Bacteriological Warfare
The lore behind Rooted's bacteriological war, which occurred roughly 20 years before the game's events near the year 2100. The war released deadly spores that contaminated vast regions, collapsed governments, and forced survivors into a hostile wilderness reclaimed by nature.
The war
The bacteriological war is the central catastrophic event in Rooted's backstory. Taking place roughly 20 years before the game's setting (near the year 2100, with the game's FAQ referencing 2120), the war involved the deliberate use of biological agents that released deadly spores into the atmosphere. These spores spread across vast regions, rendering entire cities uninhabitable and collapsing the infrastructure of modern civilization.
Aftermath
In the decades following the war, nature reclaimed the abandoned urban landscape. Forests grew through crumbled buildings, roads deteriorated into overgrown trails, and wildlife returned to areas previously dominated by human activity. The result is a world where remnants of advanced technology sit alongside untamed wilderness.
The spores from the war did not dissipate. They concentrated in specific areas now known as Contaminated Zones, which remain lethal to unprotected humans. These zones follow a gradient from the relatively safe forest areas, through transitional village zones, to heavily contaminated city centers.
Impact on society
With governments and organized society destroyed, survivors formed scattered groups with competing interests. Some claimed to inhabit clean environments, while others became hostile toward outsiders. The ROTOR Corporation's autonomous robots, originally built in the 2080s, continue to operate without human direction, treating all humans as potential threats.
Players enter this world as survivors who must scavenge, craft, and build to carve out a foothold in the post-war landscape. The bacteriological war's legacy shapes every aspect of gameplay, from the Infection Mechanic to the distribution of resources and threats across the map.