"Asteria was shaping up to be a complete and total trainwreck."
Howard, as he always is, just loves to hear himself talk. Even in times as somber and dour as present time, leave it to him to construct a vivid narrative in our head that told of a more simple time.
The scene was set, the year is sometime before the official conception of Chronicles Of Asteria. What year, you may ask? Well… let's just say somewhere between before the eventual heat death of the universe as we know it but also sometime after the 21st century. Does that narrow it down enough for you?
Picture this - Cyberware Game Studios. A small studio, a modest studio, with even more modest people. Their aim, their belief, the creed they almost always dutifully followed since their inception was to always give everything they made and strive for their full 100%.