Creative in Book Six: Trying to Hold On 2019

I haven’t spoken to anyone today. I can’t even get my wife to text me back. It is the cold isolated loneliness that Tiny Town turned into an ever present social miasma. I know that it is a temporary state. An anomaly of circumstances born of weather, scheduling, and my own inability to make or create new connections. But when even a text message to my wife saying, “Sorry that Nala seems to be more of a handful today. Can I pick up anything for you to brighten your day?” receives nothing but empty silence for the last 4 hours and counting… well, another grain of sand on the scales. So here is something creative that I’m putting my mind to right now because I want to shake my mind out of its current state.

Small, pale hands flew over the black surface of the keyboard with an alarming speed. The short fingers somehow seemed to find every key with the precision of a musician playing a song by heart. The typing continued even as the typist cracked her neck. Tornina was a well known and often sought out Acquire Hound. The world had become a very interesting place after the Continental Village Edict.

Tornina wasn’t much of a history buff but every living creature on the planet had been told the Story of Transformation so much that it could be recited perfectly even in a drunken stupor. The year was 2031 and The Continental Conflicts had reached a dizzying peak. The Western World, whose true name would be lost in the Transformation, had continued to bomb, torpedo, and missile any foreign force that approached. All trade to the Western World had been stopped and communications were not returned. The World didn’t know if there had been illness, catastrophe, or increasing isolationist politics and none survived exploratory missions hoping to find the answers. That had left the rest of the planet with paranoia, fear, and an overwhelming panic over resources. Then the Continental Conflicts erupted. The first Continent to be swept into battle was the North Eastern Continent of SnowSky. The Two Kingdoms of The East quickly went to war with each other. The Kingdom of Gold demanded the aid of their northern neighbor The Great Federation of Ursidae. Instead, Ursidae pledged support to the weaker kingdom, The Kingdom of the Red Dragon, and invaded The Kingdom of Gold. As the three nations warred, the Northern Continent found itself slowly pulled into the conflict. Trade, protection, and fear pulled every nation of the Imperial Continent into the fight until it felt that almost all of the world was at war. The many nations of the Horn Continent refused to participate in the conflict and there were some in the Imperial Continent who assumed this was as an act of peace. They were wrong. The Horn Continent had long been ruled by tribal counsels, military dictatorships, and warlords who felt the same fears as their northern neighbors. The Horn Continent would not be sparred from The Continental Conflicts; their conflict was simply more insular. When the dust settled, no victors were found. Every continent engaged in the conflict had experienced massive losses. The number of lives lost reached into the billions. In that way, the resource panic had been quelled. But a new danger emerged. Populations were now cut off from each other more than before with less ability to survive on their own. Each continent, then, decided to pool resources. Peace, at long last, formed from a desperate need to survive. SnowSky* built a massive subterranean series of tunnels and cities that spanned the entire continent. The project was called “Truchugan” and became the repository of all knowledge. The entire continent had became the World’s Remaining Source for Digital Upkeep and Technology. The Horn Continent became a giant farming community supported by thousands of robots and intense infrastructure. The Imperial Continent built a great walled city in the center of their lands and called it merely Imperium. The city was known for its ability to craft weapons, armor, and the machines of Defense. It had been agreed that Imperium, for its proximity, would be relied upon as The Defenders should the Western World ever attack.

And that is as the world had remained. Truchugan kept The Continental Villages outfitted with robots, circuits, computers, and all the technological marvels that kept being produced. Horn kept everyone fed. And the Imperium? They remain strong.*

That is all that was ever said. Tornina had grown up in SnowSky, as almost everyone did these days. Few humans would choose to live in Horn when they were young as the land was popularly seen as “sleepy.” It was no surprise, then, that Horn was one of the most popular places for humans to retire to. It seemed that no one who reached the age of 80 ever went anywhere else!

Bah… I’m all hungry now and can’t focus. Not that the above was “focused” but… I feel like there is a story there. Or maybe many.

The idea ultimately is that Imperium has become a brutal place. Extraordinarily harsh and draconian laws as The Ruling Class deal with the ever increasing Violent Fighters who live in Imperium solely because it IS charged with the Defense Of the World. Horn is indeed a farming Robot Heavy Utopia… where the dead are used as fertilizer and supplemental food stuffs. SnowSky is full of intrigue, black market dealings, and high-tech cyber espionage. Tornina is an accomplished Acquire Hound that can find and deliver absolutely anything… product, person, or information… due to her innate and intense hacking/computer skills. First story would be the world establishing story. One where she discovers how deep the black market is and realizes that the collective government of Truchugan had been sending buggy technological components to Imperium in an attempt to spy on and control both the Ruling Class and Violent Fighters. Second Story would be the epic attempt at justice… but what is Justice?? Should Tornina side with the Imperium over Truchugan… Ruling over Violent… Violent over Ruling?? During the deep investigation into the inner workings and socio-political issues present, Tornina would discover more about The Continental Conflicts and pick up some strange trace signals she couldn’t understand. Book Three would involve her traveling to Horn as the strange signal she found was not put there by Truchugan and could be found in more and more techno-devices. She discovers the signal in 30% of the Robot Farmers and discovers the Death Farms (what happens to old people). Book Four: She realizes that the Strange Signal could only be coming from The Western World. She attempts to gather forces to help her investigate and gets a Tech Specialist from Truchugan, a fighter from the Violent Fighters, and a malfunctioning robot farmer who calls himself Robert. They enter The Western World through a series of submerged crafts, disguised boats, and subterfuge. The Western World is discovered. Book Five: The Western World is actually two continents ruled by a terrifying Tyrant and brutal military… and yet the Western World is more advanced technologically than anything Truchugan could even approach. It is discovered that some of the exploratory parties previously sent were killed but many simply elected to not return. The strange signal, however, was The Terrible Tyrant trying to turn any and every electrical item in the world into a listening device controlled by his throne. Tornina and friends disable the Throne and take some of the technology back to their home. Book Six: The Western World, now cut off from listening devices, mounts a strong and pressured attack against The East. The East fight bravely but are about to fall. Tornina and Robert re-configure the Farm Robots to buy time. Ultimately, the day is saved by the citizens of the Western World electing to work with the East to topple the tyrant. Denouement: The Western World refuses to embrace the Continental Village Edict as they see no reason to. The East respects the decision but demands a formal treaty for food/tech/military trading and sharing. As the book ends, negotiations are tense but peace is the goal of both sides.

And that is where it would end. Because no world can “end in peace” or really… end at all, really. But peace negotiations is a good realistic place to end it.