Because a major theme of Drowned God: Conspiracy of the Ages is the obscuring of history by multiple parties for their own benefit, and because the game’s development resulted in a lot of content being cut that has not been explained in detail as of this writing, it would be impossible to give an objectively correct timeline of events, especially for the backstory. The information below comes from a combination of sources such as in-game text, the manual, and a bit of Word of God. Different interpretations from the one below are to be expected.
The Origins of Humanity
The First World: The progenitors of the human species were members of a race of Grey aliens from Orion, chief among them being an individual known by many names, chief among them being Osiris. These Greys were involved in a violent civil war that resulted in the destruction of their home planet, and it is implied that the weapon used to devastate the planet was the nuclear device stored in the Ark of the Covenant. When Osiris left, he took several treasures with him that would someday become highly coveted relics such as The Cup, The Rod, The Stone, and The Firebird.Genesis: Upon his arrival to Earth, Osiris used his fantastic technology to create his Garden of Eden: the city of Atlantis. And with his advanced machine NOAH, a computer that could store DNA samples and combine them, he genetically modified the animals of Earth to create humans, animal-human hybrids called manimals, and the mysterious Nephilim (though it is never made clear if these Nephilim are a separate group or if they are one of the former two). Osiris would make many attempts over the rest of his life to send signals through the stars in the hopes of being rescued by any fellow Greys that were still out there, but none would answer his calls. Eventually, Osiris would fall in love with Isis, the Moon to his Sun, and from their union came Horus; however, things would soon take a turn for the worse.
The Deluge: The debris of what once was Osiris’s home planet made its way to Earth, dragging Atlantis under the sea. Osiris, Isis, and Horus would visit places such as Egypt to spread their knowledge to the humans who had spread across the Earth, eventually settling down for the last time in the pyramids of Mexico.
The Betrayal: Depending on who tells the story, either Isis or Horus grew jealous of Osiris and desired his treasures for themselves. Three Aztec deities, The Smoking Mirror, The Night Axe, and The Flayed One, were tasked with murdering Osiris, to which they succeeded. Osiris’s body was put into NOAH, Horus was made a prisoner, and Isis went into hiding. Much bloodshed followed in despair over Osiris’s death. Thus began the legend of the Drowned God.
A New Age
Secret Societies: Although the world at large would forget the true history of Osiris, there were those who had the knowledge passed down to them who were determined to preserve the secret. In the millennia following Osiris’s death, multiple factions arose such as The Knights Templar (who had the testimony of Osiris’s death from the psychic disembodied head named Baphomet) The Priory of Sion (whose Grandmasters included figures such as Isaac Newton and Leonardo da Vinci), King Arthur and his Round Table (the fall of which carried many suspicious parallels to the story of Osiris, Isis, and Horus), and many others. These secret societies each had their own interpretation of the Drowned God based on the knowledge they possessed, and they often came into conflict with one another.
The Search for the Relics: The original four artifacts brought to Earth by Osiris became scattered across the realms Binah, Chesed, Din, and Chokmah, and they became highly sought-after, for if they were brought together, the combined power of these relics could change the world due to them being made up of the rare Element-115. Two opposing Lodges in particular were interested in gathering the relics for themselves, Kether and Malchut, whose representatives both seem to have memories of the Garden of Eden and wish to return there once again.
The Story of the Relic Hunter: Kether and Malchut would employ many individuals to search for the artifacts, one of whom was a man who would come to be known as the Relic Hunter. He wasn’t the first of his kind, and he certainly wasn’t the last. Originally an ordinary man from the 19th century, the Hunter was summoned to the Bequest Globe, a chamber that opened the gateway to each realm. He would write his thoughts and observations down as he made his way through each realm, but he failed to obtain even one relic, causing Kether and Malchut to abandon him with a plague doctor mask bolted onto his face as a reminder of his failure, but unlike the previous Relic Hunters, this one would not lose his sanity, and he continued to wander through the realms.
Modern History
America’s First Contact: In the early 40’s, the U.S. tested the Philadelphia Experiment using a submarine that was fitted with technology that would render the ship invisible. In addition, the U.S.S. Eldridge’s true mission was to open a temporal rift in order to obtain the Rod of Osiris, one of the four relics. This did not go as planned – instead, the rift created by the submarine allowed the alien enclave called Legion to come to Earth and gradually make their presence known, something that was compounded by another attempt in 1968 to retrieve the relic by the U.S.S. Scorpio which opened the way for the Legion once again, though the initial Philadelphia Experiment only fueled the U.S. government's desire to continue their relic retrieval program.
The Roswell Incident: In 1947, a UFO crashed in Roswell, New Mexico. Only one survivor remained, who was designated as EBE (short for Extraterrestrial Biological Entity). EBE never revealed the true purpose of his visitation but warned that the other members of the Legion who would come to Earth were not to be trusted.
The Holloman Landing: A party of Greys made a treaty with representatives of the U.S. government during the 60’s at what was believed to be the Holloman Airforce Base, but in reality, occurred in Area 51. The treaty allowed the visitors to continue with their abductions of humans while the military turned a blind eye, provided the Legion didn’t capture more than a certain number imposed by the treaty, and in return the U.S. government would receive advanced technology from the Legion.
A Dystopian Future: In a possible future after 1999, much of the world has been thrown into chaos. Major corporations, including a newcomer called Arcadia, have a vast influence over politics and consumers, riots are breaking out across the U.S., and multiple cults have sprung up proclaiming that the world will be destroyed in fire with the alignment of certain constellations. If that weren’t enough, the powers that be who run the world governments like the Illuminati and Majestic 12 plan on finally revealing the extraterrestrials to the world. Unfortunately for them, a group of rebels calling themselves the Aviary have been gradually leaking information to the public, led by an unknown individual called The Hacker. MJ 12 continues to send out their Men In Black agents both to find the four relics and put a stop to the Hacker.
The Newest Relic Hunter
The Bequest Globe: Your player character becomes the latest in a long line of Relic Hunters summoned to the chamber to search for the relics and uncover the secret of the Drowned God. The player is given details of some of their past lives so that they may embody the memories of these former selves to aid in navigating the four realms they will visit. Kether and Malchut make their introductions and warn the player not to trust the other.
Binah: Starting in Stonehenge, the first relic to be found is the Holy Grail, a time-distorting device. The fall of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is hinted at, and the player has their first encounter with the Man In Black who will be stalking them throughout the game. After beating a decrepit Knight at a board game, the player meets the imprisoned Morgana Le Fay, who says that in order to find the Grail, the player must send a signal out to Orion’s Belt. Unfortunately, the signal is answered by an unwanted party – The Legion. Leaving Morgana, the player makes their way through Leonardo da Vinci’s underground workshop and meets marble statue versions of Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton, who tell the player that to obtain the Grail, they have to retrace their steps backwards, and upon doing so the Grail is secured.
Chesed: To find the next relic, the Rod of Osiris, a weapon that allows for the transmutation of matter, the player visits the desolate temples once dedicated to Osiris, Isis, and Horus in Mexico, where the story of Osiris’s murder is told through murals and speaking statues. They go on to meet the imprisoned Horus, who insists that he is innocent and leaves his fate up to the player, who can either spare him or kill him. Regardless of their choice, the path is opened up to the NOAH machine, where Osiris’s corpse still lies. From there, the player is transported to the inside of the U.S.S. Scorpio in the Bermuda Triangle. The rift to access the Rod of Osiris is successfully opened this time, and the Rod is found.
Din: Taking place in the most abstract realm, the path to find the Philosopher’s Stone can only be found through various interconnected subway tracks. The player must find three books that open up a secret door behind a bookshelf from the trapped Alastair Crowley, Carl Jung, and the Relic Hunter, and from these three the player learns about the Stone’s ability to split the human consciousness in half to create doppelgangers. Along the way, the player meets a mysterious person in a diving suit who subjects the player to strange visions of alien abduction. After inserting the three books, the player meets Baphomet, who eventually asks the player to receive the two biggest pieces of the Stone from The Man in the Iron Mask and The Count of St. Germain so that he can make it whole, which the player does after finding their prison hidden behind the carnival Theatre of Memory.
Chokmah: In the final realm which contains the Ark of the Covenant, the player is transported in front a diner that lies close to Area 51. Inside of a trailer belonging to an individual called The Hacker, the player discovers an implant inside their head which they manage to remove. Afterwards, they receive a phone call from a woman who instructs the player to contact the psychic Edgar Cayce. Tuning through the radio inside the Diner eventually signals Cayce, who tells the player that Kether and/or Malchut are trying to deceive them, and that the gateway to Atlantis will have to be opened. The mutilated Pigface teleports into the diner warning about the experiments on humans happening in underground tunnels, but immediately after his exit, the Man In Black reappears to knock out the player, sending them back to the Bequest Globe.
The Endings: Kether and Malchut are disappointed in the player for failing to retrieve the Ark, but state that the player will someday get past the Man In Black for good, and in the meantime ask the player to choose the side who will use the relics to change the world as they see fit. Choosing Kether shows a vision of the future where people are kept under a technocratic surveillance state. Choosing Malchut shows a vision of the future where humans are kept under stasis in pods, possibly for genetic mutation. The third option is to choose the Legion, who do not state their intentions for Earth, but promise that they’ll be back eventually, and in a central water tank in the background, a faint outline of what looks like Horus can be seen.
