Icerust - Update 9
Long Winter Y100.M10: Thick Skin, Thin Ice
Order Implacable
The Order Implacable went through its first expansion in the midst of the freezing Icerust autumn, outfitting an expedition to the recently discovered airport ruins of Luminum Nest, where the monastic colonists founded a permanent roadhub. The townlet’s foundation myth stated that that was the place where the legendary Sir (or Dame) Ducati sacrificed their life in a battle with the hated Cheese Martians, although Dame Schwinn and her crewmen knew that this was just an inspirational lie. Still, the roadhub was named St. Ducati’s Passing in the Order’s past leader’s name, and it immediately attracted gifts of food from the local pilgrims to the location. While the colony was still under construction, the heart of the Order was booming with activity. Hunting and scrap gathering expeditions swarmed Hammerhill approaches, aiming to support the significantly depopulated Hammertown. In the meantime, this depopulation opened several avenues of social advancement for many settlers, and some hard workers were elevated to the status of overmen, and two successful experts were granted a place in the Order’s high hierarchy. One of these new clerics was tasked with remotely keeping the books for Sir Ducati’s Passing’s needs and gains, while the other one, a hardy survivor and repentant mercenary with bad conscience known as Outlander Subaru, was promoted to a status of the Order’s Master-of-Vehiclery. With him, he brought not only the expertise of navigating the Icerust wasteland outside of the Old Milwaukee ruins, but also contacts with a network of roving survivors, who informed him that the Implacables’ expansion was not left unnoticed by the surrounding Highwaymen, with the Cheese Martians particularly itching for another battle.
(Hammertown: -42 Grub, -147 Junk, +47 Guzz, -8 Plush, -303 Proles, -1 Jacks, +2 Clouts)
(Sir Ducati’s Passing: +200 Grub, +100 Junk, +77 Guzz, +300 Proles, +2 Jacks, +1 Roadhub in Luminum Nest)
(Order Implacable: -1 Glory, +1 Notoriety, +1 Commander (Outlander Subaru (Ruse: 2, Tactics: 1, Spirit: 1))
Grand Master’s challenge: Carapace armor (Completed)
Inspired by their recent victory over the vicious Cheese Martians and successful expansion, the Order’s leadership finally turned with all seriousness to the individual personal armor experiments done by Hammertown’s blacksmiths. After Bishop Lamborghini blessed it as a tribute to the memory of Sir Ducati, dozens of people volunteered both as the apprentices and testers of the newly produced metal suits of armor. After some experimentation, a clunky, lobster-like design was chosen for the (relatively) standardized full-body armor of elite Implacable warriors, and these suits were also enhanced with animal furs on the inside to help the Order’s warriors handle the freezing Icerust winter. (Investment: Labor 100/100, Expertise: 8/8, Finesse: 2/2, Award: new Small Arms available only to Order Implacable in the Small Arms list, +1 Glory)
Grand Master’s challenge: Church of St. Ducati
Carapace armor aside, the martyrdom of Sir (or was she a Dame?) Ducati did leave a deep scar in the popular psyche of the poor fellows of the Order Implacable. Over time, many people started secretly or openly honoring them in their daily prayers like a deity of some sorts. Eventually, it was suggested to Bishop Lamborghini that his past brother or sister in faith must be honored with a proper church built in their name. This, they hoped, could truly bind the Order together in a proper religion of stern martyrdom and stoicism, granting it plenty of spiritual authority (albeit, at the cost of spiting the local Highwaymen). (Investment: Labor: 0/120, Expertise: 0/10, Finesse: 0/5, Award: +2 Glory (one-time gain), +1 Notoriety (one-time gain))
Ogayori Clan
The Ogayori Clan continued developing rather uniquely, as its vehicle fleet remained rather small and humble, while its automotive industry expanded to be the most advanced in civilized Icerust. An impressive armor plant was built in the center of Utsukushī Shima, complete with a casting mortar, welding and smoldering workshop, and a rivet-producing production line. The Clan Head’s rare critics pointed out that all of that impressive industry was just a drain on resources if it was left unused by the vehicle manufacturers, but these talks mostly started and died in the private areas of the newly constructed izakaya bar, where the cheapest cold sake could be enjoyed sometimes even by the poorest of mechanics. Outside of the plant- and tavern-building project, the Clan continued enjoying quiet prosperity, as the fishing and scrap gathering operations went uninterrupted, and more settlers were attracted by Ogayori Denji’s growing authority in the Old Detroit ruins. Unfortunately, with them they brought rumors that the Funk Brothers were starting to regain confidence after the defeat of their light raid on Ryūgū-jō earlier that year, and it was only a matter of time before their peep-bikes would appear on the frozen rivershore once again.
(Ryūgū-jō: -2.8 Grub, -170 Junk, +120 Guzz, -1 Plush, +100 Proles, +1 Armor plant, +1 Smilo joint)
(Ogayori Clan: -1 Glory, +2 Notoriety)
Clan Head’s challenge: Empire of the Setting Sun (Rejected)
Angry at his advisors for even suggesting such an arrogant claim, the Great Unifier Ogayori Denji refused to consider proclaiming his clan an empire until it properly expanded. With this outburst, the idea was shelved for good.. (Investment: Labor: 0/120, Expertise: 0/10, Finesse: 0/5, Award: +2 Glory (one-time gain), +1 Notoriety (one-time gain))
Clan Head’s challenge: Komin home
The Clan’s craftsmen (known in the Ogayori dialect as komin) were recently in high demand, and it’s unlikely that their expertise would be less wanted any time soon, considering the ambitious expansion of the Clan’s heavy automotive industry. This has suggested to Ogayori Denji that, perhaps, more komin mechanics would need to be attracted to Ryūgū-jō with promises of status, comfort, and security. (Investment: Labor 0/200, Expertise: 0/2, Finesse: 0/1, Award: +1d16 Jacks (5% chance/turn), +1 Glory)
Mommaz Boyz
Despite their split identity, the Mommaz Boyz continued quickly developing into the dominant faction in all of Iowa Wasteland. In the Crib (also known to Candyman’s followers as Frosted Palace), yet another protein pool was built, and a cocktail bar was opened, known to the visitors as “Pudding Time.” This establishment symbolized a larger stratification dynamic going on among Mommaz Boyz, as more grandkids disillusioned with the family’s past course found their way to Uncle K-9’s mech shop, while the particularly ambitious mechs and technicians would desert Uncle K-9 to join the clique of Candyman’s hedonistic sycophants, eventually being elevated to the clout level, awash with freshly produced narcotic condictionaries in exchange for loyalty. Meanwhile, on the bottom of the old Crib’s society, the poor-but-honest grandkids (or stepkids, as they temporarily became known during this interregnum) continued working day and night scanning the multicolored fog of the Ruins of Five Seasons for grazing game and huntable pests. The former effort, while immensely productive, eventually started to imbalance even the surrealistic ecosystem of Old Cedar Rapids, to a degree that even the Coral of Five Seasons anomaly couldn’t recover. Meanwhile, in the young village of Candyheart Grove Candyman’s loyalists prepared for a visit from the much feared Czech Mates. A half-broken windmill was turned into a candystrip-colored sentry tower, and a bunker was constructed at the bottom of the hill, resourcefully put together out of sacks of frozen soil, damp with water and allowed to freeze solid. While these fortification efforts proceeded, the settlement’s economy started to work independently from its metropole, with bird-hunting and machinery scrap scavenging turning a humble, but welcome haul. The only distraction from this routine came up when John Fisherman visited the settlement, riding his cutie-quad and followed by his two favorite huskies. A quiet outcast, he nonetheless was the most interesting person to visit the village in years, and his visit brought together crowds of gawkers. Tasked with exploring the north-eastern approaches of Shady Grove, the man was a shade of his past self, hunted by the surreal memories of past trips through a mindbender. Yet, these proved a bonus rather than a handicap, as John Fisherman fearlessly took his vehicle across a wide, snowy ravine nobody ever dared to venture into, because its very air and ground were twisted with omnipresent anomalies. A deadpool was quickly put together by the Candyheart Grovers, who bet on how soon the man would be taken by the Oz. Yet, Fisherman kept zigzagging through the ravine with a pace and concentration of a minesweeper, eventually disappearing from the villagers’ view. To their surprise, he returned several days later, bearing a confusing map of the newly discovered highway and news of a mysterious site at its end: a vast scrapyard of agricultural equipment with fuel trucks, sitting next to pools of an abandoned water reclamation facility, filled with oil instead of clear water or ice. The place, according to John Fisherman, was rich in machine oil-like ooze that originated from an apathetic, pachyderm amphibian monster living in the reclamation pools and hypnotizing living creatures telepathically to come and drown it the pools, thus becoming its meal. While this tale worthy of Pierce the Fireman himself was still being told at the campfire of Candyheart Grove, far away in the south Electric Auntie Sam was sent by Candyman to try and scout northeast of the Ruins of Five Seasons. Unlike the tenacious John Fisherman, Auntie Sam had yet another easy ride (by the Icerust standards), rolling along the wide-open lanes of the ancient Marion road, until she approached a freshly abandoned ghost town of a once prosperous community of Russian and Ukrainian survivors, uprooted by the Highwaymen, with a plethora of food reserves, scrap yards, and fuel cisterns left behind. With these good news, Candyman’s favorite Commander returned to the Crib, where she was greeted with a miniature triumph, in which she was escorted by Candyman himself in a recently manufactured heated command vehicle that imitated a pumpkin carriage, along with a (slightly) more pragmatically looking interceptor snowmobile with antler-like warscythes, a unicorn-like spar torpedo, and a desant warrior dressed as a gingerbread man and carrying lance charges painted like lollipops. While some found this parade loony at best, others cheered it in hopes of seeing something as eerily entertaining in the future.
(The Crib: +359 Grub, +23 Junk, -50 Guzz, -2 Plush, -3 Proles, -2 Jacks, +2 Clouts, +1 Protein pool, +1 Smilo joint)
(Candyheart Grove: -109 Grub, +253 Junk, +85 Proles, +1 Sentry tower, +1 Bunker)
(Ruins of Five Seasons: -1 Fertility)
(Mommaz Boyz: +Design (“Gingersnap Kisses” Interceptor Snowmobile), +Variant (“Gilded Pumpkin Carriage” Vip Cart), +1 “Gilded Pumpkin Carriage” Vip Cart, +1 “Gingersnap Kisses” Interceptor Snowmobile, Highways discovered: Mangrinder Ravine (Expanse: 350, Openness: 120, Perils: 40), Marionette Road (Expanse: 160, Openness: 400, Perils: 250), Sites discovered: Deadpool (Population Growth: 2, Fertility: 0, Deposits: 4, Fossils: 3, Protection: 1, anomaly “Southward pachyderm”), Old Tsentrograd (Population Growth: 5, Fertility: 3, Deposits: 2, Fossils: 3, Protection: 1, no anomaly))
Stepdad’s challenge: Mommaz Boyz no more
Slowly but surely, Candyman continued remaking the Mommaz Boyz in his image. Yet, the old habits die fast, so the vast majority of the Grandma Bubblegum’s grandkids continued calling the grim cult leader their “stepdad.” (Investment: Labor: 40/60, Expertise: 17/20, Finesse: 2/5, Award: +2 Glory (one-time gain), +1 Notoriety (one-time gain))
Stepdad’s challenge: Anemo-city
For the time being, Candyland was unprepared to take the battle to the famed Anemo-city of the Czech Mates, and it meant that the mercenaries’ offer was left unanswered - for now. (Investment: Glory: 0/1, “Peekaboo Puffy Paws” Cutie-Quads: 0/3, Fuel: 0/60, Plush: 0/6, Award: +1 Notoriety (one-time gain), Highwaymen base and secret Highway are revealed (The Czech Mates: Anemo-city))
Mid-Apocalypse Chaos Carnival
Shelby Carnarium continued being a rare place of quiet, simple, happy life in the Icerust wastes, despite the Chaos Carnival’s zany reputation. Ice fishing under the Mackinac bridge and metal salvage runs across Carnival Grounds supplemented the already healthy recycling economy of the small, but prosperous settlement, while the second sentry tower was built at Shelby Carnarium’s southern approach, decorated with a motley assemblance of flags and clown posters. Meanwhile, the Carnival’s car shoppe produced yet another utility buggy, expanding the transport capacity of Ringmaster Vanessas’s vehicle fleet. Rumors swirled that she was planning on building a colony in the recently discovered Rigged Valley, but Vanessa refused to reveal her plans to the Carnival’s members.
(Shelby Carnarium: +19 Grub, +107 Junk, +68 Guzz, +2 Plush, -6 Proles, +1 Sentry tower)
(Mid-Apocalypse Chaos Carnival: +1 “Cargo Bugg” Utility Vehicle)
Ringmaster’s challenge: Madhouse Circus
The program of the Madhouse Circus continued being rehearsed, and rehearsed, and rehearsed again through the month. It’s as they say, practice makes perfect! (Investment: Labor: 100/100, Expertise: 4/4, Finesse: 3/6, Award: +1d4 Plush (15% chance/turn), +1 Glory (one-time gain))
The Republic of Sinclair
Regular citizens of the Republic enjoyed a fairly uneventful year, as another biofuel plant was constructed next to the protein pools, consuming the waste of the edible cricket colonies and turning it into precious car fuel and machine oil. Hunters and trappers, meanwhile, kept on roaming the Old Asiatown, hunting it for edible pests and vermin of all sizes. Meanwhile, a conscription drive for the Republican army continued, with Eugenia’s husband Offset Jaw taking to the commanding role for the raw recruits that were pressed into crewing two more corolla warcars. Yet, these were the outside ventures of the Republic’s legendary Captain-Defender that grabbed people’s attention the most. Leading a column of three “Guardians,” Eugenia St. Clair headed south-west from the ruins of the St. Clair church, navigating an Oz-distorted corridor of ancient parking lots and vacated warehouse ruins located between two wide old-world avenues. The expedition, however, turned dangerous when it bumped into a scouting patrol of a local Highwaymen gang. The very first encounter was an underpowered two-seat bike transporting fanatical warrior-monks armed with gasoline bombs made out of confiscated hard drinks. Singing a deviant version of a serenity prayer, they attempted to force Eugenia’s column to swerve into one or another anomaly by throwing their flammable cocktails on the ground ahead of the cars - a trick that worked on one of the Sinclarian warcars, miraculously not costing lives of everyone on its board, but forcing the driver to take the damaged “Guardian” back home. Yet, when the dehorn bike attempted to pull off the same trick on Eugenia’s own flagcar, she just rammed he bastards into a snow slope, where their alcohol bomb kits were thoroughly shattered, and the disarmed bikers had to eventually drive away from the battle. Yet, the worst was still ahead, as the column was ambushed by a cordon of two imitations of ancient police cars with mediocre engines and blue&white-painted car frames, outfitted with police speakerphones and carrying squads of partybusters armed with shotguns and pistols. Despite screaming something about the Eighteen Amendment from their loudspeakers, the trigger-happy prohis failed to do much damage to the Sinclarians, who were ordered by their leader to simply reverse out of the effective range of the enemy close-quarter fire. With mastery of a seasoned commander, Captain-Defender St. Clair guided her autofire teams and minigun operators to lay waste to the bumbling enemies, riddling one of their cars into a sieve in the process. The remaining vice scout car U-turned to run, and the Sinclarian column was gaining on it, but in the process the Republic’s warcars got separated by anomalies. Eventually, the Highwaymen used it to do another bootleg turn on a pursuer car and block its way once again, this time rushing it from a close distance and butchering its crew. Still in the view of Eugenia’s “Guardian,” the Highwaymen split up, manning both their remaining car and the captured Sinclarian vehicle, in hopes of getting away with that bounty. The Captain-Defender had none of it, though, pulling off a breakneck maneuver and bumping the enemy vice scout into another snowdrift. While the captured “Guardian” still got away, the man driving the last Highwayman vehicle was taken prisoner. Packed in a trunk of his own car, he was later taken back into Sinclair, where he admitted to being a member of an ascetic martial order named the Straight Edge, which had split from a failing moonshiner colony located in the west of Old Cleveland ruins. A sworn enemy of any alcoholic beverage, as well as any other form of substance that changes a person’s behavior (all the way to sugar and herbal tea), he said the Straight Edge wouldn’t allow the upstart Republic to exist in the city it aimed to purge of vice. While this interrogation was still underway, Eugenia’s lone remaining car came across a lakeshore with a giant parking lot dotted with well-preserved car skeletons with full fuel tanks, surrounding a massive ramshackle arena that had a “Fi...st Energy” logo hanging over its gates. Joyful over her discovery, the triumphant Captain-Defender returned to the celebrating capital of her beloved nation. (Sinclair: -163.4 Grub, -193 Junk, -15 Guzz, -4 Plush, -10 Proles, +1 Waste kitchen)
(The Republic of Sinclair: +1 Glory, +1 Notoriety, +1 Experience, +Commander (Offset Jaw (Ruse: 1, Tactics: 2, Spirit: 0)), +1 “Guardian” Corolla Warcar w/ Auto Fireteams, 1 “Guardian” Corolla Warcar w/ Auto Fireteams is disabled, 1 “Teetotaler” Vice Scout w/ Prohi Squad is captured, Highway discovered: Twin Avenues (Expanse: 260, Openness: 140, Perils: 60), Site discovered: Fist Energy Bowl (Population Growth: 1, Fertility: 4, Deposits: 2, Fossils: 3, Protection: 3, no anomaly))
Captain-Defender’s challenge: Church of Holy Corolla
The worship of Holy Corolla quickly spread among the Sinclarian populus, drawing crowds toward the improvised altars people made in and around the car shoppe that churned out the corolla warcars for the Republic’s vehicle fleet. Many technicians and commanders joined in adhering to that cult of comfortable mediocrity, adopting it for the needs of the people’s army in which every citizen soldier deserves at least a chance to survive. Some voices even started proposing holding regular parades of warcars through the streets, celebrating them as personifications of the ancient nation on wheels. (Investment: Labor: 100/100, Expertise: 5/12, Finesse: 1/2, Award: +2d10 Fuel, +2d2 Plush (5% chance/turn), +1 Glory (one-time gain))
Mikeland
Having been depopulated by the construction of the colony on the shores of the Bestie river, Popsicle Junction became a place of feverish activity once again, as Mike invited hundreds of Icerust survivors to settle in Singing Ice in exchange for a corvee commitment on behalf of the king. Together with the old settlers, these newcomers were directed to hunt, gather materials, and scavenge for fuel in and around Popsicle Junction. Same buzz took place in the young Mikevillle-upon-Bestie colony, only with a much greater emphasis on hunting and ice fishing, as the settlement was yet to build up a proper food storage. Unfortunately, these food harvesting parties were so massive that even the rich ecosystem of the mouth of the Bestie river was overwhelmed, with a lot of local animals virtually hunted to extinction in a matter of weeks. These massive hunting parties were greeted throughout the month by Princess Molly herself twice - once on her way north and then back. The second passing of the princess was much less inspiring, however, as Molly Clever and the crew of her two buggies looked exhausted and frustrated, admitting to have driven into a puzzling Moebius road somewhere north of the Sleeping Bear dune, barely escaping it before their fuel ran out. Southward, in the meantime, Unlucky Larry led a similar expedition with much greater success. He took his two buggies past Walhalla into a wide frozen creek valley, the spring in the middle dark-brown with a trace of a distant oil spill. The source of that spill was discovered very soon, when the party reached a big ditch full of oil, with traces of several tanker trucks once being crashed there, but scavenged to a bolt since then. With the news of his discovery, the not-so-Unlucky Larry came home to brag in front of the boozy King Mike the Great.
(Popsicle Junction: +149 Grub, +401 Junk, +45 Guzz, +1 Plus, +200 Proles)
(Mikeville-upon-Bestie: +1144 Grub, +300 Junk, +100 Guzz)
(Bestie River: -2 Fertility)
(Mikeland: -1 Glory, Highway discovered: Ruby Creek (Expanse: 220, Openness: 290, Perils: 290), Site discovered: Big Black Puddle (Population Growth: 2, Fertility: 0, Deposit: 0, Fossils: 4, Protection: 2, no anomaly))
King’s challenge: Tramp market (Completed)
With tents and booths installed, King Mike’s own tramp market was finally opened for business - ironically, just around the time when Popsicle Junction was attempting to lure in more indentured servants to man its industry. (Investment: Labor: 180/180 Labor, Expertise: 4/4, Finesse: 4/4, Award: -1d10 Proles, +1d10 Grub, +1d10 Junk, +1d10 Guzz, +1d4 Plush (5% chance/turn), +1 Glory (one-time gain))
King’s challenge: Dynastic tree
Mirrors don’t lie, and Mike’s own mirror had always told him he was an all-round great ruler. Yet, not everyone in his realm and beyond saw it that way, and surely he couldn’t just leave it that way. His clever daughter Molly, however, proposed a solution. She claimed that producing a proper genealogical tree could help. Her dad took it a bit too literally, though, and came to associate it with a legendary tradition of the World of Autumn, centered around a rumored Christmas tree. Thus the idea was born of growing a massive fir tree in a patch of high ground untouched by the Singing Ice glacier, with crude statuettes of Mike’s predecessors hanging from its branches, taking his bloodline all the way to the venerable Jeff of the Plumber Guy, a hero of the pre-Winter world who had several hundred subscribers on his Youtube channel (although nobody in Mikeland, including Mike himself, knew what Youtube was). (Investment: Labor: 0/120, Expertise: 0/10, Finesse: 0/5, Award: +2 Glory (one-time gain), +1 Notoriety (one-time gain))
The Wobblies
Celebrating last month’s victory over the elusive Loopers, the Wobblies enjoyed a stream of reinforcements, as dozens of proletarians from the Windy Wasteland were attracted to Ravenswood Commune. They joined their comrades at the vast communal farms established around the potato-growing greenhouses that stretched along the town’s heating pipes, gathering the first truly significant harvest so far. Smaller teams of trappers familiar with the Old Chicagoland ruinscape ventured outside the drag, gathering fuel from the ancient car remains. Yet, this peaceful activity was only a background for a feverish preparation for class warfare fought on wheels. The IWW’s automotive industry finally was able to produce its first vehicle, the sturdy “Icebreaker” with a team of hammerers, while a garage nearby was busy with bringing the pedicab chariots captured from the Looters into a proper rideable shape. Chandra Gardener, who oversaw the training of the desant squads, also put her recent combat experience to good use, promoting a commander who knew a thing or two about maneuvering in the grid-like ruins of the Old Northside Chicago. Nicknamed the Bear of Chicago, Comrade-Commander Valentina Rodriguez was a wisened elder of the Commune and its greatest tactician, possessing a dangerous flaw of being so disparaging to her soldiers that she sometimes struggled to keep their morale and initiative high enough to keep them fighting. The most peculiar contribution to the Wobblies’ war effort by all measures, however, was a blueprint of a revolutionary vehicle presented to the IWW committee by that newly promoted leader, a visionary warmachine designer Sonam Tschering. His beloved “wheeled fortress” was essentially a lumbering heavy hauler with a heated, mobile home frame hosting a field kitchen and a mast-like observation pole on top, bristling with spikes, warscythes, and a ram, and carrying a team melee-loving Unionist fanatics. The project was tabled for now due to its sheer expensiveness, but it was added to the order of battle at least on paper, named “Comrad Tshering” after its creator (and nicknamed by the grinning technicians “Comrade Tshering’s Ego”).
(Ravenswood Commune: +261 Grub, +93 Junk, +90 Guzz, -4 Plush, +100 Proles)
(The Wobblies: -1 Glory, +1 Commander (Comrade Valentina Rodriguez (Ruse: 3, Tactics: 3, Spirit: -2)), +Design (“Comrad Tshering” Wheeled Fortress w/ Engels of War), +1 “Icebreaker” Truck w/ Hammerer Team)
Grand Foreman’s challenge: Cult of Mad Marx
The IWW leadership was busy forming the very first squadron of its vehicle fleet, so it had no time to supervise the cult of Mad Marx as an extension of the Unionist propaganda. Left to its devices, it remained merely a folk belief for now. (Investment: Labor: 0/50, Expertise: 24/24, Finesse: 0/2, Award: +1d40 Junk, +1d4 Plush (5% chance/turn), +1 Glory (one-time gain))
Greylaw
The hunting expeditions dispatched by Conan the Snowflake to prowl Greyhound Den returned home with worrying reports of strange-looking booby traps left by the Highwaymen in and around the Old Ypsi ruins, suggesting that the hated Arboreals weren’t going to accept Greylaw’s very existence in and outside Ypsilanti. This prompted the risk-averse Alfa-Alfa to postpone the construction of the first exploration vehicle by yet another month; instead, he put together yet another garrison team that manned a freshly constructed bunker on the previously exposed side of Thunderbolt. Meanwhile, Conan didn’t forget about the need to turn Greylaw into a functional autarky, organizing hundreds of rookies under the supervision of tech-savvy sergeants to build a small wood-burning energy plant.
(Thunderbolt: -8 Grub, -300 Junk, +70 Guzz, +2 Plush, -10 Proles, +1 Heatcatcher, +1 Bunker)
(Greylaw: +1 Notoriety)
Alfa-Alfa’s challenge: The thin grey line
Yet again, the gang’s pragmatic Alfa-Alfa put the immediate economic and defensive needs of his warlord state ahead of the lip service to the ancient mythos of separating the good from the evil. (Investment: Labor 0/50, Expertise: 0/6, Finesse: 0/1, Award: +1d12 Jacks (5% chance/turn), +1 Glory)
Monolith of Sarkic
The Monolith of Sarkic went through its first expansion beyond its cradle in the Old Sault Ste. Marie ruins. Ahead of a convoy of four “Zealot” interceptors and one technical transporter, Klavigar Caarsvärd shuttled hundreds of workers and several overseers, along with construction materials for a roadhub, to Harmony Beach. There, a tribute of provisions from the theocracy’s vassals was already waiting for them, making sure the newly built roadhub named Dunwich Harbor had enough supplies to last it until its first protein pool could be completed. Meanwhile, back in the Cathedral the depopulated settlement procured food by hunting deer and wild dogs across the woods surrounding Still Mill, eventually coming across fresh traces of timbercutting vehicles having passed through the forest on the way to and from the Cathedral. This suggested to the Sarkics that the Iron Ridge was still plotting a revenge for its defeated raid, and upon Karcist Kane’s request a new technical transporter was manufactured in the local car shoppe just to free up the cult’s combat vehicles for the inevitable future clash.
(The Cathedral: +68.2 Grub, -640 Junk, +125 Guzz, -372 Proles, -5 Jacks)
(Dunwich Harbor: +20 Grub, +200 Junk, +370 Proles, +5 Jacks, +Roadhub in Harmony Beach, +1 Protein pool)
(Monolith of Sarkic: -2 Glory, +1 Notoriety, +1 "Proselyte-2" Technical Transporter)
Grand Karcist’s challenge: Flesh temple (Completed)
At long last, the blueprint of the first flesh temple of Yaldabaoth was completed, and with time the Cathedral, quite fittingly, might become a site of the first of such temples being constructed. (Investment: Expertise: 40/40, Finesse: 5/5, Award: new structure available only to Monolith Of Sarkic in the Building list, +1 Glory)
Grand Karcist’s challenge: Sculptors of flesh and metal (Completed)
A more comfortable living quarter for the Monolith’s craftsmen and experts was constructed in a previously underused section of Still Mill, expanding the Cathedral’s limits beyond the old factory’s area. With it, the sect’s offer to future artisans and technicians became much more solid and attractive. (Investment: Labor 50/50, Expertise:2/2, Finesse: 2/2, Award: +1d4 Jacks (10% chance/turn), +1 Glory)
Grand Karcist’s challenge: God is on the radio
The establishment of the radio tower in the Cathedral was a breakthrough for the carnal faith of Yaldabaoth. Few people across Icerust have even the most primitive radio receivers, but those who do tend to gather entire communities of survivors around themselves, not unlike the storytellers of old. This gave Grand Karcist Maxwell the idea to spread the word of the Geometer of Flesh across the radio waves, just like Yaldabaouth itself spreads its message through Maxwell’s convulsing body when the seizures hit him. The very first step of this ingenious plan was undertaken when the previously minimalistic radio program of the Monolith’s radio was enhanced with invitations for the prospect immigrants, intermixed with prayers and chants.The more practical part of work was still pending, providing the widespread communities easy enough instructions for arrival, and preparing the Cathedral to receive the new wave of initiates. (Investment: Labor 0/120, Expertise: 0/2, Finesse: 4/4, Award: +2d20 Proles (20% chance/turn), +1 Glory)
The Speed Freaks
The Speed Freaks were a rather successful, promising faction - until suddenly it wasn’t. Many people in Joe’s Pitshop were frustrated with the losses the Speed Ace allowed his followers to suffer during the famine, but then again, many people still looked up to him, swayed by Joe’s unending optimism and need for speed. Yet, when Joe One-Toe fell ill after the unsuccessful eastward journey, the mood among the Speed Freaks turned decisively sour. As Joe fell deeper into the fever-induced dementia, some people in his circle started trying to cheer up the pitstop crew with a modified version of his teachings, combining his original vehicular cult with the ancient Christian teachings into a powerful brew of Godspeed. The irony was that the prophet of Godspeed wasn’t ready to abandon her newly gained popularity when Joe started slowly getting better, and one night the Speed Ace was found dead in his room, arguably dying from a cocaine overdose. Whether a tragic accident or a result of foul play, this ended the Speed Freaks cult in its original form.
(Speed Freaks: game over)
Map:
GM's notes:
- the stats and map are up to date
- the orders are due by Christmas, December 25
-
Lurkers and candidate players: if you'd like to join the game, but don't want to spend a few turns quietly building up from the scratch, the following
ex-player factions are up for the taking. You can choose to rebrand them (I'd like some thematic continuance, though) and pick a new leader for them. Or you may ask me to rebrand them for you.
- The Speed Freaks
- The Motors Parliament
- Restless Spirits
- The Addlebrained Alcoholics
