{year}=2018
{quality}=HD
{duration}=1h:58mn
Summary of the story
Taking place over a millennium into the future, subsequent to a catastrophic conflict known as the Sixty Minute War, humanity's remnants have reassembled and established mobile cities, referred to as "Traction Cities". These cities operate under the philosophy of "Municipal Darwinism", where larger "predator" cities hunt and assimilate smaller settlements within the "Great Hunting Ground", encompassing Great Britain and Continental Europe. In contrast, the "Anti-Traction League" has developed an alternative civilization consisting of "static settlements" (traditional, non-mobile cities) in Asia, led by Shan Guo (formerly China), and safeguarded by the "Shield Wall". Artifacts of 21st-century technology, such as toasters, computers, and smartphones, are highly valued by historians as "Old-Tech".
Under the orders of Lord Mayor Magnus Crome, the city of London captures a small Bavarian mining town named Salzhaken, assimilating its populace and resources. Tom Natsworthy, an apprentice historian, arrives at London's "Gut" to procure Salzhaken's Old-Tech for London's Museum. Hester Shaw, a masked woman in her twenties among the Salzhakens, endeavors to assassinate Thaddeus Valentine, Head of the Guild of Historians, but Tom intervenes, pursuing Hester to a chute. Hester manages to escape, but not before disclosing to Tom that Valentine murdered her mother and disfigured her face. Upon Tom's revelation of this information to Valentine, he pushes Tom down the chute.