34. On the Forgotten Planet, games have become an addiction.

Year 0 (Human Arrival): Humans arrive on the Forgotten Planet, guided by Xtreme.  The Heart of Eryndor, an imprisoned alien AI, provides the technology necessary for their survival while planting the seeds of her telepathic influence.

 Year 200 (First Games): Xtreme establishes a feudal empire in which neural implants control the population.  Heart creates cyborg mutants, including Lyra-9 and Kayle-13. The first games emerge on Earth as loyalty tests and are broadcast to cyborg princes, who begin to gamble.

 Year 500 (Games Expansion): Floating and underwater arenas are built using Creator technology.  The audience of the Forgotten Planet, connected by implants, becomes addicted to the drama. Androids and servile humans watch the broadcasts.   Xtreme and Heart begin evolutionary reprogramming every 100 years.

 Year 800 (Institutionalized Addiction): The games evolve into a universal theater, with Earth civilizations resembling chapters in an epic.  Addiction spreads as princes and androids gamble away fortunes and servile humans become obsessed with ascending via implants.  The arenas become symbols of power.

 Year 1000 (Present): The Games are at the heart of the Empire, where reprogramming destroys and recreates civilizations.  The enslaved audience demands more spectacle, while Kayle-13 plots treason with Heart and a sign from the Creators threatens the board.