Game Background

Descent: FreeSpace - The Great War

Long enough title eh? Actually FreeSpace and Descent have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Someone once mentioned that the only reason that FreeSpace 1 had Descent in front of it was to distinguish it from some sort of disk compression utility … bah, back to my point.

In FreeSpace, you were a member of the Galactic Terran Alliance, then engaged in a long, bitter war against the Vasudans. Both sides were nearing exhaustion and it looked like there was no end to the fighting.

Jakub the badass

Read up on all the ships

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a race called the Shivans hurled itself upon both the Terran and Vasudan forces, dealing a massive toll on both due to their superior technology. The shielding on their ships made conventional weapons useless and many a fine pilot died because his ship lacked the ability to harm his foe.

Still, with time, the Vasudans and Terrans allied, developed counters for Shivan technological superiority and began holding their own in the war. Near the end, the Vasudan home world was annihilated, and the world killer ship then turned to hit Earth. After discovering the remnants of a lost civilization dubbed the Ancients (oh the humanity! A cliché! :), the GTVA (Galactic Terran Vasudan Alliance) found out how to destroy the Shivan super-ship. It had to be attacked in subspace, where its normally impenetrable shielding was weak and the ship became vulnerable. Of course, FreeSpace wouldn't have been much of a game if you didn't deliver the final blow, so you can guess what happened.

A huge capital ship looms

She's gonna blow! Time to bounce

Unfortunately, the massive explosion caused by the destruction of the Shivan ship collapsed the portal to Earth, thereby cutting it off from its Terran colonies and the Vasudans.

The Aftermath

Well, the Shivans seem to be a hive-mind, and with their super-ship gone, they scattered and lost organization. Soon they were cleared from known space, but alas, Earth was still cut off.

Yep, the dishes are done..

There it goes!