Like all great empires, the global society of the mid-twenty-first century collapsed. The moons and planets terraformed and colonialized during that golden age were cut off from Civilization. The people left on those far-flung worlds were forced to survive by themselves as the light of the greatest society humans ever created, dimmed, and faded to nothing.

It is the year 3010, and humans have returned to the stars.

Ruins of Empire follows a group of explorers reaching out to discover hidden societies lost since the Fall of Civilization. They seek to study how each one developed by itself after it was cut off from the Global Civilization and, in the process, find the secrets that caused Civilization to collapse in the first place.

But there are dangers in the newly rediscovered frontier. Both from the Corporation that seeks to enslave and exploit the people on these far-flung worlds, and from the societies themselves who aren't always eager to meet strangers in a harsh and unforgiving Universe.