Wastelands, Wastewaters and Wastelanders

[Maharg67]

:geek: 0.1[1] :nuke:

 

1999: Doomswar Starts

 

2002: Doomswar Ends with Doomsday (is actually more than one day in length)

Edited January 29, 2018 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

:laugh: 1.1[2] :cool:

 

Radmutant Jox carefully stoked the fire, who light was hidden from the radghouls, and the more dangerous radghoulers out there beyond that half collapsed building. He studied the smoke going up into the upper parts of the building where it also was concealed. Radmolerat meat was simmering along with radroach stuff. Some ripe muttfruits were sitting in an old bowl.

 

Jox was a cowboy but wasn't garbed up in the way that comic magazine cowboys were. No Wastelander cowherder could dress that way but instead wore armour of some kind over tough clothes. He didn't even have those fancy cowboy boots but just boots because, despite his radhorse, he spent much of the time on foot.

 

He spoke. "We have five radcows, and a randy old radbull, to deliver to RivetCity by midday tomorrow if we are to get our bonus. Its going to be a tough haul to make it in time. I told Reynolds not to trust that Bruseter guy. Bruseter has too many links to the DCSyndicates to be comfortable with."

 

Radhuman Sandy frowned. The cowgirl was tough and geared up as much as he was. Like him she was grubby and her hair, unlike in the PreDD wild west movies, did not look like she had just come fresh out of a hair salon.

 

"I agree and I think he set up those thugs to slow us down, which is what they did, not even bothering to attack us more than that." Sandy looked at what was on offer for a meal, half smiled because they had been forced to eat worse in the past. She spoke with evident sarcasm. "I wonder if those damned Steelheads would help us."

 

Also Jox had a way with cooking as Jax, Jex, Jix and Jux each had their own set of specialities. Jox had his other specialities, apart from cooking, and they all had the necessary generalities. It was important to find out which personality she was talking to at any one time. The five of them were known as Justine and once upon a time there had just been Justine.

 

Justine was more than a split personality for his body shapeshifted and Jix, along with Jux, were women. Jox and Jax were men. As for Jex, who knew what might arise? Sometimes there were others but Sandy did not want to think about that. To the cowgirl her half sibling, once just a half sister, was family and that was it.

 

:laugh: 1.2[3] :cool:

 

In From the distance, muffled by that and the building itself, came the noise of a heavily armoured-armed vertibird moving through the air, being by the sound of it one of the bigger four gravity-rotor type vertipelcans. The Brotherhood of Steel, or BoS, had brought with them three main types of vertibird along with some others often being mishmashes from any resources that could be gotten. They also had helicopters that were easier to make-maintain, faster, but less armour-armed.

 

Jox looked to her. "Was that a vertipelican, like in that VaultMuseum?"

 

The power armoured figure stepped with amazing lightness and speed for somebody in power armour. The power armour was lightly dented in places, obviously repaired in some, and well used but also well cared for. It was a T45A3 set being taken probably from some surviving stockpile or some poor dead conscript. The Doomswar had finished over 200 years ago but its after effects more than just lingered.

 

The figure spoke with a tough woman's voice. "Knight Sarah Lyons speaking. No rank given as per protocols except that I command these wonderful girls and boys of mine. Would like to know what that VaultMuseum is that you mentioned and where one can find it? My people could back engineer a few things."

 

Jox shrugged. "Super virtual reality is what it is. No back engineering there but, maybe, lots of data you might find more useful that we do. RivetCity has five working SVR capsulechairs and 51 functional SVR programs. RivetCity is a heavily fortified settlement and won't go for demands. You people move damn quick and quite; my guess is you are special forces."

 

Sarah sighed. "Can neither affirm, or deny, that guess. We have our own SVR capsulechairs and can swap copies of SVR programs. We have ways of recording them and making SVRCs (Super Virtual Reality Cartridges). (SVRCs were solidstate cartridges.) We can escort you to RivetCity and we do know bout that settlement."

 

Other power armoured figures came into the chamber. One lightly threw to Justine-Jox a packet of stuff. A male voice spoke. "Herbs straight from the best mutated wild crops of the Wastelands. It's a gift!"

 

Justine-Jox sniffed lightly at the packet, after he unsealed it, and smiled. "Can do a good deal with this. Have to call in the rest of the crew."

 

Sarah spoke. "They are safe with the rest of my people, sharing yarns and beer but not too much beer. We have foodbars to make a meal enough for all of us." Then she slipped her helmet off to reveal a rugged woman's face with some obvious cyborging along with hard-sad eyes. "I am a Steelsister, as you see, but high up in the new DC Brotherhood of Steel ranks anyway. As you most likely noticed, we have been moving into town in a big way."

 

Sandy nodded. "Yes, we kind of noticed as did most of WashingtonDC."

Edited January 29, 2018 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

:cool: 2.1[4] :ermm:

 

MrWalker stood observing the great, gracefully ugly, saucer of an aeroship settling down to land close to the low hulking, bulky, fortress of the NewPentagon. It was not to be confused with the OldPentagon that had been turned into a museum during the very late 20thC (Twentieth Century) and replaced by the far more secure NewPentagon. The NewPentagon had been operating only for a few years before the Doomswar had begun in 1999AD only to end years later in 2002AD.

 

The Mysterious Stranger, that MrWalker served, had allied himself with others to make sure that a large BoS expedition came to WDC and that the NewPentagon was ready for their use. It was also gifted with many resources, of many kinds, along with extras of which some were exotic.

 

MrWalker spoke seemingly to mid air. "PrimeElder Lyons must have triggered the holographic message by now."

 

The voice, of the Mysterious Stranger, seemed to come out of mid air.

 

MS: "Yes, he gained the welcome, the first set of instructions and the first set of clues. Some unknown entity attempted to secretly access the message before Owen Lyons had a chance to do so. They failed and were mildly punished for the attempt at hacking.'

 

Owen Lyons had suspected treachery amongst the BoS for a few years, even the higher ranks and castes. His daughter, Agent Sentinel Alice Lyons, was actively seeking them out for some time while His other daughter, Guard Sentinel Terry Lyons was backing her up with the paramilitary Steelguards. His third daughter, Knight Sentinel Sarah Lyons, was now leading the power armoured Lyons Pride deeper into WDC seeking answers to reports of secret BoS activity taking place here. That is not the official groups of covert scouts sent there under the command of Knight Captain Gallows.

 

Steelguards guarded BoS settlements, outpost and other places but also supported the Brotherhood of Steel Police and the Security Intelligence along with the various military elements. The recent growth, in size of and demands on, the LHBoS (LostHills Brotherhood of Steel) had led to diversification of older sections and the creation of new ones. Then there had been the Splintering of Steel that helped lead to the expedition from the LostHills all the way to DC.

 

Even before the expeditionary-colonisation taskforce had left, it had gained resources from a mysterious benefactor including the aeroship. That large-medium sized aeroship, part massive vertibird and part just as massive airship, had doubled the amount of people, other life and resources brought with the expedition. This included allies of the Reformers of Steel who had split away from the Traditionalists of Steel.

 

The aeroship was safely down with its escort of long range vertieagles still circling in the sky above it.

 

MS: "The attempt to destroy the aeroship, with hidden mininukes, has been thwarted. Investigations have so far discovered thee saboteurs except that there is something odd about them. Apart from not being Steelfollowers or of any of their allies, they do not even seem to be human or of any known species. At least they are not known to the Steelfollowers for we know them as doppelgangers of the basedoppleganger kind. They hid close to a large number of tribefolk that came with the expedition thanks to PrimeElder Lyons insistence on the BoS keeping an old pledge. The tribefolk had assisted the LHBoS to defeat the EagleEnclavers based on a massive ocean platform. Tribefolk helped find the doppelgangers with the use of tribal dogs."

 

Doppelgangers had been one of the biotech superweapons unleashed during the Doomswar but they were largely a mystery, to PostDW people, as so much was that had happened during the Doomswar and before.

Edited January 27, 2018 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

Humble apologies. Had to replace CantCom, being in the wrong map location to be practical, with RivetCity as the destination of Sandy and Justine.

[Robert55]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: Nice start

[Maharg67]

:cool: 2.2[5] :happy:

 

PrimeElder Owen Lyons studied the three captive BDGs (basedoppelgangers) in special secured statuscapsules. One was dead and due for dissection except that Lyons wondered just how useful that would be. Scanning, sensor sweeps and Xrays already done had already gained a mass amount of data but no real answers at all. Too many questions remained such as how the fake humans had gotten into the aeroship, where had they come from and, mostly, what exactly were they? NewPentagon data archives had just one datafile on the subject which indicated that doppelgangers came from a mysterious other force in the Doomswar being neither the Capitalists, Soviets, Imperials or the Zetanaca. That other force was labelled as the GreatEnemy.

 

In 2000AD the NewPentagon was officially abandoned and a large effort was made to take all valuable resources while erasing all classified data left behind; being in a barely controlled panic, the escapees did not succeed totally in either effort but did so about half way. What frightened them so much, that they fled from a highly fortified position, was not indicated except a couple of notes indicating the 'GE'.

 

Lyons spoke. "What was the GreatEnemy that supposedly frightened them so much?"

 

The Mysterious Stranger had shown up just about half an hour before. He stood as a figure in dull power armour of the type T60B2 or so it looked to be. Lyons, in his Elder robes, had doubts that the MS's appearance indicated his true nature. The man was both taller and broader than the PrimeElder despite that Owen was quite tall-broad for a radhuman.

 

The MS spoke. "The GreatEnemy is a mystery that, evidently, has no straight forward answer to it. It appears the the four GreatPowers failed to discover its true nature and there were left indications that it was perhaps more than one force. When the three human GreatPowers did not gain such answers, despite massive efforts to do so, that was a shock but then it was revealed that the zetans were just as oblivious to the truth. In very early 2001AD, there was a very secret meeting between envoys of all four GreatPowers to form an alliance against the GreatEnemy. One knows little about that meeting except it was then that the decision was made to use a range of terrible superweapons against the GreatEnemy. It was that helped lead to the ending of the Doomswar with Doomsday that was probably more than one day in duration."

 

Lyons frowned. "It was bad enough just dealing with such as the EagleEnclaven, supermutants and radmonsters on the east coast of the United States of PanAmerica. With swarms of radghoulers the answer is aim and shoot even if one does not want to kill those poor victims of Doomsday."

 

MS: "Wider spread ghoulification began during the Doomswar but one has data indicating fewer were created by secret experimentation even before the Doomswar began. There is much for the DCBoS to do, to achieve, and there will be multiple challenges but you have one's support along with that of others. There is treachery in your ranks but not all of the same faction. One is limited in how much one can help you and in what ways. You have seen the holographic introduction; watch it again for one has extended, enhanced it, and added even more clues. Often those clues are in odd places."

 

Then the MS was gone almost as if he had never been there.

 

There now stood a neat stack of thirteen 1x1x1 metre cubecanisters being one golden, three silvery and nine copperish. Each had a number on every side, top and bottom along with a square crystal screen. All glowed dull red except Box/13, a copperish one, that glowed green. Sensing no threat, the PrimeElder stepped forward and pressed the green glowing square on the top of that cube. The cubecanister opened, at the top, to reveal stacks of data on the NewPentagon that would assist in future explorations, analysis, of the great fortress.

Edited January 27, 2018 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

:sick: 3.1[6] :huh:

 

'Predoomswar 1990s technologies were a mishmash of mainly more basic tech levels with some areas having plunged to the level of mostly lotech such as oil-lamps, horse drawn wagons and basic guns with only a smattering of midtech. Midtech dominated with such as electric typewriters, basic computers, electric runabouts, automatic rifles and such like. Bicycles were a common means of transport as was walking. Hitech was less common and supertech was rare with ultratech not even seen by the vast majority. Big government, big corporations and other powerful institutions kept monopolised what they could. In general terms, the great majority of people of the Wastelands are not greatly worse off than were the great majority of people of the 1990s, when it came to technologies. When it came to danger, large areas of the 1990s world were as threatening as the Wastelands are.'

 

A General Summery of Comparisons: PreDD and PostDD by Professor Mortum Brown, Page 12

Edited January 27, 2018 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

:cool:4.1[7] :geek:

 

To Sandy's relief, Justine-Jox did not transform into Jax, Jex, Jix, Jux or any of the unnamed personalities, not there with the Lyons Pride being present and more so, not with Sarah Lyons being present. The mainly quiet leader had a feel about her that she was more than alert, aware, discerning in the everyday sense. She would look at Justine in an odd manner, at moments, and even at Sandy though the woman wondered why she bothered to do so. Sandy considered herself to be nothing, more or less, than a typical radhuman.

 

They made their way through an area that was in remarkably good condition, in Wastelands way of thinking, except that nothing lived there except for the very toughest of radlife such as glowshooms and tanglerbushes. Even such as supermutants and radghouls staid away from it. The group kept to a wide avenue and never ventured too close to any of the buildings. They moved through the area in daylight for nobody willingly went through there in semidarkness let alone darkness.

 

"Phantasms!" Justine-Jox frowned hard. "When radhumans first came here, after Doomsday, they ignored radghoulman warnings and over 100 vanished before warnings were heed. Phantasms attack mind-body-spirit wise in the darkness but UV kills them easy like just as does high voltage electricity and enough focused firepower. Every so often locals have gathered forces, hired mercenaries and others, then come in hard-fast to wipe out many phantasms as possible. This has kept the threat down to these few blocks. Except there are also the friendlier phantoms that sometimes come out in daylight. One has to keep them at a distance but one can trade information with them. Figured you might want to trade for information."

 

Sarah Lyons responded from where she was walking with Sandy by her side. "You mean like that translucent girl child standing over there?"

 

Sandy nodded. "You saw her before she came forward. Very few can do that with phantoms. Justine can, I can most likely because I have been around Justine for so long."

 

:cool:4.2[8] :geek:

 

The girl child glided over to the moving group, now seen by all of them. She stopped to front the halted Sarah and Sandy. Then she pointed to Sarah. "You are one that is almost many, many that are almost one." She lowered her finger. "Phantoms, phantasms, were just people here living life as employees of mid sized public relations, advertising and legal companies. It was on a work day, when we were evacuating to an unknown destination for safety, when there was a pulsating bright light that went through everything and everybody. I do not even want to remember what it was like. I was spending time with my mother, thanks to my school closing down due to the emergency situation. The place we were to evacuate to was supposed to have schooling, which I was not happy about because I liked my old school, especially Miss Nancy my literature teacher."

 

Sarah nodded. "I went to Brotherhood of Steel Academy, when I was a child, as do all those born into the BoS. You became a phantom."

 

The girl snorted softly. "Well, that is obvious! Most became malice centered phantasms but some of us became more innocent phantoms though far from totally innocent for we feed off the phantasms, having no choice. Still, in doing so we calm them a little, reducing their pain. I wish I could leave this place but 'something' stops us from doing so that is beyond me. The only ones that come here are those like Justine, Sandy, the Mysterious Stranger, JackOman, and a few others who also talk with us phantoms. Supermutants, radghouls and the ilk move through quick."

 

Sarah spoke. "The BoS has dealt with your kind before. The superweapon used against this place was probably a small test of the weapontech. The USPA would not have done it nor any of its allies such as the TechCorps, the European Union of Nations or the Australian New Zealand United Republic. Neither the Soviets or the Imperials had such a superweapon. The zetans stay away from that sort of thing because it is too like, in unnaturalness, to the ways of the Greyyari who once enslaved them."

 

Sarah: "The GreatEnemy was behind it as it was behind many horrors. The area we found that data in, along with much else, is known as the Naskia Doomsland, named after the first radhuman to go return alive from going deep into it. He went into the Doomsland with over 100 others and came out alone only to die five days later. What he recounted to others led to the formation of the Doomsguards who keep the place isolated."

 

Sarah: "It is okay to go into the fringes, of the Doomsland, where much of value can be gained but only with Doomsguards escorting one along with other precautions. The Lyons Pride, my group here, went into the Naskia Doomsland. We learned a good deal at the cost of two comrades, one dead and one damaged; the former was luckier than the latter."

 

The phantom looked surprised. "Why would this 'GreatEnemy' test it in this place. It was not an important target!"

 

Sarah shrugged. "The GreatEnemy is mostly a mystery but what is known, for certain, is that it is quite criminally insane! There are no Doomsguards here or anything like them?"

 

The phantom smiled. "I like you! My name is Rosie. I was going to be a ballerina along with my little sister Giggles, or that was her nickname. UncleLeo comes here often and lives close to us. He has stopped there being any more people coming and murdering phantasms, which only makes matters worse."

 

Sarah nodded. "I agree with that 100%. I would like to meet UncleLeo but we are going to RivetCity."

 

Rosie smiled. "Oh, he is in the same directions as all those ships, boats and things that float. Giggles lives with him and sometimes she visits. Giggles has changed, just as I did, but in a very different way. She is a behamoth who still thinks that she is a little girl dancer. If you watch her dance, keep a safe distance from her. Even UncleLeo does and he is a hulkamoth, the second largest of the supermutant castes."

 

Sarah shook her head. "Only the fifth largest, according to whispers picked up by the BoS. Now listen! I will give you some information in return as part of a trade."

 

So Sarah did just that and the group continued with its cattleherders and power armoured soldiers along with animals. When they had left the area, of exotic danger, they halted.

Edited January 27, 2018 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

:cool:4.3[9] :down:

 

Sarah Lyons made sure everybody, including the animals, were okay. As Sandy had warned her, Rosie had tried to be a decoy to allow other phantoms to draw away one of the radcattle that they would then feed upon in a horrible fashion. That is leaving behind only a desiccated body having been drained of life energies, liquefied flesh and blood. The Pridetroopers had made sure that did not happy but Rosie did not seem to be concerned for her kind were always hungry for knowledge, especially of events and other info from outside their confined space.

 

Sandy frowned. "You say that the phantoms cause the phantasms to act aggressively as they do. The phantoms may not even know that they are doing so. The Zeroblast weapon that struck here killed at least half of the life here, including people, but about half the people became phantasms or phantoms, the phantoms being of much smaller number. We DCfolk that the phantoms were being honest until UncleLeo made us see the truth. I suppose we mistook overt aggression for greater threat."

 

They headed onwards, now heading towards the Carpark Caves. As they did flew the black dots of a group of DCBoS vertibirds being the smallest combat vertihawks but with them flew two BlackHawk helicopters taken out of storage and put into action.

Edited January 27, 2018 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

:dry:5.1[10] :happy:

 

Saltis, the 17 year old woman, crouched to pull out a Grognak the Barbarian 3Dcomic from where it had been hidden, beneath a lightly damaged cupboard, and with it came a grumpy neobaby.

 

The chubby muscular baby like figure was sitting on the comic magazine and was sucking her thumb with avid intensity.

 

Saltis frowned softly at the very small female. "Supertinzi should not be greedy. You got to share your finds and get hug-kisses, snacks and Saltis will read the comic to you."

 

Supertinzi brightened up, visibly, at that idea. She floated up through the air and alighted on Saltis' brown hair covered head. The young radhuman was glad Supertinzi was wearing nappypants.

 

Thomas, the big muscular tomcat radcat, wandered past with Crowcrow radcrow, on his back. The largely buried diner had proven to be a minor bonanza of goodies with no skeletal remains of the dead to deal with. The Wonder13 were busy making a small, temporary, home out of it.

 

Juber, the big packdog, was sleeping with Hattie who was not officially part of the Wonder13 but who went with them anyway. She was the mother of Rubin, Ramsey and Saltis; Rubin was male, Ramsey was a neuter, and Saltis was female.

 

Rubin was next to Hattie counting some pristine PreDD cash that was devalued as currency but still had some tradecredit based strength. Damaged PreDD cash, of standard nature, was good for recycling by those who had the means to deal with such materials.

 

Tinlegs, Eyebie and Wheelticky were three junkbots put together from what parts could be found and upgraded. Tinlegs was protectron based, Eyebie was eyebot based and Wheelticky was just based on lots of things including a basic wheeled remoterobot. They were all recharging quietly with Ramsey looking after them while they 'slumbered'. Molie slept next to the neuter radhuman, being a radmolerat, and there sat Tangleit the passive radghoul while Tannin, the tough mutated radman, was cleaning a pipegun rifle designed to use special smoothbore ammo.

 

Saltis suddenly spoke up. "Executive decision; all of us are now part of the Wonder13 even if that does not add up to thirteen."

 

Hattie smiled, the motherly looking woman being a great deal tougher than first appearances might suggest. "Why thank you, Saltis, that is very sweet of you. Moomoo will especially like that."

 

The big radcow, provider of radcow milk, mooed softly in contentment and then went back to eating grain provided for her.

 

There were a few others there but in the room next door.

 

Life went on as a statuscanister of preserved PreDD food, medicine and drink had been found along with some NukaCola Original.

Edited January 28, 2018 by Maharg67