Inside the Mind Control Center

Inside the Mind Control Center:
The World of "Next War"

In the "Next War" mod that comes with the "Beyond the Sword" expansion pack for Civ4, there is a "Future era" where the player can do all sorts of crazy, futuristic things: like building a clone army of Automatons and Cyborgs, or even researching Cold Fusion and unlocking the feared Dreadnought behemoths. But one thing stuck me as even more fantastic than all that: after researching "Bionics" the player can build Mind Control Centers in all of his cities.

Mind Control Centers eliminate unhappiness in the city they are built in; they make the population totally, absolutely, and mindlessly loyal. The player can go to war forever- his citizens will never get war-weary. He can use the draft as many times as he wants- his people will never riot. He can call his civ "democractic" if he wants, but even if he runs the "Emancipation" and "Universal Suffrage" civics he will, in reality, have complete and totalitarian control. He can even adopt the "Slavery" civic if he wants to- no one's going to object.

This story is meant to take you into this dystopian future where an individual's very mind and soul are controlled and manipulated by the State. This tale will take you Inside the Mind Control Center.

The first chapter shows you a glimpse of the insanity which is so common in the futuristic, broken culture that is our setting. It is not really a tale for the faint of heart.

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"The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways- I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows." -Socrates
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It was midnight and the train station was quiet. He thought the train station must like the quiet too. Somewhere "Adam's Song" was playing. Scott had heard the song a long time ago, when he was sixteen, sixteen years ago.

"I never thought I'd die alone.
I laughed the loudest, who'd have known?"

Scott liked the song. He thought it was a nice song to listen to while he waited for his train. Scott took a step towards the big yellow line you're not supposed to cross, the one at the edge of the platform by the tracks.

"I traced the cord back to the wall,
no wonder it was never plugged in at all."

Scott thought the train station must like the quiet. It was so busy during the day, all those people walking and talking all over it all day. He thought the train station must like the quiet that only comes at night, when all the world is sleepy. He took another step towards the big yellow line.

"I took my time, I hurried up,
The choice was mine, I didn't think enough."

Scott's train was almost here. Scott's train wasn't going to stop. Scott's train never stopped here; it didn't like this stop. Scott wondered if the train station got sad when trains didn't stop at it's stop. Scott wondered if the train station was sad that he was leaving it. He hoped it was; he liked the train station, and he hoped the train station liked him too. He took another step towards the big yellow line. He was right next to it now.

"I'm too depressed to go on,
you'll be sorry when I'm gone."

Scott jumped down onto the tracks, and was smashed to death by the oncoming train.

From his hand fell the slip of paper he had cut from the book he had stolen from the government man. It said: "Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time."

The italized text is from "Adam's Song" by Blink 182. The quote in the last line is from Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five".

And I do realize that the first chapter must seem very bizarre at this point, but stay tuned: all will be revealed in time.

ohhhhhhhhh................ Strange start.

I like trains. Keep going!

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"Syme did not exist. Syme never existed."
-from Nineteen Eighty-Four
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It was Monday morning in the Ministry of Explanation, and the computers were humming industriously.

In Christine's office the computers were busy purging one "Scott Stevens" from the ministry's files. Soon it would be impossible for anyone to discover that this Scott Stevens had ever worked as a government censor.

Christine sipped her cup of coffee unconsciously, and looked at the small telescreen in her office, passively absorbing the light and sound and color. 'It was amazing what the computers could do,' she thought. All you had to was tell them which bit of data needed to be destroyed, and the computers did the rest. They hardly even needed the people any more.

interresting start

The quote from Slaughter House Five makes this story an instant win.

Some of the wording is a little awkward. I suggest you look over it a couple of times before posting it. Otherwise this story is an intresting departure from the typical AARs you see here. Good job (but try to keep it form becoming a 1984 ripoff).

Well, the wording is meant to be a little wierd, since Scott Stevens is pretty insane, and most of the other characters will be as well....

I have been thinking about how to keep it from being a 1984 ripoff, which is part of the reason I kept the "First Interlude" post so short: I think the audience will get the whole "1984-esque atmosphere" thing, so there's no reason to harp on it.

I'm glad you like the Slaughterhouse Five reference, Minoan, since that's going to become very important to the story's development.....

And thanks for the feedback, everybody! I'll try to update this thread at least every couple of days, although school and work do keep me pretty busy....

Funny, I just started reading 1984 for the first time yesterday.

This story sounds like it will be super cool! Will this be a story you amde up, or part of a game?

It's not a report on any specific game; it's a story that will explore themes present in the "Next War" mod and in the vanilla game.

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"It's time for me to be dead for awhile- and then to live again."
-Billy Pilgrim, from Slaughterhouse Five
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Scott Stevens had come unstuck in time.

He looked around. He was standing in a small village green which was surrounded by damp, primitive hovels. It occured to him that he was not dead after all.

"From time immemorial we have scattered the earth, scattered to the four winds," said an old, dignified man. Scott turned around to face the man. He felt surprised, for some reason, that the old man could speak English.

"But after years of wandering, at last the sun has risen on a new era!" This was from another man, a young warrior who brandished a wooden club when he spoke. Scott guessed that a town that had an army armed with sticks probably wouldn't have trains and telescreens. He wondered: what kind of world would it be, then, without trains and telescreens?

"Mighty Cheftain, the people have vested absolute power in you, trusting that you can build a Civilization to stand the test of time!" The priest who spoke these words smiled, raising a wreath of laurels as he did so.

Scott Stevens looked down at himself, and discovered that he was wearing the ceremonial garb of a village chieftain. He was the one meant to accept the wreath, and the power.

He opened his mouth in horror.

The village dissolved into nothingness.

Hmm... I never really liked that kind of writing style. Its too hard to advance the plot and it mainly focuses on normal events that are greatly exaggerated.

Phew! Finally something to read instead of browsing through screenshots done on worldbuilder by some kids

Keep it going

Yeah, Next War looks nice, the problem is that I've never finished game later then 1970, usually it's 1850-1920, so if I want to get high score there's no room (time) left for NextWar...

Nice story man........... When is the next update?

THis story is cool and mysterious! Cant wait for the next update!