[Paradise] Travel Advisory

[DeusExAlice]

All right! This isn't -quite- how Apocalypse World works, but I'm just stalling for time honestly.


So if you're okay with this, I'd like to ask some of you people questions about yourselves, where you live and the world you live in!


Hooper: Can you tell me what Inner Goldpond looks like? Where can I normally find you? Like, do you typically operate within the central building on the water or are you known to stalk Outer Goldpond as well?


Everyone: What does Outer Goldpond look like? Do any of you have some favored haunts?

 

[Teh Frixz]

Goldpond was once whatever the hell a retirement community was. Little gardens, lots of single rooms, and one hell of a command center. Centrally located on the actual "gold pond" there is a good sized lighthouse. Trying somehow to capture the feel of the golden age coastline or something. Either way, it's built to withstand hurricanes and mostly anything else the world can throw at it. Cement and all sorts of good shit. Hooper hangs out in there, nobody else. In the lower levels all the Equipment and anything the Faced deem valuable.


The rest of Inner Goldpond is those smallish bungalows for really rich old people. Little homes where the faced live, raising their families and doing whatever cultish things the Faced do. Hooper doesn't really know or care. There is also all the other needed amenities. Armory, dining, medical, blah blah blah.


Outer Goldpond is all mostly private ownership. The Faced run a bank and the Arena. Other than patrolling and keeping a relative peace, Outer Goldpond is pretty brutal place. The economy runs around the Arena and all sorts of Bloodsport and the accompanying drugs/sex/rock and roll economy.

 

[Echo1]

You know, I have to give it to those Outer Goldpond folks. For all their debauchery, there's at least one impressive thing they do: keep trees from taking over. Maybe I'm the only one who notices, but when you pass into Goldpond you can actually see the sky and feel the sun on your skin. The jungle of plants was replaced by a jungle of asphalt, wood, concrete, plastic and scrap metal. "Shantytown" might not be the best word to describe it, I've certainly seen shanty-er shantytowns and these buildings are actually pretty legitimate, though the quality is obviously going to depend on which street you're in and who owns the place.


I think you can get a little bit more of what I'm talking about with the trees when you go out nearer the edge, where I live. It feels like nature is physically pressing against Goldpond, trying to find its weaknesses, little cracks where it can creep in and take hold. The road in this part is strangled by vines, and in one place driving out you have to be careful because there's a yellowwood tree growing right out the middle of the road -- seriously, the pavement is buckled upward at the base of the trunk. (Some people say that the apocalypse made nature itself seek vengeance against the survivors. I disagree; I just think nature lost her goddamn mind and went on a killing rampage.)


I didn't build the roadside house where I'm technically squatting. When I arrived at Goldpond I found it abandoned. Clearly it had been recently lived in, but there was no one there. No bodies, no bloodstains, not even a sign of a struggle -- the door was unlocked and partly ajar. I assume that the family living there was taken off to the Arena for some reason. Anyway, it's a pretty good little house, totally covered in plants though (and yet the roof still leaks in the rain. Go figure). Pugnax just barely fits in the garage, all except his biggest horn, so I've lined the inside with moss and extra pillows and sheets and whatever soft stuff I could find in my house to make him a little nest in there. Civilization lost the battle in my backyard. The jungle back there is full of yellowwood, feverwort, air potato, barbed wire trees, speckled herbs, two tangle-willows and, lucky for me, some giant oranges growing out of the patio. I hear creepy animal noises at night.


I admit that I still don't know the Outer Goldpond area and its structure very well, both physical and political. I don't explore it for fun or anything. The others can probably tell you more.

 

[Shan]

"Outer Goldpond is a mixture of buildings temporary and "permanent," the latter being the most common example. Though there are tents and lean-to's, especially on the outermost perimeter, the closer one gets to what was the retirement community proper, the more proper structures remain. The best, from what I've glimpsed, lie within what's known as "Inner Goldpond," and serves as the headquarters for the local gang of masked "protectors." Outside, there are a few half walls and roofless buildings that survived from before the Event, whatever that may be, supplemented by tarps, sheet metal, boxes, and, for the more industrious settler with a surplus of time, tools, and energy to burn, structures cut and carved from the surrounding forest's wood.


Despite the shadow of menace from the "Masked" and their stench of an arena within Inner Goldpond, the people of Outer Goldpond appear relatively relaxed and, perhaps, happy. Though rumors of poor souls being knocked out and taken to fight in the Masked arena drift through the grapevine, the Masked also offer the promise of a safe place to conduct business, meet friends, and live. Those that break the few set rules of this place, the most prominent being "Don't Cause Trouble" have no rumors about whether or not they get sent to the arena, if they survive the initial attack. Outside of the basic keeping of the peace, however, there is abundant leniency in things that would be considered taboo, if not illegal, before the Event. I've worked to steer clear of the worst of it, keeping my business to the main paths and sunlight.


The jungle surrounding Goldpond stands as testament to how quickly Mother Nature takes back its own. I have memories of this place before the Event, manicured lawns and immaculate landscaping. Within a few score years, Mother Nature undid everything those gardeners and landscapers spent every day keeping in check. They are dangerous, however, with beasts that have grown more feral as the forest grew. It's somewhat safe for travel: the worst offenders are hunted for meat and sport by the residents of Goldpond and the Masked, but I've found it best to carry with me my rifle and pistol. I pray never to use either. Bullets are truly precious now, and I know not how to craft more."


~From the diary of Specialist El-Amin, Fareeda M.