Sector 87

[Quantum07]

(This is the basic write up for the Sector that all of my material and Eternal Ziggurat run in.)

"So, you want to know what it is like in Sector 87? The history of this land, the players in the area, and the mysteries and secrets? Sure, but it is gonna cost ya. Some of your food, one of them weapons you got, and a handful of chits. Yeah, that will do.

Well, as far as the tales go, this island use to be part of the mainland. But during the starting days of the Machine rising up to wipe us out, she decided she didn't like this peninsula being connected. So, she used her great machines to crack the ground, from shore to shore, and PUSHED the island out. Don't believe me? Well, this is how I was told. She also decided to cleanse the surface by nuked the place, using them to raze the cities for her plans.

For decades, this island was the play thing of Gaia, Kali, and Hecate. After the nanoplague hit us, we didn't have the biotech we do now for a long time. It took some brave explorers from the mainland to bring the concept here. Until then, Gaia build a giant nature preserve, Truncatas Moores, a death jungle, filling it with nasty beasts, deadly plants, and other dangerous bits that fed on the few Retro Villages she cultivated in the preserve. Kali would create larger Retro Villages, and then infect the dead and wipe them out with the rotting corpses of their ancestors. Hecate build the ghost cities that stand to this day, including the Party City. Yeah, there is a coastal city that is parties all year long, except in what passes for winter here, that is when the city shuts down. But don't be fooled, those are Nex-Androids just pretending to have a fun time.

Not much has changed, really. Just some of the players in the area. With biotech spreading, Great Resistance House sprang up. Lets see. The biggest success has been Great House Ashe. They did the impossible here. They spend YEARS, maybe decades, digging down. They dug down, but were not content with a home underground. They plotted, and calculated, and dug, until they were underneath the biggest manufactory on the island. A mile below it, so deep that the machine couldn't hope to get a signal to any minions she sent down there, and they planted a Seedling. Whoever first formed that house must have been patient as a boulder, as they build their Seedling UP, cultivating the growth, until they were close enough, bursting out from UNDER the manufactory floor. The Machine was not prepared, and Great House Ashe actually took the facility from the Machine. For the last few years, they have been holding the position, dug in like a tick that Hecate cannot remove. Their casualties are high, and their resources are stretched thin, but they are holding the line.

On the opposite end of success is House Sparta. This former Great House faced off against Kali, and lost. The Machine raised every corpse she could, covering Battle Tracks with grisly, undead armor, and Steel Legion soldiers covered in gore, marching straight into their underground hide out from ever conceivable entrance. The only survivors were a group of Outriders who decided to punch through the line. Now, House Sparta is little more than a Waste Crawler gang, but with the honor and feeling of a former House. Numbering less than 200 soldiers, they now fight for any House that can pay them, typically in access to a gene pool. They maintain the heavy firepower of Outriders, but with the fervor of a House that refuses to die.

Great House Mythos decided to brave the wild Jungle, and set a Seedling down in the heart of the Nature Preserve. This has lead to a house rich in biomass and biodiversity, but low on numbers. Numbering barely a thousands people total, their soldiers are elite special forces, hired by other Houses in the area to strike against their enemies, escort important cargo, or destabilize Machine infrastructure. The House specializes in stealth and combat vs organic opponents, as this is required just to exist in the Great Jungle, with all the MDC predators and plants that want to eat you.

Great House Starfall, as opposed to the other houses, decided that life under the waves was safer than life on land. Living off the sheer cliff shore where the island broke off the mainland, Starfall exists as a House of smugglers and breeders. They are known to experiment on more kinds of War Mounts, both for Outriders, and as independent weapons of war. They pay House Mythos to collect living MDC creatures from the preserve, and then send the creatures through Biotic conversion, are are known to hire House Sparta in exchange for experimental War Mounts. They even have a Kraken, used for smuggling back and forth between the island and mainland, along with plans for what they call the "World Turtle."

The last of the Resistance Houses, Great House Lua Pele survived what could have been a horrible tragedy. The Machine found out where their Seedling was growing, and (assuming Gaia) decided to put a volcano at the same place. As the lava flowed upward from the mantle of the planet, the Librarian, Kamehameha, came up with an idea. Tweaking the genetics of the Seedling, most of the organic structure was saved, wrapping around tunnels of magma, with most of the structure around the primary cone. The Machine, assuming the House lost, was surprised when Lava Warriors and Thermavores started to become more prevalent in the area. The volcano is located near two Retro Villages, Ka Hope and Volcan. Ka Hope, based on Pacific Islander culture, is the primary recruiting village for Lua Pele. Volcan, based on Aztec villages, is devoted to Kali as Mictlantecuhtli, and thus Lua Pele avoids contact with them.

Speaking on Retro Villages, Orson Marsh is a strange mix of Ghost Town and Retro Village. The primary port city on the island after the nukes took out the others, Nex-Androids man the large ports, and next door there are wooden piers for fishing and trading canoes. The humans here actually travel to the mainland, collect goods, and bring them back. The Retro part comes in the human dwellings and set up, as an ancient Egyptian town, with a Pharaoh representing the people to their Machine gods. 90% of all imports and exports come through this town? City? Whatever.

There are a couple of small villages in the Truncatas Moores, but they often get wiped out by the predators in the area, before the Machine replaces them entirely. The few survivors from these are usually adopted into Great House Mythos.

In the western mountains, the Retro Village Elpidas sits. They guard the only foot path into the mountains, which is their Mt. Olympus. This suits the Machine just fine, as there are rumors that they have some research facilities in the mountain, and the villagers prevent anyone from going up the paths.

That about covers the relevant players and history. But what do I know? I am just a wanderer, like you. Oh? What is that? Can't finish your food? Yeah, that was a pretty nasty virus I gave you. Don't worry, I won't waste your body. I need more Pro-Biotics if I want to REALLY fix this world."

[Slight001]

"Thank you, for the information." the young listener said before she moved on. Far in the distance the wanderer could see the listener pull at their head as their formally blonde hair came free as well as their face revealing a short cropped mane of the blackest hair and skin the white of chalk. The listener looked back for a moment revealing eyes of solid black and lips of nearly black red upturned in the form of a smile. The wanderer's mind would surely reel for it couldn't be. They were only a distant legend a nightmare if the stories were true. The Hel'breki, surely his eyes deceived him. Was nowhere safe from those monsters?

Sorry couldn't resist.

Nice job.

I like what you did with the various houses and retrovilages. It's a nice mix of raw world info and interesting plot hooks.

Makes me think I should resume work on my materials for the Hel'breki again...

[Ziggurat the Eternal]

"Thank you, for the information." the young listener said before she moved on. Far in the distance the wanderer could see the listener pull at their head as their formally blonde hair came free as well as their face revealing a short cropped mane of the blackest hair and skin the white of chalk. The listener looked back for a moment revealing eyes of solid black and lips of nearly black red upturned in the form of a smile. The wanderer's mind would surely reel for it couldn't be. They were only a distant legend a nightmare if the stories were true. The Hel'breki, surely his eyes deceived him. Was nowhere safe from those monsters?

Sorry couldn't resist.

Nice job.

I like what you did with the various houses and retrovilages. It's a nice mix of raw world info and interesting plot hooks.

Makes me think I should resume work on my materials for the Hel'breki again...

Honestly you really should. You should also dump unfinished ramblings on the board to inspire others.
Edit: also i could have sworn we were in sector 91 am i getting old?

[boxee]

Thank you Quantum07!!!! Great write up!