Frosty kiss of death

[silencer_pl]

It's 1887, what day or month, I don't know. It all came suddenly, first it was just small amounts of snow. No one knew what happened, but then it started to be worse. The snowing never stopped. Scientists made a statement that the sun was dimming. With each passing day, it was colder and colder and soon cities just vanished, covered in snow. With the final act of desperation, engineers build massive steam heaters and massive arks. Their plan to move north. Why north? Well one of the rumors was, that there was cold storm coming from the south, freezing everything in seconds. The more obvious reason would be, that life up north was used to such cold. Plenty of food from animals that could survive temperatures way below freezing point of water. I was one of the last refugees from London. It was a very long journey almost 2000 miles. We've heared that earlier expeditions managed to establish some cities. Maybe there we will find new home.

The journey was hard, we lost many people, we also lost most of our supply, when suddenly we found this crater. Abandoned. Only this big steam generator stood, slowly freezing from inactivity. Exhausted from the trip, me and 80 other survivors decided that this will be our new home, and now we must survive the harsh conditions. The temperature right now is just 20C below 0, but the few scientists in hour group say that in few days the temparture will drop to -40. So we all there stood for a while. We all knew that if we don't work together, we will not surive. Everyone agreed and so their fight for survival begun.

 

 

Our first priority was to gather nearby resources. Wood mainly. Though coal is also priority, we can survive for now without any heating. Additionally I'll be setting new laws, laws that will help those people survive. Not all the laws will be liked, but they have no choice. The first law was the enacting of emergency shift. If we will find ourselves in dire situation given workplace will work without a brake for 24 hours. Hopefully we will not be that desperate. Our standard workshifts are 10 hours. From 8 to 18. At the end of the first working day, we have gathered enough materials to create shelter for everyone. Let's hope it will be enough to keep them warm through the night. Unfortunately 8 people got sick from the cold. We have to help them get better. To remedy that 2 clinics where build. Additionally in order to succeed we need some bright minds to come up with new technology. In order to help the gatheres not freeze out there, a gathering posts were constructed.

With this setup we made first step to survival. However we must push ourselves even harder. Therefore 14h shifts law was enacted. Although now they do not realize it, but maybe later with time, they will understand that fight for survival deamnds sacrifices. It's better to sacrifice some tears and sweat than life.

 

 

At the end of day 2, people begun to report of hunger. We have little to no food and what we have is raw. It will definitely not be enough for us all. So on day 3 we enacted 2 laws. First that for now our main meals will be soup. It will help save up on the raw food, while being eqaully fulfilling then standard meals. The second law was a hard choice. Although we all need as many hands as possible, I couldn't dare to force children to work, so a children shelter law was signed. We will build a shelter for kids where they can be safe. After the shelter was build we had to build a cookhouse where soup will be prepared.

On day 3 we finally had start gathering coal, because on next day a cold snap will hit us. Fortunately we have now heaters and the scientists are slowly working on improving the generator, because from what we know it, right now it won't be able to generate enough heat for those tents of ours. With that set we are missing one more thing. We need a source of food. Therefore we must return to the old ways: hunting. Although with our constant need of resources, we can only spare one group of hunters. They will not be able to provide enough food for all of us, but for now it must do.

On day 4, we started the generator. However with the incoming cold wave, we had to crank it into overdrive. It cannot go too long in that mode, but the scientists report that they will upgrade the power generation soon enough. So it came to me, that without new technology our chances of survival are slim. Therefore I decided that all chidlren living in shelters will now start to learn math and will help the engineers in workshops in new designs. It's race against time and I want to be ahead for as long as possible.

With heating problem behind us, we now need to start acquiring resources that cannot be picked by hand. We need proper sawmill for the frozen trees, we need coal mines and steel mills. Wood comes first then steel then finally coal. So on day 5 we built our first saw mill. On the same day I was approached by engineer. He was complaining that for few days in a row they were constatly working long shifts and wants a break. Although I feel him, I said that's it's not possible, they need to work hard. I knew that I can't keep them working like that, but they had to. To somewhat remedy that a fighting arena was constructed. There people could watch some fights and relax a little. Although not much it will help a little with their discontent.

 

On our way here a small group that was ahead of us separated. Some of the people think that they are still out there and we need to find them. We of course need more hands, so the scientists were ordered to make some kind of beacon, so we could send scouts and search the area for other survivors and for more materials.

With day 7 came a little respite. The temperature has risen but only to -30C. It will help us on saving some coal. With the beacon built on the same day a scouting party was created and they went looking for the lost expedition. Meanwhile I got another pleas for reducing working hours, which again I had to decline. To combat this a public house was built. After few hours of searching the scouts have found our missing people. We could have sent them on their own towards our city, but we can't afford to losing someone so the scouts lead them back home.

 

 

Having more people we need to upgrade generator to provide heat in bigger radius. But our engineers are way ahead of our needs. And so on day 8 our group increases in number. But that creates a problem - we need more food. To get more food we need more hunters. In the group there were more engineers. So more workshops were built. With 4 workshops working 14h a day, we will be ahead with technology. To keep up high spirit of people, from day 9 for each meal a little dose of moonshine will be added.

When our scouts returned with the people they were immediately sent to explore further the same path. There is a rumor of a city nearby. We just need to find it. Our first trail, leads us to the nearby Sturdy Shelter. There scouts find a good amount of food, some wood and a working heating mechanism. They also found a note pointing into 2 directions: London 1934 miles, home 27 miles. So they move forward. A few hours later they come across a steel bridge. At the other side of the bridge they spot a big automaton. Those machines work constantly with only small breaks to refuel. And their fuel is heat. However it is strange that there is no operator nearby.

 

 

We have 2 options now, either we send the automaton to our base, which will provide a huge boost in manpower, or we could dismantle it. While the first option provides short term solution, dismantling it, provides us with 2 steam cores, and to create new automaton we need only 1. So the choice is simple. We can get later 2 automatons for the price of 1. The scouts also have option to follow the path to the weather station, but in the distance they see a smoke, like if someone was there. We need more people, and the scouts are already carrying lots of usefull materials, so they head towards what it looks like to be a large convoy.

Meanwhile back in base our engineers make some adjustments to the beacon, and now we can send additional scouting party. The more people we will have out there the faster we will get more people and resources. This group was directed to cave where more life signs were spotted. Before day 10 begun, a new law was signed. This one addressing the sick. From now on we will try to heal even the gravely ill, even if it means performing amputation. Hopefully there will be no need for such drastic measures. The scouts also reached that convoy.

 

 

45 more people. Let's escort them back to the city.

 

[silencer_pl]

On day 10, one of the scout groups reached the gloomy cave. There they found out people trapped by polar bears. The scouts distracted the bears. The people inside the cave rushed to help chase of the bears. Having succeeded scouts return to the city with more people in tow.

 

 

Upon returning, they were sent back again to the Frostland. Their next target was nearby observatory. Day 10 was also the day when we started to get coal from local coal deposits. With more working hands, we could open more saw mills and a second mine. This should provide ample supply of wood and coal for a while.

With more people in city, we will probably going to have a problem with more sick people than our clinics could hold. We could issue a bonus rations for the sick, to improve their recovery, or we could put more beds. Because food is a concern and I believe that sooner or later we will need as much space as possible, it was decided to overcrowd the medical facilities. It won't be easy for the doctors and the sick, but it will save up on precious resources.

On day 11, other group of scouts returned with the people that lost their way to Winterhelm and soon marched towards next checkpoint towards Winterhome itself - the weather station. Later that day, scouts have reached the observatory, there they found another group of people who we lost during the initial journey. There they also found some notes left by the astronomers.

 

 

Even with 2 coal mines working 14h a day our coal consumption was greater than production. Therefore a coal thumper was built. It will wash out coal from the ground which then can be gathered and stored in warehouses. It will require a lot of manpower to operate the thumper and enough people to quickly gather the coal. But we have just enough hands to do it. We also need to think about heating up places of work far away from the main generator and to save up some coal on using heaters. A steam hub was created it will be placed in high work dencity places.

On day 12, scouts from observatory returned with the people and then proceeded to another point of interest - the crash site. It is also the day when we built 2 steelworks. We completely used up all the steel we could gather. Additionally a law for care houses was signed. In case of amputation, people there will recieve care at reduced food consumption. Hopefully, no one will have to end up there. On days end both group of scouts reached their destination. The weather station was found empty. It looks like it was abandoned months ago. There also was found a note that the weather will get worse. From the roof ot the station scouts could see Winterhome and some trail to the coal mine. Better check that mine before haading to Winterhome. Who knows what can be expected there.

In the crash site area, scouts have found lots of supplies, searching further they found lots of bodies tangled together. They all died frozen. The scouts gathered the resources and went back to the city. Once they've returned they were directed straight to Winterhome.

On day 13, scouts have reached the coal mine. From their reports it looks like it was fully automated mine, long shut down. It's in working condition, so we could create an outpost and send more coal to the city. Or we could dismantle the machine for a quick boost in resource count, mainly steam cores. I believe we can mine enough coal in our city. Even now we produce more coal than we can consume, so we took apart the mine.

 

 

On day 14, another law was signed, though I don't know why it must be a low, but now if we will have a factory it will be able to produce prosthetics.

Day 15, was a complete change in our little group of people. The scouts have entered Winterhome or rather the ruins of Winterhome. The steam generator stood there destroyed completely. The city chronicle described, that food soon became an issue people felt into despair, anarchy ruled the city and finaly they had resolved into eating the dead. This shocking news devastated hope of the people. Some even propsed turning back and going to London.

 

 

I had to rally them again. I could try using faith, however I knew that humans can lose faith quite quickly. So I decided that to fight chaos, we need Order. Only then the people can be united under one goal, and united they can achieve many things. For starters a friendly neighbourhood watch was enacted. Replacing the fighting arenas a few watch towers were placed. It will give hope to local workers. However we will need more than that.

Having reached Winterhome, more places opened for the scouts to visit. The scouts who entered Winterhome moved forward to the Snow Cliff where they saw a lone figure. Upon reaching the cliff they could not find the man, but they found a diary of a scientist, describing events that happened in Winterhome. It's former leader tried to create New World Order. The people did not like it and rebelled against him. The scouts took the resources found in the cave and moved forward to Freshwater Sprigns. There they found remaining people from Winterhome.

 

 

On day 16, other group of scouts have reached what was marked as American Camp. There they found lots of starved bodies, most of them using prosthetics bearing company symbol "Tesla Manufacturing". Then they followed a trail that lead to a temporary settlement.

 

 

It looks like Tesla was obsessed with technology. Scouts have taken all the resources they could find and moved forward to a place that looked like a walled colony. There they found last remnants of what was called Tesla City. We couldn't leave them there, so scouts will escort them back.

Meanwhile back in city we've upgraded our hunters to travel in little blimps. With those flying machines, they could travel more distance and therefore bring more food. Though hunger is barely an issue, I believe that people earned the return of standard meals, but in order for that to happen, we need far bigger supply of raw meat.

On day 17, the scouts have returned with the remnants from Winterhome and head back to the Frostland towards the Frozen Grove. To improve the security of our city, we will now upgrade our watch towers into guard towers. Guard towers will help fighting with any crime that might happen. And with Londoners gaining each day more followers, soon something bad will happen.

Later that day, refugees from Tesla City arrived, and scouts returned back to the Frostland. Their destination was a location marked as dreadnought landing.

On day 18, guard towers could now create patrols. Patrols that will show people that everything is under control and that they have nothing to fear. Fearing losing grip on the people, the Londoners started to use doomcriers. We have to strike back, and disperse the crowd. Although people object stating, that there were non-Londoners in the crowd. Likely they know that was the whole point.

 

 

On day 19 the Londoners move another step ahead defacing the walls with predictions of dooms. The watchmen had to quickly remove it, but some damage to the peoples morale was done. Meanwhile back in the Frostland, the scouts have reached the landing site of Dreadnought "Hephastus".

 

 

On the other side of the map, other team of scouts have reached the Frozen Grove. There they found corpses, stripped clean from all edible parts. Next they moved to the last place near Winterhome. The shrouded cave.

In the night between day 19 and 20, a new law was signed: Morning gatherings. It will help people remind, what they are fighting for. Soon after that Lononers strike again with more walls defaction. The scouts have also reached the shrouded cave.

 

 

 

[Space Voyager]

Bloody hell. I need to stop playing Elite. I'm missing all these great games... Anyway, must you use coal? Have you never heard of global warming? https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/Smiley/anim_lol.gif

[silencer_pl]

Global warming? What's that.

[Space Voyager]

Probably something you're trying to achieve.

[Space Voyager]

The Winter is Going Away?