1924

[Space Cowboy Ein]

The current date is September 4th, 1924 in a large ghetto of shantytowns in the outskirts of the war torn city of Warsaw, Poland Occupational Sector, Germany. You and your refugees have seen things that others wouldn't believe, and it all started with a renewed German offensive earlier in the middle of March. You likely experience the terror of front line warfare and may have lost a number of loved ones in the crossfire. But you survived, and the front line has been pushed further east into the motherland. Things have quieted now, but the days are getting shorter, and the weather colder, winter in eastern Europe is coming. Life in Warsaw has declined heavily in the last few months, food and water supplies are growing dangerously low, crime is on the rise as it soon becomes every man for themselves. German enforcement troops treat the populace harshly and executions on the basis of spying to stealing are common in the day to day proceedings of life. Things seem dim and you think you may not make it through the winter, but hope still remains. Word around the city is that a resistance movement is growing in the Baltic state of Lithuania to the north.


You, along with a group of others who wish to leave the city, have elected to travel north where you may either join the resistance, or attempt to flee by boat to the Scandinavian territories. Whatever the case, you refuse to die where you squat and intend to contend with a coming winter, bandits and roaming patrols of German soldiers. In this journey, there are but two endings, freedom or death.

 

[Space Cowboy Ein]

Europe September 1924

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  What is this?
  
  1924 is an alternate universe in which a number of key events in history took a different turn than what we are used to. A few of these changes is an ancient empire formed by England and France, a progressive Islamic state on the entirety of the Iberian peninsula, an Ottoman Republic, etc. While these changes have changed the global landscape and borders, our story will be focusing solely on Europe for the time being.
  
  What's the plot?
  
  The story of 1924 puts us into a world that has been at war for ten years following a rash of revolutions in central and eastern Europe. Following a succession crisis in Britannia and an economic downturn in the USSR, the German Empire, backed by the Hungarian Empire had declared war on both sides in an attempt to secure valuable resources, land and coastline. Technology has advanced rapidly since then, planes, tanks, automatic weapons and even a relatively new war machine known as 'walkers' have begun to dominate the battlefield in an effort to break the years of trench warfare that has ravaged the countryside. Many soldiers have died and while a number of shaky truces and treaties have kept a number of other superpowers in the area at bay, it is likely their eventual involvement will lead to more death.
  
  But this rp will not be following these grand and gory stories of military heroism and bravery. Instead it will be focused on a group of civilians in German-occupied Russia fighting to survive on a day to day basis where the front lines change drastically. Food and water shortages, enemy troops and inquisitors, even your own countrymen are all constant threats in the eastern countryside. Things seem dire, but there is talk of hope, of a resistance movement growing in the northern reaches of German-occupied land, you want to fight, but you're deep within Poland, and a long and arduous journey awaits you.
  
  

 

[Space Cowboy Ein]

Paskal Merikovich


Paskal glanced down at his watch and shifted in placed as he adjusted the straps on his backpack. He had decided to pack light for the trip north, extra luggage would only hold him back. Thankfully the Red Army taught him how to live off the land and survive on his own. It was an advantage he'd have over his fellow travelers. At the least he'd lend a helping hand to those who could use his mechanical knowledge. He was hopeful, but on edge above all else. The Germans never patrolled Warsaw's slums, so the congregation of refugees in one particular area was much less likely of getting shot down than if they were in the city center. Of course, nowadays it wasn't the Germans that one had to worry about, it was their former countryment. The Germans were giving handouts to informants, and the months of famine in the city were turning family members against each other. A few people in the city knew of his past as a soldier, and he hadn't heard from them in about a week or so, so he assumed the worst. With his store wrecked and his business declining in the slums, he decided there was no more sense in staying and waiting to die. There was refuge in Memel, and he was willing to risk the trip for a better life, be that in Scandinavia or with the resistance.


Somewhere at the edge of the group there was a rise in the murmurings and finally, they started moving. It was dusk, and the cover of night was going to be their best chance of escaping German patrols keeping everyone within the city limits. Of course, they would have to navigate both German and Soviet minefields set around the city. The group's guide claimed to know the right path, having been an army engineer before being injured. There was a lot of uncertainty, but at least he die doing something significant rather than wait around to feel a ruger barrel at the back of his neck. The group in front of him started and, with one last look back to the diminished Warsaw skyline, he followed suit.

 

[Doctor Jax]

Novinya Soboleva


She'd had little time to pack. When the news came in about how close the Germans were to Warsaw's doorstep, she had been in her anatomy lab, cleaning up after a class. There were still students, somehow, at the university, though many of them had left as the war drew closer and closer to home. Novinya herself only stayed out of duty to Dr. Juspezcyk, who had been gracious enough to write her a referral letter and slip it under her office door. She had not expected such a kind gesture, but it had warmed her with unexpected gratitude. Neither of them had spoken of it since. Not two days after, a student burst into the lab as she readied a body for disposal.


"They come, Dr."


She had left that very minute. She knew that it would be too easy for the Germans to find out who she was -- especially given the jewels that she had sold over the years, all bearing the mark of the Russian monarchy. Even her name was a thin veil protecting her from the manhandling of a foreign government. As the war had progressed, she'd feared this very outcome. With haste, she grabbed her mutt, black doctor's bag, and a few changes of clothes with a single set of silverware and bowl. Rumors had flown throughout her complex that there were refugees fleeing from the slums to the north.


She locked her apartment with some finality, the pit of her stomach dropping to her ankles. She had managed to build so much of a life here. Immediately, she turned on a heel and left.


She found herself in the crowds of Warsaw's slums, her head sunk low between her shoulders as she eyed the many refugees. Her eyes darted between the hungry faces of men on their own to the drawn visages of women with their children. Everyone was dirty, and everyone stank of fear. As she pressed forward in the murmuring, the dark descending on them, she saw a face in the crowd that seemed half-recognized.


"Mr. Merikovich?" she called, hurrying towards the familiar figure. Behind her, she felt the eyes of several men burn into her back as she swiftly wove through the crowd towards the man. He was a mechanic, if she remembered correctly, who'd worked time to time at the University. He was at the least a familiar face.

 

[Space Cowboy Ein]

Paskal Merikovich


Paskla blinked at the mention of his name. He thought it was maybe a last minute customer, one he'd have to turn down unfortunately. He'd dare not risk another day in the city. But no, it was not a customer, instead it was an assistance professor from the city university. His brow furrowed at the sight of her as he struggled to recall her name. "Ms. Soboleva." His brows raised in surprise and slight suspicion. "You're fleeing the city too? Times must be getting hard in the center city." It was surprising to him, he knew that eventually the war would halt the processes of the university, but he didn't expect their staff to flee the city. But he would not judge.


A refugee bumped past them and muttered a few expletives in their direction. Paskla paid it no mind but guided Novinya alongside him as the group shuffled onward. Everyone was content with keeping to themselves, though he could see and feel a few eyes glancing in their direction every now and then. In the distance, the drone of plane engines had people on edge. It wasn't often that the Germans flew night missions. That must have meant something was up. "What's convinced you to leave? I'm sure the city could still use educators...at least ones that stay in line." He let his curiosity get the better of him. It was probably more than a mechanic should ask of someone of her education and stature. But he wanted to know regardless.

 

[Doctor Jax]

Novinya Soboleva


Novinya was relieved to realize that Paskal did, in fact, recognize her. Even more so, he seemed to welcome her presence, at least for the nonce, and she kept close to his side as the other refugees pressed in closer and closer as they shuffled towards the exit into the minefields outside of Warsaw. She looked up anxiously as she heard the drone of plane engines. Though she'd heard them a few times in the night from her apartment, their nearness at this moment put ice in her stomach. Something about knowing that these planes could carry bombs to kill them en masse made the tips of her fingers tingle with anticipation and gut-wrenching anxiety. She was, after all, an academic at heart. War was no place for a professor, much less a woman professor. She looked up to Paskal in response to his mention, and she nodded absentmindedly.


"We are all dancing on eggshells in the midcity. If they strike, they will strike there. Government buildings, military barracks, all that is nearest the mid city. Most of my richer neighbors have fled for safer townhouses in the outlying country already," Novinya said, looking over her shoulder. Her coat lapel tickled her nose as she saw several men eyeing her back. At her side, her mutt Svetlana stuck close to Novinya's side, unhappy with the press of people. Then, Paskal asked specifically why she was fleeing, and she kept her head carefully level, her eyes meticulously straight ahead. She knew that he could not know of her heritage. Indeed, very few people had an inkling. Yet, what reason was there for a well-off assistant professor from Warsaw University to flee the city as the Germans pushed further and further towards Russia?


She finally stated, "Academics are rarely welcome, and a woman academic is almost unheard of. Such liberal allowances would be considered... low character. And even if our German friends do not decide that my position and status is not abnormal or abhorrent, I fear what they would make me do in my field."


It was a true enough statement. In times of war, ethics and morality became bywords flung around by the naive and the hopeful. An anatomist was useful for many things, like autopsies and research. However, an anatomist was just as powerful a teacher in the art of destroying one's fellow man with the least energy possible. The fear of what they would have her do made her cringe. Thinking of Dr. Juspeczyk, she wondered if she should have left him alone. He was old as it was, almost in his 80s. Yet, it was perhaps safer for him within the city than outside it, given his advanced age. His letter weighed heavily in her bag as they continued forward.[/i][/i]

 

[Space Cowboy Ein]

Paskal Merikovich


Paskal huffed at the reasoning of the academic. It made sense, in the end. With the German occupation of Warsaw effectively in full swing, anyone with a proper education could cause dissent among the common folk. That was how the Soviet Union was formed in the first place. The last thing that the Germans would want was some kind of ideological, nationalistic uprising in a recently conquered city. Either way, Paskal would be having none of it. He neither wanted to die by interrogation, or suffer through being a collaborator with the Germans. No, he'd fight for his freedom one last time. "It's good that now you chose to flee. It's been rumored that another German army will be relieving the one already here, and that their commander is much more...strict. And exodus like this would not go unpunished."


The drone of plane engines continued, and Paskal thought he could hear the sounds of bombs going off far in the distance. A small part of him hoped it was either resistance or the front finally being pushed back. Most news of the war was banned in the city, and all the people ever had were rumors from drunken German soldiers that polluted the city brothels, the only places still passing off as thriving. Ahead of them, the crowd murmed and shifted and continued forward. They were moving out of the shanties now and heading into the fields laden with mines beyond. Things were quite for now, and he just hoped that there would be enough luck for them all to make it to the other end. Just two hundred meters of nothing but pure tension.


But, it seemed that this would not last long. There was a bit of shouting, something about a stray. Moments later, a bright flash erupted off to the side in the fiel and lit up the area ahead of them for a moment. The people then began to panic as spot lights from nearby guard towers shifted onto the procession of people and was followed by shouting and finally the sounding of the alarm. The group was no longer peaceful but was quickly descending into a mad dash as people rushed ahead to flee. Some broke from the path and predictably set off even more mines. Behind them, bullets began to tear into the crowd from the towers.


"Come! Stick to the path!" He called to Novinya. He was, for once, grateful for being such a large man in relation to those around him. He barreled through those who would not move, or were too busy squabbling over supplies. His first instincts were of his survival, and then the survival of the one familiar person left in the city. Without a proper line, he was going to have to guess just where the safe path was, or simply step over the bodies of those unlucky to find out otherwise.

 

[Doctor Jax]

Novinya Soboleva


Knowing that another army was coming to relieve the German dogs that were already here only made her stomach turn. I am a rabbit in a den of foxes. God, why did I not leave sooner? She shuffled along next to Mr. Merikovich as the drone of warplanes sent thrills of fear and anticipation up her spine. She swallowed hard as she tried her best to quell the mounting anxiety building inside her stomach. It wouldn't do to throw up here, with so many people nearby. She let out a shuddering breath.


"I am perhaps as glad that you decided to leave at the same time."


As they marched across the open field outside the city, her words were cut off by the sounds of shouting. Her hand tightened around her dog's collar as the mutt whined and panted, despite the cold, winter air. She could barely make out the fields to either side of the mass exodus belching from the city and away from the death marching towards them. More shouted, and her spine tensed with every loud voice. She hated feeling out of control. In her laboratory, with scalpel and text, she could dismantle the human form into butterflies of flesh, turn it into a work of God's art, and she was in complete control of all devices therein. Here, there were just so many.... variables. It disturbed her to think that some German airplane could decide to fire upon her for no reason other than the wind picked up in a different direction, or just enough people cleared out of the way that there was a straight line of fleeing survivors, or just that the German dog felt that it be prudent to rid the world of a few more Poles. So little was up to her own design.


And then there was the quick flash of a mine exploding to her right, and she ducked, a grimace on her face as she took off running blind with the rest of the group, Paskal to her left. The alarm behind her sounded with a klaxon roar, and the group was now a stampede, flooding over the minefield. Several more mines detonated, shaking the ground and spewing dirt and snow, and she could hear the ratatatatata of bullets from the guard towers.


Paskal was leading her forward, pushing past those who were too shell-shocked to continue or were busy with their dead companions' possessions. She kept firm grasp of her doctor's bag, finally letting go of her dog, The mutt bounded forward before waiting on the two, barking for them to continue forward. Novinya gasped in shock as a mine went off only a few tens of feet to their right, something raining down with hard slaps. It took her only a few moments to realize that the wetness she felt was not only snow, but gritty bits of something else.


She trekked forward and kept close to Paskal as they picked their way through the minefield. Two hundred meters felt much too far -- more like, it was five or six miles of nothing but death and destruction raining from the heavens. Every step, she waited to hear the faint click of a mine being activated beneath her foot, while the faint sound of machine gun fire continued to follow them.


Something caught her eye just as Paskal's foot was about to descend where a body lay hidden, and she grabbed his arm, yanking him back. She pointed underneath the body's arm, a ring of metal just barely visible underneath.