiritual energy, could fuse themselves with the human mind, possessing and controlling their host if they were able to subvert the human's will. Naturally, being paranoid of the unknown as humans often are, they also devised a way to imprison it once it came through. They learned things from the whisperings of these otherworldly entities and eventually attempted to open a portal to bring one across.

Humans at some point had come into communication with extra-dimensional beings. Cairn has become ground zero of an eternal war between two otherworldly powers, the Aetherials, who view human bodies as a resource to use, and the Chthonians, who are intent on destroying humanity before that can happen. The game takes place in Cairn, a dark, war-torn world where a once proud empire has been brought to ruin and the human race driven to the edge of extinction. 4.1 Downloadable content and expansions.
