MedievalMethods
Saturday Night Dragon-Slayer
Introduction
‘Twas after the Great Flight, that Man found a new home in the stars. A globe of brown, spinnin' alone in the vast, twinkling aether. In time, our ships anchored on this world. Our cities grew up around them. Tall, impressive and proud; each believing that all others must join under their banners. After the Sandstorm Wars, the Independents who had lost, them’s called Innies left their city-ships and drifted to the Frontier, deep in the dunes Dust. Out where people struggled to make ends meet. Gettin’ by on the barest of means. There they made settlements, small etchings of “civilization” atwixt the deserted deserts; oases’ that offer some respite. 'Course 'taint easy pickings anywhere. Even in the largest Central's, poverty and squalor are the only things that seem plentiful to be provided; kept at bay only day to day. For the weak, and the meek, Dust is a death sentence. But if you got vision, and a whole lot of grit, Dust is an opportunity...
Plot
The story of Dust takes place in an alternate timeline, when a series of events causes widespread devastation and unrest on Earth during the Victorian age. Fortunately space travel is a viable method of escaping the planet, devised sometime in the mid- or late- 1800s. Thousands of ships were built, by all manner of nations, organizations and entrepreneurs. Each will carry hundreds of thousands of people to the furthest reaches of the stars. This is the story of a few characters, and their descendents, aboard one of these ship flotillas that managed to find landfall on the world of Dust.
Backstory
The Flight is a period of time documented by oral and written accounts of mankind's from Earth, his travel through space, and his arrival on Dust. As such, it occupies an important part of human history. The Great Flight began sometime in the middle of Earth’s 19th century, after New Zealand’s Taupo volcano super-erupted, producing the greatest natural catastrophe witnessed by Mankind. The initial force of the blast was equal to 60 million tons (60 megatons) of TNT; the immediate effects were the obliteration of the Northern Island, as well as seismic sea waves (tsunamis) that reached as far as Argentina and California. Taupo’s eruption mass deposited an ash layer about 15 centimetres (6 inches) thick over the whole of South Asia. A blanket of volcanic ash that covered the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the South China Sea. “Black Lung” (Silicosis) became the cause of death for millions across Eurasia, thought to be brought on by “tainted air”. Long-term effects included significant climate change, which took the shape of a global volcanic winter, known to those who experienced it as the Years Without Summer. The damaged done to the planet began to take its hold on humanity. Harsher winters led to mass crop failure. Famine ensued, giving way to mass starvation, civil unrest, and open warfare. Even technology was effected, with developments and advancements made that bolstered hope in leaving for a new, better world.
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