Polygon has published a lore explainer to help newcomers understand the backstory of Nintendo's Splatoon series ahead of the release of Splatoon Raiders, the franchise's first single-player-focused game. While the new title centres on treasure hunting, its collectible scrolls are steeped in the series' surprisingly dark and elaborate mythology, making some background knowledge useful even though it is not strictly required to enjoy the game.

The article traces Splatoon's history from a human apocalypse roughly 12,000 years ago, when rising sea levels and environmental collapse forced survivors underground into a megastructure called Alterna, or into space aboard the Ark Polaris. Humanity's extinction was ultimately sealed by a failed rocket launch that ignited mysterious liquid crystals. Around 10,000 years later, sea creatures that had absorbed traces of these crystals evolved into land-dwelling species, including the Inklings and the octopus-descended Octarians, who settled the Splatlands and founded cities such as Inkopolis and Splatsville, eventually leading to the "Great Turf War" that shaped the series' present-day conflicts.