Edit, 20070720 : Rewrote the text, added the Sabrosa and Earth, and removed any mention that this whole mess takes place in 2002. I'm not intentionally obfuscating the date - it just doesn't matter. By book four, new readers will be able to assemble the timeline for themselves.

Besides, this adjustment isn't just More Betterer, it's also More Accurate in terms of The Dualist and its place in events.

I do not intend to pull a "Greedo shoots first" or anything like that with any of the other edits on my to-do list - in terms of continuity and presentation, this will probably the single biggest change between production and post-production.

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I smile and nod when people just assume that ATC takes place In The Future, and now you know why. Laying these bits in early insures that the Unpleasant Surprise will never hit the front page... hopefully ninjaing this bit in will minimize the OMFGWTF that's bound to result.

Second page of a two page splash:

Awfully exciting, isn't it?

There's a reason the cover and the first two pages were completed so quickly, and you're looking at it. It made more sense to me to lay in this introduction as part of an aesthetics experiment, rather than slathering it in on top of the events that are about to unfold.

This is the LOS ANGELES NOVEMBER, 2019, the "There Are Those Who Believe....", the setting of the stage. Cool points to xeno for the much-needed editorial assist.

You want to be listening to Front 242 : 05:22:09:12 Off : Animal (Cage) while reading this.

Panzer Ruin comes in later.

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24 December - introduction -1- and -2- have been the victim of more edits than any ten pages in the history of ATC. The current version is the fourth Complete Overhaul- I hope it's the last one. :P

30 December - xeno liked the original layout more.

19:58 <@xeno> solios: i'm not talking to you anymore
19:58 <@solios> why?
19:58 <@xeno> you shat purple all over the map

So. Just for him (and for anyone who's curious as to what this thing looked like in a past life):

I went with the I WANNA BE RALPH STEADMAN bruised splatter thing instead of the sepia thing for a few reasons- the big one is that sepia tones are associated with the Thad / Ornix aspect of the story- and since I ended Chapter Three on a seriously sepia note, I felt it altogether fitting to get as far away from that palette as possible- the main reason being that I'm not continuing Chapter Three right now, so being in that mindset is essentially counterproductive.