Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/The Embry Archipelago after the War

A Smothering Wasteland
"War… War never changes…"

-An inscription carved into the sign of a wrecked Mastiff

The Embry archipelagos, once a thriving nation of islands, is now the face of an alien world. Where once stood great monuments and mighty palaces, now lie glowing fields of green fog, killing anyone who dares venture into it. The charred earth is covered with a layer of ash, remains of what was once a thriving civilization. The sky is a dark gray churning mass, blocking out every last ray of sunshine, blanketing the world below in darkness. Scattered everywhere are little black lumps, the last remains of its former inhabitants. In the distance, a mushroom cloud slowly rises as winds whip up sandstorms, which last for days on end. The air alone is lethal to anyone who breathes it, and the black rain simply adds to their torture as their skin is burnt away.

Welcome to Embry wasteland, the Last Hell on Gaiaterra.

Mutually Assured Destruction
Many have speculated that Capitalism and Communism are opposing ends of the spectrum, that neither can live while the other survives. The most extreme of such speculations is the theory of Mutually Assured Destruction, where both will completely annihilate each other in the quest for victory. The War for the Archipelagos was startling proof that M.A.D. is a real possibility. Both fought to the point where the Voshkod brought in the last of their nuclear armaments. In five months, The island's population was reduced from (insert population) to (to population), her cities were razed to the ground, her skies darkened from ash. For the few who survived, many wished that they were dead.

Yet amidst all the death and destruction, there was hope. With the Union and Commonwealth all but completely destroyed, reduced to remnants withmany abandoning their allegiance and now clinging to survival, with only one survivor. Led by a mysterious person known only as the general, the Minuteman, often considered a joke during the war, rose from the ashes and provided the last few survivors with food, shelter, and, most importantly, hope. As the last survivors were picked up, the Minuteman set its eyes on a new goal; rebuild their islands and bring revenge for those who have fallen.

After the war, there was almost nothing left. With what remaining vehicles and weapons they have being damaged beyond repair. Massing a military of any scale would be a near-impossible feat, and yet the Minuteman did it, due to a combination of determination and ingenuity. With only a fraction of the archipelago's once enormous population, thanks to the creation of the vaults, massive bunkers built by the Minuteman to protect its population from the event of a superweapon strike. Thanks to these vaults nearly half their population survived, and pledge themselves to the Minuteman in gratitude. Next came the problem of fuel; with little to no gasoline to speak of, powering war machines was a near impossibility, yet somehow, some way, the Minuteman were able to revive, and even improved, the remaining war machines with a highly unstable, and ironic, fuel source; nuclear power itself. With a renewed vengeance, the survivors seek to punish those who have brought disaster down on their home.

The other great aim of the Minuteman Survivors was to repair and heal their home. Using untold amounts of research protected by the vaults and the data of the other superpowers, the Survivors seek these “research” vaults and wage war with the other nations in the hope to find a solution to remove the radiation and even rebuilt their broken land.

Last Sanctuaries in Hell
Despite the nuclear fire that burnt the archipelagos there are those who managed to escaped, or at least survive, the bombardment, becoming sanctuaries where survivors would brave the Waste to reach. There are many but these are the most prominent.

The Castle
Perhaps the island least affected from the nuclear rain, due to the nuke targeting it missing by a large margin. The former fortress is a thriving settlement within the ravaged, battered landscape of post-apocalyptic Embry, one of the last "truly safe" sanctuaries in the archipelagos. The Castle, as it is known, is a closed, self-sustaining ecological system, free from the fallout and radiation that plagues the rest of Embry.

It is the headquarters of the minutemen, who patrols the castle and surrounding islands for raiders while more are outside making new settlements and helping survivors though the general stays within their quarters with only the highest-ranked minutemen knowing what they look like, and who live in conditions that anyone struggling to survive in the wasteland outside would consider sheer luxury. Here, residents have access to clean, uncontaminated water; the food here is far better than anything one might be able to scavenge outside; here, one lives in a (comparatively) lush environment. It is not inaccurate to say that the Castle, and the other settlements that have since followed it, are paradises within the blasted hellhole that was once Embry.

The Metro
As the war raged on in the archipelagos the Union had found a problem. While their ground forces were unparalleled their navy wasn’t, leading to the superior Commonwealth navy defeating their transport ships before they can even unload their ground forces. This constant loss of their ground forces before they can even be used was considered a huge flaw that needed to be remedied, thus the council brainstormed until the solution was found, make an underground rail system. Thus allowing their forces to cross the seas without risking themselves to the Commonwealth navy.

And soon construction started, leading to a mass of secret train tunnels beneath the archipelagos, a massive feat of engineering seeing that the tunnels had to be made underwater. And by the time the bombs dropped and stopped their works most of the islands had a metro tunnel beneath them.

When the first nuke had struck many Union soldiers who couldn't make it to the bunkers ran into the metros, since they had built it deep enough to avoid fallout

The Lost Hills
On the island of Mariposa, a group of scientists were researching a serum to further enhance their soldiers to fight against the Union, said serum would become known as the FEV that make super mutants, during this time their facility was guarded by soldiers led by Robert Spindel and Roger Maxson, who didn't know what the scientists did. The situation unraveled shortly before (insert date) when Spindel discovered the fact that the scientists under their care were performing experiments with the Forced Evolutionary Virus on military prisoners. This prompted a nervous breakdown in Colonel Spindel, who locked himself in his office before committing suicide. Captain Maxson was the only officer left to handle the deteriorating situation. First by ordering the scientist to be interrogated, and once he learned that it was officially backed by the government had contacted the government to explain themselves, even threatening to mutiny if they fail to respond. During this time he ordered the families of soldiers under his command, including his wife and son, to take shelter within the facility, as he felt something bad was going to happen when he received reports of the Voshkods giving the last of their MIDAS nukes to the Union.

On (insert date), the MIDASs were launched. As Maxson was halfway through prying the story from Head Researcher Leon Von Felden, the facility lost contact with the outside world as nuclear weapons started to drop. Maxson ordered his soldiers and their families to prepare to vacate the base the next day, heading for the Lost Hills government bunker south of the base.

Witnessing how people around him slowly succumbed to depression, Captain Maxson formulated a new ideology for the survivors. It took him years to create it, replacing the tarnished Stars and Stripes with new symbols, new ranks, and new ideas to replace the ones scorched in nuclear fire. They would provide meaning for people before they became lost in the depths of despair after losing their friends, family, their entire world. Although some under his command, particularly Lieutenant Taggerdy, were skeptical of his plans, Maxson believed that the way forward lay in new traditions and new mythology, free of the burden of the past. He also believed it would prevent surviving politicians from exercising their authority over former Embry soldiers.

The Groundbreaker
The groundbreaker, along with its sister the Hope, were two ships created by the Institute when the Civil War reached its boiling point and they feared the worst. Built to carry state-of-the-art terraforming equipment, a large crew of engineers (Groundbreaker) and Scientists (Hope), and enough supplies and living ocean for generations to live on the ship, with the intent of rebuilding Embry in the aftermath of the war. And when the bombs finally dropped both the Groundbreaker and the Hope were released into the sea to start rebuilding once radiation levels were safe, with a majority of the crew being cryogenically frozen during the time. Unfortunately, something had happened to the Hope and it is now lost.

But by the time the radiation levels had dropped to thaw out the crew, the Institute had changed, due to reforms made during their isolation when the Groundbreaker regained contact with the Institute they formally cut off ties and converted itself into an independent mobile island, and is the only place in the entire Embry archipelagos that is not controlled by any faction.

Captain by Junlei Tennyson, the third generation of the Groundbreaker maintenance team/government, the Groundbreaker keeps its strict code of neutrality to keep corporation influence out and, as a result, the ship is home to some less than legal activity and organizations, and is often a hub for spies, informants, and merchants.

Hell Made Manifest
Of course some islands got the worst of it. Often becoming so irradiated that no sane men would venture, though the treasure they (seemingly) hold often brings in adventurers who brace these ruins. And more often most don’t come back.

The Sierra Madre
"Let go…"

-A warning carved into the entrance wall of the Sierra Madre

Originally a luxury resort/bomb shelter build to entertain and protect the the rich of the archipelagos from the war. The Sierra Madre was said to be the most luxurious resort in the world, with its doors supposedly opening once the war ended. Unfortunately it ended in a way that turned the resort into a dead zone.

Unfortunately the combination of its mandatory luxury features, like solid gold floors, high end security systems, and bunker in case of nukes meant that construction took way longer then intended, leading to its investors throwing a fit and demanding its constructors to hurry it or they’ll be fired, and thrown into the war. Thus the workers were forced to cut corners by removing parts the rich deemed unnecessary, like proper ventilation, and, what likely caused the collapse in the first place, making a deal with the Big MT, letting them put some of their experiments in in return for aid. The main three being some sort of insulating liquid, which would become the cloud, “reliable” hazmat suits, leading to the ghost people, and holograms.

And with their help they were able to finish the luxury features, though the bomb shelter had only started, and soon the rich moved in, despite the workers begging them not to as it would slow the remaining construction, but the rich ignored them, assuming they could finish in time before the bombs fell. And so as the rich were partying like the war never existed the builders worked tirelessly, in fear that the bombs were coming soon. They were right.

When the first bomb fell, launching its mushroom cloud, the people inside panic and rush to the shelter. Only for the head of construction to angrily yelled at them that, due to their insistence on making the resort first, they didn’t had time to finish the shelter. Combined that with the security system locking down the gates, meant that everyone in the resort was trapped. And in desperation made the biggest mistake.

With the bombs about to fall everyone quickly ran to the lower levels, where the explosion wouldn’t effect them, and quickly don the hazmat suits, since the scientists said it would completely protect them from the ensuing fallout, but then the pipe below holding the cloud broke, since they were made of cheap materials, which combined with the radiation, causing something to happen. The latches on the suits, already hard to open, began rusting shut, causing everyone to panic as they try to remove them, then they realised it didn’t protect them from the cloud, and as the red miasma began seeping in everyone went mad, desperately calling for help and clawing at the gates, doing anything they can to escape, as they cloud began killing them. Until the last person fell dead, then rose again. Becoming what would be known as the ghost people. Creatures that now roams the island, armed with knife hunting for anyone who dares venture into the Sierra Madre, and taking them to the lower levels, never to be seen again.

As for the others. Some choked on the cloud or died from the ensuing fallout, other were killed by the holograms or security systems, it’s AI corrupted from the blast and the cloud, other took their life.

In the end the Sierra Madre, claimed to become the jewel of the archipelagos, became a tomb for the rich and hedonistic, its casinos lay empty. And roaming the streets are holograms, unkillable being in designated zones, and the ghost people, creatures entombed in black hazmat suits that acts more like animals roaming a dead land, dragging off anyone foolish enough to enter the Sierra Madre, where they are never heard from again, the cloud mutating them into nearly unlikeable creatures. And surrounding the island is the cloud, a toxic red miasma which nothing can protect, with concentrated pockets even causing a person to be liquified, becoming another body to the cloud.