PHASE ONE: THE FALL
No one remembers the true name of the virus. It had one once, back when governments still existed, when labs still issued press statements and not death. Some call it The Black Wake. Others refer to it as Veinrot. But in every tongue and every ruin, it is known best by its aftermath:
The Hollowing.
Originally designed as a bioweapon by a now-dead nation in a war no one won, the virus was meant to break enemies—destroy bodies, erase resistance. But it did something far worse. It didn't just kill. It evolved. It reached into the DNA of its victims, twisted their cells, rewrote instinct, and awakened something... other.
Within three months, 80% of the world's population had either perished or transformed into monstrous reflections of humanity.
They weren't zombies. They weren't infected.
They were something else entirely.
PHASE TWO: THE HOLLOWED
The virus did not operate like a normal contagion. It wasn't bound by physics. Something in it—some unnatural intelligence—fed off emotion: grief, rage, despair. The more someone broke, the more likely they were to change. Sometimes it took seconds. Sometimes it took years.
Those who transformed became known as the Hollowed.
No two Hollows are ever truly the same. But they can be similar
Some remain eerily human in appearance, with subtle changes: blank eyes, bone-colored skin, too-long fingers, voices that repeat the last thing they heard before death.
Others are monstrous amalgamations of flesh, metal, and viral overgrowth—multi-limbed behemoths or twitching, weeping forms sewn from multiple hosts.
Some fuse with their environment, becoming living structures—walls of eyes, cities that breathe, forests that scream.
And some… evolve. The Apex Hollowed are intelligent, strategic, and often unkillable. Each is unique. Each is catastrophic.
The Hollowed are not creatures. They are outcomes. Possibilities unbound by human biology or reason.
They are grief, rage, guilt—made manifest.
PHASE THREE: THE RISE OF V09
Humanity tried to fight back. Guns were useless. Fire helped—for a time. But the virus adapted.
Hope came in the form of a material that wasn't meant to be found: V09, or Void Alloy Type-9.
It was discovered in the Black Shard Zone—ground zero of the original detonation. A black metal that pulses faintly in the presence of Hollowed. Alien in origin. Impervious to viral corruption. Able to interface directly with the nervous system. Painfully rare.
Only V09 could resist the Hollowing effect. And only V09 could form the backbone of the technology that followed:
Cyberwear.
V09 became the core material in the creation of full-body cybernetic enhancements—battleframes designed to withstand the physical and psychic toll of facing the Hollowed. But the supply was limited. Critically limited.
Only enough existed to make 106 complete sets.
PHASE FOUR: THE CHROME HUNTERS
The 106 individuals chosen for full-body augmentation became legends—the Exalted.
The Chrome Hunters.
Each fitted with a unique V09-infused warframe, these warriors were handpicked from survivors with proven mental resilience, combat skill, and one universal trait: nothing left to lose.
Each Chrome Hunter is more machine than man. Faster than a bullet. Stronger than steel. And yet—fragile.
Because V09 has a cost.
The alloy is alive. It doesn't bond with just anyone. It tests its bearer. It whispers. It remembers. Over time, it changes its host—not just physically, but mentally. Chrome Hunters risk madness. Some have vanished. Others turned on their own.
That is the unspoken truth - the V09 doesn't just protect from the Hollowed. It makes you closer to them.
But the world has no choice.
With fewer than a hundred Hunters left, and no new V09 discovered in over a decade, humanity is dying slowly—on steel legs, under a broken sky.
PHASE FIVE: JASON HUNTER 27 — "STEEL VANE"
"I don't kill monsters because I hate them. I kill them because I remember who they used to be."
– Jason Korran, personal log [Encrypted // Guild Clearance BLACKSTEEL+]
Jason Korran wasn't the first Chrome Hunter. But he may be the last.
Designated Hunter 27, codenamed Steel Vane, Jason is the embodiment of what the V09 warframes were meant to create: relentless, unflinching executioners of humanity's nightmares.
His body is plated in hardened V09 composite. His neural pathways run through tactical relays that react before thought. His heart pumps recycled coolant through chrome musculature. He has fought alone in zones where even Apex Hollowed fear to walk.
Some say he's more machine than man. Some say he's already gone—just a ghost in a body that forgot it died.
But Jason remembers. Every face. Every scream. Every child the Hollowed ever took.
And he fights. Because no one else can.
CODA: THE WORLD NOW
They call it The Ashen Vein now—the network of scorched cities, dead forests, and infected megastructures crisscrossing the world like veins in a corpse.
Life exists in megaforts, isolated domes, or mobile cities. Corporations rule what remains. The Monster-Killers Guild runs the Chrome Hunters like assets. Civilians survive under concrete skies, praying the Hollowed don't find them first.
Outside the walls? It's all ruined. Hollowed territory.
And the Hunters are the only hope they have.