I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals. - Sir Winston Churchill

This is a continuation of the story.

After climbing to the end of the treacherous mountain range they find the old wise man character in a low tech buggy waiting for them. After a short greeting they enter the buggy and this sequence can in some ways be a formal introduction to the world around them. An early credit roll while the buggy passes the post apocalyptic mountain range, the lower levels of the massive cities as well as the various monumental structures and the Old wise man explains the environmental, theoretical and practical life of society.

The environmental situation is that of a dying one. The air quality is constantly getting lower in quality and it seems that only the higher ups in the nation can afford useful ventilation systems which does cleanse the air for them. The exterior environment can be identified by a slight radial glare from the sun as well as heavy clouds and a slight green tone. It can vary in color producing some absolutely fantastic visuals, but none of them too healthy. The large industrial plants shattered everywhere adds more and more pressure on the environment, and the government has no qualms about unleashing weapons which does contribute to the situation.

The theoretical system goes into the daily ethics of the nation. The nation encourages guerrilla warfare competition based on the competence of the various groups that forms after that. The leading group of each factor is granted a near vassalage like ownership, but has to pay both a 'human tax' as well as ensuring that the regular taxes of the region is collected. The main government is an incredibly powerful as well as rich function as a result as all of this which can easily eradicate any guerrilla group that does not obey them properly. They have a massive military and an unrivaled industrial strength, they live upon the spoils of war and they have no humanitarian infrastructure. You do what you have to do in order to succeed. There are few rules, even for the citizens, but the few rules that are broken often result in instant court martial or worse.

The practical situation goes into the fact that the only loyalty that is to be found today is that of the coin, money can get you anything. Even in the regular citizens life they will do practically anything for money. They are forced to on a near daily basis throw down corpses into what they call the pit. The city is under constant attacks from plagues and whatnot.

After a ride which details these factors they stop outside what seems to be one of the better buildings in the slum. After a quick elevator ride they get into the office of the old wise man who lives a considerably better life than most, yet still enjoys the average slumming around in the lower cities. He gives the protagonist a proposition, to infiltrate the government and crash the system. The protagonist bluntly refuses to do this, and leaves shortly after, but the old wise man expresses his confidence that he will work for him one way or the other, after all, he used to be in the business of the protagonist himself.

After leaving and talking it over with the sidekick character and sub-protagonist it seems like all is a no-go, simply because the protagonist does not want to work under these circumstances. He does receive a message from the old wise man character which shows a single picture, which is enough to start the journey itself.