Honestly, I had to wonder if there's even a point in typing up the background story. After all, almost everyone who sees this site is a Scryed fan, so they should already know the story, and the 1% who don't can find it on any other Scryed site. But, in the end, I decided I might as well. However, I went with a twist: this summary is one big, long quote, taken from the beginning of Episode 11. There are a few points where I'll add in my own random two cents [inside brackets], but for the most part it's exactly what Mimori says:

"The truth began 22 years ago, when the earth started to rise in Kanagawa Prefecture with an unimaginable release of energy. An area almost 40 kilometers wide was thrust upward to a height of 240 meters. Because of the disaster, the capital and the surrounding areas weren't able to function. The government and t he economy went into a severe recession. It took five years to restore the rest of the nation, while people called that untouched land the Lost Ground, and began to hate its existence. The Lost Ground consisted of two areas: the city, which recieved economic support from the Mainland and the United Nations, and the undeveloped region. Residents were classified by where they lived, whether they wanted to be or not. People in the undeveloped area, the so-called Inners, are self-sufficient even though they recieve support from the Mainland. Their willingness to go back to the Mainland is low, due to the loss of the family registry.

After eight years, the Lost Ground was named Japan's first and only independent domain, called the Muraji Special Economic District. The reasons for this law were twofold. Politically, there was a growing lack of funds from the Mainland. But also, it allowed for extensive research into the cause and effect of the Alter Users' abilities. Alter Power is defined as creating and arranging matter through mental effort, the power to create energy and matter from nothing, restructure it, and build its own special form [what they really do is break down existing matter & energy and reform it]. The shape of the restructured form, called an Alter, is different depending on the individual who creates it. An Alter is not independent; it is controlled by the Alter User's mind. Babies in the Lost Ground are being born with this power; curently about five percent of all newborns have it, and that rate is increasing each year.

The Lost Ground has been recovering steadily fromthe disaster, but with the increasing number of maturing Alter Users and their growing abilities, there's also a growing problem. That is, an increasing number of Native Alters in the wild area who don't see the difference between right and wrong. Nine years ago, this area became the focal point of the Alter conflict, and the world blamed the Japanese government. The government decided to completely block traffic between the Mainland and the Lost Ground to control the situation. They issued limited currency in the Lost Ground, monitored its activities by satellite, and tried to conceal its problems from the outside world. However, three years have passed, and the city has become the epicenter of Alter Crimes, suspects unknown. Alarmed government officials decided to create a special unit inside HOLD, the city's police organization, a unit composed entirely of Alter Users. The unit called HOLY. They figured that only Alter Users can defeat other Alter Users..."

And there you have it. Scryed is the story of the conflict between HOLD/HOLY and the Native Alter Users, specifically two guys named Ryuhou and Kazuma. Yayness!!