Worldlink Annotated Archives

European Ground Politics - New London Times - Pierre Laforge

-begin excerpt-

The Fall brought the dissolution of traditional and historical political entities worldwide. Countries that had existed for centuries dissolved within months of the Fall. Many tried to maintain order in some form, but a lack of resources and widespread chaos prevented the enforcement of this control.

The few population centers that survived had to rebuild from the ground up under enormous pressure from the outside world. The estimated overall population of the world has been reduced to 1-2% of the pre-Fall eight billion. These numbers include all sentient species and subspecies of the ground populations. The population of the Sky Cities is 3% of that.

Population centers are now refuges for the survivors, and some even thrive. The increased danger of rural living has forced most populations to cluster. City-states have risen in place of national governments. Some of these city-states have formed loose alliances. Pressure from disparate socio-political entities keeps most of these alliances from forming into greater power centers.

Two primary alliances in the European continent are recognizable today. The Iberian Alliance of Lisbon-Madrid-Zaragoza is the most stable region within Europe. The Free Mutant government has been able to push the Puritan force out of the region and has begun to resettle and reclaim the corridor between the three cities. The other alliance is the Polish Coalition. This Anthro-centric alliance is largely hostile to non-Anthro entities and combines Old Warsaw and Old Lodz. The Free City of Poznan is actively allied with the Polish Coalition, but they remain separate political entities. Pressure from the Puritan-held Prague Precinct has been a force of unification for these city-states.

-end excerpt-

.I spent the next couple of hours resting and considering my options. I checked my experience first and saw I had just enough for Engineer. I spent the experience, and the notification came in.

*ting*

[Occupation Acquired

Experience required to advance to level 1: 1000

Benefits per level-

+2 Dexterity

+3 Intellect

+2 Cleverness

+1 Perception

+2 attribute points to allocate

Crafting quality is increased as a function of 0.5% x Intellect value.

+10% additional experience gained for designing items. ]

Looking at my experience, all I needed to do to gain my first level was to wait another half an hour. One quick nap later, and then…

*ting*

[Occupation: Engineer has reached level 1

Attributes Allocated]

I saw that my Strength was now falling low and dumped my five free points into the stat.

I felt good. It was time to go hunt. I thought about hunting for treasure but decided that it would be a bonus if I did find some. I just needed eight thousand more experience, and then I’d be able to unlock the Species Advancement quest.

I crawled out of the den and headed downstairs. I had a feeling that the surrounding buildings had been picked clean by whoever had made my new safe spot. I went down to street level and scanned around for a bit before heading outside. Nothing large was meandering around the streets outside. When I got outside, I saw it was heading into the early evening.

I looked up and down the street, trying to find a way to go. It was a flip of the coin. I picked east and headed down the cracked concrete. I noticed a distinct lack of weeds in the area. I realized the bugs must be eating them.

When my vibration sensed picked up some movements from below, I paused. There was a tunnel beneath me, with a flow of ants moving through it. I shuddered and moved onward. After a bit, I found another pill bug and considered attacking it. It was likely more trouble than it was worth. After some time, I found that the decision for what to fight had been made for me.

A buzzing filled the air above me, and I saw a trio of wasps diving for me. I dashed to the side of the road and hopped into an old brownstone. The wasps swooped in to chase, but I was in a far better position once I was inside. I stepped to the side of the door and readied the mace. The first wasp poked its head through the door and got its head bashed in.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

*ting*

[You have slain Mutant Wasp, experience gained

Survivor bonus experience earned.]

The following two paused just outside the door, and I pulled up the .45 caliber 1911. I had cleaned and checked it while I was back in the den. It was in fine shape, and I sure was going to use it. I stepped around the door and fired two shots into the closer wasp. As I pulled the trigger, I looked into its huge multifaceted eyes and shearing mandibles. The first shot rang out down the street, fuck that’s loud. I was firing inside an enclosed space, and that sure didn’t help. The first shot went wide, and the second just grazed it.

The third wasp took the hint and flew off. The one I had just shot hit the ground but wasn’t dead yet. I stepped forward and smashed its head in.

*ting*

[You have slain Mutant Wasp, experience gained

Survivor bonus experience earned.]

2200 down, 6800 to go. I quickly checked the house and saw it had already been ransacked. I looked outside, and my heart fell. I heard them from a long way off. Wasps were coming, lots of wasps. My heart began to pound a bit at that. How many could I handle? What was the best way to do this?

I needed to keep too many from coming in at once. They were simple to swat, but they were fast and dangerous in multiples. I retreated back into the house and looked around. As long as they kept coming in from the front door, only I could kill them as they entered. The large broken-out bay window right next to the front door was the issue. That was nothing more than a passageway for the wasps.

I stepped in between the door and window. There was a patch of brick wall there that I could put my back to and keep the entrances in easy reach.

The droning hum from outside reached a deafening level. Their beating wings were producing more vibration in the air than I could really deal with. There were ten or twelve wasps out there now, and they were coming in to attack. I felt a couple hit the walls, and I had to concentrate. I had to turn down the sensitivity of my vibration sense. Their wing beats were just as deafening to that sense as my hearing.

I could feel their hard carapaces reflecting the sound well enough. One shoved through the window on my right, and I smashed its bulbous eye. It twitched and shuddered, and yellowish ichor sprayed from the wound. Another pushed into the doorframe as a third flew in through the window over the wounded one.

I swung the mace back to my left and felt the head smash into the thorax with a crunch and splatter of ichor. The one that flew inside the window couldn’t stay aloft and dropped to the ground. I fired the 1911 at it. Ouch! Loud! I pulled the trigger four more times and emptied the magazine into it. Not my best performance, but it died.

Two more were pushing in through the window, and another in through the door. Both openings were starting to clog with wasp corpses. I dropped the 1911 and gripped the handle of the mace. I jumped over to the first of the two squeezing into the room. I triggered a vibrating strike that blasted through the first wasp, and the explosion of gore covered me. The spray of goo temporarily blinded me, but I continued through my swing. I spun and swung two-handed into the second as it cleared the window and smashed into its abdomen.

Its wings battered me back, but it was crippled and dying. Not that it stopped moving to attack. The mandibles opened toward me, and I kicked at it. It clamped onto the toe of my boot, and the steel-reinforced toes saved me from losing some little piggies. I smashed down with a fist and crushed its head, still latched onto my boot.

The one coming through the door hit me in the back. I was shoved forward as I felt the stinger lance into the back of my thigh. Oh, fuck! I screamed in pain and tried to spin around, but the wasp was latched on.

[Mutant Wasp Venom - Resisted]

I felt the burning venom pulse into my leg and almost fell to my knees. Burning and pain throbbed through my leg from my hip to my shin. If this were resisting the venom, I’d hate to see what not resisting was. I curled my head forward as I sensed the shearing mandibles come forward. I concentrated and jumped backward at the wall. We smashed into the brick wall, and I felt the carapace of the wasp crack as I pushed.

I phased through the wasp and the wall, breathing heavily. Yuck, my stomach churned. Oh shit! I felt gravity take hold, and I fell through the rotted floor and into a basement with a crash. Dust and debris rained down on me.

I lay there for a minute. I sensed the wasps crowd into the house next to this one. They buzzed and searched for me. I was relatively safe, I thought. I just lay there in a pile of debris and dust and tried to be still. I felt my stealth skill kick in and took a deeper sigh of relief. Wasps were no joke.

I waited for the wasps to leave and for my leg to heal. More wasps came. Some investigated around the building, and some even entered the house I was lying at the bottom of. I barely breathed as they circled the hole to the basement. I looked up into their big, buggy eyes and gripped my mace. They circled the hole a couple of times and moved off.

It took them more than an hour, but soon enough, they left.

I pulled myself up and out of the basement as quietly as I could. It was dark outside now, and the sounds out there had changed. I went next door and retrieved the 1911. I took a moment to reload and then looked outside. Thick clouds blanketed the sky, and the moon was just a pale hint of light. The sounds of giant crickets filled the night. They sounded more like great industrial grinders clashing. I shook a little as I pondered what size those things must be. I crept out of the house and headed for my hidey-hole. I was done for today.

Through the streets and toward my goal, I snuck as silently as possible. I couldn’t see for shit, and I knew that I must smell of wasps. I sensed one critter swoop silently toward me, and as I turned, I saw a flutter of pale moth wings wider than a bedsheet. They veered away, flapping furiously into the darkness.

Every other critter I detoured around or hid until they passed. The scariest was a centipede longer than two city buses. I was exhausted when I finally got into the building and up the stairs. I pushed the empty drum aside and crawled into the den. I had shed most of the gore already, but I took some time to wash myself as best I could.

When I lay down on the mattress to sleep, I grinned. I had nine thousand experience to spend. Just enough to get my engineer up to level five.

*ting*

[Occupation: Engineer has reached level 5

Attributes allocated]

[New skill available]

*ting*

[Quest Complete: Unlock Species Advancement

Reward: Unlock Species Advancement Quest, Experience

Experience Gained

Quest Unlocked: Species Advancement]