Crown & Helix

If the world ends often enough, eventually people stop noticing. The Avarian Union strives to push the limits of humanity, engineering their people to be smarter, faster, and stronger than their predecessors. Although their aggressive manipulation of the human genome puts them at odds with their neighbors, their powerful military and engineered soldiers keep these threats at bay. Across the Northern Ocean, the Rifden Federation represents the pinnacle of civilization following the Fourth War. After being ravaged by plague and conflict, its citizens enjoy decent standards of living as well as the protection of the finest soldiers, pilots and sailors on the planet - having to give up some freedoms to the monarchy is a small price to pay for the security and comfort that life in the Federation brings. When a Rif squadron is assigned to a strike against a black site deep in Avaria, it pushes the delicate balance between their nations to its limits, and both sides are forced to confront who the monsters and heroes of their shattered world truly are.