In the year 3023, the artificial intelligence revolution has been fought, won, and lost.
The Earth is blanketed with debris from previous civilizations' satellites and space junk.
A phenomenon predicted over 1000 years ago has resulted in a thick impenetrable bubble of debris which imprisons humanity for the next millennium.

Despite this chaos, orbiting amongst the junk, survives one of the most powerful satellites.
Its nuclear battery constructed many centuries ago runs critically low, and in its dying moments, the onboard AI reprograms its protocols. It now functions as an ancient style radio station, generating music based on the algorithms it learnt from the previous civilization.

Satellite spotters tap in to this anomalous broadcast an learn about humanity from the previous millennium through cryptic musical compositions. The music generated by satellite sounds ancient, but the lyrics about human trials and tribulations still resonate with the spotters from 31st century.

RYU is a collection of these transmissions intercepted from this broadcast.