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[3man75]

Oh he's nowhere near the owner of the strongest private military in the world.  He has the most elite mercenary band in the city but it's hardly the only one.

Time for some hostile takeovers then don't ya think? I think so 

[mainiac]

Not very Jedi of you, Tyler.

[3man75]

Not very Jedi of you, Tyler.

Buisness takeovers are just buisness not personal. All we have to do is use our sources of money and initial payouts to encourage take overs.

No need for blood. An if it gets to that point we'll just ask the Boulder police to file a report of attempted attack to get them to back down. After which we'll just be like "Look, were not here for a war. We respect your position and we shall part ways but we want peace in our time. Okay?".

[mainiac]

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."
-1599
"Mo money, mo problems."
-1997
"L'argent ne peut acheter le bonheur. Personne ne est content plus."
-2234
-----------------------------------
2275
-----------------------------------

There was a legend that a traveler from the east shared, of the old national arboretum.  Few people still cared about a bunch of plants so she was happy to share the tale when you showed an interest.  The national arboretum was not just a collection of trees.  Back before the nuclear attacks on Washington, DC, the government could afford to make entire natural environments indoors.  The national arboretum was the largest such structure in the world, allowing visitors to travel through massive jungles, deserts and tundras.  The arboretum was destroyed during the wars and thoroughly picked over by looters but supposedly not all it's treasure was found.  Although no one claimed to be growing such plants, merchants would occasionally show up with supplies of priceless chili powder or vanilla extract.  From these incidents the rumors started that in fact that national arboretum exotic specimens had been secretly removed before the war.  Supposedly somewhere there was a vast treasure trove of exotic plants.  Hunting for a two hundred year old collection of seeds was considered a fools errands by most but a priceless treasure trove did make excitement for a fair number of fools.

You consider going hunting for the treasure.  It might be nothing but a myth but it presents the lure of adventure and the chance to visit the east.  But sadly, the path of treasure hunter isn't available to you.  You've gone respectable.

Cotton is more expensive then Rayon but it commands respect

Boulder survives because you keep it united.  The Syndicates would come back if you were out of the picture.  The mercenary bands are benign as long as you are the de facto figurehead.  Who might rise to the top if there was a power vacuum.  Bennet might be dangerous without a counterweight.  Carter would probably shoot off her mouth.  The peace with Provo wont hold forever.  Oh and there's the aging nuclear reactors of course.  Leaving Boulder would be too dangerous for the city.

But the story is there, in the back of your mind.  It's an itch that you want to investigate.  And you still have that watch.  The watch that has come through countless firefights and explosions without so much as a scratch.


Good as new

You can't head east yourself but you decide to give the watch to someone.  Cassandra said that the mountain men were tracking it.  You start considering the different people you could send.  Someone young and resourceful.  You can send several people but you can only give the watch to one of them.  Eventually you decide to give the person who will lead the expedition.  Your best choices seem to be.

A) A journalist from Mumbai.  They came to the (formerly) United States of North America to report on the Indian occupation forces in California. They ended up settling in the Colorado Free State and became a protege of yours.  Their telejournalism in Oldtown helped improve some of the worst parts of the cities.  Their experience at getting people to talk and turning leads into solid facts will be an asset on the expedition.
B) A soldier from Witchita.  Although they were on the losing side of the Boulder-Witchita conflict, they eventually moved to Boulder and joined Taylor private security.  They proved themselves to be the best of the best in the fight against the Syndicate and the skirmishes with the northern bandits.  Their ability to survive where others would give up hope will be an asset on the expedition.
C) A young scientist from Boulder.  This young scholar has an affinity for technology and study that few people seem to possess this day and seem to know more then people thirty years their elder.  They distinguished themselves in the effort to investigate the ruined farmland of Kansas.  You know for a fact they have been keeping information about their parentage secret.  You suspect they know that the Mountain Men are more then just a myth.  Their secret knowledge and resourcefulness will be an asset on the expedition.
D) An archivist from the east.  They were part of the hereditary caste of people entrusted with the defense computer network information systems.  After the death of president Norris, they came west and did some sort of hard to understand work which added a bunch of stuff to the public libraries.  Their credentials and ability to access abandoned computer records will be an asset on the expedition.

Who leads the expedition?
What is their name?

[Hiddenleafguy]

(C, and his name is Kier Fiorre, Smartest human in the world!

[Ghazkull]

c)

puuh no idea bout names...Kier Forre sounds like a reference to something though.

[mainiac]

I decided to add a choice D as well.

The name Kier Fiorre seems quite appropriate to the scientist character.

[3man75]

A) A journalist from Mumbai.  They came to the (formerly) United States of North America to report on the Indian occupation forces in California. They ended up settling in the Colorado Free State and became a protege of yours.  Their telejournalism in Oldtown helped improve some of the worst parts of the cities.  Their experience at getting people to talk and turning leads into solid facts will be an asset on the expedition.

Having a Diplomat keep trouble from brewing is always a good idea. Name: Jillian von Tarv.

[mainiac]

"nihil sub sole novum"
-----------------------------------
2275
-----------------------------------

Councilman Jefferson Tyler was a calculating man so when he invited you to his private suite at the Colosseum you had a suspicion he probably wanted something out of you.  It's not like he would have been funding your research for the past two years without expecting something in return.  So you were prepared when he took you aside during an intermission and started grilling you on your research.  At least he had the class to do it in a friendly way and offer you a drink, unlike some of the backers you have had in the past.  On the other hand, Tyler seemed to actually care about more then when he'd get a payoff.  That was a bit of a complication.  It's not like you could tell him the real reason your research was so successful.  Well at least you can share the partial truth...

"The essence is understanding the evolutionary effects on the symbiotic lifeforms of our crops.  The effects of the genophage didn't end when the original pathogens died out a hundred and fifty years ago.  There is still a process of forced mutation that-"
"-creates evolutionary pressures away from the desired phenotypes due to the shifting nature of the environmental threats.  I read your publications Dr. Fiorre.  I'm just wondering why you were able to salvage so much of the original Kansas project so quickly.  I've got a statistician who says it should have taken you ten thousand generations but you did it in a few hundred.  How'd you work so quickly?"

Well shit.  The high school dropout was actually understanding what you were saying this whole time.  You should have made your publications more difficult to follow.  And he's right, it did take ten thousand generations when you did it the first time.  Tyler gives you a moment to collect yourself and gets himself another whiskey on the rocks.  It's the third you've seen him drink in fifteen minutes.  He isn't even slightly inebriated. 

"High tolerance to alcohol intoxication is a common mutation in the United States since the forth world war.  Unfortunately it doesn't give high resistance to liver disease.  You should be careful, Sir."
"Answer the question, doctor."
"Well I made a few lucky guesses based on the old project."
"Seems like some pretty big lucky guesses."
"What can I say?"
"Well, can I expect you to make similarly lucky guesses in the future?"
"Unfortunately the old work wont be much help to me from this point.  At this point we are facing seriously genetic vulnerability in symbiotes because we are trying to replicate two billion years of evolution with a couple years of gene splicing.  It will take many years before we will have crops and microorganisms that are fully compatible again."
"What if you had access to more plant species from before the war?  Would the genetic diversity help?"
"Sure it would help but the wars destroyed most of the genetic diversity of the planet.  There probably aren't even a twenty thousand plant species worldwide that were around before the third world war."
"What if that weren't true?"
"I would be delighted."
"Tell me, Dr. Fiorre, have you ever heard of the National Arboretum?"

-----------------------------------

After mulling over the story of the National Arboretum, you decide to check out this statistician, Mary Carlson.  But as soon as you and Tyler part ways, you find yourself flagged down by a journalist who had spent the whole night glad handing his way from one person to another.

How can you not love that face?
"Ah, so you must be the last member of our expedition.  I'm Jillian von Tarv.  No relation.  Are you doctor Kier Fiorre?"
"I'm sorry, have we met?"
"Oh no, I'm just in the business of getting to the bottom of things.  Have you followed my work on CongressionalWorldNews.com?"
Huh... Congressional World News?  Yeah, there was some Indian reporter.
"Yeah I've saw that thing a couple weeks back about the gangs.  But what's this about an expedition?"
"Oh well it's just putting the pieces together.  Tyler has been talking to Mary Carlson, Strider, myself and now you.  Carlson has conenctions and assets in the east so that's where we must be going, Strider is one of his best lieutenants so it's going to be dangerous and now we've got you to explain what we are looking for.  So, do you mind if I tag along while you talk to Mary?"


Watch out, she was a big enough nerd to see through your bullshit
"Doctor Carlson I presume?"
"Oh please, Doctor Carlson is my mother's name.  Plus I'm not a doctor.  Um... who are you?"
"Oh, sorry about that.  I'm uh, Kier Fiorre."
"Oh right, sorry."
Hey, at least you aren't the only awkward one here.
"So uh, what's this that Tyler and Tarv are saying about a vault of plants?"
"Oh yeah, it's out there.  Probably."
"Probably?"
Mary shrugs.  "Hey, I just run the numbers.  Tyler gave me a list of where and when old species have been rediscovered.  My model says there's probably something out there."
"Huh, does your model tell you anything else?"
"Well... it's probably in Maryland... or Maine... or Mississippi.  But we probably want to start in DC."
"Hey, I just heard about this ten minutes ago.  What makes you think I'm going to go on this wild goose chase?"
A smug laugh barks out behind you and you turn and see a woman who had been watching you unannounced the whole time.

Callsign Strider.  First name, unknown.  Last name, unknown.
"Cuz if you dont come along, we find some other nerd and they get to go down in history as the biggest nerd ever who saved the human race."
Well damn, she does make a good point.
"Call me Strider, everyone else does.  Welcome to the team."
"Okay, what the hell.  Did everyone but me figure out what was going on?"
"Much as I like watching a nerd feel inadequate, you don't need to worry, Doc, Jillian explained it to me.  But hey, let's cut the shit. Dont act like you aren't going.  This is your chance to be part of something legendary.  Hell, this might even be your chance to not die a virgin.  Go tell Tyler you want in."

-----------------------------------

Not sure if you were persuaded or bullied, you return to Tyler.
"So, did you like the team I picked out for you?  I've got a few other handpicked men and women for you but those three are the ones you are going to need to rely on the most.  I think they are people you can rely on."
"So this is my team?"
"Yeah, I think this mission calls for the best of the best and that's you.  And you know more then you let on, that's going to be an asset.  If anyone has a chance of cracking this, it's going to be you.  So how about it, Doctor, you want to make history?

-----------------------------------

Tyler gives you one last surprise, his watch.  You feign ignorance of course but you know exactly what it is capable of.  It's exactly the same as the watch your father wore.

-----------------------------------

The first question is how you are going to make the trip east.  The lands between Boulder and the Atlantic coast are dangerous, filled with bandits and warring factions.  The coast itself is still in a state of civil war with all three sides claiming to be the legitimate government of the entire USNA.  And if people thought you actually might find the trove they'd probably kill you for your information.  Keeping your Colorado origins and mission secret would probably be a wise move.  All three of your experts suggest different approaches.

A) Mary suggests taking an indirect route, join a merchant caravan and slowly make your way down to the gulf then travel along the coast.  It will be a slow route but allow you to arrive in an inconspicuous fashion.  Mary stresses the need to keep a low profile, she saw the civil war in the east first hand and tells you keeping your head down is the best way to avoid making enemies.
B) Tarv suggests traveling quickly by hovercraft.  Start out heading east for Grand Island then hop from city to city all the way to the coast.  You will attract attention traveling by air but a little attention can be an asset as well as a danger.
C) Strider suggests arming yourselves to the teeth and heading north east into bandit country.  You can cut a path straight across Canada by just shooting every bandit in your way.  You can leave bandit country around London or Montreal and no one will know where you came from.
D) Reject all three plans and come up with something else

[TheBiggerFish]

((Isn't there an actual seed vault in Norway though?  Of course that would mean the game going in an entirely different direction, but...))

[mainiac]

((TBH I didn't think about that one at all.    Furious replanning is now in progress.

But keep in mind that seed banks dont last forever and it's been over 100 years since the start of the forth world war.  The seed bank would need to be actively maintained to last this long.  And it's not just the seeds you need but the complete genetic diversity including most crucially the microbiotic species from before the war that weren't mutated or subjected to natural selection by the new environment.  Pre-genophage plants still exist, it's just really hard to grow them properly.))

[TheBiggerFish]

((Er... It's in permafrost, those seeds will be viable pretty much forever.))

[mainiac]

((Yeah but the problem is more then just having seeds.  The problem is that the WMDs in the last world war were deliberately designed to kill off the environment that made agriculture possible.  High tech salting the earth.  One solution is to make GMO crops that can survive in an environment of acid rain and retroviruses.  However this requires genetically engineering bacteria which have very specific traits.  Bacteria evolve very, very quickly if they have specific traits that aren't selected for.  Although traits that keep plants alive are good for the bacteria as a whole, they aren't good for the individual bacteria.  So it's difficult to keep a farm going because you need to constantly be fighting to keep the desirable genetic traits for bacteria in your biosphere.

The seed vault AFAIK only built around plant death, not planet biosphere death.

Or someone just nuked the vault to make their WMD campaign more effective.))

[TheBiggerFish]

((Hmm.  And you can't just make plant organelles that have the same function?

Most apocalypse scenarios do have severe die-offs, but yeah.))

[mainiac]

((Hmm.  And you can't just make plant organelles that have the same function?))

((As bacteria?))