Icerust - Update 11
Long Winter Y100.M12: Bittersweet And Sour
Candyland
Candyland started the waning days of the year with hard work and mass travel. In Frosted Palace, hunting teams continued their mass hunts in the multicolored fog spread by the Coral of Five Seasons. They were eventually joined by dozens of “ferals,” summoned by Candyland’s self-proclaimed new leader Candyman, a past Stepdad and now the cult’s Chief Confectioner. Under his guidance, the bizarre vehicular fleet of Candyland was expanded some more, featuring not only “Gilded Pumpkin Carriages” as extravagant command vehicles, but also newly blueprinted camouflaged variants of the “Absinthe Sparkle” trikes, protected with spike-covered minicar cabins and outsized bumpers, carrying teams of demolition lancers, along with self-destruction satchel charge in case of a fatal collision. Three of these destructive machines were manufactured off the go, too late for the departure of Candyland’s convoys and exploration expeditions. The convoy, consisting of absurdly overloaded cutie-quads and similar vehicles, was led by Fireman Pierce who basked in his newly gained authority. The task given to him was far from easy: he was to reach Candyheart Grove, shuttle hundreds of its workers, along with scrap metal and fuel canisters, back to Frosted Palace, where only a part of this delivery was going to settle. The convoy would then stack up on food and chauffeur four Candy Stripers along with some junk and guzz to the freshly abandoned ruins of Old Tsentrograd. There, a massive tribute of scrap metal already waited for the colonists, who then proceeded to establish a humble roadhub settlement, complete with a sentry tower and a bunker, mostly re-utilizing the previous settlement’s ramshackles. This complex logistical operation, however, was merely a prelude for events of truly titanic importance - at least, in the eyes of the ambitious young faction. First signs of the coming drama came when the north-eastern sky got dark-red, indicating an advancing emission storm. By then, all three of Candyland’s brave explorers had already departed Frosted Palace for their respective missions. As it later turned out, two of them - Electric Auntie Sam and John Fisherman - ended up driving into the storm and barely evading being struck by lightning bolts or succumbing to radiation waves. Mr. Krinkle, meanwhile, read the writing on the wall and turned his “Gingerbread Kiss” away from the emission clouds just in time to zip from the newly founded colony of Ol’ Peanut Brittle Village to Candyheart Grove along the narrow, log-jammed frozen river stream (saving two lost souls in the process). While he didn’t discover any new sites, his discovery of the Highway was still celebrated by the happy Candyheart Grove’s villagers, who were blissfully unaware of the epic events developing in the south. There, Candyland’s arch-enemies, the Czech Mates, decided to finally strike where it mattered, gathering a strong fleet of light vehicles with a single goal to do as much damage as possible to Frosted Palace. The raid, consisting of six moto-zved sidecar bikes, four three-wheel warcars-on-axle, and led by a vicious speed demon on a chainsaw-outfitted “Formula Easter” blood racer. The attack was enough to destroy or, at least, badly damage either of Candyland’s new colonies or to entirely eliminate Fireman Pierce’s busy convoy, but to the Czech Mates’ ill luck, they took the wide and clear Three-Oh highway toward Frosted Palace, missing the self-confident escort force entirely. Instead, the raiders bumbled into the multicolored mist of the Ruins of Five Seasons, where the destructive effect of the anomaly started to wear out their ungreased equipment right away. Lacking experience of navigation in the dense fog, the attackers blundered the approach and were quickly spotted by Frosted Palace’s ribbon-decorated sentry tower that could look over the fog and shoot at the approaching cars’ silhouettes. At that point, the commanders of two enemy three-wheel minicars judged against attacking the settlement and turned back, afraid to losing their machines entirely to supernatural rust. Others pressed on… only to drive into the killing field of Candyland’s festoon-adorned bunker. Two more “Velorexes” were quickly riddled with bullets and exploded, while the fire of the Czech Mates’ own machine guns and anti-materiel rifles could only entertain the defenders. The collapse of the enemy attack was complete, when their equipment started to refuse working, and the personnel started to desert into the mist. Frosted Palace’s defenders refused to believe their luck, considering the enemy pleas for surrender to be some sort of a ruse, but after a few hours the true gravity of their victory finally set in. The entire remnants of the enemy fleet were captured, along with a lot of their crew, who were sent to slave in local protein pools, while loyal Candylanders replaced them as the crew of trophy warmachines. The news of the battle of Frosted Palace spread through Iowa Wasteland like fire, shaking the fearsome Czech Mates’ reputation, and opening the talks about their possible demise to Candyland’s possible counter-attack. Yet, rumors swirled that some other Highwaymen gangs could exploit the vacuum left by the Highwaymen of Anemo-city, attracted by the fabled (and exaggerated) reaches of Candyland.
(Frosted Palace: -2.1 Grub, +131.9 Junk, -52 Guzz, -10.7 Plush, -83 Proles)
(Candyheart Grove: +191 Grub, +138 Junk, -229 Guzz, -322 Proles)
(Ol’ Peanut Brittle Village: +100 Junk, +477 Proles, +4 Jacks, +Roadhub in Old Tsentrograd, +1 Bunker (90/250 Labor), +1 Sentry tower)
(Candyland: -3 Glory, +1 Experience, -6 Notoriety, +Variant (“Sneak Craquelin Pop” Ambush Hunter), +3 “Sneak Craquelin Pop” Ambush Hunters, +2 “Gilded Pumpkin Carriage” Vip Carts, 2 "Peekaboo Puffy Paws" are damaged, 6 "Jawa" Moto-zveds are captured, 1 "Velorex" Warcar-on-Axle is captured, 1 "Formula Easter" Blood Racer is captured, , Highway discovered: Mr. Krinkle’s Run (Expanse: 260, Openness: 40, Perils: 220))
Chief Confectioner’s challenge: Guarding kennels
As long as it helped him to keep Uncle K-9 in line, he allowed the quiet pragmatist to spend his and his followers’ time on training wild dogs and getting them used to living in kennels. Who knows what use could come out of it? (Investment: Expertise: 18/40, Finesse: 3/5, Award: new structure available only to Candyland in the Building list, +1 Glory)
Chief Confectioner’s challenge: Anemo-city
The captured Czech Mates, for the most part, refused to talk about the secret path leading to their base, the infamous Anemo-city. A couple of smart alecs did, however, open up about a possibility to guide an expedition to their home base, in exchange for being let free and provided a reward that pretty much resembled the one requested by the mercenaries earlier. All in all, it looked like there was no way around paying the price for the information that could lead to the destruction of Candyland’s arch-enemies. (Investment: Glory: 0/1, “Peekaboo Puffy Paws” Cutie-Quads: 0/3, Guzz: 0/60, Plush: 0/6, Award: +1 Notoriety (one-time gain), Highwaymen base and secret Highway are revealed (The Czech Mates: Anemo-city))
Ogayori Clan
The quiet buildup of the Ogayori economy continued through the final weeks of the year, as the Clan’s tributaries were requested to provide scrap metal for Ogayori Denji’s another project: expansion of Ryūgū-jō’s armament industry to include a firearms workshop and a proper artillery depot. To the grumbling of the Great Unifier’s past comrades at war (and his impatient son’s frustration), Ogayori Denji still refused to utilize any of the recently built factories, as the shiny new structures remained standing still and empty, half-buried under the dense cover of snow. Despite this, the disciplined Ogayori commoners continued performing their daily tasks, fishing and salvaging the island for scrap and trying not to pay attention to the rumors of the Funk Brothers’ musical cult slowly penetrating the very fabric of their society.
(Ryūgū-jō: -179.6 Grub, -129.7 Junk, +159.5 Guzz, +3.3 Plush, +1 Arsenal, +1 Bullet farm)
(Ogayori Clan: -1 Glory, +1 Notoriety)
Clan Head’s challenge: Expanding Kazoku Kaikan (Completed)
Still rabidly isolationist, Ogayori Denji doubled down on his plan to see the world arrive at his doorstep. This time, a decision was made to open the membership in the Kazoku Kaikan, the unofficial club of Ogayori nobility, to the foreigners willing to adopt the Clan’s traditions. This upset many of the Great Unifier’s followers, but for the time they had to accept his decision, lulled by the Clan’s ongoing prosperity. (Investment: Labor 100/100, Expertise: 4/4, Finesse: 2/2, Award: +1d2 Clouts (10% chance/turn), +1 Glory)
Clan Head’s challenge: Jazu witchhunt
It’s been a while since the Ogayori Clan achieved a capacity for expansion or, at least, exploration. Yet, after barely one and a half exploration expeditions outside Ryūgū-jō, the previously unbending Ogayori Denji lost his nerve and completely isolated the prosperous island of Utsukushī Shima from the outside world, barring the humble salvaging parties to the Old Detroit shore. At least, this is how it became perceived in some elements of the Ogayori society. The Clan Head’s loss of legitimacy translated into a cultural and, possibly, spiritual rebellion among manu lower class workers, who grew to view the stylish, if brutal Funk Brothers of the Old Detroit ruins as much more charismatic and worthy of imitation. Rumors started to spread in Ryūgū-jō that many junk harvesters started to stash a bit of scrap metal instead of bringing it to the warehouses, secretly turning it into crude musical instruments that imitate the Funk Brothers’ shiny brass toys. On quiet nights, it became not uncommon to hear noises of the Funk Brothers’ ritual music being played from this or that hut, named “jazz” (or bastardized as “jazu”) by these heretics. Ogayori Denji’s own courtiers started to worry that he would not be able to continue advancing his other projects, until this dangerous fifth column was dealt with, their instruments confiscated and scrapped. To do that, the Clan would have to sacrifice some of its recently gained authority in a painful, but necessary display of force and internal cleansing. (Investment: Glory: 0/2, Award: -1d30 Proles, +1d20 Junk (one time), Challenge cannot be dismissed, Other challenges cannot be gained while this challenge stands)
Order Implacable
Adjusting to their recent expansion, the Implacables started running regular convoys along the Blue Mound Drive, supplying the aluminum junkyards of Sir Ducati’s Passing with food and delivering the scrap back to Hammertown. There, the local hunting industry was for the first time reinforced with first greenhouse farming installations, as a heatcatcher power plant was built amid the college campus ruins. The Order’s hierarchy also expanded, as many capable builders and hunters joined the ranks of the monastic artisans, and a duo of talented clerics were elevated to the higher levels of the church hierarchy, joining Bishop Lamborghini in his residence as upper scribes. While this effort was still undertaken, the order doubled down on defense and infrastructure, as Luminum Nest’s two abandoned dispatcher towers were repurposed to act as sentry towers, and in Hammertown another cargo-capable hedgehog carlet was manufactured. Finally, the energized Outlander Subaru took a fleet of two motor-lancer, two bikes-at-arms, and two different types of carlets to a rather extravagant venture. He led his party east along a wide-open corridor of blinding white ice covering the Oz-infected central Michigan Lake. The trip was uneventful, and Outlander Subaru’s crewmen didn’t expect to find anything of value, but to their surprise they reached a large tanker ferry SS “Badger” frozen solid into the thick ice, unavailable for scrapping for the fear of sinking, but otherwise perfect for defense of a wide ice fishing area and holding crazy amounts of oil in its hold. With this discovery, Subaru returned home, proudly marking the Order’s eastern border checkpoint, from which two towns of a yet unknown faction could be observed on the opposite lake shore.
(Hammertown: -77.4 Grub, -61.4 Junk, +129 Guzz, -13 Plush, +92 Proles, +5 Jacks, +2 Clouts, +1 Heatcatcher)
(Sir Ducati’s Passing: +36.9 Grub, +100 Junk, -10 Proles, +2 Sentry towers)
(Order Implacable: +1 Notoriety, +1 “Mule” Hedgehog Carlet, Highway discovered: Lake Express (Expanse: 360, Openness: 400, Perils: 100), Sites discovered: Frozen Badger (Population Growth: 1, Fertility: 4, Deposits: 0, Fossils: 4, Protection: 3, no anomaly))
Grand Master’s challenge: Church of St. Ducati
With the Order Implacable colonizing new lands around Old Milwaukee, the martyrdom faith of St. Ducati started to take root in Hammertown, the place Sir (or was it, after all, Dame?) Ducati defended with his (her?) life. The framework of the church building was expanded, and the creed’s canon continued being branched out and solidified in the Order’s metropoly. (Investment: Labor: 43/120, Expertise: 9/10, Finesse: 2/5, Award: +2 Glory (one-time gain), +1 Notoriety (one-time gain))
Grand Master’s challenge: Cursegiving
Ironically, the colony named after Sir Ducati themself became the home of the more non-conformist members of the Order, as jokes over the solemn attitude of Hammertownsmen spread among the Passingers (as the colonists started to call themselves). Despite being known to the passing migrants as the less grim type of the Implacables, the citizens of Sir Ducati’s Passing remained a rather grumpy bunch when compared to other Icerusters. This was underlined by the local tradition of Cursegiving that started to come in vogue among many local families. (Investment: Labor 9/200, Expertise: 1/2, Finesse: 0/2, Award: +2d2 Plush (5% chance/turn), +1 Glory (one-time gain))
Greylaw
While his gang may be grumbling of the continued isolation and inaction, Conan the Snowflake continued paranoically concentrating on fortifying Thunderbolt, this time ordering his rookie teams to construct a brand new sentry tower from a vertically positioned bus carcas. Massive metal reclamation and hunting parties were dispatched across Old Ypsilanti ruins, pushing Greyhound Den close to exhausting its natural supply, but in Conan’s eyes these actions were justified, as they fed the construction of another key hub in his defensive strategy: the erection of a radiotower. Built into the local water tower (nicknamed by the ancient Ypsilanti residents “the big dick,” probably after someone named Richard, right?), the signal tower spread Greylaw’s crime reports and folktales of the “thin grey line” heroes across Icerust, featuring a particularly popular broadcast by a sultry femme fatale Greycoat and her Law Less rant-show. To their surprise, Greycoat and her fellow radiodispatchers quickly stumbled into a radio channel that consisted almost entirely of bizarre chants, exalted preaching of one “Geometer of Flesh,” invitations to visit a distant cathedral, and simply sounds of bodily fluids. Closer to the end of the month, yet another radiowave burst into being, proudly raving about the plight of the workers of the world and occasionally breaking into prayers to a bearded messiah Mad Marx. Weirded out, the Greycoat and her crew attempted to communicate with the source of these signals on their radio wave, eventually learning about a far north-western cult calling itself the Monolith of Sarkic and a unionist commune from the Windy Wasteland identifying as the Wobbies. Despite some mean jokes being exchanged with the both groups, the contact eventually proved a rather positive event, as the gang became aware of the larger world outside of its cradle. This only exacerbated the Greylawmen’s calls for the Alfa-Alfa to break out of this isolation and outfit some expeditions, however humble and risky.
(Thunderbolt: +220.4 Grub, +46 Junk, +90 Guzz, -3.1 Plush, -5 Proles, +1 Sentry tower, +1 Signal tower)
(Greylaw: can communicate with factions (Monolith of Sarkic, The Wobblies))
Alfa-Alfa’s challenge: The thin grey line (Completed)
The mythos of the stern, unrepentant guardians of the world order finally found roots among the Greylawmen, becoming the official religious creed of the insular gang. (Investment: Labor 50/50, Expertise: 6/6, Finesse: 1/1, Award: +1d12 Jacks (5% chance/turn), +1 Glory)
Alfa-Alfa’s challenge: Purging the snowflakes
Conan the Snowflake wasn’t a universally welcomed candidate before his ascension to the role of Alfa-Alfa, but the other lineages were willing to give the young successor a try. Under his leadership, Thunderbolt indeed grew in size seven times, its fortifications dissuading even the most ravenous raiders from attempting to attack it. Yet, warlord politics could not be driven by economics and security alone, and the clans of the Greylaw started to grow weary of the same easy routines. A quiet rebellion started to brew among them, as many people started to blame Conan and the “snowflake” rookies he’d allowed to join the gang for the demise of its authority in Icerust. They demanded a purge of the weaklings and restoration of Greylaw’s presence in the larger wasteland. Only with the glory gained through discoveries or conquests, they said, the current Alfa-Alfa’s reputation could be somewhat recovered and a path forward forged. (Investment: Glory: 0/2, Award: -1d30 Proles, +1 Experience (one time), Challenge cannot be dismissed, Other challenges cannot be gained while this challenge stands)
The Wobblies
The Great Potato Struggle continued feeding the swelling Ravenswood Commune, just as over a hundred proletarians joined it (some of them even travelling to the workers’ utopia from the Duneland farther south). The massive greenhouse farming efforts were supported by salvaging runs across Old Northside Chicago ruins, while the Wobbly moonshiners continued producing much valued vodka in the homebrew distilleries. Comrade Valentina Rodriguez, meanwhile, bullied her crewmen into another exploratory expedition, this time taking the Wobblies vehicle fleet to her homeland, navigating a wide, Oz-infested corridor in the thoroughly looted two-story ruinscape buried under many feet of snow. In the process, the expedition reported seeing Loopers’ reconnaissance bikes darting from one ramshackle to another, clearly indicating it wasn’t the last the Wobblies saw of them. Eventually, the expedition reached one clearing in the urban decay that must’ve been used by some survivors as a camp during the massive exodus and looting that ravaged Old Chicagoland during the early days of the Long Winter. The site was a hulk of a covered horse racetrack complete with stables, looming over a water reclamation plant and an untouched fuel reservoir in a nearby gas station. Comrade Rodriguez’s return to Ravenswood Commune was widely celebrated - and promoted as a great victory for the working class through Grand Foreman Sandra Chandler’s new pet project: a signal tower. Obsessed with having the IWW message across the radio waves, she apparently organized the settlement’s working crews to repurpose a ravaged cathedral for broadcast service, promoting the IWW Radio’s first host, Mad Marx preacher Marcus Contantine, to a position of spiritual power. In their first programmes, the IWW radiomen and -women quickly stumbled upon rather riveting transmissions from the east and north-west. One was a low-key talk-show hosted by a downer woman who represented a gang of vigilantes with ties to the old world coppers. The other broadcast consisted of disturbing chants and prayers to one Yaldaboath and His Monolith, from apparent nutcases in Northwestern Ontario wasteland. Despite some original disagreements, the radio dispatchers of the three factions eventually found common grounds and established basic diplomatic contact.
(Ravenswood Commune: -187.5 Grub, -207.6 Junk, -12.5 Guzz, -10.5 Plush, +111 Proles, -1 Jack, +1 Clout, +1 Signal tower)
(The Wobblies: can communicate with factions (Monolith of Sarkic, Greylaw)), +1 Notoriety, Highway discovered: Westside Corridor (Expanse: 370, Openness: 100, Perils: 40), Site discovered: Ho-Hodrome (Population Growth: 2, Fertility: 4, Deposit: 1, Fossils: 3, Protection: 1, no anomaly))
Grand Foreman’s challenge: Cult of Mad Marx (Completed)
As the IWW’s precious radiotower became operational, the orthodoxy of the cult of Mad Marx was quickly resolved and agreed upon in the spiritual Montrose Council, presided by the recently promoted Father Marcus Constantine. With it, the bradcast programme of the IWW Radio became fully aligned with the Wobblies’ ideology of working people’s struggle. (Investment: Labor: 50/50, Expertise: 24/24, Finesse: 2/2, Award: +1d40 Junk, +1d4 Plush (5% chance/turn), +1 Glory (one-time gain))
Grand Foreman’s challenge: Mintruth
According to one popular spiritual tale, a particularly energetic disciple of Mad Marx, one Vladimir Lennon, called religion “the opium for the masses.” This definition was quoted by Father Marcus Constantine during the recent Montrose Council as a justification for turning the Wobbly creed into a proper religious creed, complete with places of worship. Yet, mere altars were not enough for such an uplifting faith, in Father Constantine’s view, and some architectural canon had to be established for proper temples of the working folk. Aspiring organizers and architects rushed to propose their visions, with the leading early contender being a massive building named by its architect Worfarpopfor (short for “Workers & Farmers’ Popular Forum”). However, this architectural tongue twister was discarded in favor of a more affordable, less ambitious project named by its creator Mintruth (short for “Ministry of Truth”). Some bookworms argued against this name, referring to some pre-Winter literature, but they were thoroughly shushed. It was hoped that with the Mintruth project being completed, the Wobblies would get access to a blueprint of proper temples of labor, in which the proletariat could gather for an exalted quorum and collective prefabrication of means of production. The downside of these temples could be that they would spook away many candidate immigrants, who would not like dedicating their entire existence to laboring for a pie in the sky. (Investment: Expertise: 23/40, Finesse: 0/5, Award: new structure available only to The Wobblies in the Building list, +1 Glory)
Monolith of Sarkic
Still Mill crawled with salvaging parties throughout the waning days of the year, as the Monolith built up its seat of power, the Cathedral. There, Grand Karcist Maxwell appointed a trusted scribe to be the cult’s Sister-Castellan, ahead of a small, but pragmatic mini-bureaucracy, which was supplied with crude office supplies produced by the local artisans. This bureaucratic body was set to reside and function in a newly built castellan manor, built into the ancient red-brick ruin of the Agloma University. The ruin’s eastern wing was also repurposed to function as an evensong parlor for the Monolith’s citizens and visitors. The first action of the new caste of pen-pushers was filling the gaps in the Grand Karcist’s planning and urgently outfitting a convoy to the colony of Dunwich Harbor. There, three semi-automated metal recyclers were being built in attempts to establish the young settlement’s self-sufficiency. Along their drive, the convoy crew saw silhouettes of sturdy vehicles crossing the frozen lake surface - likely Iron Ridge scouts who lost their caution. Yet, for now the Monolith remained to stand strong and unassailed.
(The Cathedral: -431.8 Grub, +85.8 Junk, +187.5 Guzz, -8.3 Plush, -1 Jack, +1 Clout, +1 Castellan tower, +1 Smilo joint)
(Dunwich Harbor: -24 Grub, -60 Guzz, +3 Scrap chowders)
(Monolith of Sarkic: can communicate with factions (Greylaw, The Wobblies)), +1 Notoriety)
Grand Karcist’s challenge: God is on the radio (Completed)
Sarkic proselytization via radio came to maturity in the last weeks of the first relatively warm year in the recent Icerust century. However, the biggest development was not the development of the Yaldabaothite preaching canon, but rather the discovery of some vocal heathens on the radiowaves. Somewhere in the miserable ruins of Chicagoland, unionist enthusiasts spoke loudly and proudly of their god Mad Marx and his Guardian Engels, shocking some Sarkic radio-preachers and compelling others to start scholastic shoutouts with them. Then, snarky commentary on the meeting of the two cults was given by some female joy-killer from the lower Michigan wasteland, representing a gang of self-proclaimed lawmen and -women. Culture shock or not, one can only swear so long, and eventually the exhausted debaters found some common grounds (at least, language-wise), establishing connection between the three parties. (Investment: Labor 120/120, Expertise: 2/2, Finesse: 4/4, Award: +2d20 Proles (20% chance/turn), +1 Glory)
Grand Karcist’s challenge: Karcist communion
With radio-preaching having become a norm, the Sarkic faith started to spread through Icerust, finding particular interest among exalted types desperate people like to follow. From paranoid intellectuals to cannibal mystics, many of these people could start seeing the Cathedral as a desirable place to migrate to. If Grand Karcist Maxwell were to accommodate that drive (process-wise and infrastructurally), the upper levels of Sarkic clergy could soon swell with knowledge and experience from different parts of Icerust. (Investment: Labor 0/200, Expertise: 0/8, Finesse: 0/1, Award: +2d4 Clouts (5% chance/turn), +1 Glory)
Mid-Apocalypse Chaos Carnival
After several quiet months, the Chaos Carnival decided to come to town - some town! Specifically, all of its simplistic utility buggies, escorted by Ringmaster Vanessa’s battle hatchback, were loaded with materials, food, and roundabout workers, before shuttling it all via Seventy-Fiver toward the nested and quiet Rigged Valley. There, the workers put their enthusiasm into putting together a roadhub settlement named Clown Town Party Palace, in stark contrast to its bare-bones, provincial look and feel. The colony foundation wouldn’t have been possible without Vanessa exercising her authority in the area to call in hundreds wishful carnival visitors to Shelby Carnarium, which population diminished due to the colonization, but still was big enough to support some humble hunting and salvaging activities in Carnival Grounds. One of these parties ended up once again stumbling upon the evidence of the Trolls prowling nearby: a large moose shot dead, with a crude mask of a smiled, mustachioed gentleman put over its snout.
(Shelby Carnarium: -162.9 Grub, -120.2 Junk, +35.5 Guzz, +1.3 Plush, -100 Proles)
(Clown Town Party Palace: +300 Proles, Roadhub in Rigged Valley)
(Mid-Apocalypse Chaos Carnival: -2 Glory, +1 Notoriety)
Ringmaster’s challenge: Madhouse Circus
“We’re almost done! The programme’s coming out nicely!” announced Ringmaster Vanessa to the frozen corpse of the Madhouse Circus’ PR manager. The old mad had had a heart attack a month ago, mere seven months into the Madhouse Circus original announcement, and his fellow circusment failed to check on the old scruff’s wellbeing for weeks. Yet, Vanessa wasn’t particularly upset: the man’s shack was cold enough to prevent his body from decomposing and ruining the couch. Soon, his replacement was found, and the Madhouse Circus reconvened for its (hopefully) final round of rehearsals. (Investment: Labor: 100/100, Expertise: 4/4, Finesse: 5/6, Award: +1d4 Plush (15% chance/turn), +1 Glory (one-time gain))
Mikeland
The end of the year was marked with a dramatic and massive expansion of King Mike’s ego. In more practical terms, it meant that hundreds of unenthusiastic servitors, along with a few overseers, were shuttled by Mike and his crew in their transport limos from Popsicle Junction and Mikeville-upon-Bestie all the way to Free Soil, where they were to build a proper farming and hunting settlement, using the plentiful resources Mike also delivered in droves. The construction of Third One (an original name picked for the new colony personally by Mike) was supported with hard work of the metropolitan indentured servants, who gathered plenty of food, metal, and a little bit of machine oil from across Singing Ice and the Bestie River mouth. Unfortunately, along with their haul, the workers brought to Mike’s trailer palace a laconic message left by somebody pinned to a pine tree with a bayonet: “Leave It Scum. U Been Warned. KKKavalry.” Judging by the tracks of mechanized vehicles nearby, the letter was not merely a prank of a passing refugee, but King Mike, in his bravery and excitement over his new colony, dismissed the report (not before his daughter got a hold of it, though). Princess Molly Clever still had stuff to do, as Mike sent her and Unlucky Larry to their usual exploratory expeditions north and south. Unbeknownst to them, the end of the year was marked across the entire Icerust by weather anomalies of all kinds, and in the Michigan wastes it meant a series of magnetic anomalies that dropped large fronts of thin, stratospheric air down to the ground level. Both Molly’s and Larry’s teams were on the road when the void vortex descended upon them, quickly freezing the cheaper made “Killer” buggies and suffocating the crews that attempted to wander off toward civilization. Incredibly, both Larry and Molly survived, as their “More Killer” buggies could use their snowplow rams to outrun the void vortex and eventually get into a cover. Albeit, for Larry it meant a return home, to Popsicle Junction, where the redfaced man went directly to the local smilo joint and spent the night getting trashed on moonshine, crying like a baby and showing everyone his frostbitten toes and fingers. Yet, Molly Clever was made of a different clay. She managed to pick up a few surviving crewmen and replace the losses in her own buggy and pressed on northward, ahead of the vortex. The race against time took them along a icy moonscape of the densely snowed-over Michigan Lake. Eventually, they reached an idyllic camp of migrant ice fishers broken at a frozen harbor of an island, its shore dotted with abandoned lighthouses. Traumatized, but triumphant, Molly returned home to her dad, soon joining Larry at his drinking spree.
(Popsicle Junction: +100.5 Grub, -539.4 Junk, -17.6 Guzz, -0.5 Plush, -50 Proles, -3 Jacks)
(Mikeville-upon-Bestie: -277.9 Grub, +600 Junk, -74 Guzz, -452 Proles, +2 Jacks)
(Third One: +30 Grub, +300 Junk, +30 Guzz, +500 Proles, +3 Jacks, +Drag in Free Soil)
(Mikeland: +1 Glory, +3 Notoriety, -2 "Killer" Armed Buggy Transporters, Highway discovered: Void Path (Expanse: 230, Openness: 120, Perils: 320), Site discovered: Utopia Island (Population Growth: 5, Fertility: 3, Deposit: 2, Fossils: 3, Protection: 4, no anomaly))
King’s challenge: Dynastic tree (Completed)
With great fanfare, Mike’s beloved Dynastic Tree was open to the public, just in time to include a commemorative text attributed to King Mike himself (and probably penned by Mike’s scribe, a known nerd). That speech, witnessed by hundreds of paid attendees, commemorated Jeff the Yule-Tuber and, somehow, rambled into the speculative pre-history of Icerust, until Mike lost the track of his script and wobbled off the stage, to a great applause of the shotgun-motivated crowd. (Investment: Labor: 120/120, Expertise: 10/10, Finesse: 1/5, Award: +2 Glory (one-time gain), +1 Notoriety (one-time gain))
King’s challenge: Snobility by birthright
Mike’s prosperous realm had started to attract envious and often excited looks from across Icerust. And for every bloodthirsty Highwayman wishing to ransack Mike’s trailer’s palace, there was an educated and entitled clout who wished to join Mike the Great in it. Mike’s advisers started to warn him that if his kingdom were to continue expanding, it would need many more feudal lords to overlook his holdings. These lords (collectively “snobility” or simply snobs) would naturally want some improvements being made in Popsicle Junction, enabling their arrival and swearing of fealthy. (Investment: Labor 0/200, Expertise: 0/12, Finesse: 0/2, Award: +2d6 Clouts (10% chance/turn), +1 Glory)
The Republic of Sinclair
The Republic of Sinclair had its first true test in the waning days of the year as the Straight Edge payed the young state a visit in strength and numbers that would’ve been enough to erase some factions off the face of Icerust all together. Riding the Twin Avenues (the only Highway they knew leading to Sinclair), the raiders were a sight to behold. Along with a repaired “Wowser” dehorn bike and a trophy “Guardian” warcar (previously captured from Sinclairians themselves), the Straight Edgers brought a fast and furious cabriolet minicar, brightly painted with temperance propaganda and loaded to the brim with flammable hard liquor the driver promised to take with him to hell, along with any possible sinners guilty of standing on the way of this motorized firebomb. In the second echelon, the Straight Edgers brought a fearsome “Vice Extinguisher” flame carrier: an improvised armored halftrack with a subpar engine and a killswitch, armed with a powerful flamethrower cannon supplied with a mix of flammable alcohol and sticky oil, and followed by a group of shotgun-armed speakeasy-busters. Following that motorcade, was a “Cold Turkey'' hospis truck: a slow, but purposeful mobile sobriety house with a vehicle-tugging magnet crane, a cage for involuntary detox prisoners and temperance propaganda banners, along with a group of aidmen and -women, trained in bringing people off the edge - or giving them some tough love with maces and riot shields. The horrorful attack was spotted by Eugenia’s husband, Offset Jaw, who rushed to the Captain-Defender’s headquarters, urging her to prepare the settlement’s defences. Fearless Eugenia St. Clair, however, had a better idea. The Republic’s entire vehicle fleet, consisting of four corolla warcars and one previously captured “Teetotaler” vice scout sedan, sortied and met the enemies along the Oz-distorted corridor of ancient parking lots and vacated warehouse ruins located between two wide old-world avenues. The head of the enemy column, consisting of the dehorn bike, trophy “Guardian” warcar and a motorbomb cabriolet, was quickly driven off the safe corridor and plunged into a snowcrash, from which the Straight Edgers barely managed to recover only by the time the battle was over. The Sinclairian “Teetotaler” sedan also got turning turtle as a result of these aggressive maneuvers and later got brought to Sinclair’s car shoppe for repairs. This left Eugenia with four autocannon- and minigun-outfitted urban cars facing the Straight Edge’s behemoths. Yet, Eugenia proved to be worth the legendary reputation that she held among her people. She masterfully directed concentrated fire on the enemy flame halftrack, failing to penetrate its bulletproof armor, but forcing it to retreat. Alas, in an attempt to flank the halftrack and set aflame its fuel cistern, one “Guardian” got too close to the enemy and ended up being turned into a fireball, along with its crew. As the “Vice Extinguisher” retreated, Eugenia ordered an aggressive pursuit, mopping up many enemy crewmen left behind the snowcrashed vehicles. Yet, at that point the mobile home leviathan of the Straight Edge entered the stage. Its aidman group swarmed one “Guardian” that got separated from the pursuing force, and its magnet crane operator crushed the vehicle and took it as a trophy. Riddled with bullets, but still operational, the monster retreated along with its captured bounty, but still short of the expected loot and robbed of a victory. In a mood of grim satisfaction, the Captain-Defender and her crews returned to Sinclair, having lost many comrades, but also having delivered a firm rebuke to the Highwaymen’s power. The news of their victory spread through Old Cleveland and indeed the entire Ohio wasteland, shutting down all calls from potential raiders to loot the upstart Republic and even driving some of their technicians and armsmen to turn colors for Sinclair instead. Eugenia, on her part, used a part of this newly gained glory and authority to summon hundreds of immigrants and volunteers to her side, directing a truly massive hunting and salvaging effort across the Old Asiatown of Cleveland ruins, aiming to prepare the Republic’s stockpiles for a necessary expansion into Fist Energy Bowl. Both hunters and scrap gatherers were worried that the surroundings of St. Clair could run out of resources, and indeed the salvagers’ concerns proved to be correct, as much of the old civilization’s material waste was exhausted by their harvest. This, however, paid off when Eugenia’s husband helped directing the Republic’s car care men and women toward designing and producing an efficient medium-sized pickup truck for hauling and short-range transportation, which was expected to soon be used in colonization of Fist Energy Bowl.
(Sinclair: +376.4 Grub, +723.9 Junk, +167.7 Guzz, +1.9 Plush, +199 Proles, +3 Jacks)
(St. Clair: -1 Deposits)
(The Republic of Sinclair: -1 Glory, -5 Notoriety, +Design (“Loader” Workhorse Pickup), +1 “Loader” Workhorse Pickup, -1 “Guardian” Corolla Warcar, 1 “Guardian” Corolla Warcar is captured by Highwaymen (The Straight Edge), 1 “Teetotaler” Vice Scout w/ Prohi Squad is damaged)
Captain-Defender’s challenge: Toyotathon and Honda Days
With all the triumph and heartbreak of the recent battle of St. Clair, the Toyotathon-Honda Days rivalry was temporarily put to rest, but each of the team’s leaders continued practicing for their eventual matchup in a ritualized clash of creeds. (Investment: Labor: 0/240, Expertise: 5/5, Finesse: 0/2, Award: -1d10 Junk, +6d2 Plush (10% chance/turn), +1 Glory (one-time gain))
Map:
GM's notes:
- the stats are up to date
- the map is up to date
- next orders are due February 6, Saturday
- I'm giving people extra time for their orders, as I'm planning to introduce Operational Range mechanics into the ruleset, defining how far various vehicle setups can operate, highway-wise; stay tuned
