In early August 2023, a single event would change the course of history. Although it fell against the bloody backdrop of the Fourth Corporate War, the global media still fed on the story for weeks. And could you blame them? A group of terrorists detonated a nuclear bomb, blowing Arasaka Tower to pieces. The terrorists' warning came too late – not all of the Tower's employees could be evacuated. The blast itself killed and wounded thousands, while countless others died from radiation sickness. How did the biggest terrorist attack in the 21st century happen? Who was behind this catastrophe? To find the answers, we'll need to first understand the context of that era.

The early 2020's was a period of unrest for Night City and anti-corporate sentiment was at an all-time high. In the epicenter of the city's lawlessness stood the Atlantis club. It was seen as an island of resistance against the powers that be, primarily megacorporations like Militech or Biotechnica – though a special place in hell was reserved for Arasaka, the Japanese arms-manufacturing zaibatsu that held the most influence over Night City. The kinds of people who frequented the Atlantis felt that corporations had hijacked the future and turned people into consumer-slaves and ironically, deprived of the two things capitalism loved most – freedom and choice. These people called themselves Edgerunners. They positioned themselves against the corporate world order – they declared their own freedom and opposition to the status quo. But deprived of any peaceful way to meaningfully change what they called "the System," they reached for more radical methods of self-expression. And these people were no strangers to violence.