Corporation Archives Faction Wars WIP

As the story teller prepared to tell his tale he settled himself in his chair and lit up his pipe, after a few puffs of smoke he began,

500 years ago we gained the ability to not only explore other worlds, but also the ability to colonise and expand the human race to the stars, the technology used to achieve this was lost quickly in the years that followed and all we have now is vague ideas and speculation.

300 years ago we lost contact with earth and every other colony, 250 years ago the Corporations went to war with each other to gain control of the planet and

100 years ago we launched the first nuclear weapons,

the story teller's pipe goes out and as he relights the match it illuminates the walls of the chamber, the light reflecting off the wall gave the impression of exploding bombs to the story teller's enraptured audience seated on metal benches with frayed pillows haphazardly placed for limited comfort

it's been a long time since our ancestors retreated to these underground archives and sealed the entryway shut,

This is the story of the first ones to leave the vault, the ones who wandered the barrens looking for anything, anything at all that survived and could tell us what happened and what our purpose is...

"Ready Manager Thom?" crackled over the intercom

"Ready as we'll ever be" answered Thom, his words muffled by the mask he wore in order to survive the horrible environment that they assumed lay outside that hatch, they didn't actually know of course, the only indication they had was a blinking light on the console in the security hub that the I.T guys said meant "danger"

A horrible screeching sound tore through the room as the rusted hinges opened

"what, no warning, no well wishes?" whispered Sarasi
"quiet employee, we aren't going yet" Thom answered

At that moment the hatch slammed against the wall and

"good bye and good luck" crackled over the intercom
"was that so hard?" Sarasi replied with hint of snark

With a disdainful glance back at her Thom grabbed a rung on the ladder and lifted himself through the hatch, dislodging a great amount of dust which fell with a thump onto the ground below the open hatch, after a moment or two he sent a message over the comm's sounding breathless

"It's... safe up.. here.."
"Is your breathing mask working ok, you sound like your running out of air"
"It's.. fine.. just.. I can't describe it, I would need to be a designer or a marketing guy to describe what I am seeing"

with a shrug Sarasi grabbed hold of the ladder and lifted herself out with a small grunt of effort, followed by the other's, each of whom experienced a serious shock to the system at the vista before them, the building ruins had nothing but a rotten frame and in the distance large crumbling structures could be barely seen through the dusty debris that littered the landscape between them and the distant city,

After a few minutes they became aware of a crackly signal coming in over their headsets,

"... Come in.. Manag... Thom.. Do you.. Ed us?"
"we can barely understand you, there must be some interference"
"ack...ledged Thom, cont... With mission.. As planned"

After a brief look at the hatch they set out towards the distant city,

....travel...

End chapter 1

As they reach the edge of the crumbling city they set up camp and get ready to enter the city in the morning, Thom takes the first watch allowing the others a chance to sleep

He hears a movement in the dark and aims his gun towards it
"hello? Is anyone there"
More movement noise is heard off a bit further from where the first noise originated, glancing back at his companions wondering if he should wake them, but after a moment he decided against it and steeling himself and holding his gun a bit tighter then he normally might he took a few hesitant steps forward then a few more confident steps when nothing jumped out at him, after looking around and seeing nothing he turned back to camp only to see nothing but darkness...

Sarasi wakes with a start feeling Thom wake her
"it's your turn on watch"
With a grumble and a curse she gets up and grabbing her gun
"alright, see anything?"
"no. Good night."
After which he falls asleep on his sleeping bag.

The rest of the night went without even a rustle beyond the camp, but at daylight an explosion of activity started at the city with disheveled people pouring out of buildings, some armed with primitive weapons, sharpened sticks would be a kind description, the group watched this from a distance discussing the best way to approach the people, in the end they settled on sending three of the nine people to the city and the others would stay behind and act as backup if need be.

The three selected were Thom, Sarasi and security guard 1st grade Lauralin who was the only one going armed with a rifle, the other two carried concealed pistols,

As they approached the city they could tell they had been sighted as a group detached itself from the crowd and started to walk towards them with weapons raised, Sarasi as the PR person spoke first
"greetings, we mean you no harm, uhm, take us to your leaders?"
"someone got into the media server archives before we left" whispered Lauralin.

One of the folks stepped forward, this man was dressed slightly better then the others and seemed to have an air of authority,

"who are you and where did you come from?"
"I am Sarasi PR rep for SSR corporation"
"that corporation has no presence here, if you want to start taxing us you will need to fight G.O.D Corp"
"what.. Taxes? We have no interest in taxes, we are on a fact finding mission, our bunker has been sealed for many years, and we are interested in trade and knowledge of what has happened since the wars."

The people started to relax a bit more at her words, but not completely, the rest of the day passed with minimal incident and the signal was given to the others of their party to join them, though they left the majority of their weapons hidden in a cache near the camp site

As night approached the people of the city started hurrying inside, the ssr group was offered a few rooms in what passed for the local inn, curious as to why the sudden shutdown of the town the only answer they were given was 'wild beasts'

Before turning in for the night they were told of the big city owned by G.O.D Corp, and what the currency was these days, in order to operate the ancient machinery they needed water, the purer the better with heavy water being especially valuable since it ran twice as long as even the purest water,

The SSR team had plenty of water from the archive wells, they traded a portion for a crudely drawn map and compared it to their maps downloaded from the archives computers, they didn't match at all, even the small area covered by the drawn map seemed to imply that even the terrain itself didn't match.

Come morning they geared up with the locals showing a great interest in the very advanced steam powered rifles carried by the group, they were able to trade a small pistol for a local guide to show them at least part of the way to the God city and act as an intermediator between the group and any locals they encounter,

With some no sign of danger so far on their trip they left the little village with high spirits, even the guides cautious words warning them about dangerous wildlife they might encounter the group was fairly certain they could handle anything thrown at them,

After several hours of uneventful travel they came across a small outpost seemingly deserted of people, the guide indicated they should wait here for the night, questions of why traveling during the night only led to the answer "wildlife"

The shelter had obviously been setup as a way point for caravans between cities, so people could avoid traveling during the night, there was obviously more then just wildlife to worry about it, though why the natives refused to speak of it the ssr group had no idea, during the night however several of the members were awoken by noises coming from outside, though nothing worth investigating according to their guide,

In the morning the guide left for his home village and pointed them towards the big city, about an hour or two of walking later they came across a burning caravan with mutated bodies littering the ground though according to dr medic, the mutations were caused by radiation but that wasn"t the cause of death, the cause of death appeared to be by projectile weapon, similar to the guns carried by the ssr team, upon closer inspection it appeared as though the caravan wasn't loaded for trade, instead it appeared as though the caravan was packed with brickabrac and random toys indicating that whoever was dead on the ground appeared to be moving their family, why they moved from where they were wasn't clear, at which point they heard

"who goes there?" the voice sounded raspy, yet authoritative
"We are from SSR Corp"
"SSR? That doesnt sound like a Corp I recognize"
"we are the first scouting team from our archives"
"what is your opinion of the changed?"
"that depends, are the changed currently surrounding us with guns?"
"yes."
"then I would have to say cautiously optimistic"
"optimistic of what?"
"my ability to strike a good and friendly accord with the changed given a chance to talk to them"
"alright then, what makes you think we want a friendly accord with any Corp, so far the only corps we have met have only been interested in taxing us out of house and home, even though our homes only consist of rubble and dirt."
"SSR is more interested in knowledge then dirt, we are willing to trade water for your knowledge of the world"
"why should we not just rob you and take your water"
"4 reasons, 1 even if you had just not admitted to having no water therefore your weapons are no match for ours, 2 even if you can beat us you are liable to lose more people then it's worth the water we carry, 3 it would be better for you in the long run, to make friends with our Corp then enemies and 4 we can help you take back your lives from whatever corp has you down trodden like this"
"hrm, you make a good point"
"I made four good points"
"no, your other points are more valid then good, your good point being it's better to make friends then enemies"
"so we have a contract then?"
"I cannot make the ultimate decision, but I will take my recommendation to those who can and return, for now you can share our shelter."

At that large humanoid shapes started appearing from the shadows, these folks being at least 7 ft tall and at most 10 tall, deformed faces with horns made them look like monsters from one of the Corp archive virtual games,

A brief look was exchanged between the members of the party passed a quick wordless and yet heated conversation, which boiled down to lets give these guys a chance,

"I hope our appearances do not trouble you to much"
"it would be a lie to say we are not shocked, to say the least, but only because it's surprising such large folks would go unnoticed by us"
"we have cause to be good at hiding"

While the conversation went on they walked to a nearby ramshackle of a shelter with what they would be told are people known as the changed, people unable to find shelter during the nuclear winter and were changed into mutants from the radiation,

According to the changed they were at war with the unchanged, people who also were unable to find shelter but were not changed physically by the radiation, or at least not in a way you could see, they also appear to reach a certain age and stop aging and can only be killed during the day or at night with a huge amount of light on them,

"so that's why no one travels at night?"
"no, that's why we don't travel at night, others worry more about 'monsters' which is just wildlife that have been affected by radiation and can be very deadly, but are mostly nocturnal"

He went on to explain that, the war didn't start right away, at first the majority of the unsheltered, what they called themselves at first, got along with a few minor skirmishes but then one of the factions of the unchanged got it in their heads that they were the future and the changed were nothing more then lowly beasts not good for much more then manual labor they started campaigning for segregation between the 2 groups it all came to a head when the group killed a few changed who refused to relocate to another neighborhood from that moment on, changed warred with the unchanged, the unchanged cocky at first because they thought that they were invincible, but they were easily killed during the day, and the changed though they had the appearance of brutes still had sharp minds, and started rigging their bases with massive amounts of lights, this war went on for decades, neither side able to gain an advantage, then about 10 years ago the first Corp bunker opened it's doors and started exploring, the G.O.D Corp is what they called themselves and they had advanced weapons and created certain areas of 'truce' which quickly turned into areas of 'owned' territory, and in these areas you paid for protection, paid in 'taxes' which the g.o.d Corp called a dieoclian system where you were taxed based on what goods you could produce, food, clothes and other items were given to the tax collectors.

This went on for sometime before another archive opened, and out came S.U.P.E.R Corp, they clashed briefly with g.o.d and eventually they settled on trading a few zones and now live in an uneasy truce

Now there are 5 corps in total with their own spheres of influences, g.o.d, s.u.p.e.r,

End chapter 2


As they got settled in and tried to absorb all the new information they had just received, there came a horrible screeching noise and then everything exploded in light, thanks to their masks their eyes adjusted quickly and could see the changed move into defensive positions,

"what can we do to help?"
"you have 2 choices, help us or don't, it is up to you"

At that the SSR team armed up and waited, not before long the saw humanoid looking folks crawling up the hill

"some unsheltered become unhinged and start attacking everyone, both changed and unchanged can go through it and become dangers to themselves and others"

The group trudging up the hill did seem composed of those they recognized as changed and other more slender looking humanoids, they had a beautiful countenance marred by the look of utter madness in their eyes, after a few moments of hesitation, laualini opened fire with her rifle, the effect was immediate on both the creatures crawling up the hill and their new allies in the bunker, she took down a large number of creatures in a short amount of time, the changed looked at the SSR team with new found respect,

"we have heard tales of Corp weaponry, but the corps never feel the need to show off their power, they also generally leave fighting of wildlife to us"

There was little chatter after that, even with the firepower brought to bear by the project outreach team the creatures crawling up the hill seemed endless and only once dawn started to break did the enemy seem to disappear almost as if into thin air

as they started to relax both groups start talking to each other almost as if the mere act of fighting off the monsters broke the ice better then any thing any one could have actually start

midday rolled around and the group sent to meet with the elders returned and spoke to Sarasi essentially telling her that she and one other may come and speak directly to the elders while the others are 'lodged' within the changed settlement which they learned was called New Tyac,

Sarasi chose Lauralini to be her companion to meet the elders despite thoms weird looks he didn't really object and even wished them luck

They were escorted along a dirty but clearly marked path to what could generously be described as a hovel but clearly was considered as special by their new escorts in the middle was a large room with a fire blazing in the middle and 7 crude but carefully crafted chairs arranged in a semi circle around the fire with the middle chair moved slightly further from the fire

sitting on the chairs was an array of clearly older and looking somehow more wiser then the the brutal looking changed that congregated outside the hovel, looking somewhat disinterested in the proceedings, but a few armed ones kept at least one eye on the group,

"According to our scouts, you are wanting to trade supplies for information"
"Yes, we have plenty of supplies, but our archive has just recently opened up, and we need information, maps and an idea of who owns what"
"hmm.."
"we will need to confer, but what kind of supplies are you willing to offer?"
"for now we have water we could trade, but for future negotiations we can trade old world weapons/tools even specialists who could repair any broken equipment"
there was a collective eye widening at her last few words, catching that she knew she had them,
"so how long will you need to think on this?"
a few eye glances passed between the elders, at which point the unchanged on the throne sat up and leaned a bit forward, his brow furrowed and said
"I think any future dealings can be saved for the future, but for now we can provide you maps and a general overview of 'who owns what'"
"ok, and how much water do you wish for in exchange for this information?"
"we are told you carry a few bottles of pure water, if you give us one the information is yours as well as 2 scouts to lead you to the next big settlement"
"done."
her easy and quick response clearly shocked the elders except for the eldest who seemed unfazed, but inclined his head in a show of respect

not long after they rejoined the others and gave the elders the bottle of pure water they asked for and then they were reintroduced to the scout leader they met before hand and were told he and another female scout were to lead them to their destination as well as providing maps and a brief overview of the world as it stands now

After a peaceful night, with most of the group somewhat uncomfortable being so close to the changed, but Sarasi and lauralini had an easier time adjusting to their surroundings

Thom seemed particularly uneasy around the changed with his eyes darting around nervously

They set out in the morning with their guides leading the way down a road, the rest of the group seemed to relax a bit more, though they let Sarasi do the talking with Cade(the lead scout) and Jenny(the female changed), the female changed seemed less intimidating then the male(but not by much) and seemed more like a really tall buff female human with her pointed fangs a bit thinner then the males fangs, but seeming sharper somehow,

The weird thing seemed to be that Jenny seemed to have an interest in Lauralini, though she had mixed feelings about it and didnt really speak about it to the group

as it neared dusk they began to see a glow on the horizon, and as they got closer to the city they could clearly see huge towering buildings, guards patrolled the perimeter and looked almost bored as if nothing was likely to happen that hadn't happened everyday of their career's, some guard's appeared to be well dressed while others were rather shabby, they could feel the contempt that the well dressed guards held for the shabbily dressed guards as well as any civilian that they saw

as the group approached the guard station they were hailed and told to stop,

"What is your business here?"
"we are only here to speak to your CEO about negotiating a trade agreement between SSR corp and your organisation"
"SSR Corp? I haven't heard of you guys before"
Sarasi touched a button on her waist
"You will hear about us soon enough, let us through"
"Yes madam!"
"good"

the group moved forward and passed the somewhat dazzled guardsman, the changed looking askew at Sarasi as if she had magical powers, they shrugged it off after a while and led everyone to a nearby inn that was pretty good,
and after settling down they decided to talk about what they would do in the morning, getting in to see the CEO would not be easy, but the SSR group was confident about being able to pay their way in, they asked the changed about the city and the people

Allendale was as much a ruin as any other place before GOD corp came and declared it theirs, they rebuilt the city and allowed others to settle here, it's run by a district manager assigned by the CEO of GOD Corp,

the population consists mostly of non corp people, as a large portion of the Corporation itself has stayed in it’s Archive, and though the non corp people can apply to work for and rise quite high, in the ranks, but they will always be viewed as lower class to the people born in the corp, mixed marriages are rare, but recently have been more encouraged as the upper management of GOD realised that it was better to widen the gene pool since they had been closed off for so long