In 2013, seven species of extraterrestrial refugees (the Votans) arrived in orbit around Earth. They had expected to find the planet uninhabited and suitable for terraforming and colonization, and were as surprised by humanity’s presence as humanity was by their arrival.
Confusion over what to do about the alien refugees led to a series of events including the “Arkfall”, wherein most of the Votans’ spaceships were destroyed in orbit, and a series of conflicts called the Pale Wars. These events resulted in the destruction of most nation-states and the accidental and uncontrolled deployment of Votan terraforming technology, which radically altered Earth’s landscape and mutated its ecosystems.
A seventh alien race, the Volge, also arrived at Earth during the Pale Wars, to the surprise of both humans and Votans. These wars ended in the Battle of Defiance, which took place at Fort Defiance in San Francisco, formerly the Palace of Fine Arts.
Decades later, one of the veterans of that battle, Joshua Nolan, and his adopted Votan daughter, Irisa, arrive in the town of Defiance, named after the battle and built on top of the ruins of St. Louis. Defiance is a melting pot of human and alien cultures and insists on remaining neutral between the Western hemisphere’s two major nation-states: the human-dominated Earth Republic, centered in New York City, and the alien-dominated Votanis Collective, headquartered in Brazil.