Before you accept the Technocratian caravan master's trade you examine the gyroscope device. It is clearly of Ancient manufacture, all clean lines and smooth curves in gleaming Alloy. In size it is slightly larger than a pumpkin and the overall shape would fit inside a perfect sphere without much wasted space. It is composed of a number of segmented asymmetrical overlapping modules each articulated so as to move around within the greater whole with ease. Although a thorough examination would likely require dismantlement you note a number of interesting features. Many of the moveable segments bare the hallmarks of of being designed to generate a powerful magnetic field. There is an input valve and several output valves, with magnetic seals. There is also a heavy duty looking power input line.
You decide to accept the trade, as agreed. The goods are transferred and you load up the tankers with 100,000 L of pure water. The caravan master tells you that they will be leaving tomorrow, in case you want to send a reply to your embassy.
With that, you decide that it high time you read Eric Twiceiron's report. It was penned some ten days ago and with many a merchant's flourish describes his progress upon arriving within the city some two weeks previously and the political dispositions therein. He spends some time describing Rome in all its decadent glory. There are many descriptions of Alloy spires that pierce the heavens and other fantastic wonders preserved from the Old Times. However, its not all gleaming Alloy, with the majority living in slums and shanty towns in abject poverty. It seems that a number of different factions vie for supremacy. Until recently, in the times before you cast down Jorgal, it seems that Rome was rules by a series of warlords, each of whom held the various powers within the city in thrall. Over the years, poor decisions, the breaking away of vassal states and the drying up of tribute, such as from Sala-Zione, weakened the position of the incumbent warlord to the point where the lesser powers within the city could overthrow him. However, in the last three years no clear winner has emerged and the struggle is turning redder by the day. Of the major contenders you already know of the House of Technocratia. It seems that while they are not the largest or richest they posses by far the most advanced technology. It seems that they have recently restored order after a period of rioting following the destruction of the city's filtration plant. It seems that there is a river, but it is so polluted or poisoned by great events of the past as to be undrinkable. The filtration plant, operated by a group who also maintain their power by supplying food grown in vats, used to draw its water from mountain reservoirs and its destruction had caused great unrest. As a final note, he emphasizes that for all the local conflict he believes that foreign traders from below the Burnt Coast are the real power in the city. They are the only source of HE-3 in the city, bringing their wares in flying craft and maintaining a trade enclave in one of the larger Alloy spires.
You muse on the contents of the letter. There is so much detail you wish Eric had included! At least he managed to find a decent location for the embassy, setting up in the nicer part of the merchant district. It seems that your faith in his cunning was not misplaced as his funds for bribes are not depleted but increased through clever trades and, you suspect, some cheating at games of chance in Rome's many gambling dens. A further piece of good news is that there are a number of Solar Furnaces (with he scribes as "furnii", confusing you for a moment) in the metalworking district that may be suitable for you purposes. Getting their owners to part with them may be trickier.
Progress is on the ship is continuing nicely, but you are still haunted a desire for a larger workforce. Six Tinkerers are working in the new communal space, one's away on a diplomatic mission and the other five, who would rather serve as small traders and produce simple goods for the town, are out on a scouting mission, looking for salvage or resources. To you mind, the only options are to recruit more apprentices or seek outside talent.
To alleviate these worries, you go and talk with the nomad. You ask if he would stay and throw in his lot with the people of Sala-Zione. His normally stoic facade seems overcome. He jumps up, removes a small and extremely sharp knife from about his person that he had somehow managed to conceal from your guards and slashed his left palm. He exclaims that he, Small Hunting Bird of Three Dead Moons the Bloody Handed, son of Dead Horned Horse the Evil will join with you. For a moment you are aghast, but something in the antique nature of his actions spark up your love of all things ancient and you slash your own palm, take his and seal the accord. You insist that you celebrate with local custom as well and the two of you retire to your throneroom to drink a toast of distilled carrot wine. Luckily, it seems that he is familiar enough with the practice of drinking heavily and the two of you drink and talk late into the night. He tells you of his rise to power among the People of the Plains. It mostly involved him fighting people who looked at him funny, or his clan or kin. And killing some of his brothers. There was also some raiding, where he took many slaves and great piles of loot. Of particular note is story about how he fought two of his brothers in single combat at the same time. His major ploy was to make love to both their wives the night before the fight, thus enraging them and robbing them of their fighting discipline. You tell him about how you cast down Jorgal and threw his broken body into the intake valve. He approves of how you gouged out his eye and threw it into his face before killing him and you tell him how you sometimes think it would have been better if you hadn't done that part. He is horrified. He tells you that Jorgal was clearly a worthy foe and to have given him the death of an sick dog would have been a slight. He tells you that he hopes to die being ripped in half by a giant while throwing an explosive satchel into its mouth, or while endeavoring to kill the sun (this last one requires some complex sign language, not helped by the fact that you are both pretty drunk by this point). This is the last thing you remember before calling for your servants to bring that beer made from seaweed.
The next thing you know a cold, merciless dawn awakens you and a million task await your attention. Also, someone was sick in you throneroom and there's an Eastern Nomad asleep on your throne. What do you do now?
Alcide Brunelleschi: Family Armor, Laser Rifle, Hover Scout Trike (currently on loan to the Roman Embassy)
Sala-Zione:
Population:996
Major Official Buildings: The Main Building (water desalinization and machine shop), the Control Room (computers that control important stuff), The Reactor (a Sony AFIC MK23.a45 civilian Light Industrial Fusion Reactor) currently at 33.72% of fuel capacity and generating 14.94% of potential full capacity, the Control Tower (once a large coms relay unrelated to the plant but within its walls, now missing its dish and the seat of your government.
Minor Official Buildings: A small steel barrel and chain dock, painted white. A communal workspace with some machine tools, a power line, small simple greenhouse and a small prototype steam engine. Three prototype launchers.
Citizen Owned: A variety of houses, from rich to poor. Many small industries. A dozen tinkerers workshops, A large Solar Forge operating bellow capacity.
State Stores: 3 large caliber linear accelerator rifles, 900 6mm nickel cored Alloy tipped rounds, 19 Kalash Rifles in a poor state of repair, 4850 rounds of ammunition. 37 Arbalests in good repair with 20 pig iron bolts each. 11 crude iron muskets with 20 rounds and powder each. Three satchels of pipe bombs. A large pile of assorted Alloy. A small pile of composite plates. A good stock of basic spare parts and scrap metal. A small stock of essential advanced parts and 24 spare laser power packs. 27,984. L of pure water. 20 Composite rods, three crates of electrical parts. 12 barrels of preserved fruit. A compact and efficient computer unit. 1 pressurized container holding 5kg of HE-3. An ☼armored exosuit☼. A small pile of knives. 6 simple HE rockets of unknown design. Some assorted trade goods (nails, bolts, torches etc). 5 large spools of copper wire. A strange gyroscope.
Health: No diseases of note, an immunity to genetic plagues.
Defenses: Large Circular Pored Stone Wall, in reasonable Repair. 11 breaches filled with crude stone blocks and Alloy plating on the outside, some minor damage near the gatehouse from a recent raid. 30 dedicated Militia with Old Composite Armor and Laser Rifles, 3 out of action due to injuries. 10 town watch armed with truncheons. 2 Rocket launchers with 2 HE and 2 incendiary rockets remaining.
Food Supplies: Adequate. A sudden shortage could cause problems.
If you notice stuff that should be here but isn't, please tell me. Likewise with any suggestions I may have missed. Also, it may have been a while since the last update but this game is far from dead. I just had to uh... look for work and watch all three seasons of Deadwood and read the complete works of Lovecraft (ok, I'm like 30% done) and all of Gene Wolfe's The Book of The New Sun again. So with the Lovecraft under my belt, even if it does die I'd be able to bring it back with necromancy. But I don't need to 'cos it's not dead yet.
Also, while it's been revealed that you went on a journey in your youth to find ancient knowledge in your trusty hover scout trike, it not actually been revealed
what you found or the adventures you had. So if you want to suggest stuff, feel free.
Author
Topic: You are a Lord of the Wastes (Read 26326 times)