TheMercurian

Mercury Rising · 3 Parts

PART ONE

Ten maps from The Solar Railway to Hell — and a secret path to Venus.

Plot

The player (the Doom protagonist) awakens in a freight wagon, falling out of a sarcophagus on The Solar Railway, a cargo rail system that runs along Mercury's equator. He does not know who he is or why he is there; he only discovers where (and when) he is from information gathered on the map. The wagon has been attacked by the forces of Hell, and the personnel aboard are either dead or transformed. The player disables the wagon's propulsion, forcing it into the very first service station.

Exiting the wagon, he sees that the demonic hordes had previously entered the Thakur Cross Service Station area through another wagon. Because the service station is unsafe due to a region-wide power outage, the player follows the suggested evacuation route, exits the station, and arrives at the Rudaki Power Station, which supplies the region with energy. There, they meet Boris (the first main character in the campaign), who explains the following: the forces of Hell will attack the facility repeatedly in a predictable (almost foreseeable) manner, and due to the planet's axial rotation, the freezing night will set in within about 40 days.

Following Boris's suggestion, the player restores the power supply and then heads to the regional distribution center, and from there to Haystack Canteena to meet Palmer (the second main character in the campaign) who may be able to help. However, an accident occurs at the Lu Hsun Gates distribution center, which causes the player to have hallucinations. Upon arriving in Haystack, Palmer helps cure this hallucination with the aid of a previously unknown substance. But his help is not free, and at this point, the player is forced to collect money by completing side quests. Life, however, intervenes again, and due to a betrayal, the player must repel the fiercest demonic attack of the campaign so far.

While evacuating the remaining people, Palmer gives the player instructions (seeing their combat abilities) on how to reach the regional resistance headquarters to the north. Having obtained the antidote and freed from the hallucinations, the story continues in the region's industrial center, the famous Catullus Steelworks. The player must pass through the facility while gathering information about the evil stirring deep below, and the technology that facilitates the demon invasion and enables its rapid spread — a technology used in many places throughout the solar system.

With no other option, the player descends into the Jobim mines (first to the Halfway Station, then to the deep Shaft) to continue north by following the path of iron extraction. In these mines, madness is at its peak. The demonic creatures are already moving comfortably, having destroyed every possible entry and exit point of Jobim. The player receives unexpected help from an ethereal being, of which there are several in the mine. Seeing the fierce battle against the demonic forces, they decide to help the player. Combining their powers, they open a portal to Hell, as it is the only possible exit.

At this point, the campaign continues in Adamante Limes in Hell, where the player passes through demonic armies of unprecedented power and (again, with the help of the ethereal beings) can return to his own dimension towards the desired destination. This is where Mercury Rising — Part One ends, and after the protagonist returns to Mercury from Hell, the second chapter of the campaign begins there.

Part One also includes a secret map accessible from Hell. If the player finds and activates the gateway, he has the option to travel to Thetis Site II on Venus instead of Mercury upon returning from Hell. This makes it clear in the campaign — well before the events of Doom Eternal in the Shared timeline — that Hell can be used for interplanetary travel.

Maps