HOME | DD

Description

Somewhere out on the road, Alystra and her troupe of escapees from Eli’s encampment settled in around the campfire for the night. “Alystra,” one of the younger teens in the troupe asked, “how did this all begin? We didn’t do much learning; Eli wanted us for our labor. And no one ever told us when any of us asked. They usually just said ‘It’s always been this way.’”
Alystra took a sip of her ersatz coffee, and stared at the crackling fire, forming her thoughts. “The way I heard it from my great-great grandfather, who was in the former American state of New Jersey’s National Guard when it all started, was that the apocalypse began in the old calendar year of 2012, when…”
…miners in the Mponeng gold mine, located in South Africa’s Guateng province, broke into a large open space filled with a subterranean city. The miners gawked at the ethereal beauty of the obsidian black skinned residents. Those beings, after getting over the shock of being discovered, slaughtered the miners and their warriors stormed the mineshafts, slaughtering the miners as they made their way up towards the surface.
Within days, AngloGold Ashanti reported attacks within the neighboring TauTona and Savuka mines, with the South African Army deploying to the three mines. Press briefings report that the frontlines around the mines are quiet during the day, but very active at night. Independent reports indicated that while neither side controlled the mine entrances, fighting is at its heaviest only a few hundred meters inside the mine entrances. There have also been unconfirmed reports of fireballs spontaneously erupting in the middle of SAA lines around the three mines.
Responding to intruders around the Empire Mine on the night of the 19th through 20th of January, 2013, Green Valley, CA, police reportedly came under attack by what they reported as ‘Deeps and Dwarves’ LARPers. As police cordon grew, snipers, acting in a reconnaissance role, from the Nevada County Sheriff's Department SWAT came under attack along the trails. Local firefighters reported coming under arrow fire responding to a local church structure fire.
At first, Governor Brown deployed the California National Guard, but with a second incursion at Mammoth Cave National Park, President Obama began limited federalization of the Guard. Conspiracy theorists came out of the woodwork in droves, with their usual claims of government overreach, little green men, and the usual nuttier conspiracies.
Siege tactics were adopted by nations facing incursions. Underground mines, regardless of how deep they were, were shuttered and armed cordons established. Things changed again, when portals began opening, and hordes of humanoids and monsters began invading. Some of the bloodiest involved adult red dragons appearing over Westminster during the opening of the old British Parliament, while a blue dragon appeared over the Capitol in Washington.
But you asked what caused the apocalypse, didn’t you. Moscow, the capital of the old country called ‘Russia’ lobbed an atomic weapon at one that was over Rostov-on-Don. When it detonated, the very fabric of reality changed. Earth changed.
Magic became more prevalent. The Gods returned, some even walking among us; even new gods appeared. And all those gods, for good or ill, also granted magic to their most devoted followers. Mythic beings, spoken about in ancient legends, either returned or appeared – like Naset and her pride. Oh, right, you all know her as ‘Lucy Fur’. Creatures, straight out of the ‘Deeps & Dwarves’ monster compendiums began walking the Earth.
Technology…suffered and regressed. Oh, firearms, internal combustion, steam, simple electrical power? They all still work. But what my great-great grandfather called ‘advanced technology’? It all failed in the weeks after the atomic weapon went off. Giant flying machines, carrying hundreds of people or tens of thousands of pounds of cargo over hundreds or thousands of miles came crashing to the ground. And those that didn’t? The chromatic dragons went after them.
10s of millions died as the ‘advanced technology’ failed them. Millions more died when supply chains collapsed. It was the end of days for the old world and the birth of this brave new world.

Description

Somewhere out on the road, Alystra and her troupe of escapees from Eli’s encampment settled in around the campfire for the night. “Alystra,” one of the younger teens in the troupe asked, “how did this all begin? We didn’t do much learning; Eli wanted us for our labor. And no one ever told us when any of us asked. They usually just said ‘It’s always been this way.’”
Alystra took a sip of her ersatz coffee, and stared at the crackling fire, forming her thoughts. “The way I heard it from my great-great grandfather, who was in the former American state of New Jersey’s National Guard when it all started, was that the apocalypse began in the old calendar year of 2012, when…”
…miners in the Mponeng gold mine, located in South Africa’s Guateng province, broke into a large open space filled with a subterranean city. The miners gawked at the ethereal beauty of the obsidian black skinned residents. Those beings, after getting over the shock of being discovered, slaughtered the miners and their warriors stormed the mineshafts, slaughtering the miners as they made their way up towards the surface.
Within days, AngloGold Ashanti reported attacks within the neighboring TauTona and Savuka mines, with the South African Army deploying to the three mines. Press briefings report that the frontlines around the mines are quiet during the day, but very active at night. Independent reports indicated that while neither side controlled the mine entrances, fighting is at its heaviest only a few hundred meters inside the mine entrances. There have also been unconfirmed reports of fireballs spontaneously erupting in the middle of SAA lines around the three mines.
Responding to intruders around the Empire Mine on the night of the 19th through 20th of January, 2013, Green Valley, CA, police reportedly came under attack by what they reported as ‘Deeps and Dwarves’ LARPers. As police cordon grew, snipers, acting in a reconnaissance role, from the Nevada County Sheriff's Department SWAT came under attack along the trails. Local firefighters reported coming under arrow fire responding to a local church structure fire.
At first, Governor Brown deployed the California National Guard, but with a second incursion at Mammoth Cave National Park, President Obama began limited federalization of the Guard. Conspiracy theorists came out of the woodwork in droves, with their usual claims of government overreach, little green men, and the usual nuttier conspiracies.
Siege tactics were adopted by nations facing incursions. Underground mines, regardless of how deep they were, were shuttered and armed cordons established. Things changed again, when portals began opening, and hordes of humanoids and monsters began invading. Some of the bloodiest involved adult red dragons appearing over Westminster during the opening of the old British Parliament, while a blue dragon appeared over the Capitol in Washington.
But you asked what caused the apocalypse, didn’t you. Moscow, the capital of the old country called ‘Russia’ lobbed an atomic weapon at one that was over Rostov-on-Don. When it detonated, the very fabric of reality changed. Earth changed.
Magic became more prevalent. The Gods returned, some even walking among us; even new gods appeared. And all those gods, for good or ill, also granted magic to their most devoted followers. Mythic beings, spoken about in ancient legends, either returned or appeared – like Naset and her pride. Oh, right, you all know her as ‘Lucy Fur’. Creatures, straight out of the ‘Deeps & Dwarves’ monster compendiums began walking the Earth.
Technology…suffered and regressed. Oh, firearms, internal combustion, steam, simple electrical power? They all still work. But what my great-great grandfather called ‘advanced technology’? It all failed in the weeks after the atomic weapon went off. Giant flying machines, carrying hundreds of people or tens of thousands of pounds of cargo over hundreds or thousands of miles came crashing to the ground. And those that didn’t? The chromatic dragons went after them.
10s of millions died as the ‘advanced technology’ failed them. Millions more died when supply chains collapsed. It was the end of days for the old world and the birth of this brave new world.