NationStates Jolt Archive

Ok despite SteamEarth being my NS nation, this story is actaully about the world of SteamEarth which I created to do a series of stories on.

Oh well, here goes.

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Welcome to SteamEarth

It has been over two centuries since the Great Engineer built the world's first steam engine, and almost two centuries since he 'disappeared'.

Much of his work remains lost in the sands of time only to be dismissed as myth and legend. Thou some of his greatest inventions are said to lie as ruins in the mysterious Southern Wastes. Over the years many have searched and failed to find these lost machines, only to be found some time later dead with a spanner lodged straight through their heads (even thou no connections has been confirmed).

The machines which weren't lost have changed the land greatly in more ways than one.....

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The desert winds blew hard and strong sending clouds of dust across the barren nightmare of twisted stone. For the 'residents' of the Vogan Prison Camp it was the closet thing they had to hell. Located in the harsh, barren Southern Wastes, it was where the Stormwellian Empire sent prisoners who were deemed as the greatest threat to the Empire at large.

One such person was Professor Edward Blankenship, locked up mainly due to his great but twisted mind. For some bizarre but unknown reason he believes that he his following in the footsteps of the Great Engineer and has been chosen by the Great Maker himself to lead the world into what he calls the 'Golden Age of Technology'.

By all accounts a complete nutcase.

Dusk was spreading across the Southern Wastes as Blankenship stood in the courtyard of the old fort, which made up the prison camp. He stood there for some time watching the bright red blot of the sun slowly sink below the western horizon as dust collected around the rims of his glasses. He took about an old battered pocket watch, which by chance still slowly ticked away time, and dully took note of the positions of the watch's hands.

'Ah,' He thought. 'With all things going to plan, this will be the last sunset I see in this cursed hellhole!'

He turned and headed indoors smiling like a madman, leaving somewhat bemused guards in his wake.

STORMWELL, A FEW DAYS LATER

"WHAT!" Cried Prime Minister Richard Clark going somewhat red with anger. Commander-in-Chief George Bellington, of the Empire's military, shifted uneasily in his seat before repeating what he had said. "Blankenship has escape, the.. er.. Wasteland Confederate launched a surprise attack on the prison camp."

"I see." Clark dully said as he leaned back in his seat. "The Regent isn't going to be pleased about this, what with Blankenship now working with the Wasteland Confederate."

"He doesn't have to know."

"Bellington, you've been here for a while now and you don't know that the Regent always finds out about the goings on of the world at large."

However before Bellington could reply, a man wearing a plain suit looking to be in his mid-30s entered the room. Clark greeted the newcomer. "Ah Regent, what a pleasant surprise."

"Are you in the middle of something here?"

"No not at all Regent." Clark answered with a smirk on his face. "In fact we've just finished."

"Good, I just wanted a 'word' with Commander Bellington."

Bellington unsurely asked. "What may it be about Regent?"

"You know that crazy chap Blankenship, I heard that the Wasteland Confederate helped him escape from that prison camp of ours down in the wastes."

"Ah yes that.."

A voice called from the doorway. "Yes 'that' indeed Bellington."

The Regent knew at once whom the voice belonged to. "Sterling, what a pleasure it is to see you again. Can't keep a good man in the dark hey old chap?"

"Quite Regent."

"Lemme guess, you've got in mind the kind of men who are crazy enough to go after Blankenship?"

"Indeed I do Regent, in fact I have just the pair in mind."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GARRACK

The air was hot and dry, the sounds of the surrounding jungle drifting in through the shutters of the windows. Blankenship picked up his notebook and walked out of the hut into the heart of the compound, where a few Confederate soldiers kept lookout from the shades of some of the other huts. General Manton walked up, no doubt to 'inquire' how the project was going. "Ah Blankenship, I hope that you intend to get your little 'toy' finished sometime soon. Not the next century."

Blankenship's eyebrows narrowed and he said coldly. "As I've told your superiors, all great things take time."

"Basically 'No Worries' right?"

"I seriously can't see why low graded, Southern Wastes, scumbags enjoy saying that annoying 'phase'."

Blankenship saw the rage build up on the General's face, which faded quickly when the General remembered the agreement. The General stayed quiet whilst Blankenship headed over to the construction site with a grin on his face.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A clock slowly ticked away as Regent Vermillion and Commander Bellington sat in a solely gaslamp lit room whilst much swearing and shouting could be heard in the corridor outside. Two men were marched into the room by a squad of grim faced guards dressed in black, all armed with rifles very similar to shotguns. The two men consisted of a very bad tempered looking Quarter Orc with a rifle slung over his shoulder and a finely dressed gentleman with a pistol in a holster. Regent Vermillion spoke. "James Midnight and Jacob Stevens I presume?"

Midnight spoke back. "Yeah so what ya want?"

Stevens quickly butted in. "Don't mind Midnight Regent, hes kinda..um...in a mad mood."

"As I can see, anyway the Empire needs you."

"That's why these guards directed us here then?"

"Yes I'm afraid so, anyway a crazed fellow known as Professor Edward Blankenship has freed by the Wasteland Confederate from the Vogan Prison Camp about a week ago."

Midnight wisely asked. "So ya want us ta find him right?"

"Yes before he does something stupid and takes on the whole Empire."

"I see."

Stevens then asked. "Any ideas where he maybe?"

Bellington replied. "Nope none at all, far as we know he could still be either in the Southern Wastes or someplace in Ruskkia."

"I see."