When America withdrew from the world, the balance between nuclear powers collapsed and aggressive states shielded by their arsenals waged wars that no one could stop. Cities burned, alliances fractured, and violence spread unchecked until exhaustion forced two reactions. One was the rise of the Charter, a new order built on knowledge for everyone, freedom of movement, and exile over execution. The other was the Compact, a secret organization that forged a new deterrent to counter the tyranny of nuclear powers. Everything changed with the accidental discovery of Mina’s Star by a teenage astronomer. As scientists, operatives, and reformers race to control or redeem the weapon born from her finding, humanity faces its last choice between repeating old cycles of power or reaching for the stars.