Game! A War of Worlds

[Emori]

“Ahoy! Land Ahead!”, the cry pealed down from the birds-nest , triggering a flurry of movement on the deck. Clawing for a position at the railing, Thomas leaned out, seafoam misting his face. Ahead lay Karnstadt, a town seemingly thrust out of the sea itself, its small houses and shops clinging precariously to the black cliffs. Waves, frothy and voluminous crashed against the foreshore, their spray creating a thick rainbow which arched across the crowded dock.

“Deceptively beautiful, ‘ent she?”, Snaggletooth crooned over Thomas’s shoulder, “like me third wife, pretty as a new rose but the thorns on her! ‘Nuff to take out an eye.”

“Aye”, Thomas had no interest in the bearded, buck-toothed sailor's second, third or hundredth wife, he had eyes only for the bleak town of Karnstadt and the information that it would hold about his piratical father.

- ♥ -

Trelaw's.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

You can get everything from a hot shower and a good meal to a new set of reintegrators at Trelaw's Interstellar Rest Stop. It's right on the junction between two jumpholes, so there's plenty of parking. Funny thing, nobody but Buddy Trelaw figured out that starships were mostly going to be used as trucks.

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The Soft Road

 

[Infinite Monkey Typing]

Between the Free City State of Kershia and mighty Revenstead, seat of the Crown, there is a long and well-paved road. It is nothing like the muddy trenches of the Witch Woods, or the hard, unyielding rises of the Marrow Bone road. This road carries a promise of comfort. Common folk call it 'The Soft Road', as its broad path can offer the weary traveller anything from luxurious brothels to full-stocked inns, granting plenty of leisure on the journey to either city. As long as one has a heavy purse, this is what any wanderer can expect.

However, as the Soft Road is often trafficked by wealthy merchants and prosperous caravans, the misfortunes of subterfuge inevitably preys upon it. Thieves, charlatans, assassins and tricksters of all kinds hunt their fortunes on the travellers of this road, seeing every oppertunity to slit a purse from its belt, or trick a caravan to take the wrong turn. Despite its deceptive civility, one should keep as sharp an eye out on the Soft Road as any other road - for there are just as many dangers that lurk on its path.

--

Duskfall

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Duskfall is the largest moon of the gas giant Thor, which orbits Zeta Reticuli, a double star consisting of two Sol-like bodies. As is true of many moons, one side of Duskfall always faces its primary. The dim glow of Thor, reflecting the light of the two distant stars, gives the moon its name. Like Jupiter, Thor looms above Duskfall as a giant, always-changing chaos of colorful storms, although these are somewhat more subdued than those of Sol's giant planet. The human survey station on Duskfall is located on the side opposite Thor, so the planet is never visible. The official reason is that radiation from Thor interferes with scientific instruments. The real reason is that the sight of Thor, seemingly about to crash into its moon at any moment, made the inhabitants nervous.

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High Whitefield

 

[sinister42]

High Whitefield

It was in High Whitefield that our hero, Garreth Flundle, was born, and it will be where he dies. It's the stuff in the middle that's really interesting, and most of that doesn't take place in High Whitefield. Still, we must know more about this mysterious town, with its streets made of light and the winged creatures that call to each other in the fog. Sky whales, they were called, and Garreth grew up fearing them, despite his parents' assurances that they were harmless. Well, mostly harmless.

(ok, going to have to write more of this story...)

***

Blunderbuss Station

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

The whine of an electrostatic stagecoach filled the little town of Blunderbuss Station as it approached from the east. It left a cloud of dust behind it like a floating mountain of rust. Willie watched it through the window of the schoolhouse, wondering what news it might bring from the jeweled cities so far away. Was the war over at last?

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Mount Thalen

 

[Duttster]

Long believed to be the resting place of Prominus the Defiled, Mount Thalen stands alone on a desolate and irradiated plain on Filart 834. Rising thirteen thousand feet into the clouds, the mountain has grown ever larger due to the mounds of corpses and creatures that have fought in countless battles over the peak. It is rumoured that buried within the peak lies the burial chamber of Prominus, held within a stasis field. Prominus, ever the witty and scheming daemon he was, placed a curse on himself, granting immortality in return for 1000 souls every year. As a result of this, he gave up almost his entire life force to turn this wretched mound's surface into pure jade. Now, he gains his souls, waiting for the opportune moment to rise and reclaim the Tyrane Galaxy once more.


The Chapel of the Aetheria

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

As I approached the Chapel of the Aetheria I noticed an unusually tall and pale figure among the throng of pilgrims. Unlike the dark robes worn by most of the worshipers, this person was arrayed in silver trousers and an azure blouse. I was unable to determine if it was a man or a woman, as a large straw hat, of the kind worn by plantation workers, hid head and hair from my view. I readied my camera, certain that this must be some tourist from a far wealthier world, and worth a minute or two in a newstape. To my surprise, the figure turned to face me, and I realized it was a machine.

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Parker's Bay

 

[Duttster]

The beauty spot that was Parker's Bay lay on the east coast of Guatamala. The temperature barely dropped below 100 Fahrenheit and it is said that you could get a suntan in a day. What the brochures failed to mention was the shipwreck which lay just offshore. This was the Son of Zeus, which had carried a rather unusual artefact on its last voyage. Little did the regular divers to this wreck realise that just the other side of the steel hull rested the Wings of Icarus. Forged from the light of the sun itself, stories tell tales of the limitless potential these wings possess.


Infinity Bridge

 

[Glen]

It's about two to three paces long, Infinity Bridge, but most people don't take it. Instead they jump.

You can't step over the abyss, it's too far, but most people could jump it if they tried. Its just that not everyone can try. Some people come, see the sights, lean against the rail, knees trembling as they look down, down, down, unable to see the bottom of the trench, and can never then consider taking the leap. Plenty come along and just jump it. Its like jumping over a puddle, or onto a moving tramcar. Easy. Some take the jump, but change between the time they leave the ground on this side, and land on the other. Sure, they laugh and high-five, but they don't jump back. They walk over the bridge, looking straight ahead.

They call this hugely popular tourist attraction the Infinity Bridge, but it is the trench that brings them all here.


-----


Castle Grove

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

In Castle Grove the fairies prance
By no man seen.
They laugh and play and madly dance
And watch a queen
Bow down to one in beggar's rags
Without a head.
Spirits of mist and midnight hags,
When day is dead,
Soar in the light of amber moon
And whisper "Hear!
He comes! He comes!" Then, very soon,
The sound draws near
Of leather wing and roar of flame
And every tongue
Is still. No mortal knows the name
Silently sung
In Castle Grove, where time runs mad.
A day, a year,
An hour; all the same to lad
And lass who hear
The cry of elf and sigh of ghost
And follow one
Who ran before; a solemn host
Whose fate is done.

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Station Six

 

[J Riff]

I grew up quite near Station Six, where the Sludge-Goblins go after work. Conveniently located just off Hwy. 102, near the slag mines, Six boasts the highest airborne carcinogen count in the entire cluster. Many dark beings gather they thence, olde worlde monstrosities abound, and there is usually entertainment, and though many human singers and readers of poems have disappeared thence, and the whole area is slated to be bombed out of existence ere long - still I long for the trenches and atomic waste piles of my youth.

The Silver Snakepits

 

[Glen]

The call ‘em the Silver Snakepits now. You can see the tourist air’planes flying over almost ever’ day. Hours flight out here, from the nearest town with a strip. They circle the lake, biggest lake ever made, then they come here and turn twice round and then head back. Ever day.

They was silver mines, but they didn’t tunnel, no they just took the earth out and trucked it away. Must have been an awfu’ lot of diesel used in them trucks, but then they got an awfu’ lot of silver out of the earth. Great, deep pits that you can hardly imagine. I been in one o’ them planes once and the pits didn’t seem real. If you stand on the edge, it makes your legs shake, and you belly turn inside out as you look down. Them giant trucks, way down at the bottom look like nothing.

Not many snakes live down there. Not much of anything lives or grows down there.

It scares me lookin’ down, but I go there now and then and say sorry to the ancestors.

All that earth trucked away. All of our land.


------------


The Venknatian Pods

 

[Kieran Song]

Amy's boatyard is a haven for sea pirates on the planet Smorghast, where krakens, water dragons, and vampire whales fill the oceans. Being a fisherman is a rough life on Smorghast.

Luckily Amy's boatyard serves the finest ale made from fermented siren's milk and the best tasting salt water taffy in all the Galaxy.
One sip of ale and one taste of taffey is all the courage one needs to battle the nightmares of the deep on a planet that enjoys it's kraken sushi.

......

The Devil's Latrine

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

New here, ain't ya? Yeah, the official designation of this hellhole is Observation Outpost X-2675A, but we mudworms call it The Devil's Latrine. The pay is good. Course, there ain't nothin' to spend it on. The duty's not bad. Just keep an eye peeled for Exies. Exies? Oh, that's just what we call the Extraterrestrials. The big boys still don't know enough about 'em to give 'em a real name. They've just seen the way they've wiped out some colonies in this sector, so we're here to give 'em a yell if we spot any Exie ships buzzin' by. Not much chance of that. It's an OK place, if you don't mind hikin' through ammonia slime as the closest thing to recreation around here. Me, I'm gonna retire in another couple o' years. Be a rich man, buy me a palace on New Rome or maybe Harlo's World. Don't worry, kid, twenty years will pass like nothin'.

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The Valley of Silence

 

[Glen]

"The Valley of Silence is..."
"Shsssssh!!!"

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Defence Outpost D-73936

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

It was a typical "day" on Defense Outpost D-73936. I woke up after my allotted five kiloseconds of hypersleep, ready to relieve my partner. She was so plugged in that she didn't "see" or "hear" me come in. That's not uncommon. I had to draw her out of the grid gently, by inputting soft textures and sweet scents into her sensors. She came back into the "real" world and gave me a grin. "Knocked out six 'zard ships," she said. "Personal best." She hopped out of the battleseat and gave me a thumbs up. "See ya next rec shift." I could hardly wait. A good session of a 21st century roleplaying game always eased the tedium of zapping 'zards. I had a Third Level banker character I really liked.

_________________________________________________________________

The Last Shop

 

[Vaz]

The Last Shop. It's the greatest place in all the realm, the Shimmer Isles hidden Jewel, they say. You can buy anything and everythin' there, providin' you have a healthy bag 'o crowns 'course.

Where'd ya think I got this 'ere sword. Beauty ain't she? Made outta somethin' they call Valyrian Steel, from some land they call Westeros. Har! You need any item get down there, jus' make sure ye can afford it.

 

[Coast]

The Venknatian Pods.

I wish I'd never laid eyes on them, those damn Venknatian Pods. The tip came through on the low-wave, a sure thing. Easy money. Ripe for the picking.
The day I get back in system I'm going to find where that tip came from, and I'm... Well the first day I'm scheduled for the new arm but after that...
So we came in through the Venknate atmosphere, hit the dirt right outside what they call the 'Pods', which is really just the nursery, see the actual pods are inside, bout as big as your head and hanging from every surface. You gotta understand they don't guard them or look after them at all, it's a survival of the fittest thing. But yeah, we go in and....woo-wee... all those young Venky's just hanging there waiting for their pods to pop. See, that's where the money is - you get them young enough and freeze them, the guru's out at Close Reach will pay a premium. Use them for hive computing or something? Anyway, that's where our informant done us wrong. Turns out they were over-ripe. Turns out there'd been a fair bit of popping already happened. We're no sooner in the doorway and they come buzzing out, all teeth and claws and spiked wings. Hundreds of them, and more by the minute. Seven crew I had to leave behind. And me arm. Some things just ain't worth the effort.

-----------------------

The Forgotten Straits

 

[Coast]

Sorry Vaz, I'm impatient. And the Pods got forgotten earlier....