About 30 years ago, the world stood on the verge of revolutionary change. Machines had started taking over human labor. To create economic equality over the world and improve production, a new line of robots with sophisticated AI were being created. Designed and produced by the Omnium facilities, these robots would later be known as “Omnics”.

While things did work as intended for a while, this era of prosperity turned into a disaster when omnics rose against their creators due to reasons no longer remembered. When omnics realized that they had no chance of victory against humans with small rebel forces, they kicked off production of military robots in the Omnium facilities. The bulk of this army were the deadly assault units, code named as “Bastion”.

As the governments proved incapable of crushing the rebellion in this era by themselves, dubbed as the First Omnic Crisis which broke out around the globe, United Nations stepped in to create a taskforce. Bringing together the best soldiers and the most advanced weapons from all around the world, this force was named “Overwatch”. The original Overwatch team was composed of 5 people:

Decorated with countless medals for demonstrating bravery and sense of justice in the heat of battle, the German soldier Reinhardt Wilhelm covered his team mates just the same in his Lion-themed armor as they fought against the omnic assault.

A Swedish engineer whose weapon designs were used by the whole world, Torbjörn Lindhorn was a vital support member of the team as he applied his engineering skills and inventions onto the field.

Another war hero and a fearsome sniper, the Egyptian Ana Amari kept the team safe.

Last, but not least, were the two close friends who were part of the “Soldier Enhancement Program” conducted by the United States of America to augment soldiers beyond human capacity: Gabriel Reyes and Jack Morrison. While Reyes was the designated leader, it was Morrison who made sure the wheels of the team were turning.

Each a legend in their fields, this elite taskforce fought against the omnics relentlessly for years. Carved in the pages of history as “the First Omnic War”, this major struggle naturally affected numerous regions of the world. A major part of the Indian population were driven off of their homeland, Australia and Siberia were left in ruins due to this unending war, and Korean peninsula was laid siege by regular attacks of a colossal oceanic omnic that adapted itself to everything thrown at it. World truly had seen a revolutionary change but the results were nothing like what humanity had expected when they built the Omnium facilities.

Despite all the disasters and destruction, humanity did succeed in certain areas. For example, the Russians were indeed able to beat the omnic forces back and shut down the Omnium facilities. South Korea built MEKA (Mobile Exo-Skeleton Korean Arms) units to fight against the colossal omnic that was attacking them regularly. With losses in millions from each side, the war finally ended thanks to the incredible efforts of the Overwatch force. When the dust of the battle settled, both parties truly caught up with the magnitude of destruction wrought and a time of fragile peace and reconstruction started for a better future.

The humans that survived the war regarded the omnics as second-class citizens instead of equals. This created an everlasting tension between the races in certain places. Aware that the breaking point might be close, and afraid of the consequences, the United Nations took some proactive steps. A group of rebel robot monks, who claimed to have gone through a spiritual awakening, were allowed to set up a monastery on the Himalayans so that they could spread the peaceful belief that they were more than their articial intelligence and programming, and that they had souls of their own. Lead by Tekhartha Mondatta, these monks played a major role in healing the wounds of the Omnic Crisis, restoring the human-omnic relationship and defending equality. One of the world-famous Shambali monks disagreed with this new path that their organization had taken. Known as Zenyatta, this monk believed that the problems between humans and omnics would only truly be solved by personal connections and engagement instead of dogmatic doctrines. He left the monastery to wander on the path of his won convictions. He was not alone in this regard: A Bastion model robot was left behind in dormancy after the First Crisis; and when it unexpectedly reactivated, its offensive combat programming was almost completely offline, which led this gentle unit into wandering the world with an unending curiosity.